38 Woes of the Underdog

One week after their victory in the third round of the tournament, today, the Stags will once again enter the orange court for their quarterfinal match against Hakone Gakuen. If they win this and the next, they'll be competing in the finals against the leading team in the other bracket.

[Hakone is the name of a team from the anime Yowamushi Pedal. It's a pretty cool sports anime about cycling. Names of some characters there too may be used in this chapter. No need to stress over them, though. I'm just too lazy to make up names again smh]

The members of Hakone were aready beginning to feel down just from knowing that they'll be going at it against Shiroshikata. Honestly, they believe they just got lucky with the drawing of lots when the tournament brackets were formed. For their first three games, they were up against lesser known schools from the prefecture, which made it easier for them to climb all the way to the Quarterfinals. And even those wins were not earned without much effort. All of it were always a 2-1 set win.

Before, they are usually eliminated from the first or second round. Given their match scheduled for later, they aren't really very enthusiastic about going in. The results can almost be clearly foreseen, no need for it to be divined – they will lose.

As they donned on their purple jerseys, the team captain of Hakone, Fukutomi Juichi, glanced a look at the powerhouse they are about to have a match with. 'They stand so tall and dignified, like they've gone through many battles already, clearly the opposite of our team.' He then shifted his gaze towards his members, who looked anything but excited to step into the court. 'I'm the captain, It's my job to give them a boost.'

With that thought in mind, he caught their attention by clapping twice. Now that their eyes were on him, he began his pep talk. "Aight! We're up against a powerhouse today, and I know it ain't easy, but let's do our best to surprise and beat them!"

What he got in reply were unenthusiastic "Yeah" from most of his members, except for the rookie who just joined their club this year. This guy, named Manami Sangaku, who is only 170cm tall, is a wing spiker who actually served as their scoring machine in their past few games. Inside Juichi's mind, 'It's quite a shame this guy joined us, and not other teams who can make use of his potential.' He internally sighed.

"YES! I know we can do it, senpai! It's not impossible, it's just hard!" Manami smiled after that short speech. Surprisingly, his words stirred something inside the minds of his teammates. Yep, the freshman is right. Nothing is impossible. Some things are just so hard to achieve.

Their coach, as well as their team manager had their moods up after hearing those words. With a renewed fighting spirit, Hakone dispatched their starting rotation on the orange court.

--

The coin was tossed, and the head pointed to Shiroshikata. Maki decided that, "We'll serve."

The usual S1 formation was again deployed by Coach Soma for the Stags. Kouen was up in the service line to begin the rally, and of course, the setter didn't hold back in sending the ball over. 'That felt good.'

Manami went down after getting a hand on it, but a smile was painted on his lips as he shouted, "IT'S UP!"

Kouen scowled after seeing his power serve getting raised like that. He was expecting a service ace right off the bat, but the short guy from Hakone bumped it up. Hakone's setter tossed it in the middle, where the captain Fukutomi launched a quick attack.

*Thud*

Hiro jumped right after the toss, just in perfect time when the ball was spiked over by the captain. As a result, he was stuffed. The set's first point was a kill from him. Fukutomi can only look at the ball, and muttered a little "Sorry" to his teammates.

"It's fine, captain, we'll just get the next one!" Manami reassured him, and the ball was once again sent by Kouen.

"Nice receive!" Hakone's benched cheered after their libero got it up for a perfect A-pass towards their setter, who tossed in the left for Manami.

"One touch!" Hiro said after getting a hand on that one, but the ball bounced off from Asuma's arms, which tied the set at 1-apiece.

"YESSSUU!" Manami smiled after scoring that point.

"GOMEN, HIRO-SENPAI! I wasn't able to follow up on that one!" Asuma apologized, but Hiro just brushed him off with a little comment.

"Don't apologize." The rookie was shocked to hear that from Hiro, which kinda messed with his attention, so the ball that was served from the other side hit his forehead.

"ASUMA BOKE! PAY ATTENTION TO THE BALL!" Kakuzo snapped from the bench after seeing the carelessness of his fellow first year. Luckily, Gai was able to make a follow up on that one, and the ball made it's way to Hiro, who just tossed it over to the other side.

"Cover!" Hakone's libero received it, and their setter tossed to Manami for another attack from the left.

"Gai-san!" Hiro called for their libero, who got the ball up and made the pass to Kouen, who tossed to their ace from the right side.

"HAIIIYAAAAH!" Kouha slammed the ball home despite the two blockers who tried to deflect it.

The set went on, which the Stags eventually won at 25 – 16. Now for the second set, the score reads at 23 – 14, still with Shiroshikata in the lead.

Kakuzo sent the ball over, which was cleanly bumped by Manami. The setter tossed to the middle towards their captain, his spike went through but it was received by Maki. "Kouen!"

Kouen placed himself under the ball, and three attackers – Hiro, Asuma and Kouha jumped in wait for the set. He sent the ball to Hiro, and a triple block from Hakone tried to loom over him.

*Swish*

For some reasons that Hakone wasn't able to get, each of the guy's spikes can't seem to be caught in their block, even if they already bunched in to jump before it. The ball swished through that tiny gap in their wall, and Hiro thought that he'll score, except that Manami was able to dig that spike. "CHANCE BALL!" He screamed.

Their setter, who never thought that the receive was possible, was too stunned to move, so another player from their team facilitated the toss, and sent the ball over to their other third year member who fields the right side.

He didn't jump for the spike, and the pitiful ball just bounced on the floor by their side. Manami got confused, and the expression he wears on his face was a mixture of sadness, anger, disappointment, and confusion.

"Why…..why did you give up on the ball I just saved?"

No one from his team answered him, nor met his questioning eyes.

"Are you guys already giving up? But – but the game is not yet over."

Again, nothing. And the referee blew his whistle. 24 – 14, the Stags now have them in check.