Haikyuu : The Unstoppable Force

"Arai?" Seeing the appearance of the person coming, Akira said in surprise. At the same time, he bowed politely forward. "Thank you for this game!" Arai was silent for a moment, then bowed.

He looked at Akira in front of him and said, "You're strong!"

"This year's national competition, there must be a place for you!" After saying that, Arai turned and left.

"What? What exactly did Mr. Arai mean by that?"

"Is Arai so optimistic about him?"

"Among their opponents is a strong school like Shiratorizawa! That's a strong school that can stabilize the top eight in the national competition!"

"Yes! Shiratorizawa's ace, Wakatoshi Ushijima, is the high school student who went to the S level here before!"

"Could it be that in Mr. Arai's opinion, he is stronger than Ushijima?"

"It can't be! After all, Ushijima is a third-year student, and he seems to be only a first-year student. How can he be Ushijima's opponent?"

...

Just as Arai was about to leave, Oikawa, who was standing on the side, also approached Akira.

With a joking expression, he said to Akira, "Don't take that guy's words too seriously!"

"Maybe you won't even be able to get out of the group stage, and you'll be eliminated by our Aoba Johsai!" Then he also left with a smug smile.

Watching these two people leave from his side one after another, Akira shook his head with a smile.

No matter what others say, his mentality would not be affected in any way.

Arai's admiration or Oikawa's provocation—he wouldn't take either to heart. Akira only trusted his own hands! No matter whether the future opponent is strong or weak, his own strength is always the most important!

Then, Akira also turned around and left. There was still a lot waiting for him. The priority now was to quickly increase his ball sense to 10!

---

Three days later, Karasuno High School, volleyball hall.

"In other words, why haven't you seen Akira come to train in the past few weeks?" During the lunch break after training, Hinata asked curiously.

"That's right, he hasn't come to school these days. Do any of you know where he went?"

"It can't be that he's sick, right?"

...

Just as everyone was discussing Akira's situation, they suddenly heard a familiar voice at the door of the gym.

"Long time no see, everybody!"

Everyone turned their heads in unison and saw a familiar figure coming from outside the gym.

"Akira!"

"Akira-kun! You're finally back!"

"We were just talking about you, and then you showed up!"

"Have you been recuperating at home? Are you feeling better now?"

...

Listening to the questions of his teammates one after another, Akira couldn't help but smile bitterly and waved his hand. "Thank you for your concern, but I wasn't sick!"

"I just found an interesting place and played with people there all the time!"

"What?" Hinata asked with bright eyes, "Where were you playing? Where is it?"

"Don't think about it for now!" Suddenly, there was a voice outside the door.

Everyone looked over and saw Keishin Ukai and Takeda Ittetsu walking into the gym.

Keishin, who was walking at the front, seemed to be in a good mood. He said to Hinata, "Wait until you get a little stronger! That place is not somewhere you can go right now!"

"Why?" Hinata asked, a little unconvinced, while the others pricked up their ears, curious to hear what Keishin would say.

"Haha! Because if you went there now, you'd just get crushed!"

"When you have half of Akira's strength, I'll let you take a look!" Keishin walked over and patted Hinata's shoulder with a big smile.

Then, Keishin turned his gaze to Akira as though meeting him for the first time.

"What's wrong, Coach?" Akira asked, a little unsettled by Keishin's fiery gaze.

"Haha! Akira, I went to watch your matches these past few days!" Keishin's eyes glowed as he looked at Akira.

"When I first heard your name, I thought it was just someone with the same name as you!"

"I knew your strength was extraordinary before, but I didn't expect it..."

"It's just a fluke." Akira smiled bitterly, interrupting Keishin's words with a wave of his hand.

Seeing that he still wanted to say more, Akira hurriedly added, "Coach, the lunch break is about to end!"

"I haven't trained with the team for several days, so I need to focus on working with my teammates!"

"Otherwise, if there's a problem with coordination during the game, it'll be bad!"

"Hmm..." Keishin rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "That's true!"

"Then everyone, make the most of these two days to practice your teamwork!"

"The day after tomorrow is our first game!"

"I hope everyone can perform well by then!"

"Yes!"

___________$$$$$$_______

---

Just the day before Akira returned to the Karasuno volleyball club.

