After Hayato took the court, Karasuno, riding a hot streak, crushed Ikawa by a wide margin. But Nekoma and Fukurōdani teamed up to hand them two straight losses, proving with their strength exactly why powerhouse schools were powerhouses. Fortunately, Karasuno quickly regrouped afterward.
The third day of practice matches ended with Karasuno winning five out of ten sets. The problems exposed today were the same old ones: Karasuno's offense could be considered among the best of these teams, but their fatal defensive issues became even more obvious whenever Nishinoya rotated out and Daichi and Hayato were on the bench.
Reducing the two of their playing time today was exactly why they had been unable to widen the score gap. But it was only the third day of camp, and Karasuno still had time to adjust everyone's condition. During individual practice, every player added several extra receiving drills for themselves.
Hinata and Tsukishima went with Bokuto from Fukurōdani again to practice three-on-three. Hayato did not join in this time, though. He had talked with Kuroo and the others that afternoon, and Shiratorizawa's Ushijima was even stronger than he had imagined. In terms of the power behind jump float serves and spikes alone, Hayato was no slouch, but both Kuroo and Bokuto agreed that Ushijima still had the greater power.
So, to strengthen the power of his serve, he began increasing his serving practice that day.
Just then, Hinata spotted Kageyama practicing sets by himself and decisively came over, saying he wanted to help Hayato practice spiking. Hayato welcomed the offer, telling Kageyama to set up some bottles for setting practice first. Once he had finished a hundred serves, he would come find him.
Of course, Kageyama was more than willing to help a senior train. After asking Hitoka to help arrange the bottles and then toss him the ball, Kageyama began practicing on his own as well.
After completing a hundred serves, Hayato, who was feeling good, called over Kageyama, who was still practicing. The two began their spike practice. This time, Hayato intended to hit with more force, but unfortunately, while he could still accurately aim his spikes at his current power, increasing that power made the trajectory much harder to control.
Halfway through practice, even Nishinoya joined in, wanting to practice receives with Hayato. Individual practice immediately turned into group practice. After training for a while longer, their stomachs began protesting, and everyone finally stopped to go eat dinner together.
Over the following days, Karasuno continued rotating its lineup as usual, winning some matches and losing others. By the morning of the final day of the summer training camp, Karasuno had climbed to second place overall.
No. 1: Fukurōdani: 45 wins, 19 losses No. 2: Karasuno: 42 wins, 22 losses No. 3: Nekoma: 38 wins, 26 losses No. 4: Ikawa: 29 wins, 35 losses No. 5: Shinzen: 21 wins, 43 losses
Judging from their current record, Karasuno's strength had improved enormously. They were only three sets behind Fukurōdani, and Nekoma had lost to them several times. That was with Karasuno constantly rotating players in and out.
Friday morning only had training for half the day. After lunch, Karasuno would set off back to Miyagi.
Thanks to Captain Daichi leaking the news ahead of time, everyone knew they would be having a barbecue feast at noon. After a week of long, intense training, everyone's mental and physical energy had nearly been drained. Now that a barbecue feast awaited them as a reward, the single-celled group led by Hinata had been practically shining-eyed since morning.
During the final set, Karasuno's single-celled crew looked as if the words "barbecue" were practically carved into their eyes. Driven by grilled meat, they crushed Shinzen by a wide margin and finished the final match of the summer training camp.
Seeing how excited they were, Coach Ukai and Teacher Takeda exchanged helpless smiles. They had originally planned to keep it secret, but it seemed Karasuno's club members already knew. Winning the match on the power of barbecue was not such a bad thing.
After their final training session, the players chatted as they brought out desks, ingredients, tableware, and grills and set everything up. The managers had already shaped the rice balls, then cut the various vegetables into barbecue-sized pieces.
The teachers and coaches stood in a row and called everyone over. Nekoma's elderly Coach Nekomata took the lead in speaking.
"You've all worked hard through this week of training. When you're hungry, anything tastes good. Go ahead and reward your muscles."
"Let's eat!"
The meat and vegetables had long since been placed on the grills and were nearly done. After everyone shouted together, they eagerly grabbed disposable plates and chopsticks and began eating.
