Kageyama lunged toward the ball, accurately predicting Ushijima's intent to spike straight and placing a single hand in front of him to block.
And Ushijima didn't bother to dodge at all, instead slamming the ball down with a powerful spike.
With a loud bang, the volleyball flew high into the air and landed out of bounds.
Kunimi Akira in the back row lifted his foot, preparing to chase, but at the same time, he was weighing and judging within his mind.
Ball speed, spin, his own speed, distance..
In the end, he stopped in his tracks.
But the moment he stopped, he suddenly remembered something.
Kunimi suddenly looked up, staring at Kageyama in front of the net. Kageyama wasn't looking at him, but he seemed to have just turned around.
He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but just as Kunimi was beginning to relax, that voice—the one he had spent nearly three years with day and night, a voice that was nothing short of a nightmare to him—rang out.
Kunimi.
Kunimi frowned at the sound and looked toward Kageyama, just as he was about to speak, but he heard the next sentence instead.
“Good judgment.”
Kunimi Akira's expression went blank for a moment.
The hand at his side clenched slightly, then relaxed and dropped.
In the very end, his expression froze in a look that was caught between wanting to cry and wanting to laugh.
But when Kageyama looked back with a hint of doubt, he saw only Kunimi's usual calm expression.
It was as if.. nothing had happened.
Chapter 154: The One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Fox
Hinata and Hyakuwa took this set beautifully.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Kageyama and Kunimi were ultimately a step behind, losing to Shiratorizawa's Spiker and Inarizaki's future Spiker.
Kageyama said softly, "Sorry, I didn't handle those last few plays well."
The offensive intensity from the opposing side was simply too great. Kunimi's reception was a bit off, although he should have been able to handle these issues as the setter, he ultimately failed to provide a good set..
Before Kunimi could say anything, Tsukishima, who had just finished playing and was walking past the sidelines, covered his mouth and laughed mockingly, "The King isn't all that—"
Hinata stood right by his side, covering his mouth while laughing along with the action: "The King lost so miserably—"
Kageyama glared at them instantly, looking fierce: "You two, stop making things worse!"
A light chuckle came from beside him. Having successfully driven the two of them away, Kageyama turned his head and met Kunimi Akira's expressionless face.
Kageyama had a sour expression on his face: "What are you laughing at?"
"I wasn't laughing." Kunimi averted his gaze and looked toward Kindaichi.
“You laughed.” Kageyama stared intently at him.
“I didn't,” Kunimi denied again.
Seeing that the conversation had fallen into a dead end, Kunimi decisively chose to run away.
Kunimi!
The call rang out once again.
Kunimi looked back slightly and saw Kageyama giving him a thumbs-up, just like the gesture the Karasuno Libero often makes.
The King said, "Well played."
Kunimi turned around completely and left the court without looking back: "You're doing alright."
Holding a water bottle, Hinata Shoyo leaned in close to the fairly familiar Wase Eita and asked in a low voice, "So.. what happened between Kageyama and those guys from Seijo?"
Recalling that Hinata attended junior high school in Miyagi, Wase Eita asked, "Do you know Kitagawa Daiichi?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, all three of them were from Kitagawa Daiichi, right?"
Wase continued, "There was a lot of internal disagreement within their team before, though the specific reasons are unclear. But Ushijima and I watched a few of their matches, Kageyama lost his temper on the court several times."
And then, during the finals of last year's Interhigh Junior High Qualifiers, they didn't go for the spike Kageyama set, after that, Kageyama was subbed out.
On the other hand, Rishia Heisuke felt his scalp go numb as he listened: "That sounds like a real mess.."
Although Miya Atsumu has thrown tantrums on the court before, with Aran-senpai and Osamu-senpai there, those episodes always ended in a state that could only be described as a petty squabble.
From the sound of it, Kitagawa Daiichi is just in the middle of a cold war..
Indeed, compared to a cold war, he also felt that settling things with a fight would be much faster.
Recalling how the Miya Twins were often taken away by the coach for lectures, Hinata's eyes widened. "And the coach and the captain won't care either?"
Even if the coach is busy, the Kita Team wouldn't just ignore Atsumu-senpai and the others, besides.. he's here now!
Wase nodded. "Yeah, given the situation at the time, it was a complete cold shoulder."
Speaking of which, he was reminded of Oikawa Tooru, who was in the same year as him.
