"Huh, huh..."
The breathing gradually became heavier. The scraping of sneakers on the floor made a screeching sound. The boys' physical strength was exhausted from hitting the ball with all their strength.
Whether it was the heavy hitting of Kiryu and Ushijima, or the frontal blocking of Tendo and Unnan, they were very tired.
On the contrary, Kobayashi Aotori, who was wandering around both moves, may have maintained his physical strength the best, and the pain in his joints was slightly relieved due to the recuperation.
He glanced at the panting Ushijima, and naturally saw the beads of sweat flowing down his forehead.
Somehow, he whispered to Shirabu:
"Give me a few more balls."
Everyone was stunned, even Ushijima Wakatoshi looked at Kobayashi Aotori in astonishment.
After all, this was what Kobayashi Aotori said when he first came here: "I'm very weak. Isn't there Ushijima when it comes to smashing balls and stuff like that?"
Everyone who was accustomed to Kobayashi's Aotori style of talking and automatically ignored the first half of the sentence, interpreting that sentence as his unwillingness to spike the ball too much on the court, and signalled Shirabu to pass the ball to Ushijima Wakatoshi.
Therefore, Shirabu rarely gives the ball to Kobayashi Aotori in normal games. If several other attackers are not clamped, he usually will not call Aotori to come to the rescue.
Aotori has also been responsible for using his super talent and game experience to block the opponent's attacker's angle during the game, and everyone has unconsciously used such an offensive mode.
And now - Aotori actually started asking for a pass!
Tendo, who was breathing a little quickly, blinked, and a rare gentle smile suddenly appeared on his face.
Is it because he can see that Wakatoshi-kun's condition has declined? Even though his smash has been figured out by the opponent, he still takes the initiative to make such a request...
Are you preserving the dignity of our ace ...?
What a good boy who is not good at communicating, Aotori-chan.
"Hmm... Okay." A bead of sweat fell slightly from Shirabu's forehead. He looked at Kobayashi Aotori with some surprise. He secretly glanced at Ushijima Wakatoshi who was silent and nodded slightly.
Kobayashi Aotori glanced at Ushijima silently and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the other person's acquiescing expression.
...How could I say such a thing?
Now it's really difficult to ride a tiger. Fortunately, Ushiwaka is not an overly responsible ace player like Kiryu who does not allow his teammates to bear any pressure.
...Haha, there's nothing I can do about it since I said it myself...
——I will try my best to be responsible.
So far, the two teams have never scored consecutively, and they have always been anxious based on the state of one point for you and one point for me.
Now, Mujinazaka maintains a one-point lead over Shiratorizawa.
Subaru Hondo served the ball. He originally thought that the ball would be picked up by Shion Ohira on the opposite side, but the next scene was shocking——
He saw Ushijima suddenly squatting down, and made a save while the whole audience was in an uproar!
What? Atsumu frowned slightly off the court, he didn't understand what they were trying to do. Was he trying to tell the opponent that the ball was played by Goshiki or Ohira Shion?
Osamu beside him frowned slightly, having some suspicions in his heart.
Everyone at Mujinazaka High was also stunned, looking at the Goshiki under the net who was focusing on the volleyball, staring at his movements.
...Hmph, is it another super slash ball...?
Unnan took a good posture, preparing to stop Goshiki with one move, score consecutive points, and win this game!
However, in the eyes of everyone, Shirabu took the ball——
Goshiki did not jump!
A swift figure suddenly appeared on the side of the net, and the volleyball came in front of that person at a weird angle. Kobayashi Aotori jumped high at the edge of the net, and with everyone's astonished eyes, he spiked heavily——!
"Bang——!!"
Atsumu and the others in the back row stood up immediately, eyes widened, looking in disbelief at the impossible course from this angle!
Commentator A: (Oh my god! What did I see? It was a super diagonal ball from the line! No one can catch it from this angle!!)
Commentator B: (The angle of the super slash ball is already very tricky, but at the same time it can hit the line. Kobayashi Aotori player is a robot!!)
The audience was stunned at first. The moment the referee's whistle sounded, the whole audience cheered. As always, shiratorizawa's support team cheered heartily on behalf of the person who scored:
"Shiratori! Shirator! Aotori! Aotori!"
"Ah——Aotori-kun!! Fly, Aotori-sama!!"
[Kobayashi Aotori: Don’t shout like that, it’s too weird! !]
Although it just tied the score, there was no doubt that this miraculous spike made everyone's long-suppressed emotions seem to explode at this moment.
But Unnan was still standing where the ball just passed by, staring blankly at the boundary where the ball hit hard.
Is this kind of accuracy... possible?
Kiryu's originally clenched fist suddenly became indifferent when he met Aotori's calm gaze.
Although the face was a little tired from the game, the smiling eyes had never changed. If it was said that at the beginning when the opponent served and scored again and again, Kiryu could only feel arrogance and ridicule from the smile.
So at this moment, he felt the joy that the other party had never expressed in those smiling eyes.
