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Tamaki Commercial High School – Girls’ Volleyball Club – Former Captain
POV: Ichikawa Makiko
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It’s already late August. My exam prep is, well… frighteningly unproductive.
Looking back now, maybe going to a commercial high school wasn’t the best idea.
After all, for most subjects needed to get into a standard four-year university, we didn’t even learn them in the first place. So when I look at past exam questions, I just end up staring at them going, “What is this?”
To shake off those gloomy feelings, I decided I needed a change of pace! Around this time every year, the Tamaki Commercial girls’ volleyball club invites nearby public high schools and holds a joint training camp. And each year, the retired third-years would come back to help out.
Back when I was a first- and second-year, the third-years at the time helped us out in so many ways. So I convinced my mom and headed off to what would truly be my final club activity of high school life.
It’s summer break now, so I put on my summer sailor uniform for the first time in a while. Tamaki Commercial still has sailor-style uniforms for the girls. Isn’t that totally Showa-era?
This totally outdated uniform—thankfully I won’t have to wear it much longer. At least for the summer version, we only wear it until September.
…Even though I always used to say how uncute and old-fashioned it was when chatting with friends, now I’m suddenly feeling a little sentimental about it…
With that hazy mood, I arrived at the clubroom. The meeting time for club members had already passed long ago, but as support staff, we were told to come in the afternoon, so this should be fine.
I opened the clubroom door with the key hidden under a nearby flowerpot, just like always, and headed to my locker—
“Oh…”
Where my locker used to be, someone else’s things had been placed.
The girls’ volleyball club doesn’t have enough lockers for everyone. Only the regulars get personal lockers. I didn’t get one until the summer of my first year—before that, I had to put my stuff directly on the floor. The only exception was my uniform, which I’d put in the shared locker so it wouldn’t get wrinkled. But after I became a regular, I had my own locker for nearly two years.
Ah… that’s right. I’m retired now.
I gently placed my suddenly nostalgic-feeling uniform in the shared locker for outsiders, being careful not to wrinkle it, and headed to the gym.
This is throwing me off a bit.
No, this won’t do. I might be “former” now, but I’m still the ex-captain. I have to keep things upbeat, or everyone’s mood will sink. There were two other sailor uniforms in the locker I just used—those must belong to Yacchin and Mari-chan.
Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the two of them. Back when we played volleyball, we saw each other nearly every day. That thought made me feel a little happier. Even that stuffy old gym feels more exciting knowing I’ll see them again.
“Good morning!”
I entered the gym, greeting it just like I used to—
And—
“Good work!”
bows
A sweet, adorable voice accompanied by a polite bow.
Tamaki Commercial High’s gym had somehow turned into a heavenly realm with angels in it while I wasn’t looking.
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“Good morning.”
“Oh, Ichikawa. Long time no see. You’re really dedicated, huh? We only needed people for the practice matches this afternoon. Same goes for Yamaki and Chiga—you girls didn’t have to show up this early.”
Coach Kumada still had his usual rough-looking face. But he’s still the same good teacher deep down.
“Back when we were first- and second-years, our seniors helped out from the morning too. Picking up balls, making drinks—plus, students from other schools don’t know their way around, so we need to guide them. There’s a lot to do.”
“You’re such a serious one, Ichikawa. Just don’t forget to take a breather once in a while.”
“That’s exactly why I came here—to take a breather.”
…Well, to be more accurate, I came to escape reality, but I decided not to say that part out loud.
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“Yacchin! Mari-chan!”
“Yo.”
“Hey, Maki. Long time no see.”
As expected, Yacchin and Mari-chan were at the edge of the gym.
“How are the juniors doing?”
“Can’t say yet. No matches so far, and they’re still in warm-up drills.”
“Coach Kumada just said he hasn’t decided on the regulars yet.”
Our juniors have a really interesting trait.
Amazingly, there are six girls among the first- and second-years who are in the high 170 cm range! The catch is… all six of them are still pretty rough in terms of technique. So out of the six, only one—Yokota—even made it onto the bench.
That said, two of the second-years were doing pretty well, and among the first-years, aside from Yokota, I’m curious to see how much the other three have improved over July and August while we weren’t around. If three of the six get good enough to become regulars, the team could become really strong.
“So which schools are here this year? The usual Kichiya High, and Kurotsubaki’s been coming since last year, right? And this year, Matsujo joined too?”
“Looks like it.”
“…I know it’s silly jealousy, but aren’t the girls from Matsujo really cute?”
“Kaede and I were just joking about it—‘what idol group are they from!?’”
This year’s joint training camp included the girls from Matsubara Girls’ High School—the one with the angel. Just having them there made the gym feel like a whole different place.
But apparently, even Matsujo had three new members.
If I remember right, they had three third-years, so those girls must’ve retired, and these new three joined in their place. And those three were cute too.
To put it plainly, even the “least cute” girl from Matsujo would be considered “cutest in the class” by our standards.
Matsubara Girls’ has an academic deviation score of about 60, I think… but do they also have a face-score requirement of 60+ just to get in or something?
Ah…
We’re already getting those “ugh, not them again” looks from the other schools…
This afternoon’s matches might get a little dramatic…
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…Or so I thought, but that concern turned out to be unfounded. If they were cute girls who were also full of themselves, things might’ve gotten rough, but…
“YOSSHAAAA!!”
“DAAAHHH!!! I lost to Mirai againnn!”
