It’s often said that women have a tendency to form groups.
Back in ancient times, men would leave the settlement to hunt, while women stayed behind to guard the home. This division of labor made it more practical for women to work together—two were better than one, and three better than two when it came to protecting their home. So women banded together.
Even after the hunting age gave way to the farming age, women continued to hold the role of protecting and managing the home. And in doing so, they created communities, living together in mutual support.
In other words, women forming groups isn’t some strange behavior—it’s a deep-rooted instinct engraved in their genes. That said, these groups aren’t open to just anyone. Once the optimal number for maintaining the group is reached, there’s little need to add more members unnecessarily.
Which makes perfect sense.
Managing people is hard work. There’s even a saying: Too many captains will steer the ship into the mountains. The more people you add, the harder it becomes to lead.
So what am I trying to say with all this?
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I got left out...
It’s just before 7 PM on the second day of the joint training camp. All the scheduled practices have ended. Around this time yesterday, I had already changed and was eating dinner. After that, I enjoyed the bath while it was still relatively empty.
But today, after getting a bit of advice from Saeki-sensei and Uesugi-sensei—“You can study later. Do things now that you can only do during the training camp”—I thought I’d join in on some extra practice…
Only to find that everyone was already deep into training with their chosen partners. There was no room to squeeze in.
I mean, most of the pairings were already decided yesterday—there’s no way to break into them now...
For the record, the study group I was part of yesterday? Yuki and Mana are each practicing elsewhere. When were they even invited? More importantly, no one invited me to anything...
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I hadn’t noticed before, probably because Hina’s always been next to me, but... maybe I don’t have any friends?
No, wait, that can’t be. Think back. From April to July—my high school life. What kind of experience has my “girl’s high school life” been?
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I’ve been with Hina the entire time...
Actually, I’ve mostly been hiding behind her...
It’s always been just me and Hina. Occasionally, for class events, Asuka and Kayo would be there, and for club activities, there’d be the volleyball team. But if I really think about it... even counting the volleyball team, I probably only have about ten people I could call friends...
Wait, hold on. When I was a guy, I had a much broader social circle, didn’t I? How did this happen?
Looking back, most people only talk to me through Hina.
And honestly, with how I look—kind of like someone from Eastern Europe—it can’t be helped. I probably seem like someone who might not even understand Japanese at first glance, or someone with completely different customs and values.
Actually, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to “high school girl norms,” and Hina’s always covering for me...
So it makes sense that people would only talk to me via Hina... but still, I didn’t realize I was this alone...
“Yuu-chan, what’s wrong?”
Hina asked me as I sat in silence, stunned by the realization.
“Hina-nee... do people hate me? No one’s invited me to join their extra practice...”
“I don’t know if it’s hate, but it’s definitely hard for them to approach you.”
“Why?”
“Let’s say, for example, that instead of a girl’s volleyball team, we were talking about high school baseball players all practicing hard for the spring tournament. Now imagine that among them is one player—just one—who, despite still being a high schooler, got invited to a training camp with professional players as part of the national team. Here’s the question: do you think the other players aiming for the spring tournament would casually invite that person to practice with them?”
…Yeah, that’s not happening. They’d feel like they’d only drag that player down. Even if they practiced together, the skill gap would be too big.
“But I’m not even that good... Should we ask if we can join someone’s practice, Hina-nee?”
“Hmm. First, Yuu-chan, what kind of practice do you want to do? That’ll change who you should talk to.”
What kind of practice, huh...
There’s a lot of things I need to work on, but if we’re talking about what I want to do—
“I want to practice a special move! That thing we talked about before... air something?”
“Air fake, right? Hmm... You’re starting to get the hang of targeting different zones, so maybe it’s time to focus on hitting balls that aren’t just dropping ones but floating ones—like those in an indirect delivery. At school, you only got open tosses, so this would be a big step. Once you’re used to that, we can start working on quick attacks. Air fakes come after that.”
Ooh! So I’ve finally reached the point where I’m allowed to learn a special move! Honestly, Reiko—who picks things up faster than me—has already moved on to other spike training. Asuka even said, “Rei-chan needs to use tricks, unlike Yuu-chan.” Definitely felt like she was being considerate...
