After the freshmen left, the veterans stayed on the court to discuss potential new team members.
"What do you think of the new freshmen?" asked Shinji (the team's libero).
"The middle blocker has a very good height and a good instinct for blocking, but there's much to polish in his technique. Sometimes, he made unnecessary movements," said Washio.
"The setter, Kanji, has a good personality, appearing to be very willful and determined. Additionally, he has good height and can contribute a lot to our blocks, but he has much to improve in his passes. There's still a lot of technique and game sense lacking," noted Shinsuke with his calm and cold voice.
"But who I'm really interested in is Hajime. I believe he will be a great addition to our team. We don't have an opposite hitter who can establish themselves as the team's starting player, so it was a position where we were weak. Moreover, he is a very complete player, even though he just entered high school, and has a great cutting power with his left hand, which is quite rare," said Shinji.
"Hey, you can't forget how he copied me. That's not something anyone can do. I'm interested to know if it's something he can truly do or if it was just a stroke of luck," pondered Bokuto.
"We have some interesting freshmen this year," said Washio.
3 DAYS LATER:
Hajime arrives at school attracting attention, as always hehe, and today is the day to get his new uniform.
He meets Kanji and Wataru, who head to the classroom to attend the lesson. During the break, they plan to talk to Hana to pick up their uniforms.
BREAK TIME:
They meet with Hana, who hands out the uniforms to the three of them. Hajime observes that it's quite similar to the Karasuno uniform, but the predominant color is yellow, with green details.
After a few hours, it's time for Hajime's first practice. He arrives early and sits down to observe the practice of the other strings. He notices that the strings don't train together, only during practice matches.
At some point, Kanji and Wataru arrive at the location.
"Ready for the first practice?" asks Kanji.
"Of course, but we don't even know which string we're assigned to or if we'll be together," warns Hajime.
After a while, the coach and the veterans arrive for practice.
"Before we start, we'd like to congratulate Hajime, Wataru, and Kanji for being integrated into the first string," said the coach.
"LET'S GO!!!" shouted Kanji in excitement.
"So let's start the practice."
"First, we'll begin with stretches and then some aerobic exercises."
At the end of the aerobic workout, Hajime realizes that he can keep up with the pace of the veterans. His parents had already informed him about the importance of maintaining good physical fitness and had incorporated exercises for this, including a morning walk.
"Now, let's move on to spike drills. I've brought Hideki to set some balls for you."
In this drill, Hajime performs exceptionally well, not falling behind any of his teammates, except for Bokuto.
"Now, onto receive and block drills."
In receptions, Hajime excels, but as mentioned earlier, opposites typically don't handle receptions; that's the task of outside hitters. Regarding block training, Hajime, due to his height, has a natural advantage but lacks some technique. To improve, he observes the team's best blocker, Washio-Senpai (the middle blocker), and makes progress throughout the training session.
"Time for a break, everyone... except you, Kanji. We need to work on your passes, and for that, we have our starting setter."
"Hello, I'm Yuma Yamada, from the ninth grade. I hope I can help with your training as much as possible, Kanji-Kun."
"LET'S GIVE OUR BEST, SENPAI!!!"
Hajime observes that he has a medium height, messy black hair, and spends about 40 minutes giving tips to Kanji on the best way to pass and the various types of passes he can execute. The rest of us were practicing serves on the court next door during this time.
"Well, as we've finished our training, I would like everyone's presence to discuss the current situation of the club."
"We have one month left before the qualifiers for the national middle school volleyball tournament, and we have some issues to address. The situation with our starting setter is one concern, and based on medical reports, Yuma-kun won't be able to play in all the games, including the national ones. So, the solution we came up with is to have a kind of rotation between Yuma and Kanji to give him some rest."
"And coach, how does the format of this Tournament work?" asked Hajime.
"Our prefecture is Tokyo, and it has the right to send 3 schools to the nationals, making a total of 52 schools including all other prefectures. So, more than 100 schools will compete for these 3 Tokyo spots. In the last two years, we managed to qualify for the nationals. However, we were eliminated in the quarterfinals both times. Historically, our school is known for always reaching at least the third round every year."
"And how many rounds are played?" asked Hajime.
"To win the Tournament , we have to win the first round, second, third, quarters, semis, and the final... and if we lose in any of these rounds, we're eliminated."
"And to wrap up our meeting, we would like to inform you that we have a practice match scheduled next week against Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High from Miyagi Prefecture. This time, we'll have to travel there. With that said, meeting adjourned."
"Is this the first time we're playing a practice match against them?" asked Hajime.
"Actually, we usually train against them every year before the championship. They have a very strong team," said Bokuto.
"That's cool, then we'll have a good test."
And so ends Hajime's first practice with the club, imagining what it will be like to face Oikawa's team and also curious to know if Kageyama will be there or not.