After everyone changed their clothes, they came out and saw a group of tall people walking in the corridor.
...Caught in the middle, Kobayashi Aotori felt strange inside.
Even though I have been out of high school for many years, why do I still feel guilty when walking in a group with my classmates?
Soon after, Aotori understood where his uneasiness came from——
Everyone in Shiratorizawa who was chatting first turned a corner and bumped into the same row of people walking in the same row. However, there was one person behind them, keeping a long distance from his teammates.
Kobayashi Aotori blinked.
It turned out to be Itachiyama. What a coincidence. They must have just finished the competition.
If I remember correctly, Itachiyama won this round. After all, he was the champion of the IH National Competition in the cannon story... ah.
Ah, it turns out to be our opponent tomorrow.
……champion? opponent?
Kobayashi Aotori computer has been down.
The team members from both sides stopped in unison. Tendo looked at the people in Itachiyama with his big eyes, then tilted his head and looked at the 'expressionless' Kobayashi Aotori next to him, and bent his eyes.
Kobayashi Aotori finally came to his senses and saw that it was not the harsh talk session of a classic hot-blooded manga that he had imagined. The players on both sides seemed to be familiar...?
That's right, after all, they are all top schools, and they are probably old rivals.
Kobayashi Aotori calmly exhaled a breath. It was all because Oikawa Toru had to have a classic confrontation during the duel with Seijoh, which made Kobayashi Aotori mistakenly think that this was common knowledge in the anime world.
"Huh? It's Kobayashi Aotori~! He looks as handsome as in the video!" A lively voice sounded, and Kobayashi Aotori looked around, what he saw was Motoya Komori with a hearty smile on his face.
Kobayashi Aotori agrees with this point. After all, the original Kobayashi is indeed very handsome, which also allows him to position himself as one in the team who can neither shine nor make mistakes.
Although his thoughts were racing, with the previous lesson in mind, he still nodded slightly towards the other person. Unexpectedly, the guy didn't have the restraint to meet him for the first time at all, and walked to him boldly:
"Ahaha! It's the 'libero killer'! Watching the videos of those games, I always feel a chill in my back!"
"I'm looking forward to Aotori-san's service!!"
What are you, the number 1 libero talking to me about here?
"Your serve and the line-breaker are amazing! And the super explosive ball! And more!! @#￥%..."
Kobayashi Aotori felt his eyes were dizzy. How come this guy, like Tendo, had a bunch of weird names for his serve?
"Isn't it just the most ordinary service?"
Kobayashi Aotori said sincerely.
However, after he said these words, everyone who was familiar with him suddenly fell silent.
Semi Eita glanced at Shion Ohira, and the two saw the same helplessness in each other's eyes.
Komori Motoya's smile froze slightly for a second, and the next moment he touched his head and smiled: "Haha, that's awesome."
He doesn’t understand where Komori Motoya’s smile comes from. Is he praising himself for having the courage to admit his shortcomings?
After thinking about it clearly, Aotori's expression became a little more relaxed, but Tendou beside him said loudly:
"Hey, ~ Sakusa is still the same, standing so far away~! There won't be any dirty things here!"
Sakusa Kiyoomi's eyebrows were furrowed tightly, his expression was dark with disgust, and a muffled voice came out from under the mask:
"You all just finished playing... so dirty with sweat."
Hearing the sound, Aotori looked over the crowd, followed the sound, and saw the man standing behind the crowd, wearing a mask and with his sportswear jacket pulled up tightly...
"Sea urchin?" He subconsciously asked in surprise.
So Kobayashi Aotori fell silent again, but in just a few seconds, Tendou was the first to laugh uncontrollably. Motoya Komori and his teammates also coughed lightly, looked away, and were forced to hold back their laughter.
And Sakusa's eyes were a little scary.
There was a gloomy aura all over his body, his eyes always looked up, and he frowned with a look of disgust on his face as if there was something dirty in the air.
Kobayashi Aotori also realized that he was rude. He waved his hand and tried to remedy it: "Quite similar."
...What the hell am I talking about?!
"Hahahaha, Aotori-chan's metaphor is so vivid~!" Tendou finally couldn't help it and laughed out loud while holding Ushijima's shoulders. Over there, Motoya Komori's shoulders were also shaking suspiciously.
Sakusa took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on the face of Kobayashi Aotori who was trying to provoke him. His deep pupils met his narrow, half-closed eyes, and for a moment it seemed like fire was flickering in the air.
Come on, come on! The confrontation in the famous scene before the big battle!
——But why me? You should go see Ushiwaka! This is wrong!!
Fortunately, Sakusa only paused for a few seconds and turned away, putting his hands in the pockets of his coat. Kobayashi Aotori blinked at the sight until Motoya Komori enthusiastically waved goodbye to everyone in Shiratorizawa and said, "See you in the game tomorrow."
