I feel like I’ve said this before, but the main gym at Matsubara Girls’ High School is huge. It was built back when the student body numbered over a thousand, big enough to fit all the students in one place. In terms of size, you could fit four full basketball or volleyball courts in there.
And right now, in that huge gym, there are only eight people—just the members of the basketball and volleyball clubs combined. That’s all of them. Not long ago, the basketball club had five members, but now it's down to three.
The basketball club’s only second-year member got absolutely disastrous scores on the recent final exams, and the midterms before that were a complete mess, too. With the result of four failing grades, her parents put a stop to her club activities.
And as for Okumura-senpai, the former captain who said she’d stick around until winter...
Unfortunately, she ended up in a condition where she can’t even go jogging, let alone play basketball for the rest of her high school life.
Patellar Tendinitis — commonly known as Jumper’s Knee.
It’s a common sports injury in activities like basketball and volleyball that involve a lot of jumping and landing.
If you take proper rest while it’s still mild, it’s no big deal. But if you ignore it, it can worsen to the point where surgery is required.
If I remember correctly, Okumura-senpai was already wearing a large knee brace back in April. When we had a practice match with them in May, she said, “It’s been hurting all the time.” In other words, she kept pushing herself and playing despite the pain.
After losing in the inter-high prelims and getting past the exams, she probably couldn’t take it anymore. When she went to the doctor to get ready for the Winter Cup prelims, they told her the knee was so bad she needed immediate surgery. She’d be in the hospital bed until the end of August, and even after discharge, no strenuous exercise until the end of February.
That was the diagnosis the doctor gave Okumura-senpai.
“So yeah, because of all that, the basketball club’s down to three people. We can’t even play a match. So, volleyball club—I’ve got a question. Are you seriously planning to get through the Spring High prelims and play in Tokyo come January?”
“Of course we are.”
Asuka answered on behalf of all of us without hesitation.
“We’re serious about going to the Winter Cup too. But our basketball team and your volleyball team both don’t have enough members. Our practices are brutal. From what I’ve seen, yours are too. There’s no way anyone new is going to want to join either of our clubs now. And even if we did get help from someone else during an actual match, they’d just drag us down if they haven’t been practicing with us.”
“Mirai, what are you trying to say?”
“Like I said earlier in the clubroom—let’s make a deal… no, let’s have a match. Basketball vs. volleyball. The losers join the winner’s club until January. How about it?”
“Even if you say that…”
“So you're saying if we lose, we have to be in the basketball club too until January?”
“I’m not underestimating either basketball or volleyball that much. No one’s winning prefectural prelims doing something halfway.”
In other words, whatever the match is, if we lose, we’re going all in on basketball until winter.
“Why until January? Can’t we just go back to our original club after we lose?”
“If we do that, you might throw the match on purpose. Even if you hate it, you have to stay in the other club until January. That way, you’ll take it seriously.”
Incidentally, the Winter Cup for basketball is in December, and the Spring High tournament for volleyball is in January. The volleyball tournament starts right at the beginning of January, so it's not too bad. The basketball team probably made the timing match ours.
“Honestly, would we even be useful to each other?”
“You would. If we win, meaning you all join the basketball club—based on that practice match in May, even with a gap from middle school, Asuka’s still solid. Next, the ninja. I’d bet there’s no other high school girl in the country who can pull off an alley-oop like you. Then there’s Hina and Reiko—both tall and with great jumping power. I’ll train them hard for three months and they’ll be game-ready. And Yukiko—I know her well since we’re in the same class. Anyone who moves fast is an asset. Most basketball players are tall, so someone in the 140 cm range dribbling around is actually really hard to stop.”
Hmm. It’s true that Asuka, with experience, would be useful. And if I were to play basketball, the strategy would probably be: “Just hurl the ball toward the hoop and I’ll finish it with an alley-oop.” Without any boys around, there’s probably no one who could stop me in the air. Reiko, Hina, and even Yuki have athletic ability far beyond your average high school girl.
“Next, if we lose and have to join the volleyball team. Sorry, I’m just going off what I’ve seen on the side, but to be honest, I’m confident I’m better at volleyball than Ninja. Of course, I’ll lose in terms of height and power though. Kaori… this girl is the tallest in our grade. She can jump too. If you know how much of an advantage height is in volleyball, then there’s no way she’d be useless. Even Mana’s athletic ability isn’t that bad.”
Maejima-san is probably better than me, no doubt. Now that Yui-senpai is gone, we want a tall blocker. And if someone versatile like her is on the bench, she can be a substitute in case of injury…
Most of all, I know how determined they are. They’ve got the physical endurance to withstand tough practice from morning to night. You won’t find anyone in the go-home club with more stamina and mental strength than these current basketball members.
In short, our interests line up.
“…So, Mirai, you're thinking that if both the basketball and volleyball clubs are going to fall apart, it's better for at least one of them to make it to nationals.”
“That’s right. We can’t get both. So we leave a chance open, however slim. So, Asuka, what’ll it be? We’re ready for this… We knew about Okumura-senpai’s knee. Honestly, I had a bad feeling this would happen for a while now.”
