𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗪𝗞 ⸺ 𝖮𝗂𝗄𝖺𝗐𝖺 𝖳𝗈̄𝗋𝗎

⁽ ⁴⁸ ⁾ "𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖢𝗁𝖾𝗆𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖮𝖿 𝖤𝗇𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌"

"Why?" Daichi finished.

Kurokawa then walked by. "It means that we're not worth their precious time." He responded to him.

"Um..." Daichi spoke up, getting their seniors attention. "Could I stay behind and practice a little more? I'll make sure to lock up!"

Asahi raised his hand. "M-Me, too!" He added.

"Me, too! We'll let Sensei know, too!" Sugawara said.

"I'll stay, too." Hideaki informed.

Tashiro had a look of bewilderment on his face. "S-Sure..." He replied.

The four first-years were sitting down on the court in a circle as Daichi clenched the volleyball. "We can't go on like this! It may seem like there's time, but there really isn't!" Daichi exclaimed.

"You totally sound like a teacher!" Sugawara pointed out.

"Are you really the same age as us, Sawamura-kun?" Asahi questioned.

Hideaki let out a long sigh. "You kinda remind me of a certain someone I grew up with, Sawamura." He commented, thinking back to his boyfriend and childhood best friend.

"Even if we just pick up the balls, there's still something we can do!" Daichi declared.

It was the next day as the volleyball team was practicing once more. Kurokawa spiked the ball as Daichi received it with his hands. "Hey! Why did you catch that?" Kurokawa asked.

"I-I'm sorry!"

After practice, the four first-years were practicing on their own as Sugawara hits the volleyball, making it crash into the empty water bottle. The four studied together and Daichi had asked a first-year Kiyoko about being manager for the team.

"Starting tomorrow, we have the Inter-High qualifiers. Let's do our best so that we don't have any regrets."

"Right!"

"Let's strive to win at nationals!" Tashiro exclaimed in determination.

"Hey, I've been thinking this for a while, but why don't we strive for something more attainable?"

"What?"

"They say that aiming for goals that are too high is connected to losing confidence, and not good."

Tashiro clenched his fists at his teammates claim.

"Wh-What the heck?"

"Every time I would mention winning at nationals, you would just scoff and ignore me... Now you want to argue with me?" Tashiro exclaimed. "What the heck? Why the heck am I sort of happy about this, damn it?!"

"Wha? Like I would know!"

"I don't feel like we were able to share our goals, but I feel like we're definitely doing better than before!" Tashiro stated. "And we all share the desire to win the upcoming match. We're gonna win this thing!"

"Yeah!"

TWEEEET!

Karasuno

17

Araigawa

25

"Karasuno's fallen back down to earth..."

Daichi clenched his gym bag as he was sobbing. Along with Asahi and Sugawara. While Hideaki just clenched his fist in anger and looked away.