Seeing that everyone's attention had been drawn to Ryosuke, Ushijima did not make a sound. He quietly went to Coach Washijō's office. He knew Coach Washijō would definitely want to ask in detail about how Ryosuke had performed at the training camp.
Coach Washijō had only just taken a sip of tea in his office when Ushijima arrived right after him.
Coach Washijō was not in a hurry. He slowly took another sip of tea before turning his gaze to Ushijima.
Ushijima stood there. Since Coach Washijō did not speak, he did not speak either. He already looked like a mature adult. Just standing there, he carried the presence of an ace.
Only then did Coach Washijō suddenly realize that ever since Ryosuke had arrived, he seemed to have been biased without noticing. This ace he had personally raised had somehow been neglected by him. Thinking of that, Coach Washijō inevitably felt a little guilty. He used to think he would never show favoritism, but looking back now, reality had slapped him in the face.
Then, remembering how well Ushijima had taken care of Ryosuke during the training camp, Coach Washijō became even more satisfied with him.
"Tell me. Did you improve during this training camp?"
Ushijima froze for a moment. What was Coach Washijō doing? He had thought Coach Washijō would ask him about Ryosuke, but he had not expected the question to be about himself. But after thinking about it, it seemed it had always been like this. Every time he returned from a trip, Coach Washijō would routinely ask him a question or two.
Ushijima came back to himself, then looked seriously at Coach Washijō and began to answer.
"I learned a lot. The senpai from the national team also taught me many things. They were all small details, but in a match, those small details can become the key to victory. I also discussed with a senpai who uses his left hand how to maximize the power of being left-handed.
"Coach, I feel that I am still improving."
Ushijima truly believed that. Ever since he became famous in Miyagi, Ushijima had felt as if he were stuck at a bottleneck. At least within Miyagi, there had been no one left who could really fight him. Because of that, Ushijima had once been deeply troubled and had even thought that his limit might end there. No improvement, no regression either.
It was not until he went to the national team again this year that he realized his vision had been restricted. It had forever stopped at the prefectural tournament and Spring High, with no larger stage in sight. This time, he had gained a lot. Ushijima had suddenly been jolted awake. He realized he had been surrounded by other people's praise, and the outside world had become somewhat blurred.
Coach Washijō felt relieved. This wooden child had finally learned to guide himself. After raising him for so many years, it would be a lie to say he had no feelings. Originally, he had planned to have a proper talk with Ushijima after IH, but seeing him like this now, Coach Washijō felt reassured.
"What about Ryosuke? How did he perform with the national youth team? You saw his serve just now. His serve never had that kind of power before."
Coach Washijō was not wrong. Ryosuke was indeed a genius, but for some reason, when it came to serving, he seemed to be missing something. His jumping ability and strength were both good, yet he insisted on practicing highly technical hook shots. It had given Coach Washijō quite the headache.
Ushijima also did not know exactly why Ryosuke had suddenly changed his mind. They had clearly been together every day. After hesitating, he spoke.
"Maybe it was because he played two practice matches against the senpai from the national team. He kept thinking about Takahashi-senpai's serve. During the match, he missed several of Takahashi-senpai's balls, and after that, he started to change."
Coach Washijō nodded thoughtfully. That brat must have gone off to think about why he could not receive that serve, then figured something out.
As it turned out, Coach Washijō's guess was not wrong. Ryosuke had indeed changed his way of thinking.
Ryosuke had been called a genius for so many years. Even if he was not especially proud in his heart, he still carried some sense of responsibility and arrogance. He believed that when it came to volleyball, only routes with higher technique and greater complexity suited him. Because of that, he had always felt that he did not need to practice something as simple as a powerful Jump Serve. No matter how strong a powerful Jump Serve was, how strong could it really be?
It was only after he encountered Ran Takahashi's strange powerful Jump Serve that he became interested. Otherwise, Ryosuke would definitely have continued practicing his hook shots as usual.
Coach Washijō nodded, then continued asking,
"Then do you think the national team's training volume is heavy? How does it compare to school?"
Ushijima was just about to say it was fine, then changed his wording.
"The national team's training volume cannot be compared to that of high school students. After one full training session, I found it very strenuous, but not to the point of exhaustion. Ryosuke had some trouble adjusting on the first day. Later, the team doctor used a fascia scraper on him. After two days, Ryosuke was able to keep up with the training, and his endurance and stamina clearly improved."
After listening, Coach Washijō did not speak. He sat in his seat, silently thinking about something. After a long while, Coach Washijō finally raised his head and said,
"Then what do you think about me adjusting everyone's training volume to match the national team's?"
