Because Kamomedai had taken the first point, the serve now went to Kamomedai. Suwa was the one serving for Kamomedai.
The moment Haruki Komi saw Suwa step onto the court, his head started to hurt a little. In the previous set, Suwa's flat-drive float serve had left a deep impression on him. No one knew exactly how many kinds of jump float serves Suwa had. What if this serve was different from the last one?
Haruki Komi did enjoy taking on difficult challenges, but right now, he was not alone. The entire team was waiting on his first pass. If he failed this challenge, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"Komi, you've got this."
Bokuto turned back and encouraged Haruki Komi. Haruki Komi grinned, then spread his arms and settled into a receiving stance.
Whatever came his way, he would handle it. No matter what, he had to receive this ball.
Thinking that, Haruki Komi's gaze became even more determined.
Suwa looked at Haruki Komi on the other side of the court, then tossed the volleyball into the air as the referee's whistle sounded.
His run-up and jump flowed together in one smooth motion.
"Bang!"
Suwa's hand struck the side of the volleyball, and the ball shot out sharply with spin.
Haruki Komi widened his eyes as much as he could, staring closely at the ball. In his eyes, the volleyball's trajectory seemed to break down frame by frame.
Even so, it was useless. Before it crossed the net, no matter how he looked at it, this ball seemed just like an ordinary floater.
Haruki Komi waited patiently. Then, when he saw the ball about to cross the net, he instinctively stepped forward twice to meet it.
Then he realized that the volleyball, which had seemed perfectly fine just a moment ago, suddenly sank the instant it crossed the net.
Damn it, Haruki Komi cursed inwardly.
Just now, he had still been wondering why he had taken two steps forward. He had thought it was just his body reacting on instinct, but he had not expected his body to understand what kind of ball this was even more clearly than his mind.
After crossing the net, the volleyball suddenly sank, and it was about to drop into the middle court.
Haruki Komi hurried forward to receive it. Watching the ball keep falling, he decisively threw himself to the floor and slid, diving toward it with his arm stretched flat against the ground. The volleyball dropped and slammed hard into Komi's wrist.
"Bang!"
From the bench's perspective, everyone could only see that the ball had looked fine at first, but after it crossed the net, its speed suddenly increased and it dropped sharply.
Haruki Komi rushed over very quickly and dove to receive. The moment he hit the floor, the volleyball flew up.
Everyone felt something was off. The sound of that ball had not been right, especially to the Liberos. A volleyball hitting the back of the hand definitely did not make that kind of sound.
But when they saw Haruki Komi get back up as if nothing had happened, no one said anything.
Only Atsumu Miya was smiling in a particularly annoying way. He seemed to know exactly what that sound meant. After all, he had also been hit by that kind of ball before. Back then, though, Atsumu Miya had been hit on the forearm, so it had not been a big deal.
Thinking of that, Atsumu Miya began seriously sizing Suwa up. He looked like an unremarkable guy, but his jump float serve was actually very good. Atsumu Miya really did not want to admit it, but Suwa's jump float serve was on par with his. His control, speed, angle, and spin were all excellent. If Atsumu Miya had not learned the jump float serve a little earlier, the one everyone called the "two-way player" might not necessarily be him now.
The volleyball rose crookedly into the air. Haruki Komi scrambled back to his feet and said,
"Sorry, sorry. Keiji Akaashi, save this one."
Keiji Akaashi did not look back. He simply made an OK sign and ran toward the volleyball without turning his head.
Haruki Komi secretly shook out his numb right hand. That ball had indeed landed on Komi's wrist, but no matter how much force a volleyball carried, it could only be so strong. Haruki Komi only felt his wrist go numb, and it did not have much of an effect.
He could not help sighing inwardly. As expected of a jump float serve. If Ushijima or Kiryū served a ball like that, his wrist would probably snap on the spot. Then again, if Suwa had a little more power, he might even be able to squeeze into the nation's top five Wing Spikers.
As Komi thought this, he kept moving.
Keiji Akaashi chased the ball all the way to the net. He could tell this ball was bad. How should he put it? It was too close to the net, and it felt like it was about to fly back over to Kamomedai at any second.
Keiji Akaashi's expression did not look good. A net-hugging ball was truly hard to deal with.
One reason Keiji Akaashi hated net-hugging balls so much was that he really could not win the fight for them. If he had to set at the net, it would be difficult, but he could still manage it.