He couldn't understand——
Isn’t Sakusa feel hot? This is summer as a person who is afraid of heat he admires Sakusa Kiyoomi from the bottom of his soul.
The next day, they are gathered at the Tokyo Stadium. The stadium was crowded today. People from the three stadiums usually gathered at the main venue at this moment, just because today was——
IH National Competition, Finals.
"Wow, there are so many people!" Goshiki exclaimed. Ohira Shion looked at the excited Goshiki with red cheeks with a smile, and then turned to look at the unfazed Aotori.
Kobayashi Aotori:? Something's wrong?
Shion turned his head decisively and never turned away again.
Sure enough, how could this kind of monster, who had experienced more large-scale competitions than he had experienced, be compared with an ordinary and innocent junior?
Aotori was just confused about the other party's strange expression, but he was already used to the strange expressions shown by everyone from time to time.
As expected, the minds of high school students are difficult to understand.
Kobayashi Aotori, who didn't know that his thoughts were the most difficult to understand, was thinking to himself.
————
Kobayashi Aotori and everyone in Shiratorizawa entered the court amidst the surging voice of the commentator.
The audience immediately burst into cheers and screams.
The venue was larger, with more audience, as this was the final of the inter-high national competition, Kobayashi Aotori was not at all nervous in this situation but instead felt more familiar and relaxed.
His comfortable performance formed a strong contrast with the trembling appearance of Goshiki.
"..Goshiki, are you nervous?" Shirabu frowned and looked at him.
Unexpectedly, the other party trembled as soon as he heard his name. The next moment, he lost all colour on the spot. His mouth opened slightly, and a wisp of soul with crossed hands and a peaceful face slowly flew out. Tendou exaggeratedly shouted:
"Oops! Goshiki has left earth!!"
"Idiot! Wake up a little bit!!" Semi Eita used [Senpai's Punch] and quickly knocked Goshiki's soul back into his body.
He suddenly came back to his senses and turned around tremblingly:
"No, no, no, no!"
"Absolutely not!!" Seemingly seeing Shirabu's disgusted and suspicious expression, he immediately straightened his body again and repeated it loudly. Ohira shion the side habitually tried to smooth things over and patted the Goshiki's shoulder:
"Ahaha, I will be nervous participating in the finals of a national competition for the first time..."
"You'll get used to it in the future." Kobayashi Aotori, who was stretching his arms to the side, interjected calmly.
He silenced the entire team again.
However, Goshiki seemed to be very satisfied with this kind of super-confident encouragement. He immediately raised his hand in high spirits, gave a thumbs up, and nodded vigorously.
Looking at the other party's expressions and movements, he mistakenly thought he saw Maito Gai.
However, Goshiki's nervousness has not been eliminated, and no one cares about it. After all, appropriate tension can help improve concentration.
——In the next game, Kobayashi Aotori regret thinking so at the time.
————
"Ooohhhhh! It's the final! It's the final!!" Hinata hugged Nishinoya next to him with great excitement, and the other party was equally excited: "It's the final! Aotori and... and sea urchin !”
"Aotori must win!!"
"Don't give people random nicknames..."
Sugawara wiped the cold sweat from his forehead helplessly.
Daichi showed an interested smile, "So who are we? Fans of Kobayashi-san?"
Sugawara also looked at him with a smile and the hair on his head tilted: "So be it."
Kageyama's expression was tense, and he was sitting aside, staring intently at the picture on the screen, as if he was afraid of missing a key shot.
"U-Um... Kageyama the game hasn't started yet?" Yamaguchi had cold sweat on his forehead.
Kageyama was surprised, and then when Hinata said, "Because Kageyama cares so much about Mr. Dynamite," he slowly blushed in shame, stood up in anger, grabbed Hinata Shoyo's collar, and pulled him off the ground. Picked it up:
"Boke Hinata! What are you talking about?!"
"Huh? Put me down quickly! BaKageyama!" Hinata struggled hard, and the two of them once again performed a full martial arts show in front of the helpless senpais.
--the other side
Oikawa Tooru bit his nails, followed the dark blue shadow on the screen with his eyes, and complained in a long voice:
"What kind of director is this? You can't see the expressions of the players at all! Hey, is your mobile phone too backward?"
Kindaichi on the side twitched the corner of his mouth, showing a dry smile, and quickly comforted Iwaizumi who closed his eyes in anger.
"You?! Aren't you complaining about the director who kept pointing the camera at Kobayashi Aotori's face two days ago, and now you're not happy that it's been moved away?!"
"...Hey, Iwa-chan is so fierce."
————
He doesn't know that he is being watched by everyone in Miyagi, not only by the 'protagonist', but also by almost everyone. It is estimated that Aotori will become even more nervous than the Goshiki if he knows about it.
With the commentator's shout, the referee's crisp whistle, and the players from both sides taking their positions, the IH National Competition, the finals, start amidst the excited cheers of the audience——