Wow, so many people!"
"Kana, look, look! It's a camera, and there are reporters from the TV station."
Suita Renzi stood in the spectator stands specially prepared for them by the organizers, chirping like an excited little sparrow.
Akashi Kana said helplessly beside her, "Calm down, Renzi, you're too excited."
"The All-Japan High School Volleyball Championship Tournament opening ceremony now officially begins…"
The broadcast in the venue sounded, and Akashi Kana quickly patted Suita Renzi's shoulder, reminding her, "Hurry up and stand properly, the match is about to begin."
Players entering!
"Saitama Prefecture Representative Team—Morisen High School."
"Miyagi Prefecture Representative Team—Aoba Johsai Private High School."
Accompanied by the opening ceremony music, the Qīngchéng members officially walked into the gymnasium.
The huge venue and the constantly flashing camera lights around them made the movements of many Qīngchéng players stiff, their excitement and nervousness clearly visible.
"Look, look, our school's people are coming out!"
"It's Oikawa and Akashi, so handsome!"
As Qīngchéng entered, the other members of the choir in the stands also began to stir. Akashi Kana was seeing Akashi Asuka in such a setting for the first time, and even now, Akashi Kana still felt a sense of unreality.
Because she found that the brother in her impression could not be reconciled with the Akashi Asuka in front of her.
The National Tournament opening ceremony proceeded very quickly. After a brief opening declaration, the fifty-two teams that had qualified for entry exited one by one according to instructions, leaving only a few teams about to start their first-round matches in the gymnasium.
And Qīngchéng was one of these teams.
"Next up is the first round of the National High School Inter-High Volleyball Tournament Men's Competition. The first teams to face off on Court Two are the Saitama Prefecture Representative Team—Morisen High School and the Miyagi Prefecture Representative Team—Aoba Johsai Private High School."
"Morisen High School has now entered the National Tournament for the fourth time, making them one of the regulars of the National Tournament. Their opponent, Aoba Johsai Private High School, is making its historical first appearance in the National Tournament."
"However, if you underestimate Aoba Johsai High School because of this, you will suffer a great loss, because in this year's qualifiers, Aoba Johsai High School defeated last year's National Tournament quarter-finalist team—Shiratorizawa Academy—to successfully obtain their entry ticket to the National Tournament…"
Unlike the qualifiers, the official National Tournament would be equipped with professional commentators, so that people who did not understand volleyball could also understand the match situation during the national live broadcast.
And as the commentator's words just fell, a commotion suddenly arose around the venue.
Because although Qīngchéng was not well-known nationwide, Shiratorizawa Academy… or rather, Ushijima Wakatoshi's reputation, was well-known nationwide.
So when the commentator announced that Qīngchéng had defeated Shiratorizawa, in just a few seconds, at least a dozen teams watching from the stands shifted their gaze to the Qīngchéng members.
"Whoa~ that's scary. Is Shiratorizawa really that famous nationwide?"
Suddenly being watched by so many eyes, many players in the Qīngchéng team felt immense pressure, but at this moment, someone was under even more pressure than them.
That was Qīngchéng's opponent, the members of Morisen High School.
"Hey, hey, hey~~ Are you kidding me? Our luck is too bad. Did we really encounter such an opponent in the first round?"
When the Morisen High School players first learned that their opponent was a team they had never heard of, they were secretly happy, thinking their draw luck was really good.
But now someone suddenly told them that Morisen's opponent had defeated Shiratorizawa. This joke was not funny at all!
The two teams, bearing different pressures, each began to warm up.
Ten minutes later.
The referee announced the end of the warm-up.
"Alright, the warm-up is over, and the match officially begins. Let's watch the match together. Aoba Johsai High School versus Morisen High School, Aoba Johsai chose to serve first."
"Aoba Johsai's first server is player number one, Oikawa Tooru. As the team's setter and captain, let's first see how Oikawa's first serve turns out… Oh dear! What a pity, Oikawa's first attack was very sharp, but unfortunately, the serve went out of bounds and failed to score the first point for Aoba Johsai."
Oikawa Tooru's opening serve failed to score, the volleyball flying far out of bounds.
0:1.
Morisen High School temporarily leads.
"How lucky!"
Morisen High School celebrated with each other.
On the other side, the Qīngchéng members were also cheering each other on.
"Sorry, I didn't control the ball well!" Oikawa Tooru apologized proactively.
"Don't worry about it!"
"It's okay, serve a good one next time!"
"Coach, that last ball?"
In the Living Area, Qīngchéng team leader Mizoguchi Sadayuki frowned as he watched Oikawa Tooru's recent error.
Coach Irihata Nobuteru, standing nearby, nodded, confirming Mizoguchi Sadayuki's thought: "That's right, Oikawa was indeed nervous on that last ball."
Although serving errors in volleyball are common, for a coach like Irihata Nobuteru, even errors have different explanations, and a ball like that one was entirely due to Oikawa Tooru's own excessive nervousness and stiff body.
"Although Oikawa is usually very calm, this is his first time participating in the National Tournament, after all. The audience, the venue, the cameras… and other factors will inevitably affect the players, so it's normal for players to be a bit nervous."
"Then what should we do? Should we call a timeout first?"
Mizoguchi Sadayuki clearly did not have as good a mindset as Irihata Nobuteru, and upon hearing Irihata Nobuteru's words, he immediately became anxious.
"No need to worry." Irihata Nobuteru said with a calm expression, "Although Qīngchéng is making its first appearance in the National Tournament, not all of our players will be nervous!"
"Next up is Morisen High School's serve. The landing spot is between Qīngchéng's backcourt Libero and Oikawa. It's also a sharp serve, but it was received by Qīngchéng's Libero, Watari Shinji. However, the first pass angle isn't ideal. It seems Qīngchéng players' movements are still a bit stiff. Is it because this is their first time participating in the National Tournament?"
"We can see that after Oikawa Tooru received the volleyball, he decisively set the ball above player number eight, Akashi Asuka. However, the Passing Speed seems a bit slow. At this moment, Morisen High School has already set up a double block directly in front of Akashi Asuka. It seems Akashi Asuka is in a bit of danger…"
Bang!
Smack!
Before the commentator could finish speaking, a thunderous hitting sound suddenly echoed above the court.
Under everyone's gaze, Akashi Asuka soared like an eagle spreading its wings, then, facing the double block directly in front of him, he did not dodge, but swung his arm fiercely.
The next second.
Everyone saw a volleyball flying out like a cannonball, carrying an unstoppable momentum, instantly breaking through Morisen High School's double block, and then, without losing momentum, it landed directly on the arm of the Libero defending the backcourt. The immense force once again bounced off the Morisen High School Libero's arm, and the volleyball flew high into the sky, finally descending to the floor more than ten meters behind.
In an instant, the entire Court Two immediately fell silent.