The Summer Spectacle
The All Japan High School Comprehensive Sports Competition.
Commonly referred to as: Inter-High, Summer League, High School Cup, INTER HIGH, and so on.
It is the most anticipated summer sports event across all of Japan. Not just volleyball, but also basketball, soccer, and other sports are held during this period.
During this time, even the viewership of professional sports events cannot compare to it.
It is considered one of the grandest events for high school students in all of Japan.
...
The Miyagi Prefecture Volleyball Preliminaries were held at the Sendai City Gymnasium.
This was the venue for Groups A and B.
In the early stages of the preliminaries, the number of spectators was small, but even so, as the Seijoh players entered the gym, they could still see several reporters and cameramen.
These were mostly reporters from Volleyball Monthly magazine.
Within Miyagi Prefecture, Oikawa Tōru is arguably the high school star player second only to Ushijima Wakatoshi, partly due to his skill and partly due to his looks.
As the top-seeded team in Group A, Seijoh did not need to participate in the first match.
After reaching a consensus, Irihata Nobuteru decided to observe Karasuno's match before the second match started, as the previous practice match had certainly left a deep impression on the Seijoh players.
"We must carefully observe that Karasuno duo's powerful quick attack. They might become our opponents later," Irihata Nobuteru said.
"Yes!"
The team responded in unison.
"But there's no need to be overly tense. After all, in terms of sheer strength, we are stronger. Although Karasuno has Kageyama, we also have... huh?"
As he spoke, Irihata Nobuteru suddenly felt something was amiss. He looked back and immediately noticed two people missing from the team. He instantly asked, "Where are Oikawa and Akashi?"
"Ah~~ well!"
"What is it?"
"They both seem to be caught up with girls from other schools outside..."
Everyone: "..."
Irihata Nobuteru: "(\text{￣ー￣})... Iwaizumi, Mishita!"
Iwaizumi Hajime, Mishita Ryuhei: "Understood!"
...
The Girlfriend Hypothesis
Outside the Sendai City Gymnasium entrance.
Akashi Asuka and Oikawa Tōru stood side-by-side, surrounded by a group of brightly dressed girls from other schools.
Oikawa Tōru wore a charming, womanizing smile, cheerfully greeting the girls: "Oh? A photo? Of course, that's no problem."
Akashi looked at him expressionlessly and said plainly, "Oikawa-senpai, do you know why you can never surpass Ushijima-senpai and Kageyama Tobio?"
"Huh? Who says I can't surpass them?" Oikawa Tōru immediately turned his head, defiant.
"Heh!"
Akashi remained silent, merely letting the corners of his mouth curl into a smirk—three parts sarcasm, seven parts ridicule, and ninety parts disdain—and watched him quietly.
Oikawa Tōru: "... So why, according to you?"
Akashi: "Because neither of them has a girlfriend."
Oikawa Tōru: "Huh? What kind of reasoning is that?"
Akashi: "Think about it. Because they don't have girlfriends, they can dedicate more energy to training. Because they don't have girlfriends, they don't need to waste unnecessary time going on dates. Because they don't have girlfriends, they have more time for rest and physical recovery."
"Calculate this carefully: if one girlfriend delays you by two hours a day, rounding up, you lose almost half the training time compared to them. Furthermore, your natural talent isn't as good as theirs. If you could still beat them under these circumstances, that would be the real surprise."
Oikawa Tōru: "..."
Oikawa Tōru: "Nonsense! I think those two idiots aren't choosing not to have girlfriends; they simply can't find any!"
Oikawa Tōru snapped back to reality. In a moment of distraction, he had almost been roped in by this kid's flawed logic.
Akashi shrugged, helpless: "Alright! If you don't want to believe it, there's nothing I can do. But you should keep an eye on the time, because after being away from the team for so long, I feel like..."
THWACK!
Before Akashi could finish, a volleyball suddenly flew from behind, striking Oikawa Tōru squarely on the forehead.
"Ouch~ That hurts! Damn it, even Coach has never hit me... uh!" The angry shout stopped abruptly.
Then, Oikawa Tōru was dragged away by Iwaizumi Hajime, who had rushed over.
Leaving only a chorus of disappointed sighs from the girls surrounding them.
"Aww? What a shame~~~"
The group of girls watched Oikawa Tōru being dragged away. 0.5 seconds later, they withdrew their gaze: "Right, Akashi-kun, can you take a photo with us?"
Akashi nodded: "No problem, I—"
"Apologies, apologies! Our team is about to play, so could you all please step aside?"
Before Akashi could finish, Mishita Ryuhei walked in smiling, quickly dispersed all the surrounding girls with a couple of sentences, turned to Akashi, and sighed.
"Please, can you not be so flashy?"
Akashi opened his hands, indicating his innocence: "You really can't blame me this time. I was totally dragged into this because of Oikawa-senpai..."
Akashi swiftly shifted the blame.
Wait.
It couldn't really be called shifting the blame, because this time, Akashi truly was dragged into it by Oikawa Tōru.
Although Akashi was frequently surrounded by girls after entering Seijoh High School, that was mostly within the campus. Outside of school, Akashi wasn't famous.
But Oikawa Tōru was different. As a star player frequently featured in Volleyball Monthly, he was highly conspicuous on the street.
The girls who were surrounding them were mainly Oikawa Tōru's fans.
As for Akashi, he was merely detained because he was handsome and standing next to Oikawa.
So, boys, you still need to protect yourselves when you're outside.
Back with the team, the coach's scolding had already concluded, and Akashi fortunately escaped punishment.
Oikawa Tōru was indignant, glaring angrily at Akashi, which only earned him another "BANG!" punch from Iwaizumi Hajime.
...
The two teams on the court were warming up.
One side was Joshizen High School, and the other was Karasuno High School.
"Oh? They have an extra libero, and another tall guy. They weren't there during the last practice match. Are they new members?" Standing in the spectator area, the Seijoh players immediately spotted the two additional players on the Karasuno team: Azumane Asahi and Nishinoya Yū.
On the court, Kageyama Tobio of Karasuno also instantly spotted Oikawa Tōru and Akashi in the stands.
Akashi was fine, but as soon as Oikawa Tōru and Kageyama Tobio made eye contact, they immediately locked horns...