Leaving the gym was a feat almost heroic. My legs felt like they were made of overcooked pasta, but the fresh evening air of Miyagi gave me a small jolt, like a splash of ice-cold water right in the face. Fortunately, the bike rack wasn't far. My new house, in fact, was not far at all from Karasuno High; rather, it was in a quiet residential area, easily reachable with a ten-minute ride.
That evening, however, it took me twenty. Every pedal stroke was like lifting a boulder.
When I finally reached the driveway of the Kazuki household, I leaned my bike against the wall and dragged myself toward the entrance. The smell of miso soup and grilled fish hit me immediately, a scent that felt strangely nostalgic, despite being entirely new to me.
"I'm home," I called out with a somewhat hoarse voice.
"Welcome back, Yuya!" a warm and shrill voice replied from the kitchen.
Keiko Suzuki, my mother, appeared in the hallway wiping her hands on her apron. She looked at me with a mix of affection and slight concern. "You're late today! And look at you, you're soaked in sweat! Did you fall into a fountain on your way back?"
"Something like that," I mumbled with a tired smile.
In the living room, my father was sunk into the sofa, half-hidden behind a newspaper. Without even lowering the paper, he let out a chuckle. "So, Yuya, what was the event of the day? Did you find a more comfortable place to sleep at school, or did some teacher finally catch you daydreaming?"
I sat down at the table, enjoying the luxury of a padded chair. "Actually, Dad, I joined a club. The volleyball one."
The newspaper didn't just fall, it was almost thrown away. My father stared at me as if I had just announced I was moving to Mars. Before he could speak, a thundering sound of footsteps came from the stairs. Kaede, my sister, three years older than me and ten times louder, came running down, almost tripping over her own feet.
"Wait, wait, wait!" she shrieked, pointing a finger at me. "Did I hear that right? You? Volleyball? The guy who considers reaching for the remote a high-intensity workout?"
She began to circle me, squinting her eyes as if inspecting a rare specimen at the zoo. "Are you sick? Do you have a fever? Mom, I think Yuya has been replaced by an alien who likes sports!"
"Oh, knock it off, Kaede," I replied laughing, shaking my head.
Despite the teasing, my heart felt full. In my previous life, the silence of an empty apartment had been my only companion. I had never known this kind of chaotic, warm, and joking family atmosphere. To them, I was just a lazy son and brother making a bizarre choice, to me, they were the most precious reward the System had given me so far. I had been an orphan for too long not to appreciate every single joke.
The next morning, the cycle began again.
I woke up with muscles so stiff that I felt like the Tin Man, but I forced myself to move. School passed among textbooks and muffled yawns, but as soon as the bell rang for extracurricular activities, my body seemed to wake up on its own.
Entering the gym, the System activated with a blue flash.
[DAILY MISSION ACTIVATED: Exhaustion Never Sleeps]
[Complete Sugawara's technical training and survive the session.]
[Reward: +1 Physical Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Agility.]
The training was as brutal as the day before. Sugawara had me doing even more lateral movements, pushing my reaction speed to the limit. My lungs were burning and the System's insult about "vanilla pudding" kept echoing in my head every time I felt like giving up.
At the end of the session, I was once again slumped against the wall, gasping for air.
[MISSION COMPLETED]
[UPDATED STATS: Strength 5 (+1), Endurance 4 (+1), Agility 1 (+1)]
It was a small progress, but I could feel it. My legs weren't shaking as violently as they had twenty-four hours ago.
The sun was already setting, tinting the sky in shades of purple and orange as I rode away on my bike. The exhaustion was so deep that I felt a literal hole in my stomach. I needed calories, and I needed them now. I stopped in front of the Sakanoshita Store, the convenience store often frequented by the team.
I went in and the bell above the door rang. I grabbed a couple of nikuman (steamed buns filled with meat) and an energy drink, walking toward the counter with my eyes almost closed.
"That will be 450 yen".
