Faced with Ushijima's threatening gaze, Sakusa simply pretended he was blind and had seen nothing. No matter who came today, no one could stop his determination to go to the amusement park too.
"Our school didn't arrange a car. Ryosuke, have your family's driver give us a ride on the way," Sakusa said with extreme shamelessness.
Ushijima: ...
He truly had not expected Sakusa to have a day this shameless.
At that moment, Atsumu Miya had already secretly exchanged LINE with Ryosuke. His speed was even faster than when he usually snatched food from Osamu Miya's jaws. If he had possessed that kind of speed earlier, he would not have been beaten up by his twin brother every single time.
Ushijima had just opened his mouth, ready to refuse Sakusa, but before he could say anything, Ryosuke had already agreed. He even invited Sakusa and Komori to come to the amusement park with them.
"Sure, sure! Omi-Omi, we were just planning to go to Yomiuriland today. Let's go together. Komori-senpai should come too!"
Ryosuke looked extremely expectant as he spoke, leaving Ushijima with no chance to say a word. Ushijima slowly turned his head away. With Ryosuke's warm and hospitable personality, he really had to be careful not to invite a wolf into the house one day.
But seeing how excited Ryosuke was, Ushijima ultimately did not say anything to stop Sakusa from going. In truth, if Ushijima had spoken up, Ryosuke would definitely have considered it. But Ushijima also did not want to make Ryosuke unhappy.
So in the end, he said nothing more.
Ushijima could only grit his teeth and accept it.
Komori, very good at reading the room, waved his hands again and again, so quickly they almost left afterimages.
He had just been about to say he wanted to go too, but Sakusa seemed to predict it and shot him a sideways glare, clearly carrying the meaning of, "If you dare say anything, you're done for." Komori rubbed his nose and fell silent.
He really wanted to go! That was Yomiuriland. It would be so much fun. But Coach probably would not let him go anyway, and Sakusa would definitely find an excuse to sneak over later. Forget it. He would do one good deed for the day and not report him.
Yaku walked over to Ryosuke, patted his arm, and smiled.
"I'm heading out too, Ryosuke. Kuroo is still waiting for me outside."
"Oh! Yaku-senpai is leaving already?" Ryosuke had thought Yaku would stay a little longer too.
"Leaving, leaving. We still have training."
Yaku grinned brightly.
"Ryosuke, next time you come to Tokyo, remember to call me. I'll treat you to the best tonkotsu ramen in all of Tokyo, and then you can come visit us at Nekoma."
Yaku genuinely liked this kouhai, Ryosuke. He was good-looking, talented, and most importantly, he did not talk back to him. When Yaku thought of a certain two-meter-tall someone who had recently joined the volleyball club, his fondness for Ryosuke reached its peak in that instant.
"Okay, I'll definitely go next time."
Ryosuke had already lost count of how many times he had said that. What was going on with these people? They all wanted to invite him to their schools. It would be rude to refuse, but if he agreed, he did not have the time. All he could say was, "I'll definitely go next time."
But who knew which "next time" that would be? It was starting to trouble Ryosuke badly.
Atsumu Miya was already fully satisfied after adding Ryosuke on LINE. He dragged his suitcase along with a careless grin.
"Little Ryosuke, next time you come to Hyogo, I'll definitely take you to the biggest shrine in Hyogo. There's a fireworks festival there at night too. It's really beautiful."
Ryosuke's eyes lit up. He had never been to a fireworks festival before, and it sounded very interesting. But right now, he truly had no time.
So Ryosuke said again, "I'll definitely go next time."
Having received that answer, Atsumu Miya left in satisfaction.
Ushijima tilted his head slightly and pulled Ryosuke away too. Sakusa immediately followed behind them, and Komori, looking helpless, could only follow as well.
Coach Hosho stood by the small staircase on the second floor of the training hall, watching the children leave. He let out a deep sigh. In a few more years, heavy responsibilities would press down on those still-young shoulders.
But Coach Hosho was overthinking it. Ushijima and the others longed more than anyone to grow up quickly and take on the responsibility of leading everyone out onto the national stage. That goal had existed from the day they first held a volleyball in their hands.
…
After walking out of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Ryosuke was now as excited as a dog let off its leash. At first, Ryosuke had thought that after moving into the dorms, he would be able to sneak out and play whenever he had nothing to do. Unfortunately, Ushijima watched him far too closely, and Ryosuke never found a chance to slip away. Ryosuke had wanted to go out with Ushijima too, but this person was only interested in training. No matter how hard Ryosuke pulled, he could not drag him along.
