Aran said with wounded expression, "Atsumu, have you evolved to the point where you're even getting jealous of Shinsuke?"
Upon hearing this, Miya Atsumu nearly jumped out of his chair: "I didn't! Aran, don't talk nonsense!"
Looking at Miya Atsumu's expression, Aran, who suddenly remembered something very important, spoke up: "By the way, Atsumu, I'm going to tell you a horror story."
Seeing Aran being serious for once, Miya Atsumu also grew wary: "What is it?"
Aran spoke, "For the commentary of this National Sports Festival Finals, the official organizers had originally invited our coach to be a special guest."
“Coach Blanco is about to return to Argentina, but some sudden problems have arisen over there. He flew to Buenos Aires yesterday and probably won't be back for four or five days.”
Miya Atsumu's mind raced with alarm: ".. So?"
It couldn't be what he was thinking, could it?
No!!
Aran spread his hands in regret, announcing the disappointing news to Miya Atsumu: "So Coach Blanco gave the job to his two apprentices."
Hinata poked his head up: "Disciples?"
With Miya Atsumu looking completely resistant, Aran said cruelly, "It's Kito-senpai and Oikawa; the two of them will attend as special guest commentators for this National Sports Festival."
Miya Atsumu cried out in despair, "No! Doesn't Tachibana Red Falcons have anyone else?!"
Aran, don't you have free time! Can't you play!
Aran shook his head: "The tournament officials are definitely trying to avoid any controversy. They've rejected all the players from the top sixteen teams in this tournament, naturally, that includes me."
“Besides, Kito-senpai has just made his comeback and needs to attend more events to restore his public recognition. Oikawa is also a living billboard for the Tachibana Red Falcons, so naturally, they should let him participate in these kinds of events as much as possible before he leaves.”
Their manager tried every way to persuade Oikawa to stay, but Oikawa was determined to leave with Coach Blanco, remaining unmoved no matter what great conditions they offered.
To this end, their manager had already cried through two pillows, wailing every day at the entrance of the club's dormitory.
You have to understand, if you were to set the total score for Tachibana Red Falcons' attractiveness at ten, Oikawa Tooru alone would account for eight.
Oikawa had many brand endorsements related to clubs that were about to be replaced, as the brands did not want to use him, their new Ace.
Aran pounded his chest in frustration. "This is all prejudice! I think I'm great!"
Chapter 423: The Four Hundred and Twenty-Third Fox
Listening to Aran's endless complaining about how the brands wouldn't approach him for endorsements, Miya Atsumu didn't know what to say for a moment.
He tried his best to sort through Tachibana Red Falcons' messy questions, finally spoke slowly.
So.. all of Oikawa-senpai's endorsements have expired, so why not sign Kito or other famous players? Why are you actually hesitating over whether to use you, Aran?
Aran's eyes widened, his face filled with an expression of hurt.
What do you mean 'what do you mean'? I am the successor to the Ace! It's only natural that I'd be thinking about it!
Miya Atsumu waved his hand dismissively and countered, "No, no, no, if it were just that kind of question, I wouldn't be so hung up on it."
Hinata cast a curious gaze.
To be honest, although he had watched some professional matches along with Miya Atsumu, his sources of information were still quite limited.
After all, he didn't have a smartphone himself, which made it very inconvenient to access webpages. Plus, he didn't care much for watching television, so he wasn't quite sure what kind of endorsements Oikawa-senpai and the others had.
But just because he didn't know, it didn't mean that everyone else didn't know.
Miya Atsumu spoke up, "And from what I recall, the products Oikawa-senpai endorses.. seem to be a certain brand of windbreakers, some sports watches, men's skincare products?"
He looked Aran up and down, voicing a heavy doubt: "Those things don't really suit you, do they, Aran?"
After all, these brands actually prefer spokespeople with greater looks and fame rather than just the players' actual skill.
Moreover, these products themselves were completely different from Aran's style; it was impossible to feature a dark-faced person in an advertisement for men's skincare!
Aran felt deeply offended: "That's so rude!"
Looking at Miya Atsumu's punchable face, Aran suddenly felt a bit nostalgic for Oikawa Tooru.
At the very least, he wasn't as close to Oikawa himself, their daily interactions were quite polite; he wouldn't jab at his sore spots as relentlessly as his childhood friend did.
Facing Miya Atsumu's teasing, Aran did not back down, piercingly pointing out the weakness in Miya Atsumu's smug inner heart.
Besides, why do you even care about those things, Atsumu?
Are you some kind of celebrity who cares that much about the rival's endorsements?!
Miya Atsumu, who was just about to take a sip of water, nearly choked. He looked at Aran with a face full of shock, his eyes filled with rejection: "Aran, what are you talking about! Why would I care about that stuff!"
“But Atsumu-ge, you really know everything.”
Along with that voice, a tuft of orange hair swayed left and right with Hinata's movements, appearing in Miya Atsumu's field of vision.
Miya Atsumu felt deeply wounded, his eyes widening. "Shoyo, whose side are you on!"
Caught in the middle, Hinata Shoyo shrugged his shoulders, but Unai beside him gave him strength. He craned his neck and looked up, saying, "Aren't Aran-senpai and Atsumu-ge on the same side?"
Aran nodded repeatedly. "Exactly, exactly! Atsumu, you should help me think of ways to snatch all of Oikawa's endorsements."
On Aran's other side, Kita Shinsuke smiled, then looked up at Miya Atsumu with smiling eyes.
