Ichinose Guren leapt high into the air, setting the ball mid-jump to Yudai Hyakuzawa, reviving their long-unused connection."
But this technique, which once dominated back in their junior high, did not bring Karasuno a clean point this time.
With Yamamoto Taketora and Inuoka Sou forming Nekoma's front-line defense, they were experienced enough to choose a soft block on their first encounter with Hyakuzawa's two-meter-tall crushing spike.
"One-touch!"
Still in midair, Inuoka shouted to the defenders behind him, alerting them that the touch had altered the ball's trajectory.
"Tch."
Ichinose clicked his tongue when he saw that his set had forced Yudai into a poor attack angle, leaving him no option but to swing down the already-covered straight shot.
He knew plainly that it wasn't Yudai's fault, the pass hadn't given him range to select a diagonal.
And Ichinose hated delivering a pass that limited a hitter.
But reality was simple: maintaining his explosive vertical, acceleration speed, and physical peak devoured most of his training hours. Not to mention the always-necessary fundamental drills.
There was simply no time left to train setting techniques too.
Hyakuzawa quickly raised his hand, apologizing as if to say "I couldn't spike it well."
But Ichinose waved it off.
He knew the truth, the pass was on him.
After brushing it aside, Ichinose's eyes sharpened.
He locked onto Nekoma's entire front row with a predator's stillness.
Meanwhile, still gathering data, Kozume Kenma deliberately set a high ball to Inuoka, wanting to test Karasuno's #15, the one who felt like a "final boss disguised as a teammate."
Inuoka, innocent and earnest, ran hard, jumped hard, swung hard, and received a return block filled with pure malice from Ichinose.
Karasuno 3, 0 Nekoma.
"So high…"
The first-year puppy of the cat team looked somewhat dejected, but what filled his mind most was the overwhelming height Ichinose had just shown.
"You jump so high!!! Can you teach me how?!"
When dealing with someone who wasn't provoking him, Ichinose was actually quite approachable.
Old scrimmage acquaintances, after all.
If someone provoked first, he would fire back without hesitation.
But sincere learning? He wasn't unreasonable.
"Yeah, sure. After the match, I'll take a look at your jump posture."
"Really?! Thank you!!"
"No need to thank me so much."
Their small exchange did nothing to interrupt Kenma's thoughts.
The cat's gaze continued to observe, analyze, and adapt.
"He didn't pre-read that time. This was reactive blocking. I clearly saw that when I delayed the set on purpose, he didn't move until the ball left my hand."
"At short distance, if his speed isn't slower than the hitter's swing speed, he can still reach."
"Height, arm span, elite vertical, extremely fast jump acceleration, brute explosive power."
"…What kind of final-boss character is this?"
Kenma exhaled quietly, focusing even more deeply on building Nekoma's defensive structure.
Next, during Kageyama's third serve, he attempted to target Nekoma's libero, only for Yaku Morisuke to receive it perfectly, returning a clean and sharp first pass.
Kenma then slipped a subtle straight-through quick set to the middle.
Yamamoto Taketora chose a wild, violent spike toward Hinata,
and this one flew off Hinata's fingertips and out of bounds.
Nekoma scored their first point.
The score: Karasuno 3, 1 Nekoma.
Yamamoto didn't care whether it was a block-out or a clean kill,
a direct spike score was a victory, period.
He celebrated with wild intensity, glaring at Ichinose as if trying to reclaim the insult from earlier.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!!!"
Until Yaku scolded him with a sharp remark, forcing him to tone it down, with clear irritation.
The match continued, and soon the score reached:
Karasuno 12:8 Nekoma.
Karasuno earned those points with all kinds of play:
Hyakuzawa's towering hit point.
Tsukishima's adaptive spike choices based on block formation.
Ichinose's block points.
And Hinata's "Quick Attack" drawing blockers away for the tall hitters.¹
And all of this, Nekoma had seen.
And Nekoma was adapting.
Nekoma's receive-and-defend system, the legendary Cat's Defense Web, was nearing completion.
With Kenma's analysis as the steel framework, and Nekoma's defenders as the foundation, the Crow's Cage was being constructed piece by piece.
Only one final piece remained,
A timeout.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria