Chapter 2: Xiaozheng's Employees Appear Ten Years Later!

Shoichi Irie was training for the National Elementary School Robot Competition. He brushed the dust off himself from the tree, holding a strange-looking robot in his arms. He thought about the conversation he had just overheard and looked at the two spiky-haired robots with a puzzled expression.

"Those onomatopoeic words have absolutely nothing to do with whether you're good at Chinese or not."

"Eh—" Hinata and Tsuna suddenly realized.

"Don't look at me like that!"

Hyuga turned to look at Tsunayoshi. After a brief eye contact, he took a step forward, looking up at his somewhat agitated peer.

"Hello, my name is Hyuga Shoyo, and this is my good friend, Sawada Tsunayoshi. What's your name?"

“My name is Irie Shoichi,” he said, looking at the two girls wearing school uniforms different from his own. “Hyuga and Sawada, you are students at Namimori Elementary School, right? What are you doing here?”

He probably mistook Hinata and Tsunayoshi for some first or second graders, and Irie Shoichi unusually spoke more to the strangers.

Hinata held up the orange ball in his hand. "We're here to play volleyball. Irie-kun, why did you come down from the tree?"

As he spoke, he looked toward the tree. Sawada Tsunayoshi, who had been savoring the word "good friend" from Sho, suddenly snapped out of his reverie, his eyes sparkling, and waited with Hinata for Irie Shoichi's reply.

What an energetic kid! Irie Shoichi mimicked Hinata's movements, raising the robot in his hand.

"I'm here to test my robot. I climbed the tree to test its climbing and grasping abilities," he explained patiently.

"Wow! A robot!" Tsuna and Hinata exchanged a glance.

Looking at Irie with even more fervent eyes, she exclaimed, "So amazing!"

"Ha, haha," Irie Shoichi awkwardly rubbed his messy hair, "It's not that amazing."

People always have a soft spot for cute and docile little creatures, and Irie Shoichi was no exception. He put the robot in his backpack and took out a laptop.

Seeing that Irie wasn't on guard against them, Hyuga and Tsuna curiously crowded around, their two furry heads squeezing in front of the computer screen.

He opened the search engine, typed in a few words, and clicked search. Videos titled "[Volleyball Beginner Basic Tutorial]" immediately appeared on the screen. Irie Masakazu casually glanced at them and selected the video with the most views to show the two of them.

"Let's start with ball setting first." He dragged the progress bar.

Hyuga raised his hand, "I can pass the ball!"

"Oh, oh," Irie Shoichi pushed up his glasses and dragged the progress bar back, "So you already learned volleyball in first grade?"

Clearly, Irie mistook these two for little kids who had just started elementary school and had never had a volleyball lesson.

"Hey, we're already in fourth grade!"

Irie Shoichi: "?"

"You're only one grade younger than me?"

The two little ones didn't know why Irie would have such a question, but they still obediently nodded beside Irie Shoichi.

"Huh—" Irie Shoichi was puzzled by his own human abilities, but given his height, he couldn't be blamed for mistaking someone else, could he? He rubbed his hair, feeling rather troubled.

"So you're already in fourth grade? But I remember that Namimori Elementary School offers volleyball courses and clubs, so you should have some volleyball experience."

Hinata: "I just transferred to Namimori Elementary School today."

Having not paid any attention in volleyball class and having been slacking off, Sawada Tsunayoshi shrank back guiltily.

The video finished playing quickly, and Hinata was so excited that she couldn't wait to drag Tsuna to try out the idea in her mind.

Irie glanced at his laptop, whose battery was nearly dead, and put it back in his bag. He looked at Hyuga and Tsuna, who were chattering away, and extended an invitation. Seemingly finally realizing that the three of them were practically the same age, his tone became less confident.

"Um, I need to go to the school's computer lab. Do you guys want to come along?"

"?"

"Would you like to check out our school's volleyball club? I remember there's a volleyball team practicing tonight."

"!" Hinata's eyes gradually brightened.

Shoichi Irie smiled sheepishly, "In any case, you really have to experience sports firsthand to truly understand them."

Just like his robot, reading reference books is useless; you have to do it yourself to know the subtle differences, and you can only find out the details by taking it out for testing in the field.

So he stood up, slung his laptop bag over his shoulder, and turned to ask the two of them, "Shall we go?"

Hyuga and Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise, and they both lunged forward, causing Irie Masakazu to stumble. "Whoa, Masakazu!"

However, Sawada Tsunayoshi was a little worried, "We are students from another school, right? Are students from other schools allowed to enter Namimori Elementary School?" Their Namimori Elementary School does not allow students from other schools to enter the campus.

Irie Masahiro nodded. "The National Primary School Robotics Competition is coming up soon. Because I made it to the finals, the school gave me special permission to use the computer lab equipment during my break. It's okay if I bring the two of you in."

"?" Zheng Yi turned his head in confusion to look at the two people who were silently clinging to his back. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Hinata: "Elementary school students across the country!"

Tsuna: "Robot Competition!"

The two exclaimed in unison, "The final!"

"Xiao Zheng is amazing!"

Her cheeks flushed from the compliment, and Irie felt a little embarrassed, as if she were showing off. "No, not at all."

"Alright, didn't we say we were going to the volleyball team? Let's hurry up and go." Without giving the two boastful people time to react, he strode forward, only realizing halfway that the two short legs behind him might not be able to keep up with his speed.

But Hyuga had already grabbed Tsuna and sprinted to his side. It looked like she could have run even faster than him if she didn't know the way.

