Akiba Konoha

Akiba Konoha was a third year at Jindai Kita High School. He was a wing spiker and the team's ace. He was formerly a member of "The Bulldozers" from Hatsudenjo Academy, and was the former Ace for Joshibi High. As of 2018, he is the ace and Captain for the newly formed "Bulldozers Reunion" team. He eventually becomes part of Japan Men's National Volleyball Team in 2024.

Appearance
Akiba has a shorter build, being only 174 cm tall. He has short eyebrows, brown hair, and blue eyes.

Personality
Akiba is a kind-hearted person who tends to be really nice towards his friends and teammates. He is also pretty smart when it comes to volleyball, and he is able to strategize situations.

Background
For most of his grade school years, Akiba didn't like volleyball very much, but took a liking for it after his cousin, Akinori taught him how to play. He trained a lot and got very powerful with his spikes and serves.

He was taught receiving by Motoya Komori, the libero for Itachiyama.

In 8th grade, Akiba was scouted out by the Coach for Hatsudenjo Academy in Hyōgo, where he joined the Volleyball Team. He played in a game with the second string and his amazing talent made him a regular in no time and he also became a member of the Bulldozers.

Akiba, along with Furukawa and Hashimoto went to Joshibi, and were a really powerful force together. Eventually, everybody started to feel inferior to Akiba, and in his 3rd year, they kicked him off the team. Akiba vowed that he would get revenge on them one day.

Soon later, Akiba transferred to Jindai Kita and joined the volleyball team in hopes of taking them to nationals.

He succeeded when his team made it the Spring Nationals tournament. They won the first round against Karasuno after a tough match. Jindai easily won through the second and third rounds. In the quarterfinals, they faced Nekoma and won 2:0. They faced Fukurōdani in the Semifinals and won 3:2. They advanced to the finals and faced Itachiyama Institute. They won after a long 5-set match and became the Spring Interhigh Champions.

Statistics
Skills:


 * Sheer Force: Part of Akiba's skills is his overall power. He's able to hit super powerful spikes and hits without draining lots of energy.
 * Jump Serve: One of Akiba's most powerful weapons in his arsenal is his Jump Serve. Unlike other servers who focus more on either accuracy or power, Akiba is able to do both, therefore he has a powerful serve that can be aimed perfectly and is able to score many service aces or at least shake off the opposing receivers. He has had many serve streaks in his career of volleyball. During the Spring Qualifier finals, he used his serve combined with Enraged Mode and assisted his team in catching up from a 5-point difference. When Jindai played against Karasuno during Nationals, he was able to score 3 aces in a row, and also gained his team an additional point.
 * Jumping: Akiba is capable of jumping extremely high. His highest reach is 344 cm as of 2014. He usually does not jump the full reach, but will do so against super tall opponents such as Hakuba and Ryosuuke. His jumping reach as of 2021 is 354 cm, surpassing even Korai Hoshiumi. His jump gets even higher when he enters Zone.
 * Zone: Akiba unlocks a new skill during the first round of the Spring Qualifiers called Zone. During scenarios when his team is behind, his will to win for both and his teammates allow him to enter an enhanced state of mind known as "Zone". This provides Akiba with enhanced awareness on the game and the game only. This state of mind also allows him to jump higher, run faster, and have way more spiking power than usual. He utilizies this ability against stronger opponents such as Matsugaya, Ikeda Sr, Inarizaki, and Itachiyama. The Zone is difficult to enter, and only such prodigies posess the ability to enter. The minimal requirement component to enter the zone is to posess a love and burning passion for the activity. Aside from Akiba, the only players to enter the Zone were Furukawa, Atsumu & Osamu Miya, & Kiyoomi Sakusa. In the timeskip, Ushijima & Takeru Kaido managed to enter the state of mind.

Family

 * Akinori Konoha: Akinori is the older cousin of Akiba. He taught Akiba everything he knew about volleyball. Akinori and Bokuto both went to watch Jindai's game against Fukurōdani.


 * Akeno Konoha: Akeno is the older sister of Akiba. She played volleyball in middle school and some of her first year of high school, but quit after accidently injuring one of her teammates. Sometime after Akiba's graduation, he convinces Akeno to play setter for his Neighborhood Association Team.
 * Haruki Konoha and Yūna Konoha: Both are the parents of Akiba and Akeno. Some time during Akiba's first year of middle school, Haruki and Yūna got divorced. However, the situation was worse than Akiba had imagined. His parents argued over custody of Akiba and Akeno so much, to the point where Akeno and Akiba decided to live by theirselves. They moved to Hyōgo in Akiba's 3rd Year of Middle School, because he was scouted out by Hatsudenjo's Coach, who wanted to recruit him for Hatsudenjo's team.

Jindai Kita

 * Genji Akashira: Genji seems to be Akiba's closest friend on the Jindai team. They tend to high-five each other a lot during games and also hang out a lot outside of school.
 * Akira Kugo: Akira and Akiba are pretty good friends. Akiba occasionally laughs when Akira is called a downer by Numajiri.
 * Okobe Jin: Okobe and Akiba seem to have a good friendship. Akiba puts a lot of trust into Okobe's sets and trusts he will set just right for his play style.
 * Kinjo Atsuni: When Akiba first arrived, Kinjo didn't like him that much because of his somewhat immature behavior but mainly due to him taking his place as the ace of the team. He still cheers for him during matches.
 * Tsudar Koji: Akiba respects Koji a lot as he's the captain of the team. He sometimes is a decoy for Koji, drawing the blocker's attention away so he can perform a back attack.
 * Kenjirō Yamashita: Yamashita is the backup setter for Jindai Kita. Akiba is very supportive of Yamashita when he's subbed in.

