Sakusa, You're a Bit of a Disappointment

Qiushan Shu, male, is from Miyagi. After showing outstanding volleyball talent, he was recruited by Itachiyama in elementary school. Now, he plays as Itachiyama's outside hitter in national competitions.

Then one day, he wakes up and discovers that his elementary school classmate is actually the protagonist of the world...

Wait, wasn't Hinata in the soccer club?

They've been apart for so long that even once-close friends have become blurry in his memories.

After learning that he's just some minor character in Haikyuu who doesn't even get a name, the little mouse starts watching the comments in gloomy silence.

[Where the dream begins...]

[The new bonus feature starts at Itachiyama? Amazing, we finally get to see the Itachiyama weasels' everyday lives.]

[Who's the main character? I've never seen this new character before!]

[Sakusa, Sakusa! Mama's here to see you~]

As the comments keep scrolling, the mysterious stamina bar in the upper-right corner begins to creep forward at a slow pace.

Friends of people who often end up as protagonists know that the most important thing for attracting more viewers is to get involved in an [event].

But the comments and the livestream host don't know that I'm just a weak little mouse who's bad at socializing. Make me interact with people? That's...

What, you say there's a reward?

[Talent points]

Sorry, I spoke too loudly. For a reward like that, interacting with people is nothing. Even though Mouse hasn't spoken to anyone in ages, hasn't made any friends in ages, and hasn't stood within a meter of anyone outside the volleyball court in ages, for a reward like that...

Mouse is on the move!

So the mouse, convinced he was being perfectly discreet, quietly approached everyone on the team, and gradually realized that the reward bar seemed to fill according to his popularity.

Wait, if it's about popularity, then the protagonist must be the most popular! Oh my gosh, what a coincidence. Mouse just happens to know the protagonist!

Overcome with excitement, Qiushan Shu packs his bags and heads to Miyagi that very night. Sure enough, as soon as he gets close to a certain orange-haired boy, his progress bar shoots up like a geyser.

The delighted mouse fails to notice that, back at Itachiyama, one of his teammates has a dark look in his eyes because of his disappearance.

--

Little Scene 1

One afternoon, the orange and the mouse:

Orange: Mouse, why do you play volleyball? I play because of the Little Giant! I want to become the second Little Giant! (Goes on enthusiastically.)

Mouse: (Almost dies from the sudden blast of sunshine) (But his social skills are so poor that he remains expressionless) Because I don't know how to do anything else besides play volleyball.

Little Scene 2

Sakusa, who's followed the mouse all the way to Miyagi: (frowning) (his sorrow may or may not be genuine) Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends.

The mouse, struck hard by those words: (stunned) Someone like me is actually allowed to have friends! (Then spills everything without knowing what planet he's on) (The livestreamer pinches his mouth shut.)

So Mouse can only cut things down to the most important reason.

From Sakusa's perspective: After hearing what he says, the cute little mouse across from him

looks shocked, opens his mouth, hesitates, then shakes his head regretfully and blurts out:

"Your (popularity) is no good."

Sakusa: ...???

[Switched places with another Bichibao story in my column because I haven't gotten any inspiration for it yet.]

Theme: Make steady, down-to-earth efforts