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4. STAND BY METhe last epilogue chapter and the very last chapter of Season 1, back to the basics with Kuroba and Haijima! You know what that means…it’s almost Fukuho Time

Since school is starting soon, I’ll be taking another break. Not sure when I’ll start on Season 2 but I’ll probably get the prologue out before the end of this year

I think it’s kind of frustrating when an adaptation of a work doesn’t get much attention (and didn’t adapt the work in a way that brings out its strengths) and so people dismiss the work as a whole and not pay attention to it. I don’t know if there will still be people reading my translations next year or the year after, or even if I will still be translating it, but I’m happy that my translations brought something to people who want more after watching the anime

And feel free to make your own epubs/pdfs bc it’s going to take a while for me to do it lol

Translation Notes

1. Haijima’s first name (公誓) broken down into their individual kanji: 公 (ooyake) means public, official, common and 誓 (chikai) means vow or pledge. 公に誓う therefore means “pledging in public”

The floor of the school gym was covered with lines for several different sports, but Haijima’s eyes ignored the unnecessary lines and focused only on the white lines that indicated the volleyball court. Even the job of mopping the gym floor was a blessing for the current Haijima. He thought of it as a procedure to make the court his own, so mopping didn’t feel like a chore. This court, which he had polished himself, would become something that obeyed him.

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After taking the time to mop the entire gym, he took the mop to the side of the court and took off his shoes. He walked in his socks to the middle of the court with his shoes hanging from his hands. He sat down on the attack line and laid down, his limbs sprawled out. He could feel the cold, hard floor directly against his elbows and calves, exposed by his T-shirt and shorts. The unlit ceiling had been dim until a while ago, but as he cleaned, the lingering morning light began to shine strongly.

He breathed in and thought to himself, We can practice in here starting today. Volleyball that’s played in the gym, not outside, really is the best.

Tap…tap. Still lying down, he hit the floor with the soles of his shoes in his left and right hands once.

…Oh, this.

It occurred to him to do it again, but at a faster tempo. Tap-tap-tap tap. First with the left, then with the right, and the third step with the left and right foot almost at the same time. Tap-tap-tap tap.

Kuroba’s face suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

“…What the heck are you doing with your shoes off?”

“…Nothing really,” he answered after blinking rapidly. “Just playing.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kuroba frowned. “I thought you collapsed. Don’t scare me.” He sat down next to him, purposely making a thump noise, and threw him the ball he had with him. While looking upward, Haijima began to do overhand passes over his face.

“When I got home last night…I got a call. From my dad.”

“Oh. What did you talk about?”

“He got angry at me. Because I didn’t go see him. He asked me why I went to Tokyo and left without calling him.”

“Well, of course he’d be angry.”

“No…my dad hasn’t gotten angry with me since Mom died. I was a little surprised. He told me that next time, I definitely have to call him, and bring…my friends with me.”

It was the first time he talked to his dad on the phone for that long. He could feel that his dad was unusually trying very hard to communicate with him. Well, I say long, but it was five minutes at most, and the atmosphere was very uncomfortable. He was surprised that he knew more about his current status than expected, such as about school and club activities. He felt that he was worried about him. His dad seemed to have done some research in his own way and mentioned a Kanto university that accepted recommendations for volleyball.

Well, it’s still too early to think about university, he thought. I still haven’t done a single thing I want to do in high school yet.

First, he was aiming to breathe new life into the high school volleyball world and leave a mark on its history. Leaving the school name, Fukui’s Seiin High School, and the name his parents gave him, Haijima Kimichika—which meant “pledging in public.” (1)

“Making good on one’s promise.” It was his elementary school homeroom teacher who told him that his name might mean something like that. My mom passed away before I could find that out, and I never talked to my dad about it. Grandma might know about it, so I might ask her next time…

“Anyways, we’ll start by breaking through the prefecture. We’ll tear down the unbeaten record of F Tech, who are the regular representatives. And then there’s the second-best schools, H High, T Tech and K High… From what I’ve seen at the Autumn Tournament, these four schools are the ones we should watch out for. We can’t dawdle in the prefecture…”

He felt Kuroba’s gaze on him and cut himself off. He caught the ball, which he had rhythmically flicking with the fingers of both hands over his forehead, and then looked over the ball and saw Kuroba looking down at him with an amazed expression.

“…Am I living too fast?”

Haijima asked, becoming a bit meek. In actuality, it had been on his mind since yesterday. He felt like what Kuroba said to him and what Yoshino said to him at the hospital had the same meaning—

Somewhere in my heart, I’m afraid that volleyball will betray me one day, so maybe I’m trying to do everything I want to do before it betrays me, and maybe that’s why I can’t stand still like this.

That was what he thought after he was told those things.

“No, I think you’re fine like that, right now.”

Kuroba said, and he suddenly raised his eyebrows and smiled wryly. He raised his arms and stretched with an “Mmm—“, then put his hands behind his back and looked up at the ceiling. Is this okay? Haijima wondered doubtfully while getting drawn in and also turning his eyes towards the ceiling.

“I had a little talk with Oda-senpai. Somehow, he taught me something even I can understand. According to him, high school first year, second year, and third year have completely different meanings—”

—

——“Well, I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I’ve really felt this since I became a third-year. For example, even if you achieve the same result against an opponent in the same tournament, whether you do it in your first year and second year, or second year and third year, it will be absorbed into your mind as something completely different. I don’t know how it’ll be when we’re adults, but I don’t think we’ll truly be able to carry over to the next year what we can’t do this year. I think Haijima instinctively knows that. That’s probably why he lives his life like that…it’s like he’s trying to gather as much as he can absorb this moment and then running as fast as he can. Isn’t he fine like that, right now——”

—

The words Kuroba spoke as he chewed on them within himself seeped into Haijima, and the warmth of them melted away the unease in his heart.

Tap-tap-tap tap.

The soles of his shoes slapped against the floor in a light tempo.

Kuroba took off his own shoes, and like Haijima before him, he took them in his hands and tapped them against the floor. Tap-tap-tap tap. Right shoe, left shoe, and then right and left at almost the same time. It was the opposite from what Haijima had done.

He turned towards him and grinned.

“That’s the tempo of a three-step run-up, right?”

He noticed? Haijima thought, and there was a smile on his face too. He was ambidextrous, but his jump serve was left-handed, so he used his left foot, right foot, and finally his left and right feet at the same time. Kuroba was right-handed, so it was the other way around.

With the tap-tap-tap tap, he sunk his knees, converted the energy stored in his three joints to force that was directed upwards, and took off——.

He lightly set the ball on his forehead once, caught it gently and deeply with the taped fingers of both hands, then stretched out his elbows and set it high above him. At the same time as the set, Kuroba stomped his shoes in his hands next to him.

Tap-tap-tap tap!

The third step kicked the ground powerfully, chased the ball that was being sucked into the ceiling, and took off.

For a moment, he could really see Kuroba jumping in the gaps between his fingers. He pulled his right elbow back and arched his body, transforming his whole body into a strong bow in midair—the black Seiin High School with the number “7” on the back ran up to the light shining down from the ceiling. It was as though the black shadow had gained wings of light, and it took his breath away. Haijima strained his eyes as hard as he could, trying not to lose sight of that beautiful creature.

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