Akashi Kana hadn't started her vacation yet; she had just come over for the weekend to help Akashi pack his things.
Since Akashi was enrolling in the same high school as Akashi Kana, he would be living with her for the next year.
The spring holiday was shorter than the summer holiday, lasting only a little over two weeks.
If Akashi stayed at home, his parents' work schedules wouldn't allow them to look after him. After some thought, the couple decided to have Akashi move in with Akashi Kana early, which would also allow him to get familiar with his new high school environment.
"I can't believe you actually led your team to the National Tournament!"
Akashi Kana, holding a bag of potato chips and leaning against the doorframe, watched Akashi pack his clothes while curiously scrutinizing him. The look in her eyes was as if she were meeting her little brother for the first time.
Although she had heard her parents mention it during the summer break, Akashi Kana hadn't paid much attention at the time.
After all, she knew that having the "potential to challenge Nationals" and actually "qualifying for Nationals" were two completely different concepts.
To put it more simply, every year in Miyagi Prefecture, at least four or five high school teams had the potential to challenge for Nationals, but there was only one qualifying spot.
So, when Akashi Kana later heard from her parents that her little brother had actually led his team to qualify for Nationals, only the Heavens knew what expression she wore at the time.
One must remember that in both high school and middle school, the clubs Akashi Kana herself had joined hadn't even come close to touching the threshold for National-level competition, let alone qualifying.
"It was alright. Qualifying for Nationals wasn't actually that difficult."
Akashi folded his clothes without turning his head, saying, "The main reason is that there weren't many strong teams in the prefecture this year. The only genuine threat had internal problems during the match. Otherwise, it would have taken a little more effort to qualify this year."
Akashi Kana: "ヽ(゜Q.)ノ???"
Is that a human thing to say?
Her fist clenched.
Akashi Kana, who had never participated in a National-level competition, felt her fist tighten.
If this were two years ago, Akashi Kana felt her fist would already be landing on her little brother's forehead.
However, thinking back to the muscles she accidentally saw on her little brother during the summer, Akashi Kana reluctantly abandoned the tempting thought.
Beating up your little brother is something you must do early. If you wait just a little too long... you won't be able to win anymore.
"Right, speaking of which, why did you choose our school, Asuka? With your current volleyball skill level, you should have qualified for a sports scholarship to Shiratorizawa, shouldn't you?"
"Yes, people from Shiratorizawa did contact me beforehand, but I turned them down."
"Why?"
"Because their scholarship wasn't as high as the one offered here."
"(O_o)???" Several question marks immediately appeared over Akashi Kana's head. She asked, confused, "Scholarship? Do sports recruits get scholarships now?"
Akashi put down the clothes he was holding and turned back, giving her a helpless look: "Of course not from the sports club. It's an academic scholarship."
Akashi Kana was still perplexed: "If I recall correctly, our school only gives scholarships to students who score in the top hundred in the entire prefecture's entrance exam! Are you telling me you scored that high on the exam?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."
Akashi Kana couldn't finish her sentence before she started laughing, waving her hands repeatedly: "How could something like that happen? We don't have that kind of genius academic gene in our family at all!"
Akashi: "..."
"You really are my blood-related older sister. But unfortunately, I have to disappoint you. I performed pretty well on the entrance exam this time, scoring 29th in the entire prefecture. So the school not only waived my tuition but also awarded me a decent scholarship."
Although Akashi was good at volleyball, he didn't make it the sole determining factor in his high school choice.
Because no one knows what the future holds.
Perhaps one day Akashi might suffer an accident and be unable to play volleyball again.
This wasn't impossible.
After all, the [Over-Achiever System] could only protect Akashi from injuries during normal training. But if the issue was due to external injury or illness, the system couldn't help.
So, even with the system, Akashi had no intention of abandoning his studies.
Quite the opposite.
Not only did he not plan to give up, but Akashi even intended to aim for 'Todai' (University of Tokyo) as his first-choice university for higher education.
Therefore, he absolutely could not choose a low-quality high school.
The goal of seeking a higher scholarship was even simpler: a very basic matter of filling his stomach.
Ever since his [Power] attribute broke above 80, Akashi had noticed that his body's energy demands during training were constantly increasing. If his daily diet remained the same—plain rice and side dishes—even if he stuffed himself with seven or eight bowls until his stomach was ready to burst, he might not recover by the next day.
So, to keep up with the dietary consumption, Akashi had been spending all his allowance on high-energy beef.
This was a significant expense.
Akashi couldn't comfortably ask his parents for this money. Given the price of beef here and Akashi's appetite, this expense would be a considerable burden on the family finances.
So, he had been thinking about ways to earn money during this period.
The scholarship he just received served to temporarily relieve Akashi's financial pressure.
Honestly, if he hadn't experienced it firsthand, Akashi would never have imagined that he, a modern-day transmigrator, would one day be worried about feeding himself.
If that story got out, it would be an embarrassment to all transmigrators.
Akashi Kana clearly didn't realize how many thoughts had just flashed through Akashi's mind, because she was currently petrified, standing like a stone statue.
Only one thought was echoing in Akashi Kana's mind: "29th in the prefecture? How is that possible? In all these years, I've never even cracked 29th in my grade."
"Theoretically, there are no 'genius academic' genes in our family! Could it be... that Mom and Dad got the wrong baby when I was little and brought someone else's child home?"
"No, that's not right either. Asuka looks so much like me; anyone can see we're siblings."
"If that's the case, then it means our family actually does have 'genius academic' genes. But why has none of that manifested in me after all these years? Could it be... that I'm just utterly useless?"
"No, no, no, impossible, absolutely impossible..."