Host: Akashi Asuka
Strength: 73
Core strength: 71. Arm power: 75
Speed: 69
Explosive speed: 68. Reaction speed: 70
Stamina: 71
Endurance: 70. Cardio: 72
Jump: 67
Vertical leap: 72. Hang time: 62
Basic technique: 55.6
Serve: 50. Receive: 54. Set: 48. Spike: 70. Block: 66. Defense: 46
Advanced technique: [None]
A system notification chimed in Akashi Asuka's mind. To his surprise, he felt completely calm. No shock. No panic.
He'd already transmigrated to another world. What was one more weird thing?
'C'mon, system,' he thought politely. "Introduce yourself.'
Silence.
Clearly, this system wasn't the chatty type.
Peeep!
The referee's whistle snapped his attention back to the court.
A Blue Team second-year substitute sent a slow, easy serve toward the backcourt. Most middle schoolers hadn't fully developed physically yet. Unless you were freakishly gifted, receiving serves was usually the easier part of the game at this level.
Main opposite hitter Oda Miki, his soft hair swaying, easily received the ball. Seeing this, Akashi Asuka quickly stepped back two paces, then launched into his approach and jumped.
From the system's stat panel, he could tell his strength, stamina, jump, and spike power were already solid for his age group.
Especially his arm power. It was nearly top-tier for middle schoolers.
The system used 60 as the global average for kids his age learning volleyball. With that baseline, Akashi Asuka could see one thing clearly. This body had no real volleyball talent.
In his inherited memories, the original Akashi Asuka hadn't trained like a demon, but he'd rarely skipped club practice. Two years of showing up… and aside from natural growth in basic physical stats, his six core volleyball skills had barely improved. Advanced techniques? He'd never even touched the door.
Even now…
Only his spike and block scored above the 60 average. The other four skills, serve, receive, set, and defense, all lagged behind.
Akashi Asuka knew this himself. If Li Mingshi hadn't transmigrated into him, the original Akashi would've almost certainly quit volleyball after middle school.
Setter Mishita Ryuhei had paired with Akashi Asuka countless times. The moment he saw Akashi leap, his hands flicked upward and sent the ball floating perfectly above Akashi's hitting zone.
No fancy technique needed.
Or rather… Akashi Asuka couldn't pull off fancy spikes right now anyway. All he could do was one thing. Aim for the gap between the two middle blockers' hands and swing with everything he had.
BOOM!
A sharp crack split the air.
The ball punched straight through four outstretched arms, carving a straight line through space before slamming violently into the floor.
Silence.
For a beat, the gym went dead quiet.
Then…
"Eh…?"
From the sidelines, delicate-faced Nishimori Tomohiko suddenly shivered. He hugged his arms and swallowed hard. "Scary… Why does Akashi-senpai's spike feel even stronger now?"
Akashi Asuka's spikes had always been the one thing about Sengoku Middle's forgettable volleyball club that other schools actually paid attention to.
So breaking through a double block wasn't shocking by itself.
But that spike just now… was something else.
It wasn't just more powerful than any he'd hit before. It was the intent behind it. The two middle blockers who'd just faced that spike probably understood best.
How to describe it?
When that ball came flying at them, it didn't feel like a spike meant to score. It felt like someone was trying to smash the ball straight onto their skulls.
That raw, aggressive aura even made them want to pull their arms back and cover their heads.
Good thing Akashi Asuka couldn't read minds or faces.
Otherwise, he'd have told them their feeling wasn't wrong. In that split second, he'd unconsciously used a basketball dunking technique from his past life.
Any aerial sport technique shares one core principle.
Power on the ground comes from your legs. Power in the air comes from your core, your waist and abs.
The original Akashi had never quite grasped how to use his core mid-air. His spikes had always relied mostly on arm strength.
But Li Mingshi? He had years of experience doing exactly that. That's why he could unleash a spike with more power than the original body ever had.
"Oh?"
From the bench seats, the team's plain-faced middle-aged coach's eyes lit up. He'd spotted the secret behind Akashi's spike immediately. The question was… had the kid truly mastered a new technique, or was it just a lucky fluke?
Akashi Asuka's sudden explosive spike did rattle the Blue Team.
But it didn't change the flow of the match.
Everything has two sides. As Akashi Asuka borrowed basketball experience to boost his attacking power…
His already shaky volleyball fundamentals dragged his receiving, setting, passing, and defense even lower.
If Akashi Asuka in the front row was "king of the court" then Akashi Asuka in the back row was "sorry for existing."
Twenty minutes later…
The match ended.
Thanks to Akashi Asuka's offensive explosion, the Red Team narrowly won the intra-squad scrimmage 25 to 23.
"That's it for practice today. Everyone run five laps around the field for conditioning, then you're dismissed."
"Yes, Coach!"
At the coach's command, the volleyball club members quickly formed a line and filed out of the gym.
After everyone left, the coach stared at Akashi Asuka's retreating back, lost in thought.
If the first spike had made him wonder whether it was a fluke… the rest of the match confirmed it. Their main spiker had genuinely leveled up his spiking technique.
If that was true… maybe it was time to adjust the training plan.
······
Running on the track, Akashi Asuka's mind stayed locked on the system panel. He was trying to figure out how to actually use this thing.
No one understood the importance of "talent" in competitive sports better than him.
It was a chasm.
Ordinary people might climb to 99 through effort and training… but that final layer, the ceiling, cruelly shut out everyone without the gift.
Team sports always preached unity and teamwork. But the truth? Whether soccer or basketball, when games reached the critical moment, victory almost always came down to one person.
And those people shared one trait. Freakish talent.
Without some kind of cheat… even as a transmigrator, Akashi Asuka had zero confidence he could beat monsters like Kageyama Tobio or Hinata Shōyō from the "Generation of Monsters" era.
Wait.
Yeah. Just a little while ago, Akashi Asuka finally remembered where he'd transmigrated.
This was the world of Haikyuu!!, the volleyball anime he'd watched in his past life.
"Hey! Akashi! Practice is over! You still running?" Omae Masato called out as he saw Akashi Asuka continuing past the fifth lap.
But Akashi Asuka didn't hear him. His focus was buried deep in the system.
"We're heading out then!"
Getting no reply, Omae shouted once more before leaving the field with the others.
Totally absorbed in the system, Akashi Asuka didn't notice anyone leaving. He was still trying to figure out the rules of this so-called "Grind System."
Time passed.
Then suddenly…
A crisp chime echoed in Akashi Asuka's mind.
[Ding…]