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Monday.
After a simple one-hour morning workout, Akashi Asuto arrived at school bright and early.
7:45 AM.
There was still more than an hour until the first morning reading session, so there weren't many people on campus yet. The morning sun hung in the eastern sky, its gentle rays filtering through the trees by the school gate. A light breeze blew through, swaying the branches and leaves. Everything felt peaceful and beautiful.
Until…
"Yo! Asuto, you're late today!"
The mont Omae Masato's loud, smug voice rang out, the peaceful atmosphere was destroyed. Even the leaves seed to stop moving, as if they were speechless.
Asuto turned around helplessly and looked at the sweat-drenched Masato.
"It's not that I'm late. You're just way too early. So… what exactly are you doing?"
Omae Masato planted his hands on his hips and burst into laughter, his face full of pride.
"Hahahaha... Of course I'm training! It's not just either; everyone from the volleyball club ca early this morning. We've decided that from now on, the volleyball club is going to practice every morning!"
"Asuto, this ti I'm one step ahead of you!"
Omae grinned triumphantly, as if he had just won a competition.
After laughing for a while, he finally noticed the books Asuto was carrying and asked with a confused look on his face:
"By the way... what are you doing?"
"Studying."
"Oh! So you're stud… huh?" Omae Masato's eyes widened in horror.
"Y-you... what did you just say? Studying? Asuto, did yesterday's ga ss up your head or sothing? Should we go to the infirmary first? No, forget that; we should take you straight to the hospital for a full check-up!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Asuto rolled his eyes. "We're students. What should youth be spent doing? Playing volleyball? Of course not. It's for studying and exams. If you can't even handle your academics properly, what right do you have to talk about club activities?"
His tone was righteous and forceful, leaving Masato Omae dumbfounded.
"N-No, that's wrong. It's completely wrong. How could soone like you possibly study on their own? Have you forgotten our promise to be 'academic failures together'?"
"And besides, that's not what you said yesterday!"
"What did I say yesterday?"
"You clearly said that we were going to train hard and get revenge on Kitagawa Daiichi at the Nationals in October!"
Asuto nodded upon hearing that.
"That's right. I did say we'd train hard. But the important thing right now is that the final exams are less than two weeks away. If we fail any subjects this ti, we'll have to stay behind for redial classes during the sumr holidays. And if that happens, won't that waste even more training ti?"
Having said this, Asuto turned and walked towards the school library.
Masato was left behind, standing alone beneath the falling leaves, looking as though he had just been struck by lightning, feeling lonely and helpless.
…
There weren't many people in the library.
To be honest, Sengoku Junior High was just an ordinary school. This applied equally to academics and club activities.
Asuto pulled the study materials he had bought the previous day out of his school bag. As well as junior high textbooks, they included high school prep materials, all of which had been specially purchased near the prefectural gymnasium the day before.
In his previous life, Asuto's academic performance had never been particularly outstanding; he was just average enough to get into a regular university.
But in this life, he was essentially relearning everything from scratch. On top of that, Japan's educational system was quite different from that of the mainland, so Asuto unexpectedly found himself enjoying studying a little.
While Asuto was quietly imrsing himself in his studies at the library, Omae Masato was sprinting wildly towards the volleyball club room.
"This is bad! The final exam..."
Omae Masato panted heavily as he shoved open the door. He was just about to speak when he abruptly stopped.
In the clubroom, alongside the Volleyball Club mbers, Coach Shimokawa had also arrived. But that wasn't the important part.
The important part was the woman in business attire standing beside him.
Tanno Sae.
31 years old.
She was a Japanese language teacher and the horoom teacher of both Omae Masato and Asuto.
When Masato burst through the door, Sae seed to be talking to the volleyball club mbers. Seeing him enter, she slowly raised her head and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose.
A glint of light flashed across the lenses.
Instantly... Omae Masato froze like a frightened quail.
"Gulp... Good morning, Tanno-sensei,' he forced out.
"Good morning, Omae-kun," Tanno Sae replied expressionlessly.
"You ca at the perfect ti, Omae. Coach Shimokawa and I discussed sothing yesterday, and since you're all here this morning, we might as well tell you all at once. By the way, have you seen Asuto?"
"Ah! I just ran into him. He went to the library to study."
"Huh?"
As soon as Omae finished speaking, not only did the volleyball club mbers and Coach Shimokawa turn their heads around, but Tanno Sae did too, looking surprised.
Clearly, they were all shocked by what he had just said.
Although none of the volleyball club mbers were academic high achievers, Asuto and Omae Masato would definitely be near the bottom of the class if they had to rank the worst students.
And now, here was Omae Masato telling them that Asuto had voluntarily gone to the library to study.
'How could they not be shocked?'
"Um… should I go and get him?"
"No, that won't be necessary. Since he's studying right now, there's no need to disturb him." Tanno Sae waved her hand, then continued formally:
"So here's the situation: Yesterday, Coach Shimokawa ca to in the hope that the Volleyball Club could hold a sumr training camp this year..."
"A sumr training camp?"
"Seriously?"
"Oh yeah! Long live the teachers!"
…
Before Tanno Sae had even finished speaking, everyone had already started to get excited.
In Japanese middle schools, it was fairly common for clubs or classes to organize school trips or holiday training camps. However, these activities were generally more common in high school, with junior high schools holding them less often.
After all, high school students were closer to adulthood and had a better sense of self-managent, which made safety concerns easier to handle.
Junior high school students, on the other hand, were comparatively less mature.
As a result, getting approval for a holiday training camp at junior high school was usually quite difficult.
In the past, all of Sengoku Junior High School's clubs were considered too 'ordinary', so the school rarely approved such camps. This ti, however, the Volleyball Club had equaled the school's best-ever record, giving Shimokawa Mitsuto a very good reason to submit the application.
"However…"
At that mont, Tanno Sae suddenly changed her tone and continued, "Only students who pass every subject in this final exam will be eligible to participate in the training camp. Otherwise, they will have to attend redial classes."
Everyone: "..."
Omae Masato: "??????????"
(End of Chapter)
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