[12] Grade 11: Crane Pavilion
However, this indifference quickly dissipated as the golden-eyed boy lowered his eyes and revealed a gentle smile.
...So imposing.
A bead of cold sweat silently trickled down the forehead of the new reporter.
The veteran reporter, oblivious to his colleague's awkwardness, hurriedly raised his hand and said, "Um! Can we take pictures now?"
The first-year student council president looked over with a hint of surprise: "Okay."
"Okay!!" The veteran reporter quickly raised his camera.
"Jin Chuchuan, please don't move. Hold this position."
After taking several photos, the veteran reporter stopped, satisfied.
"Great! That's fine, thank you."
"Perfect lighting!" Little Chubby Bird flew over from behind the reporters, "That photo could totally be on a magazine cover!!!"
While the veteran reporter was taking pictures, it sneaked up to the camera and peeked at the screen.
"I knew the student union office building would have great natural light here!!"
The glutinous rice ball proudly puffed out its bulging chest: "I've never played volleyball, I'm mostly just a theorist, but I've actually built a lot of schools! Many previous hosts entrusted the entire school construction to the system!!"
How can a youth volleyball development system be so arrogant when it claims it can only talk about volleyball theoretically...?
Unnoticed by the two reporters, Imadegawa Yuzuru gave the chubby little bird a silent sidelong glance.
The two reporters were led by the teacher in charge to a sofa in the reception area.
Since it was not a formal conversation but just a brief interview, and given the limited time available, the two sides quickly went back and forth a few times regarding the pre-agreed interview questions.
Interviews conducted by reputable media companies are not as tricky as those asked by tabloids and magazines. After digging out a few juicy details, they know how to politely end the interview without deliberately asking difficult questions in an attempt to uncover more sensational stories.
The interview concluded with the last question posed by the senior reporter: "Having qualified for the Kyoto regional qualifiers for the first time, what are Tsurumeikan's expectations for the national tournament?"
Imadegawa Yuzuru smiled slightly and spoke casually—
......
After the interview, the teacher in charge led them away.
The new reporter looked out the window through the arched window frame in the corridor: "From this angle, the school of Heming Hall is really big. No wonder we need a car."
The student union office building faces south. Looking out from the windows of the fifth-floor corridor, the tree-lined avenue they had come from is nearby. Next to the avenue is a gravel path, with neatly trimmed bushes on both sides and octagonal brass streetlights scattered among them.
The landscaping and design of the Crane Pavilion are outstanding. Looking out from here, you can't see the end of the campus at a glance. All you can see is a lush green expanse, and in the distance, the rooftops of various Japanese and Western eclectic buildings are faintly visible, submerged in greenery.
At this height, one cannot even see the roof of the five-meter-high gate of the Crane Sound Hall.
"For a secondary school, this size is comparable to some small universities," a veteran reporter said.
The teacher in charge explained the history of Heming Hall to them: "Heming Hall is a junior high and senior high school combined. When it was founded, the first board member invested a large sum of money for his own child..."
The route out of the school is the same as the route in.
The teacher in charge escorted the two reporters back to the school gate and handed them two small gifts: "Thank you for visiting today. This is a small token of our volleyball club's appreciation."
The two reporters accepted the gift with both hands and expressed their gratitude.
On the way back, the new reporter couldn't wait to open the gift bag.
The gift from Heming Pavilion is a set of customized stationery, including a fountain pen, a notebook, and a bookmark.
The fountain pen is made of ebony, with the crane emblem of the Heming Hall embossed on it. The notebook cover is also embossed with the school emblem of cranes, and mother-of-pearl is inlaid in the embossing. The inner pages are as smooth as silk. The silver bookmark is engraved with a crane and a tricolor ball pattern, and a vermilion silk bookmark cord hangs above it, exuding an elegant temperament.
"Truly worthy of the Crane Cry Pavilion!" the new reporter remarked.
......
Jin Chuchuan's nine consecutive points from serves would be big news in the national high school volleyball scene.
While some schools in certain regions may indeed score more than ten points in a single set during the qualifiers, these are usually dominant scores achieved in matches between strong and weak schools within a small region, or exceptional performances in the early group matches of the qualifiers.
The match in which the first-year players from Tsurumeikan scored nine consecutive points from serves took place in the final stage of the Kyoto volleyball preliminaries, against the Kyoto volleyball powerhouse, Yamazaki Tachibana.
The local Kyoto media lavished praise on Imadegawa.
"A miracle server from 'Tsurumeikan'!"
"The first-year setter captain's amazing spin ball!!"
"An incredible serve that opened up a nine-point lead!!!"
The reports about the Tsurumeikan volleyball club and its other members are even more exaggerated than those about Imadegawa.
"A miraculous comeback! Winning the regional championship on their first expedition!!"
"A nightmare for attackers—'An impenetrable defense that can't be dunked on'!!"
"The flawless shield of Tsurumeikan—Kyoto's best free agent, Saotome Chihaya!!"
"The opposing coach admitted: 'They are the only team we can't break through...'"
......
Nine consecutive points from the ball, coupled with Heming Hall's victory over last year's top 16 in their first appearance to secure a spot in the next round, have made Heming Hall's reputation even more legendary.
