Sengoku Middle School suffered an inauspicious start.
Yet, the most deeply unnerved wasn't Akashi Asuka, whose spike had just been blocked, but the rest of his team.
For the preceding three rallies, feeding the ball to Akashi Asuka for a point wasn't merely a tactic; it had solidified in their minds as an inevitable outcome—a foregone conclusion.
The sudden shattering of this certainty was met with immediate disbelief by his own teammates.
In an instant, the atmosphere surrounding the Sengoku Middle School side grew thick, heavy, and tense.
Off the court, Shimokawa Sanwa's brow was deeply furrowed. He had anticipated that Sengoku Middle School's reliance on a single 'spearhead' would be exposed against a stronger adversary, but he hadn't foreseen their morale dipping so swiftly.
"Was I pushing them too far, too fast?" Shimokawa Sanwa mused internally.
If the prefectural tournament were a video game, the Sengoku Middle School roster comprised Akashi Asuka—a veteran player—and five absolute rookies.
Normally, under Akashi Asuka's guidance, the others should have gradually accrued experience, progressing from tackling minor enemies to elite mobs, and finally to the ultimate boss.
However, with the exception of Akashi Asuka, no one had even filled their first experience bar, let alone leveled up, before the 'ultimate boss' materialized directly before them.
"My apologies. That one was on me,"
Akashi Asuka stepped forward, clapping his hands to momentarily draw everyone's attention away from the scoreboard and towards himself. He continued, "Everyone, ease up and relax. If you're unsure what to do with the next ball, simply defer to me."
"Also, Sanshita, could you set the next ball just a little higher?"
"O-okay... okay."
BEEP!
The whistle sounded again.
Kitagawa Daiichi served once more. Kurata Neko received the soaring volleyball, managing a slightly better angle this time, placing it perfectly above the setter's head.
Sanshita Ryuhei's eyes were locked on the ball. His mind was a tempest of confusion; he had no idea what to do. The only command he could recall was Akashi Asuka's: "lift it a little higher."
Whoosh!
In the next breath, Sanshita Ryuhei's fingers suddenly drove the ball upward. With a faint rushing sound, the volleyball shot impossibly high into the air.
"Oh, no!"
Sanshita Ryuhei's face fell instantly. He didn't need to track the ball; he knew he had over-set it drastically.
The volleyball sailed to a preposterous height mid-air. This time, even the Kitagawa Daiichi blocker was momentarily stunned, let alone his own teammates.
Akashi Asuka looked up at the arc of the ball and sighed inwardly.
Just as he thought, he couldn't simply command better performance from his teammates.
While his words had briefly alleviated the tension, their movements remained stiff, especially Sanshita Ryuhei's.
Others might have missed it, but as the setter, Sanshita Ryuhei knew the reason Akashi Asuka was blocked on the first point wasn't Akashi's fault at all—it was his own set that had been too low.
Despite Akashi Asuka taking the blame for him, the mental hurdle was proving too high to clear easily.
The greater the nervousness, the higher the propensity for error.
"However, this is enough. Even if it's a mistake, as long as it has height, it is sufficient."
Akashi Asuka fixed his gaze on the airborne ball, slightly delaying his run-up. Only when he reached the net did he suddenly launch himself skyward.
Thump.
The sound of his shoes pounding the floor seemed to reverberate deep within the chests of everyone present.
Kindaichi Yutaro, Kunimi Hide, and Kageyama Tobio were already poised to block; such an exaggerated set left no doubt as to the intended target.
Thus, the moment Akashi Asuka leaped, the three jumped in perfect sync, their six arms instantly forming a formidable barrier.
But in the next second, their expressions utterly transformed.
The figure across the net had simply risen above their defense, ascending higher and higher until their upturned eyes could only register the opponent's chin.
Bang!
A thunderous impact.
The volleyball rocketed over Kunimi Hide's fingertips and into Kitagawa Daiichi's deep court, where it struck the floor with brutal force.
The gym fell into a profound silence.
Several seconds crawled by before a sudden, violent eruption of gasps and shouts swept through the second-floor stands.
* "Woah, that was unbelievable!"
* "Who is that number one from Sengoku Middle School? His vertical leap is insane!"
* "That jump must have been close to 335 \{cm}, right? Is that guy really a middle schooler?"
...
"Dammit, I couldn't see it clearly in the video, but seeing him live, that guy's jump is just ridiculously high!" On the Kitagawa Daiichi side, Kindaichi Yutaro, the 185 {cm} tall player with the 'leek head' hairstyle, wiped his sweat, his face etched with frustration.
"Not only is his vertical great, but his spiking power and technique are also extraordinary. In spiking ability alone, I doubt there are many in the entire prefecture who can rival him," observed Kunimi Hide, whose eyes, despite their lazy appearance, were keenly accurate.
He had seen it clearly. The opponent had deliberately targeted the space above his head mid-air because his jump height was the lowest of the three blockers. Against Kindaichi, even with that tremendous vertical, it would have been impossible to spike completely over the block.
"Hey! Kunimi, you're slacking off again, aren't you?"
As Kindaichi and Kunimi were speaking, Kageyama Tobio suddenly rushed over, grabbing Kunimi by the collar and aggressively challenging him.
"Huh?"
"That wasn't your highest blocking height..."
"Hey! Kageyama, cut it out. Now is the middle of the match. Whatever it is, we'll sort this out afterward."
Eyeing the potential for the conflict to escalate, Kindaichi quickly intervened, expertly pulling the two apart.
The rest of the team remained strangely composed.
While they did step in to mediate, they seemed completely unconcerned about the momentary disruption.
Meanwhile,
on the other side of the court, although Akashi Asuka had just scored, his teammates did not rush to celebrate; they were completely stupefied.
As his teammates, they knew better than anyone that, even in last week's match, Akashi Asuka's high jump was nowhere near as breathtaking as the one he had just performed.
"Wow, he's incredible!"
Masato Ohmae whispered, looking at the figure at the net, which seemed to have suddenly grown even taller. "This guy is truly starting to look like a genuine 'ace' now."