Chapter 24: Can this kind of team really compete in an official match...?

Elementary school students get out of school early on Fridays, and that afternoon Tsuna and Hinata were driven to Tokyo by their coach. Although the match was on Sunday, they still needed to practice with their teammates. Irie Shoichi also said that he would go to watch their match on Sunday, and he had a ticket given to him by his coach.

So the group reunited at the Xiaogu Children's Club. Even though volleyball isn't like football where several starters can play in one game, they still had to face various unexpected situations and cooperate with different teammates.

"Speaking of which, who did we play against in our first match?" Hinata said, gulping down water while holding a volleyball, when he suddenly realized he hadn't been listening to his coach at all.

Sawada Tsunayoshi's gaze wandered. "Probably some small club." Actually, he couldn't remember the club's name either.

Akaashi sat on the floor stretching, and Aoyama Kaede replied, "It's a small club near my home, called Ohno. Several of my classmates practice volleyball there."

Under Kyoji Akaashi's gaze, Tsuna also sat down to stretch. He reached out his arms to pull his toes down, turning his head curiously to ask a question as he pressed down.

"Hey, why didn't Feng go to that club? Usually, people would choose a club that's close to their home."

Looking at the group of people who were stretching like clay, Qingshan felt a phantom pain in his limbs. He rubbed his arms, pretending that this was stretching.

“Because my mother thought Fukutani was better. She said that if you’re going to learn volleyball, you have to do your best. After analyzing and comparing, she felt that the Fukutani Kids Club had excellent instructors and wasn’t too far from home, so she sent him there.”

Kaede's mother sounds so strict. No wonder she stopped Kaede's club activities because of his studies. Sawada Tsunayoshi felt a pang of sympathy.

Matsukawa Saki was pressing his knee against Kojima's back, using it to help him stretch his muscles. Hearing the conversation, he began to recount his own experiences.

"Oh, speaking of this, it was during my PE class when the PE teacher, Coach Nakajima, said, 'Matsukawa, you're really good at volleyball. Why don't you come to my club after school today?' So I went to play volleyball." He nodded.

"It sounds a lot like child abduction," Sawada Tsunayoshi commented.

Suddenly, they started talking about why they started playing basketball in the first place. The group naturally skipped over Kujo Ikeya and looked curiously at Akaashi Kyoji. Akaashi Kyoji, under the gazes of his teammates, loosened his legs and calmly answered.

"Because it's close to home."

"Oh!" Several children sighed regretfully.

Tsuna felt that everyone's regret was strange. "It's reasonable that it's close to home, right? Sho, wasn't that the reason you found Coach Suzuki's club? Why are you sighing too?"

Hinata chuckled, "I always felt that someone like Kyoji would do thorough research beforehand and then choose the club that best suits him."

Matsukawa Saki nodded in agreement.

Kyoji Akaashi finally couldn't hold back, "It's not that bad."

“I’ve told you all not to have any stereotypes about setters, but I’ll take that as an example,” he said, glancing at his teammate who didn’t seem very bright, “he’s still a human being.”

"But Kyoji is really amazing," Hinata muttered to herself.

Sawada Tsunayoshi reflected on the regulars. Kujo Ikeya and Matsukawa Saki were just barely passing. Kojima seemed straightforward but his grades were average. As for him, Sho and Kaede were struggling to pass and were about to be kept behind for a talk by the school.

Looking at it this way, only Jingzhi's outstanding performance is truly remarkable!

He told Hinata about his discovery, and Hinata's eyes lit up. It was good that the unnecessary stereotypes about setters were being reinforced.

“But the Otokoma Kids Club is also very impressive, their high school is just as famous as Fukutani’s,” Kujo Ike also pointed out.

Sawada Tsunayoshi vaguely remembered the name. "The coach said we're in the same division as the Otoko Club, and we'll run into them every time we advance from the group stage?"

Hinata counted on his fingers, trying to figure out the numbers. "Why do we always have to run into them? Is Nekoma really that strong?"

Kojima's thinking was swayed; he concluded, "They are indeed very strong."

Kujoike, who brought up Nekoma, seemed to recall some unpleasant memories, frowning as he said, "Their defense is incredibly annoying. Playing against them last year exhausted me. Every one of their players was like a libero. In that game, they caught most of my spikes!"

As he spoke, he clenched the towel in his hand, indignant.

Sawada Tsunayoshi imagined a scene during a match where all the opposing team members, both on and off the field, were Matsukawa Saki. The scene was too bizarre, and Tsunayoshi quickly shook his head, trying to banish the image from his mind.

"Oh, sounds like a formidable opponent!" Hinata jumped up from the ground.

Kyoji Akaashi: "It has nothing to do with how strong they are, it's just because they had a bye in the first round of the group stage."

"Huh—?"

“…”

"Didn't you listen to anything the coach said?"

"He's really reliable, Kyōji-senpai," Sawada Tsunayoshi thought to himself, grinning foolishly as he faced the questioning.

On another street in Tokyo, Kuroo stretched and turned to his childhood friend beside him with a smile, saying...

"Lucky, you get a bye in your first game."

Kozume Kenma walked beside him, saying calmly, "Mm."

The Okuryu Club is indeed very wealthy. The coaches took them to a hotel next to the venue where the match was scheduled the night before. There is only one match a week, so they could make it there by car in the morning. However, the coaches obviously thought that saving them the trouble of traveling would allow them to perform better.

