Hearing Shinsuke Kita praise one of his players, Aaron burst out laughing. He looked as if he had simply been amused, but in truth, only he and Takurō knew that Aaron was showing off. He was delighted, and he loved hearing other people praise his players.
"No, no, Atsumu Miya is a great kid too. Coach Kurosu, you've taught him very well."
Atsumu Miya looked strangely embarrassed after being praised, and even his ears turned red.
Osamu Miya and Aran watched from the side, secretly laughing at Atsumu Miya's reaction.
On the court, Haruki Komi saw the volleyball coming. Jump float serves were usually received overhand. That was the safest choice, so he chose to receive it overhand too. Then something unexpected happened.
The ball came straight at his chest. An overhand receive was clearly too high, and Haruki Komi realized it too, which made him panic a little.
He quickly changed his form to an underhand receive, but what the eyes saw was sometimes completely different from what the body felt. He had clearly seen that overhand would not work and underhand would be just right, but once the volleyball reached him, his underhand receive could not quite reach it.
For a moment, Haruki Komi could only lift his arms in an extremely awkward posture and get the ball up.
Bang!
The volleyball flew up crookedly. With just one glance, Keiji Akaashi knew something must have gone wrong for Haruki Komi. He had been at the net earlier and had not looked back, but now that he had seen the ball, he immediately became wary of Suwa.
Haruki Komi rarely made receives like that. Was Suwa's serve really that good? But why did it look so ordinary?
Keiji Akaashi ran over to adjust to the ball, and everyone else started moving too.
On the other side, Hirugami and Hakuba had already reached the net and were ready to block at any moment. They did not know who Keiji Akaashi would set to, but based on their guess, this ball probably was not going to Bokuto.
Because from where Bokuto was right now, his spike was nowhere near as favorable as anyone else's.
Bokuto was still in the back row, while the others had already reached the net. With Hirugami and the others blocking, even if Bokuto attacked from the back row, this ball would be hard to hit well.
Konoha and Washio were currently in positions three and two. According to Hirugami's analysis, there was a very high chance this ball would go to one of the two players in the front row.
Keiji Akaashi was now in position four. If he set to Bokuto, it would have to be a back-row attack. But if he set to the front row, Keiji Akaashi was not very confident he could place it with perfect precision.
Keiji Akaashi was still hesitating, but Bokuto turned his head and glanced at him. Keiji Akaashi instantly understood what that look meant. The ace and setter were of one mind.
Bokuto wanted Keiji Akaashi to give him the ball.
Keiji Akaashi already trusted Bokuto without question. Since Bokuto wanted it, then every concern was only a possibility.
And so, under everyone's gaze, Keiji Akaashi jumped, put strength into all ten fingers, and set the ball to Bokuto.
Washio and Konoha had already jumped at the net. As expected, neither of them hit the ball. When Konoha landed with a sigh, the volleyball whistled past his ear.
Then it slammed onto Kamomedai's court. Hirugami's blocking hand was one step too slow. Even if Hirugami's timing had been correct, he still might not have been able to stop that ball.
"Beep------!"
The referee signaled the point.
"Hey, hey, hey! I knew I was the strongest!"
Bokuto raised both arms and cheered loudly to hype himself up. He thought that last play had been unbelievably cool.
"Keiji Akaashi! Was that cool or what?"
Bokuto turned back to look at Keiji Akaashi. It seemed that every time Bokuto scored, the first thing he did was look at Keiji Akaashi, waiting for praise.
"That was amazing, Bokuto-senpai."
Keiji Akaashi praised Bokuto from the heart.
Bokuto smiled so widely that his eyes narrowed.
Hirugami scratched his head. He had not seen that play clearly. Konoha had blocked his view at the time, and by the time he shifted away from Konoha, all he saw was the volleyball flying straight over and hitting the floor. Hirugami kept feeling that the play looked familiar.
He looked up at everyone and found that none of them seemed to think anything was strange.
Only Hoshiumi said thoughtfully,
"That looked really familiar."
Hirugami looked at Hoshiumi and was about to ask him about it, but the referee blew the whistle for everyone to return to position, so Hirugami had to leave it for now.
"Fukurōdani scores again. The two teams are evenly matched! Bokuto takes back the serve for Fukurōdani with a powerful jump spike. The score is now 22:22. Two more points and it will be set point. Which school will come out on top? Let's watch what happens next!"
"So who's actually going to win this set?"
