Volleyball: The Time of Resonance

The morning sunlight cast a soft yellow glow on the streets and houses.

Kuroo Tetsuro stood with his team members on the street near Otokoma, and casually stretched his body.

"Three laps still." The black-haired, mohawk-wearing boy's voice was energetic and strong. As he gave the order, he led the group to start running forward.

For the first short stretch of the journey, everyone stayed together, but then they gradually became more and more scattered.

After half a lap, Yinchuan Mianye followed behind Heowei Tetsurou with steady breathing. The brown-haired boy glanced back at his childhood friend who was lagging behind, thought for a moment, and decided to slow down and wait for him.

"Mianye, focus." From where Mianye was standing, Kuroo Tetsuro could catch a glimpse of the boy out of the corner of his eye and stopped him from doing anything.

This is just routine training, and grinding doesn't require anyone to stop and accommodate him.

"Okay." Yinchuan Mian was also a little worried, but obediently, she didn't turn around to look for her friend whose stamina was low.

Reaching a sloping spot, Kuroo Tetsurou quickened his pace and ran forward. Ginkawa Mian also took a deep breath, watching the figure ahead, and tried his best to keep up with his rhythm.

Xiao Hei has great stamina, Yin Chuanmian was a little envious. He looked at the person in front of him to the right, his mind was filled with lines but his thoughts hadn't really wandered yet, when a gust of wind blew past him.

"?" Yin Chuanmian looked at the red figure that flashed by in surprise.

Why is Yamamoto Taketaka running so fast? He'll run out of energy in the second half, won't he?

......

After one lap, Yinchuan Mian was still panting and following behind Heiwei Tielang.

After running around a corner, the two saw two red dots ahead, one in front of the other.

It's grinding again; I'm about to get myself into trouble again.

Yinchuan Mian also grew devil horns. Although it's wrong to think that way, I'm still a little happy to see Little Mushroom again.

Mushroom was always a step behind the others during training because he didn't have enough stamina. So when Yinchuan Mian went to do other training, he didn't see the one-step-back Lone Claw Grinding.

"Grinding, you're running too slowly! Show some perseverance! You're already a lap behind!"

"?" Yinchuan Mian also panted heavily, putting some distance between herself and Heiwei Tielang in front of her.

Just as he was about to pass by Kozume Kenma and was about to say hello in a friendly manner, he saw Yamamoto Taketora run past him, then run back backwards, leaving behind this sentence.

Kozume Kenma frowned, panting without looking up, his voice light and airy: "...This is so troublesome, I can't run anymore."

(OxO) Mian also felt that something was not right, but she chose to ignore the scene.

"Keep grinding, keep it up!" Yinchuan Mianye encouraged him with a smile.

Blue eyes sometimes look like a clear and warm blue sky, and sometimes like a dazzling night sky, dazzling and captivating.

Mushroom Cat's tracksuit was already partially soaked with sweat. After encouraging him, the Persian Cat, who was in better shape, ran forward with even more effort, panting, to catch up with the Black Cat, who had super high stamina.

The wind whistled past her ears, leaving a buzzing sound as it blew through her hair. Her breath was scalding hot. Xiao Hei had never asked Mian to run behind him, but Mian from Yinchuan didn't want to be alone.

Ignoring Xiao Hei's constant advice to "find your own rhythm," Yin Chuanmian pretended to be in sync with him.

Mianye's stamina isn't particularly good, and in this kind of long-distance running training, you might lose sight of your friend if you're not careful, so you have to keep up closely—

The morning training session for the Otoko volleyball club is short, mainly consisting of physical training. Most of the training is scheduled during club activities.

"Mianye, come here."

Yinchuan Mianye, who was gulping down water, had a droopy expression on her face.

Blocking training...

The good news is that his daily training is different from others; the bad news is that he has an extra hour of blocking practice.

Yinchuan Mianye stood in front of the net, while Kuroo Tetsuro stood with his arms crossed outside the three-meter line, his gaze fixed on Yinchuan Mianye's arm.

Although Yinchuan Mian was able to achieve a good touch rate in the match against Fukutani, it was difficult to stop him due to his habitual approach.

Kuroo Tetsurou reached out and pulled the person in front of him, stroking the reluctant little lamb's fur. His large palm stroked from the head to the back. "Alright, stop being so cute."

"?" (OxO)

Yinchuan Mianye narrowed her blue eyes. "That's completely untrue. Stop spreading rumors!"

......

"One more time, jump!" As soon as Kuroo Tetsurou finished speaking, Ginkawa Mian also jumped up by pushing off the ground.

