The Match Concludes
"BEEP~ BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP~~~~"
Accompanied by the long, drawn-out whistle, the match between Senkoku and Kitagawa Daiichi Middle School finally ended with a score of 25:20.
Although the setter who replaced Kageyama Tobio was skilled and could execute decent combinations with his teammates, sometimes talent is simply an unreasonable force of nature.
When Kageyama Tobio was on the court—even if he treated his teammates merely as spiking tools, issuing commands in his 'King' persona—Kitagawa Daiichi's offense and defense were in a league of their own within the Miyagi Prefectural middle school division.
Without Kageyama Tobio, Kitagawa Daiichi could still be called a strong school, but they lacked that 'super-middle-school-level' edge.
In this situation, Senkoku could still break through Kitagawa Daiichi's defense, but it became extremely difficult for Kitagawa Daiichi to break through Akashi's blocks when he was in the front row.
The moment the final whistle blew, the Kitagawa Daiichi side of the court fell into a sudden silence.
On the Senkoku side, there was a brief moment of stunned disbelief, followed by a tremendously enthusiastic cheer.
"We won! We finally beat Kitagawa Daiichi!"
"One more match! Just one more match!"
"The National Tournament! We have a chance to advance to the National Tournament!"
...
The Senkoku players frantically mobbed Akashi, piling onto him in a joyous embrace.
Even Shimokawa Sando rushed over from the sidelines, his face alight with excitement. Although he had felt Senkoku had a chance to defeat Kitagawa Daiichi, it was only a chance. Now that Senkoku had successfully won, even he, a man in his thirties, was as happy as a child.
Soon after, the referee signaled for both teams to line up for the traditional post-match acknowledgment.
Kageyama Tobio also came up from the bench. However, it was clear that the current Kageyama Tobio was still in a state of mental blankness.
After the bows, the two teams exited through their respective tunnels.
Though tired, the Senkoku players were incredibly energized. After this round, they didn't leave immediately but went to the spectator stands to watch the other semi-final match between [Kōsen Academy vs. Chisei Middle School].
Those two teams fought all the way to a third set before a winner was decided; the eventual winner was Kōsen Academy.
The Buzz Around School
The National Qualifiers Final was scheduled for the following week.
Upon returning to school on Monday, the volleyball club members, while excited, maintained a certain level of restraint, as there was still one final match to play.
But they never expected the school to be even more excited than they were.
From the moment the news of the volleyball club reaching the qualifiers final reached the school, Akashi and his teammates often heard the sounds of joint musical practice coming from the music department as they passed by.
This was support music the music department was specially preparing for the volleyball club's upcoming final and, potentially, the National Tournament.
During regular class hours, the subject teachers would also occasionally check on the physical condition of Akashi and Omae Masato.
And among the students, the buzz was even greater. For an entire week, no matter where Akashi went—whether to the restroom or to eat—he constantly heard discussions. The conversations revolved almost exclusively around two keywords: "Nationals" and "He's so cool."
It was because of this that Akashi realized he had somewhat underestimated the significance of a school club reaching the National Tournament stage during the middle school period.
Not to mention...
For this one week alone, Akashi basically found different, pink heart-adorned envelopes inside his shoe locker almost every morning or evening.
Curiously, although volleyball is a team sport, these items rarely appeared in the shoe lockers of the other volleyball club members.
...
"This is honestly too much of a humble-brag."
On Friday evening after school, Akashi opened his shoe locker, preparing to change into his outdoor shoes to go home. There was no practice today because of tomorrow's final.
But the moment he opened the locker, three pink heart-drawn envelopes fell out.
"Kids these days are way too brave! Back in our time, if you liked someone, you only dared to have a secret crush, terrified of a parental phone call... Also, these things are starting to take up too much space at home."
Omae Masato, standing beside him: "ヽ(゜Q.)ノ???"
Are you serious right now?
Watching Akashi, who wore a look of distress about how to deal with the three envelopes, Omae Masato took his outdoor shoes out of his own clean locker, mentally calculating what grade of oil he would need to start his fire with tonight.
The two walked out of the school building.
Seeing students from the first and second years, and various sports clubs, running past, Omae Masato suddenly wasn't sure where he should go.
Senkoku usually finished school quite early in the afternoon. If he wasn't attending club activities, he genuinely didn't know where to go at this hour.
As they walked...
Unknowingly, the two ended up near the volleyball club.
The gym door was locked, clearly because Shimokawa Sando was worried that someone might try to sneak in for extra training today, which could affect their performance in tomorrow's match.
Akashi scoffed at Shimokawa Sando's precaution.
Sneak in for extra training?
What a joke. What proper middle schooler would do that?
Then, turning the corner, Akashi and Omae Masato saw all the volleyball club members scattered across the grass on the side of the gym.
"Hahaha... I knew these two would show up too. You guys lose, you're buying tonight's energy bars." As soon as Akashi and Omae Masato arrived, the club members were initially surprised, then they heard Kazama Juujirou burst into laughter.
"Tch!"
Kurata and Ota Miki scowled, apparently unhappy about having lost an energy bar.
...
"Hey, what are you guys planning to do when you get to high school?"
The seven third-year members of the volleyball club lay on the grass, forming a circle. White clouds drifted lazily across the blue sky when Ota Miki suddenly asked.
"Juujirou and I will probably go to Kashiyama High. We're planning to play baseball in high school. I heard Kashiyama's baseball club once made it to the Koshien," Omae Masato spoke first.
No one was surprised by his answer. If anything, this was the normal choice for most middle school students.
Not everyone has the chance to become a professional athlete in the future.
The main purpose for the vast majority of middle school students joining clubs is still interest and hobbies. Therefore, choosing different clubs in middle school, high school, and university to broaden one's interests and hobbies is the choice of most students.
There was also a crucial factor: given Omae Masato's current academic performance, he didn't have many high school options available to him.