Chapter 18 The summer when tears ended early.
After a resounding victory in the group stage, the next match will be the semi-finals in two weeks...
I originally wanted to go and watch Yukimura and his team's county competition finals in the afternoon, but Yukimura forced me to get on the car to go home without any rejection.
Niou was still complaining: "If you have to cheer for a county competition, that's too lame."
Very good, so the reason why you come to cheer for the women's volleyball team in every game is because we are lame?
Receiving Yuihara Kaoru's murderous gaze, Niou raised an eyebrow. "We're here as friends of the family, right? Minister? Vice Minister? Partner?"
Yuihara Kaoru's eyes wandered over the people she mentioned, and suddenly she realized something: "Ah! I understand!"
Then he said "Come on" with a smile and left, leaving Yukimura and the others staring at each other in bewilderment.
Of course she knew—Rika, who hadn't eaten lunch with her in the past two weeks, was definitely on a date with Yagyu-kun! Fortunately, she still had her "spies" in the class who reported the latest news about the two of them in real time.
She wanted to see when Lixiang was going to tell her! No wonder she had been discussing the issue of "love" with her for the past two weeks.
The IH Tournament Kanagawa Prefecture semifinals arrived as planned. On a dreary summer afternoon, in the gymnasium, a fresh breeze still blew, yet sweat poured down. Time and again, I caught, passed, spiked, and blocked the ball...
very tired.
It's really tiring to compete with an opponent like Shonan. Both sides have equally tight defense and powerful offense, and often fights last five or six rounds for a single point.
She could hear her own pounding heartbeat and heavy breathing. Her consciousness was almost ripped away, and the cheers of the audience and her teammates seemed to fade away, transforming into tiny bubbles that popped in her ears.
The other team scored... Who asked in her ear: "Do you want a timeout?"
"No," she heard herself answer along with the other seniors, "We can't pause."
She and Rika looked at each other. There were only 5 points left to win the first sentence. They had to keep going. Keep going, keep going!
"Jieyuan is almost at his limit." Several teenagers in the stands were worried. The score of this game was 20:18, and our school was temporarily in the lead.
Yukimura Seiichi rubbed his brows and said, "She just recovered from a cold, so she must be having a hard time."
"Yuhara and Sakurai are the two who move the most," Yanagi Renji narrated calmly. "As a libero, Sakurai has some time to rest, but Yuhara has none. At this point... substituting isn't possible."
"yes......"
As they were talking, the opponent's serve had already crossed the net. Libero Sakurai Rika shouted, "I'll do it!" and smoothly passed the ball to setter and team captain Matsumoto Genon. Yuihara Kaoru put all her strength into it and said, "Pass it to me!"
Gotta score!
Once again, he took a step back, ran up, jumped, swung his arms, wrapped the ball, and attacked.
Just like training day and night.
Since I was four years old, I have been determined to play volleyball.
Yukimura Seiichi sat up straight, her figure like a fully drawn bow, looking like she was flying away from the horizon. She swung with all her might, trying her best every time, like a burning star that streaked across the entire field.
A big diagonal smash, scoring.
"Always win Rikkai University, let's go Rikkai University!"
"Yuhara Kaju! Yuhara Kaju!"
Everyone in the audience was also cheering hard.
Please shout my name! Give me strength! Yuhara Kaoru's dark blue eyes flashed with a sharp edge.
"Come on!" Matsumoto Genon patted her shoulder and returned to her position.
…
With the referee's final whistle, Rikkai University finally won the game.
Yuihara Xiangcheng slumped down on the ground, still feeling exhausted, and slowly lay down again. Layers of black circles began to ripple before her eyes.
Rika Sakurai and Genon Matsumoto tried to pull her up, but Yuihara had already become a puddle of mud, and the two of them, who also had little strength, could only give up.
Suddenly, her mouth was stuffed with gummy candies. Yuhara Kaoru opened her eyes and saw that it was senior Kotomi Igarashi. She smiled and said, "Eat quickly, eat quickly, you will have strength after eating."
Yuihara Kaoru chewed and swallowed hard: "Thank you, senior. I have another question. Have you washed your hands?"
In return, Kotomi Igarashi scratched her head and continued to chuckle.
The gymnasium's ceiling was crisscrossed with steel bars, and sunlight streamed in through the side windows. Yuihara Kaoru felt a rare sense of post-match calm. She extended her right hand, palm open, her still-reddened hand seeming to grasp the scent of victory.
Keep winning, I want to...keep playing.
She slowly stood up and walked to her teammates. Someone pressed a towel on her face and rubbed it a few times. Yuihara Kaoru protested with a "wooooo". The next second, the towel was removed and a straw from a water cup was put on her mouth. She had just taken two sips when the cup was moved away and several pairs of hands appeared on her body to massage her muscles.
Yuihara Xiangcheng twisted her body strangely: "Ah, no, no, no, don't pinch my waist, it's so itchy, hahahaha!"
"Pfft, it looks like everything's fine," Niou Masaharu observed Yukimura's face, which had calmed down. "Right, Yukimura?"
Seeing her surrounded by her teammates, Yukimura smiled and nodded.
As expected, the second game was against them. Shonan changed their strategy and used a long line to trick the libero and back row defenders into running.
