"Oh dear~~"
"Do you little first-years need an upperclassman to help you out?"
Oikawa approached Akashi, speaking in an irritatingly smug tone.
However, the moment he finished speaking, Iwaizumi's fist slammed down behind him: "Don't deliberately run over to provoke the rookies, you childish idiot Oikawa."
POW!
"Ouch!"
Oikawa immediately clutched his forehead, his smug expression vanishing, replaced by a pitiful look.
"~~ Iwaizumi, aren't you being too nice to the new guys?"
"~~ You got that wrong, you idiot Oikawa. I'm not being nice to the rookies; I'm just being unfriendly to you."
It was like a sharp blade piercing Oikawa's heart, and he instantly froze in place, petrified.
A gust of wind blew.
The stone statue crumbled into dust. Iwaizumi casually waved his hand to disperse the powder, then walked straight over to Akashi and helped him pick up the volleyballs.
Oikawa: "..."
...
"Were you practicing just now?" Iwaizumi asked.
"Yes, I took advantage of the little time I had left to practice a few serves," Akashi replied.
"You have a high training volume. Be careful about your physical safety."
"Thank you for your concern, but I've maintained this training volume since middle school. Maybe my body is just tougher; I haven't had any problems yet."
"Is that so!"
Iwaizumi nodded, saying nothing more.
Their conversation ended there.
With their voices gone, the atmosphere in the entire gym instantly quieted down.
Truthfully, neither Akashi nor Iwaizumi were particularly talkative people. Although one was skilled at [Tactical Taunt] and the other was adept at hitting Oikawa, in social settings, they were both fairly ordinary.
However, this quiet atmosphere didn't last long, as a certain 'social master' voluntarily stepped forward.
"Speaking of which, didn't you reject the coach's invitation before, little Akashi? Why did you decide to come to Seijoh later?" Oikawa poked his head out and asked.
Little Akashi?
Akashi's mouth twitched. He said: "Because Seijoh offered the highest scholarship?"
"Scholarship?" Oikawa paused, turned his head to look at Iwaizumi, and asked in confusion: "Iwaizumi, does our club give scholarships for special recruitment now?"
"How could that be, you idiot Oikawa... He must be talking about the scholarship provided by the school, not the club."
"The school's scholarship? But isn't that only for those who rank in the top 100 in the prefecture's entrance exam?"
"Yes! My luck was pretty good on the entrance exam this time; I ranked twenty-ninth," Akashi stated.
Oikawa: "..."
Iwaizumi: "..."
As Akashi's words settled, not just Iwaizumi, but Oikawa too fell silent.
...
The Bottomless Pit
After cleaning up the gym equipment, Akashi returned to San'ai-sou, the name of the apartment building he was renting in.
When he got home, the landlady, Akashi Kana, and the other two tenants, Horiguchi Tomoko and Kudo Koichi, were already enjoying dinner. Only Koyanagi Mizuki hadn't finished work yet.
After all, the term "corporate slave" wasn't given for nothing.
"I'm home!"
Upon entering, Akashi politely announced his return.
"Welcome back."
Akashi Kana smiled and replied, then said: "Your dinner is ready. Hurry up and clean up, then come eat!"
"Okay!"
Akashi responded, quickly heading to his room to wash up. He then returned to the dining room.
He was truly starving now.
Sitting down at the dining table, Akashi wasted no time, picking up his rice bowl and beginning to eat voraciously.
In the next second, the others at the table witnessed what could only be called true "consumption."
A bowl of rice, paired with a few mouthfuls of side dishes, vanished in just three bites...
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Even the well-traveled landlady was surprised, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Sis, did you prepare the beef I asked you to earlier?"
"Huh?"
Akashi Kana was startled at first, then quickly snapped out of it and hurriedly replied: "Y-yes... it's already prepared. I'll get it for you now."
Saying this, Akashi Kana walked to the kitchen and soon returned, carrying a large plate of simply grilled beef. By the look of it, there were at least two pounds of meat.
"Thanks!"
Akashi thanked her.
He then took the beef and began to tear into it.
The beef was cooked well. Although not many seasonings were added, the natural flavor of the beef was good, so it wasn't hard to eat.
Before long, all two pounds of beef had disappeared into Akashi's stomach.
And even then, Akashi still didn't feel full.
"Has my appetite increased again?"
Akashi thought silently, feeling a little distressed. Undoubtedly, as his high school training volume intensified, his appetite had once again expanded.
The dining room was silent.
Watching her own younger brother devour two pounds of beef along with several bowls of rice, Akashi Kana was completely bewildered.
Kudo Koichi held a piece of fried chicken with his chopsticks, staring at Akashi with some alarm, feeling an inexplicable heavy pressure.
Horiguchi Tomoko, meanwhile, looked at Akashi's flat abdomen with sparkling eyes, wondering how she could learn the method of eating so much without gaining weight.
The landlady was stunned at first, but soon a gentle smile spread across her face.
"Akashi, are you full? If not, would you like me to get you some more rice?"
"Oh! That would be great, thank you, Grandma."
"It's no trouble at all, no trouble!"
The landlady walked cheerfully toward the kitchen.
If Akashi could see "Affinity Levels" right now, he would probably see the numbers +1, +1... continuously appearing above the landlady's head.
In the hearts of many older generations, there is a belief that "being able to eat is a blessing." Sometimes, a 'child who eats well' is almost synonymous with a 'good child.'
After eating a hearty dinner, Akashi returned to his room to continue editing and revising his novel.
...
Time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye, the calendar turned to Saturday.
Location: Karasuno High School.
Due to various events that unfolded at the start of the school year, the freshmen at Karasuno also had a unique Initiation Match. However, unlike Seijoh, this match was not upperclassmen versus freshmen, but rather freshmen versus freshmen.
And Oda Miki, as one of the freshmen, was reluctantly and painfully drafted into the game...