The Fox Who Plays Volleyball

*

Skipping class, speeding, brawling.

Asagiri Rai was an expert at all of it.

His name had been pinned to the Inarizaki High School notice board without fail ever since the start of the school year. Whenever teachers lectured students, they used him as a classic example of what not to do. Even the newly built school building at Inarizaki High seemed to have some connection to him.

A guy who seemed to have nothing to do with passionate youth and fighting to win the Nationals barged into the volleyball club all by himself on the day they were recruiting new members.

"What am I here for? Are you stupid?"

"I'm here to challenge you, you losers."

*

On the day of the National Tournament, most of the starters on one of the most highly anticipated seeded teams, Inarizaki High, were unfamiliar faces.

Identical twins, a middle blocker with narrow fox eyes, an idiot who looked full of energy...

and the demon player who had once been banned from a game for fighting before a match.

*

Even now, Asagiri Rai often couldn't tell hallucinations from reality.

Resting his head on the bottom stair, he felt as if he had returned to the days when he was still little and his mother was alive.

The wind blowing between skyscrapers, the wild laughter coming from an empty villa...

Ah, what else? What else? Her head rolling along the ground, or her body torn to pieces...

"Thwack."

Someone deliberately hit him from behind. Asagiri Rai's eyes were half-open, but he caught the volleyball just before it hit the ground.

Everything reset to zero.

"Leave me alone," he said. "The blonde one."

"Huh? It was Osamu who hit you!"

"Only your serves are this boring, you bastard."

"Pfft, Asagiri's right. Practice more, Atsumu."

"Don't give me that lip, stupid Osamu!"

Asagiri Rai ignored the argument that broke out behind him every day.

Holding the ball, he walked happily onto the court and began his dull practice.

I'm sick.

He thought indifferently.

Terminally ill, but there's a cure.

As long as I'm standing on this court,

I'm "normal."

*

Important things to know in advance.

1. The protagonist is sick, seriously sick, and beyond help. Don't expect him to act like a normal person.

2. He may seem like a highly aggressive protagonist, but he loves playing libero and will never change positions in his life.

3. Inarizaki is the main setting, and there are plenty of original additions.

4. The timeline starts in the first year of high school. I'll write as much as I can.

5. Volleyball means more to the protagonist than anything else.

Theme: The love of an extremist.