Chapter 36: Chapter 36
The night after the conversation with Nakiri, Hiroyuki sat alone in the Den, and within a second, he let out a tired sigh as he wondered about his next week that would be very long.
"What are you sighing now? Several times you came here, you always looked exhausted. It is not a good thing, you know?" Megumi's voice came from his back. When Hiroyuki turned his attention to her, he could see a concerned look in her eyes as she offered a hot chocolate to him.
"It is nothing. I just thinking about my schedule for the next week and wondering how would I survive this long week?" Hiroyuki replied while sending a 'thank you' gesture as he received the hot chocolate.
"Is that really bad?" Megumi asked curiously as she started to take a book from the bookshelf.
"Well, in the morning, I have to go to Fukurodani as I promised Kiyoko's volleyball team that I would help them at their morning training. Then I would have to go back here for the Nakiris until the end of the day." Megumi hummed for a while before replying,
"It doesn't sound that bad." Hiroyuki snorted.
"If you just look at the schedule, yeah it doesn't sound that bad. But you need to consider who I have to face. I have to face Kiyoko's team who is full of loudmouths. Then right after I deal with them, I have to teach the spoiled princesses how to live like normal people. They didn't even know how to use the washing machine, for God's sake!" Megumi just smiles, amused by Hiroyuki's whines.
"Well, if you say something like that, it does sound so bad." She chuckled at Hiroyuki's playful glare. "Don't worry though. I will help you with the Nakiris. You just need to amuse them in the kitchen as their pride will never let them learn something from me in that aspect."
"Honestly, I would prefer teaching the quintuplets rather than the Nakiris," Hiroyuki muttered lowly. Megumi let out an unladylike snort at that.
"That is not even a comparison. While the quintuplets didn't have the experience to live through what we lived in the orphanage, they are still decent, not spoiled, and definitely a hard worker. If you didn't know, you would think that they are just normal girls from a normal family, not the daughters of the owner of the biggest hospital in Japan.
As for the Nakiris, they definitely live on a different planet. Except for the kitchen matter, all of their stuff was done by their housemaids. You take the Nakiri from their name and they would not survive in the street for a day."
Hiroyuki chuckled at that, and suddenly he got an idea, "Speaking of the orphanage, when will you go there again?" Megumi has a schedule to visit our orphanage and cooked for a night once a week.
"Tomorrow evening. Do you want to have the Nakiris join me?" Megumi asked, having already guessed what Hiroyuki wanted.
"Yes. I want them to know that they are not the only ones who live in this world and they could not act like they are the owner of it. Meeting the children from the orphanage will do them good, or so I hope." Megumi chuckled after hearing the last part.
"Sure, just let them join."
"So, what book do you read now?" Hiroyuki asked, attempting to change the topic. Megumi just raised her eyebrows but didn't make a comment about the topic change. Instead, she stopped reading and replied to Hiroyuki's question,
"It is the book from Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood."
"I haven't read the book. Is that good?" Hiroyuki asked, interested.
"Well, it really depends on your taste. I think it is good, but I cannot imagine you like reading the book from Murakami."
"Yeah, I cannot see that too. The truth is, I have read one of the books, and I could say I am not a fan of his work." This time, Megumi gives her full attention to Hiroyuki.
"Which one?"
"It was the 1Q84, and the book, honestly, is a good one. But I think….." They chatted lively, talking about books and all of the stuff that happened in their lives.
Hiroyuki feels relieved after spending the rest of the night speaking about books with Megumi. It definitely lifts the weight he bears in his mind. He was glad though, that he has Megumi who is very supportive. Now, he just needs to survive the long week that awaited him.
------------------------------------
In the next morning, Hiroyuki found himself in front of Fukurodani's entrance gate, looking at all of the Karasuno members who are ready to run.
"Good morning, everyone!" His voice snapped their warm-up, and right after his greeting, he could hear a shout from Hinata,
"Good morning, Yuki-senpai!" Hiroyuki sighed at Hinata's loud voice.
'Well, at least he is not calling me Sir or Oikawa Great King again.' He mused inwardly. After he nodded at Hinata and every member, he went straight to Coach Ukai and said,
"Can I borrow Tanaka and Azumane after they finished warm up?" He said it right after the team started running, so nobody but Coach Ukai knows his intention.
"Sure. What do you want to do?" Coach Ukai asked with a hint of interest in his tone.
"I just want to talk from ace to ace with them," Hiroyuki replied easily. But Coach Ukai frowned for a moment before asking once again,
"But Tanaka is not the ace, though." Hiroyuki shrugged,
"Well, he will be your ace next year, so I think he should hear what I would say to Azumane." Coach Ukai hummed for a second before he nods his head.
"Okay, I hope the result of the talk will be good." Hiroyuki nodded, agreeing with Coach Ukai's sentiment. Thirty minutes later, after the players finished their morning run, Coach Ukai talked,
"There are still thirty minutes before breakfast, you can do light training at that time. Just, don't push yourself too far. Today is the first day, you will need all the stamina you have for the rest of the week. Tanaka, Azumane, Come here. All of you dismissed!" Everyone stared curiously at Tanaka and Azumane while those two looked at each other with confused faces.
"Hori-san wanted to talk about something with you two." They are surprised for a moment and turned into their temporary assistant coach. Hiroyuki just said,
"Follow me." Tanaka and Azumane looked at each other with confused faces but decided to follow him. They walked in silence for about a minute before they found an empty court.
"Sit." Those two did as Hiroyuki's command and sit, waiting for the former MVP to say something. They didn't have to wait too long because right after Hiroyuki sits, he started to talk,
"So, what kind of ace do you want to be in your team?" They looked shocked for a moment before Tanaka asked,
"But I am not the ace, Hori-san."
"In case you didn't notice, you will be Azumane's successor next year, so I want to hear at least what kind of ace do you want to be?" They thought for a while, but could not find an answer. Seeing their struggle, Hiroyuki sighed before she decided to help them find the answer,
"Let's talk about the other teams first. You noticed Bokuto, Fukurodani's ace?" They nodded. "You probably thought that he didn't act like the usual ace. His mood swing is very famous among their opponents and they will start targeting Bokuto and wait for his flop.
But what you probably didn't notice is when he is in his mood swing, he still has a solid defense. I could say for sure that his defense is not far from your captain. His opponents were targeting him because they are afraid of Bokuto's offensive ability, which is one of the best in Japan right now. And his teammates know about that, so they improved their offense ability to cover Bokuto's absence.
But that was not the reason why Bokuto is their ace. He is Fukurodani's ace because when his teammates need him the most, he will always be ready to attack and save the day. He is the best player in the clutch moments that I have played with in my high school career. That is why he is their ace." Hiroyuki paused for a bit to take a breath before he started to talk again.
"Then there are players like Ushijima from Shiratorizawa, the epitome of the ace in volleyball. He has the hunger to spike every toss he received and destroy the wall in front of him. But what makes him the ace is that he is Shiratorizawa's backbone. His presence on the court is enough to boost his teammate's confidence and pressure his opponents.
Being the backbone of the best team in Miyagi is not something easy to do, especially when you only have the best as your teammates. But he could bear the weight of that and become their beacon. This is a player that any coach would die to have in their team.
There are still many different types of aces in volleyball, like Iwaizumi in Aoba Johsai or Nobuyuki from Nekoma. The question is, what kind of ace do you want to be for Karasuno?"
------------------------------------------
Author note:
You can also read:
- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 43
- Naruto: Ashigaru up to chapter 13
You can read all of it at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_') Thank you for your support! :)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone