[38] Grade 11: IH National Tournament
"Beep—"
The sound of the whistle signaled to everyone inside the Nagoya Municipal Volleyball Stadium that Tsurumeikan had arrived at the match point.
The atmosphere at the Jingtashan venue was tense and frozen.
Everyone seemed to be gripped by tension and unease. This anxious atmosphere gradually spread from the stands down to the Jingtashan bench and throughout the entire half of the game.
Iitsuna heard the chaotic murmurs coming from behind the Itayama support area.
"Is Heming Pavilion going to win?"
"Jingtashan's defeat was rather embarrassing, wasn't it?"
"He Mingguan has been keeping the score under pressure throughout this game, if..."
"I don't understand what's going on with Jingtashan. They've made it to the national finals for training. They shouldn't have let Hemingguan win the first game."
"It's understandable that we lost the first set, which was a trial set. The second set went well, but the set point was stolen by the setter from Hemingguan. But I really don't understand what happened in the third set."
"Can't Crane Cry Pavilion compete with Jingta Mountain in terms of raw strength?"
"Although that libero is indeed quite skilled, the libero from Jingta Mountain is a veteran who has fought across the country for many years."
These hindsight comments, like a dull knife, cut into the field of Jingtashan.
"The serves look a bit weak and listless, like they're afraid to go forward..."
"Are the Jingtashan attackers so afraid to dunk that they're being shut down?"
There are even more incisive comments.
The whispers in the audience were like tiny needles pricking at Fan Gang's eardrums.
He clenched his fists instinctively, his nails digging deep into his palms, but he felt no pain at all.
Every word that drifted from the audience silently increased the pressure on his shoulders.
The sharp-eyed setter from Jingtashan slowly scanned the starting and substitute players of Jingtashan—
Anxiety, panic, panic, dejection...
All the negative emotions that shouldn't have appeared at this moment surfaced one by one, overflowing no matter how hard they tried to suppress them.
Iizuna finally understood how terrifying the Tsurumeikan was—
They weren't playing ball, they were playing chess, using seemingly mundane defense to gradually erode their opponent's spirit and confidence.
——————
Are we about to witness history?
Amidst the deafening cheers at the halfway point of the Tsurumeikan stadium, Ooshiro shouted to Akagi.
“…Perhaps.” Akagi was slightly sweating from the intense heat.
"That was terrifying." Big Ears covered the lower half of his face, his voice trembling slightly.
Ace kept shaking his head: "Unbelievable—"
The setter continued, "I can't believe that Tsurumeikan could actually..."
His words abruptly stopped, as if even uttering a complete sentence required courage.
—This is the national finals!
During this period, the men's volleyball team of Heming Hall was able to defeat Jingtashan by a large margin of 2-0, and even reached match point early in the third set with a small score.
Wei Bai rubbed the support fan that had been handed to him before the match: "...They're not really going to win 3-0 in the national finals, are they?"
——————
In the extremely oppressive atmosphere of the second half of the Jingtashan event.
Iizuna saw Tsurumeikan, who had scored the goal, change his position.
The setter from Tsurumeikan, who shared a similar eye color with him, took the number one position.
Izuna belatedly realized—
The next point is the right to serve that "miracle serve".
Izuna's breath caught in his throat for a moment.
His heart felt as if it had been thrown into a bottomless abyss, sinking continuously in his chest cavity, each beat as heavy as lead.
The feeling of weightlessness spread from his chest to his limbs, making his fingertips involuntarily turn cold.
After the referee signaled for the ball to be served.
Now, step by step, Chu Chuan has reached the service line of the Heming Hall's half of the court.
His steps were light and steady as he stepped out of the 18m x 9m volleyball court.
The stands at the back of the stadium are getting closer and closer to Jin Chuchuan...
The entire volleyball court and everything on it were left behind by Imadegawa, while what he saw in front of him was the stands of the Tsurumeikan half of the court, the support seats in the stands, and the audience seats behind them.
