"Whoa~"
"Another three-man block? Doesn't that guy ever get tired?"
"Seriously, how many times has that been now? Gotta admit, Yuishi Middle is pretty tenacious!"
…
Inside the gymnasium, the crowd near the Sengoku Junior High side had unknowingly grown larger and larger.
On the court, the match between Sengoku and Yuishi was nearing its conclusion. The scoreboard displayed the clear results:
First set: 25–13
Second set: 23–15
Wait, no, it was already 24–15 now.
"Wow, I didn't notice it earlier, but doesn't it seem like Akashi's spikes have gotten a little stronger than they were two weeks ago?"
Perhaps because the match was nearly over, the atmosphere on the Sengoku side had become noticeably more relaxed.
And just then, Oomae Masato suddenly blurted out this comment, instantly quieting the whole court.
Even Akashi Asuka himself couldn't help but glance back at him.
The team: "???"
What kind of wild nonsense was that?
Was that even something a normal person would say?
Everyone turned to look at Oomae Masato with strange, doubtful eyes, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Hey, what's with those looks? I'm being serious here! You guys seriously didn't notice anything?"
"Sure, during practice before, we couldn't block Akashi even with two people, but now the other side can't stop him with three. Isn't that proof he's improved?"
The team: "…"
Honestly… that actually made a lot of sense.
Without saying a word, they all slowly turned their heads away, acting indifferent, but subtly shifted a few steps away from Oomae.
They were worried his IQ might be contagious.
Only his childhood friend and longtime teammate, Jujiro Kazama, patted him sympathetically on the shoulder and said with a serious face,
"Promise me this, Oomae, once we get to high school, don't join any sports that require brainpower, okay?"
Oomae Masato: "???"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
…
While the Sengoku players were reeling from Oomae's intellectual bombshell, another burst of excitement suddenly erupted in the audience.
"Is that Shiratorizawa? Did their match already end?!"
"Shiratorizawa? The school known as 'The Kings of the Court'?"
"That's right! Look, over there, it's him. Tobio Kageyama."
At first, the chatter outside the court didn't really catch Akashi Asuka's attention. But the moment he heard the name "Tobio Kageyama," he instinctively looked up.
Not out of any desire to size up a future opponent, just pure curiosity.
Shiratorizawa clearly wasn't here to watch Sengoku play. Honestly, with Sengoku's current level, they probably weren't even on their radar.
They were just passing by.
Shiratorizawa's team moved with strict discipline, radiating an overwhelming presence. At the head of their formation walked a boy with a balanced frame and a stern, serious face.
Akashi Asuka couldn't help but reflect. After spending the last couple of weeks adjusting to this world and slowly blending in, suddenly seeing Tobio Kageyama, the literal protagonist of a manga, right before his eyes brought back a wave of unreality he thought he'd shaken.
"Man... it really does feel like a dream."
Clicking his tongue, Akashi leapt into the air just as a volleyball soared perfectly into his path.
Yuishi still went for a three-man block.
But their confidence had already been shattered in the first set. Now, their triple block lacked height, timing, and above all, conviction.
In other words…
The block only looked intimidating. In practice, it was little more than a decorative wall.
Boom!
The ball launched off Akashi's spike, deflected off the defenders' hands, then rocketed upward, crashing into the rail of the upper spectator seating.
And just behind that railing, Shiratorizawa's team happened to be walking by.
For a brief moment, even Tobio Kageyama turned his head to watch, his eyes showing a hint of surprise.
But that was all.
Moments later, Shiratorizawa's players moved on.
On the court, Akashi Asuka didn't think much of it either. After a brief glance at Kageyama, he turned away and began lining up with his team as the referee blew the final whistle.
For Akashi, his tireless effort in training wasn't about chasing some rival or proving something.
He simply loved the raw competition on the court.
It was exhausting. It was demanding. But at least here, wins and losses were decided on skill, nothing more, nothing less.
As for Kageyama? Sure, he was curious. But beyond that, he was just another stranger.
And that powerful spike that happened to land right in front of Shiratorizawa?
Total coincidence.
Akashi was never the type to provoke his opponents outside the court.
If he ever did, it would only be as part of a strategy.
…
Match complete.
Sengoku Junior High advances to the second round with a 2–0 victory.
After the game, Oomae and the others were visibly excited, this was the first time in three years that Sengoku had made it past the first round of a formal tournament.
The last time they did?
Well… none of them were even enrolled in Sengoku yet.
Even the volleyball coach had a rare smile on his face. After all, this counted toward his performance.
His name was Shimokawa Mitsuto, and he hadn't actually been with Sengoku Junior High for long.
In Japan's public school system, there was a long-standing policy of rotating teachers across schools within the same district at regular intervals.
To maintain the strength of their sports teams, more competitive schools often assigned one faculty member as supervisor, and brought in an outside specialist as coach.
In most cases, the coach was the one truly in charge of training and game strategy.
But Sengoku Junior High's volleyball program wasn't exactly elite, so the school hadn't gone so far as to hire an external coach.
So in this case, Coach Shimokawa had to juggle both roles.
That meant even if he didn't achieve any great results, no one would blame him. But if the team did well under his watch… it would definitely make his résumé look better.
And if they could go even further...
Maybe even bring obscure Sengoku Junior High to the national tournament...
Ohoho~~
He didn't dare dream too far.
If he kept going, he might start drooling.
"But... maybe it's not completely impossible."
The thought ignited something in Shimokawa Mitsuto, a man in his thirties whose spirit hadn't quite grown old yet.
As he looked at Akashi Asuka, standing at the head of the lineup, bowing with the team—
A seed called "ambition" quietly took root in his heart…
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Note: Hey everyone! I'm really sorry, I made a mistake in scheduling the chapters. This one was actually supposed to go up last Thursday, so it should have been Chapter 7.