What the heck is this?
That was my first impression when we arrived at the venue.
Spring High – Prefectural Third Qualifier, Day One.
As soon as we got to the venue, a huge crowd was blocking our way.
There’s this kind of over-the-top catchphrase floating around online about us—something like “a volleyball team made up of girls cuter than your average idol”—but even so, this is just too much...
Not all of them seemed like they were here just for us. But still, this number of people?
—It’s something I found out later, but that day, I heard from Mika-nee on social media why such a huge crowd had gathered here.
===
[Well, Himesaki and Youkou are both known for their sports teams. Of course they'd have their own brass bands for support.]
[But didn’t both Himesaki and Youkou make it to the final round of the Inter-High qualifiers too? It wasn’t this packed back then.]
[Sad as it is, the brass band kids want to cheer for something that feels rewarding. To be blunt, they want to root for teams that are strong and well-known. Around that time, Youkou’s baseball team was in the middle of the Koshien qualifiers, remember? Volleyball’s a minor sport in Japan, and when it comes to girls’ volleyball, no one’s even sure if they’ll win. Can’t blame them for going where the action is. As for Himesaki, it’s even simpler. Don’t you remember that news story about the crazy-fast guy in the boys’ 100m track?]
[Oh yeah! The one who broke the national youth record for under 18 and ranked second in the world?]
[That’s the one. Probably drew some attention that way.]
Honestly, in my case, I’m pretty confident I could break the women’s world record in the 100m dash even if you threw out the whole age limit thing.
Actually, ever since the All-Japan training camp, I’ve been getting constant invitations from sports trainers I met there: “Come do track and field with us!” I always turn them down, since I know it’ll just become a whole thing. Also, is it really okay to treat me like a girl?
[Anyway, back to the point. This time, there’s something worth cheering for. Himesaki’s girls, despite not being expected to do much in the Inter-High, made it all the way to the national top four. Youkou’s boys came in second place at the Inter-High. Of course both schools are going to send full-on cheering squads now.]
===
But back then, not knowing any of this, I was just thinking: “Is Spring High somehow more prestigious than the Inter-High or something? Maybe that’s why everyone’s here?” Even a TV station (though not a major one) showed up. Spring High is wild.
“Yuu-chan. With this many people around, don’t let your guard down and do anything embarrassing, okay?”
“Yeah. Always act like someone’s watching.”
...
I thought about clapping back, but there’s no way I’d win, so I gave up. Girls like Hina, who’ve spent over 15 years being real, full-on girls, are crazy good at flipping their ON/OFF switch depending on whether there are guys around.
Like, these girls often sit with their legs wide open at our all-girls school. But here? Not a chance.
Come to think of it, back when I was still a guy, everyone at home always seemed proper (and I totally fell for it). But now that it’s just girls in the house, it’s not unusual for someone to wander around in just their underwear after a bath.
And yet, when Dad comes back from overseas for work, everyone suddenly straightens up like magic. That kind of switch—I haven’t mastered it.
Still...
“I get it, okay? I’m not gonna be like those guys and change clothes right out in the open or anything.”
At least I understand that much—that it’d be weird for a high school girl to do that.
“Really? You sure you get it?”
“I said I get it.”
I do get it… but honestly, it’s a pain. Being a girl really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Girls' Locker Room
Let’s be real—some clueless guys probably have ridiculous fantasies about this place. I used to be one of them.
The girls’ locker room must smell nice.
Nope. Not true. Not really that different from the boys’ locker room.
Sure, females—especially younger ones like high schoolers—emit sweet-smelling compounds like lactone from their bodies. I’ve experienced that firsthand.
But we’re still human. We sweat when we move. Sweat starts off odorless, but let some bacteria have their fun and, yeah, it stinks. That doesn’t change based on gender.
Girls, being more sensitive to smells, do handle it before it becomes a problem. But yeah, they rely on deodorant. On top of that, since we move around a lot, we all use spray-type pain relief and anti-inflammatory meds after physical activity.
So after a match, the locker room smells like a mix of those two. Gets kinda foggy with all the sprays going around.
Therefore, let me make it clear:
The girls’ locker room smells like pain relief patches and deodorant.
Also, Miss Modesty does not live here. You’ll regularly see girls in just a bra. And no one cares.
It’s kinda odd, really.
Guys can be shirtless in front of anyone—guys or girls—and it’s usually fine. But for girls, even just wearing a bra in front of guys is a huge deal. In front of other girls? No one bats an eye. Guess there’s no point dwelling on it now.
Right next to me, the same girls who were just telling me not to act embarrassing are casually standing there in nothing but their bras. Well, maybe if they’re that well-endowed, they want to show off a little.
Being the gentleman—and lady—that I am, I quietly turn toward the wall and carefully take off my uniform to avoid wrinkling it, then change into my team uniform.
Now, those of you thinking “Why not just come to the venue already wearing the uniform with a jacket over it?”—you’re absolutely right.
I tried to suggest exactly that.
It’s mid-November. It’s cold. So instead of skirts with basically zero defense against the cold, I said we should just wear our jerseys and windbreakers from the start.
But…
“It’s still just November, you know? It’s not that cold. Plus, once we meet at school, we’re taking the bus that Uesugi-sensei’s driving. It’s basically like a normal school day. I think wearing our usual uniforms is fine.”
…said Captain Asuka. And for some reason, everyone agreed with her—except me. So here we are, arriving at the venue in our school uniforms.
