V1C5 Part3

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3. FAKEKuroba and Haijima hit the big city~

Translation Notes

1. Tohoku is the northeast portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan and consists of Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Hokuriku is the northwest part and consists of Ishikawa, Fukui, Niigata and Toyama

2. A school with an escalator system is one where the school allows you to advance from one stage of education to the next without having to do entrance exams; these kinds of schools are usually private schools

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He could feel the train shaking, but his consciousness seemed to be clouded.

So noisy… The noise around him grew louder, his consciousness, which had been drifting just below the thin film of his dream, popped to the surface. The sounds of people talking in the distance suddenly became clear in his ears. Passengers began to hurriedly move about, returning seats and tables to their original positions and unloading luggage from racks. For a moment, he thought they were in Maibara, but they were supposed to have already passed Maibara and transferred to the bullet train.

I feel kinda…sluggish…?

After he fell asleep and woke up, he suddenly felt sluggish. I felt somewhat tired before getting on the train, but there’s something strange about this… His whole body felt faintly heavy, like it was covered in a leaden shell.

And then the thing he was resting his head on suddenly disappeared, and his entire upper body slumped to the side.

“Ow…”

His temples throbbed where earpieces of his glasses dug into them. One side of his neck muscles was stretched out and stiff. He screwed up his face as he pressed his neck and saw Kuroba’s back in front of him.

“Wow. We’re really in Tokyo. Wow…”

Kuroba leaned toward the window and shouted with child-like glee, and he could see the smoggy sky beyond his head. The skyscrapers in the city center shone in the pale sunlight. The in-train announcements announced their arrival at Tokyo, the last stop. The train temporarily separated from the dazzling cityscape and slid into the neutral-colored platform.

“…Wait, Tokyo!?”

Haijima pushed Kuroba’s back aside and quickly raised his heavy body.

“Why didn’t you wake me up at Shinagawa?”

“Shinagawa? That’s not Tokyo.”

“I told you we’re getting off at Shinagawa. It’s closer from there.”

“Yeah, but the tickets said Tokyo, right?”

“It says ‘Within the wards of Tokyo.’”

“…So, that’s Tokyo…?”

In all probability, Kuroba didn’t have the Tokyo transit map in his head, so there was no point in engaging with him.

He pulled his bag down from the rack and headed for the doors, pushed by the waves of passengers getting off one after another. As he stepped onto the platform, he felt the air flow and realized how stagnant the dense air inside the train had become. It was the first time in a long while that he felt the air of Tokyo. The air filled with the body heat of people in close quarters definitely wasn’t clear, but the sluggishness eased a little when he breathed in the outside air.

Although he wasn’t nearly as provincial as Kuroba, Haijima hadn’t used Tokyo Station much, so he was bewildered. However, they would cause congestion if they stood in place too long. He started walking before looking for the information board, thinking that if he followed the flow of people, he would soon reach the ticket gates for transferring to the non-conventional train lines.

“Hey, don’t leave me behind. I’ll cry if I get lost here. I’ll definitely get lost.”

“If you get lost, turn on your phone. I’ll call you.”

“I never exchanged my email address or phone number with you. I didn’t get a phone until I was in high school.”

“…Is that right? Then, let’s do it now…”

Passersby roughly pushed them out of the way as they were standing in their way talking. He stumbled back two steps, but when he turned around, he saw that Kuroba had disappeared into the crowd.

“Kuro…”

He was overwhelmed by the scenery that zoomed past before his eyes and froze.

He felt as though the world around him was moving at a speed of 1.3 times faster than he was used to. The pace of the people around were extremely hurried, and the train station announcements sounded high-pitched and rapid. He didn’t feel like that when he lived there before, but he wondered if the world had accelerated in the two years he had been away—he felt like he was going to get thrown from this swift current by centrifugal force, and he was subconsciously looking for something to cling to.

Suddenly, his bag was yanked from the side and he was pulled back into the crowd. He felt the strap digging into his stomach and almost threw up, but it kept him connected to the world. He unintentionally let out a sigh of relief.

“I told you not to leave me.” Kuroba was gripping the strap tightly. Well, he’s the one who has a miserable look on his face like a little kid pulling on his mom’s skirt.

“I didn’t leave you…”

I was the one who thought I was left behind for a moment.

***

“Meisei Academy – High School”

The name of the school was engraved in a ceramic board set into the brick wall.

It was just after school, and the open school gates spewed out students in uniforms with the somewhat pretentious designs typical of private schools. On the grounds of the school, they could see students from athletic clubs dressed in jerseys forming large and small groups and coming and going in whichever directions they wished.

