After more than ten minutes of fussing around, the Inarizaki group finally managed to sit down on the benches.
"Ah, this is great!"
Atsumu Miya slumped in his chair without a care for his image. Their opponent in the morning match had been seriously troublesome, and they had played a full three sets before finally deciding the winner.
Ever since arriving at IH, Atsumu Miya had been in a constant state of high tension, without even a moment to relax. But after hearing that their opponent in the afternoon would be Shiratorizawa, Atsumu Miya actually loosened up.
Since they were familiar opponents, he would not have to spend so much energy studying every single person.
"Atsumu Miya-senpai, how was your match this morning?"
Ryosuke and Tsutomu Goshiki crowded around Atsumu Miya like curious children and asked. Although Yunohama pretended not to care, his gaze kept drifting over every now and then. In the end, he was still a high schooler with plenty of curiosity.
Once that topic came up, Atsumu Miya immediately got excited.
"Of course we won this morning. I made this super beautiful back set, then teamed up with Samu and wiped them all out! Even Coach said I played pretty well."
They had clearly asked how the match went, yet as Atsumu Miya talked, it somehow became all about himself.
The three first-years were completely fooled by him, staring in a daze.
Shinsuke Kita closed his eyes for a moment, then walked over and slapped Atsumu Miya on the head.
Did he not see that Coach Washijō's glare was about to kill him?
Coach Washijō could tell at a glance that this kid had bad intentions toward Ryosuke. Do not ask how he knew. This was the intuition of a worried guardian.
"Watch the match. Stop chatting."
Reon stopped Ryosuke, Tsutomu Goshiki, and the others. Shinsuke Kita also grabbed Atsumu Miya by the hair, threatening him with his eyes, then looked at Osamu Miya.
Osamu Miya trembled at the sight of those few golden fox hairs in Shinsuke Kita's hand, terrified that his own beautiful hair would be torn out next.
Finally, it was quiet.
Shinsuke Kita secretly let out a breath of relief. He seemed to feel that if he did not make them quiet down soon, Coach Takurō and Coach Aaron might grow annoyed with them. He did not want the two coaches to have a bad impression of everyone.
With Reon and Shinsuke Kita handling things together, the coaches did not even need to speak. Everyone instantly quieted down.
Then they focused on the match.
During the ten or so minutes Shiratorizawa had spent making a commotion, the match on court had slowly entered a small climax.
The current score was 17:16. Kamomedai had seventeen, while Fukurōdani was trailing by one point.
Maybe it was because Bokuto had not been in good form at the start. Even though Bokuto had picked himself back up later, closing those few points was not exactly simple. Still, seeing Fukurōdani only one point behind, catching up to Kamomedai was only a matter of time. If Kamomedai did not hurry up and attack, there was a real chance Fukurōdani would overtake them.
"Oh my, what's going on with your school? Still one point behind?"
Coach Takurō had already learned to ignore Coach Aaron's sarcastic remarks. Right now, he cared more about everyone's performance and condition on court.
Hearing that, Coach Takurō did not even look at Coach Aaron. He only gave a very perfunctory "Mm," then kept his eyes fixed on the match.
Seeing that Coach Takurō would not respond, Coach Aaron pursed his lips and stopped talking too. Arguing was only fun when both people argued. How was one person supposed to argue alone?
"Beep---------!"
"Fukurōdani scores consecutively! Bokuto works with the setter for a quick attack and successfully takes another point! The score is now officially tied. As expected of Fukurōdani's ace, every attack he makes counts. Let's see whether he can continue scoring on the next ball!"
The commentator's impassioned voice rang through the whole arena, loud enough that even the players on court could hear it.
Bokuto saw Keiji Akaashi's set come his way again, then jumped once more to spike.
Hirugami ran over to block. He kept feeling that Bokuto had become a little sly now. In the past, whenever Bokuto saw where Hirugami was, he would spike straight in that direction. Now, the moment Bokuto saw Hirugami, he wanted to go around him.
But in this set, Bokuto had more or less figured out a way to deal with Hirugami's style of blocking.
Seeing Hirugami come out to block again, Hoshiumi followed as well, eagerly wanting to block Bokuto's spike.
Bokuto put all his power into his spiking arm, then drove the ball hard into the gap between the two of them. He put every bit of strength he had into this hit.
"Bang!"
The volleyball pierced through their arms like a bullet, then whistled toward the backcourt.
"Good!"
Seeing this ball, Coach Takurō clenched his fist in excitement. Bokuto had improved.
