On the first day of the summer training camp, Karasuno temporarily topped the rankings with an excellent record of six wins in ten matches. Kiyoko carefully wrote down the exact scores in her notebook.
No. 1: Karasuno: 6 wins, 4 losses No. 2: Fukurōdani: 5 wins, 5 losses No. 3: Nekoma: 4 wins, 6 losses No. 4: Ikawa: 3 wins, 7 losses No. 5: Shinzen: 3 wins, 7 losses
The last two teams were naturally unwilling to accept this. After training ended, Shinzen and Ikawa's players stayed behind for individual practice. Karasuno's players were unwilling to fall behind either. Fortunately, there were other gymnasiums available; Morisaki High School was well-funded and had three gymnasiums on campus.
Having finished his matches, Hayato had no intention of training. He planned to eat dinner first. The managers from each team had already put their cooking skills to use and prepared dinner in the cafeteria, just waiting for everyone to arrive. As he reached the third gymnasium, someone called out to him. Sure enough, it was the Bokuto-Kuroo duo.
"Hey, Kuroba-kun, could you help us practice blocking?"
"You were outstanding today. How about it? Interested in playing a couple more rounds with us?"
Kuroo waved Hayato over, while Bokuto looked especially eager. He had faced Hayato head-on several times today.
"Ah, well, I'm a little hungry. I was planning to eat first. How about asking someone else, senpai?"
They were both third-years, so Hayato, as a second-year, naturally had to address them as senpai. It was different from Karasuno. They were not familiar with one another yet, so he could not be too casual.
He had intended to use that excuse to get away, but the two of them simply walked over, each grabbing one of his arms and dragging him into the gymnasium. There was no way he could refuse them now.
Just then, Tsukishima came over after resting, since he was not doing individual training either. It looked like he was heading to dinner as well.
"Senpai, how about bringing one more person and playing three-on-three?"
Akaashi was also in the gymnasium, setting for Bokuto, along with Lev, who was supposed to practice receiving under Kuroo's guidance. With Hayato and Tsukishima, they had exactly enough people. Both of them brightened at the suggestion.
Tsukishima, on the other hand, instantly made a disgusted face when he heard Hayato selling him out.
"Um, I..."
Before he could voice the excuse he had prepared, Kuroo provoked him with a single sentence: "You're a middle blocker too. Shouldn't you practice your blocking more?" Then Hayato finished him off by saying, "How could our Tsukishima possibly be weak at blocking?" Their coordinated attack completely cut off Tsukishima's escape route.
Provoked, Tsukishima joined the three-on-three match.
Considering the teams, Bokuto, Hayato, and Lev formed one side, while Kuroo, Akaashi, and Tsukishima formed the other. That evenly distributed two players from each school between the teams.
"Oh, an interesting lineup. Kuroba, even though we're teammates, I won't lose to you."
Bokuto was not disappointed at being unable to face Hayato directly. Being on the same team as someone evenly matched with him had its own kind of fun, didn't it?
The winners of rock-paper-scissors served first. Kuroo's team won the right to serve.
They started by sending over a free ball. Bokuto set to Hayato, but Hayato's spike was touched by Kuroo and Tsukishima. Akaashi set the ball up, and Kuroo jumped to spike. Bokuto stood in the backcourt, while the two giants over 190 centimeters tall in front leaped to block like an Iron Wall. Unfortunately, that Iron Wall had far too many weaknesses. Kuroo aimed directly for the gap between Lev's hands and broke through the block. Bokuto was too late to save it from the back, and Kuroo scored.
"Damn it, they got the first point."
"Yeah!"
Kuroo celebrated happily, while Bokuto was annoyed at giving up the point. Then Kuroo lectured Lev again, telling him not to leave such a large gap between his hands when blocking. He raised both hands to demonstrate what a standard block was supposed to look like.
After they played three-on-three for a while, Bokuto, whose spike had once again been blocked by the Kuroo-Tsukishima combination, stopped playing and folded his arms across his chest.
"Hmm~~ Glasses, your ability to predict the ball's path is impressive, but your blocking is a little weak."
"Senpai, our side is still ahead."
