“You two are cleaning the locker room for the next week!!”
The two of them stood obediently in line, while Miya Atsumu lightly tapped Hinata's hand from behind and winked when Hinata glanced over.
Mm, good, the punishment follows seamlessly.
Of course, this also meant that for this week, the two of them could eat whatever they wanted in the locker room.
Looking up at the slightly dazzling overhead lights, Kageyama gently closed his eyes amidst the roar of cheers from the entire crowd.
The next second, he felt someone pounce on him; unable to keep his balance, he was knocked straight to the ground, then more and more weight pressed down on him.
“Kageyama! That serve was so cool! You're the hero of this victory!”
Senpai—we won, wahhhhh—we finally won! We can go to Nationals!
Kageyama, who was being pinned down, struggled for a moment and cast a look intended to have Tsukishima save him, but Tsukishima completely ignored him.
Kageyama, finally snapping out of his competitive trance, stared blankly at Tetsuya Takeda, who was already sobbing behind him.
Ah..
We won.
Chapter 470: The Four Hundred and Seventieth Fox
His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as Goshiki Tsutomu stared blankly at the crowd on the opposite side, who were cheering and embracing.
Once again, standing here on the court of the Finals.
To face each other again.. it seems we won't be able to achieve it this time..
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the ceiling lights of Sendai Gymnasium, Goshiki Tsutomu exhaled slowly, saying calmly, "I'm sorry, it was my fault."
I failed to kill the last ball with a spike, I let everyone's trust down.
Yura raised her hand and pressed it hard against her chest.
He frowned, his expression looking as if he were about to burst into tears. "No, it's mine—"
Goshiki walked up to his side and patted his shoulder. "Line up."
He is the de facto Ace and Captain of Shiratorizawa now; he will carry the heavy burden of Shiratorizawa, just as Ushijima-senpai and the others said he would.
He will never cry again.
Next year.. he will defeat everyone and reach that highest summit.
Definitely.
The players from both sides lined up on the sidelines of the court and bowed to each other in greeting.
Thank you for the game!!
After the cheering squad finished their thanks, Yamaguchi Tadashi took a few quick steps to catch up to Tsukishima, who had started walking ahead. "Tsukishima! That last block was amazing!"
Tsukishima took off his sports glasses, which were sliding down his face because they were covered in sweat, replied softly, "Given the tactical arrangement and the way the match progressed, this result is only natural at this stage."
No.. actually, the progression was still a bit slow.
If anything, when Goshiki's form began to decline in the Fourth Set, he could have strengthened his blocking to suppress the opponent, shifting directly to a pattern of disrupting the opponent's rhythm with the powerful serves of Yamaguchi and Kageyama, followed by scoring points through blocking.
I'll try it next time.
Hey! Look over here!
The members of Karasuno looked up and saw Kiyoko Shimizu holding a camera.
Azumane Asahi, standing nearby, was crying his eyes out, while Sawamura Daichi stood beside him, smiling and trying to stabilize his emotions.
Tanaka nudged Kageyama's side with his elbow. "Smile, Kageyama."
Kageyama froze for a moment, then raised his hand to make a peace sign toward the camera, finally breaking into a grin under the senior's urging.
Tsukishima Kei remained silent for two seconds, closing his eyes as he wiped his glasses clean and put them back on. "You'd better stop smiling."
How terrifying. For a moment, I felt like I was at the scene of a horror movie.
Following behind, Tokita blinked and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Is this.. the legendary King's smile?"
Nishinoya pushed Tsukishima and Kageyama toward the Players' Tunnel, one under each arm.
In the final coaching summary meeting, Ukai Keishin didn't say much; he was too flustered to get his words out, not to mention that Hitoka Yachi and Tetsuya Takeda were beside them, clutching their heads and wailing.
Kageyama walked step by step toward the dark Players' Tunnel, replaying the recent match in his mind.
They had been planning their strategy for today's match for a long time.
Because they couldn't be certain whether Shiratorizawa or Date Tech would advance, they had prepared different tactics for both sides.
Now, Karasuno, who lacks a strong offense, will find Date Tech's lineup even harder to deal with, whereas Shiratorizawa will find them much easier to handle.
But they wouldn't be so lucky on the national stage.
The players from the strong schools he knew all had distinct playing styles, each one more powerful than the last. It could be said that every opponent they faced after reaching the nationals would be Date Tech or Shiratorizawa.
As for the opponents he most wanted to face again on the national stage.. they had already reached the very top.
It doesn't matter; he will study every opponent and beat them one by one.
No matter how far, he will definitely catch up.
Just like.. the promise they had made.
Yo, you played with a lot of spirit today!
