Chapter 65: Luxury Bus x Rich Second Generation x True Nature
During the morning practice break, all the Karasuno volleyball club members gathered in a circle, looking at the tactical board in Captain Daichi's hands, which showed the starting lineup for this match.
Front row players: [Tanaka, Hinata, Hyakuzawa]
Back row players: [Sawamura, Tsukishima (Hoshino), Kageyama]
"Huh?"
Before the others could get a good look at the detailed positions, Hinata Shoyo was already asking Captain Daichi in disbelief.
"Guren isn't a starter? How can that be? Is there a mistake?"
"What?" x6
Except for those who had been present at last night's meeting and Coach Takeda who had already been informed, everyone's faces were filled with incredulous expressions.
Ennoshita Chikara couldn't wait to voice his thoughts - if even a player of Ichise Guren's caliber couldn't make the starting lineup, then he himself might never be able to start until graduation.
"Are you serious? Even with yesterday's defensive performance and the backing of his middle school MVP award, he still can't make the starting lineup?"
Hyakuzawa Yudai and Hoshino Masaru glanced at their extremely calm cousin and quickly figured out Ichise Guren's thinking. The two, who had originally been somewhat angry or surprised, quickly calmed down.
'If it wasn't Guren-nii's own choice, how could anyone possibly not let him start? This isn't the national team... Though wait, he could probably start on the national team too.'
In any case, amid the clamoring of teammates who felt Ichise Guren could start but weren't clear on his own thoughts, Sawamura Daichi had to raise his voice to explain that this was Ichise Guren's own decision and that they should respect his opinion. Only then did things finally quiet down.
In the time that followed, with the practice match approaching, everyone became more focused and serious during training. Time passed quickly, and soon it was Wednesday after school.
"Whoa! What is this?!"
The Karasuno members stared at the extremely flashy brand-new team bus in front of them, jaws dropping all around.
The bus had an overall black color scheme with white and orange accents. A group of crows with different appearances but quite imposing presences perched on a tall, withered tree.
An indescribable feeling assaulted the senses of everyone from Karasuno.
"I feel like just getting on it gives you the vibe of a professional player from a prestigious club!"
"Like Barcelona or Real Madrid!"
Tanaka Ryunosuke, looking at the wild exterior with its metallic paint finish, immediately expressed his love for this new team bus.
Then he and Hinata Shoyo began jumping around, going in and out of the bus.
"It's so luxurious!"
"There's even a refrigerator!"
"Tanaka-senpai! The bus has two bathrooms!"
"Ohhh! Karasuno's super luxury bus!"
While the two hot-blooded idiots were cheering about the team bus, Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koshi pulled the supervising teacher aside.
"Takeda-sensei!"
"The school hasn't given the volleyball club activity funds in a long time, right?"
"What's the situation with this bus?"
Coach Takeda quickly waved his hands with an expression of "it has nothing to do with me."
"Daichi-kun, don't make it sound like we stole this bus!"
"A couple days ago, some company - the largest local enterprise in Miyagi Prefecture - established a sports scholarship fund for our school, along with a local corporate sponsorship donation. The only requirement was that the volleyball club should receive special attention."
"What?!"
Sugawara Koshi fell deep into thought.
'What rich person is so bored they'd do this?'
'Why donate money to Karasuno? This is a public school, not a private one.'
'Wouldn't it be better to donate this money to Shiratorizawa?'
Takeda Ittetsu secretly glanced at a certain someone among the other players gathered around the bus, then leaned close to the two and whispered.
"I heard that local conglomerate is called..."
Upon hearing the conglomerate's name, both were so shocked they could barely speak. These two third-years turned their necks joint by joint like rusty puppets, and after making eye contact, they immediately understood what the other was thinking.
"Hey! If that's the case! Doesn't that make him a super rich second generation?!"
"If I had that much money, I'd definitely go to Tokyo!"
"Daichi! Did you know about this already?"
Sugawara Koshi, his eyes full of shock, grabbed his friend and began shaking Sawamura Daichi violently.
Sawamura Daichi was quite innocent and hurriedly explained.
"I didn't know!"
"Although I had contact with Ichise before school started, we only talked about them coming to Karasuno, then about Kageyama possibly coming back, what we should do if he came, and some volleyball practice methods."
"I really didn't know he was the young master of the Ichise conglomerate!"
Under Daichi's continuous explanations, Sugawara Koshi finally released his grip on Sawamura Daichi's shoulders and clenched both fists tightly.
An angry growl emerged from Sugawara's throat.
"Damn! It's bad enough that he's tall and handsome, but he's rich too!"
"Damn it!"
"We absolutely have to make him treat everyone to meat buns!"
"No wait, that's not enough - everyone gets a bottle of milk too!"
After deciding how to 'exploit' Ichise Guren, Sugawara immediately returned to normal.
He looked at Sawamura Daichi and smiled.
"How was that? Did I perfectly portray a jealous senpai?"
Sawamura Daichi, who had been scared into a cold sweat by Sugawara just now, hurriedly nodded.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"Come on! I was just joking with you!"
"Why are you so nervous?"
Seeing his friend's state and knowing he'd been scared by the joke, Sugawara Koshi quickly patted him, then gave him a push.
"Let's go! Time to get on the bus! Captain!"
Even after turning around, Sawamura Daichi was still shaken.
'Who's afraid of that?'
'I'm afraid you can't suppress your true nature anymore.'
'You bench-dancing king, the most ferociously funny guy in the grade, Karasuno's bully.'
'Our team hasn't meshed enough yet for you to freely display your personality.'
Sugawara's true nature is actually quite funny and fierce. After everyone transforms later on, he'll be yelling at everyone from the sidelines while Hinata can't even hold him back, kicking Kageyama's butt when he's acting cool, hiding behind Tsukishima and imitating his tone while pretending to complain, and even developing a business of naming new techniques. He's definitely a split-personality Gemini, and his birthday is indeed in Gemini season!
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