"Stop, Mianye."

Yinchuan Mianye had just taken off when Heiwei Tielang called a halt to it.

"Don't move, look at your elbow."

Kuroo Tetsurou was somewhat helpless. Mianya corrected his problems very quickly and was intentionally working on his blocking technique at the beginning of training. However, as time went on, his habits as an outside hitter would reappear.

This is why the time allotted for Mianye's blocking training was extended to an hour.

The blue-eyed cat remained stiff in its jumping posture, its elbows bent at a right angle, its fingers tightly clenched together as if gripping something.

"That's great, Mina. You'll get used to it," Kuroo Tetsurou reassured him. He walked over and straightened Mina's elbow. "Outside hitters need to tuck their arms in to generate power for spikes, while middle blockers need to fully extend their arms when blocking. It's about area, not power."

His blue eyes blinked; he knew that Xiao Hei had said it many times already.

I don't know if it's because nights come faster, or because time always seems to fly by during training.

After training, the wet lamb walked to the corner.

Kuroo Tetsuro had other things to do, so he patted Miya's head and left.

Desperate for a hug, Mian walked over to Kozume, who was playing games, and plopped down on the ground without a care for getting dirty. She leaned forward against his legs, her head naturally resting on the brown mushroom's knee.

The game console on her lap lifted up slightly, giving Mian a gap to cradle her head inside.

"Grinding..." Yinchuan Mian also shifted, but found that she was not comfortable no matter what she did, so she simply hugged Kozaki Grinding's leg.

The sheep, which was quite long, looked small after sitting down.

"Bang!" Yamamoto Takeo, who was trying to practice his jump serve, hit another home run.

The volleyball slammed against the wall and bounced away. A gust of wind swept past Yinchuan Mianye's back, and the two cats that were snuggling together simultaneously flinched and bristled.

Yinchuan Mianye and Kozume Kenma both stared at him with wary, guarded eyes—

Yamamoto Takeo, who came over to retrieve the ball, touched his nose guiltily, but then swallowed back the apology he was about to say when he saw Kozume Moto's hand. "Who told you to sit here and play? The hoop is blocking the view from this angle. If you were training, this wouldn't be a problem."

"?" Yin Chuanmian tilted her head, her brain still a bit fuzzy from the recent training, not absorbing a single word. Her fierce gaze blinked once before turning blank.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but you guys also have a problem!" Yamamoto Takeo felt uncomfortable being stared at and fidgeted for a while before picking up the ball and running to the other side of the net.

"..." The lone claw, its mouth stung, grimaced in annoyance.

Upon noticing what appeared to be an argument, Yoruichi Eisuke rushed over, hands on his hips. It seemed their "brains" still had a long way to go if they wanted to live in harmony with the tiger.

Yoruichi, who was a year older than them, easily saw through Yamamoto Taketora's target.

Kuroo Tetsuro, who had been rejected again after applying for the training camp, smiled wryly, folded the paper, put it in his bag, and decided to revise it again.

Yamamoto gripped the volleyball tightly, his frustration hard to calm. He slammed the ball against the ground several times to get a feel for it, then tossed it into the air, ran, jumped, and hit it!

With another loud bang, the volleyball flew over the baseline once again.

Out of sorts, Mianye's blue eyes darted around, as if everyone was holding back their tempers lately.

...... ......

During this time, the more Yinchuan Mianye and Kozume Kenma clung to each other, the more he noticed the strange atmosphere between him and Yamamoto Takeru.

Blue eyes can always catch subtle movements, such as:

Yamamoto Taketaka would talk about grinding after his morning run, and would hum as he trained with lighter dumbbells.

During training sessions, Makoto would use a drop shot to force Yamamoto to dive and save the ball, and he would show a disgusted expression when his opponent expressed his fighting spirit.

Final Thoughts

Yamamoto Takeru disliked Kokuzaki Grinding and was not proactive in training, spending his days in a lazy and unmotivated manner.

Kozume Kenma dislikes how his opponent always talks about fighting spirit and trains relentlessly.

Yinchuan Mian, whose tentative species is human, also doesn't understand this. The two have no relationship. To put it nicely, they are teammates who will spend three years together sharing joys and sorrows. To put it bluntly, they are strangers who will have nothing to do with each other after three years.

Why try to change other people's thoughts and habits? We won't be together forever.

...... ......

Six days after the training match, Kozume Kenshin and Yamamoto Takeo had another verbal argument.

The atmosphere had just begun to become tense when a cotton-like creature followed behind Kuroo Tessou.

Hearing the noise, Kuroo Tetsurou raised an eyebrow, turned around, and quickly covered the mouth of the boy behind him.

