"Bang——!"
The loud noise shook the stadium, and the huge waves stimulated everyone's ears. The girl in the front row had her bangs flying high, and her twinkling eyes were filled with uncontrollable excitement.
"Ha ha……"
Everyone bowed slightly, with sweat flowing down their cheeks, and their hands resting on their knees, looking exhausted.
Kobayashi Aotori lost his physical strength particularly quickly. It seems that the amount of calculations and concentration required for thinking have doubled his energy usage compared to before, and his physical strength is also rapidly draining away.
He is already thinking about improving his physical strength after IH.
Coach Washijo, who was off the court, watched Kobayashi Aotori dive out to save the volleyball and quickly stand up, ready to launch an attack at any time. He exhaled a heavy breath and his eyes became deeper.
He suddenly twitched the corner of his mouth, watching Aotori save and score regardless of his image, and the sound of the audience's intake of breath rang in his ears.
At the same time, what came to his mind was the perfunctory attitude of Kobayashi Aotori when dealing with the ball that could be saved in junior high school, which formed a strong contrast with the focused gaze at this time.
Well, the harvest this time is not that small. Even if they lost, Shiratorizawa's trip to Tokyo was still worth the price of admission.
...This serious look is much more handsome than the unruly expression before.
Coach Washijo twitched his lips, but unfortunately, the teacher advisor had already focused all his attention on the group of teenagers jumping on the court and had no energy to pay attention to the unusualness of the coach.
Everyone watched the game with anxiety. Different from the struggle in the late stages of the previous game, everyone this time tried their best.
Kobayashi Aotori on the court did not know the satisfied look that coach Washijo Takumi looked at him. He was focused on the court at this moment, and his brown eyes reflected the shape of the volleyball.
The figure of Ushijima Wakatoshi whizzed past and jumped up from behind him. In Rintaro Suna's narrowed pupils, Kobayashi Aotori who was originally facing him quickly moved aside, and Ushijima Wakatoshi was coming towards him. A blow like a heavy cannon——
"Bang——!!"
Commentator A was so excited that he almost wanted to stand up: (Score! The cooperation between Shiratorizawa Kobayashi and Ushijima's players is simply superb! Shiratorizawa scores another point!)
Commentator B was equally excited. The anxious match was accompanied by the commentator's ups and downs. Everyone was watching the game on the court intently.
With the crisp sound of "pop", Yamagata Hayato could barely catch Atsumu's tricky serve, and the ball quickly flew to the side. He gritted his teeth and said: "...Damn it!"
However, before he finished speaking, a purple-white figure flashed past. Aotori narrowed his right eye slightly, took a leap, stretched out his arms and lifted the ball high -!
The audience on the field was breathless again. A little girl in the front row stared blankly at the scene on the field. After a moment, she murmured:
"well……"
"So handsome!".
Opposite him, Atsumu's eyes followed the volleyball flying high. The pressure Shiratorizawa put on him was immense, and there was a line of sweat dripping down his expressionless face.
"Samu!" He said loudly and pushed hard. Osamu behind him responded. He took two steps into one and stepped forward quickly. He looked at the open space in front of him and stepped hard -!
However, at the next moment, an unfamiliar resistance hit his hand. Under his disbelieving gaze, the volleyball leapt back and landed heavily on the Inarizaki court!
The moment he was stopped, what he saw was a streak of dark blue leaping high.
when?!
Osamu, who fell to the ground in shock, quickly looked over and saw only the back of Kobayashi Aotori turning around.
Atsumu patted his shoulder to remind him to come back to his senses.
Rintaro Suna took a second look because Kobayashi Aotori's blocking habits and direction were very different from other middle blockers he knew.
No matter how unpredictable the opponent is, all his actions will be clearly understood by him.
Rather, the better a blocker is, the easier it is for him to be shackled by his reputation.
However, he only felt boundless strangeness in front of Kobayashi Aotori. He had never heard of the blocking techniques used by the opponent, and he looked like a self-taught amateur.
But first, rule out this possibility. After all, for a genius like Kobayashi Aotori who studied abroad, he must have had a senior coach specializing in volleyball knowledge since he was a child.
So there can only be another possibility——
Kobayashi Aotori's blocking ability is superior to him.
Kobayashi Aotori, who turned around and walked to his teammates, listened to Tendou's praise and the deafening cheers in his ears. He didn't even notice that there was a narrow-eyed person behind him staring closely at him.
Ito, who was in the audience, couldn't control her emotions for a moment. She raised the small purple trumpet in her hand and cheered excitedly. The classmates in front of him looked at her in surprise, as if he didn't expect that the shy classmate could make such a powerful sound.
Tomoko Ito looked at the person in front of her, coughed slightly, and unnaturally returned her gaze to the game in front of her. However, the tips of her ears turned red unintentionally.
Hey, she doesn’t know when, but after becoming Aotori’s friend, she became a little more confident without realizing it.
————
Under the spotlight, Aotori's sweat flowed down his neck and into his chest. He gritted his teeth and jumped in response to Shirabu's call -!
His right eye narrowed slightly due to exertion, and with a 'pop' sound, the volleyball flew out of the field from the side of Akagi's arm.
"Beep——"
The scoreboard was fixed at 35:33.
The result finally came!
it's over.
it is finally over!!
