[July 4th—the day of the National IH Tournament Finals]
Kaedehara Taichi's eyelids trembled slightly before he slowly opened his eyes. He lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, but he made no move to get up. Instead, he closed his eyes again.
After a while, he repeated the process: opening his eyes, dazing out, and then closing them again.
Open, close, open, close, open…close.
It's reality, after all…
It had been a full day and night since the match against Inarizaki. Coach Irihata had given the team a day off, and the players, worn out from playing three consecutive days of matches, had accepted it without a second thought.
After returning home, all Taichi wanted to do was sleep, and he ended up sleeping the entire day. Not that it mattered; after all, he had no idea what else to do when awake…
The sound of his stomach reminded him that he should eat. Slowly, he crawled out from under the covers, his movements stiff. As he sat up, his joints made soft cracking noises from the lack of activity.
"Right, food," he muttered.
Taichi grabbed a random piece of clothing to throw on.
The room remained dim, with dumbbells, hand-grip trainers, and volleyballs scattered haphazardly across the floor.
A sliver of sunlight seeped through the gap in the curtains and landed on his face, its brightness deepening the furrow between his brows.
The fridge held some bread and rice balls. He vaguely remembered Kindaichi stuffing them into his hands after the match, crying as he did so.
"Honestly, it's not like you're the team's manager or anything," Taichi muttered under his breath as he ate the cold breakfast.
His expression remained unchanged, neither liking nor disliking the food. He ate mechanically, as though it were a chore.
"Oh, right. I have school today," he remembered abruptly.
He went to brush his teeth and wash his face. The cold water splashing on his skin seemed to jolt his groggy mind awake. And with that clarity came the realization of what had felt off since earlier—Aoba Johsai's journey in the Nationals was over.
As his mind cleared, scenes from the match began replaying in vivid detail. The final moments of the last set flashed before his eyes, the offence and defence exchanged like a reel on repeat…
On the afternoon of the third day of the National Tournament, Aoba Johsai battled Inarizaki through three gruelling sets.
In the end, they lost, 1-2.
They had secured the first set. In the second, they clawed back from a six-point deficit, but in the decisive third set, Inarizaki held them firmly under their control.
No matter how he thought about it, the turning point had been his net-touch violation at the end of the second set.
If he hadn't made that mistake, if they had managed to take the second set…
Taichi submerged his head in the sink full of cold water.
"Time to head to school."
Miyagi Prefecture's skies stretched wide and cloudless today. The weather was perfectly clear. There was no sign of rain, no gusts of wind, low humidity, and no oppressive atmospheric pressure.
The four third-years of Aoba Johsai's volleyball team met again on their way to school. But unlike their usual banter-filled mornings, there was none of the usual joking and roughhousing.
"Oi, Oikawa, quit with the long face already…" Iwaizumi Hajime finally snapped, smacking Oikawa Tōru on the head with his schoolbag.
"Ow! What the hell, Iwa-chan! I'm not making a long face!" Oikawa retorted.
From the beginning, every player entering the Nationals knew that, except for one team, everyone else would eventually be sent packing. It was only a matter of time.
For many teams, making it to Nationals was already the best result in their school's history.
Except for a select few powerhouses, not many truly believed they could claim the championship.
But Kaedehara Taichi and Oikawa Tōru were exceptions. Despite being the most rational players on the team, they were almost obsessively determined in this regard.
"Reaching the national quarterfinals is already a miracle for us, considering it's our first time in the tournament. But I believe you can achieve even greater things," Coach Irihata had said.
He was satisfied with the result. As a seasoned coach who had led teams to Nationals multiple times, he understood the importance of evaluating a team's capabilities objectively.
The players had given their all; he had no reason to criticize them. More importantly, Coach Irihata saw hope in this group of kids. Aoba Johsai's future held endless possibilities.
"The finals today are Inarizaki versus Itachiyama, right? Ugh, it's so frustrating. No matter who wins, it'll piss me off," Oikawa grumbled, kicking a pebble down the road.
"You don't even know anyone from Itachiyama," Matsukawa Issei pointed out.
"Yeah, but if they beat us and then lose to someone else, doesn't it make us look weaker?" Oikawa argued.
"You're such a pain," Hanamaki Takahiro said, exasperated.
"Did you guys watch yesterday's semifinals?" Matsukawa asked.
"Yeah. As expected, there are no weak teams left," Oikawa said firmly. "I can't wait to start training again. At Spring High, no matter who we face, I'm not losing again."
Though no one explicitly mentioned it, it was clear that all four third-years were planning to stay on.
"By the way, shouldn't someone check on Taichi?" Iwaizumi asked Oikawa.
Yesterday, while club activities were cancelled, school was still in session.
Taichi had skipped entirely, prompting Kindaichi to immediately seek out Iwaizumi to explain the situation.
"Why is Kindaichi coming to you? I'm the captain, you know!" Oikawa had been too absorbed in his post-match gloom at the time to care. Now, remembering it again, he felt irritated. After all, his and Iwaizumi's classrooms were right next to each other.
Seeing Iwaizumi's expression darken, Oikawa quickly got to the point.
"Let him be for a day. The kid's never faced a setback before—not like us," Oikawa said nonchalantly. "If he hasn't snapped out of it by today, I'll go straighten him out myself."
"A first-year making it to the national quarterfinals, and he's acting like he's hit rock bottom. That kid's thought process is so bizarre," Matsukawa commented, shaking his head. "We're third-years about to retire, and we're not even that dramatic."
"Maybe it's because he's been shouting about conquering the Nationals since the prefectural finals. I think he's even more serious than Oikawa," Hanamaki added with a laugh.
"Let's gather the team this afternoon to watch footage of the finals. One of those teams might be our opponent next time, so we should start preparing early," Matsukawa suggested.
"Yeah, after a day off, it's time to get back to training. And we've got the training camp from hell coming up," Oikawa said, grinning ominously.
"Iwa-chan, you're smiling like a villain…"
Having experienced enough defeats, the third-years understood the value of their current opportunities. Rather than dwelling on regret, loss, or self-reproach, they knew this was their last chance to give it their all. There was still so much left to do.
[T/N] - No, you guys are not missing a chapter...They got OFF-SCREENED! The DISRESPECT! lol
And, if you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you can support me on my . Trust me, it's awesome! [We are already at the Spring-High Arc over there]
Link - (P)atreon.com/Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]