17: Upright

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UNDER THE SCORCHING SUMMER SUN, with the constant chirping of cicadas outside the window, the clean and bright campus seemed to be in a daze. Inside the building, students inside the classrooms were struggling to stay awake, and even the lecturing teachers appeared somewhat listless.

The stifling heat filled the air, and the students, whose eyelids were fighting to stay open, seemed like they would fall asleep at any moment. In some places, faint snoring could already be heard.

"...Kobayashi-san, please, stay awake," sighed Teacher Miyano, who didn't know how many times she had reminded Kobayashi Aotori, who was slumped over his desk in the back row. "Come on, everyone, don't forget that even though summer vacation is approaching, there's still the final exam standing in front of it like a big wall."

"If you don't pass the finals, there's the even tougher make-up exams."

"If you fail the make-up exams, summer vacation will forever be a fantasy."

As soon as she finished speaking, the classroom was filled with a chorus of half-dead groans.

Kobayashi Aotori was one of the students that Teacher Miyano was relatively satisfied with. Not only was he a volleyball star, but he also excelled in academic performance and completed assignments at the top of the class. If it weren't for his volleyball activities taking up a significant amount of time, she would've wanted to appoint him as a class representative.

However, at this moment, Kobayashi Aotori appeared dejected, slouching over his desk, and only the hand gripping the pen showed a slight tremor, as if revealing his indomitable spirit.

——Time quietly passed as Kobayashi Aotori struggled day by day.


DURING THIS PERIOD, Shiratorizawa organized several small practice matches. In these matches, due to the disparity in skill levels, several games ended with very lopsided scores.

It was precisely because of these recent matches that the team members gradually realized that perhaps during that training match with Aoba Johsai, the reason Kobayashi Aotori served such a ridiculously difficult, bad serve at the end wasn't just his twisted sense of humor.

They discovered that once Kobayashi Aotori starts serving and scores consecutive points in an overwhelming manner, he would habitually serve a "high-difficulty bad ball" after scoring more than five points in a row.

...Of course, accompanied by a "world-class" performance.

And Coach Washijo's unrelenting shouts and penalty serves.

Eventually, it evolved into a routine: a bad ball would be served, then immediately called out, and Kobayashi Aotori would apologize and take a self-imposed penalty of one hundred serves.

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