"Alright, the volleyball court is over there. I'm going to the computer room first. It won't take long. Remember to wait for me to go back together, otherwise it will be troublesome if they get lost." Irie Masakazu reminded them. Although he knew they were only a year apart, he was still worried that the two of them might get lost and be kidnapped because they didn't know the way.

Well, based on the two people's terrible Mandarin pronunciation, this is entirely possible.

Hinata's mind was already on the volleyball court; he could only nod and hum in agreement. Tsuna held Hinata's hand tightly, otherwise, Hinata would disappear from their sight in an instant. He nodded obediently.

"Okay, Xiao Zheng, you can go ahead and get busy."

"Um."

As soon as Shoichi finished speaking, Hyuga rushed off with Tsuna to the volleyball court, leaving Shoichi standing there all alone, bewildered.

He turned around helplessly and headed towards his destination. He had impulsively brought them to school under the intense gazes of the two people, and he didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

However, isn't Hinata's speed a bit too fast?

Although he seemed to have completely lost his mind, Hinata still knew he couldn't just barge into other schools' volleyball courts. He and Tsuna furtively peeked through the volleyball court's door, their two furry heads peeking inside.

Hyuga whispered, "Wow, Tsuna, they're practicing passing! We can try that when we get back!"

Tsuna replied in a breathy voice, "Okay."

"That was such a cool spike! I really wanted to spike that, but nobody ever set the ball for me before—"

"It's okay, I can learn to pass the ball to you."

"Xiaogang, you're too kind!"

"Sh-"

Hinata kept rambling on and on, even going so far as to outline their volleyball training plans from age nine to twenty. Sawada Tsunayoshi patiently responded to every word Hinata said, and he began to think that playing volleyball together with Hinata in the future wasn't out of the question.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Irie Shoichi's head appeared above the door, and a red head was added to the row of orange and brown heads as they observed the situation inside the volleyball hall.

"Waaah!"

"Who's there?" The volleyball team members who heard the voice went to the door, only to find no one there. "That's strange, I definitely heard a voice."

Behind the wall on the other side of the volleyball court, three children slowly sat down, clutching their hearts.

"Tsuna, why do you walk so silently!" Hinata scolded first, and Tsuna nodded in agreement.

Shoichi Irie said irritably, "You two were just too engrossed in watching, okay? And why did you suddenly yell out? You startled me."

They didn't linger too long at Shoichi's school. Hyuga still had a lot of things he wanted to try, so he and Tsuna decided to go back to the open space they had just been to practice their mating routine.

Shoichi Irie had planned to drop the two off and then go home, but Tsuna, who had been rather quiet, spoke first before he could say goodbye.

"Xiao Zheng, do you still want to practice with the robot?"

"What's wrong?"

"If you're not going to use it, would you like to stay and play volleyball with us?"

He should refuse, Irie Shoichi thought. He had become abnormal ever since he met the two of them, but looking into their expectant eyes, he just couldn't bring himself to say no.

“Okay,” he heard himself reply.

"But it's agreed that I'll just watch from the sidelines."

"Tsuna, you're better at setting the ball than I am!" Hinata said, glancing at Tsuna, who was receiving the ball on the other side, while setting the ball.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, who hadn't even taken a volleyball final exam this seriously, was so startled by these words that he stopped what he was doing, and the volleyball hit him squarely on the head.

Shoichi Irie, speechless, stepped forward and retrieved the volleyball that had flown far away. "Where do you see the better one? You two are clearly about the same." At most, Tsuna's movements are slightly more skilled, but that's about it!

After passing the ball, they tried to set it for the other player so that someone else could spike it. In the end, they ended up scrambling to pick up the ball, and Zheng Yi couldn't bear to watch.

As it grew dark, the three decided to go home for dinner and agreed to meet again after school the next day. Irie Shoichi gave the other two some very concerned instructions.

"Make sure you listen carefully during volleyball class at school tomorrow."

Hinata answered energetically, "Definitely!" Sawada Tsunayoshi looked at the sky and the ground, and finally, under the barrage of glances from the other two, he gave a soft reply.

As Zheng Yi parted ways at the crossroads, the sun was almost disappearing on the horizon, leaving only the warm glow of its remaining rays.

Hinata felt incredibly happy today. Not only had he made a good friend, but she was even willing to play volleyball with him. Thinking about this, he began to wonder if he had been too pushy.

He stopped his bouncy steps, sidled up to Tsuna, and touched his nose. "Tsuna, are you tired?" He knew himself quite well; once he started playing volleyball, he never stopped.

Tsuna shook his head. Although Hyuga's question was rambling and seemingly unrelated, he still understood what she was trying to say.

"No, it won't,"

He once again displayed that smile that Hinata loved.

"Because we're good friends!"

Because we're good friends, I never feel tired no matter what I do.

"Wait, Sho, don't cry!" Seeing his best friend's teary eyes, Tsuna hurriedly tried to comfort him.

Hinata: "Waaah, I'm so touched! I want to be best friends with Tsuna for life, and then play volleyball with him for the rest of my life!"

Tsunayoshi: Actually, playing volleyball is the main thing.

A note from the author:

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This story is likely to be a bit slow-paced because the author really enjoys writing about two adorable little dumplings, and now there are three!

So cute! I almost fainted from cuteness while writing this ww

The update time is probably 9:00 PM every night. The author said they had a stockpile of chapters, but only wrote four chapters in the entire month of April. In other words, they are probably in a state of having no chapters to write (kneeling).