"Rika... don't be confused, don't get hurt." Yuhara Kaoru stood on the left side of Sakurai Rika and warned her who was in a dilemma.
The "heavy artillery" attack temporarily put Sakurai Rika in the same predicament she'd faced in her previous match against Abe Makoto. The swift and powerful volleyball, the collapsed senior—could I really be the team's strongest support in a match like this?
It was just a moment of distraction, and she hadn't even focused on following the ball! The volleyball that had been caught by Senior Kobayashi had already flown high into the air, about to rush towards the sidelines.
There is still a chance!
After glancing at Sakurai Rika who didn't react, Yuihara Kaoru gritted her teeth and ran out. It seemed that it was only five or six steps away from the branch billboard.
She leaped forward, clasped her hands sideways, and straightened her arms, blocking the volleyball's path and allowing it to return to Rikkai's court as she had expected.
"Go on--" Yuihara Kaoru shouted, but she fell heavily on the standing billboard, and the billboard was crushed under her body.
The excruciating pain quickly spread throughout my body, especially my lower back, which hit the aluminum tubes supporting the billboard. I felt like even my bones were wailing.
She could no longer struggle.
Someone was eager to help her up, but they were frightened by her clutching her lower back and dared not move. She didn't want to cry, but tears of pain seemed to flow uncontrollably...
"Yukimura!" Sanada failed to hold back Yukimura who was rushing towards the gate of the stands. He had already disappeared like a gust of wind.
The team uniform jacket also fell to the ground.
Yuihara Kaoru curled up in Miss Kinomoto's slightly trembling arms, tightly clutching Miss Kinomoto's sleeve.
There are people talking...
"I don't know if my lumbar spine is injured. I'd better go and have a look..."
"Call an ambulance and reduce movement."
And she knew clearly that no matter what, under this situation, she would no longer be able to complete today's competition.
For the first time, she realized that she also had endless tears to wipe away.
Unwilling to give up... The unexpected change in the game forced the referee to pause the match, and the Rikkai spectators watched the situation on the court anxiously. Even their opponents, the Shonan players, looked anxious.
The only ones left in the world were the weeping Yuihara Kaoru and the bewildered Sakurai Rika. By the time Rika came to her senses, her face was also covered in tears.
She watched the medical staff carefully lift Xiangcheng onto a stretcher in a side-lying position, watched the referee return to his seat, and watched Senior Hayami begin warming up; she also watched several senior students come to comfort her, and Senior Matsumoto asked her with a trembling voice if she wanted to go down and rest.
"No, I want to compete." It turned out that her voice could be so firm. Sakurai Rika reconnected with the world, her eyes returned to their place, she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, and then used the other hand to wipe away the new tears.
Matsumoto Genyin bit her lower lip tightly and uttered an unclear "OK".
The game... continued in such a dull and weird scene. The billboard that was broken by Yuihara Kaoru lay alone on the spot, watching the movements in the field innocently.
Outside the field, Yukimura had already caught up with Kaoru, who was about to board the ambulance. He gasped for breath, pleading with Miss Kinomoto in his eyes: "Please let me go too!"
Miss Kinomoto looked at the medical staff, and the nurse said there was still room, so Miss Kinomoto nodded and let him come up.
Xiangcheng turned her back to this side, and the nurse gently lifted a little bit of her clothes at the back of her waist - the large purple area was shocking.
"Oh my god," the nurse said, looking at Yuihara Kaoru, who was trying her best to endure it. "Do you want... some painkillers first?"
"No..." Yuhara Kaoru shook her head slightly: "Please send me to Kanagawa X Hospital."
"Ms. Kinomoto..."
Kinomoto immediately came forward: "I'm here."
"Please, can you call my dad?" Enduring the pain, Yuihara Xiangcheng thought quickly in her mind. Her father should not be in the outpatient clinic at this time, and he said this morning that there was no surgery scheduled.
She only thought of those closest to her.
The second game ended in dismal fashion.
Shortly after the third game, Sakurai Rika was the first to be eliminated - her body was already feeling uncomfortable from running back and forth and diving to save the ball under high pressure. When the opponent hit another long spike, she pulled her thigh muscle.
"You've been amazing," said Abe, who was wearing a blue Doraemon Band-Aid today. He helped her to the bench and patted her shoulder. "Leave it to me, your senior, from now on. I won't let you down."
The lost Rika let her tears overflow from her eyes again. Why was she so useless?
"Excuse me, teacher, and this student," Nagatomo Yuihara rushed to the emergency room, not even having time to put on his white coat, and hurriedly bowed to Ms. Kinomoto and Yukimura Seiichi to express his gratitude. The two of them avoided the gesture, and Nagatomo Yuihara continued, "I'll go check on Xiangcheng first."
After saying that, he walked into the clinic without waiting for the two to answer.
Through the door that was not completely closed, Yukimura Seiichi heard Xiangcheng calling "Dad" aggrievedly, and then heard her sobbing that had been suppressed for a long time.
Yukimura and Ms. Kinomoto's eyes also gradually became red.
Hope... everything is okay.
And Li Haida's IH journey seemed to have come to an end in a hurry and chaos.
The author has something to say:
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[Dog head holding a rose][Dog head holding a rose] Suddenly, I have been loved by many angels! Feel free to eat it! I won’t cancel it! (It would be great if I could collect more!) [Please][Please]
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