Leisure Time

When they parted, the captains of Nekoma and Karasuno shook hands and thanked each other, agreeing to meet again at the National Championship. Then the friendly atmosphere turned into a dark aura of, "We'll be the ones to win."

During the week, Hinata had made friends with many people and waved goodbye to everyone before leaving. Bokuto, meanwhile, stopped Hayato.

"Kuroba, after playing so many matches against us, you can't just lose to Shiratorizawa and Ushijima, got it?"

"Don't worry, Bokuto-senpai! We'll defeat Shiratorizawa and advance to the nationals!"

Hinata, who had come over, puffed out his chest and answered first. Hayato rested an arm on top of Hinata's head.

"You sure talk big, Shoyo, the worst receiver on Karasuno."

"Ugh, senpai, I've improved a lot already."

Hinata weakly protested after being struck where it hurt. Seeing that, Hayato ruffled his hair and left him with a single remark: he still had a long way to go.

Over there, Nekoma's Yamamoto Taketora, the newest member of Kiyoko's guard squad, and Tanaka clung to each other and wept.

"See you at the nationals, my dear friend."

"Yeah!"

Beside them, Tsukishima calmly pointed out,

"Can't we come train during winter break after we make it through the qualifiers?"

That was true. Since Karasuno had made the top sixteen at the national tournament, they only needed to play two matches in the first preliminary round on August 11 during summer break. Their first match was a bye, and as long as they won both matches, they could advance to the prefectural Representative Selection Tournament in October. If they passed the tournament, Karasuno would represent Miyagi Prefecture at the National Championship.

Japan's Spring High School Volleyball League, known simply as Spring High, was a national tournament exclusively for volleyball. The Summer High School League they had previously lost to Aoba Johsai in was the All-Japan National High School Comprehensive Athletic Meet, which included all kinds of sports.

So this was Daichi and the other third-years' final chance.

Once they boarded the bus, everyone quickly fell asleep. The week-long training camp had left them completely exhausted. This time, Hayato did not sit with Kiyoko. He leaned against the window and rested with an eye mask on.

Long bus rides were always dull and tedious. By the time they finally returned to school and woke the club members who were still asleep, everyone stretched and yawned. After taking all their luggage off the bus, Teacher Takeda did not say much.

"Everyone worked hard this week. I won't say too much. You'll have tomorrow off to rest. All right, you're dismissed now. Be careful on your way home."

"Yes! Thank you for your hard work!"

It was a habit among athletic clubs for everyone to answer loudly together, but Teacher Takeda hurriedly stopped them. It was already late, and they would disturb the neighbors if they were too loud.

Everyone dispersed and headed home. Hinata rode the bicycle he had left in the school bike shed and took Hitoka home.

"Hinata, do your best."

"Of course!"

On the way home, Hinata pushed his bike along while chatting with Hitoka. For some reason, seeing Hitoka made him suddenly think of their conversation during the training camp about people they liked.

Unfortunately, volleyball-filled Hinata only turned the matter over in his mind once before tossing it right back out.

Walking home with a girl in his grade should have been such a romantic thing, but one of them was a volleyball idiot and the other had no thoughts in that direction either. In the end, they only talked about volleyball.

Hayato and Kiyoko, on the other hand, were different. Hayato carried both his and Kiyoko's luggage over his shoulders, while his free hand was interlocked with hers. The two strolled beneath the streetlights.

"Everyone in the Volleyball Club has improved so noticeably."

"Yeah. Kiyoko-senpai, you must have taken down quite a lot these past few days. I never saw that notebook leave your hands."

Mentioning the notebook, Kiyoko naturally began talking about everyone's training over the past week. Hayato did not interrupt her, simply smiling as he listened. Their homes were close to the school, and since it was already so late, they could not go to the shopping street to buy ingredients.

Before long, they reached Hayato's front door. After returning Kiyoko's luggage, Hayato hugged her.