“I can’t decide this on my own—”
“Asuka. It depends on what kind of match it’ll be, but we should accept. Losing would be a big risk, but if they join us, they’ll be a huge asset. With just us, I don’t think we can beat Himesaki High.”
“Rei-chan…”
“Asuka. I also think we should go for it. It’s fine to ask for help right before a match, but that won’t win us the game. Yuuri got featured in a magazine the other day. We can’t rely on being unknown anymore. Our opponents will definitely study us and target our weaknesses. And honestly, I don’t know anyone better to ask than them.”
“Yuki…”
“Well, I think it’s fine. Sorry, Asuka, but if Maejima-san had been my classmate instead of you, and had pestered me like you did, I probably would’ve joined the basketball club. And Yuu-chan would’ve followed me.”
Hey, don’t just assume I’m going to follow you! I’m not some goldfish poop trailing behind you!
“Asuka. If you’re okay with it, then let’s accept. We’ll go along with you.”
Well, even if I were to object alone, it wouldn’t help much now.
“A match, huh? If we want to take it, we can. But if we lose, don’t blame us.”
“…Alright. Mirai. We’re in. We probably don’t have much time. We don’t know which club we’ll end up in, but the sooner we get started together, the better. So let’s decide on the content of the match right away.”
“Yeah. Hmm, what should it be? The obvious choice is some kind of sport—”
“I’ve heard enough!!!”
Suddenly bursting in is the basketball team’s advisor, Uesugi-sensei.
“Hmm. At this rate, both clubs are below the minimum number, so combining into one and aiming for a comeback… I suppose that can’t be helped. But still, you could’ve at least said something to us advisors first, right?”
Uesugi-sensei chuckled.
“I apologize. I was thinking of discussing it with you, but we didn’t know if the volleyball team would accept, so we thought we’d report to you after getting their agreement.”
The one responding wasn’t the captain Maejima-san, but Shirasagi-san. By the way, her full name is Shirasagi Mana.
“Well, I’ll take that as a sign of you not wanting to trouble me unnecessarily. Anyway, about that match you mentioned—there’s actually a perfect option!”
“Really!?”
“Really. …Actually, in the staff meeting just now, the basketball team came under fire…”
…That must be about Okumura-senpai. The school can’t just overlook the fact that she ignored her jumper’s knee until she was almost unable to walk.
“What happened with Asaoka’s grades was just too much. It’s only natural that her parents would demand a suspension from club activities.”
Ah, never mind, it wasn’t about that.
Asaoka-senpai is the second-year in the basketball team who just pulled off the incredible feat of getting failing grades in four subjects in the terms's finals. A student’s primary duty is studying. It’s understandable for people to complain about the basketball team being the cause.
“So, in the meeting, we listed students who are heavily involved in club activities and did poorly on the finals. Turns out, there were others in both basketball and volleyball besides Asaoka. Because of that, it was decided that those students must take supplementary tests during the first week of summer break. And if they don’t perform well again, they’ll have to attend supplementary lessons instead of club activities during the break. By the way, ‘not performing well’ doesn’t mean below 20 points. It means below 40. As for who’s affected… I’ll spare you the embarrassment and not name names here.”
…Ah, so it’s Asuka on our side, and Maejima-san on theirs. Both are sweating like crazy right now.
“And here’s the match. Normally, only those with bad grades would retake only the subjects they failed. But for this, all members of the basketball and volleyball clubs will take supplementary tests for all subjects. The club with the higher average score wins. Got it?”
Ugh. We have to take it too?
“N—”
N?
“NoooooooOOOOOOOO!!!”
Asuka’s scream echoed through the gymnasium.
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BONUS
“Four-Crown King” Asaoka: “Guaaaargh!”
...
“Memorization Master” Mirai: “Looks like Asaoka-senpai has been defeated…”
“Math Specialist” Asuka: “Heh… she was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Failing Kings…”
“Five-Crown King in Her First Year” ???: “To get failing grades as a second-year… what a disgrace to the Red Mark Four.”
＝＝＝＝＝
Author's Note:
The Women's Volleyball World Championship is really exciting, isn’t it? I have so much to say about it.
Personally, I’m captivated by tall players’ backswings before spikes and the setters’ back tosses, regardless of nationality.
In other words, I love scenes where tall players score with C or D quicks.
For readers interested in the World Championship through this comment section: a note of caution.
In the championship, the term “opposite” is used for a position. In this story, that’s what we call the “super ace.”
That’s a deliberate choice—because I believe “super ace” sounds cooler than “opposite.”
I had never heard the term “outside hitter” before, but it seems to roughly correspond to the “wing spiker” in this story.
I don’t really understand the difference.
Spike ○○cm, Block □□cm refers to how high a player can jump with and without a running start, respectively.
The spike height = highest reach point.
Also, the World Championship is at an extremely high level.
Please don’t assume the level of volleyball in this story matches that.
Try searching for Spring Nationals or Inter-High + girls' volleyball.
The videos you’ll find are top-level for high school, but they’re still way below the level of players in the World Championship.
This story is about the girls of Matsubara Girls’ High School, who (as of now) can’t even make it to the Inter-High.
…Though yeah, there is the totally broken setup where Yuuri’s max reach is 348 cm, while the current Japanese national team’s best is only 309 cm…
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