Kageyama, lost in his own thoughts, suddenly looked up and saw Sugawara Koushi standing at the end of the tunnel.
He took a few quick steps and walked over to his side.
“Sugawara-senpai.”
Kageyama's expression carried a sense of relief; since he hadn't seen Sugawara just now, he had thought the other man wasn't coming.
Seeing what Kageyama was thinking, Sugawara laughed, "I had class this morning, so I thought I wouldn't make it in time."
But I was super lucky; I caught the next train and arrived smoothly just in time for the final set.
Sugawara gave Kageyama a thumbs up. "That serve just now was really cool."
Kageyama nodded seriously. "I'll keep working hard."
Tsukishima, Nishinoya, the others gave Sugawara high-fives one after another, but Sugawara and Kageyama were in no hurry to leave.
After a brief silence, Sugawara Koushi suddenly spoke with a smile, "We're finally going, the Nationals."
Kageyama nodded. "Yeah."
Sugawara pulled back his laughing expression, calmed down, looked up slightly at Kageyama. "You're happy, looking forward to it, aren't you?"
Opponents who could only get a chance to face us because they were 'granted mercy' can finally face us head-on an official stage.
Yes.
Kageyama paused, then added once more, "I will keep winning."
"I believe in you," Sugawara Koushi said, his gaze sweeping over the retreating backs of those walking away with smiles on their faces.
Enjoy the match to your heart's content.
Excited commentary continuously drifted from the tablet, faintly mixed with the Taiko-sei and the cheers of the crowd.
But at this moment, these sounds had nothing to do with Hinata and Miya Atsumu, because..
The two of them were holding brooms and sweeping the floor under Coach Omimi's watchful gaze.
He stole a glance at Coach Omimi, whose expression was no longer as angry as before, stealthily shuffled over to his side.
He patted his chest toward the other man. "Coach, we'll clean it up, so please don't worry."
Coach Omimi looked at Hinata's profile and almost laughed out of frustration.
This little guy is clearly trying to drive him away!
But it was true that he didn't need to keep staring at the two of them; after all, they hadn't used the No. 2 Gymnasium locker room over the weekend, so it was quite clean, whereas Hinata and Miya Atsumu were already quite experienced at sneaking food in the locker room and hadn't left any soup or food scraps on the chairs.
Forget it, I'll let the two of them off the hook this time.
"Sweep thoroughly, wipe down the windowsills and the tops of the cabinets too." Coach Omimi tapped Hinata on the head with his hand, then turned and left the Locker Room.
Leaning against the doorway, Hinata waited until Coach Omimi had walked far away before decisively turning his head to look at Miya Atsumu.
They're gone. Let's watch the replay!
Miya Atsumu, who had originally only intended to chat with Hinata for a while, gave a light click of his tongue, but ultimately searched for the replay under Hinata's expectant gaze.
After searching for a while, Miya Atsumu said with "regret," "The official replay hasn't been synced yet, since we didn't record it manually, we can't watch it."
He had almost forgotten that the match replays on the Regional Qualifiers website were different from the national tournaments; since the source was local media, they weren't available for on-demand viewing immediately after the live stream, but instead required waiting for the official upload.
After all.. he had never specifically sat and waited on a webpage to watch a live stream of the Regional Qualifiers before.
“Eh—!” Hinata let out a long, drawn-out sound.
But that was the reality, he was only slightly disappointed.
Glancing at Hinata, Miya Atsumu quickly skimmed through the Haruko news updates: "Oh, the Third-place match in Tokyo and the Finals in Kyoto are both already finished."
No wonder he thought there were so few people in the Miyagi livestream; if they were held at the same time, those two would definitely receive more attention.
Hinata's attention was quickly diverted, he hurriedly leaned over, wanting to see Miya Atsumu's tablet: "Who advanced to Tokyo?"
Miya Atsumu replied, "Fukurodani and Itachiyama won the semifinals yesterday, today, Masanori advanced in the Third-place match."
Hinata rubbed his chin. "A school I've never heard of."
Nekoma lost to Fukurodani in the Quarterfinals and was eliminated from Haruko; Kenma had told him about it the day before yesterday.
Nekoma's current roster maturity is quite a bit lower compared to last year when Yaku, Kuroo, others were still around, especially since the core Libero, Shibayama, has not yet fully matured.
But Kenma said that Teshiro Kyuhiko and the team's coordination was progressing quite well, once Shibayama's proficiency improves a bit more next year, they will have a great chance of advancing.
Hinata looked down at the unfamiliar school name on Miya Atsumu's tablet: "It's a little bit of a regret."
Miya Atsumu glanced at Hinata, not asking him what exactly he was feeling regretful about.