Chapter 110 Volleyball 70
January 6th.
On the second day of the Spring High School volleyball competition, the Musashino-no-Mori Gymnasium in Tokyo was brightly lit and bustling with people. Players and spectators from all over the country were watching this top-level event, which is known as the Koshien of the Japanese high school volleyball world.
"The schedule has already arrived at the second day. As expected, the most eye-catching event today is the match between Inarizaki High School, representing Hyogo Prefecture, and Karasuno High School, representing Miyagi Prefecture..."
"That's right. Inarizaki High School is known as the 'strongest challenger.' As the runner-up in previous years, Inarizaki High School boasts the nation's top high school setter, Miya Yuu, the strongest twin duo, the Miya brothers, and a top-five main attacker, Oshiro Alan. They're widely considered to have the potential to win the championship."
"And then there was Karasuno High School, who pulled off a major upset in Miyagi Prefecture, defeating the powerful Shiratorizawa Academy, which boasts one of the nation's top three main attackers, Ushijima Wakari. This broke Shiratorizawa's years-long monopoly on the Miyagi Prefecture division."
"Honestly, I was a little disappointed not to see Ushijima-kun at this year's Spring High School competition. However, Karasuno High School is also a brave and aggressive team. I believe they can give us a wonderful match."
"But as expected, there's another thing that caught our attention during today's match—that's Sana-chan! The super-popular entertainer Sana-chan attends Inarizaki High School in Hyogo Prefecture and is also the manager of the Inarizaki volleyball club! Sana-chan also came to the Spring High School match today, sitting next to the Inarizaki coach, cheering for her club!"
During the warm-up session before the game, the commentator's passionate voice echoed in the stadium, creating an even more enthusiastic atmosphere.
Inside the Karasuno venue, Kagegami Tobio turned his gaze towards the direction of the Inarizaki audience seats.
The black-haired girl's stunning beauty made her like a shining pearl in the audience, attracting everyone's attention.
As a member of the Inarizaki volleyball club, she was wearing the Inarizaki maroon sports jacket uniform today, showing that she belonged to the opposing team today.
“………”
Kageyama Tobio couldn't help but tighten the volleyball in his hand.
The last time she came to Miyagi Prefecture, Kurikawa-senpai was invited by Oikawa-senpai. Although she didn't explicitly support Oikawa-senpai's team, Aoba Johsai, she also sat in the audience on the Aoba Johsai side.
But today, she completely stood on Inarizaki's side, and every time he was unable to get her encouragement and support.
But no matter what, he will try his best to win every game, even if it is at Inarizaki High School where his senior is.
When he looked across again, Kageyama Tobio's dark blue eyes were burning with amazing fire and fighting spirit. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Gong."
Gong You narrowed his eyes.
Feixiong-kun himself didn't seem to notice that this time, he didn't bow to his senior as usual.
Moreover, Tobio-kun was looking in Sana-chan's direction just now, so it's very easy to guess what he was thinking.
"We will definitely be the winner, Tobio-kun." Miya You said with a curl of his lips.
After the pre-match warm-up, the game whistle sounded, and the Inarizaki brass band and cheerleaders opened the game with Miya You's terrifying serve.
Just like every match before, the first-year duo of Karasuno Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo used their "monster rush" to shock the audience and score points. But soon, Miya Yu and Miyaji also replicated their weird rush, leaving the opposing Karasuno and the entire audience dumbfounded.
Both teams were competing and competing in their respective positions. There was a secret contest between Miya Yu's "double-sword flow" serve and Kageyama Tobio's powerful jump serve, and the waist-bow spike of outside hitter Kakuna Rintaro competed with the blocking of Tsukishima Hotaru, who was the "rationality" and "shield" of Karasuno.
After being targeted, Karasuno's Tanaka Ryunosuke unleashed unprecedented potential, hitting amazing straight-line shots and super-small diagonal spikes.
When Karasuno was getting into the groove, Miyaji, the attacker, passed the ball to Miya Yu, the setter, with an extremely fast pass, replicating Kageyama and Hinata's eccentric fast break, shocking the entire crowd and plunging Karasuno into despair.
