Fukuda Sei watched the volleyball bounce away from beside his feet and swallowed unconsciously, cold sweat covering his forehead.
The moment he had looked up to receive, he had stared straight at the ball. In that single glance, the volleyball was already right in front of him. For a second, he had almost wondered if it was going to smash him to death.
Sakusa scored a no-touch service ace, then tossed the ball up again.
He gave them no time to react.
"Bang!"
"Beep-----------"
"Bang!"
"Beep------------"
He served four balls in a row.
The cheers in the venue never stopped.
Fukuda Sei was drenched in cold sweat now, and there was a large bruise on his knee from when he had accidentally knocked it against the floor while receiving earlier. It was still prickling with dense, sharp pain.
The pain in his knee was barely keeping him conscious. Otherwise, he would have completely fallen apart by now.
The expressions on the other Inubushi Higashi players' faces didn't look good either.
Sakusa was already on his fifth serve. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then opened them again.
Then his hand moved extremely fast, striking the ball with a sharp "bang" and sending it flying.
Fukuda Sei gritted his teeth and rushed forward. That fear of being dominated by Sakusa rose up again.
He stretched out both arms, then lifted them with all his strength.
"Bang!"
Fukuda Sei felt the pain of the volleyball slamming into his arms. In that instant, he almost cried. For the first time, being hit by a volleyball felt like such a blessing.
Of course, receiving this one ball didn't mean he would be able to receive every ball Sakusa served after this. This ball was only the result of the previous four serves building up. Once he found the feel for it, he could naturally receive a ball of the same style. It was the accumulation of those four serves, and a hard-won chance for the team.
Maruyama had already given up hope. He had thought this match would end under Sakusa's complete domination, but he hadn't expected Fukuda Sei to give him a surprise like this.
"Nice receive, Fukuda!"
Everyone snapped back to themselves at Maruyama's shout. In an instant, an expression called hope lit up on their faces, and they all began moving to organize an attack.
Everyone in the stands watched the scene, then turned their heads toward Ryosuke at the same time.
Tsutomu Goshiki rubbed his chin. "This looks really familiar."
Tendo's tone was complicated. "Yeah. Really familiar."
As expected of childhood friends, maybe?
The scene of Sakusa single-handedly scoring five points in a row was practically identical to the time Ryosuke used his serves to break Mujinazaka's mentality all by himself. And both of their serves were damn hard to deal with.
Ryosuke gave a light cough and pretended he hadn't seen anything under everyone's stare.
The match on the court continued. After Fukuda Sei received that ball, everyone on Inubushi Higashi's side seemed to come back to life, their attacks growing more ferocious each time.
But Itachiyama wasn't easy to push around either, especially Sakusa after seeing Ryosuke.
His spikes were fierce now, as if he had stacked buffs on himself. At this point, he wished the match would end in twenty minutes. He could hardly wait to go have a meal with Ryosuke.
At that moment, Sakusa truly displayed the strength of an Ace. Forceful, decisive, and impossible to question.
Everyone on Inubushi Higashi knew they were definitely going to lose. The four opening points were an uncrossable gap. Their Ace had been pinned down and couldn't attack, their blocks couldn't stop anything, and they had nothing left to lose.
So their momentum became unstoppable. Losing was not the problem. If they lost, they had to lose with dignity. Even dragging out one more point counted. They couldn't let the gap between the two teams look too ugly.
Each of them threw himself in harder than the last.
Fukuda Sei's figure was everywhere on the court as he received. Maruyama set tirelessly. Hayakawa jumped again and again.
Only by jumping, only by looking at the opponent across from them, could they understand what their goal was.
"Beep—————!"
The clear whistle echoed through the venue, and cheers rose through the arena once again.
"In this match between Itachiyama and Inubushi Higashi, Itachiyama wins! The final set lasted forty-five minutes! The two teams fought back and forth the entire time. Under Itachiyama's powerful offense, Inubushi Higashi continued to hold their defensive line, but in the end, they fell to Itachiyama by a score of 32:30 and regretfully leave the court."
"Yes, competitive sports are cruel. Let us applaud every team that fought their way to this stage. They overcame challenge after challenge and defeated team after team to stand before everyone here today.
"Inubushi Higashi High School has shown us the true meaning of competitive sports. Sports are about self-achievement and self-recognition. Only through sweat, again and again, can people understand what they are truly chasing."
"Hahahahaha." Maruyama, who had already lost the match, heard the commentator's voice. Sitting on the floor with both hands braced against it, he burst into loud laughter.