In the past, Bokuto had always been used to relying on his own technique. That was not strange. If anyone had such a strong ability to learn, a gifted body, and worked hard on top of it, all those strengths stacked together would easily make them forget what they had possessed at the very beginning.
During the first few blocks of this set, Bokuto had realized something. Blocks could stop straight shots and crosses. The Libero could also receive tips and net-hugging spikes. There was only one method they absolutely could not handle.
Power. Power that stood above them, the kind of power the opponent could not block at all.
Bokuto had that kind of potential. He discovered that as long as he had enough strength, every flashy block was like an illusion. He could just smash through it.
And the amount of force on the volleyball had to be just right. Too much power, and it would fly out of bounds. Too little, and it would not even break through the block. But with Bokuto's current strength, he had to use every bit of it to break Hirugami's block. As for how to control that power, that could come later.
Because there was too much force behind the ball, it flew incredibly far. Keiichiro's legs were genuinely about to run themselves ragged.
Even with that speed and a dive, he still could not catch up to the ball. It was as if the ball had grown legs and was running even faster than Keiichiro.
In the end, Keiichiro lay flat on the floor while the ball landed just a few centimeters in front of his fingertips, then stopped bouncing.
"Beep----------!"
The sharp whistle snapped Keiichiro out of his regret. Hoshiumi ran over and pulled him up. His words were full of disdain, but carried a hidden trace of concern.
"How did you not get a ball like that? Forget it, if you couldn't get it, you couldn't get it. You didn't break yourself, did you?"
Hoshiumi's concern was like a studded leather jacket with the wind leaking through it. It stabbed straight into Keiichiro's heart.
"I'm fine. Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for? It's just one point. We'll take the next one back!"
Hirugami patted Keiichiro on the back to comfort him.
Off the court, Coach Aaron looked from Hirugami to Reo Inube, then gave Reo Inube a disappointed glare.
"When are you going to grow up and be a little more mature like Hirugami?"
He said it very quietly, but Reo Inube still heard. He gave a "hehe" laugh, scratched his hair, and did not answer, pretending he had not heard anything.
Of course, not every captain was like Shinsuke Kita from Inarizaki, worrying about this and worrying about that. Reo Inube seriously suspected that Shinsuke Kita's head of white hair had been caused by the little brats on his team. It was honestly terrifying.
Reo Inube was indeed a somewhat unreliable captain. He never participated in training camps or anything like that. But to stand out among so many third-years back then and become captain, Reo Inube was definitely no pushover.
Coach Aaron was only saying it out loud. If Reo Inube really turned into someone like Hirugami one day, Coach Aaron would probably start wondering if something had possessed him.
Reo Inube: How rude.
When Keiichiro saw that a large patch of Hirugami's arm had turned blue and purple, bruises spreading across it, his expression immediately became even more guilty. Hirugami had worked so hard to block, yet he could not even receive the ball. How embarrassing. Also, that Bokuto guy really hit too hard.
Hirugami could tell what Keiichiro was thinking at a glance.
"Throw all those messy thoughts out of your head. Focus on the match. That's what matters."
After soothing Keiichiro, everyone returned to their positions.
No matter how hard the ball was to receive or how difficult the match was, they still had to keep going. After all, people rarely died in volleyball matches.
Off the court, Ryosuke and Tendo watched Bokuto's spike and fell into thought.
Tendo lowered his head and looked at his own arm with a complicated expression. For the first time, he felt something like doubt toward his own thin arms and legs. Even before, blocking Bokuto's spikes had already been a bit difficult.
Now that Bokuto had gotten stronger again, he was not sure whether he could still do it. In any case, as long as Bokuto's spike was about as powerful as Ushijima's, Tendo felt he could handle it.
Shiratorizawa had never used proper, formal methods to test their ability to withstand pressure. They tested it against a person.
For example, as long as Tendo and Ryosuke could block or receive Ushijima's spikes, that meant their level was stable. If they could not block them, then something was wrong. Either Tendo was not in form, or Ushijima had improved.
The same logic applied to how the team tested their Liberos' receiving ability.
For example, Semi and Shirabu's serves were both very easy to receive. If someone could not even receive those, then they were useless. One level up was Kawanishi and Reon's serves. Above that were Ryosuke and Ushijima's serves.
Ushijima was another matter. His powerful jump serve had always been a left-handed jump serve. The team had trained together for three years. If they still could not receive it, that would be a real problem.
