After afternoon classes ended, it was time for the Shiratorizawa volleyball team to begin practice. The players, dressed in their Shiratorizawa uniforms, gathered in the parking lot in front of the gym, preparing for long-distance training.
"Hey, over here, Ushiwaka!" a boy in a blue tracksuit shouted from afar.
Ushijima Wakatoshi looked in the direction of the voice and saw two figures. Judging from their uniforms, they were both players from Aoba Johsai. He recognized the one shouting—it was Aoba's setter, Oikawa Tooru.
Without pausing his stretching, Ushijima calmly said, "Oikawa. It's rare to see you at Shiratorizawa."
The two who came were indeed Oikawa Tooru and Kaedehara Taichi. Their coach, Irihata, had come to discuss a practice match with Coach Washijou of Shiratorizawa.
If everything went according to plan, this would likely be Aoba Johsai's final practice match with a Miyagi school before the Inter-High preliminaries. After some consideration, Coach Irihata decided to directly challenge the strongest opponent.
Oikawa immediately expressed his desire to bring Taichi along to broaden his horizons. After a moment's thought, Coach Irihata agreed—it would be good for the players to see how Shiratorizawa trained.
Which brought us to this scene.
Oikawa walked up to Ushijima and said, "We'll probably have a practice match soon, so I wanted to scout things out a bit in advance."
Eh? Can he really be that direct? Kaedehara Taichi was visiting another school's campus for the first time and was curiously looking around. Shiratorizawa was truly impressive—even having an equestrian club on campus, something he'd never seen in his past life. Outside the gym where the volleyball players had just come out, there was even a bus dedicated to the volleyball club—pure luxury.
"Go ahead. Watching our training won't make us weaker," Ushijima replied with his usual seriousness. "But we're doing long-distance running now. There shouldn't be many people inside the gym."
"That's fine. I can wait until you're back," Oikawa said casually, walking toward the gym.
"Ding! Temporary Mission: Daily Routine of the Absolute Ace."
The system's voice echoed.
"Ushijima Wakatoshi is known as the 'Absolute Ace' at Shiratorizawa. Experiencing his daily training routine is a necessary step on your path to becoming an ace."
"Stick with Ushijima and complete the long-distance run. Reward: +1 Stamina."
Huh? Just completing a long run would give him +1 Stamina? Taichi felt something was fishy. But since there wasn't any punishment mentioned, he figured there was no reason not to try.
"Um, can I run with you guys?" Taichi looked at Ushijima.
Up ahead, Oikawa suddenly stopped walking. He turned back and smiled.
"Oh right, forgot to introduce him. This is Kaedehara Taichi, Aoba Johsai's first-year ace."
Only then did Ushijima look at Taichi. A first-year, huh? As for Oikawa calling him the "ace," Ushijima didn't take it seriously. His own team also had a noisy first-year always going on about becoming the ace—he was probably about to show up too.
"I won't lose today, Ushijima-senpai!"
The loud declaration drew the attention of nearby teammates stretching out. Sure enough, it was that noisy first-year—Goshiki Tsutomu.
With full confidence, Goshiki made his declaration of victory, finished warming up, and then sprinted off toward the school gates.
He dashed off at nearly a sprinter's speed. Watching his figure grow smaller in the distance, the teammates—already used to his competitive nature—exchanged knowing looks.
"There he goes again… If Coach Washijou finds out, he's gonna get scolded."
But Ushijima wasn't fazed by the interruption. He had just finished his warm-up and now looked at Taichi. "If you can keep up, go ahead."
"Let's go," he told the rest of the team with his usual stoicism.
"Yes!"
The Shiratorizawa players followed behind Ushijima and began their long-distance run. Taichi quickly stretched and joined the group.
At the very first intersection, the other players split off from Ushijima. In truth, hardly anyone at Shiratorizawa followed Ushijima's high-difficulty route. In the past, a few players tried to match his pace, but without exception, they all had to drop out halfway and rejoined the others later.
