The commentator's play-by-play was impassioned, and the crowd's excitement stayed high. The heat around this match was no less intense than the one in the main arena.
Many spectators did not actually understand volleyball. They had never understood what was so fascinating about volleyball's violent beauty. But at this moment, they seemed to grasp a little of it. The volleyball shot out with a bang, slamming into the floor, into the opponent's arms. Every sound and every ball gave them a new understanding.
There were plenty of people in the stands who had never played volleyball before, yet at that moment, Fukunaga's serve made them feel the sudden urge to learn.
Fukunaga would never have imagined that he could make so many people fall in love with volleyball. If he knew, he would definitely be thrilled.
"Bang!"
The moment the ball left his hand, Fukunaga knew something was wrong. The feel was off. This one was probably going out.
Kuroo had been counting how many serves Fukunaga had made. By this one, he felt it was about time. He gave everyone a look, and the members of Nekoma immediately understood. They could not coast anymore.
"Fukunaga serves again! This one looks like a mistake! Kiyokawa's Libero seizes the chance and receives it!"
The Libero felt his face burning. How embarrassing. Their chance to score this point had only come because of the opponent's mistake.
"Set up the attack!"
Number seven shouted as he ran with the others, launching an attack from multiple directions.
"Are these kinds of simultaneous multi-directional attacks common in matches now?"
Ryosuke asked Atsumu Miya in confusion.
Atsumu Miya opened his mouth with an "ah," then explained to Ryosuke.
"This kind of move doesn't get used much in private practice matches. It takes too much coordination and effort. The scoring effect is definitely good, though, so most of the time, it shows up more in official matches."
Ryosuke nodded thoughtfully. So that meant Shiratorizawa would also run into this kind of attack. Then he turned his head back and continued watching the match.
This match really did not have much suspense. Kiyokawa Academy, which had finally pulled itself together, had its morale broken by Nekoma once again. Things did not happen like they did in anime, where the protagonist recalled bits and pieces of the past at a critical moment, remembered the bonds between teammates, unleashed some hidden power, and won the match.
Plotlines like that only happened in anime and novels. In real life, what mattered was strength.
Nekoma single-handedly shaved Kiyokawa down to zero.
When the match ended, the sight of those big guys over six feet tall huddled together crying was honestly hard to watch.
Kiyokawa's ace was already a third-year. In the matches over the past two years, things had not exactly gone smoothly for them, but at the very least, they had never gone out in the first round. Only now did he finally understand that most of their previous results had come from being relatively lucky. Of course, no one could stay lucky forever.
He cried until his voice choked, his eyes full of regret and self-blame. If only he had worked a little harder. But of course, the two most useless words in the world were "if only."
After the match ended, everyone on Nekoma still had to thank the audience. Ryosuke took this chance to run down and find Kenma and the others.
Atsumu Miya and Osamu Miya exchanged a glance, then followed him down. Since they were already here, they might as well take a look.
As soon as Kuroo and Kenma came off the court, they saw not only Ryosuke, but alsoa certain shameless, yellow-haired setter.
Kenma's eyes narrowed instantly. He really did not like that fox from Inarizaki.
"Hah? Damn fox, what are you doing here?!"
The moment Kuroo saw Atsumu Miya, he could not help taking a jab at him.
It was practically a physical reflex. His mouth moved faster than his brain.
Atsumu Miya had not planned to say anything at first, but Kuroo's words instantly annoyed him too.
"How do you have the nerve to say that to me, you alley cat!"
The two of them stood there, and the air between them seemed to crackle with tiny sparks.
Kenma was a little speechless, but he did not say anything. After all, Atsumu Miya's personality really was awful.
Back then, last year, Kenma had still been a first-year. During the Spring High in the second half of the school year, he had only just become the starting setter and taken the court in an official match. As a result, Nekoma ran into Inarizaki in the top six. At the time, Atsumu Miya had a rotten temper and was young and arrogant.
He simply could not stand Kenma's lazy attitude, and Kenma was a setter on top of that. So throughout the entire match, he kept targeting Kenma. Back then, Kenma's mind was not as sharp as it was now. Even though he used all kinds of methods and strategies, Nekoma still lost in the end.
When Atsumu Miya came off the court, he even went out of his way to mock Nekoma's side. Even the good-tempered Kenma nearly failed to hold himself together. If Yaku had not stopped Taketora Yamamoto, he probably would have rushed up to start a fight. Kuroo had not been captain at the time either, so all he could do was mock him back. He could not do anything else.
In any case, that grudge had been formed, which was why now, whenever they met eyes, they immediately wanted to argue.
Afterward, Inarizaki's captain forced Atsumu Miya to come over and apologize. But as the main person receiving that apology, Kenma did not feel any better. Instead, he felt even more stifled. For someone whose mind far surpassed most people's, losing to Atsumu Miya's schemes was one of the few humiliating moments in his life.
Kenma tugged on Kuroo's sleeve.
"Let's go, Kuroo. I'm hungry."
Then he turned to Ryosuke.
"Let's get some apple pie."
Ryosuke had originally meant to break up the argument, but when he saw that everyone looked completely used to it, he said nothing. After greeting the Miya brothers, he ran off.
Atsumu Miya was left behind by the entire Nekoma group, so angry that he stomped his feet, almost losing his mind. In his heart, he cursed every single member of Nekoma from top to bottom.
"It was just one match! Is it really that serious?! Holding a grudge for this long is seriously infuriating!"
Osamu Miya rolled his eyes helplessly. Everyone had seen Atsumu Miya's nasty temper and petty streak back then. Osamu Miya really could not praise him for that. Besides, that setter from Nekoma was the core of their entire team, and he did not seem to be in very good health. After that match, he had gone back and run a fever for three days.
That match would have been perfectly fine if they had just played normally. Atsumu Miya had clearly done it on purpose.
Kuroo stormed off with a group of people behind him. The others' anger had actually faded a long time ago. After all, Atsumu Miya was the one who had suffered the biggest loss, since people still dragged that incident out to diss him even now.
But what Kuroo was angry about was not only that he had targeted Kenma. It was the tone and attitude Atsumu Miya had used when speaking to Kenma from the very beginning. There had been a faint sense of contempt in it. Not to mention, Kenma had developed a high fever right after that match.
Kenma had never been in good health since he was little. A lot of the time, he would get a fever after matches. Before high school, Kuroo had finally managed to raise Kenma into a pale, soft, healthy-looking little thing. And then, after one match, Kenma had become a sickly little kitten again. Who could look at that and not be angry? Kuroo had been furious.
After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped in place, as if thinking about something.
Kuroo still felt that he could not make the relationship too stiff. After all, Kenma and Atsumu Miya were in the same year, and they would always run into each other at matches in the future. But if he did not settle the score with him, Kuroo could not swallow this anger either.
Looks like he would have to use some wicked method to teach him a lesson.
Author's note: Is someone finally going to get a sack thrown over their head?
After figuring that out, Kuroo felt much better. Then he led the group to gather with the coach.
Mixed into the crowd, Ryosuke looked left and right, but still could not understand where this strange atmosphere had come from.
After Coach Nekomata reminded everyone of a few things to watch out for, he dismissed them.
Kenma was excited to take Ryosuke to try the food he liked. Kenma had a small habit. He tried to recommend his favorite foods to everyone. On the court, Kenma could scheme until people cried and snotted all over themselves, but in private, he was still a little childish.
Kuroo, meanwhile, was going outside the gym with Yaku and the other third-years to buy things. Since Yaku was going, Lev was definitely going to follow. Everyone else had their own things to do too, so in the end, Kenma and Ryosuke went back to the dorm. Fukunaga and Inuoka were both rather attached to Kenma, so they followed along too. Mainly because Kuroo was too noisy.
The few of them gathered in Kenma's dorm and played games, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation. Kenma, meanwhile, familiarly dug the apple pie out of Kuroo's box. He frowned. Mom really was biased. Why had she given Kuroo such a big piece?
Kenma put the cold apple pie into the microwave to heat it up. While they waited, Ryosuke and Kenma started talking about the schedule for the next few days and tomorrow's matches.
Nekoma only had this one match today. Next, they just had to wait and see which team advanced from each day's group matches. The winning team would become Nekoma's opponent tomorrow, and the match time would still be ten in the morning.
Just now, Ryosuke had also received the schedule Coach Washijō sent him. The two of them leaned their heads together and looked it over.
Aside from Nekoma's match tomorrow morning, Fukurōdani also had a match at ten in the morning at the same time, but theirs was in a side venue.
Now Ryosuke was in trouble. Whose match was he supposed to watch tomorrow morning?
Shiratorizawa had a match at two in the afternoon. Their first match was against Mujinazaka. Itachiyama had a match against Inubushi East at three in the afternoon.
After skimming through those, Ryosuke did not pay much attention to the matches from the other schools.
He only exchanged a glance with Kenma before speaking.
