While riding back home, Izumi was excitedly looking forward to his upcoming face-off against Sakuraoka in the volleyball match. His mind was filled with thoughts excitement and the desire to win.
At the same time another kind of thought was swirling within the mind of a certain Adagaki Aki, who was also riding back to hotel.
Hotel? Why— beacuse Adagaki family is based on Tokyo.
The reason for Aki being in Sendai was her half yearly medical checkup for her hypoglycemia.
As told before Adagaki family was based in Tokyo, but the doctor responsible for her twice a year check up was located in Sendai.
Normally, the doctor would come to Tokyo for her checkups, but this time, coincidentally, her father had a business trip to Sendai.
He saw it as an opportunity for Aki to have a change of environment and decided for her to come to Sendai for her checkup.
Today had been a peculiar day for her.
After her check up she was watching TV in her hotel room, that's when her father asked her to accompany him to a party— that was a rare occurrence.
The Adagaki family were the sole owner of one of the largest conglomerates in the entire country, they were one of the top ten most affluent and influential families in all of Japan—
Consequently, Aki's parents were often occupied with their business, leaving little time for Aki. Even after bringing her to Sendai, her father could at most spend half an hour with her here.
So when her father had invited her to spend time with him on this particular day, she eagerly seized the opportunity to connect with him.
Little did Aki know that the day would turn out to be a roller coaster ride, filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Meeting Izumi was an intriguing experience for Aki, and she struggled to find a single word to encapsulate her feelings.
It was a mixture of interesting, intriguing, calming, joyful, and many more indescribable emotions.
She wasn't particularly fond of guys, but Izumi unexpectedly entered her life and it was like he quickly became an important piece in the complex chess game of her existence.
Their initial interaction had been rather...well, not so good, to put it mildly.
The first thing he had called her was a glutton?
She, who ate much more than people her age. This wasn't because she simply liked to indulge, but due to her medical condition called hypoglycemia, which caused her blood sugar levels to drop below the normal range.
Hypoglycemia has made her appetite bigger— she has to eat a lot and if she didn't, her stomach would growl loudly, which could be quite embarrassing— it would be for anyone.
It was a constant struggle, and that first interaction with Izumi had only made it more complicated.
Izumi had caught her when she was in zone while eating, she was super hungry—
'but calling me glutton, that's a little too much, isn't it?'
But what happened after that— the incident with the cactus, it changed the dynamics of their interaction completely.
His swift action in saving her from the falling cactus, even though it had left him injured, had shifted the tone of their conversation.
As she tied the handkerchief around his injured hand, their dialogue turned pleasant and normal. Aki found herself wanting to talk more with him.
'And what was with him calling me cute repeatedly?— BAKA!!'
Then Rin joined them, another beautiful friendship was born, and they had fun savoring sweets together.
The day had taken a surprising turn, and Aki couldn't help but say out loud
"Today was fun."
"It was" Mr. Adagaki said to which Aki quickly replied with "yeah"
"I saw you were having fun with Miyamura-Kun and Toshaka-san? Did you three became friends" Mr. Adagaki asked.
Aki happily replied, "Yeah! We had lots of fun together."
"I am glad to hear that! Would you like to spend more time with them?" her father asked.
Aki's excitement was palpable as she responded, "You kidding? I would love to spend more time with them!"
Mr. Adagaki then dropped the bombshell. "Then it's settled. You will be spending more time with them."
Aki was taken aback, "What do you mean by that?"
Her father explained, "What I mean is we will be shifting to Sendai."
Aki was surprised, "Like... coming to live here?"
Her father confirmed, "Correct. Are you excited?"
"I'm excited, but why shifting... so suddenly?" Aki questioned.
Mr. Adagaki opened up, "Because both your mother and I think that we have been too invested in business and spending less time with you. So, we decided to come to Sendai and take it slow, have some family time together."
Aki expressed her gratitude, "Thank you."
He reassured her, "No worries. We will always be there for you. Anyway, you should prepare for surprising your new friends when you go to their school as a transfer student."
Aki replied with a determined expression, "Yeah."
——————
"Man, I'm really sweating a lot" Izumi mumbled, wiping the sweat off his brow.
In the room, Izumi was engaged in a series of push-ups. He counted aloud as he continued his exercise.
"48... 49... 50..."
'and done'
With that, he completed his set of push-ups.
It was the morning of the next day and Izumi was already hard at work.
The time on the clock read [5:40] AM.
Izumi had risen early to start his day with a morning run.
His excitement for the upcoming match against Sakuraoka, including the chance to face Ushijima and Kouhei, was the driving force behind his early wake-up call— Or he usually wakes up around [7.30] AM.
Usually, Izumi reserved his training for the evening after returning from school. It typically involved agility drills, physical workouts, and playing with the volleyball, often bumping it against a wall.