If they had gotten off at Nanafu Station this morning and gone to school as usual, they would have finished their day of classes and gone home by now. It had taken them a whole school day to get here. It might have been closer than he thought, or it might have been farther, because a whole school day of classes was quite painful for him.

“This school looks like it could be the setting for a drama. Private schools in Tokyo really are different.”

Kuroba said in a stupid voice, after opening his mouth stupidly and gazing at the school building towering over the gates. Haijima didn’t know how to feel about that impression, since he rarely watched TV dramas, but standing in a corner of a crowd of uniforms with a distinctive color scheme of dark red and grey, he felt like Seiin’s uniform of just a white shirt and black pants really did seem extremely simple. Some carried non-designated bags or backpacks, but the majority carried the dark red school bag on their shoulders.

“The skirts are shorter than I thought. The way they wear their uniforms are different too. What the hell are Itoko and the others copying?” Kuroba muttered as he watched groups of Meisei girls passing through the school gates.

Then, those girls turned to look at them. “Whoa!” Kuroba was startled and leaned towards him.

The girls started chatting with each other and giggling as they pulled on each other’s uniforms that were worn in a different way and looked at them. Haijima felt a chill in the pit of his stomach.

“H-Hey, those Tokyo girls are looking at us. They’re kind of talking happily. Do you think we might be standing out a lot? Maybe that girl over there thinks I’m cute? What should I do if she’s saying something like that?”

He took another look at the girls’ uniforms from behind Kuroba, who was losing his mind and whispering into his ear, and secretly let out a breath. They weren’t in the same year as him—the Meisei girls’ uniform had ties for the middle schoolers and ribbons for the high schoolers, and the school years could be distinguished by the color. He remembered that his own year was dark blue. The ribbons of those girls were dark green. That was probably the third years’ color. If they were two years above him, they probably didn’t know about back then.

Why did I think they were talking about that just because they looked over here and laughed…more than I expected, I’m…

“You know, I got a sense of it when we arrived here, but we’re pretty tall even in Tokyo.”

“Kuroba…I…might be nervous.”

He muttered that in a hoarse voice, and Kuroba’s face turned serious again like he just remembered.

He was trembling slightly, as though the ends of his body were numb. The feeling of stepping on the ground felt light and fluffy. His throat was unusually dry. He didn’t think his body would react like this when he stood before the gates of Meisei—he had never been nervous in a volleyball game.

“…Haijima, you’re not turning back, are you? You understood and came this far, didn’t you?”

It wouldn’t have been strange if the usual Kuroba told him that he could turn back if he didn’t want to do this. He might have been hoping for that somewhere in his mind. But the slightly harsh voice encouraged him.

“I’m the one who spurred you on. I’m not going to make a way out for you. You’re fine with that, right?”

“…”

He nodded. He remembered that, didn’t he.

“Excuse us!”

They heard a voice in the distance. He didn’t think it was calling them, but Kuroba looked back at the gate with a “Nnn?” and Haijima was influenced to look up as well.

“Sorry we’re late, you’re from H High, right? The captain told us to come welcome you…”

Two boys came running towards them from inside the school. They looked like they were from a sports team with their matching T-shirts and knee-length track pants, and both of their heights were in the 170 centimeter range, which was taller than the average height for boys. However, rather than their heights, he guessed that they were volleyball players because of their builds that gave the impression that they were stretching lankily upwards, and they probably judged them to be the same for the same reasons. He could clearly see the logo “MEISEI VOLLEYBALL TEAM” printed across their chests.

They came running up to them in a friendly manner, but seemed to realize they had mistaken them for the people from H High because of their different uniforms, and they immediately looked suspicious.

“Huh? Sorry, which school…”

One of them was about to say when the other boy next to him spoke up.

“…Chika?”

The only people who called him by his childhood nickname were his acquaintances from his elementary and middle school volleyball days in Tokyo. The name itself now sounded like an accusation to Haijima, and his heart twinged. “Huh? Ah…” The boy next to him also stared at his face, and then exclaimed, “Seriously!? It is Chika!”

“…Tetto and, Kou…?”

Haijima called the names of his former teammates.

Komukai Tetsuto and Ikawa Kou. In middle school, their positions were libero and reserve setter respectively. It was no surprise to him that they made it this far. The school had an escalator system, so about seventy percent of the students came from the middle school division. In addition, athletic team students generally participated in the same club activities in both middle and high school. One of Meisei Academy’s selling points was the long-term development of athletes through an integrated junior and senior high school system.

“You’re here to watch us practice, right? I knew you’re still doing volleyball. There’s no way Chika would quit volleyball.”

Komukai took the initiative to speak as he led the way down the tree-lined path towards the gym. The unexpectedly cheerful welcome left Haijima bewildered.

“Go tell everyone, Kou. Chika came to hang out.”

“Isn’t practice about to start? And what are we going to do about the people from H High?”

Ikawa pulled out his phone while sneaking glances at Haijima. Unlike Komukai, he could read a hint of hesitation in Ikawa’s voice.

Komukai, Ikawa, and Haijima walked side by side. Kuroba, looking out of place, walked several steps behind.

It was Komukai who first heard about Yoshino’s suicide attempt and told everyone on the team about it. Haijima also clearly remembered that Komukai was part of the outbreak of people who blamed him for it afterwards. What if I meet someone who knew about what happened at that time? …Will I be treated like a “murderer” again”…? He had been bracing himself for that, but he had no idea what to do with this reaction that made him forget why he even transferred to another school.

“I think I heard that the school you transferred to was in your grandma’s town, but where was it again? It’s in Tohoku, right? Are you going to high school there now?”

“Fukui’s not in Tohoku, it’s in Hokuriku. (1) It’s Fukui’s Seiin High School.”

Kuroba corrected him unhappily from behind. “Who’s that, your friend from there?” Komukai asked. Haijima answered him while looking over his shoulder at Kuroba.

“My high school teammate, Kuroba, …He’s my friend since kindergarten. …And our ace attacker.” Kuroba looked shocked, and he himself wondered why he had said it like they were separate items.

“Wow. Pretty amazing for a first year, ace attacker. I’m Komukai,” Komukai said carefreely, and Ikawa introduced himself with “Hello, I’m Ikawa,” while texting.

“I’ve never heard of Fukui’s Seiin. Are you guys strong?”

“Unh…we still don’t have any achievements yet, but we’ll get there.”

“Our team made it to the Kanto tournament this year, but we finished in the best sixteen.”

“That’s the power of the upperclassmen, you mean. Did you do anything?”

He interjected because he felt something off about the way he said it. Komukai, who had been talking smoothly, broke off. Ikawa looked up from his phone as though he was startled.

Komukai shrugged his shoulders as though he was exasperated for some reason.

“That part of you hasn’t changed at all.”

“…What do you mean by ‘that part’?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Unlike Seiin, Meisei didn’t have a shortage of freshmen on the bench. It was the efforts of the older students that got them to the Kanto Tournament, and he was sure that was why the older students were so disappointed that they finished in the best sixteen. The only people who could say “in the end” were the players themselves. He felt that there was something wrong about someone who hadn’t contributed to that talking in a self-depreciating way about it…was that wrong?

Suddenly, the back of his collar was grabbed and yanked hard. Haijima stumbled as Kuroba thrust his face between them and cut into the conversation.

“Hey, more importantly, is that Yoshino guy here today?”

“Yoshino? Oh, Yoshino Souta? Well, he doesn’t go here, but…he went some place near my house. You’re still in touch with him, right, Kou?”

“Ah, yeah, he went to a different high school.”

“What…but this place has an escalator system, doesn’t it?” (2)

“Yeah, but Souta quit the volleyball team.”

Ikawa timidly replied to Kuroba’s naïve question, and Komukai supplemented it. “It gets tough when you change clubs midway here. It’s perfectly fine to change, but it’s assumed that in high school you’d be staying in the same club.”

One step behind the three of them, Haijima was rooted to the spot like he had been thrown out of the conversation.

He’s lying, right…? Souta quit volleyball…?

He had just taken it for granted that he would be in Meisei High School’s volleyball team, and no other option had ever crossed his mind. When he thought about, of course there would be other options, but he never doubted that Yoshino would continue to play volleyball.

“…Was it, because, of that…?”

His voice became a lump and got stuck in his throat, causing him to speak in a strangely clumsy way. His vocal chords were blocked by something hard and he could only speak in chunks. He got these symptoms from time to time. The words hardened inside his body. Kuroba looked back at him and gave him a worried look. Komukai looked at Ikawa with a puzzled look on his face, and Ikawa whispered, “You know, Souta’s…incident,” while minding him.

“Incident? Oh, that—.”

Komukai lightly responded and scratched his head with a forced smile.

“I’m surprised, Chika, you still care about that. Uh, yeah, that doesn’t have anything to do with this, I think, because that was…what do you call it, a performance, you know? We did a lot of research on the internet to find out where you can cut and not be in too much danger. Half the team knew about it. Kou, you knew it too, right?”

“I, I didn’t know about it…”

“Souta’s not here anymore, so I can say this now, right? Well, we were talking about how no matter how dense Chika is, even he’d get it if someone died. Then we got excited and decided that someone should really do it and Souta volunteered. Well, even we were turned off when he really did it, but Souta probably couldn’t back down either——”

…? What is he…?

