“By the way, Oda, are you sure it’s okay for you to do this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Umm~~ well, you know… weren’t you teammates with Asuto-San before? Now you’re telling us everything about him. Is that really okay?” Hinata Shoyo asked anxiously, looking conflicted.
Hearing this, Oda Miki’s expression suddenly changed, and he replied seriously:
“Of course it matters. If Asuto finds out about this, he’ll definitely kill me.”
Hinata Shoyo: “Σ(дlll)!!!”
Oda Miki burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha… As if that would happen! Asuto’s not that petty. Besides, even though we used to be teammates, I’ve joined Karasuno now. During a match, the team should always come first.”
“Kageyama said something right before. In a match, giving it your all is the greatest respect you can show your opponent.”
“And information is just information. If Asuto could be beaten just by knowing about him, we never would have made it to the Nationals in middle school. Right, Kageyama?”
Kageyama Tobio: “…Yeah!”
Hearing this, Hinata Shoyo’s eyes immediately started sparkling again.
“That’s so cool! I can’t wait for tomorrow’s match to start…”
And so…
The next day.
The match between Aoba Johsai and Karasuno officially began.
As soon as the Karasuno players entered the arena, deafening cheers erupted from the stands.
“Go! Go! Go, Aoba Johsai! Fight! Fight! Fight, Aoba Johsai!”
“Go! Go! Go, Aoba Johsai! Fight! Fight! Fight, Aoba Johsai!”
………
“Oh, what amazing energy!” Sugawara Kōshi exclaimed unconsciously after hearing the roar from the audience.
“All right! Then let’s officially start warming up too! Everyone, shout it out!”
Sawamura Daichi clapped his hands, pulling everyone’s attention back, before loudly calling out.
The others answered with equal enthusiasm:
“Ohhh, Karasuno!”
“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”
· · · · ·
On the other side.
Mishita Ryuhei was helping Asuto warm up. When he heard the commotion from across the court, he instinctively glanced over.
“Huh! Karasuno’s really fired up, huh? Looks like Oda joined a pretty good team after all!”
Asuto nodded.
“The team is definitely good. But whether it’s actually the kind of team he likes… that’s another question.”
Hearing this, Mishita Ryuhei turned and scanned the Karasuno side. Before long, he spotted Oda Miki in the corner, yawning endlessly with tears in his sleepy eyes.
Ryuhei Mishita: “…Uh! Yeah, looks like that’s true. By the way, as the ‘Ace’, shouldn’t you be warming up with Oikawa-Senpai?”
Asuto stood up and bounced lightly a few times before replying.
“There’s no need. Oikawa-Senpai is currently focusing on gauging the other players’ condition. If I go over there now, I might disrupt his rhythm.”
Asuto looked towards Oikawa.
At that moment, he was communicating with the other players through passing drills and conversation, carefully checking and adjusting their condition.
Throughout this process, the coordination and chemistry of Aoba Johsai steadily deepened, and the atmosphere of the entire team gradually improved as well.
However, this was only the case when Asuto wasn’t involved.
Perhaps because his own ‘evolution’ was happening too quickly, Asuto’s condition had never been particularly stable. His abilities were practically changing every single day.
Because of this, although Oikawa could bring out the full potential of every other player during matches, he and Asuto were still syncing up.
After all, Asuto himself found it difficult to fully control his own performance, let alone that of others.
So, in order to prevent Asuto’s constantly fluctuating condition from negatively affecting Oikawa instead, the two of them would specially set aside some time before every match to familiarize themselves with each other’s state.
Once the official warm-up began, however, the two would separate.
······
Oikawa: “…Iwaizumi-chan, aren’t you a little too nervous today? There’s no need to deliberately try showing off your handsome side! No girls are going to pay attention to you anyway!”
Iwaizumi: “(▼皿▼#)”
Rolling up his sleeves with veins bulging across his forehead, Iwaizumi decided that today, he was absolutely going to punch this idiot to death.
Unfortunately for him, at the critical moment, Shigeru Yahaba rushed out and grabbed hold of Iwaizumi, preventing his fist from landing on Oikawa’s head.
“Calm down, Iwaizumi-senpai! The match is about to start. You can beat him to death after the game ends!”
Watching the daily chaos between this pair of comedic rivals, the rest of Aoba Johsai felt absolutely nothing inside. In fact, some of them even wanted to hand Iwaizumi a hammer.
However, after hearing Shigeru Yahaba’s words, everyone realized he actually had a point. The match was about to begin, and right now was exactly when they needed Oikawa the most. There was no rush to beat him to death; doing it after the match would still be fine.
So the others quickly gathered around and barely managed to suppress the murderous intent erupting from Iwaizumi’s eyes.
Very soon…
The warm-ups ended!
The members of both teams lined up and bowed to each other.
“Please take care of us!!! x2”
······
Oikawa: “Yo! Kageyama Chan, I’m really looking forward to officially defeating you today, you so-called ‘genius setter.’ So don’t disappoint me, okay?”
Kageyama Tobio: “We will win…”
“We’re not going to lose!”
Before Kageyama Tobio could finish speaking, a small figure suddenly jumped out and shouted loudly at Oikawa.
Oikawa froze for a moment.
“Idiot Hinata, stop copying what I say…” Kageyama Tobio snapped angrily before turning toward Asuto with a serious expression.
“And you too, Asuto. Today, I’m definitely going to defeat you.”
“And me too! Me too! Me too!”
Hinata Shoyo popped out again, bouncing around in front of Kageyama Tobio like an overexcited monkey.
Kageyama Tobio: “(╬￣皿￣)＝○＃(￣＃)３￣)… I said don’t interrupt me when I’m talking, you idiot!”
Bam!
A furious vein bulged on Kageyama’s forehead as he slammed a fist directly onto Hinata’s head.
Asuto, from the opposite side of the court: “…Uh! You two seem to have a pretty good relationship.”
“Hah? Who has a good relationship with him?! x2”
The two voices rang out simultaneously.
And then…
Hinata Shoyo got another lump on his head from Kageyama.
At last, the world became a little quieter.
“Today’s victory will be ours,” Kageyama Tobio declared.
“Mm! Then I’ll be looking forward to your performance,” Asuto replied with a brief pause before smiling.
······
(End of Chapter)