Golden Week in May.
As this was the last short break before the National High School Tournament qualifiers, nearly every school sports club held training camps during this period to prepare for the competition.
Karasuno High School was no exception.
Nor was Aoba Johsai High School.
However, at such a critical moment, the person least likely to request leave from Aoba Johsai actually asked for a day off.
That’s right.
It was him.
It was him.
It was our training maniac…
Asuto.
There was no helping it. Asuto didn’t want to take time off at a time like this either, but today was the release date for his new book.
After nearly a month of preparation, Asuto’s book had finally been printed and distributed to major bookshops for sale ever since he signed the contract.
Physical book sales were basically equivalent to online novel subscription numbers from Asuto’s previous life.
This directly determined the success or failure of a book.
So taking a day off for this specific reason was not at all excessive.
‘So, what exactly was Asuto doing?’
Actually, he barely did anything.
Most of the work was handled by his beautiful editor, Wakayama Kishia.
The two of them spent the entire day without rest, constantly entering and leaving bookshops all across Aoba Ward.
This was mainly because Wakayama Kishia was secretly observing readers’ reactions.
After all, she had only recently graduated from university, and young people always have lots of energy.
The next day, Asuto returned to the training camp dormitory at Aoba Johsai.
As soon as he arrived, a group of people gathered around him to ask what he had been doing the previous day. He honestly answered that he had gone out with a beautiful editor to check on the sales of the novel he had published.
And the result was… not a single person believed him.
Honestly, no wonder everyone these days preferred telling lies.
When you tell the truth, hardly anyone believes you anyway.
······
Unlike Karasuno, Aoba Johsai’s Golden Week training camp was not primarily focused on practice matches.
At this point, Aoba Johsai no longer lacked match experience.
During this Golden Week, the team’s primary objective was to speed up the coordination between the first-years and the third-years.
Back during their match against Shiratorizawa, Aoba Johsai had actually made quite a few mistakes.
The main reason was that the newly joined first-years and the third-years had not practiced together enough, causing their coordination to lack chemistry and preventing them from displaying their full strength.
And among all this, there was one exception.
Needless to say… it was naturally Asuto again.
Their usual training routines did not change much.
However, during training camp, after everyone else had finished training for the day, Nobuteru Irihata would arrange a two-versus-two match between Asuto and Iwaizumi.
The teammates paired with the two of them would constantly change.
The one constant was that both Asuto and Iwaizumi always occupied the main attacker position.
This arrangement immediately allowed several sharp-minded players to notice that something unusual was happening.
Yet nobody said anything.
This included Iwaizumi Hajime himself.
This showdown continued until the final day of Golden Week.
Before taking to the court that day, Irihata Nobuteru stopped Iwaizumi specifically and said:
“Iwaizumi, you should understand as well. Today’s match may be your final opportunity.”
Iwaizumi’s gaze remained calm as he nodded.
“Yeah. I understand.”
Then he turned and walked onto the court.
Oikawa naturally followed behind him, seemingly intending to be his partner for this match. However, before he could step onto the court, Irihata Nobuteru stopped him directly.
“Oikawa, step down. You won’t be playing in today’s match.”
Oikawa: ‘Σ(Д;)!!!’
Startled, Oikawa turned around, about to say something, but before he could open his mouth, Nobuteru Irihata completely ignored him and turned towards Shigeru Yahaba instead.
“Yahaba, you’ll be Iwaizumi’s partner for this match.”
“Yes, Coach!”
Shigeru Yahaba, who had been drinking water, froze for a moment before quickly reacting and hurrying onto the court.
Before anyone realized it, every one of Aoba Johsai’s starting players had gathered around to watch.
After several days of these head-to-head matchups, almost everyone understood Coach Irihata Nobuteru’s intentions.
Yet not a single person had openly said anything about it.
Even though Oikawa had secretly pulled a few tricks behind the scenes, he had never once opposed Irihata Nobuteru’s decisions publicly.
Because emotionally speaking, the third-year starters naturally hoped that Iwaizumi Hajime would continue serving as the team’s “Ace.” But they also understood that if the team wanted to go further, some changes were unavoidable.
Especially after witnessing the past few days of matches, they had clearly seen the gap between Asuto and Iwaizumi Hajime.
Asuto stepped onto the court and casually rotated his wrists a few times before calmly saying:
“I won’t hold back, Iwaizumi-senpai.”
“Then let me see whether you truly have the qualifications to lead this team forward.”
······
“Now then, the match officially begins.”
“The duo of [Iwaizumi Hajime · Shigeru Yahaba] versus the duo of [Asuto · Mishita Ryuhei]. Team Asuto will serve first.”
BEEP!
As the referee’s whistle sounded, Asuto carried the ball behind the baseline.
The court outside was utterly silent at this moment, but Asuto’s heart was even calmer.
To be honest, although Asuto had always known that he would become the team’s Ace sooner or later, he had not expected it to happen so quickly.
Now that the opportunity had come, however, there was naturally no reason for him to give it up.
In Japan’s almost distorted club hierarchy system, an ‘underdog victory’ was extremely difficult to achieve.
Although Aoba Johsai was not excessively strict in this regard, if Asuto wanted genuine acknowledgement, he would have to defeat Iwaizumi Hajime with absolute strength.
“Huuuu…”
“Sorry, Iwaizumi-senpai. But on this matter alone, there’s no way I can back down.”
Standing at the front of the court, Ryuhei Mishita’s heart suddenly skipped a beat as if he had sensed something.
He turned his head slightly to look behind him at Asuto.
And in that very instant, his eyes met Asuto’s, which were as calm and deep as stagnant water.
Immediately, Ryuhei’s eyelids twitched.
“This feeling…”
“This guy… don’t tell me he’s entering that state again at a time like this?”
A bad premonition rose faintly within Mishita Ryuhei’s heart.
After the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, he chose to clutch the back of his head and retreat to one side.
“Hm?”
Iwaizumi and Yahaba, on the opposite side, were both stunned by Ryuhei’s actions.
They were already used to covering their heads and giving Asuto some space whenever he served, but today, Mishita Ryuhei’s reaction seemed a little too exaggerated.
After all, this was only a two-versus-two match, and yet he had practically retreated off the court entirely!
The two of them could not understand it.
However, in the very next second, a volleyball suddenly smashed into the floor behind them.
Only afterward did the sound of the hit seem to catch up.
In an instant, the pupils of both Iwaizumi Hajime and Shigeru Yahaba contracted sharply.
(End Of This Chapter)