Tsutomu Goshiki was eager to analyze it.
Aaron smiled.
"Kamomedai, of course."
Tsutomu Goshiki looked up at him. Then Takurō spoke. First, he gave a heavy snort, then said,
"Given the current situation, the goddess of victory is standing on our Fukurōdani's side."
Aaron and Takurō looked at each other, and even the air seemed to stop moving. Tiny sparks practically crackled between them.
Tsutomu Goshiki, who had asked the question in the first place, was sitting right between them. He felt like he was about to suffocate and did not even dare to breathe.
Ryosuke covered his face. Why did Tsutomu Goshiki have to say that in front of both coaches? Anyone with eyes could see that these two coaches had been openly and secretly competing the whole time.
Reon really could not stand watching Tsutomu Goshiki sit there so timidly between them, so he dragged Tsutomu Goshiki to the back, bench and all.
Only then did Tsutomu Goshiki dare to take a deep breath. Just now, he had nearly held his breath until he passed out.
Coach Washijō watched the show from behind, looking dismissive on the surface while thinking to himself,
The one who wins in the end will definitely be Shiratorizawa!
Luckily, Coach Washijō did not say that out loud. Otherwise, the two-person war would have turned into a three-person one.
Hirugami had not seen Bokuto's play, but the spectators below had. Ushijima and Atsumu Miya both became focused at the same time.
Bokuto's back-row attack just now looked really familiar.
Ushijima nudged Ryosuke and asked,
"That ball just now?"
Ryosuke withdrew his gaze, looked at Ushijima, and said hesitantly,
"It really did look a lot like Takahashi-senpai."
Since Ryosuke said so, then they definitely had not seen wrong. After all, Ryosuke's eyes were practically binoculars.
Ushijima's gaze on Bokuto gradually became serious. No wonder it had looked familiar.
Bokuto's takeoff and arm swing just now were almost eighty percent similar to Ran Takahashi's during the National Youth Team. As for the parts that were different, one part was because there was a gap between Bokuto's highest reach and Ran Takahashi's. The other was because Bokuto's own style was still present in that ball.
It was very smooth, and it had a lot of power. But Bokuto's ball did not have much technique to it. It was still pure violence, just like always.
This match was being broadcast live, so Ran Takahashi, far away with the national team, naturally saw that ball too. A gratified smile appeared on his face. He did not think it was presumptuous at all that someone had learned that move. On the contrary, he was very happy.
After Ryosuke finished speaking, no one discussed the ball any further. They had all been to the National Youth Team together, so learning something or other was perfectly normal.
Only Ushijima and a few others felt at the same time that the road ahead was getting harder and harder.
The match continued. Because of Bokuto's point, the serve was now in Fukurōdani's hands. Bokuto had just finished spiking, and now he had to go serve.
Konoha high-fived Bokuto.
"Nice serve, Bokuto."
"Captain, give us a good serve!"
Keiji Akaashi also stood there, watching Bokuto with a warm smile.
"Bokuto-senpai, go for it!"
Encouraged by everyone, Bokuto strode to the service line in high spirits.
Serving was his favorite part, because that was when everyone entrusted him with a major responsibility. Bokuto loved the feeling of carrying that weight.
He held the volleyball in his hands. Even though the ball itself was light, it felt heavy to Bokuto, packed with everyone's hopes.
The supporters on Fukurōdani's side barely dared to breathe. They were all loyal Fukurōdani fans, and they knew that their super ace could sometimes be emotionally unstable, so none of them dared to disturb him while he served.
Bokuto raised his arm and tossed the volleyball into the air, then bent his knees and began his approach.
At the last moment, just as the ball steadied and began to fall, he jumped. Bokuto's toss was perfectly stable, without the slightest wobble.
Bokuto took off with both legs, then swung his right arm hard. The veins in his wrist stood out clearly.
The volleyball dented under Bokuto's palm, packed with so much force that it looked ready to tear through the air in the very next second.
Bang!
The volleyball was struck with tremendous force and shot forward with a sharp rush of air.
Even Keiji Akaashi could feel the wind sweep past.
Bokuto's serve had grown even more powerful, and his placement had become more precise. His control over the volleyball had already reached an extremely practiced level.
Keiichiro sprinted to receive it. He did not know whether he could get this ball up. He had never successfully received Ushijima's serve before, so there was no guarantee he could handle Bokuto's either.
