The second game began quickly.
The scene that had just calmed down became noisy again. Everyone in Karasuno looked around subconsciously, and it turned out that from an unknown time, the empty seats around them had gradually been filled.
A group of girls were discussing in low voices and seemed to have finally made up their minds. They ran to the railing in twos and threes and squeezed in around Hinata and the others who had been standing there.
Watching Kobayashi Aotori walk onto the court, a girl with pink hair said in a cute voice:
"1, 2..."
"Aotori-kun! Come on! Aotori-kun! Come on!"
Suddenly, several girls shouted with their eyes closed, with excited expressions on their faces.
Oikawa fangirls on the other side glared, and immediately shouted, not to be outdone, "Oikawa-sama! Come on! Oikawa-sama!"
"Ha——?! This bastard!" Tanaka yelled with envy, and Nishinoya stood up quickly beside him: "Ha! I'm going to start hating him now!"
"Didn't you just say that you wanted to start liking Kobayashi..." Sugawara complained feebly.
Aotori on the court was slightly stunned, but there were too many people in the audience, and he couldn't find who was shouting.
...Maybe I heard it wrong.
Just after he took a glance at the audience and turned back with an expressionless expression, several girls immediately burst out short screams:
"I got ignored by Aotori-sama!"
"Aotori-kun is so handsome!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuakokarrow...look at me one more time!"
Next to her, Hinata's bean-eyed look seemed a little confused about the reason for the girls' excitement. Although Aotori was very handsome when playing ball, he hadn't started playing yet.
"...boke." Kageyama whispered.
——The interlude here was very short, and Kobayashi Aotori was completely unaware of it. At this moment, he was already fully focused on the game.
With the referee's crisp whistle, the duel between the two sides started again.
Aoba Johsai is trying their best to attack at this moment, there's a faint hint of suppressing Shiratorizawa, but Shiratorizawa always maintains methodical defence and offense, and the game between the two sides is very stalemate.
The audience clenched their hearts one by one, watching each ball go back and forth in the air for several rounds, and every player trying their best to save the ball, making them involuntarily nervous.
Even the support groups of both sides remained silent for a long time, their eyes focused on following the volleyball.
"Bang——!" The long stalemate ended with Wakatoshi Ushijima's smash, and Shiratorizawa immediately cheered.
"Huh...huh..." Iwaizumi's breathing was a little heavy. The long and high-intensity schedule made him a little tired, not to mention that he didn't save much energy against Karasuno in the morning, and now he is becoming more and more exhausted.
……no.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to run. Oikawa Toru stood under the net, feeling the hot gaze of Iwaizumi behind him, and took a deep breath:
"iwa-chan!"
The ball was held up high. As Iwaizumi jumped up, his eyes swept under the opposite net. Tendou seems like an insurmountable high wall, turning into a shadow blocking Iwaizumi.
He gritted his teeth, so...will it be like before, will Kobayashi Aotori appear suddenly to save the ball?
..It was completely blocked by Tendo's figure and couldn't be seen at all...
no solution anymore!
All he can do is take a gamble!
In just a few microseconds, countless thoughts flashed through Iwaizumi's mind, and finally, he made up his mind and spike diagonally with all his strength without hesitation——
"Bang!"
There was a sound of hitting from volleyball!
...However, the sound is not as crisp as hitting the ground, nor is it as loud as being caught...
It was more like a dull sound hitting the flesh.
The figures of Tendo and Iwaizumi fell, and they turned around blankly. What they saw was Kobayashi Aotori holding a volleyball in his hands. There was an obvious red mark on his face...
——This was the first time that everyone saw the emotion called confusion on Kobayashi Aotori's face.
Ohira Shion behind him and Oikawa Tooru across the net witnessed the whole process of the incident——
Kobayashi Aotori was blocked by the leaping Tendou. He frowned and prepared himself just in case. He jumped up high. However, before he could see the movement of the ball clearly, a volleyball hit him with lightning speed. It hit him in the face, and fell naturally into his arms——
There was silence.
Kobayashi Aotori's blank expression did not change, but when a line of nosebleeds flowed down his nostrils, the venue was instantly in an uproar.
"S-hit in the face!" The scream was from Tomoko Ito, followed closely by the screams of countless girls.
"Hiss...it hurts so much!" The girl covered her eyes, looking like she didn't dare to look.
"...he won't be disfigured, right?" Even though he said those words just now, Tanaka still cares about Aotori.
"Hmm... It looks like there shouldn't be." Nishinoya also blinked and whispered.
Here, Shiratorizawa called for an emergency stop. In an instant, several people rushed forward. The team doctor also rushed over quickly. Kobayashi Aotori was surrounded by others and came to the rest area.
And the culprit who caused all this, Iwaizumi Kazuki, was being ridiculed at the moment.
Oikawa Toru laughed and slapped Iwaizumi on the shoulder, causing him to lean forward. However, at this time, Iwaizumi had no intention of resisting and just looked at the situation over there with apology and concern.
