"Ahem!"
"You all got the point!"
At that moment, Norimune Kurosu suddenly spoke from the side.
"What I want you to see today is their ace—Akira's Spike!"
"In tomorrow's game, he's their biggest threat to us!"
"I'm sure you noticed for yourselves, in the match between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa, his spike forced Shiratorizawa to make frequent receptions!"
"However, in the matches since Karasuno entered the nationals, we haven't seen him use this kind of attack!"
Kurosu cleared his throat lightly and looked around at everyone in the lounge.
"Do you think this is a coincidence?"
Hearing this, everyone in Inarizaki exchanged looks.
"It should be…"
"Shouldn't it?"
Atsumu Miya spoke with some hesitation:
"Could it be that he was hiding his strength before?"
"What Miya said makes some sense!"
Kurosu nodded, stood up, and walked to the front of everyone.
"Don't get your hopes up just because of your own chances!"
"In my opinion, Shiratorizawa catching his smash repeatedly was definitely no mistake!"
"It has to be a Spiking skill unique to that player!"
"As for this idea of hidden strength…"
"I don't believe it's true!"
"In the previous matches, the reason he didn't use this technique, I think…"
"It's because he didn't think it was necessary!"
"After all, in their group stage, Karasuno has always won very easily!"
"No team could stop his Spike; in fact…"
"There were even several teams beaten by him who gave up blocking altogether!"
As Kurosu said this, the team members all felt the truth of his words.
After all, they just watched Karasuno's match yesterday!
"But…"
"If he does use it, how are we going to handle it?"
Michinari Akagi asked hesitantly.
"Well…"
Kurosu hesitated.
"From what I've observed, Akira's smash is very similar to someone we know!"
Upon hearing this, Akagi's eyes suddenly lit up.
"You mean…"
"Kiyoomi Sakusa!"
"Yes!"
Kurosu nodded heavily.
"It makes the ball fly in an inexplicable way…"
"I suspect there's that strange spinning force in his smash!"
"Such a smash made Shiratorizawa struggle to deal with him!"
"If that's the case…"
Akagi said confidently:
"After getting used to it for a while, I can handle his smash!"
"Very good!"
Kurosu stepped forward and patted Akagi on the shoulder, then turned his gaze to the others present.
"Not just Akagi, the rest of you need to get used to his kind of smash!"
"Of course, if anything unexpected happens tomorrow, just signal me on the court!"
"I'll call a timeout, and everyone will come down to discuss it together!"
"Make sure tomorrow's game is foolproof!"
"Yes!"
...
Just as they were laying out their tactics, the door to the lounge suddenly opened from outside.
The team supervisor, suddenly walked in.
"Upset!"
When he said that, everyone was stunned.
"What… upset?"
Seeing everyone's reaction, Supervisor cleared his throat twice and said in a heavy voice:
"This afternoon's game!"
"Upset!!"
"Itachiyama was stopped in the quarterfinals!!"
"By… Mujinazaka!!"
"What!!!?"
...
At the same time, inside Karasuno's lounge.
"What did you say??"
"Itachiyama, the top favorite to win the championship… lost??"
"That's right!"
"Since Itachiyama's one of main player, the setter Tsukasa Iizuna, was injured in the second game, they were overturned by Mujinazaka!"
"And then lost the whole match!!"
Hearing this news, everyone in Karasuno couldn't calm down for a long time.
Before the game, the team everyone talked about most was Itachiyama!
Almost everyone thought that this year's champion should still be them!
Almost everyone believed they deserved to be called the uncrowned kings!
And now…
"Itachiyama…"
"Doesn't that mean they are the strongest team?"
"Unexpectedly, they just lost like that??"
"Ahem!"
Just as Keishin Ukai was about to say something excitedly, he heard Hinata shouting loudly beside him:
"In that case, if we make it to the final, won't we have a great opponent?"
Kageyama also said firmly beside him:
"That's right!"
"There's no final without the strongest! Even if you win, it wouldn't feel satisfying!"
As soon as these words came out, several people around them looked at the two with some disbelief.
Sugawara couldn't help but complain:
"We haven't even played the semifinals yet."
"Where did you two get such confused confidence from??"
"And winning the final? Isn't that jumping way ahead?"
Ukai also said a little angrily:
"You two… Where do you get this nerve??"
"Focus properly on tomorrow's game!!"
"If anyone drops the ball tomorrow, don't blame me for putting in a substitute!"
"Yes!"
"Especially you two!"
"Don't let me catch you discussing the finals again during the game!"
"Yes! Got it!"
"That's better!"
Ukai took a deep breath, then said loudly:
"Now!"
"Get some rest! Recharge your spirits!"
"Tomorrow's first match is ours!!"
"Centre Court! Waiting for you!!"
"Yes!!"