Those words were basically Coach Washijō notifying Ushijima. He was not asking for Ushijima's opinion. Usually, when Coach Washijō said something like this, it meant he had already made up his mind.
Ushijima fell silent. He did not really mind, but he did not know what the others would think. Especially Tendo. If Tendo found out about this, he might faint on the spot. The current training volume was already hard enough for Tendo. If they added more, Tendo would probably start skipping training again.
"Forget it, forget it. Go back to training first."
Coach Washijō waved Ushijima away. No matter what he said, Ushijima would answer seriously, "Coach is right." Asking him would be pointless. It would be better to discuss this with Reon.
Ushijima nodded and went back. His hands were itching to play. He could hardly wait to train with everyone.
Training in the gym continued. Gradually, Tsutomu Goshiki realized that he could no longer keep up with Ryosuke's training pace. Ryosuke became more and more intense as he trained, and Tsutomu Goshiki was practically gasping for breath as he jumped to block.
"Bang!"
Tsutomu Goshiki's face twisted once again into a mask of pain. The loud sound of the volleyball hitting his arm made Yunohama's teeth ache, and he could not help sucking in a breath.
Tsutomu Goshiki felt a little discouraged and waved at Ryosuke, signaling that he wanted to take a break.
"Ryosuke, go practice with Tendo-senpai. I'm going to rest for a bit."
"Oh, okay."
Ryosuke hugged the volleyball and nodded like a little fool, then happily trotted off to practice with Tendo.
Tsutomu Goshiki dragged his battered arm over and huffed as he sat down beside Yunohama and Yamagata. He felt that if he kept practicing any longer, his arm was going to be ruined. Had Ryosuke eaten Popeye's spinach or something? How else had he suddenly gotten this strong?
"Ryosuke was already pretty strong to begin with," Yamagata said helplessly, looking at Tsutomu Goshiki's expression.
Tsutomu Goshiki snapped his head around. He had not said anything just now, right? Did Yamagata-senpai have some kind of mind-reading ability?
Yamagata burst out laughing at Tsutomu Goshiki's shocked little expression.
"Everything you're thinking is written all over your face, okay?"
Then he continued,
"Ryosuke was already strong. Didn't you notice? The force behind his serves and spikes was already about the same as Kawanishi's before. I just don't know why he suddenly improved this quickly."
Yamagata rubbed his chin as he examined Tsutomu Goshiki's arm. Suddenly, he felt eager to try receiving a few balls himself. He had never received a serve like Ryosuke's before.
Then he jumped down from his chair and shouted,
"Ryosuke! Let's practice together!"
Tendo was talking to Ryosuke. Hearing this, he tilted his head and looked at Yamagata, gave a little snort through his nose, then wrapped an arm around Ryosuke's neck and nuzzled him affectionately.
"No can do. Little Ryosuke came here specifically to find me."
Yamagata scratched his head and glanced at Ryosuke. But... he really wanted to try it!
Tendo looked at Yamagata's expression, his rabbit-like mouth opening.
"Oh, come on. Ryosuke can practice with you later. Why are you rushing over these few minutes?"
"Huh? Oh, right!"
Yamagata suddenly understood, then slapped Ryosuke on the back with a loud smack.
"Ryosuke, once you're done practicing with Tendo, you have to come find me, okay?"
Ryosuke smiled and nodded. Once Yamagata turned around, he grimaced and rubbed his back. Yamagata-senpai really did not know his own strength. Ryosuke did not even need to look to know that a large patch on his back had definitely turned red.
Tendo watched Ryosuke's cute grimace with amusement, then rubbed his back with just the right amount of pressure.
"Come on. Let's go train."
Ryosuke smiled at Tendo, then picked up the volleyball and walked away.
Eita Semi and Kawanishi huddled together, marveling at Ryosuke's progress.
"Did that kid get shocked by something at the national team? Otherwise, how did he improve so fast?"
No matter how many times Kawanishi saw it, he still wanted to sigh over it. There was no helping it. Ryosuke's improvement was obvious to the naked eye.
Semi pushed away Kawanishi's hand, which had been resting on his shoulder.
"Talk if you're going to talk. Stop touching me all the time."
"Tch."
Out of the corner of his eye, Kawanishi saw Coach Washijō approaching. He quickly lowered his hand, pretended he had not done anything, and ran back to training, making himself look even guiltier.
Eita Semi also felt that burning gaze. Cold sweat broke out over him, and he hurried away with his arms and legs moving stiffly in sync.
What they did not know was that Coach Washijō had already silently taken note of both of them and was considering giving them extra training once practice ended.
