Chapter 94 Qingcheng 6 Sticky sweat trickled down his cheeks...
Sticky sweat trickled down his cheeks, rolled down his neck, and dripped into his clothes. His sportswear was soaked with sweat drop by drop, and his hair was already completely wet.
The headband was pressed against his forehead, and the strands of hair that fell on both sides of his cheeks were wet and stuck to his head. Sawada Tsunayoshi reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and casually brushed the strands of hair behind his head.
Having confirmed in the previous game that Oikawa Tetsuya's judgment was unlikely to be wrong, he simply abandoned the tactic of trying to mislead him. Aoba Josai increased his speed, and even if Sawada Tsunayoshi anticipated it, he couldn't catch the ball in time.
As a result, Karasuno's pace quickened, leaving both teams exhausted and panting, clutching their knees.
Tanaka was also panting heavily. "Aren't those guys from Aoshiro tired?"
Kageyama shook his head. "No, they weren't much better off."
Following the direction of his gaze, the group of guys in the west of Aoba City at the end of the road were also drenched in sweat, and Kentaro Kyoya, who had been commanded the most by Toru Oikawa, looked as if he had been washed.
If Sawada Tsunayoshi hadn't known they were in a competition, he would have immediately thought Kyoya had fallen into the water.
Dong Fengxu's spirits plummeted instantly. "Do they really want to play a third game?"
"If we keep exhausting ourselves like this, we won't even need to play a third inning. We might as well just get carried away on stretchers together." Sawada Tsunayoshi closed his eyes. He wasn't too tired right now, but he was sweating so much that he suspected he would die from excessive water loss before the third inning.
Tsukishima rubbed his eyes, the rising steam seemingly fogging up even his lenses, and said...
"They definitely want to play a third inning."
Tsuna smiled wryly, "We're leading by one inning, so even if they're exhausted, they'll try their best to drag us into the third inning."
During the break, the coach added, "We're leading by one game now. Qingcheng wants to score, but we can't let them disrupt our rhythm. We need to take it one step at a time, just like in the first game, receive the ball well, and let our attacks be guided by our own thinking."
They nodded to show that they had taken the coach's instructions to heart.
However, as soon as he entered the game, he was pulled into a scoring frenzy by Oikawa Tetsu. The opponent's desire to win was too strong, and Tsukishima, the only one in Karasuno who could still remain calm, was further weakened by his already low stamina.
Then, turning around, Hinata shouted, "Pass the ball to me!" and rushed forward.
"Huff—huff—" Tsukishima adjusted his breathing and raised his head.
"Smack!"
A rapid spike, then the referee blows the whistle, and they score another point.
This idiot even shortened his celebration time; he barely rested for a few seconds before Hinata bounced off to the serve.
The short middle blocker knows he's not very strong, so in addition to strength training, he also likes to do some skill drills.
At this moment, thinking about what the coach had just said, his heart was still pounding in his chest, urging his blood to flow, putting Hinata in a state of high excitement.
It felt so good to hit the ball!
But not now. He spun the volleyball in his palm, forcing himself to calm down.
He jumped again, but not with a powerful serve; instead, it was a light, floaty shot, completely contrary to the situation on the court.
The tense atmosphere among the Aoba Castle West team members snapped. Watari Chikaharu paused, lunged forward, then frantically waved his hand, falling heavily to the ground. He didn't have time to get up, but instead shouted to the others.
"guard!"
Hyuga's ball had a deliberate spin, causing it to suddenly change direction in mid-air. The libero didn't handle it well and clumsily caught the ball.
"Don't mind!"
Oikawa Tetsu followed suit, reaching the landing point first. Tsukishima sensed something was wrong; the way he was acting, he was going to pass directly.
So he and Tsuna jumped in the front row, but the attacker still broke through the block they hadn't prepared for, grazing Tsukishima's fingertips as he flew to the back of the court.
The energy I just recovered from resting is about to be exhausted again.
Hinata tried her best to slow down, but Aoki quickly brought the pace back on track.
Sawada Tsunayoshi asked Tsukishima, "Is your finger alright?"
Tsukishima touched his fingertips; they stung a little, but it was tolerable. So he shook his head. "It's nothing."
Tsuna didn't press the matter, but he also didn't say anything about not being stubborn. After confirming that the other person's wound wasn't particularly serious, he returned to his seat. Having come this far, even Tsukishima felt a strong sense of pride that he couldn't afford to lose.
The Karasuno players tried everything they could, even adopting a more cautious playing style, which made the people on the sidelines murmur among themselves.
"Isn't this the way Nekoma plays?"
"Who cares, as long as it works."
When your teammates receive the ball well, no matter how strong the opponent is, you'll feel like you've been slapped bare.
With skin sliced off, a normal person would definitely cry out in pain and start to cower, weighing the number of protective shields on the other side before spiking the ball.
But Oikawa Tetsu disagreed, saying he was thick-skinned and not afraid of being skinned alive.
Then, with their own attackers regrouping, they expended their energy and slammed the ball hard onto the Karasuno field.
As soon as he caught the ball, Sawada Tsunayoshi rolled on the ground but couldn't catch it. Hyuga leaped up and swung the ball back, but it was knocked back by Iwaizumi, who was guarding the ball.
Qingcheng scored a point.
Hinata looked up at Aokiji and his group, who weren't in much better shape. Sawada Tsunayoshi reached out his hand, and the junior support grabbed it. His childhood friend pulled him up, his eyes filled with shock.
"Are the King and his teammates some kind of stamina monsters? Even if they manage to make it to the third set, will they really have the energy to spike the ball then?"
Sawada Tsunayoshi's palms were also sweaty. He pulled his shirt over to wipe the water dry, and Hyuga followed him. Sweaty palms would make them slip when they touched the ball.
"This is nothing like the fighting style of Aoba City West."
In the stands, an elderly man who had been following the game closely watched the match, his heart pounding with anxiety.
Gu Direnhua raised and lowered his heels, "Indeed, when we arranged training matches with them before, Qingcheng's overall style was very stable."
"Playing it safe will only lead to losing the game," Gokudera Hayato said.
"If Aoki loses this game, they will have no chance at all. In the last game, Karasuno still had some strength left, which proves that their strategy in the last game is no longer effective against Karasuno. If they change their style and catch Karasuno off guard, they might have a chance to enter the third game."
As for stamina, everyone played two rounds on equal footing, and their stamina was almost depleted. It was still uncertain who would emerge victorious. Gokudera followed Oikawa Tetsu's lead.
Their strategy was indeed effective. Under the relentless bombardment, the Karasuno players were eventually thrown off their rhythm, and Aoba Josai took an early two-point lead, leading the match into the third set.
Sugawara and the others didn't give them a chance to pause and review the game on the field. They quickly gestured for them to sit down and rest in the rest area, with the coach standing in front of them.
"Don't think about the last game now," he said to the few dejected starters. "The players from Aoba and Josai aren't made of steel either. It's almost impossible for them to use that kind of aggressive attack in the third game."
Even if these guys are willing, the players' stamina can't keep up. In the third set, when the power and accuracy of the spikes will drop significantly, if Qingcheng sticks to the same tactics, their players' error rate will come before the fifteen points.
"Of course, there's no guarantee they won't think, 'It's the last game anyway, so let's just go all out.'"
The coach's gaze fell on Xigu Xi and the other defensive umbrellas. In the later stages of the second round, the group had already begun to adapt to this mode. Qingcheng's efficiency in scoring through surprise attacks at the beginning of the round was already reduced, and in the third round, the opposing team must also know that regardless of whether Qingcheng uses this move, they will be on guard.
The effectiveness of a surprise attack would naturally be greatly reduced.
Sawada Tsunayoshi figured this out in his mind and concluded that Oikawa Tetsu would no longer use it.
After finishing the last sip of water in his cup, sweating profusely, the little leader glanced at his family members arguing with the Qingcheng support team on the field, and a surge of energy welled up in his heart again.
With their muscles exhausted, they had to resort to sheer willpower.
His lungs screamed that they were about to explode, but Hinata didn't seem to care; he seemed to have long since forgotten about his body.
Kentaro Kyotani's steps were heavy, but on the other side of the net, the middle blocker still moved lightly.
Watanabe Chikaharu was exasperated. "Isn't that guy tired at all?!"
But it wasn't just him; the more exhausted the Karasuno team became, the calmer their minds became. They were all too familiar with this kind of physical exhaustion, and had even continued playing in this environment many times before.
In the end, it seemed like they were testing each other's resolve.
Everyone present was as aware as anyone else.
We need to expand nationwide.
Qingcheng's playing style was not as aggressive as in the previous game, but they also dared not slowly drag things out with Wuye.
Sawada Tsunayoshi eventually lost count of how many spikes he had made, and how many of them actually resulted in points.
All he knows is how to catch the ball, run up, jump, and spike.
