Ryuhei Sanashita was having very mixed feelings right now.
He wasn't sure if Oikawa Tooru had finally started to understand Akashi Asuka, or if it was more accurate to say that he was beginning to understand Akashi himself.
Either way, it was a good thing. If Aoba Johsai had any hope of dominating the upcoming Spring Tournament, they would absolutely need Oikawa's strength, especially in terms of coordination with Akashi.
"We need to increase our training!"
Oikawa suddenly declared this out loud.
Sanashita blinked, unsure what Oikawa was going on about this time.
"If Akashi already knows we've been holding secret practices and still hasn't confronted us or even shown up, that can only mean one thing, he's been training even harder. At the very least, he's definitely been putting in more hours than we have."
"If we keep slacking off, by the time school starts again, that guy will just end up pulling ahead of us all over again."
Sanashita stared at Oikawa, who looked like a sulking child refusing to lose.
And suddenly, he felt like getting involved in all this had been a mistake.
If such a childish rivalry ruined the relationship between Oikawa and Akashi, then honestly... they were both beyond help.
While Oikawa ran off to recruit others to level up their secret training, on the other side of town, Akashi Asuka was silently focused on strength-building workouts of his own.
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye…
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The New Semester Begins.
Once again, the members of Aoba Johsai's volleyball club gathered together.
"Hellooo~ Akashi-chan! How was your summer? Since it's the new semester and all, how about playing a match with your upperclassman?" Oikawa greeted him with a sunny smile as soon as Akashi walked into the gym.
Akashi raised an eyebrow at him and replied with a calm nod. "Sure."
Oikawa's eyes narrowed playfully. "Ara~ sounds like Akashi-chan is pretty confident about all the training he did over the summer, huh?"
Akashi answered flatly, "It was just some basic, normal training."
Crack,
Electric tension crackled between their gazes like static electricity.
And yet, watching this exchange from the side, Sanashita didn't feel the weight of an impending storm at all. If anything, he just thought the whole thing was childish.
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Thirty minutes later.
Two teams had assembled on the court.
On one side stood the four third-year veterans of Aoba Johsai: Oikawa Tooru, Hajime Iwaizumi, Takahiro Hanamaki, and Issei Matsukawa.
Their opponents were the first-year players: Akashi Asuka, Ryuhei Sanashita, Yutaro Kindaichi, and Akira Kunimi.
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"Um… why are we even part of this match?" Kunimi scratched his head. He sort of knew the story behind this game, but he didn't see how it involved him.
"Probably because we're first-years too–" Sanashita replied while adjusting his wristbands. "Anyway, since the senpai want to play, let's just go along with it. It's just a practice match, if not today, it'd just happen later anyway."
Neither Sanashita nor Kunimi seemed too enthusiastic; to them, the match felt born from childish rivalry. Kindaichi, however, looked fired up, not because of any grudge, but simply because he wanted to defeat the upperclassmen.
The coach hadn't arrived yet, so Yahaba Shigeru was acting as referee.
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The match began with a coin toss.
The Blue Team, Oikawa's squad, won the toss and chose to serve.
The Red Team, Akashi and the first-years, took the receive.
Tweet!
With a sharp whistle blast, the match kicked off.
By now, a decent crowd had gathered around the court, some first-string players, but mostly curious members of the second team.
For them, this was a rare showdown.
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First serve: Hajime Iwaizumi.
He stepped up to the service zone, the corner of his lips curving into a slightly wicked grin.
"Heh… Let's see how you first-years handle a taste of your senpai's real power."
BOOM!
With a swift toss and short run-up, Iwaizumi launched a jump serve that thundered through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the ball blasted past the net and screamed toward the backcourt of the Red Team.
"Whoa! That's fast!"
Iwaizumi's serve drew gasps from the onlookers.
Last semester, he had already learned jump serves, but back then, they lacked force, more or less just a showy toss without much threat.
But now, Iwaizumi's jump serve has evolved. It was powerful, accurate, and a genuine scoring weapon.
"Damn, that's insane!"
"I heard the first team had a whole month of brutal training over the summer. Looks like it's true."
"He's like a totally different player compared to last semester!"
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Amidst the chatter, the volleyball streaked toward the floor of the Red Team's court.
But just as it was about to hit,
A figure shot out like a bullet, sliding into position directly beneath the ball. With a soft, precise dig, Akira Kunimi stopped the serve cold.
The ball popped perfectly into the air.
"What a reaction speed!"
"He handled that serve like it was nothing? These first-years have changed a lot too…"
The crowd was stunned again.
Serving may look flashy, but it's often in receiving where a player's fundamentals really shine through. Aoba Johsai's second-string players had sharp eyes. They couldn't always play in official matches, but that didn't mean they were weak.
Quite the opposite.
Many of Aoba Johsai's second-team members would be first-string starters at weaker schools. The only reason they didn't make the court here was because the first-team was just that strong.
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The ball went up cleanly. Sanashita was already in position.
Without hesitation, he sent a perfect set flying above Akashi's head.
On the other side, Oikawa and Hanamaki immediately recognized the setup and rushed forward, forming a tight double block.
But Akashi didn't even blink. His eyes followed the spinning ball in the air, reading its flight path with eerie calm.
Once he judged the timing was right,
He moved.
One step. Two. Three. Takeoff.
Whoooosh,
Whether by coincidence or not, the moment Akashi launched himself into the air, the distant roar of a jet echoed overhead. And in that surreal moment, Oikawa and Hanamaki could only watch in stunned silence as a figure exploded into the air, rising higher and higher, vanishing from their field of view.
In that split-second,
They didn't feel like they were blocking a human.
They felt like they were standing beneath a plane taking off.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria