Day 3, Spring Cup Nationals
Morning Schedule
Third Round: Shiroshikata Gakuen vs Itachiyama Gakuen
2nd set
*
The score is 22 – 24, with Itachiyama at match point. Luckily for the Stags, they scored the last point, so it was their team's turn to serve.
Their team captain, Kusakabe Yamato made his way to the service line. His mind was set to only one thing – they must force another hit and steal this set, or else it will be game over for them. For the first time in seven years, their school made it to the National stage, and he won't let it go to waste.
A genius joined their fray, who played a vital role in their team's current accomplishment for making it this far. They were given this opportunity, so they grabbed it. And he wanted to go even further with his team, so he wanted to beat this obstacle that was preventing them to achieve their championship goal.
'No matter who you are, we will defeat you.'
Yamato tossed the ball in the air, and jumped to hit it in a powerful service. Itachiyama's libero, Komori Motoya, got it up shakily, which resulted to the ball bouncing over back to Shiroshikata's side.
"Got it!" Their libero, Hiyorin Gaito got the first touch out of it, and passed it to their setter, Ginoza Kouen. Kouen tossed to his brother, Kouha, who launched a spike from the left. Again, Itachiyama's libero got a dig under that one, and the ball arced its way towards their team captain and setter, Iizuna Tsukasa.
"Sakusa!" The setter yelled, calling for their ace. Sakusa Kiyoomi jumped from the left, and spiked the ball to end their match. Two blockers jumped to deflect that attack.
"One touch!" Shiroshikata's freshman middle blocker, Arakata Hiroaki gritted his teeth after getting a hand on that nasty spike. The ball's spin slowed a little, so when one of his teammates got it, the ball went up for another play.
Sakusa frowned from that, as he thought that one will end the game already.
"Nice one touch! Nice receive!" Shiroshikata's coach yelled from the bench. One of their second year wing spikers, Sukiyata Maki received that ball and shouted, "Kouen, cover!"
Kouen positioned himself to set the ball, and arced it once more towards his brother. The latter slammed it home but Sakusa got a hand under it. However, the ball made it's way towards the net. As it was about to cross over, Hiro jumped to throw it back down.
The ball was in the center but one of Itachiyama's middle blockers anticipated the direct throw, so he also jumped for it, and a showdown in the middle ensued between the blockers of the two competing teams.
'You little…' Hiro forced his way into that battle and eventually won the joust. He overpowered the other blocker. The ball fell with a soft thud on Itachiyama's side of the court.
"Yoshaaaaa! Hiro, nice kill!" His teammates cheered him on, and the crowd went wild after that play. 23 – 24, Itachiyama still at match point.
Yamato went back to the service line, and launched another powerful jump serve aimed at Iizuna. The setter got the first touch, so he yelled, "Follow, Komori!"
"Got this, Sakusa!" Komori jumped from the attack line and set the ball towards the flying form of Sakusa.
'A libero toss? You've gotta be kidding me!' Hiro thought as he went after the set to block Sakusa. 'I gotta block this!' But Sakusa Kiyoomi won't allow his spike to be deflected once again by this annoying blocker.
With a snap, he manipulated the course of the hit and completely avoided the looming wall the was bothering his field of vision. The spike was launched at an extreme angle, and no one from Shiroshikata was able to save it.
The whistle has blown. 23 – 25, Itachiyama won the match in two straight sets.
*
Shiroshikata Locker Room
--
The atmosphere in the locker room was heavy as the members of Shiroshikata's MVBC changed into new set of clothes their manager handed out to them. She was holding back her tears as she took a closer look at the members of her team. They were all crestfallen, feeling down after their stint in the Spring Cup ended with a screeching halt in the hands of the Inter-High's defending champion.
"Everyone, may I have your attention." The team captain, Yamato announced after getting changed.
"No, no, Yamato-san." Ginoza Kouha stepped in to stop whatever the captain was about to say.
"Listen. I – " He wasn't able to continue because another person interrupted his speech.
"Yamato-san, by sending ya lots of tosses today, I gave ya a heavy burden. Even if Itachiyama's blockers have been marking ya, I still continued to toss to ya, because I wanted to toss to ya…and so….and so I did. I – I apologize if I pressured ya." Kouen's voice cracked after saying that. He doesn't usually show emotions, but he must be feeling so frustrated right now that he actually was able to say these things.
Yamato was taken aback by that speech, but he remembered that he too, have some things to say. "I was afraid of being relied on. But today, I understood anew that it is because of the tosses that go up, that I was able to give my all. You guys are strong, and I'm thankful to be playing with you all in my final year of high school."
