Chapter 2: Before the Middle School Athletic Tournament
After finishing his bath, Ichise Guren lay quietly on his large bed, staring blankly into space with unfocused eyes.
This was his habit after volleyball training—his powerful visual memory allowed him to recall the content very clearly when reviewing.
He began reviewing today's training situation and the mistakes that occurred during practice: why they happened, and how to avoid them next time.
How adjusting his posture might be better—he'd try it tomorrow, and if it didn't work, he'd try another posture to find the spiking form that suited him best.
'Aoba Johsai has someone called Mad Dog—seems like his core muscle groups are well-developed, allowing him to freely adjust his posture and power generation in mid-air.'
'Tokyo's Nekoma team will apparently have a mixed-race player later. When he spikes, his arm swings like a whip. With the whip-tip effect, the ball speed should be very fast, but accuracy would be hard to control.'
'And that ace from Itachiyama—seems like he has ridiculous wrists. I remember that warm-up in the manga where his fingers touch his arm. Does he have no bones?'
Gathering his scattered thoughts, with a mental command, he opened the data panel before his eyes.
What greeted him was still that speechless 2K interface, then it switched to the data screen.
**[2K Sports]**
**[Ichise Guren]**
**[Template: D-rank player Shannon Brown]**
**[Awaiting Activation Template: Undrafted Akolbundu-Ehiogu]**
**[Height: 183cm (decimals ignored, rounded to nearest whole number)]**
**[Standing reach: 245cm]**
**[Vertical jump: 91cm]**
**[Running vertical: 342cm]**
**Equipment: [LeBron's Headband]** - Eliminates 97% chance of injury or illness.
When he first transmigrated here, Ichise Guren thought he had been reborn in 1990s Japan, but then discovered many situations completely different from his previous life.
Like the Ichise family's manga industry empire, and the strangely developed gaming industry.
It wasn't until elementary school when he started playing volleyball that he discovered he had a cheat system.
*Beep beep beep, beep beep beep.*
A series of alarm sounds woke Ichise Guren from his panel research.
Picking up his phone from the bedside table, he saw it was his sleep-time alarm reminding him to enter sleep mode.
"Good night, world."
---
Mid-April, Yukigaoka Middle School
"Eh?!!!"
"Really?!!!!!"
"Ichise! Is it really okay?!!!!"
Inside the volleyball club's activity room.
On the top floor of the club activity building built on unused school grounds, donated by the Ichise family and approved by the prefectural education department.
"Yeah, my PE teacher already submitted our entry form."
"Counting our volleyball club members plus your two childhood friends from basketball and soccer clubs to fill the numbers."
"But you know, if their respective club competitions haven't ended yet, they won't come to compete."
After receiving Ichise Guren's affirmative answer, Hinata Shoyo began excitedly jumping around the activity room.
Raising both hands above his head, continuously stretching upward.
His legs moved like a gorilla's, circling around the table.
Hyakuzawa Yudai, sitting quietly to the side, looked completely bewildered, his gaze following Hinata Shoyo's movements in circles.
"Hinata's celebration is really... quite unique."
Round and round—before long, he fell into a dizzy state.
Ichise Guren quickly reached out to rub the back of Hyakuzawa Yudai's neck.
"Yudai, what are you doing? He's an idiot—are you an idiot too? Why are you following him with your eyes in circles?"
Meanwhile, Hinata Shoyo, after several circles, seemed to realize something and slowed down his spinning.
Suddenly he started counting on his fingers, and soon reached a conclusion.
His excitement level dropped considerably, then he put on an expression that questioned life itself, and began counting on his fingers again.
Over and over, as his calculation results repeated, the orange hair that had stood up from excitement began to droop down bit by bit.
Immediately after, his whole body became tense.
Step by step, he walked up to Ichise Guren, looking at him with an expression as if his soul had been drained.
With a mix of worry and anticipation, anticipation mixed with fear, he asked in extreme confusion:
"Um... Ichise... I know I'm bad at math, but..."
"You're one person, plus me makes two people, plus Hyakuzawa makes three people..."
"Plus my two childhood friends makes five people, right?"
"But I remember volleyball matches need six people on court, right?"
"I was afraid I miscounted, so I counted again."
"Me, that's one person. Plus you, Ichise, that's two people."
"Plus Hyakuzawa makes three people, plus Izumi makes four... plus Koji makes five..."
Hinata Shoyo's recounting voice already carried a faint sob.
A slight tearful gleam appeared in his eyes.
"Hey! Ichise!"
"Even though we're amazing, Hyakuzawa is tall, Ichise is also tall and can jump like me."
"But five people can't compete, right? We can't register, right?!!!"
Ichise Guren looked speechlessly at the little sunshine in front of him, tears in his eyes, hands trembling as they rested on his shoulders.
As if the next words out of his mouth about not being able to register would shatter all of Hinata Shoyo's life hopes.
He raised his right index finger and scratched his head.
He turned to look at Hyakuzawa Yudai, who was silently watching the show.
"Yudai, didn't you tell Shoyo?"
Hyakuzawa Yudai paused, blinking his eyes and showing an honest smile.
"Ah, sorry, I forgot."
Hinata Shoyo, like a wild beast, though usually acting foolish,
At this moment, his beast-like instincts keenly sensed that there was a turn for the better in this situation.
His eyes sparkled with starlight, like a puppy waiting for its master's reward.
His head swayed between Ichise Guren and Hyakuzawa Yudai, waiting for one of them to say something.
Ichise Guren, helpless against Hinata Shoyo in puppy mode, could only directly explain the situation.
"Sorry, sorry. This year's new students brought in four newcomers who are interested."
"I included them in the registration form too. I had Hyakuzawa tell you about this."
"But among these four newcomers, three are complete beginners who haven't started their growth spurts yet—basically elementary schoolers who can't play volleyball."
"Only one is in our same grade, quite an interesting guy. Like Hyakuzawa and me, he's also a transfer student."
"Counting your two childhood friends, in this competition, at most only we three plus that interesting guy can actually play volleyball."
"Moreover..."
Ichise Guren's voice dropped slightly.
"We three have no official match experience. How far do you want to go, Hinata?"
Ichise Guren fell quiet, slightly raising his eyebrows with an expectant expression as he looked at Hinata, curious about what kind of answer he would give.
Hinata Shoyo, who had just looked like life was hopeless, after learning the good news that they could participate,
Completely changed from his previous dejection and despair.
His complexion instantly became rosy, his nostrils flared slightly, and a vibrant breath burst forth from within.
Then Hinata Shoyo clenched his left fist in front of his chest and shouted:
"Of course!"
"We'll keep winning!!"
In the activity room, through the half-open window, a strong wind blew in, lifting and billowing the curtains.
Ichise Guren and Hyakuzawa Yudai looked at the excited and happy Hinata Shoyo before them and exchanged smiles.
****
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