"I'm heading in, Kiyoko-senpai. Good night."

Caught in Hayato's sudden embrace, Kiyoko did not resist. Instead, she gently stroked his back. After Hayato let go, she smiled at him as well.

"Mm, good night. Go take a bath and get some proper rest."

After returning home, Hayato took everything out of his luggage and put it away. He was about to run a bath when he opened the tap, then went to the kitchen to take out some ingredients he had bought earlier from the refrigerator. He simply made himself a bowl of udon with fried shrimp tempura. It was summer, and he could not be bothered to make anything too troublesome.

While cooking, he also made a trip to the bathroom to turn off the tap. The bathtub was already full of hot water. After finishing dinner and leaving the dishes in the sink, he first enjoyed a comfortable hot bath. Then he changed into pajamas, returned to his room, did an hour of summer homework, and, seeing that it was about time, lay down on his bed to sleep.

Even Hayato felt sore all over after a full week of continuous training. And besides training, he had extra exercise to do every morning and evening.

He slept straight through until ten in the morning before waking up groggily. Picking up the phone beside his pillow, he found several unread messages. As expected, they were from the two stamina freaks, Hinata and Kageyama. At six in the morning, they had asked whether Hayato wanted to go practice at old man Ukai's place with them.

"Those two idiots only have volleyball in their heads. Do they even know what resting means?"

He cursed them with a smile, then replied and told them to get some proper rest. A day off was meant to let their bodies recover fully so they could train better afterward, though that definitely would not work on those two.

Before long, the messages were marked as read. Both replied that they would train for a little longer, though who knew how long that "little longer" would actually be.

Ignoring them, Hayato washed up first, then cleaned the dishes from yesterday. After breakfast, he planned to give the house a thorough cleaning. He had been away for a week, so it was time to tidy the place up.

He took his bedding outside to air in the yard and happened to run into Kiyoko as she was heading out. Seeing that she was still dressed in sportswear, Hayato did not think much of it. Although Kiyoko dressed up carefully whenever they went out together, that did not mean she never wore sportswear outside. Hayato would not interfere excessively with her choices.

"Morning, Kiyoko-senpai."

"It's already noon. Did you just wake up?"

Kiyoko smiled as she watched Hayato beat the quilt with a rattan carpet beater and guessed that he had only just gotten up.

"As far as I'm concerned, whenever I wake up counts as morning. Hehe, we've got a day off, so I slept a bit longer. Where are you going, Kiyoko-senpai? I'll come with you."

"Sure. My mom asked me to run an errand and buy ingredients for hot pot. We're having hot pot tonight. Want to come?"

Kiyoko raised the small notebook in her hand as she invited him. The moment he heard they were having hot pot, Hayato agreed without hesitation.

"Of course I do!"

He set the carpet beater down on the porch, entered the house through the glass sliding door facing the yard to change clothes, then came back out through the entrance. After locking up, he accompanied Kiyoko toward the shopping street.

"Oh, right. In a few days, the Spring High committee is coming to our school to take some photos for their materials."

As they walked, Kiyoko suddenly remembered and told Hayato.

The so-called materials were just a team photo and registration information for the new players. Karasuno was not qualified for individual coverage like Ushijima yet. This booklet would be handed out to each high school before the tournament and sold at the entrance during matches.

"Oh, will there be player interviews?"

"With Karasuno's level of fame, do you think there will be?"

Realizing he had gotten ahead of himself, Hayato scratched his head with a smile.

"Not now, but there definitely will be someday."

"You're pretty confident."

"Of course."

"Then I'll look forward to it."

Once they reached the shopping street, Hayato accompanied Kiyoko as she bought a huge pile of ingredients. Considering Hayato's appetite, Kiyoko added extra meat and vegetables for him. Naturally, Hayato paid for that portion without giving her a chance to object.

After all, he was going over to freeload on a meal. How could he possibly let Kiyoko pay for it?