Even third-years like Ohira Reon and Tendou Satori didn't try to keep up with Ushijima—not because they were lazy, but because they took a different route to conserve energy for the gym training afterward. If they exhausted themselves during warm-ups, Coach Washijou would chew them out non-stop.
Naturally, Taichi didn't know any of this. He just followed Ushijima closely according to the mission.
"Ding. Training Mode Activated. While training, the host's stamina recovery will be abnormal, preventing exhaustion."
Hearing the familiar system message, Taichi felt relieved. This was his confidence behind accepting the mission.
Once he adjusted to Ushijima's pace, he opened the system to check his stats.
"Ushijima Wakatoshi – Overall Rating: 94.5. Height: 189.5 cm. Strength: 99, Jumping: 90, Stamina: 99, Speed: 90. Skills: Serve 97, Receive 92, Set 90, Spike 99."
What the—?! Taichi almost tripped. A hexagonal monster? This was beyond high school level.
What's more, he had four skills worth highlighting in the system. Taichi felt a bit dizzy.
"Note: Ushijima Wakatoshi has been officially selected for Japan's U-19 National Youth Team."
Even an extra note?! No wonder he was called Shiratorizawa's "Absolute Ace." Taichi was already a little numb. It was no wonder that Miyagi schools had such a hard time reaching Nationals—this was the kind of monster they were up against.
Taichi shook off his thoughts and focused on running with Ushijima.
The two silently ran forward. After turning a few corners, Taichi spotted a familiar figure.
Goshiki Tsutomu had collapsed beside a low bush, looking completely unconscious.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Taichi rushed over as Ushijima also stopped beside him.
"Goshiki, how are you feeling?" Ushijima asked.
Goshiki opened his eyes and, upon seeing his senpai, weakly muttered, "The beef stew rice is rolling around in my stomach…"
Hearing that, Ushijima was somewhat relieved. At least he wasn't injured. But this was clearly Goshiki's own fault—trying to show off during lunch, he scarfed down two plates of beef stew rice in front of Ushijima.
Ushijima took out his phone and messaged the support members. After staring down at Goshiki for a moment, he said, "The logistics team will be here soon. I'll head off now."
Goshiki knew this was his own doing and didn't want to delay his captain's training, so he just nodded. He even wanted to say, "Next time I definitely won't lose," but thought better of it under the circumstances.
Taichi continued running with Ushijima. Since someone was coming to handle it, there was no need for him to interfere in another team's business.
After running for about 30 minutes, Taichi finally saw the outline of Shiratorizawa Academy again.
"Why did Oikawa come to Shiratorizawa today?" Ushijima suddenly asked.
Good thing it was just the two of them—otherwise, Taichi would've doubted whether Ushijima was really speaking to him.
"Oikawa-senpai said earlier that Aoba Johsai is planning a practice match with Shiratorizawa."
Ushijima thought for a moment and rephrased, "With Aoba Johsai's strength, they can't beat Shiratorizawa. That's why I'm asking—why did Oikawa come?"
Still the same flat tone, but Taichi felt a surge of frustration. He suddenly sped up and ran ahead, throwing a sentence over his shoulder.
"Either way, you're the opponent we have to beat in the Inter-High qualifiers. No harm in scouting in advance!"
Ushijima realized the first-year was suddenly sprinting to try and beat him to the finish. It didn't mean much—but still, he wouldn't lose either!
Ushijima also accelerated. The two sprinted the last stretch like they were racing.
If it's a race, I won't lose to you.
Taichi reached the school gates a few strides ahead of Ushijima. Even though he was completely exhausted, he stood tall and turned to address the upperclassman trailing just behind:
"Let me properly introduce myself. I'm Kaedehara Taichi, first-year ace of Aoba Johsai. I'll lead Aoba Johsai to beat you in the Inter-High qualifiers and go to Nationals!"
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