Readers’ opinions of Cautious Hero were sharply divided.
As the market was still dominated by traditional hero novels, many younger readers found it difficult to accept an unconventional hero like the one in Cautious Hero.
However, as the standard hero novels had already begun to decline, readers who were thoroughly familiar with all the usual tropes found the creativity of Cautious Hero refreshing and eye-catching.
Overall, though, older readers had more spending power, so sales of Asuto’s novel were actually quite good.
This was also the reason why Wakayama Kishia wanted to meet Asuto. Currently, some in the Editorial Department believe that the later content should be revised to some extent and that the new plot developments should be used to attract the remaining group of readers.
But Asuto firmly rejected the proposal.
Because he felt that if he really did that, not only would he probably fail to attract new readers, he might even lose his existing audience. Since he had already decided to walk the unorthodox path, then naturally he intended to follow it all the way to the end.
During the meeting, Asuto handed the manuscript for Volume 2 to Wakayama Kishia.
This almost made Wakayama Kishia spit out the coffee she was drinking. The way she looked at Asuto at that moment was practically like she was staring at some kind of rare animal.
An author who actually turned in manuscripts on time was simply unbelievable.
······
Monday arrived, and school resumed.
Asuto could clearly feel the change in the atmosphere of the Aoba Johsai Volleyball Club. The sense of an approaching battle had made every member of the club unusually serious.
Even Akira Kunimi had stopped talking about ‘energy saving’ during practice recently.
And the reason for that was simple.
The High School League was about to begin.
The preliminary tournament brackets were released not long ago, and it was announced that Aoba Johsai would participate as a seeded team in Preliminary Group A.
The preliminaries were scheduled for 2 June. In other words, if nothing unexpected happened, this would most likely be the final week before the official matches began.
…
Bang! Bang!
“Next!”
Bang!
“Next!”
Inside the gymnasium, Oikawa set balls for the players one after another. Thanks to someone, the training tempo of the Aoba Johsai players had increased by at least a third compared to before.
In the past, after a full practice session, most players would only end up sweating a little.
But now, before even half of the session was over, quite a few people were already gasping for breath.
Soon, it was Asuto’s turn.
Oikawa set the ball, but the moment it left his fingertips, his expression changed.
“Ah, sorry. I set that a little too high.”
With his current skill level, Oikawa rarely made such basic mistakes anymore. Yet whenever he coordinated with Asuto recently, he kept making errors.
The reason for this couldn’t really be blamed on Oikawa.
The main issue was Asuto himself.
Asuto’s rate of improvement was simply too fast.
Often, Oikawa would spend several days finally managing to consistently set the ball at Asuto’s optimal spiking height.
But after some time had passed, Asuto would be jumping even higher again.
Although the improvement each time was extremely slight, so subtle that ordinary people would find it difficult to notice, who was Oikawa?
In order to defeat the two shadows that seemed destined to loom over him, he had always held himself to incredibly high standards.
So, whenever Asuto showed even the slightest change, Oikawa had to adjust immediately.
Just like now…
Whoosh!
Oikawa’s warning came a step too late because Asuto had already leapt into the air by the time he spoke.
In the past, Asuto would have struggled to recover from a poorly set ball like this.
This time, however, he was struck by sudden inspiration. He abruptly tensed his body in midair and then…
He simply stopped in midair.
Only once the volleyball had dropped back down to the ideal contact point did he suddenly swing his arm and spike.
Bang!
The ball slammed against the floor and rebounded high into the air.
Normally, outsiders would never notice such a subtle change.
But Oikawa, who had been standing closest to Asuto, saw everything clearly. His pupils instantly widened in shock.
“Asuto… were you actually hanging in the air just now?”
“Mmm…”
Asuto pondered for a moment, then mentally pulled up his status panel. After glancing at it a few times, he nodded with certainty.
“I think so too. My Hang Time ability has probably improved a little again.”
——
Host: Asuto
Strength: 82.3 [Core Strength: 82.3; Arm Strength: 82.4]
Speed: 78.6 [Burst Speed: 78.1; Reaction Speed: 79.1]
Stamina: 80 [Endurance: 80; Cardiopulmonary fitness: 80.1]
Jump: 80.4 [Vertical jump: 81.2; hang time: 80]
Basic techniques: 75.9 [Serve: 79.3; Receive: 73.8; Pass: 67.5; Spike: 81.6; Block: 79.7; Defence: 74.4]
Advanced skills:
[Cross-Court Spike: 80.5]
[Straight Spike: 80.7]
[Power Jump Serve: 81.6]
——
Asuto’s [Hang Time] stat on the status panel had changed from 79.9 to 80.
For a while now, Asuto had mainly been focused on improving his stamina attributes. After raising both stamina-related stats above 80 yesterday, he had planned to increase his [Hang Time] next.
Unexpectedly, however, the stat had broken through the limit on its own today and reached 80.
Oikawa’s eyelids twitched.
“Improved a little?”
A change this obvious to the naked eye, and you call that ‘a little’?
Did having talent mean you could do whatever you wanted?
“Asuto, after today’s practice ends, let’s test your current hang time.”
“Okay!”
Asuto nodded.
He also knew that improving his [Hang Time] attribute would be another major challenge for Oikawa.
Just like Ushijima Wakatoshi, once the hang time attribute reached a certain level, its mere existence became a powerful weapon.
As the tournament drew nearer, Asuto adjusted his training plan accordingly.
Just like in middle school, his training shifted towards specialized improvement during this period.
Day after day passed.
Then Saturday arrived.
Wakayama Kishia sent Asuto another email informing him of the novel’s third-week sales figures.
Compared to the first two weeks, sales had risen again in the third week, reaching 5,452 copies.
Consequently, the publishing company decided to print an additional 10,000 copies.
In addition, volume two had already been sent to the factory for printing. Due to the strong performance of Volume 1, the initial print run for Volume 2 was set at 20,000 copies.
Asuto estimated that his manuscript royalties for the novel’s first month had already exceeded 4 million yen.
Amidst this string of good news, the National High School Comprehensive Sports Tournament preliminaries officially began…
(End of Chapter)