"Akashi Senior, it's your turn to play next."
The voice in his ear pulled Daniel's consciousness back to reality. Immediately, the squeaking sound of the ball hitting the floor and shoes rubbing against it flooded his brain like a tide.
He opened his eyes.
A delicate-looking young man's face, tinged with a hint of fear, came into view. Behind the young man was the familiar bright ceiling light of an indoor gymnasium.
"???"
Instantly, Daniel was utterly bewildered.
What is this?
Who am I?
Where am I?
Am I still drunk?
"Akashi Senior? Akashi Senior? Are you alright?"
Perhaps seeing the confusion in Daniel's eyes, the delicate-looking young man in front of him couldn't help but speak again.
The young man wasn't speaking Chinese; it sounded somewhat like Japanese, but for some reason, Daniel understood what he meant.
Daniel looked at the young man. As the young man's familiar yet unfamiliar face appeared in the depths of his mind, a flood of memories poured out from the deepest part of his being, bringing him a sensation that was both painful and comfortable.
...
Akashi Asuka.
15 years old.
Height: 179 cm.
Currently a third-year student at Miyagi Prefecture's Sengoku Middle School.
Not long ago, he was ambushed during a fight, struck on the back of the head with a stick. For the entire afternoon afterward, he felt dizzy and disoriented until he suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness a short while ago. Without anyone noticing, Daniel took over his body.
Volleyball club ace spiker.
During an intra-squad practice match...
...
From the large amount of memories that clearly didn't belong to him, Daniel quickly extracted some useful information, and then... became even more bewildered.
"Did I transmigrate? Was that voice not joking?"
...
Daniel.
24 years old.
After graduating from university, he worked as a basketball coach at a training institution in the States for two years, during which the pandemic lasted for three years.
Affected by the pandemic, almost all industries in the country, which were already becoming increasingly competitive, were nearing their breaking point.
During his university years, Daniel considered himself quite competitive; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to secure a starting position for two years on the school team, a place full of incredibly talented athletes, despite his lack of natural talent.
If it weren't for an injury caused by pushing himself too hard, Daniel would have had a much brighter future.
However, what Daniel never expected was that after graduating and starting work, he would encounter a whole group of people even more competitive than himself.
But these people weren't competing on individual ability; instead, it was about who could build better relationships with the boss and supervisor.
Commonly known as: social maneuvering.
And these were precisely the areas Daniel was not good at.
So, even though Daniel worked very hard during his employment, his efforts often yielded less than those who spent their days socializing with the boss.
When the effort and reward were completely disproportionate, even Daniel started to feel like he couldn't keep up with the competition anymore.
It was at this moment that a voice suddenly appeared in his mind...
[If you can't compete here anymore, how about trying somewhere else?]
Daniel, who had just gotten very drunk, clearly wasn't capable of thinking why a voice would appear in his mind. Drowsy, he had only one thought after hearing the voice.
"Compete? Of course, I'll compete. If there's a fair and just environment, I'll outcompete them all."
And so.
When he opened his eyes again, Daniel saw the scene before him.
"..."
Daniel was speechless for a moment.
He considered his adaptability to be decent, but such a hasty transmigration still made him want to complain.
Fortunately, Daniel was an orphan in his original world with no attachments, so it wasn't long before his temporarily stunned mind started working again.
It just hurt a little when it started up again.
Tsk!
Young people have no moral ethics, attacking an old man in his twenties like me!
Oh! Wait, I wasn't the one who got hit!
Then it's fine.
"It's fine, Fukai, I've warmed up, I'm going on court right away."
Daniel touched the back of his head, which was still a little sore, smiled at the young man Fukai Hidehito in front of him, and then got up and walked towards the volleyball court. Although he hadn't fully embraced the identity of Akashi Asuka yet, he would slowly consider these things after this team practice match was over!
Looking at Daniel's departing back, it was the delicate-looking Fukai Hidehito who was momentarily stunned.
I feel like Senior Akashi is a little different today.
...
"Volleyball!"
After stepping onto the volleyball court, Daniel also felt a bit emotional.
Daniel had learned a bit of volleyball during his university days, but most of it was just theoretical knowledge, as his main sport was basketball. However, with this theory combined with the muscle memory inherited from Akashi Asuka, it shouldn't be a problem to play this team practice match.
Hmm.
Probably about right.
"Senior Akashi!"
"Senior Akashi!"
...
As soon as Akashi Asuka walked onto the court, a group of first-year and second-year students quickly came up to bow to him, but judging by the expressions of these juniors, fear seemed to outweigh respect.
However, this was also normal.
After all, in addition to being the current ace spiker of the volleyball club, Akashi Asuka had another identity: that of a "delinquent."
