Since Fukurōdani won the previous set, they served first at the start of the second set.
This rotation's starting player in position one was not Bokuto, but Konoha. Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, Konoha walked to the service line.
Across from him stood the Kamomedai players, watching him like predators. Their eyes made it seem as if they wanted to swallow Konoha alive, especially Keiichiro.
He was no longer the same player he had been in the previous set. Keiichiro's mindset was completely steady now, filled only with the desire to receive the ball. That tiny bit of negative emotion had vanished along with the end of the last set.
Konoha looked at Keiichiro, then shifted his gaze away after a moment.
Konoha knew exactly what his own serve was like. It could not compare to Bokuto's jump serve, but it was a little stronger than Keiji Akaashi's serve. Still, trying to score an untouched ace with that kind of serve at Nationals was difficult. After all, the national stage was packed with strong players.
"Beep."
The whistle for the serve sounded. Konoha moved, tossing the volleyball up from his hand before starting his run-up.
"Bang!"
Keiichiro felt that something was not quite right. Was Konoha's serve a jump float?
These days, people who could serve jump floats seemed as common as cabbages, popping up one after another.
Konoha could serve a jump float, but his jump float was very ordinary. It was nowhere near as powerful as a jump serve. Even so, Konoha still chose to serve it that way.
A jump serve had a one hundred percent chance of being received by the other side, but a long-distance float serve was different. Even if the opponent received it, it could still annoy the opposing Libero.
Long-distance float serves were not exactly hard to receive, but they were irritating.
The arc was gentle, the ball carried spin, and its path was steady. It did look easy to receive, that much was true, but it messed with your head.
Most Liberos felt their scalps prickle the moment they saw a jump float. Then they would start analyzing what kind of jump float it was. Was it a high-arcing floater, a flat-drive floater, a sinking floater, or a power floater?
Before the volleyball crossed the net, everything was still unknown, so the Libero would keep thinking until the ball arrived right in front of them. Only then would they realize that it was just an extremely ordinary float serve. It had no especially large arc and no unique spin, but by then, it might already be too late.
By the time the Libero reached out to receive it, the volleyball had already drifted away from their hands again...
It was not that Konoha's jump serve level was lacking. If it were any other Libero, they would still have to think carefully before receiving Konoha's serve. But Keiichiro was different. He had spent an entire set getting beaten into shape under Bokuto, and the number of balls he had failed to receive could be counted on one hand. Konoha's serve no longer posed much of a threat to him. That was adaptability, plain and simple. Besides, Konoha's core strength truly could not compare to Bokuto's.
With Bokuto's example right there before him, Konoha did not want to repeat a simple serve.
Sure enough, the moment Konoha served, Keiichiro's mind began working at full speed.
What kind of jump float is this? Looking at the arc, it seems to be sinking a little. A sinking jump float? No, that doesn't look quite right. Hiss... Is it really sinking into the middle court, or sinking toward the back court? Could it be a flat drive?
As those thoughts ran through his mind, Keiichiro's feet had already started moving. He shifted in small steps toward where he thought the volleyball would land, then hesitantly stretched out both hands, still wondering whether he should take it overhand or underhand.
The volleyball was already right in front of him, and Keiichiro still had not gotten his hands set properly. But he no longer had time to worry about that. He simply kept the posture he had just taken and prepared to receive it underhand.
No matter what kind of floater this was, as long as the arc was not too high, an underhand receive could handle it.
"Bang!"
Keiichiro had stretched out both hands to receive the ball, fully prepared for it to drift away. But he never expected that he would actually get it up. And because he had put too much strength into his arms, instinctively lifting them as he did, the volleyball was sent flying ridiculously high.
Konoha did not miss the stunned look in Keiichiro's eyes, and he smiled with wicked amusement.
Everyone on Kamomedai widened their eyes. What was going on? Was there some hidden trick to that serve?
"Keiichiro!"
Kazuyoshi Bessho nearly died of anger when he saw that ball. Keiichiro's level today kept swinging up and down, and it was honestly torturous. That ball had been so easy to receive, yet he had still turned it into this.
"Sorry, sorry! I'll fix it!"
Keiichiro also knew the situation was bad. Logically speaking, he should never have received that ball like this. It was way too high.
Damn Konoha! He had thought Keiji Akaashi was the only crafty one in Fukurōdani, but it turned out Konoha was no worse.
I'm finished, I'm finished. With the ball received like this, Kazuyoshi Bessho is definitely going to be angry once the match is over. Just the thought of Kazuyoshi Bessho getting mad made Keiichiro feel a wave of dread.
Kazuyoshi Bessho chased after the ball with his head tilted back, feeling as if his neck was about to snap. The ceiling lights were flashing so brightly that they made his eyes hurt.
After judging the timing of the ball's descent, Kazuyoshi Bessho stood in place and raised both hands above his head, just barely managing to get under it.
The moment his hands felt the volleyball, Kazuyoshi Bessho let out a breath of relief. This ball was stable now. Then, looking at the players on the court, Kazuyoshi Bessho started thinking about who he should send it to.
The first ball should go to the ace, but he did not know how Hoshiumi's mindset was right now.
Suwa looked back at Kazuyoshi Bessho and called out,
"I'll take it!"
Hearing that, Hoshiumi felt a little unconvinced, but in the end, he did not say anything. He firmly remembered what the coach had told him. Don't rush. Take it slow.
Seeing that Hoshiumi did not react too strongly, Suwa finally felt relieved. He had been worried that if the first ball went to him to spike, Hoshiumi might be a little unhappy.
But looking at him now, the coach must have prepared Hoshiumi mentally in advance.
Suwa could already feel the volleyball coming over his head. On the other side, Washio and Onaga had already moved in to block, and Konoha had followed as well, trying to form a three-man block.
Suwa saw at a glance that the three of them were targeting him. Then, under their predatory stares, he jumped up to spike.
Suwa swung his right hand hard at the volleyball, but the area of contact between his palm and the ball was relatively small, producing a spinning shot. The ball's path was a diagonal.
On their team, everyone had blocked Bokuto's diagonal spikes so many times they were sick of it, so an ordinary diagonal spike really could not do much to him.
"Bang!"
Suwa's spike was aimed at Onaga's arm. Onaga's block was not just for show, either. His hands shifted directly from a straight-line blocking posture into a diagonal block.
Although his form was textbook and he did make contact with the volleyball, Suwa's spike had too much power. Onaga could not stuff it down.
"One touch!"
Onaga felt the volleyball slam into his palm and fly backward, and he was still calling out the touch.
"Here it comes."
Haruki Komi said, "Here it comes," telling everyone not to rush in. He would take this ball.
He quickly ran near position six and set himself there. When he saw the volleyball coming, Haruki Komi shifted the weight in his knees. This ball was coming toward his left.
Haruki Komi crouched down and stretched both arms forward. With a bang, he received it cleanly. The ball became a beautiful first pass, flying straight to Keiji Akaashi's hands. It was at the perfect height, the kind where Keiji Akaashi only needed to jump to reach it.
The more Kazuyoshi Bessho watched, the angrier he got. Just look at their first pass, then look at ours...
Konoha was right beside Keiji Akaashi, still in the same position he had been in during the previous Block.
As for Bokuto, he was currently facing Hoshiumi head-on. Keiji Akaashi felt that, at this moment, it would be better not to send this ball to Bokuto.
So he worked together with Konoha beside him, and the two of them ran a quick attack.
Suwa was directly across from Konoha, and Hirugami was on his way over. This ball had to be fast. Otherwise, once Hirugami arrived, it would definitely be blocked right back.
Keiji Akaashi set the ball, and Konoha jumped to spike. One moved before the other, their timing so perfect it was like they were reading each other's minds. There was not a single mistake to be found.
"Bang!"
By the time Konoha jumped to spike, Hirugami had already arrived. But before Hirugami could jump, Suwa leaped first and brought both hands up into a Blocking posture.
"Bang!"
Suwa failed to block it. It was an extremely nasty net-hugging spike.
But it did not matter that Suwa missed the block, because Hirugami had arrived in time. Seeing that the block would not stop it, he was already waiting there, ready to receive.
Sure enough, he picked up the net-hugging ball that slipped through.
The ball was received by Hirugami and flew up again.
Suwa quickly backed away, not wanting to block everyone's line of sight. Once Suwa moved aside, the ball Hirugami had received flew straight up.
Then, from behind him, Nozawa suddenly flew out and spiked.
Everything happened a little too quickly. While Konoha was not paying attention, Nozawa took the chance to spike the ball toward the spot beside him. The spike practically brushed past Konoha's face.
"Bang!"
Konoha felt a gust of wind sweep past his ear, followed by the loud sound of the volleyball hitting the floor. For a moment, he felt like his ears had nearly gone deaf.
"Beep."
The referee declared the point.
