After that, the ga continued again with the right to serve back to Kikugawa High. However, just like what Kaito and Suzuki experienced before, Tachibana also served the ball under the boos deliberately delivered right the second before he slamd the ball, distracting his timing and making the ball he sent to be weak and easy to receive.
Tsunemori's supporters didn't just stop at that point. They also started targeting Kikugawa's offense. Whenever soone from their team was about to spike, they would boo and make a loud noise all over the building, catching the attackers off guard and making it easy for their own players to handle it. At this point, the strategy was so effective that only Kaito was unbothered by it, and that was only because the boy was so thick-skinned that he didn't care about what happened outside of the court.
Still…
"We cannot do this anymore. My brain is starting to get overwheld by the boos in the last second before I am going to take action!" Suzuki scowled in frustration.
"Well, what do you propose us to do?" Tachibana asked sarcastically. "Asking them to play nice for us?"
"No, there is no way in hell they would do that." Suzuki denied the idea quickly, not even knowing that it was just a sarcastic remark due to Tachibana's frustration. "Still, we have to do sothing to deal with this situation! We cannot just rely on Kaito all the ti! This won't work in the long run!"
Yeah, in the last couple of minutes, all of their offense always went in Kaito's direction. Fortunately, the boy really lived up to his title as the team's ace by bulldozing his way through Tsunemori's blockers and helping the team narrow the gap a little. However, everyone could see that Hirano and Asahi were getting closer to matching Kaito's timing and blocking his attack, and this was an alarm that they couldn't just brush off like it was nothing.
Kaito himself also tried to attract the hate from Tsunemori's supporters by provoking them so that they would forget about his teammates.Unfortunately, the supporters had already known this trick and just ignored him for the ti being, putting their focus on disturbing every offensive possession that Kikugawa had in the ga.
"What about asking for our supporters' help?" Ao suddenly suggested an idea. "We should have more numbers, right? They only need to make a louder noise so that it would attract Tsunemori's supporters, and if the scale is big enough, I am sure sothing like that cannot be ignored by them."
THAT…. Was a good idea. However, they threw away that idea imdiately, knowing full well that besides the fact that their own supporters were too timid to do that, there was no one in the stand who could coordinate the crowd to match the intensity that Tsunemori's supporters delivered.
They fell into an awkward silence as all the Kikugawa players felt frustrated with this situation. Finally, it was Kaito who broke it up with his usual cheerful remark. "Don't worry, Senpai! Just try to get used to this atmosphere as quickly as possible! Before that, let bear the weight of the team's offense on my shoulders!"
It was such a big statent to co out of a freshman's mouth. The other players turned around and stared at him in disbelief, yet Kaito just shrugged nonchalantly as if he hadn't said anything wrong.
"What? You know that I am right, right? Even though I hate this dirty trick, I am not closing my eyes to the probability of sothing like this happening on the bigger stage! If we win and have to play against Matsuyama Kita High, don't you think that their supporters would do the sa when they all know that we cannot handle such a situation?" Kaito asked.
All of his teammates were speechless because they knew that he was right. This ga at least had already exposed their inexperience when playing under such a big crowd, and there was no way their future opponent wouldn't take advantage of it.
Still…
"Is it okay, though, for you to do it alone?" Suzuki couldn't help but ask, feeling worried.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Without their dirty trick, they are nothing." Kaito just waved his hand nonchalantly. "Also, I still have a score to settle right now." His eyes fell on Yuki and Riku on the other side of the court, and even without being told what happened, Suzuki could guess that this was sothing related to when the boy went to Tsunemori High School a few days ago.
"Well, okay, we will leave it to you." Suzuki patted his shoulder firmly. "However, don't try to bear everything alone, okay? Once we are used to this atmosphere, we will be there to share the burden of the offense, so don't try to run too fast!"
For that, Kaito just grinned widely. "Well, you better get used quickly, or you will only see my dust!"
-0-
Right after that, the ga restarted again, and now, it was Ogawa's turn to serve. Tsunemori's current formation was pretty strong with Yuki, Asahi, and Hirano on the front while Ogawa, Koji, and Riku in the back. However, they were one rotation away from having to replace Hirano with Okamura, so they needed to take this chance to demoralize the opponent first before they were in probably their weakest formation.
"Co on, Jimmy! Give us a good serve!"
"Send it to that bastard!"
"Kill him!"
Just like usual, the supporters kept shouting from the stand, showing their support for the server. Ogawa took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves before setting his eyes on Tachibana. Based on what Yuki said, he knew that the third-year opposite hitter was the team's defensive foundation, and once he fell, everything would crumble instantly.
So, right after the referee blew the whistle, he didn't hesitate to send his strongest topspin serve in Tachibana's direction, forcing the hitter to move forward due to the sharp movent of the ball.
BAM!
"Shit!" Tachibana scowled, realizing that he was being targeted by the opponent. "Ayane! Pick it up!"
"I got it!" Ayane rushed to the left side, his eyes were on the ball. "Kaito!" He shouted, tossing the ball far to the opposite wing where Kaito was waiting for.
"Oh! A good chance! Nice pass, Ayane-senpai!"
While Kaito was preparing to attack, Yuki, Asahi, and Hirano also didn't stay idle. Those three strongest blockers on the Tsunemori team moved together, calculating their timing carefully so that they could block Kaito's shoot. They even started late since they knew that Kaito could outlast them in the air. However, all of that calculation was useless as instead of waiting for the ball to co, this ti, Kaito picked it up when the ball was still in the air, catching them all off guard.
'A quick?!'
BAM!
Yuki who noticed that first tried to make it up for the lack of the blockers. However, Kaito hit the ball first, and as a result, it went straight to the area between Koji and Ogawa without them both able to stop it, resulting in another point for Kikugawa High.
Tsunemori High 12 (0) – (1) 7 Kikugawa High
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