The most annoying situation was when the ball came to the net and he, as the Setter, had to chase after it to set. By the time he reached the net, it was about to cross over. At that point, he could not send the set out properly, the others would not make it in time, and he could not win a joust either.
Kamomedai's Middle Blockers were each stronger than the last. Trying to win a ball against them was not even worth thinking about unless you were Bokuto or Washio.
Keiji Akaashi looked at the ball. It had not crossed the net yet. Good, good.
Then Keiji Akaashi jumped and set the ball in an extremely awkward posture.
Keiji Akaashi had jumped facing the net head-on. Then, while he was in the air, his left hand aimed toward the right side, and his palm gave the ball a light flick. To put it simply, his body was facing the Block, but his arm and gaze were both directed to the right.
Hakuba's eyes had originally been on Keiji Akaashi. After Keiji Akaashi set the ball, his gaze followed the volleyball. But there was no one on the right to spike yet. Onaga was on the right, but he was being watched by Hoshiumi. As soon as Onaga moved, Hoshiumi would move with him.
Hakuba took a large step to the right. Forget it. Since Keiji Akaashi dared to set the ball, that meant someone was definitely going to spike it.
Sure enough, just as Hakuba got into position at position two, Bokuto circled out from the back. Meeting Hakuba's surprised gaze, Bokuto spread his wings with a whoosh, like an owl taking flight.
Bokuto had already started his run-up the moment Komi shouted to Keiji Akaashi to save the ball.
Bokuto ran in from the backcourt on a wide diagonal route, arriving just in time to see Keiji Akaashi flick the ball to the right. That was when Bokuto jumped out.
In truth, this was not a coincidence. Bokuto had always known that Keiji Akaashi was not good at dealing with balls that hugged the net too closely. Judging by the way that last ball had come over, there was no doubt it was a net-hugging ball.
Keiji Akaashi also trusted Bokuto enough to flick the ball over there without even turning his head, as if he knew Bokuto would definitely come in to spike it.
The instant Hakuba saw Bokuto, he felt an intense pressure crash down on him. It was as if he had become a lamb on the ground waiting to be slaughtered, while Bokuto was the bird of prey soaring overhead.
In the next moment, Hakuba snapped back to his senses. He crouched down, stabilized his center of gravity, and jumped to face Bokuto head-on.
Hirugami ran over from behind Hoshiumi to join the Block. He had seen Bokuto too. Hirugami always appeared right when everyone needed him.
When Hakuba saw Hirugami arrive, he immediately felt reassured, and his momentum rose at once.
It was not that Hakuba was timid. He was just careful. When facing Bokuto, who could afford not to be?
Bokuto did not care at all about Hirugami suddenly appearing. In the blink of an eye, he hammered the volleyball straight at Hakuba's arm, forcibly blasting his arm open.
With a bang, it was ridiculously intense.
Hakuba felt as if his arm had been hit by a basketball spinning at high speed. It hurt like hell.
A basketball and a volleyball were completely different things. The feeling of them hitting your hands was like the difference between a soft girl and a tough guy. It was painfully obvious.
Somehow, Bokuto had turned a volleyball into something that felt like a basketball.
Hakuba was in serious pain, but he did not let it show on his face.
The volleyball smashed past his arm and flew away. Keiichiro ran up from behind to receive it, but he could not get there. The players at the net blocked his path, and when Hakuba landed, he stumbled. His foot instinctively twisted to the side, just in time to block Keiichiro's path forward. Worried that he might crash into Hakuba, Keiichiro slowed down, and once again, he perfectly missed the ball.
"Beep!"
The referee called the point.
"After that back-and-forth first rally, Fukurōdani has taken their first point! They've successfully brought the serve back to their side. The Setter's handling of that last ball was extremely precise, almost like a textbook example. Then he combined with ace player Bokuto for a quick attack and successfully scored!"
The moment the whistle fell, the commentator's voice rang out impatiently.
You really could not blame the commentator for getting so excited. There were simply too many highlights in this match. It would have been hard for him not to get worked up.
"Bokuto-senpai! That was amazing!"
After landing, Keiji Akaashi looked at Bokuto with excitement all over his face. He had sent that ball over hoping Bokuto would see it and come in to spike, but he had not expected Bokuto to really come.
Did this count as perfect understanding between a Setter and an ace?
Being looked at with such admiration by Keiji Akaashi made Bokuto feel comfortable all over.
Bokuto often felt that Keiji Akaashi did not seem like an underclassman. Instead, he was more like an upperclassman, more mature than him in every way. But whenever he saw Keiji Akaashi showing his emotions openly, Bokuto could not help getting smug.
