Club culture has a deeply rooted history in Japan.
For students on the mainland, their youth is often defined by their college years. But for Japanese students, it's high school that truly marks the peak of youth, a time when they can bloom and shine the brightest.
And school clubs are an inseparable part of that experience.
Whether it was Tomoko Horiguchi, now a university student, or Kika Wakayama and Mizuki Koyanagi, both already working adults, all of them once poured their hearts into their clubs during high school.
That's exactly why,
They understood all too well just how hard and honorable it was to win the prefectural qualifiers and advance to the national tournament during high school club activities.
"What?! The nationals?!"
During dinner, when Tomoko Horiguchi shared the news of Akashi Asuka's recent championship win with Kika and Mizuki, the result was two simultaneous shrieks of disbelief.
"W-Wait a sec... You mean Asuka-sensei is actually part of a sports club at school?!"
Of the two, the most shocking was Kika Wakayama. Up until recently, her relationship with Asuka had been purely professional. They'd occasionally kept in touch, but only about novel drafts and other work-related matters.
Even after unexpectedly moving into Sangou apartment, their conversations, while becoming a little more personal, never once touched on school life. And because of his writing, Kika had naturally assumed Asuka would be part of a cultural club, like the literature club.
Never in a million years did she expect,
Akashi Asuka was actually a member of the volleyball club, and not just that, but a key player on a team strong enough to reach the national tournament.
In Japan, the stronger the sports team, the stricter the requirements to join. Getting into one of those teams was already a symbol of ability.
"Asuka-kun's actually amazing, you know!"
Just then, Koichi Kudo chimed in from the side, dropping another bombshell. "He's only a first-year, but he's already the ace of the team. Volleyball Monthly even did a full interview feature on him not too long ago."
"Huh? Wait, don't tell me you guys didn't know?"
Koichi looked genuinely surprised at the puzzled expressions around the dinner table. After all, at their school, Akashi Asuka was a rising star.
Even among second- and third-years, students often gossiped about him.
Especially this afternoon, after a new banner was hung in the school hallway that read "Congratulations to our volleyball team for reaching the national tournament", the whole school had practically exploded with excitement.
If coach Nobuteru hadn't dismissed the team early to go home, the volleyball club would've probably been mobbed by now.
The three girls were speechless.
To be fair, since graduating high school, they hadn't really kept up with sports magazines or news. And because of Asuka's bestselling author status, their main impression of him had always been literary.
"Found it!"
Suddenly, Mizuki Koyanagi pointed at her laptop screen.
"Akashi Asuka, first-year, Private Aoba Johsai High School's volleyball ace, jersey number 8. In his first national tournament appearance, he led the team to back-to-back victories over squads with nationally top-ranked aces, an overnight sensation."
"Dubbed a 'super rookie' in the high school volleyball scene, he's already ranked among the top six aces in the country…"
The screen displayed a feature article from Volleyball Monthly, published shortly after the Spring High preliminaries began. The cover photo showed Asuka leaping into the air mid-match, poised to spike. His graceful form, athletic build, and lean muscles were all captured in perfect lighting, radiating explosive energy.
It was a stark contrast to his usual calm and bookish demeanor.
Staring at the screen, the three women were completely dumbfounded.
Seriously,
This guy was like a walking real-life anime protagonist.
Even if they didn't know much about sports rankings, terms like "super rookie" and "top six nationally" were easy enough to understand.
To put it plainly:
Unless Akashi Asuka got into a car accident or suffered a career-ending injury, the path to becoming a professional volleyball player was already practically guaranteed.
And in Japan, even a mid-tier pro athlete earns significantly more than the average office worker.
And on top of that, Asuka was a bestselling author.
In other words,
Still in high school, Akashi Asuka's future was already dazzling enough to make people squint.
Even Kanade Akashi couldn't help but stare in disbelief.
Is this... really in our Akashi family's genes?
It wasn't that she didn't trust her family's bloodline, it was just that for three generations, no one had ever shown this kind of talent before!
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Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
A new week began.
With temperatures dropping, Akashi Asuka had swapped his light jacket for something warmer.
At Aoba Johsai's volleyball club,
Training had entered another round of "lockdown mode." With the team aiming for the ultimate goal, to dominate the nationals, everyone was pushing themselves harder than ever.
BANG!
The clubroom door suddenly burst open with a loud thud, startling everyone inside. Kindaichi, mid-spike, almost sent the ball flying off-course.
Before anyone could ask what was going on, Sadayuki Mizoguchi burst in, panting heavily. One hand held a white envelope as he shouted, eyes shining:
"Asuka-kun's been selected! Just like Ushijima Wakatoshi last year, he's officially been chosen for the National Youth Training Camp!"
"What?!"
The room froze.
Not just the players, even coach Nobehata stepped forward, unable to sit still. He quickly took the paper from Mizoguchi's hands.
Sure enough, it was an official invitation from the Japan National Youth Training Program.
"What a shame. I asked around, but Oikawa didn't make the cut due to his age. If not, we'd have had two players going this time."
Oikawa Tooru, who had just been preparing to feign indifference, froze with an awkward smile.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria