54. Getting A Call From A Publishing Company

"It's surprising you can think so positively, Miyamura." Tooru looked at Izumi with a bit of surprise.

However, Izumi shook his head instead.

"Positive? You're wrong! I just don't care. If they badmouth me. I just have to show that I'm better than them. Then, they'll be speechless."

Tooru and Syu looked at each other. After a moment, Syu commented.

"You sure are confident, Miyamura. If I were you. I don't think I could do the same."

Izumi raised his index finger.

"Confidence is a part of one's success. Don't you think so?" He said to both of them with a serious expression.

"Hahaha, you're right. We have to have confidence if we want to be successful."

"Yep, without self-confidence, the road to success will wind and twist without a clear direction."

Tooru and Syu responded to Izumi's words merrily. They had only had a little chat with Izumi, but once they had a conversation with him, they felt like they had known him for a long time.

— — — —

As soon as the physical education class was over, Izumi went to the locker room together with Tooru after they were given the task of bringing back the soccer balls to the warehouse.

The other students had changed into their school uniforms and returned to class, only Izumi and Tooru were left behind.

"How cruel, they all left us alone." Tooru complained.

"What can we do? We're the ones who were told to bring the soccer balls to the warehouse. It's none of their business if we are left behind." Meanwhile, Izumi changed into his school uniform while speaking.

When Tooru accidentally saw something while Izumi was changing clothes, he exclaimed.

"What the heck. What's with that tattoo?" Tooru didn't expect a quiet boy in class like Izumi to have a tattoo on his body. He tried to touch it while making sure that the tattoo was real or not.

"Hey, the way you approach me will make everyone misunderstand." Izumi stepped back and immediately put on his uniform to hide his tattoo.

"It's surprising. Since when?" Of course, Tooru asked about Izumi's tattoo. Izumi only replied that he had been tattooed since middle school. Then, Tooru covered his laughing face. He thought that he shouldn't judge people by their appearance alone.

Just as the two were about to leave the room, Izumi felt the presence of someone familiar to him. Izumi held Tooru and gestured to him to be quiet. The person passing by was Mafuyu. Izumi didn't really want to meet her because he felt there was a mismatch in their nature.

Tooru heard the footsteps of high heels passing, so he guessed it was a female teacher. He peeked through the slightly ajar doorway and saw a beautiful woman wearing a teacher's attire. He was mesmerized by her for a moment.

After a while.

"She's gone. Let's go!" Izumi invites Tooru to return to class. Tooru looked at Izumi for a moment, then asked him.

"Who is that beautiful teacher? You seem to know her."

"You don't know?" Izumi asked back.

"Nope."

"Then, forget it! She is a troublesome teacher. It would be better not to have anything to do with her."

Tooru didn't understand what Izumi was saying. When he wanted to ask again, Izumi was already walking toward class.

Suddenly, Izumi's phone vibrated. He took out his phone from his pocket and saw an unknown number on the phone screen.

He turned to Tooru and said.

"I'll pick up the phone. You can go back to class first!"

Tooru just waved his hand and walked toward class, while Izumi picked up the phone.

"Hello."

[Ah, hello. This is Otosuna Mihari from Gongon Publishing company. Is this Ultimate Sensei?]

He heard a woman's voice on the phone. And most likely, she is an editor.

"Ah, yes. It's me. Is it about the novel I sent?"

[Yes, we need Sensei to come to our company tomorrow at 1 PM!]

"1 PM, huh?"

Tomorrow is Friday, which means he still has class.

[Is it not good?] The woman asked if Izumi had other businesses or not.

"Well, it's okay."

[Alright then, we're waiting for you tomorrow. Thank you.]

"No problem."

After the call ended, he began to think.

"I don't know if I can get 20% of Royalties. Usually, first-timers only get ±10%. Well, that depends on tomorrow. There's no point in thinking about it now."

Time passed by.

After school was over, he returned home and changed his clothes. After that, he went to look for Shouyou because he wanted to see his progress in volleyball.

— — — —

When he arrived at the volleyball court inside Karasuno High, he wondered why he had sensed the presence of so many people. And just then, he saw a man with dyed blonde hair with brown eyes wearing a headband. He has two piercings in his left ear.

"That man should be Ukai Keishin." Izumi said inwardly.

Keishin, who saw Izumi outside, immediately called out to him.

"Hey kid, are you also a member of this volleyball club? Why don't you join immediately?"

The others were curious about who Keishin was talking to, so they turned toward the entrance.

"Izumi."

"Miyamura."

It had been a week since they had not seen Izumi. Meanwhile, Takeda Ittetsu who is the volleyball club advisor explained to Keishin. He heard from Daichi that Izumi was invited to play together, so the club advisor had no reason to stop Izumi from joining. In addition, Izumi's presence made a pretty good impact on the first-year members.

"So he is not your student? And you said he just learned volleyball not too long ago?" Keishin responded to the advisor's explanation.

"I don't know if he's faking it or not. However, Sugawara Koushi, the third-year setter said that the boy learned the basics of playing volleyball from him. And according to him, the boy did start playing volleyball recently."

"Unbelievable."

"I know, right."

Meanwhile.

"How is it Shouyou, did Aoba Johsai stop your combination with him?" Izumi pointed toward Tobio while talking with Shouyou.

"Almost! What you said back then made me think I had to do something if my spike was blocked." Shouyou thought it through. He understood why his quick combination with Tobio would be stopped. It was because the opponent had gotten used to their attack pattern.

"Well, I think you are good enough in my opinion, Hinata." Daichi patted Shouyou's shoulder.

Izumi didn't agree with what Daichi said, so he whispered to Daichi.

"Sawamura-san, can you let me join? I want to show him something."

"Alright, I'll tell the new coach first." Daichi nodded and walked toward Ukai Keishin. Daichi spoke to Keishin while pointing at Izumi, then Keishin nodded.

After that, they started to warm up while waiting for the people Keishin called for the friendly match. The one he called was the Karasuno Neighborhood Association Team which was the village volleyball team. After waiting about 30 minutes, they finally came.

"I'll introduce you to everyone, They are Shimada Makoto, Takinoue Yuusuke, Mori Yukinari, and Uchizawa Hidenori. It seems the others are busy. As Sawamura suggested, Miyamura will join along with him, Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei, and Tanaka Ryuunosuke."

After that Keishin ordered Sugawara Koushi and Nishinoya Yuu to join the opposing team. But since he knows Nishinoya Yuu is a pure libero, he needs one more person to fill the vacant position if the libero moves to the front position.

"Ah, that's Azumane-san! Azumane-san!" Shouyou waved his hand towards a well-built, bearded, ponytail-haired man outside. He was Azumane Asahi.

Keishin immediately walked out and saw the man.

"Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up and change clothes and join! Don't keep staring!"

Keishin's thug-like face frightened Asahi who immediately looked down and apologized even though he was reluctant to join.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll come immediately."