Volleyball: The Time of Resonance

The initial plan was good, but Kozume Kenma's stamina was simply not up to par, so he withdrew from the rotation midway through for the sake of his health.

Without a setter, Nekoma's spikes became increasingly sloppy, with several balls bouncing back and forth multiple times before finally landing.

The sky outside the window was gradually darkening, and Naoi Manabu called a timeout after the last goal was scored.

Yinchuan Mian also suddenly collapsed to her knees on the ground, arching her back and curling herself into a ball, her black tracksuit covered in sweat.

I'm going to die...

Apart from three meals a day, everyone has hardly left the club. There is a 20-minute break after every three games, and nearly an hour of rest before and after each meal.

But... I have absolutely no strength left...

Yinchuan Mian also collapsed softly to the ground, wriggled for a long time, and finally succeeded in facing the ceiling.

Hello~!

Just as the sheep was about to peacefully close its eyes and recharge its energy, its pupils suddenly trembled.

A strange man with oddly angled bangs looked at him with a malicious smile.

The little animal's radar went off like crazy, and Yinchuan Mian closed her eyes slightly. With a speed that ordinary people couldn't react to, she got up, took two steps back, and stared at him with her blue eyes.

Wow, it looks like the sky.

General Yu sighed inwardly. Even after all this, they still had the strength. He had witnessed the training they underwent, and it was anything but easy.

Yinchuan Mianye: No, I have absolutely no strength!

The more Daisho Yu stared at that face, the more familiar it seemed, and the wider his smile grew. Could it be... that he was so lucky?

"Yinchuan Mianye?"

"......" This person is so strange, wait, how does he know my name?!

Yinchuan Mian also refused to communicate; he took a step back, turned around, and left.

"Hey hey hey!" General Yu turned around and, relying on his remaining strength, quickly caught up with Yinchuan Mianye.

"Don't be so cold, let's get to know each other!" This is the main attacker who made it into the top eight in the country in junior high school. Daisho Yu felt that if he missed this opportunity, his heart would be broken into pieces.

Yinchuan Mian also cautiously retreated, the whole sheep exuding a sense of helplessness. From a distance, it looked like a delinquent bullying a well-behaved student.

"My name is Yuu Taisho, vice-captain of the Tomi volleyball team, and my position is outside hitter. Let's get acquainted, I've heard a lot about you before!"

Daisho Yu is a staunch supporter of the theory that "initiative will lead to results."

Yinchuan Mian also took small steps back, looking at him as if he were some incomprehensible creature.

He seemed to have a cold personality; Daisho Yu didn't see any disgust or dislike in his eyes and stood in front of him with a smile.

General Yu's eyes are long and narrow with an aggressive look; at first glance, he gives the impression of a vicious snake.

Cunning and ill-intentioned.

In the spirit of finishing as soon as possible, Yinchuan Mian stood still, waiting for the other party to continue.

They can't just come to me to make friends; I know my own strength in Yinchuan and Mianye.

It's not as good as the champion candidate, who deserves to be questioned even when one has clearly expressed refusal.

Sure enough, seeing the other person's exaggerated smile, Yinchuan Mian swallowed her urge to complain, which came from nowhere.

"Our Tomi is also training here~ Interested in playing a practice match?"

"?" The brown-haired boy was completely bewildered. He followed the gaze of the person in front of him, looked down, and saw the number on his uniform—1.

"......" The case is solved; the culprit is Number 1.

The soreness in his legs made him want to plop down on the ground—he was already sitting down, but it was a bit cold, and he hoped it would warm up soon.

"?" This time it was General Yu's turn to be confused. Why did he suddenly sit down?

A minute ago, Kuroo Tetsuro, who was drinking water and arguing with Yoru Eisuke, noticed the situation on Ginkawa Mianya's side.

"Huh?! You think you'll actually be two meters tall just because you comb your hair high?" Yoru Eisuke was furious about what Kuroo Tetsuro had just said, and kicked him.

The boy with the rooster-comb haircut dodged away with a cheeky grin.

The small, free-roaming man possessed immense strength, and he launched another kick at his opponent, this time with real force.

Hisense, who was watching from the sidelines, had an exclamation mark above its head and quickly reached out to stop its own guardian.

Kuroo Tetsuro raised an eyebrow with a strange expression, but didn't look at Yoruichi again before walking away.

