“Hah hah hah! Well, if it isn’t the members of the volleyball club!”
“We’re not a club! We’re a proper volleyball team!”
“Oh really? Kukuku, since when can you play volleyball with only five people? Do tell.”
“Tch…! Even with five, we’re still a volleyball team! And besides, you only have five too!”
“Idiot. Basketball only needs five to play. Don’t lump us in with you.”
“Hmph. Don’t act so smug when you couldn’t even make the top four in the Inter-High qualifiers, loser.”
“What did you say!?” “Say that again!”
"Okay, okay, that’s enough. Asuka, you’re the captain, so don’t waste your time here like this."
"Mirai, I could say the same to you. You’re the captain too, so maybe less chatting and more practicing. You don’t have much time before the Winter Cup qualifiers, right?"
It’s really unfortunate, but despite both Asuka and Maejima-san becoming team captains, they were still the same as ever.
One week after the Inter-High prefectural qualifiers. According to the calendar, it was now July. After that tournament, the third-years officially retired (though Eri-senpai seemed to leave the door open just a bit). And now, our volleyball team was down to five members. We couldn’t even form a full team anymore. Even if we didn’t use Yuki as a libero and treated her as a regular player, we’d still be one short. We thought about inviting someone new, but with how serious we are about practice, no one could keep up with us unless they were truly committed. A real problem.
Incidentally, the basketball team originally had three third-years, one second-year, and three first-years — a total of seven. If all the third-years had retired, they’d be down to just four members and unable to play as well. But since Okumura-senpai, one of the third-years, decided to stick around until the Winter Cup, they just barely had enough players.
As for why a first-year like Maejima-san became captain even though there are second-years in the basketball team — apparently one of the second-years recommended her, saying, "Mirai more suited for it," and she accepted.
Oh, and as you may have guessed from earlier — our new volleyball captain is Asuka. That decision was unanimous. After all, Asuka was the one who brought the other first-years into the team (except for Yuki), and she was the one shouting things like “Let’s win nationals!” So now it’s her turn to take responsibility and lead the team with confidence.
And here we are, three full months after April — it’s now July — and the back-and-forth squabbling between those two girls still hasn’t let up. Can you believe it? This all happened before morning practice, which means it’s not even 7 AM yet. They’ve got way too much energy...
"So, Asuka. That thing you’re reading, is it this month’s V-Ball?"
"Yup, that’s right. This month they’re doing a big Inter-High feature. Look."
After morning practice, classes went on, and now it was lunchtime. I’m not sure when it started, but before I knew it, I’d gotten used to eating lunch with Hina and Asuka. When did that begin?
Some classmates read fashion mags or boy idol magazines during lunch, but not Asuka. She’s unwavering — always volleyball magazines, every time. Honestly, I wish she’d put some of that dedication into her studies.
Anyway, I leaned over with Hina to take a look at the magazine.
"Um, let’s see… ‘With Mai Tobita leading the charge, Queen Kinhouzan Academy has no blind spots!’? What’s that supposed to mean?"
“This player, Mai Tobita, is a third-year at Kinhouzan Academy High School—the team that won Spring High back in January. If I remember right, she also played as the starting setter for Japan in the U-19 Asia Cup. It’s usually hard to gather top players for that tournament since it overlaps with the Inter-High qualifiers in Japan. Anyway, this year’s top contender for the Inter-High is none other than Kinhouzan Academy—the same school that won Spring High, with Tobita leading them as a second-year setter at the time.”
The magazine had a big close-up feature on her. From what I could tell from the article, she seemed like a solid setter. But still...
"Hmph. Whatever. She’s not that great. Hina-nee’s a way better setter."
"Ooh, Yuu-chan, bold claim."
Asuka grinned with a mischievous smile.
"Come on, Yuu-chan. You're making it hard for your onee-chan when you spout baseless stuff like that."
Hina looked a little flustered, but she didn’t seem to mind it that much.
"I’ve got my reasons! First, Hina-nee’s cuter. This Tobita person’s face rating is, like, 51 to 53 at best. Totally average. No competition with Hina-nee. And her chest? Hina-nee wins that too. Her butt—Oww ow ow!"
"Yuu-chan. Can you explain to your onee-chan how any of that has anything to do with volleyball?"
"Owww! Hina-nee, wait! You know how they say ‘cute is justice,’ right? Hina-nee’s cuter, so—ow ow ow!"
Hina! That pickled plum grip hurts!
"You two never get tired of this, do you? You’ve been doing this since April."
"I still think we’re better than Asuka and Maejima-san."
"Same here. …By the way, how highly is Himesaki — the school that beat us — rated?"
"Not very high. Look."