…It turns out I wasn’t wrong.
That guy is obviously very happy about scoring, right? It's not like he doesn't care about anything.
Kiryu, who accidentally discovered the truth, thought he was the only one who hadn't discovered it until now, but little did he know that he was the only one who discovered this trivial truth.
Ah, there is also the silly Ushijima who tells the truth but is mistaken for being too innocent, and the happy Hinata who always sees things through without telling them.
So, what are the similarities between these four people, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shoyo, Kiryu Wakatsu, and Kobayashi Aotori that lead to in-depth understanding?
The answer may be simple.
————
It was Shiratorizawa's turn for the match point again, and everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the electronic scoreboard at the top to change.
Shiratorizawa's serve was picked up by Bishin and quickly fell back into the hands of the setter Usuri. Usuri Michiru's eyes were focused on the volleyball in front of him, and his eyes fell on the opponent's blocker, who was taller than him. Tendo stood in front of the net with a faint smile on his face.
...this bastard.
His eyes narrowed slightly, but...he just had to do his thing!
The ball was lifted high and suddenly flashed out of everyone's sight. A tall and strong figure suddenly appeared, launching an unstoppable thunderous strike——
"Bang——!"
But what is shocking is that the ball was blocked by a pair of big hands——!
Not touching the ball, not flicking the ball back, but directly blocking it——!!
"Bang!!"
A crisp but powerful and fast sound sounded under the net, and everyone at Mujinazaka High was stunned. Kiryu looked blankly at the volleyball rolling away in front of him, and at the opposite Kobayashi Aotori who looked slightly struggling due to pain.
The dumb look on his face made Tentongjue raise his eyebrows.
Well, similar to Wakatoshi-kun.
But it's different.
because--
He lost.
At the same time, the electronic scoreboard at the top didn't seem to respond. It paused for several seconds before slowly changing the numbers in the Shiratorizawa area.
Changed from 26 to 27.
The moment the numbers changed, the whole audience burst into earth-shattering cheers and screams——
"Oh——!! Win! Shiratorizawa wins!!"
"Aotori-kun, I love you——!!"
The cheers from the audience, who had endured long-term mental torture along with the players, were earth-shattering. In the Shiratorizawa support group, Ito's eyes were red with excitement. It was really because of the victory in this game. It's not easy.
...Aotori-kun's hand... so many times he directly caught Kiryu's spikes...
Looking at Kobayashi Aotori with a slightly painful expression on the court, Tomoko Ito stood there, seemingly out of tune with the other people cheering around her.
She suddenly clenched her fists and ran out of the venue without looking back, holding a mobile phone tightly in her hand.
"Eh? Ito!... Forget it, leave her alone! We won!" The captain next to him looked at the black mass that suddenly ran away in surprise, blinked, and was immersed in the joy of victory again the next moment.
"Let's go." Atsumu suddenly stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at Mujinazaka and Shiratorizawa shaking hands and bowing on the court with a slightly complicated expression. Kita Shinsuke in front of him glanced at him lightly and said nothing.
Inarizaki and his party arrived so quietly and left so calmly that Kobayashi Aotori could not see them from the beginning to the end.
“Wuhu!!”
——Behind the screen, Nishinoya and Tanaka hugged and cheered. Although they didn’t know why they were so happy. They screamed when Shiratorizawa scored and sighed when Mujinazaka scored, causing them to involuntarily assume Shiratorizawa's perspective.
"Hey, what's there to see?"
——Watching the commentator announcing that this match was Shiratorizawa's victory, and previewing the next final match between Itachiyama and Shiratorizawa, Oikawa Toru suddenly showed a lack of interest, and raised his head above his head. Iwaizumi, who made a hash mark, waved his hand and left with a glare.
asshole! So who is the person who was yelling at me just now?!
————
Kobayashi Aotori held the phone and looked at the newly added contact on it strangely - Wakatsu Kiryu. What did this guy say about future communication?
Why should such a big ace communicate with me?
I guess this guy has some kind of collecting habit.
Like to add your opponent’s contact information?
Because Shiratorizawa is an old rival and all the previous members have contact information, he wants to collect mine too.
[Goshiki:? ? what about me?]
Not far away, Wakatsu Kiryu and his teammates returned their luggage from the lounge, holding a mobile phone in his hand. There were very few contacts on it. Except for the volleyball team members and his parents, there was a person named——
The note 'Shiratorizawa·Kobayashi Aotori' is very abrupt.
"Wakatsu, what's wrong? We have to leave." The teammates walking in front looked at Kiryu who was dazed with his mobile phone and shouted.
"Well, here we come."
He responded with a calm voice, put away his cell phone, put one hand in his pocket, and followed his teammates with his backpack on his back and left the venue.
Before parting, what did Kobayashi Aotori mean - let go of the pressure of being an ace a little bit?
He paused slightly and then walked out of the Tokyo Stadium calmly step by step amid the urging of his teammates.