This time, Kouha wasn't able to stop his tears from falling upon hearing the captain's words. Their manager, who happened to hear the entire thing, stopped holding back her tears too and cried with the rest of the team. Only two persons around did not cry – the rookie setter, who was biting his lip, and the freshman middle blocker who only closed his eyes as if moving on already after their defeat.
"Maki – I leave the rest of the team to you. You will be their new pillar. Look after them, and beat them up when you need to. You've got a troublesome bunch ahead of you." He said to the upcoming new captain of the team.
"Hai." Although his voice shows no sign of cracking, Maki's eyes were watery from the single tear he just recently shed from their loss.
"Kouen, I hope you trust more your other spikers and continue tossing the best sets to them next time, the same way as you set those quality tosses to me."
Kouen only nodded from his seat, still stubbornly not letting a tear fall from his eyes.
"Kouha, as the new ace, I'll leave the rest of the power job to you. With your brother around, I'm sure you'll continue to improve and become an even more formidable pair on the court. Bring the team further."
"Hai, Yamato-san!" Kouha's snot needs some serious wiping now.
"Gai, never let others underestimate you, coz you're a great player – the best libero this team ever had. Remain to be steadfast, and continue guarding the backs of your teammates. It's a been a privilege to never give up on the saves you've made."
Gai shook his head, sobbed to the sides and then said, "As if I'll let others look down on me, ya jerk."
Yamato smiled and now turned his attention to their other very promising talent, the middle blocker who was trying to forget what just happened. "Hiro."
Hiro looked up at the smiling face of their captain. "Yeah?"
"Even though you're still a freshman, you already became the cornerstone of our team's blocking wall. Your game sense and talent is a valuable thing that you possess. And I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for joining Shiroshikata and lending us your talent to fuel us upon reaching this spot in the nationals after seven years of drought. You will only continue to do better, and I sure do hope you guys can win them all next time. Beat 'em all, center ace."
Hiro didn't respond for a while, but then he said, "You bet we will."
Again, a grin curved up Yamato's mouth. "Then I'll take your word for it." Afterwhich, he turned to face everyone else in the locker room. "You guys are strong. Next season, you lot better get out there and lift Soma-sensei up over your shoulders. In behalf of all the third years, I thank you all for the past year we've been together!"
Even Yamato wasn't able to stop himself from crying as he said these final words to the team.
--
After that dramatic exchange in the locker room, the younger members of the team refused to look at each other, embarrassed by what the heck just happened. They watched in silence the Quarterfinals that followed in the afternoon. Hiro separated from the others to watch the game from the nearer sidelines, not in the stands.
Three very interesting games piqued their interests. The first one is the game of Fukuroudani Gakuen of Tokyo vs Mujinazaka High School of Oita. It was a confrontation between two of Japan's top aces. The game was sick.
The second one provided an unforgettable highlight – the showdown between two little giants, Karasuno High School of Miyagi vs Kamomedai High School of Nagano. A crazy plot twist happened for Karasuno, affecting their endgame. It finished spectacularly, and Hiro picked up a lot of blocking techniques just by watching the game.
The third one was the biggest upset of all. It was just as memorable as the aforementioned game, because a similar fortutitous event happened which made a big impact regarding the outcome of the match. Itachiyama Gakuen vs Inubushi-Higashi High School. Itachiyama lost, and their captain suffered a setback from an ankle injury in the 3rd set.
Hiro heard what Sakusa uttered. "Say, for instance, a small meteorite falls from the sky right now, and accidentally bonks someone in the head. You could say 'what a pity' about him. Other than that, he has no need for your pity. If I had to say something was a pity, then I'd say it would be having someone else say 'what a pity' about you."
Hiro understood what the ace meant. He wanted to say that shit happens sometimes and one should not recklessly tell somebody else that they pity them, especially if the things that happened were beyond their liberty. That event is a meteorite that they have no way of stopping. It's the metaphor for the shits we can't control. One should be sensitive enough to know when to pity others. Better yet, just do what you can to help them, nothing else is necessary.
"If you'll just stand around and talk loudly about how much you pity a person, then I feel even sorrier for him. Nothing sucks worse than someone telling you, 'you poor thing'"
In context of the game, if you didn't work hard and you lost, that isn't a meteorite, but a result for your lack of effort. Because winning is something achievable through perseverance and grit. Hiro drilled it into his brain, and proceeded forward with a single thought in mind. 'We will win it all next time.'
-
However, this begs the question: What exactly does it mean to 'win'?