Interlude – Itagaki Eriko

 

I, Itagaki Eriko, am currently facing an unprecedented situation.

You know how it’s surprising when someone shows a completely different side of themselves than usual? Right now, two people are totally breaking character right in front of me.

"I'm s-sorry... I'm so sorry... E-even though it wasn’t supposed to be our last match..."

One of them is Reiko. The match ended over ten minutes ago, but she’s still crying huge tears from both eyes, repeatedly apologizing.

Come on, this isn’t like Reiko at all. She’s always the super stoic one who trains relentlessly. Even when practice gets tough, she and Yuuri breeze through it like it’s nothing. She’s a cool-headed girl, a real Japanese samurai girl.

Even that time when that black thing came crawling out of the hot water room near the club building—while everyone screamed and ran, she and Yuuri calmly took care of it...

And now that same girl is bawling her eyes out, totally overcome with emotion—I honestly have no idea how to deal with this!

"Hey, it’s okay. You did your best, Yuu-chan."

"..."

The other one who’s completely broken character is Yuuri. She hasn’t said a word. She’s got her head down, covered in a towel. And right now, Hina-onee-san is hugging her, wrapping that large chest of hers around Yuuri’s head, gently comforting her—so I can’t see Yuuri’s face.

But her tightly clenched fists are trembling.

Come on—this is weird! Yuuri’s always been self-conscious about the fact that her bust size is only at the second letter of the alphabet, so normally if her face got buried in someone’s chest like that, she’d be like:

"Stupid Hina-nee, go explode! Waaah!!"

—and come running to me or Yui, crying.

...And the fact that she comes to me or Yui shows just how much her juniors look up to us as senpai, nothing more, nothing less. If she doesn’t go to Miho, it’s probably just because Miho hasn’t racked up enough favorability points yet. Yeah. That’s gotta be it.

Anyway, with normally calm and composed Reiko crying, and Yuuri—who’s always hung up about her chest size—silently tucked into Hina-onee-san’s overly generous hug, the whole team, myself included, is just completely at a loss.

...But we all know the reason. It’s the volleyball match we just had.

Himesaki High targeted Yuuri and Reiko without mercy. I mean it—they were relentless. As a result, I think the two of them were responsible for around 30 points of lost plays across the two sets.

On the flip side, our offense was shut down even more than in the last match against Tamaki Commercial. Especially in the second set—Reiko was practically shut down completely.

Yuuri aside, Reiko’s height is honestly insane. Up until now, the opposing teams didn’t have any tall blockers, or they lacked technique, so she could usually score. But today’s opponent—Himesaki High, known as the strongest in the prefecture—naturally had middle blockers over 180 cm, and with national-level skill.

The result? Reiko, who usually scores nearly 20 points, only managed 12 today. And in the second set alone? Just 3.

Overall, the difference in fundamentals was painfully clear.

In volleyball, your own mistakes give points to the other team. Like when a serve doesn’t go over the net, or a spike goes out past the sideline—those become the opponent’s points. Himesaki High kept those kinds of careless mistakes down to just three points across two sets.

Three. Can you believe that? Unreal.

Meanwhile, we gave away over 10 points on serve errors, net touches, and so on.

Even in pro matches, these kinds of self-inflicted points happen. When you aim for tight spots, it's bound to happen—it’s part of the game. But to keep it down to three? That’s the result of tons of practice, of placing the ball exactly where they want it.

In hindsight, Himesaki High didn’t rely on any flashy or unusual tricks.

They exploited weaknesses. They got the ball cleanly to the setter. They spiked from a high contact point. They received not with their arms flailing but with proper body positioning. Everything was by the textbook—polished through relentless, careful practice.

They followed the royal road. It was the battle of a reigning champion.

And Reiko and Yuuri? They don’t need to feel responsible for the loss. In that match, we scored 50 points across two sets. Three of those were from opponent errors. That means 47 points were from our own plays.

So who scored those 47 points?

12 were from Reiko’s spikes. The other 35? From Yuuri’s serves and spikes.

…The rest of us—me, Yui, Asuka, Hina—our spikes and quick attacks were all picked up easily. They didn’t result in points.

So basically, the two of them earned more points than the ones we lost because of them. And the blame for losing lies with all of us, too. It’s about who reaches 25 points first, even if some points are lost. But we basically threw that burden on two players who’ve only been playing for two months—well, maybe it’s closer to three now—and our attacks weren’t effective.

We should have done a better job supporting our two beginner teammates.

We did score the 50 points needed to win two sets. If we’d just held back a few more of our own mistakes—we could have won.

If we hadn’t made that mistake, we could’ve won. If we had done this instead, maybe it would’ve gone better. Thoughts like that keep piling up.

Volleyball is a sport where you build up points one by one. That reality really hits home right now.

Looking around, I see the club members all staring at me. Like, “You’re the captain, do something about this.”

No, no, no. There’s just no way! I absolutely can’t! I only became captain through process of elimination, okay?! Back in elementary and middle school, I had nothing to do with leadership positions like class rep or student council president!

Honestly, first-year Asuka might be more...

...There she is. One more person acting like a completely different version of herself.

Asuka is usually the most energetic and cheerful one in the volleyball club. She’s the type who leads the group and keeps things moving. In a different way, she really is Tohira-senpai’s little sister.

And that Asuka hasn’t said a word. She had a few spikes during the match against Himesaki, and every single one was returned perfectly to the setter with an A-level pass.

She must be feeling pretty frustrated—she’s got her head down and she’s trembling. That wet spot on the floor by her feet… let’s just say it’s sweat.

The liveliest girl in the volleyball club is in silent mode.

When Hina and Yuuri are together, they’re usually pretty loud. But these super close, sister-like girls—when one is feeling down, the other jumps in to support her. So right now, Hina is fully focused on comforting Yuuri.

As for Reiko, the one crying—there’s no way she can comfort herself.

Yuki will respond if someone talks to her, but she’s not the type to start a conversation.

Yui and Miho are both looking at me.

...Coldhearted.

Seriously though, what am I even supposed to say?

"Let’s all practice harder."
—With what face am I supposed to say that? It’s not their fault. The loss wasn’t because of just the two of them. Our team—Matsubara Girls’ High School Volleyball Club—lost.

"It’s not your fault."
—That’s not quite right either. I mean, they were the only ones who actually scored points. But still… if only we’d cut down more on the lost points...

...

...

...

"Yuuri, Reiko. Both of you, look up. Crying won’t change the result. We’ve got one more match this afternoon—remember? The third-place match. That one will be the last match for the third-years. So, if you’re feeling frustrated, then as a parting memory, give us the bronze medal."

They both looked over at me. I smiled back at them.

Yeah. Whether we laugh or cry—this next match is the last.

…But I wonder—
Is it really okay for it to be the last?

==========================

Inter-High Prefectural Qualifiers
Final Rankings

• 1st Place – Himesaki High School (Advances to Inter-High as prefectural representative)

• 2nd Place – Youkou High School

• 3rd Place – Matsubara Girls’ High School

• 4th Place – Touzuryou High School

Individual Awards

• Rookie Award – Arimura Yukiko (Matsubara Girls’ High School, 1st Year)

• Libero Award – Arimura Yukiko (Matsubara Girls’ High School, 1st Year)

(All other individual awards went to Himesaki High School.)

Yuuri didn’t receive any individual awards simply because she was seen as a "hit-or-miss" player—someone who scores 20 points but also gives away 20. In contrast, Yukiko was rated highly for consistently covering for Yuuri’s plays and supporting the team overall, which earned her the Rookie Award.

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