章 14: New Stars at the Top

Later that day, they were summoned at the vice-principal's office, where they were given a long-ass discussion about how students should behave, and other what-nots, especially that they are quite the 'pride' of their school for the prestige they brought in the athletic field.

Hiro and Kouen only let the words of the old man enter through their one ear, and let it pass out to the other. Kouha looked like he actually listened, while Gaito showed obvious disinterest. Maki was also there and he was the only one among them who looked a little bit apologetic (despite the fact that he isn't actually involved in the incident. Then when they were given the consequences of their action, at least, they showed a little remorse.

One week. They were castigated with a one week detention. And the punishment? They will have to clean various places in the school for the entire week, including this Friday. And this was a problem for the four of them, because they will depart for Tokyo on that day for the Golden Week Camp at Itachiyama.

Maki didn't say a lot of words to them, but his disappointed expression towards them spoke volumes, like he's saying 'You brought this upon yourselves.' Today, is their fourth day of punishment. By the time they were done, they were drenched in sweat.

Of course, who wouldn't be? If you were made to trim the lawn of a huge football field under the afternoon summer sun?

"I hate ya Gai." Kouha muttered while he wiped his forehead with his towel.

"What did you say?" The tiny guy from the team retorted back, looking also exhausted from the job.

"And I hate ya both." Kouen further complained as he picked up his bag to get some sweets.

"You're all so noisy." Hiro stood up from the grass and picked up his cap. Feeling satisfied after seeing the perfectly lawn field, he decided to take a break and head to the clubroom to change. He was silently annoyed by the other three for they actually contributed just a little in the job.

Kouha kept on messing up with the mower, Gai was muttering curses under his breath and letting his talking do most of the work, while Kouen keeps on being distracted with the snacks he brought for his 'energy.'

Soon enough, the rest of the three followed him and when they reached the clubroom, the other members of the team were huddled around something.

'What the heck is up with them?' Hiro thought.

"What's going on here?" Kouha asked out loud.

Asuma, the redhead freshman was the one who replied excitedly. "We've got the latest issue of Monthly Volleyball, senpai!"

That got the interest of the four of them so they joined in the huddle of the other team members. Kakuzo was reading the contents of the issue. Hiro read along with him in silence.

Cover Page: The Top 5 Aces of Japan High School Volleyball

Contents:

Here we go again, volleyball enthusiasts! Another season has come upon us, and for sure, new stars of high school volleyball are bound to join the fray of being the cream of the crop of their respective clubs. Now, we set our eyes upon these new faces, who we have high expectations for in the upcoming Inter-High. Which of these individuals will climb all the way to the top with the rest of their team?

Based on the latest tournaments held in the previous volleyball season, we have compiled once again for you this year's top 5 picks of Japan's best main artilleries! Here they are (in no particular order)

[Hiro thought that the 'in no particular order' disclaimer is just for show since the biases of the content writers will obviously be shown in the way they put up the order of the names]

Name: Sakusa Kiyoomi

School: Itachiyama Gakuen (Tokyo)

Height: 189cm

Sakusa Kiyoomi is the ace spiker for Itachiyama Institute, a heavy favorite to win the nationals. However, their team suffered a setback with a surprising upset during last Spring Cup, where they went down in the Quarterfinals against Inubushi-Higashi High School from Hiroshima Prefecture.

Sakusa makes use of unconventional spikes and serves to overwhelm opponents. His technique, consistency, and unique shots make him a formidable player. It wouldn't even be stretch to say that Sakusa has practically no weak points. Everyone calls him now 'The Phenom'.

Skills:

Flexible Wrists: Sakusa's unique and most outstanding quirk is his abnormally flexible wrists, which can bend until his palms are touching his forearms. This allows him to add a particularly nasty spin to his spikes and serves, making them difficult to block and receive.

Receiving: Sakusa is a highly skilled receiver, his specialty is serve defense, and he has proven to be able to dig serves from powerful players. He is also able to smoothly transition from a receive to a run-up for a spike

Jump Serve: Sakusa has a powerful jump serve enhanced by his wrist flexibility, giving it a unique spin and making it difficult to receive.

Name: Uzui Izaya

School: Inubushi-Higashi High School (Hiroshima)

Height: 190cm

Uzui Izaya is the Alpha of the 'Wild Dogs of the East', the team who pounded its way up to the semi-finals of last Spring Cup, who defeated the championship-favorite Itachiyama. ('inu' from their school name means 'dog' and 'higashi' means 'east')

Uzui has a large, muscular yet lean build and is fairly tall. His play style is heavily reliant on physicality and is quite straightforward. His techniques generally stay the same throughout most matches, which means his opponents can get used to them and find ways to counteract. However, this is easier said than done due to his overwhelming power and height.