That guy's form was also quite off for a while when he first started junior high, but he got better later on, he even thought it was because the coach had finally intervened.
Thinking about it now.. it's very possible that wasn't the case.
Kageyama stared at Kunimi and Kindaichi as they were talking, while his mind was already dwelling on the recent match.
Right then, he felt someone poke his arm. He looked down and met Hinata's gaze.
Hinata teased him, "You're not going to cry, are you?"
When Wase-senpai said that, he remembered that these guys had argued on the court during their previous match against Kitagawa Daiichi.
But they had been losing so badly back then that most of his attention was focused on how to score a single point, he hadn't noticed at all that the opposition was already in a desperate situation.
Kageyama refuted decisively, "Huh? What are you talking about?"
Crying? Crying because of the match we just lost?
After locking eyes with Hinata for a few seconds, Kageyama only vaguely realized what Hinata was trying to say.
He remained silent, saying nothing more.
Hinata raised his hand and patted Kageyama Tobio's shoulder like an elder: "Oh come on, what's there to get stuck on? Look, can't the two of us talk properly now?"
But I'll remember your dark history for the rest of my life!
As he spoke, Hinata raised one hand to press down his hair, while his other hand mimicked the motion of grabbing a ball, imitating the Kageyama he had seen before: "What on earth have you been doing these past three years!"
Then he pressed his hair down with both hands at once. "Are you playing me!"
Kageyama's face darkened completely as he reached out and pressed his hand against Hinata's head. "Don't get cocky with me."
"Wrong, wrong—" Hinata struggled.
After completely calming down, Kageyama asked that question once more: "So, what were you doing in junior high?"
This time his tone was very calm, without that almost aggressive anger.
Recalling Hinata's words about "speaking what's in your heart," Kageyama added, "Back then, I thought you had great physical abilities—you were fast and could jump high. If you had practiced properly, it would have been impossible for you to play like that."
That's also why he would get angry with Kunimi many times; Kunimi's talent is excellent, better than Kindaichi's, in some respects, even a bit better than his own.
That was why he felt Kunimi was wasting his talent.
Hinata froze for a moment: "Is that really what you think?"
He thought he was simply being scolded for having no ambition..
Kageyama nodded: "Yeah, I feel like you're just like Kunimi, wasting your own talent."
He spoke somewhat awkwardly, as if he hadn't said such a long sentence in a very, very long time.
"Kunimi-kun doesn't like playing volleyball that much, does he?" Hinata said, hands on his hips, glancing at Kunimi, who had already arrived at the sidelines to drink water.
Kageyama, among the people I know, there are many who are incredibly talented but don't actually like playing volleyball.
Like Hirugami Yukio, like Miya Osamu.
Hinata's words were very blunt: "Sometimes, there's no need to be held hostage by talent, right?"
After all.. volleyball is a sport meant to bring joy. If playing volleyball makes you feel pain, it's probably better not to play at all.
Kageyama froze completely.
Is there no need.. to be held hostage by talent?
This was the first time someone had told him that having talent and wanting to play volleyball better were two different things.
For some reason, he suddenly thought of his older sister.
But why are you asking what my junior high school is doing?" Hinata looked up, flashing a bright smile at Kageyama, "We're playing volleyball, of course.
Kageyama was momentarily stunned: "Then you.."
"But my junior high school, Yukinoshita, didn't have a men's volleyball club, so I had to fend for myself." As he spoke, Hinata gave himself a big thumbs up.
But then, he scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. "But I really did play terribly.."
After a long silence, Kageyama lowered his eyes. "Sorry."
Hinata puffed out his chest subtly. "No need to apologize, after all, I'm stronger than you now."
No one's time is worthless; Hinata does not think his three years at Yukinoshita were a waste, Kageyama does not think his year at Karasuno was a waste either.
Even if they were technically just treading water, they had still learned something from those days, after all.
—That is enough.
Looking at the two people Unabara had singled out for attention, Coach Washijo gave a slight nod of his chin. "Kageyama, Shoyo, left side."
Then, he looked toward his prized student: "Wakatoshi, Akari, right side."
Rishia turned to Kunimi and said, "This is going to be good."
Kunimi said nothing, merely looking toward Kindaichi, who was walking over from the other side.
After a brief exchange of glances, Kindaichi also came to a halt beside them.