...Ah, what should I do...
Not long after, when everyone dispersed, Kobayashi Aotori was still a little dazed, as if he hadn't recovered from the incident just now.
However, the bleeding stopped temporarily, and the nasal tissue was only slightly scratched by the volleyball, causing bleeding, and there was no other abnormality.
...Well, a concussion or something like that is out of the question.
"Aotori, is everything okay?" Ohira Shion still said with concern, and Tendou was also twisting and turning to see the condition of Aotori's face.
"...It's okay." He blinked, regained consciousness, stood up from the chair, picked up the tissue next to him and wiped his nose. After making sure that there was no more bleeding, a helpless smile appeared on his face.
No one told me today that there was a bloody disaster.
On the court, Goshiki looked at Iwaizumi on the opposite side with serious eyes, trying to express his anger with his eyes.
But needless to say, Iwaizumi immediately stood under the net and apologized to Kobayashi Aotori: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you in the face just now."
After all, if you get injured somewhere else, it can be said that injuries are common in sports events, but if you hit someone intentionally in the face, such an action would be quite insulting.
Aotori understands. To be honest, even if the opponent did it intentionally, he can't do anything about it. Just like the protagonist in his team was repeatedly attacked by the opponent in his previous life...
Um…… protagonist?
Ah, I was indeed injured by mistake.
Seeing Kobayashi Aotori's indifferent expression and the red marks that had completely faded, Iwaizumi breathed a sigh of relief, but Oikawa Toru put his arm around him:
"Ara ala~ Iwa-chan hit Mr. Dynamite's face accurately. Is there any other intention?"
With a dark face, Iwaizumi threw away Oikawa Toru's arm. Hearing the other person's artificial care, he immediately glared:
"Trashikawa! Shut up!"
"Hey, Iwa-chan is so fierce..."
"Shut up!"
The short interlude was over, and seeing Kobayashi Aotori playing normally, the supporters of Shiratorizawa and everyone in Karasuno breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as the person (face) is fine.
——With a whistle, the game continues.
Kobayashi Aotori, who was 'summoned' by Shirabu again, jumped high, smashed the ball hard and landed firmly. Amid cheers, Shiratorizawa scored another point.
It seems that this is the reason why Kobayashi Aotori never cheers and celebrates after scoring. Because every time he scores, the Shiratorizawa supporters will unanimously cheer his name loudly.
Everyone subconsciously celebrated the score on his behalf.
It's a pity that Kobayashi Aotori is completely unaware of the extent of his influence. With only volleyball in his eyes, he subconsciously thinks that these cheers are for Ushiwaka and others. He secretly sighed that everyone was so energetic.
Not knowing that his super-level performance was the main reason why the audience had so much energy, Kobayashi Aotori was still watching the movement of the volleyball intently.
Oikawa Toru's serve is very strange. It doesn't look very strong, but it is difficult to follow.
Kobayashi Aotori once again let the opponent's ball slip away from the outside of his arm. He frowned and turned to look at Yamagata Hayato behind him. His body tensed slightly under Kobayashi Aotori's gaze:
"What, what's wrong... Oikawa's serve is like this, it's really easy to spin out of control..."
So, Hayato Yamagata, a powerful libero, should still be the one to pick it up. Why does he always look at me with relief when I receive it, but he just stops in his tracks?
But if Aotori wants to watch the ball flying past him without moving at all, this is also difficult for him.
"Yoshi, yoshi, come on for the next ball, Aotori-chan~" Tendo's voice sounded at the right time.
Kobayashi Aotori took a deep breath, adjusted the short dark blue hair tied up with a rubber band with his hands, squatted down slightly, and had a vague seriousness in his narrow eyes.
He glanced at the scoreboard beside him.
It was still 23:21 just now.
Just with the ball just now, Aoba Johsai's score reached 22.
It can be seen that it seems that because of this desperate battle, both Oikawa Toru and others in Seijoh have exerted their strength far beyond normal at this moment.
His breath hitched and he swallowed quietly.
Yeah, it smells like rust.
It seems like the nosebleeds are a little bit runny again, but they're flowing backwards.
Oikawa returned to the serving line again, his eyes focused, and he threw the ball in his hand high——
"Snapped--!"
Yamagata Hayato caught the ball with gritted teeth, but it was very tricky. Kobayashi Aotoniao saw the position, accurately passed the ball, and flew towards the net——
Shirabu held his breath and concentrated. On the opposite side, Iwaizumi and Kindaichi were already there. Their eyes were fixed on Shirabu's movement of setting the ball.
But... no matter how you look at it, there is only one answer.
The moment the ball was lifted, a strong figure suddenly jumped high:
"Bang——!"
He landed heavily on the ground without any suspense.
24:22.
Under the action of the scorer, Shiratorizawa reached the match point.
——This is Aoba Johsai's last chance.