Wait, did you spike the ball just now?
He was holding onto a wisp of air.
Turning to look at his senior, Dongfeng, the main attacker beside him, the other also reached out his hand with a blank expression.
Everyone was tricked by the setter into a spike, and Sawada Tsunayoshi didn't even need to look at his childhood friend before the opponent knelt down first.
"Wasn't that ball passed to me just now?!"
Everyone was used as bait by the setter, and this was a second attack.
Before they could even praise Kageyama's courage and plan, the whistle for a substitution blew from the sidelines. It was Tanaka's turn to serve, but Ukai Keishin wanted to conserve the energy of the main attackers, so he called on the key server.
In the final game, the score was 13-12.
As he jogged, Tadashi Yamaguchi thought to himself, "If I make a mistake, the lead that Kageyama just made with that brilliant attack will be wiped out in an instant."
Sawada Tsunayoshi quickly turned around and glanced at him, and Tsukishima's subtle gaze also came over.
Are they worried about me?
The junior leader gave a fist pump to the sensitive key server, and also reminded his childhood friend Tsukishima to do the same.
"Why go through all this trouble?" Tsukishima muttered, but still nodded toward Yamaguchi.
Tadashi Yamaguchi smiled contentedly.
No, we can't think like that. He's going to score points and help Tsuna and the others when he goes on the field!
At the edge of his vision, a plastic bag printed with a pig hung there securely. He took a few deep breaths.
During previous training sessions, he had discussed with Tsunayoshi and Asahi-senpai that the referee's whistle during the serve was terrifying. If the ball wasn't returned quickly, it would exceed eight seconds and result in a foul, as if the opponent was silently urging them on.
No, I've tried it before, and eight seconds isn't as short as I thought.
"Take another deep breath after the whistle blows."
Yamaguchi reminded himself of this.
Be prepared; it's not match point yet, so there's no need to be so nervous.
Through repeated mental suggestions, he vaguely grasped that familiar feeling he had during his usual training.
The ball flew lightly, its trajectory flat and clear. Just as Oikawa Tetsu was pondering why Karasuno had chosen such a person as the key server, the ball suddenly swerved and landed on the ground before any of them could react.
Yamaguchi's heart, which had been pounding, sank heavily.
The barrier that had isolated him from others, like a film of water, broke, and the cheers of encouragement from Hinata and the others finally reached his ears.
The second goal.
If this ball continues, they can win the game directly!
The Karasuno fans on the field also realized this, and their cheers and screams became even more enthusiastic, almost shaking the stands to the ground.
Yamaguchi noticed his hands were trembling, and the ball in his palm was slipping because of the cold sweat. He hurriedly took out his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his palm. Beside him, the referee waited quietly for him to get ready.
It turns out the referee didn't rush him; he had plenty of time to prepare everything.
I only realized this belatedly, but I was still startled by the whistle.
The ball barely grazed the net, and Yamaguchi's heart was pounding. He only breathed a sigh of relief when the ball cleared the net.
Because of the contact, the ball's speed slowed down considerably. The libero caught the ball in a sorry state, too weak to even get up, and lay on the ground shouting for help.
Kyotani lunged forward, and without a setter, he caught the ball. Iwaizumi simply spiked the ball down in the direction of the pass.
They're back to being just one point apart.
The audience, including Karasuno, sighed. Yamaguchi remained silent, while Sawada Tsunayoshi patted him on the shoulder.
"Zhong is amazing!"
Tadakatsu Yamaguchi could feel the heavy breathing coming from the other person, carrying with it fatigue and exhaustion.
But Tsuna's eyes shone with a light so bright that there was no trace of pain or fatigue.
The whistle blew again, and Yamaguchi returned to the bench holding up his sign. Enishi asked him...
How are you feeling?
The young man gripped his still trembling hands, yet surprisingly calm.
"I think I'm not so scared anymore."
The referee won't bite; he can prepare before serving again. Eight seconds isn't a blink of an eye; he can take a few deep breaths.
If he hadn't been scared just now, Karasuno might have won by now.
Yuanxia didn't get any further response from her teammates, so she turned around and looked at Yamaguchi, whose eyes were burning as he watched the ongoing tug-of-war on the field.
His eyes were filled with resentment.
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Author's Note: I'm shocked that I wrote so many chapters just for a match against Qingcheng!
Happy Qixi Festival! This person actually spent Qixi with a word processing software, but you could also say they spent it with the 27th of the lunar month! (Gets beaten up by the Guardian)
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