Being able to go out and play today already left Ryosuke completely satisfied.
Matsukawa's car was parked some distance away from the entrance of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. He had chosen the same spot as the first time Ryosuke had come here, under the shade of the tree where he had cooled off before.
Matsukawa sat in the car, looking outside through the window. As expected, he saw his young master and Ushijima. Matsukawa casually withdrew his gaze, then snapped his head back around and stared in disbelief at the person trailing behind Ushijima and the others. He nearly twisted his neck doing it.
Matsukawa took off his sunglasses and looked carefully several times before confirming that the one following from a distance was indeed the boy who had almost had his legs broken by the young master last time.
This was serious. Alarm bells instantly blared in Matsukawa's mind, and he wasted no time calling Keigo Atobe to report it. Was this a joke? If he did not say something now and the young master found out later, his job would be gone.
Ryosuke was still wearing the training clothes from the camp, with a bag on his back and a baseball cap on his head. He looked full of energy as he cheerfully pulled open the car door. The cold air rushed straight into his face, making Ryosuke shiver in pure comfort.
Ushijima walked to the trunk and put Ryosuke's suitcase inside.
Sakusa took advantage of this opportunity to squeeze into the seat beside Ryosuke, and Ryosuke happily made room for him.
When Ushijima returned to the car door and was about to get in, he saw Ryosuke's hopelessly happy smile and Sakusa's provocative gaze. For a moment, Ushijima fell silent.
Ushijima: ...
Matsukawa also quietly sized Sakusa up through the rearview mirror. He was still considering whether to listen to the young master and go to the amusement park first, or simply drive this guy in the car straight to the eldest young master and report afterward. But seeing how happy Ryosuke was, Matsukawa sighed and decided not to disturb him.
Since he had already reported it to the eldest young master anyway, surely none of this would be his problem later.
Comforting himself with that thought, Matsukawa drove the three passengers, each with their own thoughts, to the amusement park.
Ryosuke's mind was full of what they should play first. Sakusa was thinking about how to shake off Ushijima, that huge obstacle, so he could get some time alone with Ryosuke. Ushijima sat off to the side with his brows tightly furrowed and his face pulled long, thinking about how to separate Ryosuke from Sakusa.
The atmosphere in the car stayed strange the whole way. Even Ryosuke, carefree as he was, noticed that something was wrong. He looked left at Ushijima, then right at Sakusa, then shrank his neck like a quail and fell silent. He felt that, at a time like this, saying nothing was probably the safest choice.
The silence lasted until Matsukawa drove up to the entrance of Yomiuriland. Ryosuke let out a breath of relief, and his eyes lit up.
He got out of the car excitedly, not forgetting to call back to Ushijima and Sakusa behind him.
"Ushijima-senpai! Omi-Omi! Hurry up!"
He was so happy he could barely contain himself.
Ushijima and Sakusa exchanged a glance and decided to temporarily set aside their grudges. The most important thing right now was to let Ryosuke enjoy himself.
Early in the morning, there were already plenty of people lined up at the entrance of Yomiuriland. The crowd was noisy and lively. Some people held little handheld fans, others wore sun hats, looking fully prepared for battle.
No matter how fierce the sun was, it could not stop everyone's enthusiasm for Yomiuriland.
The moment Sakusa saw the crowd, he regretted coming a little. Why had he come to join this chaos? With this many people, even walking back and forth once made him feel dirty.
With a heavy expression and a face dark enough to look as if someone owed him hundreds of thousands of yen, Sakusa followed behind Ryosuke.
Ryosuke, on the other hand, was beyond excited. His eyes seemed to shine as he looked around.
Aside from the time he had gone to a haunted house with Yunohama and Tsutomu Goshiki, this was Ryosuke's first real visit to an amusement park.
Speaking of that, one had to mention Ryosuke's childhood.
As the young master of the Hanyu family, with nearly half of Tokyo belonging to his family's assets, saying he had never been to an amusement park would sound like a joke to anyone who heard it.
But that was the truth. In the vast Hanyu household, there truly had never been anyone free enough to take Ryosuke to an amusement park.
Ryosuke's memories could only hold the blurred faces of his parents from when he was very young, and the estate where people came and went all day long. The butler and his older brother were always busy. He had been deeply envious of those children who could go to amusement parks all the time.
It had practically become one of Ryosuke's childhood dreams. After he grew up, that dream became a lingering wish. Going to an amusement park with family and friends was one of the few dreams Ryosuke still held onto.
Matsukawa followed Ryosuke and the others from a distance. Just then, his phone rang loudly with a sharp "ring ring ring," startling him so badly that he hurriedly covered his pocket.