"You—uh!" Yinchuan Mian, who was about to speak aggressively, was also silenced.

(▼_▼)

Kuroo Tetsurou's hands were still sweaty and damp with dust from the volleyball. Ginkawa Mian frowned, hesitating whether to bite him—Kuroo was so dirty...

She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake off the hand that was pinching her cheek. Mian didn't want to have to rinse her mouth later!

"What you're doing is completely useless, it's like going too far!" Kozume Kenma turned his head away, not wanting to look at him, and moved his feet to the side as if he didn't want to talk anymore.

"Don't think that just because you have a good relationship with Kuroo-senpai, you can—" Yamamoto Taketora's temper flared up and he reached out to grab Kozume Kenma, but suddenly Kuroo Tetsuro appeared in his line of sight, and his words stopped abruptly.

"Maya, you can use your hands." Kuroo Tetsurou teased Ginkawa Maya with a joke, but his gaze never left Kozume Kenma.

"I know, it's not a game..." Yinchuan Mian also pushed his hand away with a resentful look, turned her head back to look for Mushroom Cat, who was walking away alone.

"Grind!"

Kuroo Tetsuro crossed his arms and muttered, "You heartless little brat."

Kuroo Tetsuro did not speak up to stop the minor conflict. The conflict between Kenma and Yamamoto Taketora needed to be resolved by themselves; no one else could explain it.

Training – Due to Kozume Kenma's strong insistence, Kuroo Tetsuro had no choice but to change Kozume Kenma's partners. Yoru Eisuke and the other two were a good match, so only Ginkawa Wataru and Kuroo Tetsuro could choose for themselves.

Worried that Mian would slack off while grinding, Kuroo Tetsuro arranged for Mian and Yamamoto Taketora to be together.

Then, in the next 20 minutes, Kuroo Tetsuro witnessed once again just how petty a sheep could be.

The ball, which should have been hit rhythmically and regularly, struck another person's vicinity with varying force, angles, and positions.

Yamamoto Taketaka, already in a bad mood, was not to be outdone, and the volleyball between the two was hit faster and faster.

Unaware of what had happened, Fukunaga Shohei thought it was some new training exercise and was about to do it when he was stopped by Yoru Eisuke, who was covering his face.

It looked dangerous, but in reality, neither of them actually hit each other. It was full of tension, but it was a children's channel.

After the daily training session ended, Kuroo Tetsurou held onto Ginkawa Mianya and practiced blocking for a while before letting him go.

The lamb, whose mouth was covered by a dirty hand, still managed to bite the black cat, though only on the face. (Revenge finally achieved.)

Despite being mocked by his teammates for having a bite mark on his face, Kuroo Tetsuro nonchalantly boasted about his good relationship with the beautiful Persian cat.

Ignoring the black cat that was the same color inside and out, the sheep chose to go find a mushroom to stick to.

Kozume Kenma stared at Mianye's wet, brown curly hair for a long time, but ultimately refrained from touching it, mindful of the game he was playing.

Her body, radiating heat, slumped against his right arm, even her breath carrying a warm, moist scent.

Kozume Kenma doesn't like the feeling of sweating, nor does he like other people being sweaty, but Mian is very well-behaved, so it's okay.

......

Under the streetlights, on either side of the Black-tailed Irontail, there were two small, hunched-backed, and listless animals.

"Mianye," Kuroo Tetsuro turned his head to look at the boy walking beside him, "teammates are a different kind of relationship, not strangers who are bound to part ways."

The sheep, whose mind was preoccupied with whether the cabbage white butterfly and the little ground tiger could be together, looked up at him in confusion.

"We won't have any connection after graduation."

"But that's after graduation. Who knows what the future holds? You'll be spending another three years together. Three years of working side-by-side is enough to change the relationship between people."

Yinchuan Mian nodded without offering an opinion, and it was unclear whether she understood the point or not.

Kuroo Tetsuro sighed helplessly and let the problem child go.

"Grind—" Kuroo Tetsurou called out, switching to another dog.

The boy, who was walking on the right and whose game sound effects were coming in bursts, grunted in response.

"Don't resist so much, I'm not asking you to get along well with Yamamoto..."

The lamplight and the moon cast long, long shadows, and the shadows of the three people gradually converged and intersected.

Yinchuan Mian also looked up at the sky. He actually quite liked the way home, walking together with the other two.

We chatted occasionally, and sometimes we each thought about our own things; it was very heartwarming.

The boy didn't mind his friend's nagging, who was a year older than him; he often felt it was a form of love.