Chapter 40: Training Camp 3

After the chaotic first day, the second day marked the start of formal training.

Before practice officially began, Ryosuke went to find Coach Washijō, his face scrunched up as he expressed that he didn’t want to play as a middle blocker.

He had already braced himself for a full-blown storm from Coach Washijō.

To his surprise, Coach Washijō merely sighed. He didn’t scold him. Instead, he spoke to Ryosuke seriously and properly.

“Get used to this position first. When you can play it like Satori does, then come talk to me about whether you still want to play here.”

Seeing Coach Washijō in such an unusually reasonable mood, Ryosuke nodded.

After Ryosuke left, Coach Washijō let out a snort.

“Brat, trying to outplay me. Not wanting to be a middle blocker—like that’s ever going to happen.”

He lifted his chin smugly. With that jumping ability and spatial awareness, not playing middle blocker would be a complete waste.

Once he was properly developed, rotating between two positions would be fine. No conflict at all.

Poor Ryosuke still had no idea he’d just been thoroughly led by the nose and obediently went off to train.

At six the next morning, Coach Washijō dragged the entire group out of bed, clearly determined to out-grind every other school.

While the other teams were still asleep, Shiratorizawa was already out running.

Ushijima led from the front, with the rest trailing behind him like a line of chicks.

Goshiki panted heavily as he complained, “Why is training camp like this?! This doesn’t match the training camps I remember at all!”

He dragged his legs forward, wheezing loudly like a tractor. His legs barely felt like his own anymore—heavy, stiff, and sore, as if they were prosthetics.

Ryosuke, running past him, struggled to hold back his laughter. How could someone’s breathing sound this funny?

Seeing that, Goshiki sped up. “Ryosuke, aren’t you tired?”

Ryosuke pressed his lips together shyly. “Not really. Coach Washijō wakes me up every morning to go running.”

Goshiki didn’t reply, but the shock written all over his face said everything.

Overall, the morning run was very effective. Everyone looked refreshed and energized afterward.

Well—except for one red-haired guy who looked like he’d rather be dead. Tears streamed down his face as he lagged behind at the very end, his thin, bamboo-pole frame looking like it might topple over if the wind picked up.

By the time they finished running and headed to breakfast, students from the other schools were only just waking up.

When Kōrai Hoshiumi from Kamomedai saw this, he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, grabbed the sleeve of his team’s middle blocker, and protested loudly.

“Hakuba, set an alarm for tomorrow morning! I’m running too!”

Hakuba, holding his toiletries, rubbed his sleepy eyes, yawned, and nodded perfunctorily.

The cafeteria gradually grew lively.

Bokuto dragged Akaashi in energetically and waved from afar when he spotted Shiratorizawa.

“Yo! Wakatoshi-kun, Ryosuke-kun—good morning, everyone!”

“Morning.”

Ushijima responded lightly and walked off with his tray. Ryosuke nodded with a small smile as well.

The Shiratorizawa members sat together and dealt with breakfast.

Sakusa also arrived at the cafeteria and noticed Ryosuke. He sat down nearby with Komori, deciding to stay despite the crowd.

…with Ryosuke here, he could endure it. He’d just take a shower afterward. So many germs…

Tendo sat across from Ryosuke and spoke with exaggerated sarcasm.

“The Itachiyama group is over there, Sakusa-kun. Don’t go to the wrong table.”

Sakusa reached out and lightly patted Ryosuke’s head.

“I didn’t.”

He didn’t even look at Tendo, wearing an expression that clearly said I have no idea what you’re talking about, and calmly started eating his breakfast.

Tendo clicked his tongue and said nothing more.

Ryosuke, completely unaware of the tension, was still staring blankly at the food on his tray.

Why are there eggs? Eggs smell awful…
The milk is way too rich. I don’t want breakfast…
Why isn’t there any noodles? Where are the noodles??

He stared at the tray with deep resentment.

Just as he was about to say he was full, Sakusa spoke up and stopped him.

Ryosuke stumbled slightly, spilling a bit of milk.

He tilted his head in confusion.

“You’re full already?”

Ryosuke froze, then nodded guiltily, his eyes darting away from Sakusa.

Sakusa glanced at the completely untouched breakfast and sighed. “Liar.”

Kawanishi looked over at Ryosuke’s tray, puzzled.

“Ryosuke, you’re not eating breakfast?”

Ryosuke sighed, closed his eyes, and—with the expression of someone marching to their death—picked up an egg and swallowed it in one go, immediately choking and rolling his eyes.

Goshiki jumped in alarm and hurriedly pushed the milk over.

Ryosuke gulped down several mouthfuls before finally recovering.

Reon whispered quietly to Semi, frowning.

“Do you think Ryosuke might be a bit of a picky eater…?”

“Yeah, maybe… He won’t even eat eggs. That’s not good.”

Sakusa looked at Ryosuke’s flushed face. “There are still two left. Training will be miserable if you skip breakfast.”

As if he hadn’t heard a word, Ryosuke grabbed Goshiki, tray and all, and took off running. Goshiki was still dutifully chewing on an egg and nearly choked when he was dragged away.

In the chaos, Ryosuke didn’t forget to grab the backpack from the chair.

Goshiki stumbled after him, still chewing.

“Where… are we going?”

Only after swallowing did he manage to speak clearly.

“The gym.”

As one of Ryosuke’s few close friends at school, Goshiki had noticed that Ryosuke really didn’t talk much.

Only when volleyball came up did he become more animated, his eyes sparkling like a kitten that had just gotten its favorite toy.

He was also very shy. With people he knew, Ryosuke might say three sentences a day at most. With close friends, maybe ten.

Most of the time, Goshiki noticed that Ryosuke just spaced out alone. Even now, he still couldn’t quite figure out what kind of person his friend really was.

...

After breakfast, training began amid noisy excitement.

Today’s focus was blocking, and Ryosuke made it clear he really didn’t want to block.

Even so, whenever the ball came his way, he still obediently jumped up to block it.

Morning practice was 2-on-2. On one side were Goshiki and Ushijima; on the other were Ryosuke and Reon.

Before it started, Goshiki once again declared boldly to Ushijima,

“Ushijima-senpai! Today I’ll prove that I’m the team’s ace!”

Ushijima responded with a simple “Oh,” then turned and picked up the volleyball.

“Then don’t get blocked by Ryosuke today.”

Goshiki’s eyes lit up, and he charged onto the court, full of energy.

Ryosuke sighed. Why did Goshiki always get fired up so easily?

Last time during school practice, after Goshiki got completely shut down by Ryosuke’s blocks, his mindset had collapsed. Ryosuke had even prepared words to comfort him.

But one sentence from Ushijima, and Goshiki was instantly fired up again, little flames practically burning all over him. You’d never guess he’d just been discouraged minutes ago.

Ryosuke stepped forward to flip a coin with Ushijima. Heads would serve first.

Kawanishi watched from the side, amused.

“I bet Ushijima won’t guess heads.”

The moment he finished speaking, the coin landed tails-up.

“Heh!” Kawanishi laughed.

Yamagata smacked him on the back of the head.

“Stop laughing! You’ll get spiked into the ground later!”

The thought of being dominated by that left-handed cannon instantly made Kawanishi’s expression change on the spot.