[22] Grade 11: IH National Tournament
As the commentator introduced the teams, the members of both sides who were playing the quarterfinals in the auxiliary hall entered the arena.
When the members of the Shiratorizawa volleyball team, dressed in white and purple uniforms, appeared on the field, the Shiratorizawa cheering squad sang the Shiratorizawa school song in unison.
When the members of the Tsurumeikan volleyball team, dressed in white and black volleyball uniforms, appeared on the field, bright and cheerful classical music played from the direction of the Tsurumeikan cheerleading squad, and the cheerleaders danced in response.
The little chubby bird was originally flapping its wings and flying in front of Imadegawa, but after hearing the Shiratorizawa cheerleading squad singing their school song in unison, it turned around and asked Imadegawa, "Don't we at Tsurumeikan have a school song yet?"
Jin Chuchuan gave it a look of approval.
"Aaaaaaahh ...
"The principal has grossly neglected his duties..."
The plaster glutinous rice ball, solidified in mid-air, fell to the ground with a "plop".
After the warm-up, the referee blew his whistle, and both sides entered the pre-match etiquette phase.
First-year student Shiratorizawa ace Ushijima stood in front of first-year student Tsurumeikan ace Aoyagi and shook hands with him calmly.
Standing opposite Saotome, Tendo smiled and leaned down to her, saying, "Eh? Isn't this IH? Why are there middle school students here?"
Tendo's pupils slid up and down, as if gesturing the space above Saotome's head, before he feigned surprise and said, "Oh dear~ I misspoke. It should be elementary school student."
Saotome's forehead veins bulged.
"A flaming ice cream cone has come to life and is playing volleyball?" the libero replied with a forced smile. "Aren't you afraid of melting?"
"Wow, it's just a little hedgehog after all," Tendo exclaimed dramatically. "But it's so small, won't it get hit by the ball and cry?"
The third-year captain of Shiratorizawa didn't stop Tendo; he smiled at Imadegawa while holding his hand.
Jin Chuchuan smiled calmly, just like everyone else.
Pre-match trash talk is a normal and effective tactical means of probing the opponent's condition, and it is a tradition of psychological warfare in competitive sports.
Although Tsurumeikan has not yet encountered a team that is good at using trash talk to put pressure on them, it is unlikely that trash talk of the level of Tendo would affect the mentality of the Tsurumeikan players.
After the lining ceremony ended, both teams' cheering squads unleashed their full power before the starting serve.
Members of Shiratorizawa's support group clapped paper megaphones, while cheerleaders waved colorful balls in their hands, shouting in unison:
"Shiratorizawa! Shiratorizawa! Shiratorizawa!"
Several loud drumbeats sounded.
The cheerleaders standing in the front row started shouting:
"Win again!"
All members of the support group repeated:
"Win again!!!"
Amidst the heavy drumbeats, the initial cheerleaders shouted at the top of their lungs:
"The strong! —"
All the cheering squad members then shouted:
"Yes! So it is!!!"
The audience in the Shiratorizawa half of the stadium was also caught up in the intense atmosphere, shouting along with the cheering squad:
"The strong! —"
"Yes! So it is!!!"
The support from the Crane Pavilion's cheering squad was evenly matched with that of Shiratorizawa.
Members of the support team at Heming Hall waved small white flags printed with the school emblem of cranes on a black background, while the cheerleaders waved larger silk banners to mimic the posture of a crane spreading its wings, chanting in unison:
"Crane Cry Pavilion! Crane Cry Pavilion! Crane Cry Pavilion!"
The deep sound of the taiko drum rang out, and the gong rubbed together to produce the cry of a crane.
The leader of the support group at Heming Hall is the head of the vocal department, whose voice has an extremely strong penetrating power.
"A single, decisive blow!"
All members of the Crane Cry Pavilion support group repeated in unison:
"One hit, one kill!!!"
The leader raised his hands and shouted to the tune of the taiko drums:
"A sound that lasts for a hundred years!"
The cheering squad members shouted loudly after her voice:
"A thunderous roar that echoed through the heavens!!!"
Halfway through the performance at Heming Pavilion, the audience spontaneously joined the Heming Pavilion support team in chanting:
"A sound that lasts for a hundred years!"
"A thunderous roar! Resounding! Through! the! Heavens!!!"
Despite playing away from home, the stands in both halves of the field seemed to be cheering as if they were playing at home for both schools.
After the two captains drew their cards, Hemingguan went first.
Imadegawa, holding the ball, walked behind the service line.
Unlike the match against Inarizaki, Imadegawa simply placed himself in the first game as the starter in the match against Shiratorizawa.
Little Chubby was quite surprised when the starting lineup was submitted.
It asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why did you go on in the first game?"
"Shouldn't we rely on Saotome and the others to wear down Shiratorizawa's stamina first?"
Imadegawa carefully wrapped the bandage around his finger, replying without looking up, "A war of attrition works on Shiratorizawa, but other tactics don't work there."
Little Chubby Bird, who was hiding in his room watching melodramatic dramas on Imadegawa's phone during yesterday's tactical meeting at Tsurumeikan, is still confused.
After wrapping the bandage, Imadegawa bent and then opened his fingers to feel the tightness of the bandage, and emphasized again: "Shiratorizawa doesn't fall for ordinary tricks."
Let's go back to the present.
Imaizuchi's first serve was the top right-side inside spin serve that he had been playing most smoothly during this period.
As expected, Hayato Yamagata, a first-year free agent from Shiratorizawa, did not receive a call.
Don't mind~
"Don't worry about it—"
"This ball deliberately avoids Hayato-chan's hands!"
Despite Tsurumeikan scoring a point without touching the ball during their serve, the atmosphere in Shiratorizawa's half of the court didn't seem tense.
The second shot was Imadegawa's favorite reverse sidespin shot.
The volleyball curved in an uncanny arc, as if it were about to rush out of Shiratorizawa's half of the court.
"Out of bounds!"
Seeing the volleyball, which was quite high, about to cross the half-court line, Yamagata made a judgment.
Just before crossing the sideline, the volleyball suddenly dropped, landing directly inside the Shiratorizawa sideline.
Tsurumeikan scores again with a no-touch serve!
The players in the front row of Shiratorizawa turned around to watch the volleyball rolling away off the sideline.
"Wow—" Tendo drawled, "Hayato-chan, you've been tricked~"
Hayato Yamagata lost all color.
Don't mind—
"It's okay, next ball!"
Yamagata finally caught up with Imadegawa's third serve—but missed the return.
The starting players from Shiratorizawa, who had been receiving many powerful serves from their ace player during team training, became restless for a while when facing Imadegawa's spiny serves, which lacked power but were easy to return.
However, after Shiratorizawa's setter, Eita Semi, caught up with the fourth volleyball that had been missed, the atmosphere among the Shiratorizawa players in the second half returned to normal.
A poor first pass and an inadequate second pass led Seti to pass the ball to his ace player to salvage the situation.
"Jolly!!"
Wakatoshi Ushijima in the back row is running in.
Wearing a white and purple team uniform, Shiratorizawa Ace leaped high into the air, his body arching backward, his left arm whipping forward like a whip, the volleyball transforming into a blurry yellow and blue shadow—
"Bang!!!"
The volleyball broke through Aoyagi's defensive net like a cannonball.
—The thug went out of bounds.
Aoyuki rubbed her burning palms in a daze.
Aoyagi, who always keeps his eyes down, rarely raises his gaze and carefully places his eyes on the left arm of Ushijima, the ace player on the opposite half of the court.
......it hurts.
Aoyu realized this belatedly.
It's very close to the speed of the high-speed ball-serving machine in the Heming volleyball hall, but the volleyballs from it hurt more.
What the heck...
This was only the first shot of the powerful cannon.
The black-haired middle blocker's eyes inexplicably stung.
He blinked hard twice, and two lines of clear, light water traced straight paths along his face.
"Huh??" Tendou, standing opposite Aoyagi, had tiny eyes.
"Ruoli! You made someone cry!"
His words carried no sarcasm; he was simply stating a fact. Yet, they were far more offensive than any of the trash talk he had previously hurled at the Crane Cry Pavilion's first-day performers.
Most of the starting lineups at the Heming Arena were shocked.
Another middle blocker from Tsurumeikan at the net couldn't help but turn around and carefully observe Aoyagi's expression.
...You really cried??
The vice-assistant of the Crane Cry Hall was dumbfounded.
Aoyagi remained silent, simply gazing at Ushijima. His cleansed, bluish-green pupils appeared exceptionally clear and pure.
Ushijima looked at him, puzzled.
"Mio?" Imadegawa called out Aoyagi's name from the back row.
Aoyagi snapped out of his daze and his face flushed instantly. He hurriedly wiped the water off his face and looked nervously at Imaichi Chuan.
...Yuzuru?
Jin Chuchuan stared at Qingliu for a while before looking away.
Aoyagi seemed to receive something from his captain's gaze, and encouraged, his eyes sparkling as he turned towards Shiratorizawa's half of the field.
After the rotation, the future vice-captain of Shiratorizawa, Shion Ohira, took the place of Shiratorizawa's serve.
The power of a volleyball player with Future Force 5 was already evident in his first year, with his powerful jump serve being comparable to the spiking power of Inari Sakio Shiro in the previous match.
However, Ooshiro is also a future powerhouse volleyball player, and a future top-five outside hitter in the country.
"I'll go—" Saotome hurriedly ran to her position.
To ensure a stable ball trajectory, the pink-haired libero slid down to receive the ball, his knee pads scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.
At the moment his forearm touched the ball, Saotome's upper body was almost knocked back slightly by the force of the impact, but he neutralized the force with his honed skills and steadily placed the volleyball at the net.
Imadegawa adjusted the direction of his toes, slightly bent his knees, and his gaze swept across Shiratorizawa's half of the field as he followed his body's movements—
Tendo still wore a playful, irreverent smile, but his eyes were fixed intently on the volleyball.
The mountain-shaped soles, which had previously received several serves, slammed heavily onto the floor, poised to strike again;
Meanwhile, Semi, who plays in the same position as Imadegawa, kept a close eye on the opposing setter's movements, trying to discern something...
"despair,"
The volleyball landed in Imadekawa's hand.
Imidekawa's extremely short fingertips rested on the volleyball.
His wrist made a pushing motion forward—
The player in front of the net at Shiratorizawa subconsciously shifted his body to the right.
—But Imadegawa's fingers exerted force backward.
The volleyball flew in a tricky inverted parabola from in front of Imadekawa to behind him.
—It's passed down from behind!
As if guided by a thread, the volleyball flew into Aoyagi's palm, which leaped up in an instant.
Soekawa, playing power forward in the first half of the game, hurriedly jumped.
The airflow from the volleyball flowed through his arm like a gentle stream.
"Bang--"
————————
Finally, my headache is gone! (jumping around energetically)
In case anyone misunderstands Aoyagi's character, let me add that Aoyagi is indeed a socially anxious person who is very afraid of being noticed by others. He is unwilling to talk to people and will not take the initiative to communicate. However, due to his high sensitivity, he will occasionally immerse himself in his own world (such as when he is very excited or very sad), at which time he will ignore the gaze of the outside world.
Finally, some good news—today was a peaceful and relaxing day. My writing went smoothly without any writer's block, and I even managed to write part of tomorrow's post! My little crane babies love me so much, waaaaaah! And the little darlings in the comments section love me so much too, waaaaaah! (eyes glazed over) I'm so touched, waaaaaah!
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