“Okay! Let’s do it! If it’s just toss and spike, we can manage with just the two of us, right? I’ll go find a free spot near a net!”
“Ah, wait a second. Yuu-chan, I hate to say this after asking, but... I’m not sure quick attacks are the right fit for you.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I could be wrong, but... Yuu-chan, your strength isn’t your spike power—it’s your height. Your hitting point is so high that even boys would struggle to block it. Quick attacks are meant to avoid blocks. So they might not be the best option for someone who can already render blocks useless. Instead, maybe you should practice against blockers, or aim to spike from even higher for things like back attacks, or work on accurately hitting the open spaces in the defense. That kind of training might be better.”
Makes sense. She’s got a point.
“So I don’t need quick attacks?”
“I won’t say that, but the priority might be low. Even if you do a quick attack, it’s not any scarier than your open spikes—”
“I disagree. If Yuuri-chan learns quick attacks, she’ll be really scary.”
The one who cut in on our strategy meeting was the cool, ikemen-senpai.
“Good evening. Am I interrupting? As a former opponent, I’ll be honest—if Yuuri-chan learns quick attacks, she’ll be a real threat.”
“Do you really think quick attacks would help? Like Hina—my sister—said, my spikes are already high enough to avoid blocks. Even when I played against you, none of my spikes were blocked.”
“True. But let me ask you—what did you think when you spiked against us?”
“You read my shots. The receivers were already standing where I was going to hit.”
“Exactly. And do you know why?”
“Because... you read my moves?”
“That’s half right. The other half is that all of your spikes came from open tosses. The ball always went up high, and it took time to come down. We had plenty of time to move into position.”
“Oh...”
“In volleyball, a fast attack isn’t about how fast the spike is or even how fast the toss is. It’s about how short the time is between the toss and the spike. By that logic, your spikes—even though they’re powerful—are slow. If someone like you, who only has slow attacks, were to learn fast ones...
Then we wouldn’t be able to set up a defense like we did before. And your spike success rate would go way up.”
To be honest, I used to think I could land a spike even with defenders in place. But players like Mika-nee exist.
Mika-nee could read my spikes and still receive them. But what if I didn’t give her any time to react? Then maybe—
“And one more thing. You have a move only you can do. Your high hitting point is well known, right? So let’s use that to your advantage—try deliberately lowering your hitting point. Say, to around 270 cm, like an average high school girl’s spike. Obviously, a ball dropped from 2 meters will fall faster than one dropped from 3 meters. It contradicts the whole “fast attack” thing, and it’s only a fraction of a second faster, but the ball will definitely drop quicker.”
“But if I lower my hitting point, won’t I get blocked—ah!!”
I get it now! I looked up, and senpai was grinning.
“Caught on? Exactly. You might get blocked. But that’s the trap. Everyone assumes your spikes can’t be blocked and gives up trying. They give up on blocking and focus all six players on receiving. But if your spike comes from a lower height, blockers will start jumping again. Even if it means reducing their receivers. I’m not saying you have to do it all the time—just mix in two or three low spikes per match. That might be enough to draw out the blockers. And when that happens, their floor defense will weaken. You see where this is going, right?”
All this time, I thought jumping high was all I needed. But that’s not it.
“In your case, Yuuri-chan, your options aren’t just where you jump from or where you aim your spike—but also how high you jump. That’s a whole new layer. Of course, it means you’d have to master all these different types of spikes, and it’d be really tough—not just for you, but for your setter, too.”
Yeah, for sure. Spikers can’t toss—we’re on the receiving end. And for me specifically, we’d be adding toss height as another variable for the setter to manage. That’s a huge burden. But I can say this with confidence:
“If it’s a setter, we’re fine. My big sister, Hina-nee, is a super hard-working setter, so she’ll definitely make it work.”
When it comes to effort, she’s on a whole other level. She’s got a steel will that never breaks or gives up. Others might not, but Hina definitely will. She’ll keep working until she can do it.
That much, I know.
I have been her big brother for sixteen years, after all.
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