"HELL YEAH!" Yuki roared, spreading his arms widely as if he were the second Jesus incoming. Unexpectedly, the first one to jump onto him wasn't any other Tsunemori players, but one boy who rushed from the group of Tsunemori supporters and hugged Yuki fondly.
"Good job, Yuki! That last one is a nasty job!"
"Hell, yeah! Advancing through the 16th round! One more win and we will be able to reach the Tokyo tropolitan Gymnasium!"
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"Bah! Don't get too technical! Just win the next ga, and the opportunity will co!"
"Hell, yeah!"
In the next couple of seconds, Yuki was sward by the crowd coming from Tsunemori, almost all of them held their phone and started taking a selfie photo which surprised Yuki a lot. After all, he had never been asked for a photo or two since he played volleyball, so to get a superstar treatnt out of nowhere was a bit shocking.
"Hey, hey, don't push around like that! No, not the hair, please! Let go!" With his exhausted body, Yuki was struggling to navigate himself to get away from the crowd. It took a while, but finally, he managed to survive, just to glare at his teammates who were laughing at his misfortune. "Why won't you help ?!" Whined the boy.
"Oh, don't be a whiny like that! It is not often to see you so flustered like that!" Ogawa grinned mischievously.
"Yes, and you deserve their love too! Don't think you can get away after all you have done during this ga!" Asahi added.
Yuki could only grumble grumpily as he threw his body back against the bench, wiping the sweat on his face. There, he could see the crowd was now swarming Riku and Koji who seed to enjoy the attention, and even he himself couldn't help but smile.
Then, he suddenly felt sothing cold pressed on his cheek, and when Yuki turned around, he was greeted by Arina Sugawara who was holding a cold can of ionized water for him. "Good job, Yuki-kun. You really lead us to the win." She smiled.
"Eh…" Yuki rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It is nothing special. Everyone also did a very good job, you know? I won't be able to do everything alone." He said, trying to be humble.
"Don't say it like that!" gumi who overheard the conversation chid in. "The others might have done a good job, but that is only because they know you have their back. If not for you, I am sure everything wouldn't go as smoothly as we see today."
"Well… If you say so…"
Little did Yuki know that the commotion in front of him stopped as all the Tsunemori players and supporters glared at him with eyes full of jealousy.
"Damn! How could he get the attention of the two queens of our school?!"
"Yes, that is so unfair!"
"Let's wait until we leave the building and kick his ass as hard as possible, okay?"
"Hey, that is a good idea!"
While all the mbers of the Tsunemori High School were in a high spirit, though, a completely different atmosphere could be seen haunting the other side of the court. This was the cruelty of the ga; there would always be one side that lost everything, and this ti, it was Tsukiji High that suffered from this. All of the ho team's players could be seen lying on the floor, so even crying. However, the players who had it hardest were of course the three senior mbers of the team.
"So, this is it, huh?" Banjo said to no one, letting his body lie on the floor. He stared at the ceiling of the building blankly, not knowing what to feel. "Even though I know our team is not the best, I have always envisioned that my journey would be stopped after an epic battle against Matsukita or Konan High. Who would have thought that my last ga would end up in an embarrassing defeat against a no-na team like Tsunemori?" He chuckled bitterly.
Reiki who sat next to him just bowed his head down, letting tears fall to the floor. All the mories of his journey with the team flooded, from when he achieved the best rookie of the tournant award in his first year, the humiliation he suffered against Matsumoto from Konan High, the blood and sweat he poured to improve himself, the team's decision to make him the team's captain, everything.
Now, everything was over. His dream of the national tournant, his ambition to take revenge against Konan High, his ti with the team and teammates, now, everything was over. His journey with the team ended, and he couldn't hold back the tears falling from his eyes.
Then, his gaze turned to the dejected crowd on the stand, and he felt his heart clenched tightly at that.
Reiki knew how much the supporters ant to the team, and to see the team disappoint the crowd with their half-asses performance didn't sit quite well in the stomach. So, even if he still felt sad, Reiki gritted his teeth forcing himself to rise from the floor and patted his friend's shoulder gently. "Co on, Kiyotake, Banjo, let's greet the supporters first. At least, they deserve our heartfelt gratitude."
The three senior mbers of the team walked alone through the supporter side while the other Tsukiji players watched from afar with confusion. Then, without even being commanded to, those three bowed deeply, shouting at the supporter, "ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU!"
A pin-drop silence befell the building, as even all the Tsunemori players turned their attention to them as everyone looked at those three in disbelief. However, before they could even proceed with everything, Reiki continued, "We also apologize for disappointing you all in our last ga! We hope that the team's future will be far better than us!"
"Yes! Today is a disappointnt for the team! I hope that in the future, all the Tsukiji players can appreciate you guys and work harder than us today!" Kiyotake added.
By now, almost all of the Tsukiji supporters on the stand had already shed tears. Even though they all were disappointed, those three were also the mbers of the team. They all saw those three's progress from being bench warrs during their rookie year to being the backbone of the team, and now that those three were going to retire, everyone couldn't help but feel emotional.
"WE ALSO THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, REIKI! KIYOTAKE! BANJO!"
"Yes! We will never forget your ti here!"
"Keep practicing, and if I see you play in any competitive tournant again, I will cheer for you!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Don't forget that you will never walk alone!"
When everyone saw those three had their shoulder shaking, they also cried silently for them. Unfortunately, no matter how much they wanted to, it was impossible to turn back ti. Now, they could only feel regret that they hadn't done enough and left the high school volleyball team forever.
"Neito, after this, I will leave everything to you," Reiki said, trying to hold back more tears from coming out of his eyes. "Please, build a ntally stronger team than this year. Don't be like , a disappointnt through and through."
"Don't worry, Senpai. I will do it." The setter nodded solemnly. "Thank you for your dedication to the team. After this, leave everything to . With Ishida and Wang's help, we will rebuild this team into sothing that you can be proud of in the future, just wait for it!"
As Neito ntioned Ishida and Michael Wang, Reiki couldn't help but turn his attention to the two talented freshn the team had. Both could be seen talking to the other two freshn from the opponent team, the two who buried his dream alive. Once again, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh, his thought was filled with so many 'what-ifs'.
'If only they are in the sa year as us…'
Unfortunately, that was just a 'what-ifs' scenario that would only happen in another life. For now, they could only feel regret that they wasted their last year with the talented junior just like that. In the end, Reiki let out a deep sigh before patting Neito's shoulder, saying, "I leave the rest to you. Good luck."
-0-
"Ah, it is finally over!" The man sat on the back of the stand and stretched his body, feeling tired after watching the ga full from the start. "So, what do you think, Hasebe-sensei? Did this ga et your expectations?" He asked the older man next to him.
"Well, you can say that this exceeds all of my expectations," Hasebe said wryly. "Before this, I only saw him as a re service specialist. But now, I could see him as a defensive specialist, an ergency setter, an opposite hitter, and also a natural leader to any team he is in. His presence would be crucial for the team I have in mind."
"So, you have made your decision?"
"Yes." Hasebe nodded firmly, his eyes were still on Yuki on the court. "Yuki Kobayashi will have one spot in Japan National Team U – 17 for the World Cup U – 17 next March, for that I guarantee."
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