Kita Shinsuke's appearance further deepened this despair. His defense and ball-catching skills were so solid that they were jaw-dropping, and he had absolute confidence that he would never make mistakes in official matches. The scales of victory seemed to have slowly tilted towards Inarizaki.
But this despair seemed to disappear in an instant when Hinata Shoyo received Oshiro Alan's powerful spike like the sun shining on the whole court. Kurikawa Sana, who had been watching the game quietly on the sidelines, couldn't help but be stunned.
It was a gentle yet powerful pass. The yellow-blue volleyball, carrying all the passion and love of these young high school students, flew high across the sky and passed under the dazzling lights of the gymnasium known as the Volleyball Koshien.
Neither the commentator nor the other spectators might have thought this ordinary goal was anything special. But Kurikawa Sana knew, the Karasuno players knew, and Yu-kun and the others who had trained with Karasuno during the summer also knew exactly what this goal meant.
Hinata-kun must have put in a lot of effort and sweat when no one knew about it to become what he is now.
"Hey hey hey—Hinata is worthy of being my apprentice!"
A familiar and demonic voice sounded behind her. Kurikawa Sana turned around and saw Koutarou Koutarou and Kyoji Akaashi wearing the long white coats of Owl Valley Academy.
"Ms. Sana, long time no see." A smile appeared on Akaashi Kyoji's handsome face.
"It's not that long since we met. Didn't we just meet on Christmas?" Koutarou opened his arms and wanted to hug her. "Sanana, I missed you so much——"
Akaashi Kyoji helplessly grabbed him and said, "Boto-senpai, please calm down. We are still in the competition. Ms. Sana is Inarizaki's manager."
"Is the match between Kuroo-kun and Akaashi-kun over?" asked Kurikawa Sana.
"Yes, a completely overwhelming victory--" Koutarou put his hands on his hips proudly.
After taking a look at the tense score between Inarizaki and Karasuno on the field, and then looking at the smug Kuroo-senpai, Akaashi Kyoji sighed again, and left a sentence "Sorry to bother you, Miss Sana. Kuroo-senpai and I will come to see you later" and pulled Kuroo Kotaro away.
After that, Kurikawa Sana also tightened the corners of her clothes, feeling the same tension as the players on the field.
The game finally came to the last ball, and in their game, the last ball always had an epic effect.
Under the black banner that read "No Need to Recall Yesterday" at Inarizaki, Miya Yuu and Miyaji once again unleashed their freak fast break without hesitation. The people who understood this move best, and had the most experience in blocking it, were none other than Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo, who were on the other side of the net.
With the joint block of the two of them, the ball flew back to Inarizaki's court and fell to the ground.
——Inarizaki lost.
After the last ball landed, the whole stadium was silent for a long time.
Karasuno pulled off another upset, defeating the "strongest challenger" and favorite seed Inarizaki High School on the second day of Spring High School.
Even Kurikawa Sana didn't know when she stood up from her seat and stared blankly towards the stadium.
The two palace twins both knelt on the ground, breathing heavily. Ginjima Yui and Oshiro Alan also closed their eyes and raised their heads, letting the sweat slide down.
Due to the extremely tense game throughout and the final result, Kurikawa Sana felt her fingertips and arms go numb, and she felt sorry for everyone in the Inarizaki volleyball club.
The defeat in this game ended Inarizaki's journey in Spring High School this year, and also ended the championship dream of Kita Shinsuke and his group of third-year seniors.
"It's okay, Sana." Kita Shinsuke walked over, patted her shoulder gently, and said softly, "The process is more important than the result. Our third-year story has ended, but Yu and the others' journey has just begun."
"They said that he would definitely become a junior that I would be proud of no matter how much time passed."
"It's just... I'm sorry that I couldn't win the Spring High Championship and couldn't fulfill the New Year's gift I promised you."
Kurikawa Sana shook her head slightly. "It doesn't matter. This game is very exciting. It's already the best gift."
Or rather, the encounter with everyone, with everyone...
From the very beginning, it has been the best gift.
