[June 8th, at the Aoba Johsai Gymnasium]

It had been a few days since Aoba Johsai claimed victory in the prefectural qualifiers. The initial excitement had worn off, and the volleyball club resumed its daily training as usual.

"What are those two doing?" Iwaizumi Hajime asked as he stepped into the gym, spotting Taichi Kaedehara and Kentarō Kyōtani locked in an intense staring contest in a corner of the gym. A small crowd had gathered around them, spectating the scene.

"Looks like Taichi asked Kyōtani to teach him how to hit diagonal spikes, but Kyōtani refused. Then it turned into….this," someone nearby explained to Iwaizumi.

"With the way they're staring at each other, I'd guess they're having a contest—whoever breaks eye contact first loses," Shigeru Yahaba commented, his tone amused.@@novelbin@@

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. None of them were taking training seriously, instead flocking to this spectacle. Just as he was contemplating how to resolve the situation, Kyōtani unexpectedly broke eye contact.

"Boring. I'm going to practice on my own," Kyōtani muttered, turning to leave.

"One serving of fried chicken!" Taichi blurted out, throwing out his ultimate bargaining chip.

Kyōtani froze mid-step. After what seemed like an intense inner struggle, he shook his head and kept walking.

"One week's worth of fried chicken!" Taichi upped the stakes like a mad gambler!

"From Lawson," Kyōtani said immediately, spinning around and snatching a volleyball. He handed it to Yahaba. "Yahaba, set for me."

Yahaba stared at him, speechless. "…What?"

This…works?!

-------

Half an hour later, Taichi walked off muttering curses under his breath.

Kyōtani's diagonal spikes were unique, and Taichi quickly realized they were beyond him. The key to Kyōtani's devastating spike wasn't just technique but his combination of power and flexibility.

After a few attempts, Taichi managed to mimic the trajectory of the spike, but it lacked the power and sharpness that made Kyōtani Kentarō so effective. The mechanics of Kyōtani's technique were entirely untransferable.

Fortunately, Taichi had a fallback.

After Aoba Johsai's victory against Shiratorizawa, he completed the first stage of his personal quest: helping Aoba Johsai reach the national tournament. The reward was a specialized training program that promised to increase his strength from 80 to 90 within a month—without compromising his speed.

Currently, Taichi's strength sat at 82. Ever meticulous, he couldn't help but feel slightly shortchanged.

Since learning from Kyōtani was a dead end, Taichi set his sights on Tokyo. Asking recent opponents for advice was out of the question—no matter how thick-skinned he was, even Taichi wouldn't do something so tactless.

Taichi had shared news of Aoba Johsai's prefectural victory with only two people in Tokyo: Kozume Kenma and Udai Tenma.

Kenma replied that Nekoma would face their first-round opponent, Matsukawa Technical, on June 10th. Taichi immediately promised to come and watch their match.

Tenma, on the other hand, responded with a crying emoji—his manga, Zombie Swordsman Zobishu, had been cancelled!

Taichi wasn't surprised. He sent a few comforting messages to Tenma and arranged to visit him on his day off, promising a surprise.

With permission from his coach, Taichi embarked on his journey to Tokyo to 'seek knowledge'.

  *

"Tenma-sensei!"

"Taichi-sensei!"

The moment Taichi stepped off the train, Tenma rushed to greet him. The two clasped hands tightly.

For a long while, neither spoke.

"Taichi, you really made it to Nationals? That's incredible!" Tenma finally exclaimed.

"Haha, it's nothing, really…" Taichi scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "By the way, Tenma-sensei…your manga really got cancelled?"

Tenma fell silent. "…."

Even after all this time, Taichi's conversational style was as eccentric as ever.

The two headed straight to Udai Tenma's rented apartment near his university. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Tenma dove right into the main topic.

"Those editors are so harsh! They said I crammed too much into a single chapter, my characters aren't engaging enough, and I spend too much time introducing them...It's nothing but unreasonable criticism!" Tenma complained, his words tumbling out like a drunken tirade.

"Well…" Taichi scratched his head awkwardly. To be honest, he didn't know much about manga—he just enjoyed reading them. "A lot of it probably comes down to pacing. That's something only you can refine, sensei."

"Huh?"

"But I do have a pretty good story idea we can discuss," Taichi said confidently, pulling a notebook out of his backpack.

"This is the surprise you mentioned?!" Tenma's eyes lit up as he eagerly grabbed the notebook.

Since their last meeting, Taichi hadn't forgotten this mentor-like friend. The notebook contained something he'd written during his occasional moments of wakefulness in class—an outline of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Taichi had no moral qualms about borrowing stories from his previous life. After all, it wasn't like he was struggling to make ends meet. If he were, he might have already embraced the life of a 'generic-literary plagiarist'.

Tenma flipped through the manuscript, quickly engrossed in its contents. The opening lines captivated him immediately:

"Tanjiro Kamado, a humble charcoal seller, lived a peaceful and happy life—until the day his family was attacked by demons. His mother and four younger siblings were brutally murdered, and his surviving sister, Nezuko, was transformed into a vicious demon..."

Seeing how absorbed Tenma was, Taichi didn't interrupt. The manuscript covered the first six or seven volumes of the original work, so it would take a while for him to finish reading.

Taichi shifted his focus to his own plans for learning new techniques. He decided to stay at Tenma's place for the day and attend Nekoma's match tomorrow. Perhaps he could learn a few tricks from Kuroo Tetsurō.

Yes, the plan was flawless!

"Taichi!" Tenma called out suddenly, snapping Taichi out of his thoughts. He had skimmed through most of the manuscript and was visibly excited. "Can I really use this story for my manga?"

Although Tenma was a rookie manga artist, he could tell that the story had a solid structure.

Even the pacing—his biggest challenge—seemed manageable with Taichi's detailed outline. More importantly, his instincts as a reader told him this story had everything it needed to succeed. It was gripping. It would sell. It would become a hit!

"Of course, it's yours. I don't want to be a manga artist, and I can't draw anyway," Taichi said nonchalantly.

"Then let's talk about profit-sharing!" Tenma sat up straight, suddenly all business.

"Huh?" Taichi hadn't thought about that at all. He was just borrowing an idea and figured that everything after the manuscript would be Tenma's responsibility. How could he justify taking a cut? It felt like pure freeloading.

"Ten percent!" Taichi declared decisively. Seeing Tenma's stunned expression, he quickly added, "You take nine; I'll take one."

"What?" Now it was Tenma's turn to be dumbfounded. In his eyes, this long-form story was the product of painstaking effort. He hadn't expected Taichi to dismiss it so lightly.

"Twenty" Tenma countered like a customer trying to drive a hard bargain, except this wasn't for himself, "Twenty. Any less than that my conscience won't be able to accept."

"Sensei, let's focus on getting the manga published first," Taichi said, cutting off the conversation. "It's weird to discuss profit-sharing before we've even started."

"Heh…" Tenma chuckled sheepishly. He had indeed already started fantasizing about becoming a famous manga artist.

"Now that your problem is solved, it's time for my request," Taichi said, his expression turning serious.

"Sensei, please teach me how to hit diagonal spikes!"

_________

[T/N] - If you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you can support me on my Patreon. Trust me, it's awesome!

Link - /Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]