Chapter 17 IH Preliminary III/Cold Love, or Just Being Present...

Matsumoto Genon was in the second position, and he turned his hands behind his back and made a "1" gesture to everyone.

Yuihara Yuihara in the fourth position and Igarashi Kotomi in the third position looked at each other again. This time, they will protect the libero well!

The match resumed, and the opponent served. Sakurai Rika, no longer smiling as usual, pursed her lips and dribbled the ball. Matsumoto Genon appeared to be sending the ball to the left, forcing the opponent's front row to gather in front of Yuihara Kaoru, ready to block, but then her hand shifted, quickly wrapping around the ball with her left hand.

Perfectly deceive the opponent's second attack!

Matsumoto Genkane switched to the first serving position. Abandoning her usual graceful style, she leaped with a loud shout, exerting all her strength, sending the volleyball through the air and toward the opposing libero.

The moment the libero touched the volleyball, he was knocked to the ground by the huge force, and the volleyball flew into the audience seats.

"Oh my... violent senior..."

The Rikkai University cheering booth was eerily quiet.

In the eyes of Rikkai students, although Matsumoto Genon is the captain of the women's volleyball team, she has always been a setter, and has brought her usual elegant, generous and bright image to this sport. Even when the photography club came to take pictures of the game, it was basically difficult to capture footage of her losing her image and expression control.

But at this moment, her serve seemed to create sparks and hit the opposite side like a thousand-pound boulder.

Her expression became ferocious and her movements became wild and dramatic, revealing the real and ambitious Matsumoto Gensune after she took off her elegant mask.

Much more vivid than...the porcelain dolls we saw when we met at home.

Sanada Genichirō's Adam's apple rolled slightly. Yukimura Seiichi didn't expose him, but instead complained, "It must be because I was doing you a favor, Genichirō, that Xiangcheng started ignoring me."

"sorry."

"What else can we do?"

Yukimura Seiichi's eyes fell on Yuhara Kaoru. Before the ball reached the setter, she jumped early and scored several consecutive first-rhythm fast breaks.

Beads of sweat pulled the loose hair on her neck into a ball, and the continuous high-intensity jumping made her cheeks flushed. After scoring, she playfully raised her index finger high, waiting for all her teammates to come around and hug her.

——The fruits of victory after many twists and turns are always especially sweet.

Abe Makoto had a small cut on the tip of his nose, which was covered symmetrically with Ms. Kinomoto's kitty cat Band-Aid, making him look adorable. There were still a few drops of blood on his pink jersey that hadn't been cleaned up.

Despite this, in today's photos, everyone tacitly gave her the C position.

In today's game, what was more important than victory was that they seemed to have truly become members of Rikkai University, fighting for Rikkai University in front of every audience member.

Oh, the sea of ​​Kanagawa, let us unite and strive forward.

One more group match...

"Mom, I think I have a cold!" Yuhara Kaoru pulled out a thermometer showing 39 degrees Celsius from his armpit, and walked downstairs to the kitchen door in a muffled voice.

Ms. Mikiko took the thermometer and said, "Ah! Why is it so high?"

Yuihara Kaoru sniffed hard - since she couldn't breathe at all, she might as well breathe through her mouth.

"Why did you catch a cold?" Mikiko came out of the kitchen and quickly called her husband who had left early for a meeting to ask what medicine to give Xiangcheng.

Yuihara Kaoru slumped weakly on the sofa, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't understand why she couldn't stop crying every time she caught a cold, so she simply covered her face with a tissue. The joy of yesterday's victory had long since faded, leaving only stiff legs and this broken body.

How do you catch a cold?

Thinking back carefully, it might be that I came back from the game, took a shower, and then habitually fell into bed. When I woke up, it was already the middle of the night...

Yesterday, it was windy and rainy, and the windows were not closed properly.

Jieyuan Xiangcheng fell down in frustration, and the tiger under him let out a sharp "meow" and quickly ran away. Xiangcheng didn't even have the energy to say sorry to it.

A moment later, Ms. Mikiko came over like a demon, clutching a handful of pills. She placed the pills in Xiangcheng's hand and filled her cute cup with a cinnamon dog print with room-temperature water before saying, "Get up and take your medicine. These are for before meals. There's also some after-meal medicine after breakfast."

Xiangcheng mechanically stood up and swallowed her pills one by one with water. She forced herself to eat a few slices of bread, suppressing her stomach discomfort. Mikiko had already asked for leave from the club for her.

The cold must be cured before the weekend!

As a self-limiting disease, the duration of a cold is about 7 to 10 days. After resting at home for three days and feeling well again, Xiangcheng set out on the journey to school on Wednesday wearing a mask and an alcohol spray bottle.

She was really flattered by the constant bombardment of messages from her classmates these days. Yukimura also diligently sent her notes on various subjects, and expressed how difficult the chemistry experiment class was when she was not there, and hoped that she would get better soon.

Feeling guilty, Xiangcheng came to school.