In addition to local Kyoto media outlets submitting applications to visit the school for interviews, several national newspapers also sent telephone interview requests to Tsurumeikan.
As a result, the news of Heming Pavilion's national qualification spread throughout the country through newspapers and magazines.
As the dominant force in Kyoto volleyball, Tachibana Yamazaki has consistently ranked among the national champions, and many schools have played against them.
The coaches of several schools were quite surprised to hear that Tachibana Yamazaki had lost 3-1 to a dark horse school in the final, and that he had been beaten by a ten-point margin in one game.
Many school coaches who had previously participated in training camps with Yamazaki Tachibana and had already secured qualification spots in their respective regions sent emails to him to offer their congratulations and probe his intentions.
......
I once again agreed to the allied schools' request for the final videotape in the email.
Director Tachibana Yamazaki pressed the screen-off button on his phone and sighed softly.
He watched Yamazaki Tachibana, the ace player, jumping around in the arena, and rubbed his furrowed brow.
The veteran coach, who had been leading the volleyball team for seven years, muttered to himself, "This is really difficult—"
——————
Tokyo.
When Yoruichi Eisuke got home from school, he opened the mailbox by the door and took all the newspapers his family had subscribed to into the house.
His two silly younger brothers were chasing each other around the house with Ultraman figurines in their hands.
The slightly smaller one in front, while running, turned around and made faces at the slightly older brother. He didn't notice the eldest brother who had just entered and bumped straight into him.
Ye Jiu reached out and stopped his younger brother, who was about to trip over him. The newspaper in his arms slipped to the ground as he moved.
"Don't run around the house in slippers!!!"
Ye Jiu sighed and tapped his younger brother's forehead.
The two younger brothers usually obeyed their gentle yet inexplicably authoritative older brother, obediently nodding in apology and walking away hand in hand.
Ye Jiu squatted down and picked up a few newspapers that had fallen to the ground.
He quickly tidied it up again.
The sports newspaper, which was originally at the bottom, was moved to the top by Yoru.
As someone in the same position, Yaku immediately noticed this report in the sports newspaper—
"'Absolute Defense' marches across the nation! Who's backing Kyoto's best libero?"
Yoruichi picked up the newspaper with interest.
——————
Hyogo Prefecture.
Twins who look alike, with only slight differences in their bangs, passed by the newsstand, playfully bickering.
"You idiot! You stole my pudding again!!"
"A pudding without a name on it is obviously a pudding without an owner—"
"My name is on my backpack!!"
"It wasn't on the pudding!!! Who knows if that idiot Osamu secretly took my pudding and put it in his own bag—"
Miyaji clenched his fist fiercely.
Sensing the situation was turning bad, Gong You turned and rushed towards the newsstand: "Give me a Volleyball Daily!"
Gong Zhi pointed to the huge headline in the newspaper with a forced smile—
"Kyoto's first-year setter scored nine points with a miraculous spin shot!!"
"He became the captain in his first year! And you... heh."
He glanced at his brother from head to toe, narrowed his eyes, and made a disdainful expression.
"Who does this stupid pig think he is?!" Gong You snapped.
The two of them finished reading the newspaper while playfully bickering.
"Oh dear—this doesn't even explain how he became the commander-in-chief!"
"This is written in such a confusing way—"
The fox, pressing down on its own brother, listlessly shook off its paws.
——————
Miyagi Prefecture.
On his way home after training, Oikawa Toru bought a copy of the National Sports Daily as usual.
He glanced at the newspaper casually, then his gaze suddenly stopped on a corner of the publication.
"A miraculous serve from a first-year setter from Kyoto? Nine consecutive serves to score in the IH Kyoto qualifier final!!!"
The bolded words "First-year setter" and "miracle serve" pierced straight into Toru Oikawa's eyes.
He put away his frivolous expression and, unusually, became serious as he carefully read the report analysis below the headline.
Ultimately, print media analysis is not as intuitive as video.
After reading the newspaper analysis twice, Oikawa Tetsu still couldn't figure out the key points. He decided to try searching online forums that evening to see if he could find the recording of the Kyoto final.
Oikawa Tetsu continued reading.
The next article is also related to the Kyoto Miracle player, but the focus is on the player's school.
"This is the first time the representative school from Kyoto Prefecture has entered the national competition! What are their goals???"
The following is a series of analyses and commentaries on the Kyoto Prefecture Tsurumeikan Men's Volleyball Team's matches during the Kyoto Preliminary Rounds.
The last line of this report, featuring the first-year team leader's statement from the Crane Cry Hall, was deliberately enlarged and bolded in the newspaper's font.
"Our goal is the summit."
————————
The Oikawa twins and Yoru were promoted! Tokyo hesitated for a long time about whether to promote Kuroo or Kenma, but the inspiration came from Yoru, so they gave up on the Kuroo version lol The next chapter is Aichi Prefecture!
I only wrote 500 words in three hours. What was I doing? (Super useless, lying down in sadness) But I forced myself to finish it, hehe.
One last thing—the out-of-character moments are mine, the characters belong to everyone!!! If you find the original characters too out of character in this story and can't continue reading, feel free to politely leave.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