Miyagi Arena.

"Come on!"

"Two more points to win!"

"Win this game!"

The cheers rose from wave to wave. Since the last time he won head-on against Arai, Akira had gradually accumulated some fans in the Miyagi Arena. Now he had a lot of people watching every game.

"It's unbelievable! After coming to Group A, this high school student can actually maintain win streak!"

"I thought this high school student was just a low-level player!"

"I didn't expect him to win consecutive games after coming to Group A! In this way, he will have no pressure to advance to Group S!"

"I think so too! It seems that our stadium is going to produce another S-class player!"

Unlike the ease off the field, Akira on the court was at a critical moment! At this moment, he felt pressure like never before! But Akira was not nervous because he understood: this was when a breakthrough was about to be made!

Boom!!

Snapping the final crucial ball felt like breaking through a layer of shackles bound to his body! A barrier in his mind seemed to shatter in that instant!

There was a clear stream that seemed to flow out of his head and spread through his whole body. When Akira opened his eyes again, he found that the world in his view seemed a little different.

The hustle and bustle of the audience, the teammates around him, and the fierce match in the distance all seemed to slow down for a moment—then returned to normal. But not completely normal.

Only the ball in Akira's eyes had changed. In his eyes, the route and trajectory of each ball seemed clearly distinguishable!

Picking up the volleyball next to him felt as if it were connected to his own blood.

Gently tossing and catching the ball again, Akira felt he could accurately control every inch of the trajectory after hitting it.

He knew exactly where to hit, how to use it, the angle to exert force, and which muscles in his hand to engage.

This feeling of control made Akira very obsessed. But he didn't dwell on this feeling for long. Instead, he quickly came back to his senses.

Now that his ball sense had reached 10, he was confident that he could master this feeling and develop his own unique spiking technique.

---

The first day of the qualifying league, Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City Gymnasium.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Today is the first day of the competition, so don't be late!" Daichi walked at the front of the line, shouting at Tanaka, who was still sleepy-eyed.

"Daichi-senpai, don't worry! We still have three hours before our match starts!"

"Even so, don't be sluggish! We need to warm up and prepare properly!"

Walking in the large square at the gymnasium entrance, the Karasuno team formed a long line.

"I heard that this year's Aoba Johsai is very strong! With Oikawa promoted to the third year, their strength seems to have increased a lot!"

"What's the use of that? Shiratorizawa is still in the mix!"

"In other words, this year's Group A is really the group of death! Aoba Johsai and Date Tech are both in the same group!"

"It seems the qualifying spots will only come from those two teams!"

"That's right! The rest of Group A is in for a rough time! Every year, they're just there to make up the numbers!"

"Fortunately, we didn't get placed in Group A!"

The square was buzzing with teams scattered around, discussing the year's tournament.

"Huh? What's that team in black uniforms?"

"Karasuno High School?"

"Wait, I think I recognize them! They used to be really strong and even made it to nationals!"

"But in recent years, they've fallen off a bit!"

"Yeah, they've even earned the title: 'The Fallen Champions, the Flightless Crows!'"

Hearing this, Tanaka, who was barely awake, instantly perked up and prepared to confront the ones talking.

But before he could act, an exclamation rose from the crowd.

"Wait... isn't that... isn't that him?"

"Who? Why are you so excited?"

"Last year's junior high league, the ace of Yugama Middle School! The guy who eliminated us!"

"I heard he's an international student. His name is... Akira?"

"What? He's here? Which school is he playing for? Shiratorizawa?"

"No... He's at Karasuno!"

At that moment, the attention of the crowd shifted to Karasuno.

"He went to that school? I thought someone as strong as him would definitely choose Shiratorizawa!"

"I heard Karasuno is also in Group A! This just makes the situation in Group A even more unpredictable!"

"It can't be! No matter how strong he is, he alone can't change Group A's outcome! That's Aoba Johsai and Date Tech we're talking about!"

"Maybe, but don't forget how we were defeated by him last year!"

"Ugh... I'll get my revenge on him sooner or later!"

"Really? How do I remember you crying on the court during the game? Non-stop tears?"

"I—hey, shut up about that!"

Under the watchful eyes of awe or defiance, Karasuno's team stepped into Sendai City Gymnasium.

---

Let me know if there are any mistakes