The second day of the training camp.
Akashi Asuka suddenly felt the pressure multiply.
Yesterday, during what was considered "normal training." he could easily do half again the workload of the others. But today, even with "high-intensity training." he could only barely manage to train 50% more than everyone else.
By the end of the day's training, the others were completely exhausted on the floor, while Asuka couldn't even casually do cool-down exercises like the day before. He had to stand still, gasping for breath for a long time before slowly recovering.
"Damn it, does this 'monster' even have a limit?"
The others lay sprawled on the ground, watching Asuka still able to stand, their hearts filled with unwilling rage.
"Damn, these bastards are already going all out on just the second day?"
Asuka put his hands on his hips, his eyes glancing sideways at the exhausted group on the floor, silently cursing.
In the high-density summer camp training, aside from strength training, it was already difficult for Asuka to exceed the others by double the workload in the other physical conditioning areas to earn the coveted "Overachiever Status."
But unexpectedly, these bastards just kept raising the bar on him.
"Overachievers have no fate. Don't they know that?"
Shimokawa Mitsuto was a little baffled too, but since competition between his players was ultimately a good thing, he didn't think too much of it.
The scrimmage was scheduled for the evening, just after a full day of exhausting training when everyone's stamina was nearly drained.
Although this made the scrimmage even harder, it forced everyone to focus, which ultimately promoted technical improvement.
...
Bang!
Under the gym's ceiling lights, Asuka jumped high and smashed the volleyball like a cannonball. His fierce spike broke through the three-player block in front and landed for a point.
"Whoa-oh-oh-oh!"
The Red Team, with Asuka on it, erupted in cheers.
On the opposite side, Jujiro Kazama and Ryuhei Sanashita wiped the sweat from their brows and looked at Asuka.
"Damn, does this guy never get tired?"
They had already been training all day, especially the afternoon conditioning, and their legs still felt weak. Forget spikes, even jumping was difficult.
Yet Asuka not only could still jump but maintained perfect form midair despite the fatigue.
"This guy... he's turning more and more into a 'monster'!"
Outside the court, Shimokawa Mitsuto was taking notes on training data, equally amazed by Asuka.
Before the summer camp, Shimokawa thought Asuka had only improved his offensive skills to the next level.
But now, with all the data in front of him, he realized Asuka's progress was not just offensive, it was a comprehensive upgrade.
"How is he doing this?"
Shimokawa was dumbfounded.
"Is volleyball really this brutal?"
Just as Shimokawa pondered this, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
He turned to see Saye Tanno, one of the camp supervisors, standing quietly nearby.
Although Saye Tanno was supervising the camp, she usually didn't watch every training session during the day.
First, because it wasn't her area of expertise.
Second, although Asuka and Oomae Masato, the two "poor students", both passed their final exams, she still had other students in her class who hadn't. So during the day, she needed to supervise their tutoring sessions.
"Yes, many people who don't understand volleyball tend to think this way." Saye said.
"Because volleyball is a no-ground-contact sport, it can feel like you're just floating around. So many people think volleyball is a light and 'airy' sport."
"But the truth is, volleyball is quite violent."
"Since there's a net separating the sides, no physical body contact occurs. But precisely because of this, volleyball's 'violence' is displayed in full force."
"In professional volleyball leagues, spikes and serves exceeding speeds of 120 km/h are common. For ordinary people facing such speed head-on, these balls feel no different from cannonballs."
"And even for professionals, improper response to these high-speed balls often leads to bone injuries or even unconsciousness on the spot."
Maybe because she was standing near a woman, Shimokawa's male instinct to show off kicked in, so he explained a lot.
His words indeed shifted Saye's understanding.
Saye Tanno was a language teacher and homeroom teacher of class three, already busy with work, so she was only nominally affiliated with a cultural club.
As mentioned before, Sengoku Junior High was an average school in terms of clubs.
The club she was nominally involved in hardly ever participated in national or even regular competitions. So she knew little about volleyball and had never seen a club training with ambitions to compete nationally.
Though she didn't understand much, she had to admit that compared to her cultural club, the volleyball team seemed like they belonged to a completely different dimension.
Putting aside their seriousness during practice,
At least the members of her club wouldn't be working to improve their academic scores just to participate in club training.
So two members of her club were currently tutoring.
Thinking about academic results, Saye instinctively glanced at Asuka on the court and asked thoughtfully:
"Shimokawa-sensei, how has Asuka been performing lately?"
"Asuka?"
Shimokawa was a little surprised and wondered why Saye asked that suddenly.
But since Asuka's recent performance was flawless, he had no problem answering.
"Asuka has changed a lot recently. Not only in daily training but also his overall skill is improving fast. The volleyball club making it to the fourth round is basically all thanks to Asuka's efforts, "
Suddenly, Shimokawa stopped himself mid-sentence.
He hadn't realized it before, but putting the facts together now, this wasn't mere improvement. It was like a completely different person.
"Um, Tanno-sensei, has Asuka changed in class too?"
"Not really." Saye answered calmly.
Hearing this, Shimokawa felt a temporary relief, thinking he had over thought it.
But the next second, Saye continued:
"It's just that his exam score improved a bit this time."
Shimokawa didn't pay much attention.
"Well, it's normal for scores to improve! After all, everyone in the volleyball club improved a lot this time because of the camp, "
Before Shimokawa finished, Saye said expressionlessly:
"Asuka scored second in the grade this time. I checked the exam room cameras, no signs of cheating."
Shimokawa: "...?????"
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