Chapter 3

After training for the first two weeks by myself and with Ichika, I had gotten decent at receiving and serves, although a lot more fine-tuning and practice was required. My physical attributes had improved and I gained high endurance, better reaction time, speed, hand-eye coordination and even explosiveness thanks to the gym.

The next two weeks along with working on serves, passes and receives, I would now start working on my spikes and some basic sets, along with situational awareness drills, with the help of YouTube.

I worked diligently on integrating these new skills with my current skillset, and did a lot of studying as well. I was eating, drinking and sleeping volleyball, to the point my daydreams consisted of volleyball shit. Sometimes in the bathroom, my nuts looked like volleyballs, and I had to resist the urge to spike them (thank god for common sense prevailing XD). Anyway, I was locked in, I didn't give much of a shit about anything else.

After a productive two weeks of practice, I decided it was time to meet my first Haikyuu canon character. I walked to a certain conspicuous store called Sakanoshita Market and saw a blonde cashier.

Me: "Hi Mr. Ukai, my name is Sei. How do you do?"

Ukai: "Uh... hello kid, what do you want?"

Me: "Oh I just wanted to ask if u were the same Ukai as the great coach Ukai of the Karasuno volleyball club."

Ukai: "Yup that would be me, now if u are here to cause trouble, u should leave."

Me: "Nah nah, I am here as a sign of respect. I hold Coach Ukai in great regards, and know you were a former player too. I am an aspiring player, and would love some tips."

Ukai: "I ain't got none kid, I forgot how to play."

Me: "Well I intend to be a great player, and would like to pick your brain on how to improve."

Ukai: "Huh, how long you be playing?"

Me: "Uh....3 weeks more or less."

Ukai was dumbfounded and started laughing with tears in his eyes.

Ukai: "And you wanted to be a great player, hahahaha, you do realize that there are kids who have been playing for their entire lives."

Me: "I understand that, but you see, I have the necessary physical attributes and IQ to play, plus I got heart and a super competitive attitude. Don't underestimate me, don't underestimate my will to win! I'm not just some bright-eyed kid with expectations, I'm a bright-eyed kid with a fucking dog in me!"

Ukai then stopped laughing and was a bit surprised at this random kid's outburst.

Ukai thinking (internal dialogue) - What the hell, where did that come from? There's no way he can be that good in three weeks, no matter how great a genius he might be. Well, might as well give him a try, its nice to see some fire in the youth once in a while.

Ukai: Alright kid, here's the deal. If u wanna prove how good u are, come to the nearby complex at 9 pm, I'll see how good u are.

I was a bit taken back, honestly, I though I'd get booted out of the store for my disrespect towards and elder. But thankfully it worked out.

Me: Got it! I'll be there.

I then went to the specified location that Ukai told me at 9 pm, and was greeted by the sight of the Neighborhood Association Team. It was quite exciting indeed, as they were instrumental in the growth of the Karasuno team.

Ukai: So you're here, huh. Go and warm up, we'll start practice soon."

I warmed up and started my first team volleyball practice, I had the butterflies as I had never practiced in a large group. I was nervous and anxious to perform well.

We did some receiving practice, and I executed my receives pretty damn well, I was 9/10 on good receives, including a few tough digs, which highly impressed the association members.

Then we did some passing drills to make sure the arms were warmed up enough for the more intense drills we were about to run. It was soon spike time, time to show my vert! Lets just say, since the first time I checked my vertical jump, I have improved significantly (you'll see new stats soon enough).

When it was my time to spike, the setter asked me where I wanted the ball.

Me: "Give it really high. Like 2 feet above the net."

The setter was shocked!

Setter: "Are you nuts?! You won't reach it!"

Me: "Try me!"

I made my approach and jumped and hit the set ball a bit lower than my apex. Everyone was stunned at my spike. The sheer height I jumped was crazy enough, but the fact that the ball was absolutely crushed with such topspin made for a quite a sight. I had been working my back and shoulders quite a lot, which helped with the torque that I generated on the ball.

Me: "That was low, I can go higher."

Nobody spoke for a good 10 seconds, and then Ukai started laughing.

Ukai: "That was insane kid! Looks like I was wrong, you are pretty good, forgive me for being an asshole when we met. You're still rough around the edges, but you have potential."

We resumed practice and nobody dared to underestimate me, and my skill level. We also played a 2v2 game, my first volleyball game, and I played pretty dang good, hitting some great spikes and sniped a few aces as well with my power. I made a few mistakes, but a great game overall (author: for a generic practice like this, athletes don't really mention the result of the game, just a code that we follow written from the perspective of a washed-up athlete, although I will post results for a great practice games).

Shimada: "Ukai told me you've only played for three weeks, damn! You're pretty good."

Me: "Thanks. Your serve by the way was great by the way, I would love to learn how to hit a jump floater."

Shimada: "Sure, I can teach it to you, since you're now welcome to our practices anytime."

The summer break was coming to a close, and I regularly practiced with the Neighbourhood Association Team, and sometimes with Ichika. I felt she was becoming more and more clingy, but maybe that's my imagination, damn these hormones are acting up (author: its puberty time!)