After dinner, Oikawa and Iwaizumi said goodbye to Ryosuke.
Iwaizumi didn't say much. He quietly observed Ryosuke's expression, and only after confirming that there wasn't the slightest trace of gloom on his face did he finally relax.
Oikawa waved his hand. "Remember to come practice tomorrow."
Standing in the afterglow of the sunset, Ryosuke smiled brightly. "Got it. Thanks, senpai."
With that, he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed home, kicking little pebbles along the road, hopping and skipping in high spirits.
Ryosuke suddenly stopped and tilted his head in confusion.
…It feels like I forgot something??
Ah, whatever. If I forgot it, it probably wasn't important. He shook his head and didn't dwell on it.
And so, Ryosuke once again forgot his bicycle, cheerfully walking all the way home in an excellent mood.
When he got back, Washijō noticed something quite unusual—Ryosuke didn't seem nearly as resistant to the nutritional meal waiting for him on the table.
Even though he'd already eaten out, Ryosuke was still in a growth phase. Normally, he'd complain endlessly about how awful the nutrition meals tasted, but today he ate obediently.
As far as Ryosuke was concerned, he'd figured it out. Whether he struggled or not, the outcome was the same. Since it wouldn't kill him, he might as well train as hard as possible—wasting his talent would be the real loss.
Dinner ended in a strangely cheerful atmosphere, with Ryosuke humming softly to himself.
He polished off every last bit of the blanched vegetables and meat on his plate.
"I'm done. I'll head upstairs now."
Washijō stared, dumbfounded. Had this kid really changed? He exchanged looks with Mrs. Washijō, both of them equally stunned.
Ryosuke, of course, had no idea about the storm of thoughts downstairs.
He flopped eagerly onto his bed, pulled out his phone, and messaged Sakusa. It was time for their daily check-in.
Whatever crossed his mind, he sent it—complaining about the strange Goshiki; talking about how much he disliked nutritional meals but was seriously trying to overcome it; mentioning how Udai really felt like an older sister to him; and how he'd met Oikawa and Iwaizumi today…
He rambled on endlessly. Staring at the long string of messages, Ryosuke figured Sakusa must be busy. Otherwise, why wouldn't she reply?
He turned off his phone, washed up, and went to bed, sleeping soundly.
The next morning, his phone was flooded with messages from "Clean Freak." Seeing over a dozen unread notifications, Ryosuke smiled so hard his eyes curved into crescents.
After packing his things, he headed to school.
These past few days, Ryosuke had gotten used to a routine of physical conditioning combined with regular training, plus Udai's evening mini-lessons. Perhaps the effects of the earlier conditioning were finally showing.
He could clearly feel a difference in his stamina and endurance during practice. It might also have been because his body was still developing and storing more energy. Either way, in the Shiratorizawa cafeteria lately, people often saw Ryosuke—who normally needed constant coaxing just to take one bite—
eating nutritional meals as if they were the finest delicacy in the world.
Goshiki watched from the side, swallowing again and again. He'd tried it once before—completely bland, nothing but the raw taste of the ingredients. He genuinely couldn't understand how Ryosuke managed to eat it so enthusiastically.
Reon watched Ryosuke demolish his meal with a complicated expression. What on earth was wrong with this kid? How could he make nutrition meals look that good?
During afternoon practice, the two who needed extra conditioning naturally ended up together. Yunohama rubbed his thigh and leaned over to Ryosuke, his face full of amazement.
"Ryosuke, this is incredible. My explosive power's gotten stronger."
Ryosuke glanced at him, a little confused.
Yunohama continued excitedly, "I can jump really high now with just a two-step run-up. It feels like my legs are all muscle!"
Ryosuke nodded. "Of course. Physical training works. We're both doing it, but these routines were specially designed by Coach Washijō and Team Doctor Saitō based on our individual limits."
Yunohama stared in awe. "Whoa…"
Seeing Yunohama look so hopelessly impressed for once, Ryosuke couldn't help glancing at him a few more times.
Once practice ended, Ryosuke headed straight for the team doctor's office.
Now that he was familiar with the place, he wasn't nervous at all. He pushed the door open, got a routine checkup, and then rushed off to Sendai Gymnasium to practice with Udai.