Skills:

Spiking: Uzui is known for his powerful spikes. He is one of the top hitters in the nation. His spikes tend to be strong and consistent. He also has an immense amount of stamina with hitting and wears out his opponents quickly.

Receiving: He is also a good sweeper on the court. With his long arm span, even if the ball seems to be too far from him, with his agile movement, he still can reach it.

Name: Hoshiumi Kourai

High School: Kamomedai High School (Nagano)

Height: 169cm

The Ace of the Kamomedai High, who is also dubbed as 'The Little Giant'. Despite his short height, he has a relatively strong and lean build.

Hoshiumi is an amazing all-rounder - excellent at serving, receiving, setting, blocking, and spiking. He's able to jump high and get past blockers who are a lot taller than him using a unique running approach; he bends and twists his legs inwards, resulting in a high vertical jump, which helps him perform an impressive end-line shot.

Skills:

Jump: Hoshiumi has an impressive running vertical of around 342cm.

Spikes: With his very high vertical leap, anyone will be shocked by how accurate and sharp Hoshiumi's spikes are. It can even go above the block, and still pull through the defense because of its sheer speed. His most notable skill during the Nationals is his way of tooling the blockers. His blockouts are rarely stopped.

Receives: Like Sakusa, Hoshiumi is very reliable on receives. He strengthens the overall floor defense of his team. A player like him, who excels in both offense and defense, is very formidable indeed.

Name: Makunochi Daisuke

School: Ichibayashi High School (Fukuoka)

Height: 190cm

Still in his second year now, Makunochi led the charge of last Spring Cup's champion team, Ichibayashi High. Ever since they won against Fukurodani in the finals, many spectators turned their way to admire the proclaimed 'New Dragon of Kyushuu.'

[Reference here is Kiryuu Wakatsu's title (from Mujinazaka High, of Oita, Kyushuu Region.) Kiryuu was formerly called as the 'Dragon of Oita']

Makunochi appears to be a simpleton, who gets excited in his plays along with the crowd. Many thought that this isnt one of his redeeming qualities, but he proved them all wrong when he went on a rampage and matched Bokuto Kotaro's tip-top form too in their Finals showdown.

Skills:

Spikes: Like Uzui, Makunochi also has powerful spikes, loud enough to echo throughout the chamber if done in full force. His full force spikes caused injuries to several players before who attempted to receive it, though he never really meant to do any of it.

Slugger: He can hit even nasty sets, and even when hitting these sub-par tosses, Makunochi is able to maximize the strength of his spikes. Although many sports analysts comment that this somehow sacrifices the precision of the shot.

Blocking: He has fast reflexes and can react quickly to block his opponents. The championship point their team got was from him, when he was able to shut down Bokuto Kotaro's last spike.

Name: Ishigami Senku

School: Irukaijo Gakuen (Hokkaido)

Height: 187cm

Like Makunochi, Ishigami is still also on his second year. Ishigami shows incredible game sense and clever techniques without sacrificing firepower. He is even on every field, but his statistics are full on intelligence.

He isn't known for very powerful spikes, nor impressive blocking game, but he has proven to be great when it comes to creating the best decisions on court – on where to hit, where to receive, and how to force errors upon his opponents. This 'Brain Storm' led their team in the best 16 Nationals.

Skills:

Dexterity: He is ambidextrous – meaning, either of his hands can spike at his full power and produce the same result.

Agility: Ishigami is known for his insane quick attacks from both the front and back row of the court. Combining it with his intelligence, he knows where to perfectly hit his spikes to the nastiest places in order for their team to score a point.

Intelligence: his overall intelligence can compare to that of a professional player's. He uses this advantage to become very well-rounded in all aspects of the game – spiking, receiving, blocking, and serving.

['iruka' means 'dolphin', the smartest animal in the world, only next to the chimpanzee. Ishigami Senku is a very smart character also from the anime Dr. Stone]

"Oh wow, this is quite a list." Kakuzo commented after reading the article. "Oi – wait, there's more!"

'There's more?' the others too got curious of what's more in the article.

"The New King of the Court. It's an interview. Cool, I wonder who this is." The freshman then flipped the next page.

Upon hearing the first sentence, Hiro already knew who the article was talking about. He wasn't wrong when he saw whose face was printed on the next page.

"Kageyama Tobio of Karasuno High School." He said under his breath.