He spoke so lightly that it slid smoothly over the surface of his ears before he could grasp the meaning of his words. What…is he talking about…? Is he talking about something that he can confess about with a half-smile like that right now? Komukai’s face was twisting and looking like a grotesque creature spouting unintelligible words. It’s disgusting——. Komukai’s face was twisting and looking like a grotesque creature spouting unintelligible words. It’s disgusting——.

A tall shadow flashed at the edge of his vision. Komukai’s slippery voice was cut short with a short cry.

“What the hell is that!? Is that true!?”

The one who grabbed Komukai’s collar and shouted that was Kuroba.

“Do you guys even know the difference between things you can joke about and things you can’t…”

“What’s it got to do with you? We didn’t think Chika would transfer to another school with just that back then…”

“With just that…!?” Growling that as though squeezing the words out from between his grinding teeth, Kuroba raised his fist.

“Hey, what’s with this guy? Oi, Chika…” Komukai asked for help while covering his face with his arms. If I don’t stop him—even if he’s still suspected of fighting, it’s absolutely no good for him to cause trouble at another school. Are you saying that this is for you alone? Did it become like this because you want to be in a game? No…this is wrong, Kuroba, no—his voice was stuck in his throat and he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move his body.

“Oi, what are you guys doing!?”

When a suspicious-sounding voice came flying from somewhere, he got impelled by it and somehow managed to step forward. He jumped at Kuroba while getting his legs tangled up and grabbed his arms. He shook his head slightly and appealed with his eyes to Kuroba, who ground his teeth in dissatisfaction. Kuroba clicked his tongue and loosened his hold on Komukai.

The wall of the gym could be seen at the end of the tree-lined path. Someone who appeared to be an older student on the volleyball team was standing in front of the metal doors of the entrance.

“Komukai, Ikawa? Where did you guys go! The guys from H High are already here, so there’s no point in making me go to welcome them.”

“Huh, really? Then we must have just missed them!”

While answering the angry shout with one of his own, Komukai tried to keep a distance from Kuroba, but Kuroba roughly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “What the hell?” he protested, but his voice was quiet and he backed off.

The upperclassmen looked at them warily, since they came into the school wearing the uniforms of another school, but when he saw Haijima’s face, he seemed to recall something and he turned back to the gym and said something. It was then that Haijima also recalled the name of that team member. His name was Tatsumi and he was one year older than him. In middle school, Haijima had been on the bench since early in his first year and became the regular setter when the third years retired. In the high school, the upper and lower members would have remained almost unchanged, so there were probably not a few upperclassmen who remembered standing on the court with him.

Some more members came out of the gym as Tatsumi called them. He couldn’t make out the conversation, but the words “Haijima” and “Chika” kept leaking out.

“What’s with them, they’re acting like you’re a panda in a zoo.”

Kuroba muttered, sounding like he was unable to clear away his anger.

“Don’t you know, they’re wondering who’s that guy who looks like a delinquent from the boonies over there.”

When Komukai said that snidely, Kuroba pushed his shoulder with an indignant look and shoved him away. As Komukai was trying to straighten his stretched-out T-shirt while grumbling, Kuroba made a gesture of driving him away with his foot. Just when Haijima wondered what he was going to say,

“Go tell them that Haijima and Kuroba from Seiin High School, the representative of Fukui Prefecture, came to challenge Meisei High School!”

“Hah?”

Komukai cried out wildly.

“You’re challenging us? Are you stupid? Where the hell is Seiin anyways?”

“I really don’t like the way Tokyo people say ‘stupid.’”

He put his face closer to Komukai’s, almost hanging over him, to silence him and reiterated it in a tone filled with intimidation.

“Didn’t you hear me? We’re Haijima and Kuroba from Seiin High School, representing Fukui Prefecture, have come to challenge Tokyo’s Meisei High. Now, go.”

He half-kicked Komukai’s behind and made him run. Ikawa looked back and forth between them as he hurriedly chased after him. “Keh,” Kuroba mimicked spitting at their backs before turning to him.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

He said with a sigh. He didn’t know what kind of face he was making because the nerve in his face had gone off somewhere.

“I know. I know that we can’t commit violence. That’s why, if you want to beat them up, you beat them in a match. That’s the way in sports manga, right? Don’t tell me you’re just gonna slink back home like this, Haijima? After you…got looked down on like that.”

When the corners of his mouth lifted to show his canines and made a disturbed face that looked like a combination of anger and a faint smile—he had never thought this even once until then, but he discovered that he looked exactly like Kuroba Yorimichi.

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