Udai herself wasn't sure what had changed. Ever since that day she told Ryosuke to think things through, Ryosuke seemed to have… figured something out. Or rather, for Ryosuke, it was more like giving up worrying—if he failed, then he'd just try again.
After adjusting his mindset, Ryosuke quickly pinpointed the issues in his serve.
Whether it was tossing the ball too early or hesitating at contact, at least at this stage of training, he was no longer completely whiffing the ball.
But a new problem surfaced. Ryosuke's serves never quite landed where they should. His hook serves came out all over the place—clipping the net, flying out of bounds, even spinning unpredictably.
When Ryosuke sent yet another ball curving strangely through the air, Udai's emotions grew incredibly complicated.
Was this talent… or pure coincidence? A ball that bent like that was impressive, but the problem was that Ryosuke couldn't send two identical serves in a row.
Udai stepped in and called a halt, studying Ryosuke carefully. Something wasn't right. At this level, he shouldn't be making these kinds of mistakes…
Ryosuke looked at Udai expectantly, clearly hoping for guidance. Udai pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache forming. She couldn't teach this—she really couldn't. The ball seemed to have its own ideas. Did Ryosuke's hands have minds of their own too?
Udai suddenly snapped her head up, slapping her left hand into her right in realization.
"I get it—it's your hands! No wonder your serve felt off. Don't use your receiving posture to serve! Are you a middle blocker or what?!"
Ryosuke's cat-like eyes blinked guiltily, his gaze drifting.
Udai controlled her tone and continued, "Right now, use a proper serving stance. Forget your receiving habits for the moment. Control the rebound and hand precision, and make full use of your field of vision."
Ryosuke nodded along with the rapid instructions, showing that he understood. Taking advice was one of his strengths—correcting ingrained receiving habits would just have to be done step by step.
Udai immediately started fixing the issue. Thankfully, they'd caught it early. Otherwise, who knew what kind of hook serve this kid would've developed.
After practice, Ryosuke ran into Oikawa and Iwaizumi at the gym again.
A few days earlier, Iwaizumi had dragged Ryosuke into a game and gotten a firsthand look at his blocking—over an hour of play, they'd only scored four or five points.
Oikawa had laughed himself half to death on the sidelines. Iwaizumi eventually snapped and hauled Oikawa onto the court.
Half an hour later, Iwaizumi emerged with a completely wilted Oikawa. He gave Ryosuke an approving nod. Nicely done.
From then on, the two of them seemed to lock horns with Ryosuke. Oikawa declared that Ryosuke was an excellent practice partner—no matter how hard you spiked, he never got angry. If only he'd occasionally go a bit easy.
Lord Oikawa had been blocked so hard his face had turned green. Just seeing Ryosuke gave him a headache—he'd developed a full-on stress response. The upside was that—
when they went back to play practice matches with their own team, Hanamaki's blocks got absolutely smashed by Iwaizumi and Oikawa.
Now, Oikawa and Iwaizumi spent their days scheming against Ryosuke's blocking, trying to break through it. Against ordinary blocks, Iwaizumi didn't even feel like spiking anymore.
In a way, Ryosuke had raised the bar for both of them when it came to finding worthy opponents.
Ryosuke stretched his joints, yawned, and headed back.
The weather was getting hotter, and night fell later and later. He suddenly remembered that he'd forgotten his homework when he left earlier, so he had to go back and grab it.
Walking along the road back toward Shiratorizawa, he reached a small path near the school and felt an odd sensation, as if someone were watching him.
When he turned around, he was startled to see a person completely covered in mud, squatting by the roadside and staring at him.
Ryosuke flinched, then looked more closely. It seemed to be a middle schooler—no idea how he'd ended up in that state.
Ryosuke walked over, crouched down, and asked, "What happened?"
Hinata stared wide-eyed at the person approaching him.
Wow… Mom, this person is really good-looking.
Noticing that he was being stared at, Hinata quickly spoke up, a little flustered but still loud as ever.
"Oh! I was running too fast and fell into a ditch! When I climbed out, I realized I got lost! This place is kinda scary and I don't know the way at all. What's your name? Uh—sorry, I just meant you look really cool! Oh, right—I'm Shoyo Hinata!"
Ryosuke rubbed his temples as he looked at the mud-covered boy crouching there, bursting with energy like a puppy.
…That damn familiar feeling again. Was he seriously not Goshiki's long-lost brother or something?
...
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