The school seemed to have all the skills to counter her, but after two classes, Xiangcheng felt like she was on fire again, with flames coming out of the tips of her ears.

The teacher's voice during the lecture is also a bit hazy...it's really hypnotic~

I slept so soundly that I even felt recharged.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she heard Rika's voice as if coming from far away, and gradually became clearer.

"Our 'Sleeping Beauty' has woken up~" In front of him was the enlarged face of Rika.

Yes! Why am I lying down? Xiangcheng blinked rapidly, trying to wake herself up. She struggled to sit up but was pushed back.

Rika moved away: "Don't move. The doctor said you're not well yet." Then she couldn't help but come closer to gossip: "Speaking of which, it's such a coincidence that you woke up! Yukimura just went out for a few minutes... Were you pretending just now?"

The dull-witted Yuihara became even more confused.

Seeing her expression, Li Xiang slowly explained: "You fainted with a fever in math class, and then went to the infirmary. Now it's lunch break~"

Infirmary?

It was such a strange place. Yuihara Kaoru thought that with her strong physique, she shouldn't have come here - it must be because the medicine she took in the morning was too hypnotic.

Rika was still waiting for her to ask the most important question, but the naive Xiangcheng looked really cute! She couldn't help but rub Xiangcheng's face again.

"Stay away from me, I still have a cold." Xiangcheng tried hard to save his face.

Li Xiang smiled evilly: "I don't mind~"

With a "creak", the door of the infirmary was pushed open, and the blue curtain swayed, revealing the figure of Yukimura Seiichi.

The person who had been breathing heavily had already sat up, with both cheeks pinched by Sakurai. Noticing his arrival, Sakurai Rika smiled and withdrew her hands. Then she walked past him and snatched a piece of bread from his hand: "Thanks, Yukimura."

When Yuihara Kaoru heard her say "bye", she raised her hand seriously.

Yukimura handed over the other bread in his hand: "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something first?"

Xiang Cheng shook her head, showing no appetite. Yukimura placed the bread on the bedside table, leaned over, and placed the back of his hand close to her forehead. Xiang Cheng flinched unconsciously, but Yukimura pressed against her without hesitation, and her touch was icy cold.

"It looks like the fever's gone," he said, withdrawing his hand and still leaning forward. "Why don't you just rest at home?"

Xiangcheng didn't have much time to think, so she could only say, "I have a lab class today."

It was as if he was trying hard to remember something: "You should go back quickly, this is the infirmary." - It was the place you hated the most, with the smell you hated the most.

Yukimura Seiichi's smile widened little by little, and his eyes caught and locked onto Kaoru: "You're so foul, Kaoru."

Yuihara Kaoru didn't understand and felt that looking away would be like losing. She also looked at Yukimura seriously with an expression that said "I don't understand what you are saying."

——Of course you don’t understand. I’m doing addition and subtraction for you in my heart every day.

Then I discovered that there were only addition and multiplication.

You will understand.

Yukimura pulled away and rubbed Kaoru's head.

Yuihara Kaoru: ????? ?????

Why, didn’t humans take her along when they evolved the C language?

This Saturday was the final game, and Yuihara, still recovering from a cold, could only watch from the stands. The air conditioning in the stadium continuously blew cold air—as grateful for it as it had been during previous games, it was now as uncomfortable as it was.

Then the next second a familiar yellow coat fell on her.

I turned around and said thank you to Yukimura, but I was still thinking that Yukimura and his team had the county finals this afternoon, and it might be too late to wash his coat. I should have worn an extra coat earlier.

Feeling he knew what she was thinking, Yukimura patted her head again. Kaoru muffled her voice through her mask, "Stop patting! My brain won't work if you pat me again."

"Don't worry about the clothes," Yukimura whispered, "I don't mind."

Once again, seeing Minister Matsumoto looking towards the stands frequently, Yukihara Yukihara felt extremely guilty. Wasn't it a bit too deliberate for her to return the coat to Yukimura?

After not hearing a reply for a long time, Yukimura faced the frowning Yuihara Kaoru.

It seems like I can’t catch my breath... Never mind, I’ll know later.

The match began, and it was Matsumoto Genon who served first. She was so desperate that she had forgotten what elegance meant. She had her hair tied up high in a hair tie, revealing her slender neck, and then, with a loud bang, she launched a powerful jump serve that exploded directly into the center of the opponent's court.

"So cool! If I had known that my senior sister could do this, I wouldn't have to learn it from boys!" Xiangcheng stared at the field with shining eyes. It turned out that the audience's perspective made some amazing discoveries!

Today, Abe-san still had a Band-Aid on the tip of her nose; it had become something of a trademark. Having been injured before, she was extra cautious today, her focus closely following the ball's path.

In the stands, Yuihara Kaoru cheered for every wonderful catch, pass, and block.

In a daze, she had a little idea.

——Passion can also mean just being the one cheering on the sidelines.

The author has something to say:

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Yuihara Kaoru: I'm as strong as an ox!

Yukimura Seiichi: Carrying the cow and grunting~