If Ryosuke heard it, he would definitely ask questions. At that point, in Ryosuke's eyes, Matsukawa would become someone who had unilaterally betrayed him.
Matsukawa quietly slipped away with his phone like a thief.
"Hello? Eldest young master," he said carefully.
Keigo Atobe gave a cold snort, his tone unfriendly.
"What are that brat and Ryosuke doing right now?"
Matsukawa answered timidly, afraid that if his reply was even slightly unsatisfactory, the eldest young master would take his anger out on him.
"The young master, Sakusa, and Ushijima-kun are all at Yomiuriland right now."
"Oh..."
Keigo Atobe fell silent. Suddenly, he remembered that in some year he could no longer quite place, he had once told Ryosuke, "I'll definitely take you to the amusement park tomorrow."
But tomorrow became another tomorrow, and after so many tomorrows had passed, Keigo Atobe had still never fulfilled that promise. Thinking of it now, Keigo Atobe felt somewhat guilty.
He had truly been too busy then. The Hanyu Group had been at a critical turning point, and Ryosuke, being very sensible, never brought it up again. Keigo Atobe had thought Ryosuke had forgotten about it. It turned out he had only been secretly holding onto it all this time.
Keigo Atobe looked at the photo Matsukawa had sent over, his fingers brushing across the phone screen. Under the sunlight, Ryosuke's smiling eyes curved into beautiful little crescents, and even his hair seemed to glow.
That smile really was beautiful.
Keigo Atobe sighed, glanced at the unfinished documents on his desk, then gave a soft snort. As the eldest young master, he naturally had the right to be willful.
"Matsukawa, come pick me up. I'm going too."
"Huh? ...Oh! Yes, yes!"
Matsukawa hurriedly answered. What on earth? Was this eldest young master coming to join the fun too? Just thinking about the scene of the eldest young master facing Sakusa later made Matsukawa's scalp go numb.
Still, his body was honest. He jogged all the way back to the car, then drove off at lightning speed, so fast it nearly seemed like he was flying.
Ryosuke looked back and did not see Matsukawa. He scratched his head in confusion, but very quickly, his attention was drawn away.
His gaze landed on the bustling amusement park.
Tokyo's Yomiuriland had a long history, with over forty attractions of all sizes. The prices were affordable too. Roller coasters, river rafting, tunnel rides, drop towers... After looking around, Ryosuke was dazzled and had no idea which one to try first.
On the way, Ushijima spotted the drop tower. The tall ride had doughnut-shaped seats that slowly rose high into the air before suddenly dropping one by one without warning. Screams and cries rose and fell from that direction without stopping.
Ushijima's eyes brightened slightly.
That... looked very exciting.
Sakusa noticed the look in Ushijima's eyes and immediately had a bad feeling.
Then Ushijima tugged on Ryosuke's backpack strap and gestured for him to look over there.
Ryosuke looked up and saw the extremely lively drop tower. His eyes lit up too. The eager, restless look in the eyes of the larger and smaller pair was exactly the same.
Sakusa only felt his head buzzing. He was completely out of place with them.
"Let's go ride that."
"Okay!" Ryosuke nodded hard, the little cowlick on his head trembling with the motion.
Then he turned back and invited Sakusa.
"Omi-Omi, want to come too?"
Sakusa: ...
He really wanted to refuse, but when he saw Ryosuke's bright cat-like eyes, he could not say a word. He could only nod dryly.
"Yay!"
Ryosuke cheered, grabbing Ushijima with his left hand and Sakusa with his right as he ran over.
The tickets Matsukawa had booked for Ryosuke and the others were VIP tickets, so there was no need to line up at all. They went straight through the VIP passage and paid, with the whole process taking less than five minutes.
Outside, the sun was blazing, and many people waiting in line had already turned red from the heat. Ryosuke's group, however, went straight through the shortcut.
For the drop tower, they had to first go up to the very top before sitting down, then be swung downward repeatedly. Ryosuke and the others took the elevator up almost twenty floors before it stopped at a large platform with many staff members waiting there.
Ryosuke was so excited he could hardly stand it. He grabbed the others and ran over.
Sakusa was dragged along in a daze.
At first, while walking through the passage, Sakusa could still grit his teeth and comfort himself that it would be fine. But before he knew it, still dazed and unsteady, he had somehow ended up seated on the drop tower, his hand already holding the safety belt.
When he lowered his head and saw the empty height beneath his feet, along with the people and buildings below shrunk to the size of ants, Sakusa's face turned white with a swoosh. Cold sweat slid down from his forehead.
...
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