The National High School Comprehensive Sports Tournament.
Commonly called: the High School League, Summer League, High School Cup, INTER HIGH... and so on.
It is the most anticipated sporting event across the entire country during the summer, not only volleyball, but basketball, soccer, and many other sports hold their competitions during this period.
Even professional sports broadcasts can't match the viewership during this time.
It's truly one of the grandest events for high school students nationwide.
The Miyagi Prefecture volleyball qualifiers were held at the Sendai City Gymnasium.
This venue hosted matches for both Group A and Group B.
At the early stage of the qualifiers, there weren't many spectators, but even so, when the Seijoh team entered the gym, they noticed several reporters and cameramen scattered about.
Most of these were journalists from volleyball monthly magazines.
Within Miyagi Prefecture, Toru Oikawa was arguably the second most famous high school volleyball star after Wakatoshi Ushijima, half because of his skills, and half because of his looks.
As the seeded team in Group A, Seijoh didn't need to play the first round.
After some discussion, Nobuteru Irihata decided they should watch the second match first, which was Unno's game. After all, their earlier practice match left a strong impression on Seijoh.
"We need to closely observe Unno's powerful quick attacks from their pair. They might become our opponents later." Irihata said.
"Understood!" the team responded in unison.
"But there's no need to be overly nervous. In terms of strength, we're still the stronger side. Though Unno has Kageyama now, we have… hmm?"
Irihata suddenly paused, sensing something was off. He looked back and immediately noticed two players were missing.
"Where are Oikawa and Asuka?" he asked sharply.
"Ah~~ well…" someone hesitated.
"What's going on?"
"They seem to have gotten stuck outside, being pestered by girls from other schools…"
The team fell silent.
Irihata smirked and said, "(￣ー￣) Iwaizumi, three hits!"
Iwaizumi and Ryunosuke Tanaka nodded immediately, "Got it!"
Outside the Sendai City Gymnasium.
Asuka and Oikawa stood side by side, surrounded by a group of flashy, flirtatiously dressed girls.
Oikawa wore his usual charming, roguish smile, brightly greeting the girls, "Oh? Pictures? Of course, no problem!"
Asuka, however, stared at him expressionlessly and said calmly, "Oikawa-senpai, do you know why you can never surpass Ushijima-senpai and Kageyama?"
"Huh? Who said I can't beat those two?" Oikawa turned his head with a defiant look.
"Hmph."
Asuka said nothing but curled his lips into a smirk, partly mocking, partly amused, and mostly disdainful, just watching him quietly.
Oikawa asked, "Then, what do you think is the reason?"
Asuka replied, "Because neither of them has a girlfriend."
Oikawa scoffed, "Huh? What kind of reason is that?"
Asuka explained, "Think about it. Because they don't have girlfriends, they can put more energy into training. Because they don't have girlfriends, they don't waste time on dates. Because they don't have girlfriends, they have more time to rest and recover."
"If you do the math, having a girlfriend wastes about two hours a day. Rounding it off, that's nearly half the training time you lose compared to them. And on top of that, your talent isn't as good as theirs. Given all that, if you still manage to beat them, then that would really be something."
Oikawa fell silent.
After a moment, he muttered, "Nonsense. I think those two idiots aren't not dating because they don't want to, it's because they can't find girlfriends."
Oikawa snapped out of it, realizing he almost got twisted around by Asuka's logic.
Asuka shrugged helplessly, "Alright! If you don't want to believe me, there's nothing I can do. But you better keep track of your time, being away from the team this long, I'm starting to feel…"
Bam!
Before Asuka finished, a volleyball suddenly flew in from behind and slammed hard into Oikawa's forehead.
"Ow! That hurts! Damn it, not even the coach has hit me before... huh!" Oikawa's angry shout was abruptly cut off.
Then Iwaizumi dragged him away.
The girls surrounding them sighed in disappointment.
"Aww, what a pity~~~"
Half a second later, they turned their attention back to Asuka.
"Hey, Asuka-kun, can we take a picture with you?"
Asuka nodded, "Sure, no problem, I, "
"Sorry, sorry, our team's about to start the match, so could everyone please make way?"
Before Asuka could finish, Ryunosuke Tanaka came over with a smile, quickly dispersing all the girls, then turned to Asuka with a sigh.
"Seriously, can't you be a little more low-key?"
Asuka spread his hands in innocence, "I really can't be blamed this time. I was just dragged into it because of Oikawa-senpai…"
Asuka was quick to shift the blame.
Actually, it wasn't entirely unfair. Since joining Seijoh, Asuka often attracted female attention on campus, but mostly inside school grounds. Outside, he was practically unknown.
Oikawa was different. As a frequent star featured in volleyball magazines, he stood out whenever he walked around.
The girls surrounding them this time were mostly Oikawa's fans.
Asuka was just caught up because of his looks.
So yeah, boys, remember to watch out for yourselves when you're out.
Back with the team.
The coach's reprimand had just finished, and Asuka was lucky to escape without being scolded.
Oikawa was visibly annoyed, glaring angrily at Asuka, only to get a punch from Iwaizumi.
On the court, two teams were warming up.
One was Jounan High, the other was Unno High.
"Oh? They've added a libero and another tall player. They weren't here during the last practice match, new members?" Seijoh players watching from the stands noticed Unno had two extra players: Azuma Higashimine and Yuu Nishinoya.
On the court, Kageyama from Unno also spotted Oikawa and Asuka in the audience.
Asuka was fine with it, but whenever Oikawa and Kageyama locked eyes, a silent tension ignited between them...
(End of chapter)
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