Bokuto was a very straightforward person. Whatever he thought, he did. So he immediately turned to everyone and said,
"Keiji Akaashi praised me!!"
When everyone heard Bokuto's words, they did not know whether to laugh or cry. Keiji Akaashi praised him plenty of times normally, so why did Bokuto get this excited the moment he praised him during a match?
"All right, all right, we know. Stop showing off already."
Konoha looked at Bokuto helplessly, then pushed him back to his position together with Washio. As he pushed Bokuto along, Konoha turned his head and waggled his eyebrows at Keiji Akaashi.
Keiji Akaashi froze. Konoha... what was he trying to say?
Other than with Bokuto, Keiji Akaashi rarely exchanged looks with his teammates, so he did not understand what Konoha's expression meant.
What Konoha had actually meant was: Not bad. One sentence and you've got Bokuto so happy he doesn't know which way is up. When it comes to owl-taming, it really has to be you, Keiji Akaashi.
But Keiji Akaashi did not pick up on Konoha's signal at all, and he returned to his position with a baffled look on his face.
And just like that, the little interlude passed.
On Kamomedai's side, Keiichiro helplessly held his forehead, then spoke to Hakuba in an earnest tone.
"Hakuba, next time you're blocking or receiving, try to pay a little attention to what's behind you."
Hakuba did not really understand what Keiichiro meant, but Hirugami did. He patted Hakuba on the shoulder and was about to speak when Hoshiumi spoke first.
"What Keiichiro means is that next time, you need to pay attention to your teammates and their routes. With our current formation, every time you move to position three or position two to receive, you block Keiichiro's path forward. And when you move back, if Keiichiro didn't roll away fast enough, who knows how many times you would've stepped on him by now."
Hoshiumi's tone was a little heavy, so it might not have sounded very nice, but Hakuba knew that Hoshiumi was speaking to him seriously about this.
Hearing that serious tone, Hakuba began thinking back on whether that really was the case. It was fine when he did not think about it, but once he did, he realized it was true. No wonder he always felt like there was someone behind him. So that was why.
Then he scratched his head sheepishly and apologized to Keiichiro.
"Ah, I'm really sorry. So what everyone means is that I should pay more attention to my teammates' positions from now on and control my movements better, right? I'll definitely remember. Please don't worry!"
After saying that, Hakuba even gave a very serious ninety-degree bow.
Keiichiro was not particularly angry. He genuinely felt that Hakuba needed to pay a little more attention to small details like this.
Seeing that Hakuba had taken his words to heart, Keiichiro nodded and smiled with great relief, then patted his shoulder hard.
"As long as you remember. Don't make the same mistake next time."
Hoshiumi nodded along with a serious expression.
Hirugami and Suwa stood to the side with their arms crossed, watching them with great interest.
Talking to Hakuba was still very comfortable. After all, Hakuba was someone who understood as soon as you pointed things out. Talking to a smart person really was relaxing.
After dealing with the matter from earlier, Hirugami's gaze also turned serious.
"Everyone has to take every single ball from now on seriously! We have to win this set. Otherwise, we won't even get a third set!"
"Yes!!"
One by one, they straightened their backs. Their voices were loud, and their gazes were clear.
Watching from below, Aaron let out a breath of relief. This was how it should be.
While these kids were resting by the coach's bench, their emotions had still been very stable. But for some reason, once they stepped onto the court, mistakes started appearing everywhere, and their entire style looked messy.
Still, with Hirugami there, Aaron could feel at ease.
Then he turned his head to look at Reo Inube, who was still watching the match. At first, the slip Aaron had submitted had listed Reo as a starter and Hirugami as the substitute. But after thinking it over, Aaron felt that it was a little unfair to Hirugami, so in the end, he changed the roster and temporarily notified Hirugami to take the court.
Aaron's original intention had been that Hirugami was only a second-year, while Reo was about to retire. He was already a third-year, and a match like this might be the final one of his high school career. Aaron wanted to give Reo that opportunity, but he also felt that doing so would be far too cruel to the others.
After submitting the slip, Aaron went to talk to Reo.
Reo accepted it calmly.
"Coach, even though I'm a third-year, I don't think it's fair to the others if you arrange for me to play like this. Over these three years, I haven't done my best as captain, and I barely attended the training camps.
"I know you want me to take the court. In that case, Coach, let me be a substitute. You can't be selfish like this. Let me be everyone's substitute!"
...
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