Miya Atsumu shut his mouth.
Alright, he thought Aran made sense; the people from Inarizaki couldn't lose to Oikawa.
Having finally found an ally, Aran began to explain, "As for the Tachibana Red Falcons, the main reason is that they have stable partnerships with those companies, under normal circumstances, they wouldn't choose players from other teams for endorsements."
As for why they don't use Kito-senpai and the others.. the most important reason is that rookies are relatively cheaper.
Even for a newcomer with as many fans and as much momentum as Oikawa, the overall asking price isn't actually that high.
The reason the manager was making such a huge fuss about not letting Oikawa leave was primarily because if they were to renew the contract with the sponsors next year, they could demand a higher price, thanks to Oikawa Tooru's excellent performance and his ever-growing fanbase.
Atsumu rubbed his chin. "If you put it that way.. it actually might be worth pursuing."
After all, the sponsors aren't going anywhere; the only issue is how to make Aran's image better match the product's style.
Clothing and things like that are easy enough to handle, but those skincare and cosmetic endorsements from Oikawa Tooru..
Miya Atsumu, who had been earnestly trying to think of ways to help Aran, gave up: "Aran, we have to learn to make appropriate trade-offs."
“……”Aran was silent for two seconds.
He closed his eyes and said, "I know what you want to say, but don't say it. I don't want to hear it."
“But that kind of thing still depends on the coach's arrangements; maybe the sponsors would be willing to pay more to hire someone else.”
Kito looked at Oikawa Tooru, who was still looking at the scenery outside the Shinkansen window, shrugged helplessly.
I know you don't get along with the people from Inarizaki, but Aran is a good kid, so don't hold anything against him.
Oikawa Tooru's mouth twitched. "No, I have no problem with him. I actually quite like him."
—Much more fun than Iwaizumi.
He turned his head to look at Kito, his expression full of agony: "What I'm resisting is the fact that the products I endorse will suffer a massive drop in aesthetic quality after I leave; I just can't accept it."
Kito tried his best to comfort his junior: "Mhm.. look on the bright side, at least Aran's resume is a bit more impressive than yours so far; being a two-time champion in high school is still very valuable."
Hearing this, Oikawa Tooru couldn't help but roll his eyes at the ceiling. "Tsk."
Kito changed the subject: "By the way, regarding the commentary work for this National Sports Festival, we'll need to do some proper homework when we get back."
Have you done this kind of work before?
Oikawa Tooru shook his head. "No."
If you had to say, for the three major high school tournaments and competitions of the scale of the University Championship, the commentators are generally professionals who are very good at building up the atmosphere.
Even if professional players are invited, they are almost always very experienced, highly famous, or coaches from various teams.
Kito laughed heartily. "Then I'll teach you. There might be other opportunities in the future."
However, there is certainly no hope in the short term. After Oikawa Tooru goes to Argentina, it will likely take him a long time to adapt to Spanish, since he won't be able to speak fluently, he probably won't take on any commentary duties for domestic matches.
If Oikawa's English were good enough, it would be possible for him to accept an invitation from an online streaming platform to host international programs.
Kito scrolled through the official National Sports Festival webpage and relayed, "The four semifinalists are Karasuno, Itachiyama, Inarizaki. The matches for Shirabu and Rakusan are still ongoing, but currently, Rakusan leads 1-0."
I've been quite idle these past two years. While recovering from my injury, I was scouting players alongside the coaches, so I'm quite familiar with these teams.
He reasoned seriously, "It's hard to say who will win in the top half of the bracket, but I expect Inarizaki will advance from the bottom half."
Oikawa Tooru clicked his tongue again. "Tsk."
Kito smiled and asked sideways, "Oikawa, what do you think?"
"There's an eighty percent chance Karasuno advances in the first half, a ninety percent chance it's Inarizaki in the second half," Oikawa Tooru concluded.
Hearing Oikawa Tooru's words, Kito nodded: "Since we don't need to commentate on this Third-place match, then we should focus our preparations primarily on Karasuno and Inarizaki."
As for the player introductions, I'll need to organize the past match data for both sides first, I'll also need to come up with some impressive titles..
Kito entered a state of intense focus, the sound of his typing on the laptop clattering rhythmically.
Inarizaki's data from this year's Interhigh is quite impressive. This number 10 has scored so many spikes? Is his stamina through the roof?
Oikawa Tooru leaned in: "Word on the street is that Hinata's VO2 Max is over 78."
“78?!” Kito looked up in shock, “Are you serious? You probably couldn't find even three people with that kind of data in all of high school.”
Even for the Tachibana Red Falcons, there aren't many with data like that, let alone in high school.
Oikawa silently held up two fingers. "It's two. Hoshiumi should be close to 79, but he hasn't reached it yet."
Kito looked down at the data table and immediately spotted another terrifying statistic: "Miya Atsumu's serve efficiency.."
"0.78." Oikawa Tooru's voice followed immediately.
Setting aside the later stages of the tournament for now, during the early matches of the IH against schools like Date Tech, Miya Atsumu's Serve could basically guarantee three points.
This terrifying statistic left the runner-up, Sakusa, in the dust.
Oikawa Tooru, who had become interested, leaned in: "I remember Suna's serve score conversion rate isn't particularly low either, right?"
Although the number of times he scores directly from a serve isn't particularly high, Suna's score during his service turns is still quite impressive.
Kito affirmed this, saying, "Indeed."