Sure enough, once training ended, Semi and Kawanishi were kept behind for extra practice, and Tendo was dragged in with them.
When Tendo first heard about it, his face was full of shock. Wait, he had not done anything wrong today, so why did he have to do extra training with those two?
But seeing Coach Washijō's stern expression and unquestionable gaze, Tendo swallowed his words and miserably went off to run laps.
Coach Washijō actually understood that raising everyone's training volume a little would not be a problem. As long as he could improve Tendo, this stamina disaster, even a little, that would be enough. He did not expect Tendo to complete the training without changing expression. At the very least, he just hoped Tendo would not drag the team down later.
When it came to Tendo's stamina, Coach Washijō truly had no expectations left. As a Middle Blocker, Tendo was very solid, and his talent was excellent too. Coach Washijō could accept this one small weakness. He was not that unreasonable.
Tendo, however, had no idea about Coach Washijō's painstaking intentions. His stomach was full of question marks, and his resentment was practically rising to the sky.
After training ended, Ryosuke said goodbye to everyone but did not go home right away. First, he dragged his suitcase to Coach Washijō's office and asked Coach Washijō to bring it home for him.
Then, under Coach Washijō's nearly murderous gaze, he fled at top speed.
After that, Ryosuke rushed straight to Sendai Gymnasium. Hinata had just sent him a message saying he would be there tonight too. It just so happened that Ryosuke also had many questions he wanted to ask Udai, so the two agreed to go together that evening.
They said they would go together, but whether they would actually run into each other was another matter. It would take Hinata a little while to bike over.
So Ryosuke walked over slowly, hoping he might run into Hinata on the way.
But even after reaching the gym, Ryosuke still had not run into Hinata. He did not know whether Hinata had arrived before him or had not come yet.
As usual, Ryosuke went to the place where Udai usually taught children volleyball. To his surprise, there was not a single child there. Only Udai was sitting alone, head lowered as he looked at something.
Ryosuke was full of questions. Wasn't today Monday? Did these kids not have class on Mondays?
"Udai-senpai."
Ryosuke walked over and greeted Tenma Udai.
Hearing Ryosuke's voice, Udai looked up. Only then did Ryosuke see that Udai was holding a copy of Jump.
"You're here. How did training camp feel?"
Udai looked Ryosuke up and down and felt that Ryosuke seemed a little steadier, though who knew how Udai had noticed that.
Ryosuke chuckled and naturally sat down beside Udai as if they were already close.
Udai raised his brows in surprise. After this kid came back from training camp, he had not noticed much else, but Ryosuke had definitely become a lot more cheerful.
"It was pretty good. I learned a lot, and the people I met at training camp were all really nice. We even played against the senpai from the national team. The national team is seriously amazing."
When he talked about the national team, Ryosuke's eyes were full of longing.
"Really?! What's the national team like?"
A familiar voice came over. Ryosuke and Udai turned their heads at the same time and saw Hinata, carrying his bag, his little face flushed as he looked at Ryosuke.
Hinata had been too embarrassed to ask Kageyama. He always felt that if he asked Kageyama, it would be like losing somehow. But Ryosuke was different.
"Long time no see, Ryosuke! Long time no see, Udai-senpai!"
Only then did Hinata, who had been too eager to ask, realize that he had not greeted them yet, so he hurriedly made up for it.
Ryosuke was also very happy to see Hinata and waved at him brightly.
Hinata rushed over like a cute little orange puppy, then stopped just before he was about to crash into Ryosuke. He looked left and right, found a place to sit, and stared straight at Ryosuke.
It was as if he were urging Ryosuke to hurry up and tell him about everything he had seen at training camp.
Ryosuke gave Hinata's hair a firm ruffle before he started talking.
"The national team is really amazing. We even played practice matches against them this time. Six senpai came. I think the most impressive one was Takahashi Ran-senpai. His back-row attack was seriously sharp. And then there was Kento Asano..."
Ryosuke launched into a full explanation for Hinata.
Udai sat to the side and stopped reading his manga. He propped his chin in one hand, watching the two of them with a smile in his eyes.
Hinata listened in a daze, his mouth opening wider and wider. The little orange flecks in his eyes slowly expanded, making him look as if he was delighted to the extreme.
"Phew..."
Ryosuke talked for about ten minutes before finally finishing, and his mouth had gone dry. Seeing this, Hinata took a bottle of mineral water from his bag and handed it to Ryosuke.
One had spoken with excitement, and the other had listened with excitement. It took them several minutes to calm down and come back to their senses.
...
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