“Hinana! Yuuri-chan!”
Just as I was silently mourning the tyranny of majority rule, a familiar voice called out. It was Sayaka from Tamaki Commercial.
“Sayaka! Long time no see!”
“Saya-nee! It’s been forever~”
“Yeah, yeah. Hina’s still a beauty, and Yuuri-chan, you’re as cute as ever!”
As she said that, Sayaka slipped behind me and gave me a hug.
If it were summer, I might’ve pulled away. But it’s winter. I’ll happily soak up her body heat.
…Though, with our jerseys on, I couldn’t feel much skin warmth anyway.
“Sayaka really does love Yuu-chan, huh? But are you sure it’s okay? Aren’t we technically rivals today?”
“Not today! That’s tomorrow. We’re gonna win today. You girls win today too, and let’s face off in the finals for a shot at Spring High!”
…Sayaka’s something else. This is the girls’ locker room. Aside from us, there are also girls from Himesaki and Youkou. And she still says stuff like that.
“Yokota~ Time to go!”
Reading the room before things got awkward, someone from Tamaki Commercial called out to Yokota, and she left the locker room.
“Hina-nee. Saya-nee really can’t read the room, huh.”
“…Yeah. Well, not as bad as Yuu-chan, though.”
Wait, I’m worse than Sayaka!?
= = = =
Before the match, Sayaka and the others from Tamaki Commercial had said they’d meet in the finals—but they weren’t able to make it that far.
Tamaki Commercial is strong now.
Compared to the time of the Inter-High qualifiers, they fall short in technical skills, but they more than make up for it with their height and power.
You can’t say outright which team is stronger, but in other words, they’ve become strong enough that it’s hard to decide. Even so, in their match against Himesaki, they lost the first set by a ten-point margin, 15–25.
That doesn’t mean they were ten points weaker in terms of ability.
The reason for the loss was—
“Let’s go! Let’s go! Hi-me-sa-ki!”
The thunderous cheering (complete with instruments) from the spectators.
Big cheers for Himesaki’s good plays. Screams whenever they’re in trouble.
Of course, Tamaki Commercial also had supporters, but they were scattered. Himesaki, likely having mobilized their students as a private school, far outnumbered them. Tamaki Commercial was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, as if they were playing in enemy territory, and ended up losing the first set by a larger margin than the difference in skill.
On this day, the arena was divided in half by a net—one side for the boys' matches, the other for the girls'.
And over on the boys’ side—
“Push it! Push it! Youkou!”
“Go! Go! Youkou!”
“Nice serve, Yoshida!”
Fueled by loud support, the leading contender, Youkou High School’s boys volleyball team, was completely dominating their opponent.
And wait, those cheer squads… they’re going to be on the enemy side in our next match!?
Tamaki Commercial only got swept up by the atmosphere in the first set. Starting from the second set, they returned to their usual performance, and went back and forth in a fierce battle for points against Himesaki.
“Yokota! Last one!”
Sayaka rushed in to spike the ball sent up by a teammate. But a simple open attack is just a sitting target for blockers.
Bang!
Even so, Sayaka’s powerful spike blasted through Himesaki’s block, forcing the point through.
This is the kind of play that Tamaki Commercial didn’t have back in the summer.
At that time, Tamaki Commercial was a team that focused on avoiding direct block confrontations—but the renewed Tamaki Commercial now includes facing blocks head-on as one of their strategies.
They have four players taller than 170 cm. Bigger bodies naturally come with more muscle potential, and in fact, they’ve been building that up with core training—same as what we’ve been doing.
They’re strong. They should be strong. But—
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s reset and move on.”
There was no sign of panic from Himesaki. In fact, while that last play worked, plays like that rarely succeed consistently throughout the match.
Even if a spike slips past the block, Himesaki’s receivers are casually getting the ball up without issue.
Compared to the summer, Himesaki’s receivers seem much better at handling powerful attacks...
And finally—
“Left! Open!”
Himesaki’s setter (from what I heard from Yuki, she’s a third-year named Nishimura-san) received an A-pass, but instead of using quick attacks or any fancy tactics, she openly called for a left-side open—essentially designating the ace’s spike before even setting the ball.
In response to this provocation, Tamaki Commercial did something they don’t usually do and lined up a triple block in front of Himesaki’s ace—but…
Smack!!
Himesaki’s ace—a first-year who had beaten Hina in elementary school, Asuka in middle school, and even played on the same team as Mana during their junior high days—threaded the spike through a tiny gap in the block, landing a straight shot right along the line to seal the match.
＝＝＝
Perspective change:
Third-person narration
＝＝＝
“Nishimura-senpai, why did you go with an open toss at the end? It just happened to work out, so it’s fine, but…”
“Masami, you need to have more confidence. You’re the best spiker in this tournament—you can smash through a block like that any day. And I wanted the girls from Matsubara Girls' High, watching from over there, to see it. Like, ‘See that? Our ace is amazing!’”
“Besides, it’s kind of annoying, isn’t it? Do you remember how many times Tamaki Commercial tried to break straight through our block today? They made it look like our block didn’t mean anything! That’s why our captain wanted to finish the match with a little payback, right?”
“I didn’t think about it that harshly, but… yeah, I’ll admit, having them challenge our block head-on like that got under my skin a little…”
Tamaki Commercial High vs. Himesaki High
15–25
20–25
Set count:
0–2Himesaki High advances to the final round of the Spring High prefectural qualifier.
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