Two rounds of intense matches seemed to have created no visible shift in the volleyball club members.
Club activities continued with the same practiced rhythm. On the surface, everyone appeared unchanged, yet a subtle undercurrent of something new—a burgeoning ambition—had taken hold.
A week passed swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, Saturday arrived, signaling the continuation of the tournament.
In the third round, Senkoku faced Sakura Middle School.
Three consecutive rounds of elimination had effectively culled all teams participating purely for the enjoyment of the county sports meet; the remaining contenders possessed demonstrable skill.
Sakura Middle School's strength was comparable to Aota's, though Aota specialized in defense, while Sakura leaned toward a more aggressive offense.
The match against Sakura ultimately devolved into a fierce, extended struggle—the first time Senkoku Middle School had been pushed to a full three sets.
In the end, by leveraging Akashi Asuka's superior, game-changing attacking power, Senkoku Middle School clinched the victory with a 2-1 score, successfully advancing to the next round.
Following this hard-fought match, everyone, including Coach Shimokawa, experienced a sustained period of elation.
According to the bracket, after three consecutive victories, Senkoku Middle School had officially advanced to the Top Sixteen in the prefecture.
This achievement equaled the best result in the thirteen-year history of the Senkoku Middle School volleyball program.
For this graduating class, they had, in a literal sense, tied the historical record.
However, this euphoria lasted only until the next morning. When the matchups for the fourth round were announced, everyone felt as if they had been instantly drenched by a bucket of ice water, leaving them profoundly chilled.
Prefectural Sports Meet, Round Four:
Senkoku vs. Kitagawa First.
...
The Hand of Ill Luck
"Ahem... My sincere apologies, everyone. Your teacher's luck appears to be at a historical low point recently."
Noticing the unnaturally heavy silence in the team lounge, Shimokawa Sanwa offered a slightly awkward, light cough.
It was indeed spectacularly bad luck.
The matches preceding the Round of Sixteen were determined by the association's pre-arranged schedule.
However, after the Round of Sixteen, all teams had to participate in a re-drawing.
Although the bracket was labeled the "Round of Sixteen," only twelve teams had fought their way through the earlier rounds; the remaining four were the top four finishers from the previous year's prefectural meet.
These were the "seeded teams," exempt from the initial elimination rounds.
During the draw, among the fifteen potential opponents—excluding Senkoku—had Shimokawa Sanwa drawn any other middle school besides Kitagawa First, the outcome would still have been uncertain, but they would at least have had a legitimate hope of fighting.
But Shimokawa Sanwa, with a cruel precision, seized this one-in-fifteen opportunity.
"Alright, the draw is done. Since it has already occurred, there is no value in dwelling on it. The only path forward is to play this next match with every ounce of our ability."
Just as Shimokawa Sanwa was growing increasingly uncomfortable under the collective, resentful glare of a dozen or so fourteen- and fifteen-year-old boys, Akashi Asuka finally spoke, relieving the coach of his predicament.
Hearing this command from their undisputed ace, the others had no choice but to temporarily gather their composure.
"But after this match, Teacher, you absolutely must treat us to a proper make-up meal," Akashi Asuka added, instantly wiping the look of relief off Shimokawa Sanwa's face.
"(ω) Hmm!!!"
The eyes of the entire team lit up with coordinated, predatory focus.
"Ah... alright!"
Faced with a dozen pairs of shining, intense eyes, Shimokawa Sanwa finally and "reluctantly" capitulated.
Internally, however, Shimokawa Sanwa was seething over his disastrous luck.
Advancing to the Top Sixteen versus the Top Eight might seem like a marginal difference to other schools, but for the Senkoku Middle School volleyball team, it was a world of change. They had only tied the historical record; if they could push further, they would establish an entirely new one.
Shimokawa Sanwa felt the loss personally. If his luck had been even marginally better, his professional resume might have been adorned with a glorious achievement: "Led the Volleyball Team to Break the Historical Record During His Appointment at Senkoku Middle School."
This simple, powerful bullet point, in a sense, might be more valuable than some club teachers merely winning a standard prefectural championship elsewhere.
The Unflappable King
Not long after the concession, event staff arrived to inform the team that the preceding match was concluding and they should prepare to take the court.
The Senkoku Middle School team walked onto the floor and began their warm-up routine.
A moment later, Kitagawa First Middle School, immaculate in their uniforms, emerged from the passageway.
The instant the Kitagawa First members stepped into view, Akashi Asuka clearly sensed an immediate surge in the surrounding noise and discussion.
This reaction was entirely expected.
While Miyagi Prefecture boasted many excellent junior high volleyball teams, Kitagawa First operated on a level of prestige and dominance that few could touch.
And the reason for this gap was primarily rooted in one singular individual.
"Wow~~ Their presence is overwhelming!"
"They are so tall, genuinely! What do those guys eat to grow like that?"
"Seriously, are we actually expected to compete against an opponent like this?"...
The members of Kitagawa First Middle School possessed an intimidating average height exceeding 180cm.
At the junior high level, that physical height advantage alone was enough to breed profound fear, to say nothing of the team's already legendary reputation.
Facing such an opponent, a team like Senkoku, historically accustomed to first-round exits, had their momentum decisively suppressed even before the match officially began.
Akashi Asuka clearly registered this collapse in collective confidence.
But even with this awareness, he could not solve the problem.
He did not possess the ability to single-handedly recalibrate the emotional and technical climate of his entire team.
Or rather, those truly "sun-like" figures—those who could pull an entire team out of despair through sheer charisma—were exceptionally rare. In most scenarios, once a team's morale fractured, it only served to drag the individuals down into the resulting psychological mire, not the other way around.
If one compared the match to a war, Akashi Asuka might possess the power to be an unparalleled warrior who "secures the enemy general's head from among ten thousand troops," but he would never be a qualified commander capable of holding the line.
Beep! The whistle blew.
The match officially commenced.
Kitagawa First Junior High served.
Very few junior high teams invest heavily in practicing advanced serving techniques, primarily due to the technical difficulty and the volatile nature of physical development at that age.
A simple overhand serve landed deep in the Senkoku court; such a serve should have been easily received. However, today, Senkoku's Libero, Kurata Neko, made an unusually stiff return, sending the ball on a completely errant trajectory. Setter Mishita Ryuhei was forced to quickly scramble to follow the ball's path, eventually managing to force a desperate pass.
Whoosh!
The volleyball flew high and wide, passing over Akashi Asuka's head. Seeing the poor trajectory, Akashi Asuka frowned slightly, but he jumped nonetheless, facing the opposing double block, and swung his arm to hit the ball.
Bang! Snap!
Two distinct, crisp collisions rang out, and in a flash, Masato Omae saw the volleyball land cleanly on his team's court—a block-out that secured the point for Kitagawa First.
Instantly, the atmosphere on the Senkoku side fell into a deadly silence.