"Okay, it is clear by now that our next opponent will be Tsukiji High." Riku crossed his arms. "I an, no matter how outrageous Keihin's middle blocker's talent is, there is no way he could carry his team on his back alone, especially after his teammates got destroyed ntally by the crowd."
So of his friends winced unconsciously, trying to turn their gazes away from the disoriented state on Keihin's bench. They didn't know how, but the mont the song 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was sung, all the Tsukiji players suddenly got their ability boosted three-fold than their normal ones, and Keihin players suddenly got sloppy and started to make mistakes.
Well, it was a lie to say they didn't know how. Of course, they had an idea of what happened.
The song itself was ant to boost their team's ntal, and it did a very good job on this occasion. All the Tsukiji players buffed up and played at a level far above what they showed before. Unfortunately for Keihin, their players didn't have the experience playing under such a crowd, and they started panicking. Mistakes after mistakes were made, and the more they fell, the harder it was to bounce back to the top.
Still, this new knowledge didn't do anything to appease their worry. If anything, this made them all feel intimidated even far before they played against each other.
"So, we are finally going to face what our opponent always faced before, huh?" Kaede chuckled dryly.
"Well, we still don't know who will have the ho-court advantage." Asahi pointed out. "If we got that, we could ask the crowd to do the sa to intimidate Tsukiji High too."
"I am sorry to burst your bubble, Cap, but that is not going to happen, trust ," Kaede said bitterly. "After all, you know our luck the best. We are blessed already by avoiding a lot of strong opponents until the later stage, so there is no way luck will be on our side too this ti."
Even if most of them didn't want to believe sothing superstitious like that, they all knew Kaede was right. They had already been blessed with a good drawing, there was no way whatever deity above would let them monopolize all the good luck in the world.
"Well, it seems we need to prepare for a ga under the pressure from the crowd, and maybe also a practice of how to handle synchronization and a quick attack from a literal lightning flash. Anything else to add?" gumi asked while scribbling over her notebook. Yuki had a sweat drop on his face as he didn't know the older girl was capable of throwing a sarcastic remark like that.
"Oh, add one more thing." Riku suddenly chid in. "We need to think of a way to break their montum. We might not be able to hold the montum for too long, but we cannot let them have it for more than two plays. You see how they play when they all are confident. I bet all the money in my pocket that their confidence state is able to match Konan High in their pri."
Well… This part was going to be more troubleso than the issues they had already discussed. While it was true they saw how fearso Tsukiji High was when they had the montum, snatching it wouldn't be an easy task. They were not one of the best teams in Toyo for nothing. Even if they didn't have a lot of good attackers, all of them had a solid defense that would be able to enter Tsunemori's main roster instantly if they decided to change schools.
"Oh, don't be too depressed, will you." gumi rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner. "We are lucky we noticed all of this five days before the ga. This way, we can be much more prepared to handle this situation. Akira-sensei will also think of a way to help, and who knows? Maybe, I can also rope Sekine-sensei into this mix as well." She shrugged at the last part.
All of the Tsunemori players had their eyes shining at the girl while most of them were slack-jawed. While they all knew gumi wasn't just a glorified maid like any other manager in any sports team, to think that the girl was familiar enough with one of the best coaches in Japan to the point that she could ask him to help her team training… It seed they needed to re-assess their evaluation of gumi here.
"Well, whatever. The ga is about to start, let's see if we can pick more things for Akira-sensei to analyze."
"Sure!"
The second set started five minutes later, and while Keihin wanted to take an early initiative by making a quick attack, it was unfortunate that Taiyo—the setter—was still affected by the crowd. When he was about to pass the ball to Bato, the boy flinched instantly at the sudden shout, which disturbed his concentration, and the ball slipped through his hand.
"SHIT! Hori, get this!" Taiyo shouted.
"Don't worry, this is mine!"
It was ironic how Taiyo, the setter had to get the first ball while Hori, the defensive specialist had to fill the setter role to initiate the attack. Well, no one thought about it too much, as all eyes were on Tsukiji's line of blockers who moved in unison to block Morita's attack.
BAM!
"Oh! Nice rebound, Captain!"
"Give it to again!" Morita raised his hand, asking for a better pass. This ti, Taiyo managed to recover quickly to set up a proper pass. However, instead of giving it to Morita who got two of Tsukiji's blockers' attention, he sent it to the middle where Bato was ready to attack.
BAM!
"SHIT!" Bato cursed once again when Reiki suddenly popped up in front of him. "What a pest!"
"Ha! Thank you for the complint!" Reiki grinned. He recovered from his position quickly before starting his run-up, ready to participate in the counterattack. "Neito, give a quick!" He shouted.
After getting stopped by Reiki, of course, Bato didn't want to let Tsukiji's captain get away that easily. With his emotions still running high, he didn't even consider Tsukiji's other players as his attention was full on Reiki. Neito took advantage of that by sending it far to the opposite wing where Kiyotake had already flown in the air.
"Oh! Nice pass, Neito!" With only one player from Keihin attempting to block his shot, it was easy for Kiyotake to avoid it. He just tilted his body a little, aiming for a cross-spike where no one stood there. Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire
BAM!
"HELL YEAH!" Kiyotake roared, celebrating the point. "Good pass, Neito! But you can be a bit faster than that, right? I still have a lot of stamina, you know?" He grinned goofily.
"Ha! You might have the stamina, Senpai, but you don't have the speed!" Neito retorted back.
"Hey, that is not true!"
"What? You an you don't have the stamina too?!"
As the ga went in the direction they wanted, Tsukiji players could relax a bit, bantering with each other nonchalantly. The sa couldn't be said for their opponent, though. Only Bato still had the fire in his eyes, and it was mixed with frustration. As for the others, while Morita was still willing to fight, it was clear that the thought of winning this ga had already gone from his mind. He was just here to do his role as the captain to stand up until the end.
For the others… Before this, they had never thought of going too far through this stage, so the fact that they had the chance to play against one of the best teams in Tokyo was an achievent for them. Now, they just wanted to make sure they enjoyed every mont here as they didn't know if they could achieve the sa in the future.
'Goddamnit!' Even though from the outside, Bato looked like he wasn't bothered by the score, internally, he cursed all the things that happened in this ga. If nothing changed at all, this was going to be the first defeat in his career, and Bato felt dreadful when he thought about that. If before, he had never thought about this, the ga today was an eye-opener of how suck his teammates were. It wasn't just because of their skill, but more of their small-team ntality. They were too quick to give up on everything and Bato was so frustrated that he was the only one who was still willing to fight. 'Shit, I still have the next year to play. If I really want to do this, I need to reform the team from scratch. Screw it, I will talk to the headmaster later.'
Unfortunately, that was his future problem. For now, no matter how frustrated he was, Bato had to finish this ga, and even if he could just slack off like his teammates, the boy didn't want to do that. He kept running and running, jumping all over the front line to block the opponent's attack while also moving around to attack. But it wasn't enough. He couldn't do it alone. His teammates really dragged him down, and finally, when Taiyo made a mistake that landed the ball straight in front of the net, the referee blew the whistle which ended the ga for Tsukiji High.
"YEAH!"
"Good win, Reiki!"
"Co on, Kiyotake! Nice performance!"
"Tsukiji High! We love you!"
As the cheers kept getting louder from the stand, all the Tsunemori players rose from their spots, leaving the building silently. They all had this solemn expression on their face, knowing they were in for a tough ga next.
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