Blessed Beauty

Chapter 21

According to Nishinoya and the tournament bracket that she saw in the hall earlier, Karasuno's first opponent was Ohgi Minami High School.

Hitomi heard the harsh blow of a whistle, seeing a flurry of black and orange rushing onto the court. On the other side was a less hasty flurry of white and dark blue. They were starting their official warm-ups.

She saw a boy with a shaved head, wearing a jersey with the number five on it, doing his run-up for a spike. "HNGRAAAYYYAAAAH!!!!!" He shouted out as he slammed the ball down over the net. It was so sudden and loud that even his tall, blond teammate behind him had flinched.

"Nice kill, Tanaka!" Hitomi heard someone shout. She vaguely recognized him to be one of Nishinoya's friends that was in the photo he sent her during his training camp. He was the one making that weird funny face along with the boy with the mohawk.

Looking around, she tried seeing if she recognized the other people that were in that photo. Just as she found another slightly familiar face, she heard the roar of Nishinoya.

"ROLLLINNGGG THUNDERRRRR!!!" He shouted, performing this strange rolling movement while holding one arm out to receive the ball. While it was admittedly impressive since Hitomi was a novice when it came to volleyball, she couldn't help but be amused by how ridiculous he sounded.

What was he shouting? Does he name the types of receives he uses? As if they were some sort of super move or something?

Hitomi would have laughed if it weren't for the fact that, immediately after, Nishinoya jumped up and turned around to see her reaction at his 'amazing' receive. The girl quickly brought up a straight face with all of her strength. She held up her hands and softly clapped them together three times.

Apparently, that was enough to convince the libero. He had a small blush of excitement, his broad smile displaying his pearly whites as he beamed up at her. He deftly turned around and shouted, "Asahi-san! Spike me another!!"

As soon as he wasn't looking, Hitomi snorted. She brought a hand up to suppress her laughter again, completely forgetting her previous discomfort.

With Nishinoya and his antics, she didn't need to worry about being bored or uncomfortable.

Soon enough, another harsh whistle blew and both teams lined up to bow to each other. The match started with Karasuno serving first.

Hitomi kept her eyes on Nishinoya. As soon as he stepped onto the court, it was like his whole aura had changed. His happy-go-lucky facial expressions were exchanged for ones of somber concentration.

The girl blinked in shock, for she had never seen this look on him before. It was already strange enough not seeing his normally elated expressions, but this level of focus was even more bizarre to her. Even when they had gone to the library to do his summer homework, his face wasn't nearly as serious as the one he had right now on the court.

She had assumed that he would have had a face more like one that would show he was having fun, knowing how much he loved volleyball. It was weird to see him like this, and yet...it oddly suited him as well.

Hitomi's train of thought was interrupted by the high-pitched whistle. A tall boy with his hair up in a bun was up to serve. He was the one that she heard Nishinoya calling 'Asahi-san.' He threw the ball up and jumped to hit it. The serve slammed right down at the back of the opponent's court, wholly untouched. The sound was almost as loud as Tanaka's first spike during warm-ups.

Nearly all of Karasuno's members shouted for joy, commending him for the service ace. She was a beginner for sure, but even Hitomi could tell just from the opponents' shocked reactions that it was a good serve. She saw Nishinoya's serious face disappear into his usual bright one as he jumped up to congratulate the server.