[16] Grade 11: IH National Tournament
“That banner,” Big Ears pointed to the white banner fluttering in the middle of the Heming Hall court, “wasn’t it even pulled out in the last game?”
The banner of the Tsurumeikan Volleyball Club is extremely ornate. It is made of white silk cloth with the volleyball club slogan "Tsurumeikite Sora ni Remnaya" embroidered in black thread. The words are outlined in gold thread outside the black thread. The words "Tsurumeikan High School Men's Volleyball Club" are embroidered in vermilion thread in the lower right corner.
Yes, their slogans weren't even printed, but were meticulously embroidered on silk.
The silk fabric used as the base also looked very luxurious. Under the illumination of the Nagoya Gymnasium's overhead lights, it had a lustrous sheen. From the Inarizaki side, one could even faintly see the crane pattern on the white silk fabric.
"Why did this guy mess up as soon as he appeared? Is he some kind of main character?" Big Ears turned to his teammate and asked, puzzled.
Akagi clapped his hands and said cheerfully, "Perhaps it's about the prestige of being the captain?"
"I wanted to say this from the start," said Wei Bai, who was also staring at the cheerleaders on the opposite half of the court.
"Their school's support group is so luxurious."
For the Inarisaki Men's Volleyball Club, which has a powerful brass band support group, they have participated in so many matches and have always been the best in the country when it comes to the configuration of their support group.
This time, when Inari Saki's support team encountered Tsurumeikan, they met an extremely strong opponent.
Besides the Gagaku (a type of traditional Chinese music) club, the Tsurumeikan support group also includes students from the Taiko (a type of traditional Chinese drum) club, the Zaku (a type of traditional Chinese drum) club, the Naruko (a type of traditional Chinese stringed instrument) club, and other clubs, holding various traditional musical instruments, some of which they recognize and some of which they do not recognize at all.
The cheerleaders dressed in white haori and black hakama were probably from the dance club, as they started the show by performing a short Peking Opera dance to the music of the support group.
“A cheering squad of this caliber could easily qualify for the national competition, right?” Akagi affirmed Ooshiro’s words.
Big Ears, puzzled, said, "Aren't we at the national competition right now?"
“I mean,” Akagi rolled his eyes at him, “this cheering squad could be directly submitted to a national-level performance group.”
Big Ears touched his ears and awkwardly changed the subject with a laugh: "I'm only noticing this kind of support group for the first time today."
"We used to play against the Heming Hall team in the same auxiliary hall, but I have absolutely no recollection of it—"
"This hasn't happened before," Wei Bai guessed, stroking his chin. "Did the school only arrange a cheering squad after we entered the knockout stage?"
"How snobbish—" Akagi and Big Ear said in unison.
"No way?" Inarizaki, the third-year ace who was eavesdropping, interjected, "Isn't that volleyball club captain the student council president of their school?"
"How do you know about their school, senior?!" Big Ears exclaimed in surprise.
"The student council president of a first-year student?!?!" Akagi exclaimed in surprise.
“My mother is from Kyoto.” Inarizaki Ace said, folding his arms. “She went to her hometown in Kyoto to visit my maternal grandmother a while ago, and since she came back, she’s been sighing and lamenting every day.”
Ace complained, "The people of Kyoto are practically exaggerating the abilities of Tsurumeikan's volleyball club captain. They call him a 'miracle serve,' a 'first-year student council president,' a 'Gakushuin prodigy,' a 'Tsurumeikan prodigy'... (cEYs)."
At this point, Wangpai couldn't help but complain: "He's long past the point of being called a 'child,' hasn't he? Which tabloid is spouting nonsense about him being a 'child prodigy'?"
After venting her frustrations, Ace returned to the topic: "She listened to those reports every day in Kyoto, and even brought back a bunch of local Kyoto newspapers for her family to read, so it's hard for her not to be impressed by the person in front of her."
Finally, he said somewhat helplessly, "But it's really impressive to become the student council president in your first year."
The referee's whistle summoned the ace to the service line.
Inarizaki will start this game.
The remaining starters whispered among themselves.
"If he can become the student council president in first grade, he must be a very good student." Big Ears missed the point.
Da Er, who had never been in the student council or had no friends in the student council during his three years of junior high and one semester of senior high, bluntly equated being in the student council with being good at studying.
Akagi, however, veered back to volleyball: "With the student council so busy, do they even have time to practice?"
"Who knows?" Wei Bai glanced at the setter on the other side of the net with a critical look. "If he's a key server, maybe he'll have enough time, but he's a setter. Setters need to spend a lot of time practicing with their teammates, right?"
And the captain of the setter team at Heming Hall looks too thin.
He didn't say that directly.
Ace Inari's serve interrupted their whispers.
The volleyball swept through the air, and everyone's attention was focused on the yellow and blue ball.
After two sets, the Tsurumeikan team had become familiar with Inarizaki's powerful serves. Their response was quick yet composed, with the back row receiving players quickly making way for the libero after judging the landing point.
Saotome's nimble footsteps pattered as she approached.
With a "smack," the volleyball hit his forearm.
Using the momentum, the free man suddenly raised his arms.
The angle is perfect! The speed is perfect! The trajectory is perfect!
He easily caught the volleyball and then easily delivered a perfect first pass.
The volleyball came to the top of Imadegawa's head in front of the net.
He raised his hand.
Inarizaki, with his large ears at the net, was intently watching Tsurumeikan's setter.
Through the net, he saw the golden-eyed setter glance towards their half of the court.
Then he suddenly sent the volleyball forward with both hands.
There were no preparatory gestures or hand signals, and he didn't even glance in the direction of his own players.
So who is it for?
Da Er focused most of his attention on the volleyball that the setter had just released and on the several middle blockers who were poised to attack from the other side of the net, while still keeping an eye on the setter out of the corner of his eye.
The golden-eyed setter stood casually in place, calmly watching the volleyball he had passed to the ball.
They still didn't look at the Heming Pavilion team members, nor did they make any gestures.
—It's too late to make a gesture once the volleyball has slipped out of your hands, right?
The No. 4 middle blocker from Heming Hall has started his run-up.
It's a fast break!!
Big Ear and another Inarizaki outside hitter who were close by immediately jumped.
Inarizaki double block!
But—the No. 4 middle blocker at Heming Hall stopped abruptly after her run-up!
The big-eared man, who had already jumped to a high point, raised his arms high and looked down at the black-haired middle blocker who had stopped in front of the net with a slight tremor in his pupils.
The black-haired middle blocker looked up expressionlessly, not glancing at the two opposing blocks who had been tricked by his timing, but focusing intently on the volleyball.
Aoyagi leaped up suddenly!
The main attacks from Otori and Inarizaki had already begun to fall.
The volleyball, gently passed to him, touched Aoyagi's palm.
With a "snap" followed by a "bang," the yellow and blue volleyball landed in Inarizaki's half of the court.
"Beautiful! Tsurumeikan's number 4 demonstrated a perfect timing tactic at the start! He successfully tricked Inari Sakikata's double block by taking a running start and stopping, then jumped again and spiked the ball diagonally through the gap in the block!" The commentator's voice rang out.
Crane Pavilion scores!
Big Ears slapped his arm in frustration: "Damn it! I was fooled!!"
"That middle blocker didn't look so sinister and cunning, but appearances can be deceiving after all—" The main attacker, Inarisaki, was equally frustrated and pounded his chest.
"He wasn't this cunning in the last two games," Big Ears gritted his teeth.
After scoring a point, Aoyagi didn't even glance at his opponent on the other side of the net. Instead, he ignored the two players pounding their chests in frustration next to the net and skipped happily toward his own setter.
Imaichi Kawai skillfully stroked his teammate's middle blocker's deliberately lowered head.
"Great, great!"
The two Inarisaki members, ignored in front of the net, had beady eyes.
"Hey, Big Ears..." The main attacker grabbed Big Ears' arm.
"What do they mean by this? Are they looking down on us?"
"After hitting such a beautiful shot, are you going to start trash-talking us?"
"Are you a masochist, senior?" Akagi complained from the backstage.
Inarisaki's primary target was quickly shifted: "You wretched junior!! Get rid of those wicked thoughts about your senior from your head!!!"
"Private Marseille—"
After the referee blew his whistle, the players who were fooling around returned to their positions.
After the scoring position rotation, former number two player, Imadegawa, moved to the number one serving position.
Kaminari, sitting in the back seat of the support group at the halfway point of the Crane Sound Hall, slightly straightened his hunched body.
He held his phone, intently watching the game.
Imadegawa weighed the yellow and blue volleyball in his hand and inexplicably thought of the feel of the volleyball in the unfamiliar volleyball hall yesterday.
That's really interesting...
Looking at the foxes poised to strike across from him, he suddenly thought of Rintaro Kakuna on the half of the Tsurumeikan stadium behind him.
Even though he hadn't joined Inarisaki yet, Imadegawa could smell the cunning of a fox on him.
...Who actually fished out whom?
Who can say for sure?
Now that he's out of Sichuan, he won't delve into the matter further and tosses the volleyball into the air.
The six people on the Inari-zaki field revealed eyes that were like foxes hunting, eager to pounce but holding back with patience and a desire to observe.
Kakumei's deep gaze was extremely noticeable at this moment.
The scrutinizing gaze of the fox from both the front and back fixed on Imadegawa.
Everything around gradually faded.
Now, as I leave Sichuan, my mind goes completely blank.
The voices from the audience grew softer and softer to his ears.
Until it is completely eliminated...
It felt like returning to the unfamiliar volleyball court where I trained yesterday.
The little chubby bird perched on the signpost, watching him.
The fox behind him sharpened its claws, casually and stealthily approaching.
—It felt like I was back in the volleyball hall where I trained at Heming Hall.
The little chubby bird remained perched on the signpost, gazing at him.
The pink-haired libero on the opposite side lowered his center of gravity and focused intently on his wrist and palm.
The golden-eyed boy stood at the intersection of three volleyball courts, his mind at peace and his touch perfectly smooth.
Imaizumi serves a volleyball in a very ordinary way—
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As far as I know, the IH Round of 16 matches usually don't have commentary (though I might not be entirely sure). But regardless of whether this actually takes place, I've arranged for commentary to be provided; I simply can't give up on live commentary.
After finishing Inarizaki, the next opponent should be Shiratorizawa. Fubuki has no inspiration, while Shiratorizawa happens to have a little bit of inspiration.
My writing software says I've written over 4000 words today, and I'm like (???) rummaging through my drafts, holding a newly written chapter of just over 3000 words: Where are the extra 1000 words?! Give me back my 1000 words!!!
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