Other Schools

 * Tanji Furukawa and Rei Hashimoto: Furukawa and Rei are Akiba's former teammates from Joshibi. When their teams face each other, Jindai emerges victorious. After Jindai defeats Inarizaki in the finals, Furukawa finally accepts that he was wrong about Akiba. He meets Akiba on New Years before he leaves for Nationals. They talk for a while, and Furukawa ends the conversation by wishing Akiba good luck. He watches his matches on his laptop, and when they advance to the semifinals, he goes to the Tokyo Gym to watch Jindai go against Itachiyama.
 * Oshita Matsumoto: Oshita was Akiba's teammate and the former setter for Hatsudenjo Academy. The two exchange conversation when they first face each other in the Interhigh Prelims. Unlike Nagashima, Oshita expresses concern for Akiba when he's injured. He even pins a teammate onto the lockers for talking smack about Akiba.
 * Takeru Kaido: Takeru was an outside hitter for Hatsudenjo Academy, and was what he claims to be "best buds" with Akiba, while Akiba comments that they were not close. Takeru surprises his teammates when he does not express concern over Kasai's loss to Jindai, only exclaiming that they will get revenge during the Spring Qualifiers.
 * Satori Ryosuuke: Satori was a former middle blocker for Hatsudenjo Academy. He is over 205 cm tall and is currently the starting Outside Hitter and Ace for Ikeda Senior. He treats Akiba in a fashion similar to that of Murasakibara and Kuroko, where he will tend to taunt Akiba about his height, and make jokes about "crushing" him.
 * Hitoshi Ginjima: Hitoshi was also an Outside Hitter for Hatsudenjo Academy, and he and Akiba hung out a lot.
 * Tetsuya Niseru: Tetsuya is the 3rd Year Libero for Kopiki Academy and was the former Libero for Hatsudenjo Academy. His first formal appearance is during the Spring Prelims, where his team loses in round 3 to Jindai Kita (0:2 / 22-25, 23-25).


 * Akagi Nagashima: The two aces first meet at the Interhigh Prelims, where their teams face each other for the third round. Upon seeing his skills, Akagi starts to Akiba as a threat, but does not worry about it. Matsugaya wins the match after Akiba is injured during the 3rd set. They face each other again during the First Round of the Spring Qualifiers. The team is able to win the first set after succesfully shutting down Nagashima's attack for the first time. Jindai eventually wins the match.


 * Atsumu Miya: Both Jindai and Inarizaki's teams meet each other on the first day of the Spring Playoffs. Atsumu points out Akiba's hair and thinks he's trying to copy him. He's about to start ranting, but is smacked by Osamu and Suna. The two teams eventually face each other in the finals. Before the match, Akiba declares Jindai will emerge victorious. Osamu seems to be a lot nicer towards Akiba.
 * Sachiro Hirugami and Kōrai Hoshiumi: On the first day of the summer training camp with Kamomedai, Akiba greets Hirugami and reveals to Genji that he knew him in 5th grade. Hirugami reveals that Akiba used to hate volleyball and thought it was stupid. Later on, Akiba exits the bathroom, only to find Hoshiumi there. Hoshiumi questions his height and position, and thinks he wins at having a better jumping vertical, only to figure out his is .2 cm less than Akiba’s. When the training camp ends, Hoshiumi tells Akiba, “see you on center court!!”, referring to Nationals. The two never face each other in an offical game though, as Kamomedai loses in the quarter-finals to Itachiyama.
 * Keiji Akaashi: Akiba first meets Akaashi on the first day of Nationals. He notices his jacket and reveals he’s Akinori Konoha’s younger cousin. Akaashi watches Jindai’s first match, and after seeing his skills, compliments Akiba.
 * Kōtarō Bokuto: It's unknown how well the two know each other, but's it assumed that they've met before, as Akinori would sometimes be hanging out with Bokuto when he was practicing volleyball with Akiba. Bokuto would cheer very loud for both teams during the Jindai v Fukurōdani game. He also comforted Akaashi after Fukurōdani's loss.
 * Shōyō Hinata: He first meets Hinata when he watches his 2nd round match at nationals. He’s surprised when Akira reveals he met their setter, Tobio Kageyama at the All Japan Camp. Hinata forms a sort of rivarly with Akiba, as they are both shorter than most, but are amazing spikers. After Jindai's victory, Hinata vows he will defeat Akiba the next time they meet.
 * Kiyoomi Sakusa and Motoya Komori: While not knowing Sakusa personally, he knows who he is and that he’s the number 1 ace in Japan. However, he knows Motoya personally. In Middle School, he met Komori at a tournament, and in their off time, Komori taught him how to receive better. Sakusa does not remember this and is confused when Komori greets Akiba. Throughout the match between Jindai and Itachiyama, Komori compliments Akiba’s skills, causing Sakusa to ask, “What are you, his Sensei?”. Jindai wins a long 5-set match 21-19 and Sakusa and Akiba shake hands.

Trivia

 * Favorite Food: Steak
 * Pre-Timeskip Concern: How do I get revenge on my Joshibi teammates?
 * Post-Timeskip Concern: I feel like Kōrai still doesn't like me.
 * His sister, Akeno graduated from Joshibi.
 * Something interesting about his family is that him, his cousin, and his sister's names all start with the letter A (Akiba, Akinori, Akeno)
 * He originally wanted to attend Fukurōdani or Itachiyama, but he had moved when he was a 3rd year in Middle School.
 * He's been to Nationals twice, one of them being in 8th grade with Hatsudenjo.
 * Both him and Akinori are/were Opposite Hitters.