My name is Tobira Chiba.
Today, my friends and I agreed to meet up at the gym to play volleyball.
Partway through, two of my friends had to leave for other reasons, so we had no choice but to each find a high school student to join us as a temporary teammate.
To be honest, our original plan was just to fill in the numbers.
But to our complete surprise, these two high schoolers, one opened with a perfect cross-court spike, while the other boldly went head-to-head with our strongest middle blockers and blasted a straight shot that landed right on the line.
I have to ask: Have high school volleyball players gotten this insanely good nowadays?
We're a university team, after all.
Is this even reasonable?
Is this really fair?
...
The university players on both the red and blue teams twitched at the corners of their eyes, feeling completely shown up.
Each side glanced at their own high school player, then at the opponent's, with countless complaints bubbling up inside, but when it came time to speak, no one quite knew what to say.
"Great spike!" Tobira Chiba finally managed to say after a pause.
"Thanks for the compliment." Akashi Asuka replied politely.
Thanks to their respective teams' "rookie high schoolers." both red and blue scored a point apiece, leveling the score at 1–1.
After Akashi Asuka scored that spike, Kentarō Kyōtani, who had been half-teasing everyone with a cocky attitude, immediately focused all his attention on Asuka.
His eyes, sharp and wild like a rabid dog's, started burning with the urge to challenge.
At that moment, with the red team rotating, it was Asuka's turn to serve.
"Phew!"
Standing just behind the baseline, Asuka held the ball in one hand and exhaled gently, trying to relax his body.
Then he started his slow approach and tossed the ball lightly into the air...
Seeing this, the university players on both teams were stunned.
They had expected Asuka's serve to be similar to Kyōtani's, but now... something felt off.
Boom!
Thud!
As they mulled it over, a muffled crack of the ball hitting echoed through the gym.
In the blink of an eye, the blue team players caught a flash of movement, and the volleyball was already bouncing on the floor behind them.
"???"
"?????"
Everyone was dumbfounded, staring at the rolling ball on the floor as question marks exploded wildly in their minds.
That jump serve…
That was from a high schooler?!
As the one who brought Akashi Asuka here, Tobira Chiba was probably the most stunned person of all.
Back in high school, he had also played volleyball on his school team. Though his team never made it to nationals, they had faced off against the teams that did.
You never truly understand until you've played against them, even among high school teams, the gap between a national-level team and an ordinary club is huge, and can't be explained by the score alone.
Because of this, Tobira knew very well that Akashi Asuka already had the skills to challenge the national tournament.
Thinking about this, Tobira felt a little overwhelmed by his own luck, to casually pick someone up off the street and end up with a player capable of competing at the highest high school level... He wasn't sure if his luck was good or bad.
Boom boom boom...
None of these thoughts distracted Asuka.
After scoring on his first serve, Asuka knew his serving was feeling pretty good, so to keep the momentum going, he immediately prepared for his second serve.
Boom!
After the same routine, the volleyball flew out again.
This time, the blue team members were prepared and could see the ball's trajectory clearly, but still, the speed was incredible.
Completely ignoring control and placement, Asuka unleashed a powerful jump serve, focusing all his energy on strength and speed.
The ball flew over the net and landed just in front of Kentarō Kyōtani.
Such a placement would normally be a free point if the opposing libero or a better defender was in position.
Unfortunately for them, neither was the case.
Kentarō Kyōtani might have a rough personality, but he was talented and hardworking.
However, his position wasn't libero, he was an outside hitter.
The instant Kyōtani caught sight of the ball's path, he prepared to receive it, but when the ball collided with his arm, the overwhelming force threw off his arm position.
The ball veered off and landed out of bounds.
Score: 1–3.
"Damn it!"
Kyōtani's expression darkened as frustration over missing the serve grew.
At the same time, his gaze toward Asuka burned brighter with competitive fire and increasing defiance...
"It's okay, it's okay, keep it up on the next one."
The blue team's outside hitter clapped his hands to encourage Kyōtani, signaling him to keep trying.
Then, Asuka made a mistake.
His serve hit the net.
Score now 2–3.
This was normal, even world-class players in professional matches often have serving errors.
Besides, Asuka's powerful jump serve wasn't very refined yet.
That he managed to succeed twice in a row on his first try was a bit surprising, even to himself.
The red team's setter patted Asuka on the shoulder, signaling that his previous serve was great and not to worry.
The match continued.
The first ball of the "volleyball field" game was a show for the rookies.
After that, the match mostly became a battle of teamwork, strategy, offense, and defense.
In this regard, Asuka and Kyōtani clearly couldn't compare with the veteran players who had been playing countless matches.
So the number of times they received the ball gradually dropped.
This was no problem for Asuka, he was well aware of his place.
At first, unfamiliarity might let him break through the opponent's defense on his own.
But once both teams settled in, his current physical ability and skill level didn't give him much advantage against the university players' coordinated defense.
To score, it would come down to teamwork.
So here, he treated himself as just another outside hitter, focusing on learning.
Asuka had that clear mindset because he carried an adult soul inside.
Kentarō Kyōtani, nicknamed the "Mad Dog." was obviously different.
For this young man, volleyball meant spiking and attacking, that was where the thrill was.
If he couldn't spike, what was the point?
So, after a long stretch without touching the ball...
Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer.
When the score reached 22–24, match point for the red team,
The blue team's offense and defense had become steadier.
On the final attack, the blue team's setter instinctively chose to pass to an older teammate with whom he had more experience.
But at the instant the pass left the setter's hands, as the blue team's middle blocker was about to jump,
Kyōtani suddenly dashed forward from behind, snatching the pass right out of the middle blocker's hands.
Boom!
With a ferocious spike over the net, Kyōtani sent the ball soaring over Asuka's head in the backcourt, a home run smash that hit the wall more than twenty meters away.
"Uh..."
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