…
*
Harukaka's match for Inarizaki ended, and the car of her agent, Ms. Sato, who was coming to pick up Kurikawa Sana, had already stopped outside the gymnasium. Just as Kurikawa Sana was about to walk towards the car, she heard the familiar and cold voice of a young man behind her.
"Are you leaving?"
Kurikawa Sana was stunned for a moment. It was Tsukishima Hotaru's voice.
In front of the gymnasium, a young man with short flaxen hair stood tall and outstanding. His fair and handsome face beneath his signature black-framed glasses showed no emotion, except for his platinum eyes, which were full of rationality and reflected her figure.
"...Why don't you stay and continue watching the game?"
Watch him in the next game.
However, Tsukishima Hotaru was unable to utter the second half of the sentence.
Kurikawa Sana shook her head regretfully, "No, there's no competition for Inarizaki, and I have to go back to the crew to continue filming."
Tsukishima Hotaru was silent for a moment.
As expected, the guys from Inarizaki ranked first in her heart. Only they could make her give up her job as an artist and come to watch their competition.
But compared to this... there is another aspect that is more worrying.
"You're going back to film that movie, right?" Tsukishima Hotaru frowned and said, "Why are you suddenly taking on a martial arts action scene? It's very dangerous."
Kurikawa Sana was a little surprised at first, then she burst out laughing and said, "Oh, so Tsukishima-kun pays so much attention to me? He even knows what dramas I'm filming."
Tsukishima Hotaru: “…”
The young man turned his face away unnaturally and said casually, "...I saw it while browsing the news."
"Oh~ It turns out to be news~" Kurikawa Sana smiled.
Unable to do anything about her, Tsukishima Hotaru closed her eyes, and her last words turned into just one sentence: "...Be careful, fighting scenes are dangerous, don't get hurt."
This time, it was Kurikawa Sana's turn to have her smile frozen on her face. This time, she didn't respond immediately, but instead said softly, "Sorry, Tsukishima-kun."
Hearing this, Tsukishima Hotaru turned back and looked at her strangely, "What's wrong with you?"
Kurikawa Sana lowered her head and said softly, "I have always been very willful. I'm sorry, Tsukishima-kun."
Hearing this, Tsukishima Hotaru's brows furrowed even deeper.
...Willful? Indeed.
Break into his life willfully, break into the hearts of each of them willfully.
But everyone enjoys it.
[Tsukishima Hotaru, Favorability +2.]
With a "ding" sound.
[Detected that the favorability of a captureable target has reached the maximum value, please be informed. 】
【Tsukishima Hotaru: 100.】
"It's okay, it's not a big deal."
It doesn't matter if he is willful, he is willing.
The boy's voice was faint, but the light in his platinum eyes behind his black-framed glasses was like the moon and stars.
"Thank you, Tsukishima-kun."
Kurikawa Sana waved at him and ran towards her agent's car.
Before she turned her head, she didn't know if she was seeing things, but Tsukishima Hotaru actually thought she saw tears flashing in her eyes.
Looking at the black-haired girl's back as she walked away into the distance, Tsukishima Hotaru was stunned for a rare moment.
Is it an illusion?
For some reason, he had a bad feeling in his heart.
What Tsukishima Hotaru didn't expect was that for a long time afterwards, he would regret not keeping her at that moment and not being able to stop her from going to that crew to film.
If I keep her...
Wouldn't that have happened?
…
*
A few days later.
On the cliff of Tokyo Bay, Kurikawa Sana stood high up and answered the ringing call on her cell phone. It was a call from Hinata Shoyo.
"...Kurikawa-san!" The boy on the other end of the line was clearly excited. "I didn't expect you to answer the phone... Will it bother you if I call now? You should be filming right now, right?"
"I'm not disturbing you." Kurikawa Sana smiled. "Hinata-kun sounds very happy. Did you win the next game at Harukaka?"
"Well... we won the match against Nami-kun, but lost the match against Oudai, where Hoshimi-senpai was... We were eliminated in the quarterfinals."