Kageyama ate so much meat that he choked. Fukurōdani's setter Akaashi, who was beside him and seemed to notice everything, hurriedly handed him some water. Bokuto, silently hunting like an owl, successfully snatched grilled meat from a cat's mouth, making Kuroo grab his collar and curse him out.
"Bokuto! You bastard! You actually stole my meat!"
The managers carried plates around, handing out rice balls. Fukurōdani's big-eater manager, the short-haired Shirafuku Yukie, grabbed two rice balls at once and finished them in three or four bites. According to rumors, she was also a little rich girl. Bokuto often borrowed money from her and always forgot to pay it back.
Over on the other side, Kiyoko's guard squad gained a new member today: Nekoma's Yamamoto Taketora, with his mohawk hairstyle. As Tanaka's friend, he and Tanaka knelt before Nishinoya and listened to their captain deliver his orders.
"Absolutely do not let anyone casually approach Kiyoko-senpai at a time like this. Understood?"
"Of course. Right, Taketora?"
"That's right, Ryu."
The result was that Kiyoko was eating barbecue with Hayato, and when Hayato choked a little on his food, she even handed him some water.
"Hey, that refined beauty from Karasuno has a boyfriend, right?"
"The one eating with her is a Karasuno second-year, isn't he?"
"Could they be dating with the girl older than the guy?"
The others' chatter drifted over. Before the guard squad trio could do anything, they all dropped to their knees and turned into white sand that scattered with the wind.
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi saw the three's miserable state from nearby.
"Whoa... that's so tragic."
While eating the rice ball in his hand, Yamaguchi offered the three his condolences.
Tsukishima, sitting on the steps with his chin propped on one hand, was unconcerned.
"That was pretty predictable, wasn't it? Kuroba-senpai and Kiyoko-senpai are childhood friends, and they're especially close."
Daichi came over first, holding a plate piled high with meat and rice balls.
"Tsukishima, eat some more."
Kuroo came over too.
"Don't forget your vegetables."
"Meat. Eat more meat, Atsuki."
Bokuto, using the double-tongs technique to hold meat, came over to join the commotion.
"Um, I really can't eat anymore."
Tsukishima's answer did not register with the three captains at all. They urged him on like a group of uncles at a family gathering, and the scene was quite cheerful for a while.
Hitoka-chan was not nearly as happy. Tall people were everywhere, and she wandered around like a small animal being hunted. Her expression was both frightened and hungry, but fortunately, Hayato had spotted her long ago.
After calling Hitoka over, he shared several plates of meat and vegetables he had brought with her. With tears in her eyes, Hitoka held her plate and repeatedly thanked her senior for his kindness.
At last, she had gotten the barbecue she had dreamed of.
"Mmm~ barbecue~ so good~"
With chopsticks in her mouth, Hitoka looked just like a little white rabbit.
The female manager group on the other side was equally enviable. The sight of the girls laughing and eating made the boys' hearts race, but when they looked toward Hayato, their envy immediately turned to burning anger.
The two managers surrounded Hayato. In truth, only Kiyoko was eating with Hayato; Hitoka was merely tagging along.
"Damn it, both the refined beauty and the cute beauty are beside that guy."
"Ah, I'm so jealous. So envious."
Hayato, focused on dealing with the barbecue in front of him, seemed to notice everyone's stares. He looked at the boys, then at the two girls beside him. After thinking for a moment, he gave the boys a thumbs-up and winked.
The result was that the boys collectively came over and dragged Hayato away.
"Sorry, you two. We'll be borrowing Kuroba-kun for a bit."
Hayato had long since gotten used to hanging around with these guys, so he did not mind. After a week of continuous high-intensity training, fooling around once or twice to relax was harmless enough. But he had underestimated the boys' jealousy. Those heartless bastards actually lifted him up to play the Alba game.
There was no way he could let them succeed. Planting his feet against a tree trunk, Hayato immediately surrendered.
"My mistake, my mistake! Don't do this, it'll kill me!"
"Too late. Accept your punishment."
"Hey, Nishinoya, Tanaka, you two betrayed me too? Nooo~"
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