Yoru Eisuke: That smile is so lewd... I really want to kick his chin! Make his head hit the ground! Turn him into a drooling idiot!!

"Our Hu Mei is also very strong. Anyway, we'll be staying at this club for a few days, playing some matches. It's good for both of us~"

General Yu clearly didn't realize what the problem was, so he squatted down and spoke to Yinchuan Mianye in a gentle and calculating manner.

General You is already taller than Yinchuan Mian, and when he blocked people, it looked like he was bullying them from other people's perspectives. Now—it feels like someone with side-swept bangs hurt someone, forcing them to lie on the ground, and then excessively squatting next to them to mock them.

"Excuse me, young man, what brings you here to see our middle blocker?"

A hand landed on General Yu's shoulder, startling the composed young man so much that he almost jumped up. He forced himself to remain calm and turned around.

"Something's up, of course something's up!" General Yu looked the newcomer up and down; the sportswear he was wearing clearly indicated that he was Yinchuan Mianye's teammate.

Hmm... General Yu inexplicably felt that he and he would have something to talk about—but it might not be anything pleasant.

"Tell me what's wrong first. I'm his captain, after all." Kuroo Tetsuro gave a smile that was exactly the same as the other person's.

Yinchuan Mianye, who was silently retreating, felt as if ten thousand ants were crawling on his body. He looked around warily and found that the two men's forced smiles created an awkward atmosphere.

"......?" Wait, did I misunderstand?

General You felt a faint sense of embarrassment, which began to take root and sprout from the depths of his heart.

"My apologies! Hahaha!" Ignoring his embarrassment, Daisho Yu told himself that he wasn't that thin-skinned, and he extended his hand as if to shake hands.

Kuroo Tetsuro raised an eyebrow and reached out his hand—to grasp it.

"Haha, I'm Hu Mei's vice-captain. Want to play a practice match with us?"

Although his current school, "Tomi," is not well-known, Daisho Yu doesn't think the other party will refuse. It seems that the only team members he knows are these 7 people, and even daily training can only be 3 vs 3.

With such a long training camp and other teams around, it would be a shame not to play a few practice matches.

This is not a worthwhile deal.

"Hahaha, so it's the vice-captain!" Kuroo Tetsurou grinned, but the hand he clasped back tightened at the same time as Daisho Yu's.

The skin where they were clasped was pale, then turned bright red again after a short distance, and the two of them gritted their teeth. They smiled brightly on the outside, but the filth in their hearts piled up like a tower of grass, filthy beyond compare.

"I'll talk to our coach. I'm really looking forward to playing against you guys!"

"That's great! By the way, my name is Yu Taisho, and what's your name, captain of Otoko?"

"Haha, my name is Kuroo Tetsuro, nice to meet you!"

He shook his two tightly clenched hands up and down, then suddenly loosened them and quickly put his hands behind his back.

Kuroo Tetsurou shook his hands behind his back, his face contorting for a moment.

General Yu wasn't much better off, forcing a smile through his pain.

Yinchuan Mianye: ...Stop laughing, he doesn't look like a good person.

"Of course, please guide me!"

General Yu and Kuroo Tetsuro stared at each other for a few seconds, both inwardly cursing the other for being a bad person and difficult to deal with.

Kuroo Tetsuro's interest was piqued. "That's interesting. How about we exchange contact information?"

"A great suggestion, but let me make this clear first, I have a girlfriend." Daisho Yu pulled out a cell phone from somewhere and smugly gestured to Kuroo Tetsuro.

"..." A question mark appeared on the tip of the black-haired boy's head.

Kuroo Tetsuro: Who asked him that? So what if he has a girlfriend? (Frustrated JPG)

Humei area —

The current captain, Hattori Jiro, looked ashamed of himself.

Hu Mei's coach rubbed his forehead, feeling that something was likely to go wrong.

The high school seniors looked at each other, then patted each other on the shoulder in unison.

The second-year high school students whispered among themselves, praising on their faces while complaining on their lips.

The first-year high school students felt awkward and chose to turn their backs to avoid looking.

......

"Coach Naoi, a team wants to arrange a practice match!" Kuroo Tetsuro's phone was in his bag, so he simply brought the person to Naoi Manabu first.

Now that there's a coach, these things still need the coach's approval first, but Coach Naoi certainly won't miss this opportunity.

Naoi Manabu was slightly surprised to see the two of them come together. He noticed that the two seemed to get along quite well and assumed that they knew each other.

