After a full three seconds of silence, the gym erupted in chaos.
"Whooooooo—!!"
After landing on his feet, Hinata stared at the clear ball mark on the other side of the court.
He was shaking with excitement!
He pumped his fists in the air and let out loud, happy shouts.
He didn't even remember to celebrate with Kageyama, he just jumped in place like a squirrel that found a pinecone.
"What... was that just now?" Tanaka's eyes practically popped out of his head.
He turned stiffly to look at Tsukishima beside him. "Hey, Tsukishima, did you see that?"
Tsukishima didn't answer.
He pushed his glasses up his nose.
Behind the lenses, his eyes had lost their lazy, snarky look. Instead, they were sharp, full of shock and deep focus.
He had seen it.
And because he saw it, he couldn't understand it.
The second Kageyama set the ball, that shrimp's eyes were shut tight.
He wasn't tracking the ball at all.
He just put his trust in his setter, jumped with all his power, and swung as hard as he could.
And that King had actually put the ball right into his hand with perfect aim.
What was this? A circus act?
They had just met and wanted to strangle each other yesterday. How could they pull off this kind of millimeter-perfect teamwork?
On the ref's stand, Sugawara stood up fast.
He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, staring hard at Kageyama and Hinata.
His mouth hung open, but no words came out.
Even though it was his second time seeing it, as a setter, he knew how hard that play was better than anyone.
It wasn't just a simple "good set."
It was magic.
It was perfect aim that broke all the rules of the game.
If they could keep pulling off that kind of attack...
"Daichi..." Sugawara's voice was a bit dry. "We... might have struck gold."
Daichi didn't speak.
His tight fists and shaking knuckles gave away his hype. But his eyes moved past the excited Hinata and the serious-looking Kageyama.
They finally landed on the boy who had stayed calm from the start.
Kitagawa Kei.
He just stood in the back row, watching it all.
His eyes showed no shock. He just looked like everything went exactly as planned. It was as if this game-changing point was just the first line in his script.
"You're too loud," Kageyama frowned, growling at the noisy Hinata.
But the small, hidden smirk on his face gave him away.
It worked.
Kei was right, as long as he could put the ball at that highest point, this guy... really could hit it.
"Hmph, just a lucky shot," Tsukishima's voice cut in, bringing back his snarky tone. "Relying on wild blind swinging. You think the same trick will work a second time?"
Yamaguchi chimed in right away. "Yeah, yeah, Tsukki! We'll block it next time for sure!"
"Bring it on!" Tanaka also fired up his fighting spirit, cracking his neck. "This time I'll stuff that Freak Quick of yours right back in your face!"
The match kept going as the serve rotated over to Kei in the back row.
"Oh?" Sugawara leaned forward on the sidelines. "Finally his turn. I wonder how Kitagawa serves."
Kei gave the ball a light toss.
He swung his arm and hit a textbook weak-looking overhand float serve over the net.
The ball had no spin and slow speed.
It just floated lazy through the air.
It wobbled just a tiny bit as it flew right into the hardest spot on the court—the gap right between Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, just a half-step closer to Yamaguchi.
This placement made Tsukishima think Yamaguchi would take it, and made Yamaguchi think Tsukishima had it covered.
At the last second, Yamaguchi reacted.
He took a fast step to his right.
He barely got his body under the ball and shoved his arms together to dig it up.
Thump!
He got it!
But because he was rushed, the ball didn't fly to Tanaka for a clean attack like he wanted.
The ball popped high and close to the net. It traced a soft, easy curve, flying harmlessly right back to Hinata's side of the court.
"Chance ball—!"
"I've got it!" Hinata yelled.
He dropped into the stance Kei had drilled into him all morning. But his tired body and the pressure of the match made his form a bit sloppy.
Thump!
The ball hit his arms, but he didn't absorb the shock. Instead, the ball flew wild and high toward the out-of-bounds line!
"Crap!" Hinata's face went pale.
"My bad, my bad!" Kageyama called out, but the ball was way off target. It looked like it was going to fly out and hit the gym wall.
"Lost the point..." Sugawara sighed.
But right when everyone thought the point was dead, someone moved.
Kei just moved to the ball's landing spot like he was taking a walk in the park.
His steps weren't big, but they were precise, like he'd measured them with a ruler.
By the time the ball dropped to the right height, he was already waiting there.
He bent his knees just a bit, lowered his body, and brought his arms together to form a rock-solid platform.
Tap.
A soft sound rang out, almost too quiet to hear.
The wild ball had been flying like a beast breaking out of a cage. But the second it touched Kei's arms, it seemed to calm right down.
All its heavy speed melted away. It traced a soft, perfect curve, flying smooth and slow right to the setter's spot at the net.
It was a textbook-perfect pass.
The kind of pass any spiker or setter would dream of.
If the Freak Quick was pure power, this pass was pure technique.
"This... this is..." Daichi stared at Kei in shock
. He thought back to what Sugawara said at lunch.
"That kind of defense... I've never seen anything like it."
So, he hadn't been making it up.
Watching the ball fly toward him, Kageyama felt a storm of hype in his chest.