The commentator's somewhat hoarse excited shouts rang in his ears, and Kobayashi Aotori's face showed a trace of joy for the first time in his life. This game was more tiring than playing five full games.
If Kobayashi Aotori still maintained the most basic mentality in the first two games and played with the attitude of 'the result will be the same with or without me anyway,' then in the last game, he tried his best to fight the "coercion" of Lady Luck.
——Then he reversed the predetermined ending.
After it was over, he felt intense physical and mental exhaustion. Across the net, Atsumu, who was also breathing heavily, stared at Kobayashi Aotori in front of him for a moment.
The narrow brown eyes met the round yellow-black eyes,
"Yoshi!! Aotori-chan! After this game, you are Shiratorizawa's official ace!"
Tendojue's passionate voice sounded from behind, followed by a critical attack from behind Kobayashi Aotori——
A long arm pressed down on the exhausted Kobayashi Aotori. He suddenly stumbled, frightened Goshiki beside him and immediately stretched out his hands to prevent him from falling.
Fortunately, it was just a frightened stagger, nothing serious.
Kobayashi Aotori waved his hand,
"What ace, both Ushijima and Goshiki are more qualified than me."
"They are crucial to winning this game."
Goshiki on the side was slightly stunned. Before the excitement during the competition could dissipate, he immediately looked at Aotori with egg-eyed eyes:
"Aotori-san...I will work harder!"
Tendo seemed to be surprised by Kobayashi Aotori's rare and non-sarcastic compliment, and the next moment he patted his shoulder with a smile.
"You're good."
Ushijima Wakatoshi's deep voice sounded behind him. Kobayashi Aotori turned around blankly, and what he met head-on was Ushijima Wakatoshi's deep eyes, which contained a calmness that seemed to contain everything in the universe.
The teammates here dispersed, but Atsumu over there still didn't let Kobayashi Aotori go.
Being pulled away and not allowed to leave, Aotori had no expression on his face as Atsumu said a bunch of strange words, but his heart had been wandering for a long time.
His gaze slowly dispersed across the auditorium, and the audience suddenly saw a figure.
The figure was in a hurry, wearing an off-white shirt, with short black hair on his head, except for a few dull hairs sticking up. He seemed to be wearing a pair of thick black glasses, and he was probably not nearsighted.
Watching the boy leave the venue, Aotori naturally turned his attention to the next audience member and began to analyze the other person's dress and posture amidst Atsumu's chirpy voiceover.
"Kobayashi Aotori... no, 'Mr. Dynamite', then we will meet at the Spring tournament!" Atsumu narrowed his fox eyes slightly, with a malicious smile on his face, looking at the calm expression on Aotori's face he turned dark.
He snorted coldly, turned and left.
Kobayashi Aotori was lost in thought: ...but Shiratorizawa shouldn't be able to enter national right...?
Ah, no.
If it were before, he would tell Atsumu so, but now that he has broken the rules and defeated Inarizaki, the future result...
It's not set in stone.
——Finally, Atsumu stopped. When he came to his senses, Aotori had inexplicably added Miya's twin's friends. Before leaving, he was pulled by the player to conveniently add him.
What else is there to discuss about blocking skills? I’m not a technically trained guy, so what’s there to discuss...
But finally got out of there.
Kobayashi Aotori was walking alone in a corridor with few people, holding his coat in one hand and putting his other hand in his pocket. His dark blue short hair was slightly messy, with a few dull hairs sticking up, but the owner of the hairstyle didn't seem to care much about it.
His eyes were staring at the ground blankly, his face was calm, and his heart was already in turmoil.
Just now, just now, Shiratorizawa... Shiratorizawa won, right?
Right, right!
If he goes by the way he remembers it, Shiratorizawa should have lost to Inarizaki! But now the results are different!
He still has confidence in his memory.
Could it be, it is certain, that the established ending can be changed?
So can Shiratorizawa win IH... bah bah bah.
Why am I starting to have my whims again?
Besides, this game must be the credit of Ushiwaka and the others no matter what!
He shook his head quickly.
No matter how you say it, you are just a background character. I am really happy that the game is over, but don’t think of yourself as a passionate high school boy!
In the next game, as long as I don't let go, there will always be someone like Ushiwaka to hold up if the sky falls.
Yoshi! After taking care of personal hygiene, go to Ito! This girl was probably extremely happy. With her super empathy, she was probably already in a state of confusion.
After thinking about it, Aotori felt comfortable. When he turned a corner, he suddenly hit a soft touch, like the feeling on his chest.
The tall Kobayashi Aotori didn't move much, but the tall and thin figure in front of him suddenly fell to the ground. The books and backpack in his arms also fell to the ground with a 'crash', and even a black picture fell to the ground. The glasses flew far away.
The man sat blankly on the ground, with a pained expression on his face, his handsome eyebrows drooped.
Aotori quickly said 'Sorry', and when he knelt to help him pick up the dropped things, he bumped into the other person's face. Even Aotori was secretly speechless.
The young man's bangs were very long, with a few sparse strands, and the eyes exposed underneath were narrow and long, with dark brown pupils showing obvious confusion. The ends of the eyes and eyebrows droop naturally, with a hint of helplessness and indulgence. There were a few drops of sweat on his face, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly instinctively. It seemed that his personality was excellent.
These facial features and temperament... are too superior.
Isn’t this exactly the face of a good student?