I Died on the Court, Now I'm Back to Rule It

After another day of brutal training up and down the mountain, just like yesterday, we returned to the lodge the only way we could—dumped into the back of Takeshi-sensei’s off-road car like sacks of potatoes. If yesterday we were tired, today we were ruined. Muscles sore, legs wobbling, minds empty.

Even the usually fiery Aizawa-Taiga duo was silent. That was the true measure of our exhaustion.

But on the Toyonaka side? Their expressions sparkled like the seven colors of the rainbow. You’d think they’d won the entire Kansai Regional. And maybe, in their minds, they had—because tonight, they were finally going to eat real food again.

We repeated our new tradition: hot spring soak in total silence, followed by collective collapse into our futons.

For a while, I wondered if I could just... stay in bed. Maybe tell Kaito to go eat my portion too. But that thought evaporated when my stomach let out a growl that shook my soul.

"Dirgaaaa," Kaito groaned, nudging me. "Come on. We’ve gotta eat..."

Eat. Right. But eat what?

The thought made my stomach turn, but not in a good way. I remembered what happened yesterday. Losing the match meant eating that food. That cursed, nutritionally optimized abomination.

I wanted to crawl back under the futon and hide.

Still, I dragged myself up and limped alongside the rest of Horizon. No one had the strength to talk. We moved like ghosts. On the other hand, the Toyonaka team practically skipped toward the dining hall.

Yuto was practically bouncing on his heels, and even Shunpei—usually stoic—was glowing with joy. Haruto looked like he was walking into a five-star buffet. Daichi grinned from ear to ear. The whole Toyonaka team had the aura of men on a mission.