Hinata Shoyo's voice dropped a bit, but soon became excited again, "Although I lost the match against Xinghai-senpai, I experienced a very satisfying match!"
"I learned my lesson from my senior who caught a fever and cold because she didn't wear a jacket during summer training. After my matches with Inarizaki and Waneko, I put on my jacket to keep warm. I heard that players from other teams in the quarterfinals also caught a fever and cold because of this! If I had caught a fever too... I can't imagine what the match against Oudai would have been like. Luckily, I was in great shape in the end."
"But Xinghai-senpai is truly amazing—damn, I'm so disappointed! But it was also a truly exhilarating match. Being able to play against such a strong opponent and keep the score so close, the third-year seniors all said they had no regrets. It was just that last goal that was such a shame!"
"I'm so happy this year. Not only did I get to meet a senior, but I also made it this far in my first attempt at Spring High School. I also gained so much valuable experience... Karasuno hasn't made it this far into the national tournament in years. Next year, Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi, and I will definitely win it back!"
Suddenly realizing that the girl on the other end of the phone didn't seem to respond for a long time, Hinata Shoyo was stunned for a moment before realizing that the senior was the manager of Inarizaki, and that Karasuno had just defeated Inarizaki High School not long ago, and he was actually saying these things so excitedly...!
"Sorry, senpai! Am I being too opinionated... Is senpai angry?!"
The girl answered him with a gentle laugh, "No, I'm not angry. I'm just listening carefully to every word Hinata-kun says."
"I want to hear more."
Because, soon, I won't be able to hear it anymore. Kurikawa Sana lowered her eyes.
“……!!”
On the other end of the line, Hinata Shoyo had just finished packing his luggage at his hotel in Tokyo, preparing to join Karasuno's bus back to Miyagi Prefecture. Upon hearing Kurikawa Sana's words, the orange-haired boy's face flushed red, and he immediately became flustered.
"Then, then I'll tell you a little more, Senior?"
"Okay, Hinata-kun."
Tsukishima Hotaru, who was passing by, saw Hinata Shoyo's blushing face, then glanced at the phone he was answering, and seemed to understand something. The boy's light yellow brows instantly frowned.
...Really.
I really shouldn't have told her that it's okay to be willful. But when I think about it carefully, being willful does indeed matter.
Kageyama Tobio, who had just finished packing his luggage in the same room, was much more direct. He took the phone from Hinata Shoyo very naturally and said directly into the microphone, "Good morning, Kurikawa-senpai."
Tsukishima Hotaru could almost hear the girl's gentle laughter from the receiver of Hinata's phone after being amused by Kageyama.
“…”
Tsukishima Hotaru sighed almost helplessly and looked up at the sky.
She should be filming in Tokyo Bay now, right?
…
*
On the other side, Kageyama Tobio said that Karasuno's bus had arrived at the hotel entrance, and hung up the phone amidst Hinata Shoyo's calls.
Kurikawa Sana could almost imagine the scene and cheerful atmosphere over there, and the smile was still on her face when she hung up the phone.
The phone shows that Line has received another message.
[S: (picture)]
It was a photo of the kitten Koto-chan. The little black cat on the screen had grown a little fatter and was curled up in the arms of the black-haired boy, sleeping quietly.
Kurikawa Sana directly called the other party.
The other party answered the phone quickly, but seemed surprised that she had called him on her own initiative. Sakuhaya Seiomi's voice sounded a little surprised, "You..."
"I suddenly miss you so much, Sakusaya-kun."
“……!”
[Sakuzao Holy Minister, favorability +2. 】
"You..." The boy's voice suddenly became hoarse, "Do you know what you are saying?"
"I know." Kurikawa Sana looked down at the rubble on the edge of the cliff and said softly, "I just want to tell Sakuhaya-kun what I'm thinking at this moment."
"Well then, I'll hang up now, Sakusaya-kun."
“…”
"The wind is blowing loudly over there. Are you filming?" Sakuhaya Seiomi's voice became serious. "I'll come find you when you're done filming. I... have something to tell you."
Kurikawa Sana was slightly stunned.