Although in his memories, Akashi Asuka, this "delinquent," had only gotten into a few fights with some people and hadn't actually done anything bad like bullying others, in the school environment of Japan, the mere title of "delinquent" was enough to scare many students.
After all, in Japanese middle school campuses, "students with good academic performance," "key players in sports clubs," and "delinquents" were recognized as the top figures in the school.
Moreover, Akashi Asuka occupied two of these categories.
No.
Perhaps even three.
Because in his memories, besides these two points, Akashi Asuka also seemed to be quite handsome.
In over two years of middle school, Akashi Asuka had received no less than twenty Valentine's Day chocolates and love letters.
"Please take care of me!"
"Nice to meet you!"
After a brief exchange, both teams lined up, saluted loudly, and the match quickly began.
Akashi Asuka was assigned to the Red Team. For this intra-team practice match, the six main players of the volleyball club were split up. Besides him, the other two main players assigned to Akashi Asuka's side were setter Sanashita Ryuhei and opposite hitter Oda Miki.
Beep!!!
The whistle blew.
Red Team to serve.
A second-year substitute served a simple underhand serve, which was considered normal for a middle school student. The volleyball arced through the air and landed steadily in the opponent's back row.
"I got it!"
The Blue Team's main libero, Kurata Neko, spread his hands to signal and shouted, then easily received the serve. Afterward, the Blue Team's substitute setter quickly followed up, lightly tapping the ball with both hands, sending it to the front of the net, above the middle blocker Omachi Masato, who had already jumped high and was ready.
Bang!
Smack!
In an instant,
two crisp sounds echoed simultaneously across the volleyball court.
The former was Omachi Masato's spike, and the latter was the sound of the volleyball being blocked by Akashi Asuka.
Akashi Asuka had the tallest height in the entire volleyball club. Under normal circumstances, it was quite difficult to score a spike against Akashi Asuka in an intra-team practice match.
A height of 179cm was already quite tall for a third-year middle school student.
There were people taller than Akashi Asuka in the same age group, but they were not in the Sengoku Middle School volleyball club. After all, the strength of the Sengoku Middle School volleyball club was only at a medium level in Miyagi Prefecture.
At Kitagawa First Middle School, the top team in Miyagi Prefecture, it was said that the average height of their main players already exceeded 180cm.
"Hmm~~ Kitagawa First Middle School, I feel like that name sounds a bit familiar!"
A fleeting thought flashed through his mind, and Akashi Asuka's attention returned to the net defense.
Although that last ball was blocked by Akashi Asuka, it didn't directly score. Instead, it was received by the main libero Kuramae at a critical moment, and now the Blue Team had already organized their second attack.
To be honest,
Akashi Asuka was indeed a bit surprised that the previous ball could be received.
After all, these people had just entered their third year of middle school. Although Li Mingshi had often heard in his previous life that the island nation's middle schools had excellent sports environment construction, he only truly felt it after experiencing it firsthand; the sports atmosphere here was indeed quite good.
At least, the expressions of all these people towards volleyball were serious.
"Hehe~~~"
Asuka Akashi slightly curled his lips, and he had to admit, he was a little excited.
Competitive sports are truly quite boring if you don't take them seriously.
He now somewhat understood the meaning of that voice bringing him here. To some extent, campus competitive sports could indeed be considered a "fair and just" involutionary environment.
The volleyball flew high, Masato Omae jumped again, and Asuka Akashi, seeing this, quickly matched his rhythm.
However, in the next second.
The volleyball actually passed over Masato Omae, landing to the left of the net, and there, a figure with a jump height almost identical to Masato Omae's leaped high.
It was the other main middle blocker, Shigejiro Kazama.
Bang!
With a crisp sound, the volleyball slammed onto the floor, then bounced high...
Score 1:0
"Hahaha, you fell for it, Akashi! Today, Kazama and I are teaming up to defeat you."
Seeing their side score, Masato Omae immediately put his hands on his hips and burst out laughing. Although the junior members of the volleyball club feared Asuka Akashi, among the main players, their relationships were still good.
But good relationships are one thing.
Both Masato Omae and Shigejiro Kazama had been eyeing Asuka Akashi's 'ace' position for more than just a day or two.
One can only say...
Involution is everywhere.
Asuka Akashi didn't respond to Masato Omae's "provocation." He just looked at the spot on the floor where the volleyball had just landed. Far from being disappointed, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up, and his expression gradually began to become "perverted."
Splendid.
Indeed, this scent of involution is even more intoxicating!
[Ding!]
[Host's "Involutionary Spirit" detected burning...]
[Involution System officially activated...]