The faces of the Tsurumeikan cheerleaders seemed to have their fog lifted, becoming clearer and clearer in Imadegawa's golden eyes. He saw the vice president of the Tsurumeikan student council, the captain of the girls' tennis club, the captain of the chemistry club, the captain of the vocal club...
They held the support props from the Crane Sound Pavilion, watching him with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.
The banner of the volleyball team at Heming Hall was displayed in front of the stands, and it was now swaying slightly with the cheers coming from behind the stands.
——"Crane's sound is empty and it's broken"
But Imaichi Chuan could not hear any sound, as if the world had been muted, and everything in front of him was a silent painting.
All that could be heard from Izukawa was the slow, quiet thumping of his heart inside his chest.
And then, strange cries rang out from his heart.
——"Crane Cry Pavilion"
— "The Crane's Cry Pierces the Sky"
"The crane cries in the marsh, its voice heard in the heavens."
The golden-eyed setter twisted his ankle, his toes drawing a semicircle on the ground.
In the instant he turned around, the wind swept across the back of his neck, bringing back the silent shouts that had just been heard.
"Crane Cry Pavilion!"
"The crane's cry pierces the sky!!"
"The crane cries in the marshland—"
"His voice resounds in the heavens!!!"
Imaichi Kawakita's bright golden eyes once again encompassed the rectangular arena, which was neither too big nor too small.
He saw Saotome's back, which was shorter than the other team members; he saw Aoyagi's back, who was standing at the net with his shoulders hunched; he saw number 9's back, who was subconsciously standing on one tiptoe...
Now, he faces that familiar battlefield.
The backs of his teammates at the net resembled taut bowstrings, while in his hand he held the arrow about to be released.
Finally, Imadegawa spotted the chubby little bird perched above the scoreboard's "Tsurumekan" sign.
Beneath the plump, round shape of the glutinous rice ball lies a score almost dazzling under the overhead light.
——
Crane Cry Pavilion: Jingta Mountain
24:21
——
Jin Chuchuan closed his eyes and listened quietly to all the sounds inside the venue.
The sound of bells and drums from the Crane Pavilion support group rang out one after another behind Imadegawa.
Some audience members clapped along with the sound, and the clapping and the cheering bells and drums grew faster, higher, and louder with the rhythm...
Like an endless tide, wave after wave surged from the Heming Pavilion half of the field to the Jingtashan half.
After the golden-eyed setter at the Crane Cry Hall suddenly opened his eyes, raised his hand, and lifted the volleyball—
This wave came to an abrupt halt.
However, the waves that had been brought earlier had already weighed heavily on every member of the starting lineup on the Jingtashan field.
The setter from Heming Hall, with his golden eyes, once again casually served the ball.
This ball, with its irregular trajectory after crossing the net, easily toyed with the starting lineup of Jingtashan.
The starting lineup from Jingtashan were disorganized and unable to predict the unpredictable trajectory of the ball.
(dQtR) No one could shout "I'll do it".
The ball, with its subtle rotation, drew an arc in the air that defied the laws of physics, and was about to fall into the no-man's-land.
However, at the very moment the sphere suddenly accelerated its descent, the Free Man of Jingashan moved abruptly.
With lightning speed, he charged to the right without hesitation.
Glancing past the blank, disappointed, and empty faces of the audience behind the Jingtashan support group, just before the volleyball hit the ground, he used a standard side roll to save the ball, placing his wrist between the volleyball and the ground.
"Snap!"
The libero heard a soft, steady sound as his wrist came into contact with the ball the instant the volleyball landed.
That was the sound of the setter captain of Heming Hall receiving the ball for who knows how many times with its unpredictable and weak serve.
The starting lineup for Jingtashan paused briefly for a few seconds.
The entire stadium was stunned into silence for a brief moment by Jingtashan's thrilling save.
Whether it was the Crane Pavilion audience cheering wildly or the Jingtashan audience who had already let out sighs.