That felt incredible. Losing the match still hurt, but it was better than always feeling uneasy. Every day, every time he stepped onto the court, he would think, We'll probably lose this match, right? We'll definitely lose the next one, right? Our school is this weak, after all.
Hayakawa felt extremely guilty now. Looking at his captain sitting on the floor, Hayakawa felt that the team had lost because he still wasn't strong enough. If he had been a little stronger, would they not have lost this match...?
Maruyama looked up and saw Hayakawa's expression. With one glance, he knew exactly what this simple kid was thinking, and a helpless smile appeared on his face.
Hayakawa looked at his captain in confusion. Had the match knocked something loose in his head? Why was he still smiling?
Maruyama took Hayakawa's hand and used it to stand up. Fukuda Sei and several first-years also gathered around, trying to comfort their captain.
Maruyama patted Hayakawa on the shoulder and spoke earnestly.
"Hayakawa, on the court, one person being strong doesn't make the team strong. Remember, volleyball is a sport played by six people. Only the people standing on the same side of the net as you are your teammates."
Hayakawa's expression shifted from blank confusion to vague understanding. Maruyama could tell at a glance that he still hadn't fully figured it out. He sighed quietly. He would teach him slowly. This kid was the future hope of Inubushi Higashi.
The two teams began to bow, to the spectators in the stands, to the coaches, and to their opponents.
"Thank you for watching. Thank you for the game!"
And just like that, the match came to an end.
Maruyama led the team off the court at the front. Then, as they reached the corner, tears suddenly fell from his eyes.
His fingers were trembling, and he tried his best to keep his emotions from surging too violently.
Three years. His three years were about to end. Maybe this had been his only chance in those three years to come to the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. But at least he had seen the lights of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. That alone made the trip worth it.
Over on Itachiyama's side, after they left the court, the coach was still going on about how everyone had performed in the match. Sakusa, however, had long since grown impatient. He kept turning his head to look toward the stands, and only after confirming that Ryosuke was still sitting there did he finally relax.
"Everyone performed very well in this match. Especially Araki. Very good. Even without Iizuna, you can now stand on your own. It looks like you've already become a mature Setter..."
The coach kept talking for a long time. In the end, he realized that little brat Sakusa's mind had never been here in the first place. As for the others, only Komori and Araki were giving him any respect, listening to him with serious expressions.
The coach felt helpless for a moment, then finally waved his hand and dismissed everyone.
No sooner had they been dismissed than Sakusa left. From his retreating back alone, Komori could practically see how impatient he was.
Ryosuke had originally planned to leave right after the match ended, but when he turned and saw Sakusa on the court secretly glancing his way, his heart softened. After thinking it over, he decided to stay behind by himself. Sure enough, the moment Sakusa saw that he was still sitting in the stands, he kept turning back to look at him.
"Ryosuke."
Ryosuke had been looking down, lost in thought. Only when he heard Sakusa's voice did he lift his head.
There was still sweat on Sakusa's forehead. The gym's air conditioning made it feel cool against his skin, but the moment he saw Ryosuke look up, heat flared in his chest like someone had lit a fire there.
Just seeing Ryosuke sitting there obediently, waiting for him, made Sakusa's heart pound.
He walked up to Ryosuke, crouched down in front of him, and ruffled his hair.
"Did you win your match?"
Ryosuke gave a proud "hmph."
"Of course. I still have to play against you guys from Itachiyama. How could some little match like that stop me?"
Sakusa laughed. Ryosuke's proud little attitude was unbearably cute.
Then he stood and pulled Ryosuke up from his seat too.
"Let's go."
Ryosuke followed him and asked in confusion, "Where?"
"There's a souvenir shop outside the gym. Want to buy some things for your teammates?"
"Huh? Really?"
"Of course."
...
Their voices drifted farther and farther away. In front of Ryosuke, Sakusa always seemed to be that impossibly thoughtful version of himself. This side of him was probably something only Ryosuke had ever seen.
By the time the afternoon matches ended, it was already around six or seven. There weren't any matches left that interested Ryosuke. He even went to check the schedule on purpose and found that the evening matches were all between schools he had never heard of. After asking Ushijima, he learned that those schools had only qualified this year.
Once he heard that, Ryosuke lost interest. Right now, he was more looking forward to Shiratorizawa's next match.
That night, Ryosuke and Sakusa bought all kinds of odds and ends at the souvenir shop outside. The two of them also went to eat tamagoyaki, and it was already late by the time Ryosuke returned to the dorm.