"The very first rally has already given us a spectacular start. Fukurōdani's Konoha served a long-distance jump float, and the opposing Libero seemed to be fooled by it, accidentally sending the receive into a high ball. The Setter salvaged it, and Kamomedai's captain, Suwa, went straight for the spike. It didn't score, as Fukurōdani's blocker Onaga got a touch on it. Then the Libero received the ball, bringing it back up and sending it to Fukurōdani's Setter.
"The Setter then combined with Konoha in position two for a quick attack, a net-hugging spike, but the other side seemed to have been prepared for it. Hirugami rushed over to receive, and Suwa moved away from his previous position in time. Finally, from behind Hirugami, Nozawa jumped out and spiked, aiming at Fukurōdani's Konoha and sending the ball right past his face."
"Yes, Kamomedai has taken the first point of this set. That exchange came so fast it was hard to take it all in. The first point alone went through several back-and-forth rallies.
"Still, Nozawa's shot just now did look a little like a provocation."
Even the commentators could not help bringing up that ball, and Nozawa now felt extremely awkward.
Nozawa stood on the other side of the net, looking at Konoha apologetically.
"Sorry, sorry. I really didn't do that on purpose. I was originally planning to spike toward position three, but after I jumped, I realized position three was really hard to hit. I'm really sorry."
Nozawa bowed frantically, bending so fast he nearly left afterimages. It was his first time spiking a ball like that, and he could not shake the feeling that it had been incredibly rude.
Konoha rubbed his ear and waved it off.
"It's fine. Nice shot."
Whether it was intentional or not, they were in the middle of a match, and the other guy had already apologized. Konoha certainly was not going to blame him.
Instead, from that one ball, Konoha realized a new way to provoke someone. If he used a shot like that on Hoshiumi, Hoshiumi would probably explode with anger. Then Konoha suddenly smiled.
The match continued. Kamomedai had taken the first point, and the first point of a match was often crucial. It directly affected whether the set would start smoothly or turn into an uphill battle.
Kamomedai had ended Fukurōdani's service rotation in one move.
Haruki Komi walked over awkwardly, scratching his hair as he said apologetically,
"Sorry, Konoha. I couldn't get over from the backcourt in time just now."
Konoha smiled good-naturedly.
"That ball wasn't your fault. Just focus on receiving well."
Haruki Komi nodded, his gaze very serious.
"I'll definitely receive the next one!"
Konoha nodded, then returned to his position.
The group in the stands was watching the match with great interest.
Ryosuke reached up and rubbed his eyes. He was getting a little sleepy. He had been waking up far too early these past two days, and lately, for some reason, he would get drowsy as soon as he finished eating. He could barely keep his eyes open.
Ushijima lowered his head and asked Ryosuke,
"Do you want to go back and sleep for a while? There's still a match this afternoon."
Ryosuke shook his head. He did not really want to go back yet. He wanted to finish watching this match.
Ushijima's brows furrowed. He was already yawning from how sleepy he was, but he still refused to go back. At this rate, he would have no energy for the afternoon match.
"Then why don't you close your eyes and rest for a bit now? There's still a match this afternoon."
Sure enough, matches were Ryosuke's weakness. Since there was another match in the afternoon, he really could not keep going like this.
Ryosuke hesitated, then nodded. Then he watched as Ushijima pulled out a pillow from who knew where and stuffed it into his arms.
Ryosuke was full of questions. Why had the captain brought a pillow to a match?
Facing Ryosuke's questioning gaze, Ushijima turned his head away a little unnaturally, then squeezed out a few dry words.
"Habit. I used to get sleepy during matches too."
He certainly could not say that Ryosuke's dear older brother had nearly moved his entire house over just to watch his match. Forget a pillow. If Ryosuke wanted a blanket right now, Keigo Atobe could probably get him one.
That pillow was something Keigo Atobe had asked Ushijima to bring, afraid that his little brother might get sleepy while watching the match. It had to be said that Keigo Atobe had excellent foresight. Look at that, it had come in handy.
After hearing that, Ryosuke did not think too much of it. He hugged the pillow without the slightest guilt, rested his chin on it, and watched the match with his eyes open. When he got too sleepy, he would quietly narrow his eyes for a little while.
Behind him, Coach Washijō saw what Ryosuke was doing, but he turned a blind eye and said nothing.
Takurō Oiwake, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows in surprise. It seemed Coach Washijō had a lot of tolerance for these first-years. He did not even scold them for this.
"Bang!"
The sound of a spike on the court pulled Takurō Oiwake's attention back again.
Takurō Oiwake turned his head and saw Bokuto landing. It seemed that the previous ball had been spiked by Bokuto.
...
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