“Yuuri! You're still fast as ever! I don’t think I can ever catch up!”
“If I hold back, Reiko would beat me.”
Just warm-up sprints.
Some people might take them lightly, but the girls from Matsubara Girls' go all out. They're shouting louder than anyone too. How should I put it—these girls are bursting with energy. Honestly, they're like high school boys.
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“What?! The Tamaki Commercial girls don’t stop by ramen shops after practice?!”
As the warm-up continued and there was a bit of free time, I happened to overhear a conversation between Angel-chan and Yokota.
“Huh? Wait, you girls go to ramen shops after practice? Just the high school volleyball team members?”
“Saya-nee and the others don’t?”
Yokota looked absolutely baffled, and Angel-chan was just as stunned.
“Wait. Ninja. Did you check out the area around their station—Tamaki Station? They’ve got all three: Yoshinoya, Sugiya, and Gyuuya.”
“!! Which means… the Tamaki Commercial girls aren’t into ramen—they’re into donburi!”
“Exactly. That’s probably what’s going on.”
“Ahh! That makes sense now! If we’re talking about the destructive power of rice and beef, ramen doesn’t stand a chance! Oh, but I still like Fuuryuu near Matsujo! If you go in uniform, you get one free extra serving of noodles!”
“Ehh~ but rice is still the best. Seriously, why isn’t there a single major gyudon chain near Matsubara Station?!”
“If we're talking about that, I’m frustrated there’s no curry place in front of the station. I wish they’d open a Curry Ichiban there.”
“If it’s Curry Ichiban, I’d rather have hayashi rice than curry.”
“Why isn’t there a proper rice-bowl chain near Matsubara Station?”
“Most of you probably don’t know, but there are Yoshinoya and Curry Ichiban shops near the shopping street by Matsuko High. Just, they’re apparently always packed with Matsuko students.”
…From what I overheard, it sounds like these girls hit up ramen joints together maybe two or three times a month after practice. Eight high school girls going to a ramen shop…
Apparently, when it comes to stylish cafés, their attitude is: “That kind of pretentious stuff doesn’t fill us up, and it’s expensive, so we don’t go.”
I take back what I said earlier. They’re not like high school boys.
They’re like wild animals.
Also, because it was hot, some of them were flipping up their jerseys and flapping them to cool off—HEY!!
“Hey you lot! This isn’t your all-girls Matsujo! Don’t be doing such unladylike things!”
A male teacher from one of the other schools, apparently a vice advisor, was yelling at the Matsujo girls.
“Agh, I really didn’t want to say this to another school’s teacher, but… Saeki-sensei, we’re teachers—it’s our job to teach students to act with some decency—”
Over there, Kumada-sensei was giving Matsujo’s advisor a serious scolding.
But the girls themselves looked like, “Our bras aren’t even showing, so what’s the big deal?”
…Like, seriously. They have such cute looks, so why do they act like they're throwing all that charm straight into the gutter?
It must be that after spending so long in an all-girls school with no boys around, they’ve completely lost their sense of modesty or shame and gone feral.
Before I knew it, the gazes from the other schools toward the Matsujo girls had softened…
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Perspective shift
POV: Tachibana Yuuri
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Starting today, we’re doing a 6-night, 7-day joint training camp at Tamaki Commercial High School. The focus of this camp is mainly practice matches, which is a great opportunity for us since we haven’t had much match experience.
At first, I felt some sharp, almost hostile stares from the other schools, but those gradually softened, and by the time we were eating lunch together, they were gone entirely.
Well, I guess that makes sense. You can’t expect to get along right away with people you’ve just met from another school. The stares must have softened because they began to accept us as fellow volleyball players.
Anyway, the camp has moved into the afternoon of the first day.
Apparently, this is where things really get serious. The afternoon is packed with practice matches.
They’ve tweaked the rules a bit: each match is just one set, substitutions are unlimited, and each match can last up to 35 minutes. This doesn’t apply to us, but schools with large rosters can field multiple teams.
Here’s the list of participating teams:
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Matsubara Girls’ High School: 1 team
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Tamaki Commercial High School: 2 teams
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Kichiya High School: 3 teams
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Kurotsubaki High School: 1 team
That makes 7 teams total. The plan is to have them play in a round-robin format from 1:00 PM to 6:30 PM with only short breaks in between.
…This sounds exhausting.
Since there’s an odd number of teams, there’ll be times when we’re not playing, but during those breaks we’ll take on roles like line judge or scorekeeper.
Incidentally, the ikemen senpai from Tamaki Commercial, even though they’ve already retired, are volunteering to help out. They’ll even act as main referees for the matches.
Our first match is against Tamaki Commercial’s A Team—in other words, their main lineup.
My impression? They’re tall!
Back when the ikemen senpai were playing, Tamaki Commercial didn’t seem like a team full of tall players. But now, they have four players who are about the same height as Reiko. One of them is Sayaka.
As for our starting lineup:
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FL: Asuka
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FC: Reiko
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FR: Hina
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BR: Me (Yuuri)
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BC: Kaori
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BL: Mirai
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Libero: Yukiko
→ Reiko or Kaori subs in when they’re in the back row
Net
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FL FC FR
BL BC BR
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End Line
This is assuming it’s our serve. If they’re serving, we rotate back one position. In other words, the rotation is set up so I’m the one serving first.
This is our brand-new strategy! Let’s see how far it can take us!
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