Kinhouzan, the top contender, got a full two-page spread in the magazine. On the next page, three schools were listed as rivals that might stop Kinhouzan’s run at winning both Spring and Summer nationals. I guess those are the main challengers. No mention of Himesaki there.
A few pages later, under a feature titled “Top Teams from Across Japan Aiming for the Title”, eight schools were introduced. Himesaki was included there.
…In other words, they’re a dark horse.
“What’s this—‘Himesaki High School, runner-up at Spring High, suffers a drop in strength as key players graduate. All eyes on the legendary Coach Akai’s leadership’?”
“Yeah. I think I mentioned it before, but compared to past years, Himesaki isn’t as strong this time around. The current third-years are even being called a ‘gap generation’ within Himesaki.”
“…That kind of strength from a ‘gap generation,’ huh.”
“Maybe it’s because they’re a ‘gap generation’ that they’ve gotten that strong.”
Himesaki, who we faced in the Inter-High Prefectural Semifinals, chose to center their lineup around their third-years. Their playstyle wasn’t flashy but extremely solid. More than anything, they made an unusually low number of mistakes.
They must’ve drilled it over and over—dozens, hundreds of times—to get to that point. We lost to that consistency. That match really showed us the power of fundamentals.
By the way, the generation considered Himesaki’s strongest in recent years was from four years ago—when Mika-nee and her teammates were third-years.
At that time, during the same period as the Inter-High Prefectural Qualifiers, the Asia Cup was being held, and unbelievably, Himesaki sent their ace, main setter, and libero (of course Mika-nee) to represent Japan. With those three as the core, the U-19 women's national team ended up winning the Asia Cup.
Meanwhile, even without those three core players, Himesaki comfortably made it through the prefectural qualifiers. Then, with their full lineup back for the national Inter-High and Spring High six months later, they steamrolled through to win the championship.
And when I say steamrolled, I mean it. Every match was a straight 2-0 victory. They didn’t give up more than 15 points in total per match.
“As a coach, there’s nothing more unfulfilling than this. It’s like playing shogi with only rooks and bishops. Even a baby could have led this team to victory.”
Those words, spoken by Coach Akai in reference to the ridiculous depth of his roster, are still talked about in volleyball circles today.
Compared to that, maybe there is some room to break through against this year’s Himesaki? But that strength—or rather, that stability—was really something else…
As I was mulling that over, Asuka suddenly let out a loud, “Aaaahhh!!”
…Totally off-topic, but here at Matsujo, people really don’t hesitate to raise their voices. A lot of them laugh loudly too. Seems like Miss Modesty and Miss Bashful are attending some other school.
“Hina! Yuu-chan! Look at this right now!”
Asuka pointed to a part of the magazine. And there—
“Ah! That’s Yuu-chan!”
Yes. A photo of me, small as it may be, had made its way into the magazine.
…Not to sound full of myself, but isn’t this actually kind of cute?
The shot was taken just as I was leaning back to spike, so despite the size, you could clearly make out a bit of a curve.
That photographer’s got skills. I’ll buy them a drink later.
I started reading the article from a bit earlier. Let’s see… It’s titled “Promising Young Talents Who Narrowly Missed Out on the Inter-High”—a feature highlighting standout first- and second-years from schools across the country that didn’t make it to the Inter-High. And apparently, I’m one of the ones they picked.
“Phenomenal jumping ability and overwhelming stamina. Though still raw in technique, her potential is limitless.”
…What a load of irresponsible fluff. And to top it off, the tagline is painfully lame.
“Pfft…”
Asuka covered her mouth, clearly struggling to hold back laughter.
“Asuka, if you laugh, Yuu-chan’s gonna—nope, I can’t, I’m losing it,”
Hina said, then burst out laughing. …I’ll remember this.
By the way, the cringeworthy tagline in question:
“The Pretty Ninja Girl from Eastern Europe — Tachibana Yuuri, First-Year, Matsubara Girls’ High School.”
…A ninja? Really? Okay, fine, I guess with how high I jump, ninja might be fair. Come on. We’ve got Hina and Asuka here in the Matsujo volleyball team—calling me the pretty? Not a chance.
"Thanks to Hina and Asuka bursting into laughter without a care in the world, word got out that I’d been featured in the magazine—and before I knew it, people were calling me stuff like 'Ninja,' 'Nin-nin,' or even 'Pretty Girl (lol).' Needless to say. This has to count as bullying, right? Could I sue the magazine and actually win?"
…And so, while we were going about our days like this, we failed to realize something.
We’re high school students, which means our primary role is, obviously, to study. And the thing that will make that painfully clear—the final exams—were less than a week away.
Also… we had a complete and total fool among our club members.
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