The most troublesome one was Ryosuke's hook serve. It was unpredictable, fast, and spun quickly. Most importantly, even Ryosuke himself might not know where that ball would end up.
So within the team, Ryosuke could be considered the man at the top of the food chain.
Ryosuke looked at Tendo, then copied him and tilted his head to look at his own arm. So Tendo-senpai was also worried he would not be able to block Bokuto-senpai's ball?
"It's okay, Tendo-senpai. Bokuto-senpai's ball doesn't look that hard to block. At least, it's about as difficult as Ushijima-senpai's."
Tendo turned his gaze to Ryosuke and thought seriously for a moment, then nodded. It should be fine. At least at this stage, he could still block Ushijima, who was still improving. In that case, blocking Bokuto should not be that much trouble either.
Suna, who had secretly overheard their conversation, stopped taking photos, then slowly turned his head and looked at the two of them with an expression that said, Are you kidding me?
Who in their right mind used Ushijima as the standard for blocking?
Suna did not dare say that out loud. He was afraid that if he talked too big, he would bite his tongue.
Then Suna slowly began sizing up his opponents for the afternoon again, especially Ryosuke, that genius kid who had been ridiculously strong from the start.
Sensing his gaze, Ryosuke turned his head and found Suna secretly studying him. After a brief pause, he smiled politely at him, then turned back around.
Then he secretly thought to himself that this senpai looked familiar. He looked kind of like a fox.
Suna, however, blushed a little because of Ryosuke's smile, then turned his head away with a sharp swish.
He understood now why Atsumu Miya kept thinking about him. That smile looked like spring had arrived. Who could possibly refuse that? It felt like flowers were about to start blooming around the kid in the very next second.
Suna turned his face away and saw Bokuto on the court preparing to spike again. He focused his gaze on Bokuto, occasionally taking out his phone to snap photos.
Suna needed to update the information he had on hand. After going to the National Youth camp, these people all seemed to have improved quite a bit. He needed to study Bokuto's spikes first, just in case they met on the court later. That way, he would not be completely helpless against them.
Everyone was watching this match with the same mindset, preparing for trouble before it happened.
On the court, after Fukurōdani and Kamomedai tied the score, they showed no intention of stopping. They organized the next attack right away, planning to ride their momentum and end the match then and there.
If another school said that, it would sound like bragging. But if it was Fukurōdani, there was a high chance they would actually do it.
Keiji Akaashi was now in position two, preparing to set. Kazuyoshi Bessho and Hoshiumi were responsible for watching him. Keiji Akaashi was still thinking about who to set to, but when he saw Hoshiumi run over to mark him, the idea of setting disappeared. He decided to use a second attack to annoy Hoshiumi instead.
Before the match, Hoshiumi had pulled out a few strands of Bokuto's hair, and Keiji Akaashi still had not settled that account with him. After the match started, there had not been any time to cause trouble for him either.
Now that Hoshiumi had fallen into Keiji Akaashi's hands, the opportunity had come.
Keiji Akaashi knew Bokuto was in position three, then decisively made a back set.
Bokuto also believed Keiji Akaashi would set this ball to him, so he jumped without hesitation. Seeing that, Hakuba quickly ran over to prepare for the block, and Hoshiumi's attention was drawn over as well.
Bokuto, who had jumped and was ready to spike, looked confused. He had not felt that familiar touch. Had he jumped for an empty ball? No way.
Then, in the next second, Keiji Akaashi twisted his body in midair, drawing a beautiful arc through the air. With a flick of his left hand, the volleyball slid along the net and crossed over before landing with a "bang."
When Hoshiumi saw Bokuto jump, he instinctively looked up. But when he did not see the volleyball, he immediately knew he had been tricked.
He had thought Keiji Akaashi had set the ball to Washio on the other side.
But when he turned back, he found that the volleyball had actually slipped down quietly along the net on his side, soundless and unnoticed.
If the ball had not made a sound when it hit the floor, Hoshiumi probably would have stayed confused for a while longer.
Then he turned his head and stared in shock at the volleyball on the floor, then at Keiji Akaashi, whose expression was completely calm.
"Hah?"
Hoshiumi glared at Keiji Akaashi. To Hoshiumi, being hit with a second attack right in front of his face felt worse than being killed.
Damn it! Hoshiumi glared at Keiji Akaashi without saying a word.
Keiji Akaashi let out a soft laugh.
"Kōrai-kun, you're still a little impulsive."
...
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