I placed the coins on the counter with a hand that was still shaking slightly. I grabbed my nikuman and left.
Eating the first hot bun greedily, I started pedaling toward home, but a lit window not far away caught my attention. It was a manga shop. I wanted to see if the stories I knew existed there too.
I went in, enjoying the silence and the smell of paper. As I walked among the shelves, I noticed a boy standing in the specialized magazines section. He wasn't very tall, had brown hair with blonde tips, and wore clothes that seemed far too expensive for that neighborhood.
He was leafing through a cooking catalog with an almost bored expression, as if nothing he saw was up to his standards. I stopped a few meters from him to look at some volumes. It was at that moment that he turned his head slightly, noticing my presence. He had a sharp gaze, full of a confidence that bordered on arrogance.
My heart skipped a beat. I knew who he was. That hairstyle and that aura of superiority belonged to Terunori Kuga of the Totsuki Academy.
He scrutinized me from head to toe, lingering on my tall figure that was visibly wrecked by fatigue. He didn't offer a smile; instead, his eyebrows arched slightly in annoyance at being watched.
"Do you need something?" he asked in a dry and curt tone. "Or do you intend to stare at me for much longer with that distraught face?"
My thoughts were a chaotic tangle. Kuga? Terunori Kuga? What on earth is a member of the Council of Ten from Totsuki doing here in Miyagi? The exhaustion accumulated in the gym made it difficult for me to process the situation, and the fact that he had just answered me so acidly didn't help.
I pulled myself together with effort, trying to regain my composure. I couldn't just stand there like an idiot.
"Sorry," I replied, forcing my voice into a normal tone, even though my breath was still short. "I mistook you for an old middle school classmate of mine. But he was definitely shorter... and less flashy. My mistake."
Kuga arched an eyebrow, scrutinizing me again. The subtle insult to his height seemed to hit him, but his expression softened slightly, moving from annoyance to a sort of amused curiosity.
"Shorter than me? Then he must have been a midget," he chuckled, closing the magazine with a sharp snap. "Anyway, you should clean yourself up. You're so wrecked you look like a survivor of a natural disaster."
"Well... Club activities," I admitted, scratching the back of my neck. "The senpai training me is a sadist."
"I see," Kuga replied, putting the volume back. "The senpais at my school don't mess around either. But if you want to be at the top, you have to get used to the taste of fatigue. It's like chili pepper; it burns at first, then you can't do without it."
We stayed talking for a few more minutes, a quick exchange of words. It wasn't a real deep conversation, more of a mutual recognition between two people who, in different ways, were aiming for the top. Then, with a bored wave of his hand, Kuga turned away.
"Well, try not to faint on your bike, beanpole. See ya."
I watched him leave the shop, the door bell tinkling as he passed. As soon as Kuga's silhouette disappeared into the darkness of the street, the realization hit me like a slap.
Wait a second...
I frantically pulled my phone out of my pocket. My fingers were shaking, but not from fatigue. I searched the internet: "Totsuki Academy."
In an instant, thousands of results appeared. Photos of an immense campus, articles on the culinary hierarchy, profiles of the Council members. It really existed. It was all there.
"It's not possible," I whispered, feeling a chill down my spine. "I didn't just end up in the world of Haikyuu!!. This place is a crossroads. If Totsuki exists, who else could I meet?"
The idea that my reality was a mash-up of different "realistic" universes made my head spin. But my body didn't allow me to reflect any further. A stab of pain in my quads reminded me that I was still a common mortal with an embarrassing physical endurance.
I picked up my bike and pedaled toward home under a now-black sky. When I entered, my parents and Kaede were already watching TV. I didn't even have the strength to respond to their teasing. I dragged myself to my room, threw my backpack in a corner, and threw myself onto the bed.
At least today went better than yesterday, I thought, feeling the weight of the blankets wrap around me. The mission is completed, the stats have gone up...
I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep even before I could fully close my eyes.