The weather on this Friday was sunny, yet not a siudent was gazing out the window. The was silent, save for the faint scrateical pencils on paper, the occasional cough, and the sporadic thud of an eraser falling to the floor.

  The end-of-term exams were underway—and nearing their clusion.

  Even at Aoba Johsai, a school known for its high promotion rate, exams remained a source of unease for its students.

  The clock's hands poio 11:30 a.m., and the bell rang out loudly to signal the end of the session.

  "This exam is over. Please stop writing and wait for your papers to be collected."

  Kindaichi Yūtarō slumped onto his desk, his meical pencil slipping weakly from his grasp.

  "That was so hard…Am I going to need remedial csses…?"

  The problem wasn't the remedial csses themselves, but that they would cut into practice time. Siheir return from Nationals, after a few days of rest, everyone's focus had shifted to the Spring High School Volleyball Tour.

  Kindaichi also wao shine oionals stage.

  He gnced back diagonally toward Kaedehara Taichi, who was still asleep at his desk.

  During the first half of the exam period, the supervising teacher coughed twid tapped the le, saying, "Stay focused, everyone. Don't fall asleep during the exam—keep an eye oime."

  Half the css had turo look at Taichi, only to see him raise his head, shift positions, and fall asleep again—his arm from earlier likely numb from being used as a pillow.

  The supervising teacher could only sigh softly. Students like this did exist, and there wasn't much else they could do besides issue a reminder.

  When the exam finally ehe teacher collected the papers, and the students began leaving the one by ohe cool breeze flowing through the open doors and windows gently rustled the curtains inside.

  Taichi finally woke up.

  For the past few days, he'd been w on pnning the training schedule for the summer break. There were many areas that needed improvement, but the time was limited to just a few months, making it a challenging task.

  "Taichi, how…did you do on the exam?" Kindaichi asked nervously.

  Oh? Kindaichi must've done well if he has time to worry about me, Taichi thought, responding casually,

  "Of course, it was easy. End-of-term exams are simpler than the usual ones. It's o have extra time to rest."

  Kindaichi sighed. Ba junih, Kunimi Akira had a simir attitude, though not as exaggerated as Taichi's.

  But at least back then, their club also had Kageyama Tobio, who was sistently at the bottom of the academikings. The trast hadn't felt as stark as it did now.

  The two chatted as they headed to the third gymnasium. Today, Coach Irihata would present the overall training pns for the summer break. Afterwards, the pyers would have the afternoon off, but formal summer training would begin the day.

  For students in sports clubs, summer break wasn't a simple period of rest. It was a valuable time for self-improvement—especially for those with dreams of making their mark in the Spring Tour.

  Taichi knew of fh school volleyball alliahe Itachiyama Alliahe Inarizaki Alliahe Fukurodani Alliance, and the Shiratorizawa Alliance.

  Establishing such alliances wasn't an easy task. From structuring the anization to recruiting and iing different schools, siderations like funding, venues, and equipment had to be addressed.

  Shiratorizawa, often described by Ushijima Wakatoshi as having "fertile soil," symbolized abundant school resources, facilities, and es.

  Within the prefecture, both Date Ted Jousaiji High School had coaches who were Shiratorizawa alumni, so Shiratorizawa usually led training camps that the other schools joined. Uokyo's Fukurodani Alliance, where hosting duties rotated among member schools, Shiratorizawa handled aodatiorally.

  For powerhouse schools like Aoba Johsai and Date Tech, invitations from Shiratorizawa were an annual occurrence. Additional partits often depended on personal es or the i of Coach Washijo in particur pyers.

  This year, the firmed partits were Shiratorizawa, Aoba Johsai, Date Tech, Jousaiji, and Kakugawa Academy.

  The camp would st one week (July 8–14), with matches as the primary focus. sidering the disparity in skill levels between teams, the schedule also included shuffled-team matches.

  Without familiar teammates to cover for them, pyers' weaknesses would be fully exposed in such sarios.

  During this oraining camp, every pyer o identify their areas for improvement in both skills and physical fitness. After the camp cluded, school-specific training could then focus on targeted exercises to address individual weaknesses.

  The schedule nned until August 11th, when the Harukou or Spring High preliminaries would begin.

  The first round of the Miyagi Prefecture qualifiers would take pce then, but the top eight teams from the Inter-High preliminaries wouldn't o participate, advang directly to the round.

  Coach Irihata's pn covered the period up to the start of the Spring High preliminaries. Afterwards, until the end of August, the pyers would transition to self-directed training.

  This was especially necessary for the third-year students who had to baheir volleyball itments with the pressures of preparing for uy entrance exams.

  "Is there something special about this Kakugawa Academy?" Kindaichi asked after listening to the coach's pn.

  "I heard they have a first-year pyer who's 2 meters tall, the kind of pyer Coach Washijo admires," replied Maneger-Coach Sadayuki Mizoguchi.

  "Two meters?!" Aoba Johsai's pyers were shocked.

  "That's teimetres taller than Kindaichi…" Kunimi Akira g Kindaichi.

  At Nationals, the tallest oppos they'd entered were Mujinazaka's Twin Towers, which had caused signifit problems for Aoba Johsai's offence.

  Kunimi wasn't skilled at dealing with such pyers. Against power-based oppos, Coach Irihata often chose to substitute in Kindaichi.

  "Yeah, but I heard he only started pying volleyball after entering high school. He's probably still a rookie," Mizoguchi added, flipping through the pyer reports. "From a team-wide perspective, they aren't that intimidating."

  "What a pity…" Taichi remarked as if he had already anticipated this. "But I wait for him to get stronger. You seniors probably won't have the ce to py against him."

  For once, Oikawa Tōru didn't retort. His high school volleyball career was down to its final tour, and this realization had been on his miedly i days.

  "By the way, isn't Karasuno on the list?" Iwaizumi Hajime suddenly asked. Sihey'd defeated Date Tech, Shiratorizawa should have taken note of them.

  "Oh, they're attending the Fukurodani Alliaraining camp, which also starts tomorrow," Taichi said casually.

  Sadayuki Mizoguchi g Taichi, slightly taken aback. This kid knows more than I do.

  "Karasuno tacted the Fukurodani Alliance a month ago, so they missed out on this one."

  "Karasuno's enthusiasm is impressive!" Oikawa couldn't help but think of his adorable undercssmen. However, after seeing pyers like Miya Atsumu at Nationals, his obsession with Kageyama Tobio had diminished slightly.

  Of course, it also helped that Aoba Johsai had directly defeated Karasun the Inter-High prefectural preliminaries.

  "Date Tech's third-years have retired, but their first-years are quite strong. They just ck experience, so never uimate them," Coach Irihata reminded.

  "Yes!"

  "There are also schools with third-years still in py, like Karasuno, Wakunan, and Shiratorizawa. Each team is formidable…"

  "We'll get even stronger!"

  Taichi muttered, his gaze drifting toward the top of the gymnasium.

  The other pyers followed his line of sight. The wind seemed to stir the banner hanging above them, its words bold and resolute:

  Rule the Court.

  _________

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