Seven days later, inside Johzenji High's volleyball club.
Yuji Terushima and the others were in the middle of training, frantically working on their team coordination. Although it was obvious that every single one of them was completely invested, anyone who had ever seen the way they practiced would probably have a hard time not laughing.
It wasn't because their individual fundamentals were poor, or because their coordination with each other was sloppy. It was simply a matter of their style of play.
They were messing around so wildly it looked like some kind of festival. Just seeing it was enough to make people laugh, let alone standing there and watching from the side. It would definitely strike plenty of people as ridiculous.
"That serve was so cool! Terushima, teach me that serve you just did. How do you even jump up and serve like that? Come on, hurry up and tell us."
After Terushima, standing at the service line, sent a fairly nice jump serve in an arc into the opposite court, the players in orange-yellow uniforms instantly crowded around him. Their faces were glowing with happiness.
That happiness came from how deeply they loved volleyball. If they didn't truly love the sport, they probably couldn't have shown that kind of excitement.
Because of that, a lot of them were honestly envious that Terushima could pull off a serve like that.
"Easy, easy. Let me make some room first. One at a time."
Terushima, with his slicked-back blond hair, had just been about to demonstrate the jump serve he had learned from who knew where, when Hana Misaki, dressed in training wear, walked into the club carrying the tournament materials she had just collected from the prefectural volleyball office. She happened to catch sight of everyone crowded together.
Her face immediately went blank with exasperation, and she gave two stern coughs to signal for the court to quiet down.
"What is it, senpai?"
"We were training just now. We didn't even notice you came in."
Once Terushima and the others saw that Hana Misaki had arrived, they temporarily put aside their playful mood and all gathered around her.
"The groupings for the Spring High preliminaries are out. Your first opponent is Aoba Johsai."
After saying that, Hana Misaki instinctively rubbed her forehead, looking utterly helpless. She had never expected that the moment they entered the Spring High preliminaries, they would run into an opponent like this. It practically gave them no room to respond.
"Aoba Johsai? Is that team strong?"
Someone asked that instinctively. A lot of them were new members who had only just joined the club and didn't know the strength of the various teams in Miyagi. For Johzenji as a whole, that actually wasn't unusual.
A lot of them only knew that there was a team in Miyagi called Aoba Johsai. Beyond that, they basically knew nothing.
Thinking that, everyone turned their eyes toward Hana Misaki, waiting to hear just what kind of strength a team called Aoba Johsai had, and whether they could really be considered an opponent worth worrying about.
"Aoba Johsai is absolutely one of the powerhouse teams in Miyagi. Their overall strength isn't quite on the same level as Shiratorizawa, but they're still one of the favorites to win it all. And at this stage, getting placed in the same bracket as them right away..."
"You could say the situation is extremely dangerous."
"You all need to start preparing yourselves for what's coming next."
Hana Misaki looked troubled. As one of the senior members around the court, and also Johzenji's manager, she had a very clear understanding of the different teams in Miyagi. It wasn't to the point that she knew every detail by heart, but she was still quite familiar with the current information on the various players around the prefecture.
"These are the player profiles for Aoba Johsai. You should all take a look. Right now, Aoba Johsai is led by their third-year Toru Oikawa."
"They've always been a powerhouse team, and recently they became even more terrifying after bringing in a new ace named Hank. Because of that, they're being called the strongest Aoba Johsai lineup since the school was founded."
"You could say their momentum is fierce. At this rate, even the reigning powerhouse Shiratorizawa might not be able to get an easy advantage against them."
As Hana Misaki said that, Terushima and the others could no longer wait and immediately snatched the player information sheets out of her hands. A lot of them gathered together and started discussing it excitedly. After all, they were fearless rookies. They didn't care in the slightest about whether someone was a powerhouse team.
They simply enjoyed the fun volleyball brought them. No matter what happened next, it would all be valuable experience. It wasn't anything worth fearing.
That was why they were still prepared to go all out in the match ahead. The stronger the opponent, the more excited they became.
"The ace, Hank!"
"He looks younger than me, but he's actually being called the strongest ace in Aoba Johsai's history. This guy's definitely not simple."
"But I'm not simple either!"
Terushima's heart was full of fighting spirit. He was determined to win the upcoming match and, in the end, successfully seize a berth at Spring High.
(End of Chapter)
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