The next day.
Akashi Asuka never saw the dyed-hair college students at the court again.
Don't get the wrong idea.
It wasn't because of him.
After all, this was a multi-sports gymnasium. It was perfectly normal for different groups of people to come and go every day on this "pickup court."
Yeah, that was just how things were.
...
"Hey, you little kid over there! Want to come play a game with us?"
"Absolutely!"
Not long after arriving at the gym, Asuka heard the familiar shouts from the volleyball court and immediately walked over with a big smile.
About a week later.
A rumor began to spread quietly throughout the gym.
Apparently, a certain Junior Higher had been treating this place as his personal practice ground, finding people to play every day, and enjoying tormenting his teammates for fun.
Asuka happened to overhear this rumor and shook his head as he walked away.
Really now.
Who's so lacking in manners to spread rumors like this? What if people started thinking it was about him?
From that day on, to avoid any association with the rumor, Asuka deliberately cut back on his use of diagonal spikes and began focusing more on developing his straight-line attacks.
Just practicing straight-line spikes from the middle court wasn't very effective for improvement.
So to push himself harder, before every attack, Asuka would still hit a few diagonal spikes to lure the blockers, while subtly moving to the sidelines at positions four and two.
By alternating between diagonal and straight-line spikes, Asuka's scoring ability improved dramatically.
Because of this, it took a whole week and a half before the rumor "that Junior Higher is back again" started to circulate once more.
After that, Asuka noticed it became much harder to find people willing to team up with him.
"So it really is because of the rumors." he murmured with a slight shake of his head.
Then quietly, he said to himself, "Well, if I can't find anyone here, I'll just head to another pickup court and cause some trouble over there for a while!"
,
Player Profile: Akashi Asuka
Strength: 77.8 [Core 77.5, Arm 78.1]
Speed: 74.9 [Burst 75.2, Reaction 74.6]
Stamina: 75.2 [Endurance 75.1, Cardio 75.3]
Jump: 75.9 [Leap 77.9, Hang Time 74]
Basic Skills: 70.5 [Serve 69.2, Dig 69.4, Set 63.3, Spike 77.9, Block 73.6, Defense 69.6]
Advanced Skills: [Diagonal Spike 69.1], [Straight Spike 68.6], [Power Jump Serve 70.7]
,
"That means at the next court, I'll focus mainly on jump serves in actual play."
After finishing the last game at this gym that evening, Asuka pulled up his stats panel on his phone on the way home.
During this training period, his stats had seen significant growth.
Although the improvements from pure training were slowing down as his attributes rose, and he had nearly exhausted the benefits from his past life's experience, he still had plenty of "Champion Value" earned from this summer's intense practice!
Not everyone could resist playing during the summer break, after all.
Setting aside all technical skills,
Just judging by his physical condition, almost every stat except a few had now broken past 75.
These breakthroughs in his basic physical abilities gave Asuka a very clear sense of strength increase.
Especially his power stat.
Maybe because he'd been playing mostly against adults recently, he hadn't felt it so keenly, but Asuka sensed that before long, his spike power might level up again, evolving to a new tier.
As for his advanced techniques,
Because Asuka already had a solid spike skill, he learned the diagonal and straight spikes quickly.
The last skill, Power Jump Serve, was a technique Asuka developed himself to fit his strengths in power and jumping ability.
He abandoned placing precise serves and instead focused on maximizing serve speed and power using his leap height and strength.
Since serving was the only skill that didn't require teammates to improve,
Although he'd never used this jump serve in an official match yet, after private training, it had become his highest-rated advanced skill.
...
The next afternoon.
Asuka set out early toward another gymnasium he had found on his phone.
Compared to the previous one, this gym was farther away but larger and more official-looking, with more volleyball courts. Surely there would be fewer rumors here.
It took nearly an hour by foot and train before he arrived at his destination.
Sendai City First Multi-Sports Gymnasium.
This gym was clearly more professional than the last one. Approaching it, the first things visible were the soccer and volleyball fields on either side of the building.
Compared to volleyball, these two sports were clearly more popular.
Even under the blazing sun, both fields were packed with people.
Inside, the first sounds Asuka heard were the thumping of basketballs and the squeaking of shoes on the polished floor.
"Hey, kid! Want to play volleyball? We're just one short, wanna join?"
Before Asuka could even get near the volleyball courts, a college student carrying an opened sports drink walked by and greeted him.
Asuka's eyes lit up instantly.
This was definitely the kind of proper gym he preferred, no strange rumors popping up.
He nodded firmly in agreement.
Before long,
The college student who introduced himself as Chiba led Asuka to their court.
Unlike the ad-hoc teams Asuka had met before, Chiba and his friends had a relatively fixed team, though someone had suddenly left midway through this game.
"Chiba, did you find someone?"
"Yeah, I just ran into a Junior Higher on the way here. How about you?"
"Funny you say that, I just found a high schooler."
As Chiba chatted with his friends, Asuka's gaze was suddenly drawn to someone he recognized quite well.
About 1.78 meters tall, sporting a blond buzz cut with two black stripes shaved on the temples, and wearing a perpetually annoyed expression, just like a rebellious teen.
When Asuka looked at him, the guy turned his head and gave a fierce, dog-like glare.
Asuka rubbed his chin, recalling, and thought quietly, "That guy... his name's Kentarō Kyōtani, right?"
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