A week flew by in no time, and the muticipated Inter-High (IH) preliminaries had finally arrived.

  At the Sendai City Gymnasium, the venue for the Miyagi Prefecture Boys' High School Volleyball Tour, the matches froups A and B, as well as the finals, were set to take pce.

  A cluster of spectatathered around the match schedule posted at the veraheir lively discussions filling the air.

  "This year, Shiratorizawa is going to win again, right? Ushijima still looks as ridiculously strong as ever."

  "Not necessarily. I heard Aoba Johsai's Iwaizumi and Hanamaki are supposed to be quite impressive this year."

  "And apparently, Oikawa Tōru has growaller now that he's in his third year!"

  "Yeah, yeah! I also heard that Aoba Johsai's first-years this year include a few exceptional pyers."

  "Ahem." A middle-aged man cleared his throat twice to grab their attention. "My neighbour's kid is on Shiratorizawa's volleyball team. He told me that about a month ago, Aoba Johsai had a practice match against Shiratorizawa."

  The onlookers immediately turheir attention to him, leaning in eagerly.

  "And? How did it go?"

  "Shiratorizawa won..."

  "Pfft, I k."

  "Well, of course! They've won all the important matches so far," someone else said, sounding rather disappointed.

  "Hold on, I'm not do." The middle-aged maured dramatically, as if he'd bee at the se himself. "Although Aoba Johsai lost, they went toe-to-toe with Shiratorizawa for three full sets. In fact, they even took the first set in decisive fashion!"

  "This...!"

  "Looks like this year's finals will be worth watg."

  "Tch. It's always Aoba Johsai and Shiratorizawa that everyoalks about," a voice muttered.

  A group of pyers, all matg bck tracksuits, strode into the gymnasium in unison, their presence like a looming thundercloud. This was the Karasuno Volleyball Team.

  "Well, we are the 'wingless crows.' It's only natural that no oions us. They didn't even bring up Date Tech," Sugawara Koushi remarked, attempting to sole his teammates.

  But today, Karasuno exuded airely different energy. Their steady, determieps carried an undeniable presence, drawing the eyes of everyone around them.

  "Who's that team? They look so intense."

  "That's Karasunht? They were supposed to be strong once, a long time ago."

  "Look at that guy who looks like an old man—that's Asahi Azumane from Karasuno! I heard he is the boss of a local gang."

  Feeling the weight of the stares from behind him, Asahi hunched his shoulders, trying to shrink his rge frame.

  Notig his rea, Sugawara gave a wry smile. "Oh, e on! It's not like this is the first time."

  Daichi Sawamura turned bad chuckled. "It's just your appearance. You 't really help it."

  "I-I only wanted my looks to feel a bit more...rugged...that's all!" Asahi replied helplessly, his toinged with frustration.

  "Pfft, hahaha!" Bursting into ughter, Nishinoya Yū darted over to Asahi and cpped him on the shoulder. "I think it's cool! As long as you think you look awesome, who cares what anyone else thinks?"

  Daichi and Sugawara exged amused gnces, nodding in agreement as they each patted Nishinoya on the shoulder. "Now that's the kind of attitude we call 'wild,'" they said in unison.

  "Hey! Isn't that Nishinoya Yū from Chidoriyama? He wo Libero in middle school!"

  "And not just him. Look at that guy over there—he's Kageyama Tobio from Kitagawa Daiichi, the genius setter!"

  "The guy they call 'King of the Court'? If Karasuno has him, they must be terrifying this year."

  "Yeah....It's almost a shame to think they'll lose to us," came a voice from somewhere behind the onlookers.

  "Who's that, ag so cocky?" One of the bystauro look, only to see an unfamiliar face. However, the person standio him was someone he reized.

  "Isn't that Iwaizumi Hajime from Aoba Johsai?" The guy doing the talking was also wearing Aoba Johsai's team uniform—a first-year?

  The two individuals were indeed Iwaizumi Hajime and Kaedehara Taiichi.

  After Aoba Johsai ehe gym, they realized Oikawa Tōru had been caught up by a group of girls from other schools and hadn't e i. Kaedehara Taiichi had volunteered to fetch him, but Coach Irihata decided to send Iwaizumi, the one person who could trol Oikawa, to apany him.

  As they reached the gym entrahey noticed a noisy group of pyers entering—her than Karasuno.

  "What a ce," Kaedehara Taiichi thought to himself, amused. He had inally po "actally" run into Hinata Shōyō ihroom.

  "Hey, Shōyō!" Kaedehara Taiichi greeted with a friendly smile, as if he hadn't just been the ohrowing provocative remarks a moment ago.

  "Taiichi!" Hinata Shoyo practically leapt into the air with excitement. Running into a familiar rival in an unfamiliar setting leasant surprise.

  "It's not guarahat they'll make it to the third round in first pce..."

  From the opposite end of the hallway, anroup of pyers grey uniforms roag. Their tracksuits bore the name 'Date Tech', boldly deg their identity.

  Leading the pack yer with short white hair and a presehat was both fmboyant and anding. He came to a halt just a short distance from Karasuno, raised his right arm, and pointed a single finger directly at Asahi Azumane.

  The atmosphere instantly grew heavy, like the calm before a storm. A palpable tension filled the air, an unspoken battle of wills.

  "Hey, you! What's your deal?" Nishinoya Yū frowned and stepped forward, ready to shield Asahi.

  "Stop it, stop it already!" Date Tech's captain, third-year Moniwa Kaname, hurried to pull Aoakanobu back, trying to push his arm down.

  "Futakuchi! Get over here and help!"

  "ing—" Futakuchi Kenji replied zily as he strolled over.

  Together with Moniwa, he began to push Aone back. Turning to Asahi, he grinned apologetically. "Sorry about this. This guy has this annoying habit of 'log on' to the other team's ace as soon as he identifies them. So, uh....be prepared for it, I guess~."

  [Aoakanobu, middle blocker. Overall rating: 86. Height: 191.8 cm, Power: 92, Jump: 80, Stamina: 84, Speed: 88. Teique: Block: 85, Spike: 83.]

  [Futakuchi Kenji, wing spike. Overall rating: 86. Height: 184.2cm, Power: 86, Jump: 88, Stamina: 82, Speed: 89. Teique: Block: 82, Spike: 84.]

  These two sed-years were formidable indeed—no wohey were so fident about trash-talking.

  Still, now that they'd crossed paths, Kaedehara Taiichi figured it wouldn't hurt to leave a strong impression. He called out to the Date Tech pyers as they turo leave.

  "Earlier, was it Futakuchi-senpai who said Karasuno wouldn't make it to the third round?"

  "Huh?"

  Futakuchi Kenji gnced back at the bck-haired Aoba Johsai first-year.

  Truth be told, he'd overheard Karasuno and Aoba Johsai chatting like Date Tech wasn't even a threat, so he'd decided to give Karasuno a little warning. As for Aoba Johsai, he figured he could deal with them when they met in the Group A finals.

  "Kid, even Iwaizumi-senpai hasn't said anythi. What are y to say?" Futakuchi's words carried a casual, taunting uone, clearly aimed at stirring the pot.

  Iwaizumi Hajime and Kaedehara Taiichi stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at both Karasuno and Date Tech. Iwaizumi spoke up, "Let me introduce you to Aoba Johsai's first-year ace—Kaedehara Taiichi."

  Huh? Iwaizumi-senpai's bag me up! Taiichi unsciously straightened his posture, puffing out his chest.

  "Ace?" Hearing the keyword, Aoakanobu couldn't resist. Once again, he silently pointed his fihis time at Kaedehara Taiichi.

  Pfft. Is this a passive skill of his? Kaedehara Taiiearly ughed out loud. With a smirk, he walked to the tre, standiweewo teams. He raised both hands slightly, ooward each side.

  "Alright the's meet in the Group A finals. I'll give you both the honour of losing to Aoba Johsai."

  _________

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