Kyotani Kentaro.
A second-year player in the QīngchéngVolleyball Club.
Due to his personality, he had a conflict with the third-year seniors during his first year, and since then, he never returned to the Volleyball Clubfor training.
But this doesn't mean Kyotani Kentaro dislikes volleyball; on the contrary, it's precisely because Kyotani Kentaro loves the sport that he argued with the third-year seniors back then.
After all, before Oikawa Tooru joined, the environment of the Qīngchéng Volleyball Clubwasn't exactly great.
And after leaving the Volleyball Club, Kyotani Kentaro didn't give up on the sport; he just found a different place to continue training, sometimes with the women's volleyball team, sometimes at public courts.
Akashi Asuka had met Kyotani Kentaro once during his Zenkoku Middle School days.
Not long ago, Kyotani Kentaro returned to the club. Irihata Nobuteru briefly tested his skill level and, after confirming that his volleyball skills had not only not declined but had improved over the past year, Irihata Nobuteruadded Kyotani Kentaro to the National Tournament roster.
Of course.
This was because Qīngchéng's roster wasn't full to begin with, which allowed Irihata Nobuteru to do so.
In an official match, a team's full roster consists of 12 players, but in High School, many schools might not even have that many members in their entire club.
Qīngchéng's situation was similar; originally, the entire Qīngchéng team, barely counting as combat-ready, including Akashi Asuka and Mishita Ryuhei, only had 10 people. Even with the later addition of Kyotani Kentaro, they still hadn't reached a full roster and needed to find someone from the second team to make up the numbers.
Otherwise, if the tournament slots were already full, no matter how strong Kyotani Kentaro was, Irihata Nobuteru wouldn't have been able to add him.
After all, Kyotani Kentaro didn't even participate in the qualifiers, and taking someone else's spot out of nowhere would obviously be unfair to them.
However, even so.
Adding Kyotani Kentaro was, for Irihata Nobuteru, merely a casual move.
In the official tournament, Irihata Nobuterudidn't actually expect this troublemaker to be effective. After all, even if his strength had improved a lot during this period, due to his personality issues and lack of coordination with other players, rashly using him would be a double-edged sword for the team.
The original plan was simply to see that Kyotani Kentaro had good talent and was a second-year, so he would be a good addition to the club after Oikawa Tooru and the others graduated.
That's why he was brought to the National Tournament early to gain experience.
But now, facing Motoyasu Kotaro, whose condition was about to take off, Irihata Nobuterucould only risk using this dangerous move.
"Huh! Is the coach planning to put him in?"
Kyotani Kentaro hadn't reacted yet to hearing his name called by the coach, but everyone else was startled.
After all, even though many in the team hadn't spent many days with him, they were already somewhat wary of this 'Little Mad Dog's' temper.
Irihata Nobuteru nodded: "Yes, the team really needs Kyotani's strength right now."
Irihata Nobuteru turned to look at Kyotani Kentaro, whose eyes were gradually lighting up with excitement, and said, "Kyotani, it seems you've been practicing a pretty good serve lately, right?"
Upon hearing this, Kyotani Kentarosubconsciously glanced at Akashi Asuka nearby, then said, "That's right!"
Irihata Nobuteru said, "Good, then get ready to substitute for Iwaizumi! ... Oikawa, Akashi, I'll trouble the two of you to look after Kyotani on the court later."
Oikawa Tooru made a gesture with his hand: "No problem! Then, please take care of us, Little Mad Dog (???)."
Kyotani Kentaro: "Don't call me that (▼へ▼メ)."
Oikawa Tooru: "Oh, oh, don't be so angry! We're teammates now! Come on, let's shake hands first!"
Kyotani Kentaro: "(〝▼dish▼) Get lost!"
The match restarted.
The Fukurodani players were slightly surprised to see Kyotani Kentaro substitute for Iwaizumi Hajime, but then they didn't react much.
It wasn't that they were particularly composed; it was mainly because Fukurodani had little understanding of Qīngchéng to begin with. Let alone substitutes, by this point in the match, some probably didn't even remember the names of Qīngchéng's main players.
Kyotani Kentaro, making his debut in the National Tournament, was clearly a bit nervous, but from his eager eyes, it was clear that excitement outweighed his nervousness.
"Speaking of which, is this guy really okay!" Seeing Kyotani Kentaro's performance, the Qīngchéng players off the court became even more nervous.
"It should be okay, right? After all, this is the National Tournament, even with his personality, he shouldn't mess around... probably."
"I hope Oikawa-senpai and Akashi-kun can control him!"
Beep!
With a whistle, the volleyball quickly flew from Fukurodani to Qīngchéng's backcourt. Watari Shinji steadily received the volleyball and Passed it to Oikawa Tooru.
"Akashi-chan!"
Oikawa Tooru took the volleyball and directly Passed the ball over Akashi Asuka's head.
Akashi Asuka ran up to jump for the volleyball, but just then, something unexpected happened: from another direction, Kyotani Kentaro also started his approach, and judging by the direction he was sprinting, he clearly intended to snatch this Passing.
"Oh my god, no way!"
"Is this bastard kid crazy? This is the National Tournament, what does he want to do?"
"The coach really shouldn't have let him play."
Kyotani Kentaro's sudden action immediately startled the Qīngchéng players on and off the court again.
Snatching the ball is a very dangerous thing on a volleyball court.
Because rashly contesting for ball possession not only causes problems with Passing and receiving coordination but also makes it easier for players to collide and get injured.
So when everyone saw Kyotani Kentaro's action, everyone's Face instantly changed.
However, just as everyone thought Kyotani Kentaro was about to snatch the ball, suddenly, the rapidly charging Kyotani Kentaro abruptly stopped, like an emergency brake, halting sharply at the three-meter line.
"Phew~ Thank goodness, this guy finally has some common sense."
Seeing Kyotani Kentaro stop in time, some people thought he had pulled back from the brink and breathed a sigh of relief.
But only a few people clearly saw that Kyotani Kentaro's sudden stop was not because he had repented, but because he was intimidated by another person.
"Woo~~~ So scary!"
Oikawa Tooru, who was closest to the two, saw it most clearly: in that instant, it wasn't Kyotani Kentaro stopping in time, but Akashi Asuka, who was beside him, suddenly erupted with a terrifying aura, forcefully suppressing Kyotani Kentaro, rendering him unable to move.
Although the two hadn't exchanged a single word, in that instant, the power Akashi Asukadisplayed clearly told Kyotani Kentaro:
[That's my ball, no one is allowed to touch it!]
Speaking of which.
It seemed even Oikawa Tooru was seeing Akashi Asuka display such a domineering side for the first time.
No.
It seemed like the second time, because he remembered being scared last time too.
Looking at Kyotani Kentaro, whose eyes showed fear and whose forehead was covered in sweat, Oikawa Tooru sighed inwardly: "Oh~ Little Mad Dog! Little Mad Dog! Why did you have to provoke Akashi? The 'Absolute Pride' of an Aceisn't so easily provoked!"