"Time for the next, honestly, morning training feels better than when I do it in the evening. I really should train in the morning," Izumi thought to himself.
After completing his set of push-ups, he moved on to other basic exercises. By the time the clock showed 6:00, he was ready for the next phase of his training.
Stepping out into the garden, he began his usual routine.
Naozumi appeared in the garden and greeted Izumi. "Oh! You're up early today."
Izumi replied with a smile, "Sup! Good morning, Dad. I was too excited for the match against Sakuraoka, so I woke up early."
Naozumi chuckled. "Oh, and you decided to train in the morning, I see."
Izumi nodded. "Well, yeah. I have nothing better to do right now."
Naozumi offered, "How about I help you practice?"
Izumi raised an eyebrow, teasing his father. "Sure, but do you know volleyball?"
Naozumi smiled, not taking the teasing to heart. "Don't underestimate your dad, kiddo! I played my fair share of volleyball in my high school days."
Izumi laughed, knowing that his father had only played the volleyball games the school made compulsory for everyone, which amounted to about six times during his three years of high school.
"Is that so? Then let's go!" Izumi said, eager to practice with his father.
As their volleyball practice continued, they had a lot of fun. Naozumi and Izumi shared laughs and playful taunts while they passed the ball to each other. It wasn't just about the volleyball; it was a moment of bonding between father and son.
It wasn't just a training session; it was quality time spent together, reinforcing the father-son bond.
As they were engrossed in playing, the time was soon [6:50] AM, and Iori came out to the garden to call a halt to their training.
Iori said, "Enough training, you guys. It's [6:50] already."
Both Izumi and Naozumi agreed, and they finished their training for the morning.
Izumi then returned to his room and took a quick shower before heading back downstairs for breakfast. By the time they finished breakfast, it was already 8:00.
Izumi's school started at 8:30, so he usually left home around 8:20 to 8:25. It was a quick 5-minute bicycle ride from his home to his school, so he decided to take a different route that day. [A/N— I forgot what was the name of Izumi's school, gotta read previous chaptes I guess]
He said to his mom, "See you after school, Mom."
Iori wished him a good day, saying, "Enjoy your day and listen to what your teachers say attentively."
With that, Izumi left for school.
"Hey, Kouhei-Kun," Izumi greeted with a friendly smile.
Kouhei Tokura, a familiar face from his early volleyball days, and now the setter for Sakuraoka Academy. Last time they met was during the summer tournament, their paths had crossed once again, this time under different circumstances.
"Hi, Miyamura-Kun, how have you been?" Kouhei asked.
"I'm good, how about you?" Izumi replied.
"I'm great!" replied Kouhei
The two old friends chatted for a while, catching up on what had happened since their last meeting.
"Anyway, you ready for the match?" Kouhei inquired.
"You bet I am," Izumi said confidently, "this time you will get a lot of surprises playing against us."
Kouhei smirked, "Is that so? I can't wait to see what new things you guys have learned, but don't think that we don't have any surprises of our own."
Izumi grinned, "That's what I was expecting you to say. I really can't wait to play against you."
Kouhei nodded, "Let's do our best in the match, then."
With that, both of them resumed riding their bicycles. Just before they started going further, Izumi couldn't resist saying
"This time we will win."
~X~X~X~X~X~
[Voleyball Dreams Extra]
A group of girls, same age as Izumi happened to be passing by the area when Izumi and Kouhei were having their friendly chat. The girls watched the conversation unfold, their eyes sparkling with admiration.
One of the girls, whispered to her friends, "Look, it's Miyamura-Kun from our school!"
The other girl, grinned and said, "Yeah , looks like he is talking about some kind of volleyball match"
"This time we will win"
As Izumi and Kouhei exchanged words, the girls couldn't help but gush over Izumi "Kyaaa, did you hear that? He said they'll win! So Cool!!" one of them squealed.
"Yeah, he's so confident," another chimed in, her heart fluttering with excitement.
The girls stood there, watching in awe as Izumi started biking his bicycle.
{Suffice to say soon, Izumi would discover that his popularity in school was about to reach an all-time high, all thanks to the tales the girls were eager to spread.}
——————
[A/N— Izumi is becoming popular I see, let's not kid ourselves he really would have became one (even if he was introverted) if he didn't hide his face with long hair and glasses...and he kinda became popular after he cut his hair, didn't he?~ well he will not become a bright social creature will limitless energy though (example- Hirata from classroom of the elite or Hayama from Oregairu) I'm planning to make him like Yuki Shoma in early days of fruit's basket, a popular handsome boy who is lost in his own world and rarely interact with others and with like one or two people (like he will only interact with Rin and Aki—after she joins the school)
Fillerish (does that kind of word exist?) chapter, I need some time to think about how I will write the match, the plays and the conclusion and stuffs...]
[Note: We are targeting for 100 power stones this week and we are already near ¾
of our target, so let's do our best to achieve our goal]