Keiichiro ran behind the three-meter line and found what he thought was the best receiving point, close to the sideline.
As the volleyball got closer and closer without showing any sign of dropping, Keiichiro's nerves tightened. This ball should not be out. Bokuto probably would not serve it out. But why was it still not stopping?
Keiichiro was afraid he would receive a ball that was going out. If that happened, he would be a laughingstock.
When the volleyball was only about a meter away from him, Keiichiro finally made his decision. He dodged aside, leaving the court behind him open, and shouted,
"Out!"
Everyone stared tensely at the ball, especially Coach Takurō. His heart rate was about to shoot up to two hundred. Logic told him this ball was probably going out, but emotionally, he leaned toward the belief that Bokuto would never serve a ball out.
"Would Bokuto-senpai serve it out?"
Tsutomu Goshiki asked quietly. Ryosuke replied in an equally quiet voice,
"He won't."
But Tsutomu Goshiki did not hear Ryosuke. His eyes were fixed intently on the volleyball on the court.
This ball should catch the line.
Ryosuke thought to himself. Back when he was with the National Youth Team, he had once run into Bokuto-senpai secretly getting up early to practice alone. He had been repeating his serves over and over by himself. Thinking back on it now, Bokuto might have been practicing serves that caught the line.
Bang! The volleyball slammed hard onto the boundary line. Without looking closely, it was impossible to see. Even Ryosuke's bright eyes almost missed it. The ball was simply too fast, and no one had time to react.
Keiichiro wiped the sweat from his forehead. He still did not know whether that ball had gone out or not. It had been too fast to see clearly.
The serve was over, and everyone assumed it had definitely gone out. Konoha was already about to go over and comfort Bokuto when Keiji Akaashi grabbed him.
"Konoha-senpai, the referee hasn't blown the whistle yet."
Keiji Akaashi meant that the referee had not yet decided whether the point counted. Until the whistle blew, nothing was certain.
Haruki Komi walked over and patted Konoha on the shoulder.
"Konoha, trust Bokuto."
Then he turned and called loudly to Bokuto,
"Bokuto, do you think that ball scored?"
Bokuto did not answer. He only grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
The moment everyone saw Bokuto's expression, they knew this point was probably safe.
The commentator's voice came over as well.
"That was absolutely brilliant! Bokuto's serve was so fast that the naked eye could only catch an afterimage. Now, did that ball go out or not? Let's take a look at the replay."
As the commentator finished speaking, the large screen hanging at the front of the court began playing a slow-motion replay of the serve.
Everyone held their breath and watched.
On the big screen, the ball slowly dropped just as it was about to fly over the boundary line, landed precisely on the line, then bounced back up and flew out of bounds.
The arena fell silent.
Then a flood of cheers erupted.
"Ahh! Bokuto, how are you so amazing!"
"Nice one, kid! Beautifully done!"
"Did you see that serve just now? Wasn't that insanely cool?"
"That's Fukurōdani's ace for you."
...
Countless praises poured toward Bokuto. Even Coach Takurō in the stands quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile slipped onto his face.
That kid. So all those mornings when he had been sneaking around, he had actually been practicing alone. He really could keep things bottled up. He hid it all this time just to pull out one big move. From now on, if anyone dared say Bokuto could not keep a secret, Coach Takurō would definitely be the first to argue.
"Beep-----------!"
The referee's whistle finally rang out, announcing that Fukurōdani's serve was a valid point. Smiles spread uncontrollably across everyone's faces.
But Bokuto only turned around and stared at Keiji Akaashi, waiting for Keiji Akaashi to praise him. His eyes were bright and sparkling, like some kind of small animal.
Keiji Akaashi walked over with a smile and high-fived Bokuto.
"Beautifully done, Bokuto-senpai."
"Yeah! I thought so too, Keiji Akaashi!"
Konoha felt like Bokuto was practically giving off pink bubbles. It was almost blinding.
"Fukurōdani scores again! An extreme line-catching serve from ace Wing Spiker Kōtarō Bokuto, landing firmly on the sideline. A perfect ball! The score is now 24:22! Fukurōdani has reached set point! Will this set belong to Fukurōdani or Kamomedai? Let's keep watching!"
The commentator was fired up by Bokuto's line-catching serve too. He almost could not stop himself from standing up on his chair and roaring. For an instant, he even felt as if he were back at the venue watching Romero's match in person all those years ago.
The crowd was deafening, and the blood was running hot.
...
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