When Ryosuke got back, he was surprised to find that no one was asleep. Everyone was packed into the dorm room he shared with Ushijima.
Ryosuke pushed the door open and was met with a room full of dark, shadowy faces. Caught completely off guard, he jolted so hard he shut his eyes on instinct and nearly passed away on the spot.
"Click."
Ryosuke heard the sound of a switch. The next second, the lights came on. Not used to the sudden brightness, he covered his eyes.
Then he rubbed his eyes, his voice still a little shaky.
"You guys... aren't you going to sleep? It's the middle of the night."
He really had been badly startled.
Seeing that Ryosuke didn't seem quite right, Ushijima patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"It's still early. They couldn't sleep, so they came here to chat."
Only then did Ryosuke slowly raise his head. His eyes were red.
"Then why didn't you turn on the lights!"
That one glimpse just now had been terrifying. Especially in the darkness, Ryosuke had even seen someone's eyes glowing. He didn't know whose they were, but his poor heart was still trembling.
Ushijima patiently comforted the frightened little one.
"Reon said if we turned on the lights, the coach would see us. Then he'd definitely tell us to go to sleep."
Only then did Ryosuke calm down a little, though he still grumbled and whined about how badly they had scared him.
Tendo watched Ryosuke in amusement. He felt like Ryosuke was just like a child, still throwing a little tantrum because he was upset.
Reon sat off to the side, watching them laugh and mess around. There was a cup of water by his hand, making him look like some kindly elder watching children run wild.
"Ding-dong, ding-dong."
Reon's phone rang again. At a time like this, the only people who would message him were either the coach or the others who had come to IH with them.
He picked up his phone and saw that it was a message from Coach Washijō. After reading it carefully again, Reon confirmed what it said.
Then he squeezed into the middle of the group with his phone and shouted,
"Quiet down, all of you! Tomorrow's match schedule is out!"
The moment those words came out, it was as if someone had hit mute. The whole group went silent for an instant, then erupted again.
"What? What?"
"I want to see!"
"Reon-senpai, hurry up and tell us!"
The noisy chatter made Reon's head ache. He rewarded each of them with a smack before they finally quieted down.
Tsutomu Goshiki had been the loudest of all. Now he was crouched on the floor, clutching his head with tears in his eyes, clearly having been punished by Reon's iron palm.
Once everyone quieted down, Reon finally let out a breath of relief. Then he glared at Tsutomu Goshiki.
"Coach Washijō sent it, but it doesn't clearly say which school. We have a match against Kaichi Academy in the morning. We don't know who our opponent will be in the afternoon yet. Inarizaki has a morning match against Tokai School. Whoever wins that match will be our opponent in the afternoon."
"Two matches tomorrow?" Tsutomu Goshiki immediately asked after Reon finished.
"Yes."
"What times?" Yamagata asked.
"The morning match is at nine. The afternoon match is at three."
"After tomorrow's matches, will it be the semifinals?" Ryosuke asked.
"Yes."
Once everyone had asked their questions and there was nothing more to discuss, Reon immediately started driving people out.
"All right, get back to your rooms and sleep. The match is at nine tomorrow, which means you need to be up at seven. Go to bed already."
As he spoke, he shoved everyone out. Ushijima and Ryosuke, who had been pushed outside the door, looked at each other.
Something felt wrong.
Ryosuke scratched his hair and started walking away. Ushijima followed behind him. After a few steps, Ryosuke suddenly stopped.
Ushijima bumped straight into his back, then looked at him in confusion. Ryosuke looked just as confused. After hesitating for a moment, he turned to Ushijima and asked,
"Ushijima-senpai, where are we going?"
"Of course..."
Ushijima opened his mouth to say they were going back to the dorm, but the words got stuck before he could say them. The two of them stared at each other in silence.
In the end, they silently turned around and walked back.
Back to what dorm? They had just been kicked out of their own dorm. What other dorm was there to go back to?
In the end, things developed into Reon awkwardly opening the door and letting the two of them back in, only to receive two death stares and a firmly shut door in return.
Reon slowly walked back to his own dorm. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he became. He wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor. Kicking the actual occupants out of their own dorm and then openly settling in himself. It was mortifying.
By the time everyone returned to their dorms, cleaned up, and got ready for bed, it was already past ten. The ones who had played matches all day fell asleep almost as soon as they touched their beds.
...
Another day had passed. Somewhere Shiratorizawa and the others could not see, more than twenty teams had been eliminated. That night, there were bound to be people tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
...
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