"Looks like Bokuto-senpai probably won't be in great shape tomorrow."
Kenma smiled and nodded. That was a side venue, with fewer people and an out-of-the-way location. That owl who loved lively places would probably be depressed to death when he saw the schedule.
"Will it affect Bokuto-senpai's match?"
Ryosuke followed up, still a little worried.
"It won't. That guy has a group of reliable teammates."
"Ding."
While they were talking, the microwave rang.
Even through the microwave, Ryosuke could smell the apple fragrance drifting out, along with the unique sweetness of pastry. Ryosuke felt himself swallowing.
Kenma put on gloves and took the steaming apple pie out of the microwave. Then he had already freed one hand to grab it, only to get burned and put it down again. He picked it up again, got burned again, and still refused to give up as he stared at the apple pie, even using his eyes to urge Ryosuke to hurry up and try it.
Ryosuke did not know whether to laugh or cry as he watched Kenma's series of actions. So Kenma was actually this childish?
Kenma was clearly very dissatisfied with the apple pie's temperature. He frowned and gave it a tiny puff of air before slowly starting to eat. When he felt a cavity in his mouth suddenly ache, his mood instantly became less wonderful.
Ryosuke copied Kenma and blew lightly on his own piece. The two of them crowded together in the kitchen, head to head, eating happily.
By the time they finished eating, Inuoka and the others had finished playing games too.
The group sat in the room discussing tomorrow's matches. They had originally wanted to go out and watch more matches in the afternoon, but there really were no exciting ones.
It was another boring day. By seven or eight that evening, the first day of IH had finally ended completely.
On the first day of IH, a total of twenty-four teams were eliminated.
By the second day, the originally relaxed atmosphere around the seeded teams had become tense. Especially Fukurōdani.
The offhand comment Bokuto made on the first day had actually come true. When everyone on Fukurōdani saw the schedule yesterday, they had probably already known that today was going to be bad.
Sure enough, Bokuto was now standing in the empty side venue, and the expression on his face could already be described as the sky collapsing and the earth splitting apart.
"Is he really going to be okay like this?" Haruki Komi asked, a little worried about Bokuto's condition.
Keiji Akaashi helplessly rubbed his nose. He had no solution either. Since yesterday, he had been mentally preparing Bokuto-senpai, and it had mostly worked. But seeing this match venue first thing in the morning, to be honest, forget Bokuto. Even Keiji Akaashi could feel how deserted it was.
"There's nothing we can do. Why don't we just play by ourselves today? This school looks pretty easy to deal with."
Konoha whispered. Everyone tried to keep their voices as low as possible, in case they accidentally touched Bokuto's sensitive, fragile nerves without realizing it.
"Sigh..."
Keiji Akaashi looked at the ceiling lights and sighed with a headache.
Unlike Fukurōdani, Nekoma had gained some recognition from yesterday's match. The title "Nekoma, the masters of defense" had already spread, and quite a few people had come after hearing about them.
On top of that, Nekoma's luck was incredible. They had been assigned to the main arena two days in a row, so they had no need to worry about the awkward problem of having no audience.
This morning, Kuroo had already obtained all the information on today's opponent.
Sarukawa Tech.
When he saw the school's name, he did not have any particular reaction. He even discussed strategy seriously with everyone. That lasted until Coach Nekomata received the news and hurried over, his expression not looking very good.
"The school you're facing today has a coach who was once a student I taught. He has perfectly carried Nekoma's philosophy forward. You could even say his version is more complete than Nekoma's own. Today, you are not only facing an opponent, but a team that is just like you."
After hearing this, everyone looked at one another. They had played many matches, against powerful opponents and against opponents who could not withstand a single blow. But they had never tried playing a match that felt like looking into a mirror.
...
At ten in the morning, both matches began at the same time, and everyone was full of fighting spirit.
But that made things hard for Ryosuke, who wanted to cheer for his friends. It was not as if he could split himself into two people and use both.
Standing at the fork leading to the two venues, Ryosuke was so conflicted that even everyone from Shiratorizawa could not bear to watch.
In the end, Ushijima was the one who spoke and resolved the situation.
"You go watch Nekoma's match. I'll record Fukurōdani's side."
Ushijima's one sentence solved Ryosuke's worries. He happily prepared to go watch Nekoma's match, but after taking two steps, he turned back and said to Ushijima,
"Ushijima-senpai, remember to pass my cheers on to everyone at Fukurōdani."
Whether Ushijima heard him or not was unclear. He simply nodded and turned away.
...
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