“Ahhh… I’m exhausted!”
“We barely even trained that much today, so why does it feel this tiring?”
“I’m starving. When I get home tonight, I’m definitely eating three bowls of rice.”
······
As the sky gradually darkened, the members of the Aoba Johsai volleyball club emerged from the gym one by one.
Several second-string players were groaning in agony.
For some reason, today’s training intensity had felt especially brutal.
The starting players were sprawled across the gym floor, too exhausted to speak properly.
Sweat had soaked through their shirts, leaving damp, thigh-shaped marks on the ground.
“Did something break in my brain? Why the hell did I start competing with those two lunatics?”
Several of the starters were beginning to question their decision to play. At the start of training, only Iwaizumi Hajime and Asuto had been competing against each other, slightly increasing the intensity of the training.
But as practice continued, things gradually started to head in a strange direction.
At first, they had only been comparing their spike rhythm.
But later, no one knew who had started it, the power behind their spikes had also steadily increased.
Before anyone realized it, the training intensity of everyone else had increased as well.
“Wait a second… don’t tell me that guy’s still planning to practice?”
One player saw Asuto alone, pushing a basket of volleyballs towards the baseline, and spoke with visible horror.
“No way. Even if he has insane stamina, there’s no way he could possibly…”
Bang!
Before Issei Matsukawa could finish speaking, a loud bang echoed from the court ahead.
It was clearly the sound of Asuto practicing serves.
Issei Matsukawa’s voice caught in his throat, and his mouth suddenly felt dry.
“H-Hey… seriously? Is this guy actually some kind of ‘monster’?”
· · · · ·
Asuto was exhausted.
And starving.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
The people at Aoba Johsai were simply too competitive.
Despite having trained extremely hard that day, Asuto’s training intensity had only exceeded that of everyone else by ten to twenty percent.
There was still an enormous gap before reaching even the most basic standard of [Low-Level Involution].
In other words…
Today’s harvest of ‘Involution Grind Value’ was zero.
Asuto had always been very self-aware.
He acknowledged his own hard work, but he also clearly understood that he would not be as strong as he is now without the help of the System.
The System’s evaluation standard was based on the strongest individual metric among teammates.
Back in junior high…
Since everyone was in their final year, the physical differences between players weren’t very large, even without relying on the System.
However, in high school, although Takahiro Hanamaki, Issei Matsukawa, and the others weren’t particularly talented, they had trained for two years longer than Asuto.
Therefore, trying to surpass them in training efficiency was obviously extremely difficult.
The only way to out-grind them was probably to win through sheer training time.
The strongest server at Aoba Johsai was Oikawa Tooru.
However, he had just been called away by the coach.
Asuto therefore needed to take this opportunity to squeeze in a few more serves.
······
“Iwaizumi, Oikawa, next week I’m planning to arrange several practice matches with other schools.”
Coach Irihata Nobuteru spoke up.
“It’ll also help the newcomers adapt quickly to the atmosphere of high school-level competition and prepare for the upcoming league matches in advance. Do you two have any good suggestions?”
“Coach, have schools already contacted us?” Iwaizumi asked after a moment’s thought.
“Mm. Quite a few schools have contacted us recently about practice matches…”
Irihata Nobuteru searched through the papers on his desk and pulled out a list.
“Schools like Izumiishi High, Dewanoichi High, and Shinzan High, all of them strong teams, are preparing for the upcoming High School League.”
“And besides that… Shiratorizawa has also invited us to their school next week for a practice match.”
The instant the name ‘Shiratorizawa’ was spoken, the expressions of both Oikawa and Iwaizumi stiffened simultaneously.
Because when it really came down to it… Aoba Johsai and Shiratorizawa were practically old rivals.
Although Aoba Johsai was one of the top four teams in the prefecture, to be precise, they failed to advance every single time over the past two years.
The reason had always been Shiratorizawa.
Consequently, merely hearing the name ‘Shiratorizawa’ now stirs an uncontrollable impulse in every Aoba Johsai player.
“First of all, we can agree to Shiratorizawa’s invitation.” Iwaizumi was the first to speak.
His words were immediately met with unanimous agreement from both Oikawa Tooru and Irihata Nobuteru.
It wasn’t just the players either.
As the coach who had been suppressed by Shiratorizawa for two years, Irihata Nobuteru certainly had some resentment.
“We can also accept invitations from Izumiishi High and Dewanoichi High. Their schedules are flexible and won’t interfere with our daily training.”
Oikawa rubbed his nose thoughtfully as he offered his suggestion.
“Besides, playing more matches will help the newcomers adapt to the high school competition environment more quickly.”
Irihata nodded to indicate his approval.
“And then…”
Oikawa was about to continue, but his gaze suddenly landed on a name on the list.
A school name that was both familiar and unexpected.
“Coach, can we arrange a practice match against Karasuno next?”
“Karasuno?” Irihata Nobuteru froze slightly.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard the name before.
Although, in recent years, Karasuno had been called ‘the fallen powerhouse’ and ‘the flightless crows,’ that reputation mainly existed among students.
For a coach like Nobuteru Irihata, however, a few years passed in the blink of an eye.
He still clearly remembered the glorious era that Karasuno once had.
“Karasuno really was strong a few years ago. But these past couple of years, if I remember correctly, their results have only been average, they are not especially good or bad.”
“Why did you suddenly want to play against them?”
“Actually, there’s a junior of mine who seems to have joined Karasuno this year.”
“Oh~~ You mean Kageyama, right?”
Irihata Nobuteru’s memory of Kageyama Tobio was equally vivid.
Because after junior high graduation, Aoba Johsai had also tried recruiting Kageyama Tobio.
But just like Asuto, he had refused the special admission offer.
“That’s right.”
As Oikawa Tooru spoke, the corners of his mouth curved upward slightly.
“I’m really curious to see what kind of strength my ‘King’ junior has after joining Karasuno.”
Irihata Nobuteru thought for a moment before replying:
“In that case, let’s add Karasuno to the list of candidate schools as well.”
It wasn’t a particularly major matter anyway.
Although Karasuno wasn’t especially strong, their recent results also weren’t particularly weak either.
As practice match opponents, they were more than adequate.
Afterward, Irihata Nobuteru continued discussing matters such as future practice match player allocations with Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tooru before finally dismissing them.
When they returned to the volleyball gym…
Asuto had already finished his additional one hundred serve practice session and was currently packing up together with Mishita Ryuhei, preparing to leave the gym…
(End of Chapter)