He had never gotten a pass this easy to work with. The speed, height, and spot were all perfect. It felt custom-made for him, giving him all the time in the world to pick his next move.
Tsukishima and Tanaka on the other side were stunned too.
They had been ready to celebrate winning the point. They never expected this quiet guy to save a dead ball with such insane skill!
But Kageyama realized a huge problem right away—this was the third touch!
He couldn't set to anyone. He had to hit the ball over the net himself!
Tsukishima and Tanaka knew this too.
They didn't tense up. Instead, they relaxed and moved up to the net. To them, a setter forced to take the third touch was just sending over a weak chance ball.
They leaned back just a bit, ready to pick up an easy receive and launch a counterattack.
"Damn it!" Kageyama gritted his teeth.
It looked like his only choice was to push the ball deep into the open space in the backcourt to avoid a block.
But just as he got ready to jump, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a tiny movement from Kei in the back row.
Kei's right index finger pointed down by his side.
'Down? What does that mean?'
In a flash, Kageyama's mind jumped back to Kei's cold lesson.
"A setter is the biggest liar on the court."
A liar...
He got it right away!
Kei wasn't telling him where to hit the ball.
He was pointing out the other team's mindset!
Tsukishima and Tanaka were so sure he was going to push the ball deep. All their focus was on the back row!
That meant the space right in front of them was wide open!
That finger pointing down was telling him to drop the ball right at their feet!
Kageyama jumped high.
His whole body looked exactly like he was going to slam the ball to the back of the court.
"Here it comes!" Tanaka and Tsukishima took the bait. Their bodies shifted back another half-step, getting ready for a deep shot.
But in midair, under their watchful eyes, Kageyama's wrists relaxed.
His hard push turned into a feather-light touch. His fingers brushed soft against the bottom of the ball.
The ball lost all its speed.
It traced a tiny, soft arc and floated lazy over the net and slipped right past Tsukishima and Tanaka's raised arms.
Tap.
The ball landed right in front of them, hitting the floor in the blind spot they'd left open.
2-0!
The whole gym fell back into a stunned shock.
Tsukishima and Tanaka froze.
They slowly lowered their heads to look at the ball sitting on the floor. Their faces shifted from shock to pure frustration.
They had been played!
Tricked by a simple setter dump!
"Well done, Kageyama!" Hinata yelled.
"Damn it!" Tanaka slammed his fist on the floor.
Tsukishima landed on his feet.
He didn't look at Kageyama, who was busy glaring at Hinata. Instead, for the first time, he locked his sharp eyes right onto Kei in the back row.
'Luck? No.'
'The first Quick Attack, the save, the setter dump... Every big move this team made tied right back to that quiet guy.'
'He was pulling the strings and pacing the match without breaking a sweat.'
...
Over the next few plays, the score went back and forth.
Tsukishima started watching Kei's moves. His blocks weren't just aimed at Kageyama and Hinata anymore.
He tried to read their whole plan.
Using his height and his cool head, he stuffed one of Hinata's wild spikes, winning a point.
Tanaka also showed off his skills. His heavy spikes left Hinata scrambling to dig them.
The score closed the gap to 5-4, with the first-years leading by one.
It was Kei's turn to serve again.
He used another simple float serve. The ball wasn't fast, but its tricky path made it hard for Yamaguchi to bump it clean.
The ball flew to Tsukishima and he saw a gap in Hinata's block and hit a clean straight shot.
"Left!"
The second Tsukishima swung, Kei's calm voice called out.
Hinata threw himself toward the sound on pure instinct!
His form was a mess, but he used his face... to stubbornly block the ball!
"Hinata, nice face!" Tanaka yelled out from the other side.
The ball popped up high, and Kageyama got ready to set.
"I'll read you this time!" Tsukishima's hawk-like eyes tracked Hinata's every move.
But this time, Kei gave Kageyama a new call.
He silently mouthed the words: "To me."
Kageyama got it. He sent a normal, somewhat high set to Kei, who had rotated up to the front row.
"Chance!"
Seeing the slow set, Tsukishima thought it was a free block.
He brought Tanaka with him, forming a huge two-man wall that shut down all of Kei's hitting angles.
Facing the wall, Kei jumped.
His vertical wasn't great, next to Tsukishima, he looked like a little kid.
Everyone thought he was going to get stuffed.
But at the peak of his swing, Kei's wrist flicked in with a subtle spin.
He didn't put power into the spike. Instead, he used the ball to swipe right off the blockers' fingertips!
Smack!
The ball bounced off their hands at a wild angle, flying high and way out of bounds.
"Block out!" Sugawara called from the ref stand.
6-4.
Tsukishima looked down at his numb fingers.
The cool, snarky look finally vanished from his face.
He whipped his head around to look at Kei, who landed light on his feet with a blank look on his face.
Tsukishima finally got it.
Kageyama, who he mocked as the King, might be the team's cannon.
And that bouncy shrimp might be the cannonball.
But the one who actually aimed the cannon and decided when to fire it...
The real "brain" quietly watching the whole battlefield... was the boy named Kitagawa Kei.