Sawada Tsunayoshi's assessment of this was probably that he was rich and could do whatever he wanted.

After all, the old coach made a special trip to see them during their training session on Saturday, saying that they should just focus on the game and that the club wouldn't be short of the bonus.

Coach Kujo and Coach Suzuki never even considered the possibility of losing their first match, and their tactical discussions were all about arranging for Nekoma later on.

"Wouldn't it be incredibly embarrassing to lose the first match?" Sawada Tsunayoshi stood at the edge of the volleyball court, trembling as he looked at the spacious gymnasium.

"Huh?" Kujou Ike pressed down on Tsuna's fluffy head. "Don't worry, with me here, we definitely won't lose!"

Matsukawa Saki stood under the wall, waving to his family above. Aoyama Kaede pulled Hinata along to ask the coach if there were any restrooms nearby. Kojima Shiro followed behind them, seemingly also planning to take care of his bodily needs before the match began.

On the net side, only Kyoji Akaashi was seriously warming up and preparing for the match, while Tsunayoshi Sawada's legs were trembling uncontrollably.

That's completely unbelievable! Can their team really win?!

Suzuki went to the referee's office to submit his form, and when he came back, he found that half of the regular members he had just reported were gone. He asked Kujou Hayate,

"Did they all go to the toilet?"

Kujou Hayate was just about to find a substitute to go to the restroom to check if the kids had fallen in and hadn't returned yet when she heard the question, and she looked rather helpless.

"Apart from Chi, none of them have much experience in major competitions, so it was expected that the first match today wouldn't go too smoothly..."

He couldn't continue speaking. Who would have thought that the competition hadn't even started yet and the few starters were already so nervous!

Suzuki sighed, "Let's send them up for one game and see how things go. I don't think they'll collapse too badly."

You'll never have competition experience if you don't play matches; you'll get used to it eventually if you play a few more times.

Kyoji Akaashi rescued Tsunayoshi Sawada from Ikeya Kujo. "Hurry up and warm up. If you make a mistake with your serve later, you'll be in for a scolding. The coaches won't let you off the hook."

Among the regular players, he is the only one with experience in official matches and as a regular player. He can be considered a player with a big heart, which is reflected in the fact that he is not nervous at all during the game and even likes to create some small surprises to stimulate his teammates.

The coaches ultimately chose Ikeya to serve first, since Ikeya Kujo was the one among them who practiced serving the most.

After warning Kujo Ikeya, Akaashi softened his tone and comforted Sawada Tsunayoshi, who was bewildered by the large number of spectators beside him.

"Just play like you would in a regular training match. There's no need to be too nervous. As long as I receive the ball, I can adjust myself."

Tsuna clutched at Akaashi Kyoji's sleeve, his palms sweating. He was never good at facing strangers, let alone suddenly competing under the watchful eyes of so many people. With Akaashi Kyoji's reassurance, he nodded. With his teammates by his side, Sawada Tsuna felt much more at ease.

Kujo Ike, watching the two warming up happily, interjected unhappily, "Hey, you two, your double standards are too obvious! Kyōji, one second you were saying that mistakes would get you scolded, and the next second you're saying it's okay to make mistakes! And Tsuna, am I not a reliable senior too?"

Kujo, looking utterly abandoned, kept making strange noises around them.

Matsukawa Saki shouted back from below the stands without turning his head, "Ikeya, don't you have any self-awareness? Apart from your age, what makes you a reliable senior?"

"Hey, how are you any better than me?" Kujo Ike immediately retorted.

"I know my own limitations better than you do," the other person said, seemingly without any guilt.

It was so noisy. Sawada Tsunayoshi's head was buzzing. After a few rounds, the tense atmosphere was completely dispelled. When he stood on the field to prepare for the match, all he could hear in his head was the loud voices of his two teammates.

Hinata had been lost in thought since returning from the restroom, so Tsunayoshi had to remind him to snap out of it. He wondered if Hinata had even properly warmed up. Hinata jumped slightly when Sawada Tsunayoshi suddenly spoke, attracting the referee's attention.

The coach went to guess who would have possession of the ball. Tsuna felt that letting Hyuga continue like this was unacceptable, so he moved a few steps closer to Hyuga.

"What's the matter?"

Hinata's face was deathly pale; he was so tense that the muscles in his arms bulged out.

"Xiao Gang, I feel so nervous I'm about to throw up."

Wait, you're practically breathing! Sawada Tsunayoshi's eyes widened; this person's level of tension was far more severe than his own!

"Hey, um, don't be nervous," Sawada Tsunayoshi said, flustered. How did Kyoji comfort him just now?

"Xiao Xiang, look, this is the first time we've all played in a competition, and I'm super nervous too."

He finally gave up searching his brain for Akaashi Kyoji's quotes and could only awkwardly comfort his teammates. He pointed to Aoyama Kaede on the other side, and Hinata looked over. The tall boy's face was ashen, and he looked like he was about to faint at any moment.

Hearing Tsuna and Hinata's conversation, he turned his neck with a clatter and forced a stiff smile at them.

You look really bad!

Sawada Tsunayoshi screamed inwardly, "Can this team really do it?"

A note from the author:

----------------------

Tsuna and Sun have some stereotypes about setters—they are smart.

Later, encountering the cat team reinforced the stereotype.

Even KGYM has a very intelligent face! It's probably just that some high school fantasies were shattered [cat emoji]