Tsukishima's counterattack did not hurt Bokuto at all. After Bokuto added that most of the blocks had been Kuroo's, Tsukishima said that he was still growing and had room to develop in both strength and height.
"Can you really afford to be so relaxed? Be careful that little runt doesn't steal all the spotlight."
Kuroo did not mean it maliciously. He did not mention Hayato because Hayato was a Wing Spiker, so their positions did not conflict. Hinata, another middle blocker, was Tsukishima's real rival.
"There's nothing I can do about that. Hinata's talent is far better than mine."
Hearing those familiar words, Hayato knew Tsukishima must be upset. At that moment, Nekoma's players entered the gymnasium.
"Looks like you don't need my help anymore. I'll be going, then."
"Uh, I think we pushed him a little too far, Kuroo-senpai."
Watching Tsukishima walk out of the gymnasium, Hayato complained from behind the net. Kuroo scratched his head.
"I didn't expect it either. Tsukishima-kun from your club actually thinks he's inferior to Hinata. Hinata is still at fledgling level when it comes to both technique and experience. Tsukishima-kun, on the other hand, has height, a good head on his shoulders, and seems to have plenty of experience playing volleyball. Yet he actually thinks that."
"Hmm, I don't really know the exact reason either. I'll go check on him."
After saying goodbye to Kuroo and the others, whom he had grown considerably closer to, Hayato left the gymnasium as well. He had not gone far when he spotted Tsukishima ahead of him.
"Tsukishima."
Hayato called out. He had expected Tsukishima to stop, but instead, Tsukishima walked even faster, as if he had not heard him at all.
Catching up to Tsukishima, Hayato patted him on the shoulder. Though it was quiet, Hayato still heard the faint click of Tsukishima's tongue when he turned around.
"Kuroba-senpai, is there something you need?"
Hayato did not mind Tsukishima's gloomy expression.
"About what you said before you suddenly left just now. Do you really think that?"
"You mean about me being inferior to Hinata?"
"Yeah. Why would you think that?"
Tsukishima sighed after hearing that, then pushed up his glasses.
"Kuroba-senpai, when you got involved in Hinata and Kageyama's conflict before, I realized that you really like meddling in other people's affairs. But if someone does not want to discuss something, are you still going to force them to?"
His tone remained polite, but he might as well have directly said that Hayato was being nosy.
"We're a team. Our goal is the National Championship. Besides, what's wrong with taking better care of cute underclassmen?"
As though he had not caught Tsukishima's hidden meaning, Hayato looked him in the face and spoke seriously.
They stared at one another without saying anything more. In the end, Tsukishima was the one who gave in.
"Senpai, this is only a club activity."
"So?"
Faced with Hayato's question, Tsukishima thought for a moment.
"So someone like you, with talent and ability, someone who could be called perfectly suited for volleyball, working hard in club activities for the sake of winning a championship—I understand that. But I... don't have that kind of talent."
"Tsukishima, do you like volleyball?"
The sudden shift in topic made Tsukishima pause. Before he could answer, Hayato spoke first.
"When I first started, I didn't like it that much either."
What came to mind was not Hayato's own memory, but the memories of the person who had come before him.
"Whether it was receiving or attacking, I had to practice over and over. The training was always intense. Sometimes, I wondered why I was even practicing volleyball. Then one day, our team gave everything we had and defeated our opponent. While I was cheering, I suddenly realized just how happy I was."
Hayato was talking about his past, but Tsukishima mistook it for what Hayato had experienced during that year. To improve into an ace player in just one year, one could only imagine how much effort he had put in.
"That was when I realized that I liked volleyball. I was willing to work hard to become stronger. Do you know, Tsukishima? Talent determines your ceiling, but effort determines your floor."
Those words had touched Tsukishima, but they were not enough. So Hayato added the final weight.
"Even though you talk about talent and ability, you still joined the Volleyball Club, didn't you? You're smart and physically gifted, Tsukishima. You could have joined any other sports club. But you neither chose another sport nor ran away from yourself. You chose the Volleyball Club of your own will, didn't you?"
Tsukishima fell silent. That was right. Even after everything he had gone through, he had still chosen volleyball. Not anything else, and not running away. He had still joined the Volleyball Club.
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