Everyone was stunned by this moment.
"Save the ball!!!"
In the silence, only the voice of the Jingtashan Free Man was clear and loud enough to almost pierce through the dome of the venue.
Amidst the chaotic and frantic movement in the Jingtashan half of the court, the loud, steady commands of the senior third-year libero were reassuring.
"Izakatsu!! To the left!!!"
The first-year setter recklessly rushed forward, chasing after the ball.
The moment he received the ball, Iizuna shouted without any hesitation, "Senpai—"
Following the gesture of the junior setter, the ace took two or three quick steps and leaped into the attack zone designated by the command tower.
Jingtashan, the ace player, leaped into the air and looked down at Hemingguan's well-thought-out and methodical defensive positioning. He thought of Jingtashan's panicked positioning just now.
He couldn't resist clenching his molars together tightly.
What?!
Our Jingtashan school has been forced into this situation by a weak school whose name we'd never even heard of before—
As if venting his anger, he swung his arm and viciously slammed the ball down with great fury.
"Bang,"
The first sound was the volleyball making contact with the calloused palm of the ace player from Jingtashan.
"Bang,"
The second sound is the sound of another pair of hands contacting the volleyball.
Aoyagi landed expressionlessly as he suddenly rushed into the ace's spike route at Jingtashan.
He had clearly blocked a powerful shot brimming with fury, but the black-haired middle blocker from Tsurumeikan remained calm, as if he had blocked any ordinary shot before.
Across the net, Jingtashan's ace almost completely crushed his back teeth.
With a "bang" followed by a "bang".
—The spike that was blocked by Heming Hall did not score a point!
The third-year outside hitter from Jingtashan's front row used a slightly awkward diving motion to catch the volleyball that was about to land in the front court with his palm!
The volleyball traced a short arc in the air—
It hurtled straight toward the net.
The third-grade captain of Jingtashan reflexively rushed forward to save the ball.
His knees slid half a meter across the floor, his left arm stretched into a straight line at its limit.
The volleyball, which Jingtashan was in charge of receiving, flew fiercely through his forearm and across the net.
Captain Jingtashan tensed his jaw.
...I used too much force.
This ball is going to become a chance for Tsurumeikan.
--No.
...This ball did not become a chance for Tsurumeikan.
The volleyball flew diagonally, but just as it was about to cross the net, it suddenly veered downwards—
At this moment, Captain Itayama would rather this ball become a chance for Tsurumakwan.
— It crashed into the marker pole on the side of the net.
With a "bang",
Extremely loud and extremely piercing.
It struck a chord in the hearts of everyone on the field.
The volleyball didn't bounce back; instead, it lingered and slid down the marker pole, right before the eyes of the starting lineup from Jingtashan, who were filled with rage.
"despair,"
Imadegawa's ear canal keenly picked up the sound of the sphere hitting the ground.
...We won.
————————
(Even though it's Monday, I'm very happy, hehe) (Happy paw pat)
Actually, I originally wanted to write about Xiaohe scoring the match point with her serve in the last point, but after writing that, strangely enough, Jingtashan's libero came out, making me realize that Jingtashan's story would not end with Xiaohe in this point.
The story of me dreaming about scoring a match point with a serve didn't happen here in Jingtashan, but in the more distant future.
As is well known, volleyball is not a one-man sport, but the author's writing skills are limited, and many more matches need to be written about, so it is impossible to describe every single point on the court. However, in teams that achieve victory through a blocking and defense system, whether it is Xiaohe or these unknown teammates, everyone is an indispensable cornerstone, and it is the connection between everyone that brings about the final victory.
I don't know the names of these teammates, but all the teams defeated by Tsurumeikan will remember their names. They grew flesh and blood alone in that world using their favorite names.
In the future, they will also live the life they want.
Finally, congratulations to our Heming Hall for winning our first national championship! (Applause) (Sprinkling flowers)
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