"Beeeeep, "
"Ga over."
"The winner is Aoba Johsai High School."
"Final score: 22–20."
The mont the referee announced the results, the minds of both the Aoba Johsai and Shiratorizawa players went completely blank, buzzing with shock.
The difference, however, lay in the reason.
For Aoba Johsai, it was an overwhelming joy.
For Shiratorizawa, it was disbelief.
"We… we won!"
"We're finally going to Nationals!"
Thump!
Oikawa Tooru stood frozen in place. It took him a long mont to truly register the win over Shiratorizawa. Then, his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor, bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha, hahahahaha…"
As soon as the referee declared the winner, the Aoba Johsai supporters lost all composure and stord the court, wild with excitent. Every face bead with joy.
"Ohhhhhh!!"
"You guys were amazing!"
"Nationals! We're finally going to Nationals!"
────────── ✦ ──────────
While Aoba Johsai celebrated with unrestrained laughter, the Shiratorizawa players exited the court, silent and defeated.
This was the nature of high school tournants.
In so ways, high school competitions are even harsher than professional ones. A single-elimination format ans many players never get a second chance.
And yet, that's exactly what makes these high school gas unforgettable.
────────── ✦ ──────────
During the awards ceremony,
The players from Aoba Johsai had to help each other walk up to the podium. Without that mutual support, they probably wouldn't have had the strength to leave the court at all.
When the team posed for photos, Oikawa's smile wasn't as dazzling as it used to be, but it was far more genuine.
In the past, Oikawa's smile had always been warm and friendly, like a gentle breeze. But in truth, it had been entirely manufactured. As a setter, he had to maintain good relationships with everyone, but in reality, nothing other than money could make soone universally liked.
After the ceremony, the team also appeared in a TV interview.
This ti, however,
Oikawa wasn't the only one in the spotlight. Akashi Asuka was right there beside him.
If you looked closely, you might've noticed sothing odd: aside from Ushijima Wakatoshi, there seed to be no other standout wing spikers in all of Miyagi Prefecture.
But the truth was different.
There were strong spikers in Miyagi, it was just that under the blinding light of Ushijima's talent, the others had always seed dim in comparison.
In previous matches, Akashi Asuka had perford well, but he was rarely the focus of dia attention.
This ti, that changed.
Why? Because in the final stretch of the fifth set, Akashi had gone toe-to-toe with Ushijima in six, or was it seven? consecutive exchanges… and held his ground.
That was enough to finally draw the reporters' eyes.
────────── ✦ ──────────
The next day,
After a night's rest, Akashi Asuka had mostly recovered. As he returned to school, the first thing he saw was a large, eye-catching banner hanging across the front of the main school building:
[Congratulations to our Boys' Volleyball Team for Qualifying for Nationals!!!]
The massive banner spanned the center of the building. It alone made clear just how significant this achievent was to the school.
As expected,
Aoba Johsai's volleyball team had beco the talk of the campus. And Akashi Asuka was even more of a sensation.
────────── ✦ ──────────
During a break between classes that morning, Akashi noticed clusters of classmates gathered in small groups, intently looking at sothing. Both boys and girls. Many were sneaking glances in his direction.
"Hey, Sanashita. What's everyone looking at?"
Akashi approached Ryuhei Sanashita. They'd ended up in the sa class when they entered high school, Sanashita wasn't bad in academics either.
Sanashita shot him a look and said, "Wait, you really don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Volleyball Monthly, man! The new issue just ca out this morning. You and Oikawa-senpai are on the entire front cover!"
He handed Akashi a copy of the magazine and flipped it open. Sure enough, a full-page spread had been divided in half: one side featured a photo of Oikawa Tooru, the other of Akashi Asuka.
"Do you know what the article says about you?" Sanashita continued. "They're calling you the next national-level ace from Miyagi, after Ushijima-senpai. You're officially one of the school's top stars now."
"Seriously… I kind of want to kill you out of jealousy."
Sanashita's face twisted into a sour expression of pure envy.
Let's be real,
Even if sports magazines didn't sell as well as faReon ones, that didn't an they weren't widely circulated.
Especially in schools. If five or six students had a copy, it was almost guaranteed that hundreds more would read it.
And anyone who made it into a magazine was seen as a celebrity, at least within the high school scene. Oikawa, for example, had once appeared in Volleyball Monthly and sohow managed to go through fifteen girlfriends in a single month.
So even though he looked like a refined gentleman on the surface, Oikawa Tooru was a total playboy underneath.
Honestly, it served him right that he could never beat Ushijima Wakatoshi or Kageyama Tobio.
Now Akashi Asuka was about to receive the sa kind of treatnt.
And for the forever-single Ryuhei Sanashita, that was a heavy blow.
"Damn normies… Just because you play good volleyball, you get the magazine cover? How's that fair?" Sanashita grumbled, radiating envy.
Akashi let out a small sigh and decided to throw him a bone. "Ryuhei… you're overthinking it. Do you really think I made the cover just because of how I play?"
"Wait, wasn't it?"
Akashi grinned and said, "Absolutely not. Take a closer look. Besides playing well, what else do Oikawa-senpai and I have in common?"
Sanashita stared at the magazine for a long ti but still couldn't co up with an answer.
Akashi sighed again, patted him on the shoulder, then pointed at his own face.
"It's the face. The face. The. Face."
He repeated it three tis, just to drive it ho.
Sanashita looked like he'd just been struck by lightning. He froze in place, completely stunned.
Akashi shook his head. "Poor kid. So naïve. You really thought people made magazine covers just because they were good at volleyball? Think again. When's the last ti you saw an ugly face in a magazine? Ugly players get ntioned in text. They don't get their pictures printed."
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