It seemed that he understood what the boy on the other end of the phone wanted to say.
After a soft "hmm", Kurikawa Sana hung up the phone.
——The time has come.
Looking at the Line interface on her phone, she had a lot of things she wanted to say to many people, but when she thought about it carefully, it seemed too strange and deliberate to send so many messages to everyone one by one in the few minutes before leaving.
Then... just send the message that you most want to send at this moment.
Over the past few days, she had already reconnected with almost everyone, had a good chat, and had a good last meeting. The only thing left was...
Kurikawa Sana opened the chat interface with Guzhua Mamoru and sent the last text message.
Then, an annoying voice appeared behind him.
"Sana-chan, what are you doing hiding here all by yourself? Filming is about to start again—"
The man who came was the director of this martial arts movie, a guy who appeared to be righteous but was actually morally corrupt. He had a gangster background, was domineering in the industry, and had done many bad things that were against the will of heaven.
From the day Kurikawa Sana joined the crew, director Kondo repeatedly expressed his desire to take advantage of her. The day after Kurikawa Sana rejected him, he arranged for her to do a fight scene that was ten times more difficult and dangerous than the original filming assignment.
If it were in the past, Kurikawa Sana would have quit filming immediately. But now it was different... She thought for a long time about how to leave this world in a way that would be shocking enough and unforgettable.
If it were anyone else, she wouldn't do this, and wouldn't cause trouble for others just for her own selfish desires. But this lustful guy in front of her was clearly not one of them, and there was no need to worry about anything anymore.
"Sana-chan~ How have you considered what I suggested earlier?"
Looking at the girl's skirt fluttering in the wind and her heart-throbbingly beautiful face, Director Kondo smiled and approached step by step, his fingertips trembling with excitement.
This girl who debuted for less than a year is so beautiful. It is the first time he has seen someone this beautiful in all his years in the entertainment industry. He simply cannot help himself.
And today, no one knew what was wrong with her. She looked particularly quiet and well-behaved. Director Kondo's steps became more anxious. "Sana-chan, I will teach you how to be happy~..."
Almost there.
Kurikawa Sana looked around quietly. Behind Director Kondo, she saw Ms. Sato and other crew members rushing towards this side. Everyone would be witnesses to what would happen next.
The moment Director Kondo's hand reached out, Kurikawa Sana leaned back under his shocked and astonished gaze, taking advantage of the slight force from his clothes touching her shoulder.
Behind her was a cliff more than 30 meters high.
At the same time, the system's voice sounded in her mind.
[Are you sure you want to leave now? Sana.]
[Yes, system.]
System: [I understand.]
…
As she fell from the cliff facing the sky, Kurikawa Sana clearly heard the whistling of the wind and the clear chirping of birds.
She saw the clouds floating in the blue sky, the colorful flowers growing tenaciously out of the soil on the cliffs, and the white birds flapping their wings curiously and flying towards her, as if they wanted to walk side by side with her.
It was amazing that she could see all of this so clearly.
When living towards death, every image you see symbolizes freedom and vitality.
Before the pain came slowly and she lost consciousness, Kurikawa Sana closed her eyes, and the scenes she had encountered in this world flashed before her eyes.
The scene of my first time at the Inarizaki volleyball club: the boys' brilliant smiles, the arc of the yellow-blue volleyball through the air, the blue tears of Suma's fireflies and the beauty of the sunrise at the seaside, the watermelons and barbecues at summer training camps, the volleyball team waiting at the train station in the evening and at the doorsteps in the early morning, the passionate and sweaty matches they played on the spring high school courts...
Warm memories and images, like movie scenes and kaleidoscopes, kept replaying, replacing the pain and other perceptions.
[Calculating total health value, helping the host to leave this world...]
[Next world loading...]
【The host has left this world.】
…
*
Half an hour later.
A shocking piece of news that has taken Twitter trends and the internet by storm.
[Artist Sana Kurikawa fell off a cliff in an accident while filming a movie. Her life or death is unknown.]
With a "click".
In different districts and cities in Japan, you can hear the sound of young people's mobile phones falling to the ground and shattering.
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