Naoki carefully examined Tomi's deputy commander.

Unlike others who might assume he only knew a few major teams, Naoi Manabu actually knew all the teams in the Tokyo region.

He knows more about the strong teams than others, and he'll remember the average ones too. High school volleyball is no stranger to dark horses.

Naoi Manabu naturally knew about Tomi's team. It was a versatile team that had always been in the middle of the pack. What was most memorable about them was probably their banner—"Upright and Honest."

The boy in front of me had long, narrow eyes and a very aggressive appearance; he was a rather individualistic child.

The first impression was formed, but the general's subsequent behavior made the young coach overturn his previous ideas.

"Hello Coach," General Yu bowed respectfully. "On behalf of Tomi, I extend a training match invitation to Otoko. We noticed during our training session that Otoko doesn't have many players, so our two teams can train together."

The boy spoke respectfully and was friendly, appearing very sincere and kind.

Kuroo Tetsurou, positioned to the side, raised an eyebrow.

Although he had only known him for a few minutes, he was certain that Daisho Yu's personality was definitely not like this. Even if there was a difference between teachers and students, the difference would never be this outrageous!

To put it simply, Kuroo Tetsuro thought he was pretentious.

Naoi Manabu certainly didn't refuse the invitation. Nekoma really needed practice matches at the moment, so it was good luck that they could arrange a match without much effort.

The coach of Otoko and the coach of Tomi looked at each other from a distance. The coach nodded shyly and walked towards Otoko's direction.

"My name is Da Shui Qing Xin. I am very happy to play a training match with you. It was Da Jiang You who was presumptuous just now."

"We all thought he was joking, but we didn't expect him to actually make the appointment. Of course, we sincerely invited Yinju."

Hu Mei's coach is a typical middle-aged coach. He is of medium height, with short hair that is neatly combed. His facial features are somewhat hard, and his eyes are serious but not sharp.

Naoi Manabu noticed that he habitually folded his hands in front of his body when he spoke.

"It's alright, General Yu is very polite. No wonder the school is called 'Upright and Honest'," Naoi said politely.

"My name is Naoi Manabu, a disciple of Coach Nekomata. Nice to meet you."

The two coaches shook hands, tacitly deciding not to have a match today, since both schools' students had a lot of training today, and there would be no benefit in having a match now.

Seeing that everyone had rested enough, Naoki shouted for his cats to gather. Before they were completely cold, he suggested that they jog for 20 minutes to greatly improve their endurance.

Seeing the cats quickly gather, Coach Tomi suggested that the snakes come along as well.

During their conversation, the two coaches were surprised to discover that they lived very close to each other.

There are very few group stays during Golden Week, and each school's holidays are not fixed. The timing of school holidays is also not fixed; sometimes the school will give a five-day break with adjusted workdays, while other times the school will give a two-day break followed by two more days of work before giving another break.

This coincidence is due to the fact that, apart from the differences in core training, morning and evening training can be done together, and during free training, the players from both teams can also pair up.

"I didn't expect you to be so obedient in front of the coach, baby snake?"

As soon as General Yu approached Kuroo Tetsuro, he was met with a sarcastic remark.

General You retorted without batting an eye, "Meihua also said I'm super polite! By the way, she's my girlfriend!"

"And you? Who did you spend Valentine's Day with?"

Even though the two of them were panting heavily from running, it didn't stop them from teasing each other.

"Of course it's with my childhood friends. I have two wonderful childhood friends. The three of us are always together, no matter what the holiday is."

Kuroo Tetsuro: You think you're the only one who has someone to brag about? Sorry, I have two!

"..." General Yu found that he could not select anything and was even a little choked up. He looked back left and right, trying to find the attack area.

He actually found it. "Speaking of which, the main attacker on your team seems much more composed than you."

I'm talking to you, you buzz-cut guy running behind me with a few kittens!

Hisense's nose inexplicably feels itchy.

"No need to be envious. Our team's vice-captain is just like that—a reliable person. Your team captain must have a tough time!"

Kuroo Tetsuro: Cannot be selected!! Aren't you angry? Aren't you angry? I don't mind at all! I'm even quite pleased! Hahaha!

"...Are you combing your hair so high to lie about your height?"

"Huh?! What did you say?! I'm already 1.83 meters tall!! This is just a hairstyle!"