Smack!
The most violent spike had just been received with the most flawless precision.
The volleyball soared high into the air, and through the shadow of the ball emerged the figure of a boy, not very tall, but with thick, inky brows that stood out like two bold brushstrokes.
Komori Motoya grinned widely, his eyes locking with Akashi Asuka's still suspended mid-air.
"Whew~ That was close, really close. Didn't think you'd get this much stronger in just a few days. You're seriously scary, y'know!"
Despite calling Asuka "scary–" Komori showed no hint of fear on his face.
This was Komori Motoya, currently the top libero in the country.
In the original series, he had trained with Sakusa Kiyoomi and Kageyama Tobio at the national youth camp. His strength was nothing short of extraordinary.
In fact, during the national tournament, Aoba Johsai 0–2 loss to Itachiyama was largely due to Komori. His presence made their backcourt defense practically impenetrable.
Even someone like Akashi Asuka would struggle to score points when Komori was on the court.
The ball Komori received was quickly passed to Itachiyama's captain and setter, Tsukasa Iizuna, who coordinated with Sakusa Kiyoomi to launch a swift attack.
The ball traced a near-horizontal line across the air, dropping directly above Sakusa.
Parallel Quick Attack.
Even among quick attacks, this was one of the fastest and sharpest.
Faced with such a play, neither Oikawa Tooru, positioned on the right wing, nor Akashi Asuka, who had just landed, had time to respond. The only one with a chance to block was Yutaro Kindaichi, positioned directly across from Sakusa.
"What do I block? Do I defend the straight or go for the cross?"
Kindaichi stood frozen for a brief moment, panic flaring inside him. It wasn't that his mental fortitude was weak, he had faced Sakusa back at Nationals, after all. But in that entire match, he hadn't managed to block a single ball.
And that was understandable.
Sakusa Kiyoomi was ranked alongside Ushijima Wakatoshi and Wakatsu Kiryu as one of the Top Three Aces in the Country.
Just as Sakusa was about to swing his arm for the spike, something flashed through Kindaichi's mind, an old piece of advice from their coach, Washijo Tanji.
"When you block, carry yourself with presence. No matter the moment, make the opponent feel like your block is unbreakable. Presence matters more than technique."
The memory lit a fire within Kindaichi's eyes. Gritting his teeth, he leapt forward with all his might, fingers stretched tight and palms pressing down hard as he locked his gaze onto the ball.
"Hm?"
Sakusa hesitated mid-air, a subtle but sharp pressure suddenly washing over him.
What the hell? This guy didn't have this kind of presence at Nationals… What happened to him?
────────── ✦ ──────────
Courtside.
Washijo Tanji gave a faint nod, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.
"Hmm? That first-year from Aoba Johsai… his blocking feels strangely familiar–" said Tendo Satori, his eyes narrowing.
The transformation in Kindaichi's form would be almost imperceptible to anyone lacking firsthand experience, or decades of coaching like Washijo. But Tendo's intuitive nature picked up on something.
"Familiar? Familiar how?" asked Shirabu Kenjiro from the bench.
"Hmm… not sure. Just feels like his blocking posture is really similar to ours at Shiratorizawa. Like a beast on the hunt, ready to tear its prey apart."
"That's not strange, is it? Don't forget, Coach Washijo has been training Aoba Johsai these past few weeks. With that old man's personality, of course he'd teach a tall kid like that a trick or two."
"Ohh! You're right!"
────────── ✦ ──────────
The murmuring off the court didn't affect the match itself. Even though Kindaichi had suddenly limited Sakusa's options with his newly awakened pressure, it didn't matter much to someone of Sakusa's caliber.
Changing attack lines midair was no easy feat for most wing spikers,
But for Sakusa Kiyoomi, it was business as usual.
Suspended mid-air, Sakusa's wrist twisted like a serpent. Most players lack the flexibility to change angles drastically in flight, but Sakusa had unbelievably soft wrists, far beyond the norm.
Thanks to this, he could shift attack directions on a whim. Not only that, but his spikes carried an eerie spin, so sharp and tricky that it even surpassed Ushijima's infamous left-handed cross.
BOOM!
Sakusa struck.
With an explosive crack, the ball curved sharply around Kindaichi's block, zipping into a tight diagonal just inside the three-meter line.
Right where Aoba Johsai's front- and backcourt zones split.
Or rather, it used to be a weak spot.
The moment the ball shot toward that gap, a blur darted across the backcourt.
Watari Shinji, Aoba Johsai's libero, launched himself like lightning, catching up to the ball in a flash so fast it left an afterimage in the eyes of the spectators.
Smack!
He managed to receive the spike, but unfortunately, before Oikawa could connect the second pass, the ball, still spinning violently, ricocheted out of bounds.
"So close!"
Picking himself up, Watari looked at his wrist and muttered thoughtfully, "I thought after training against Ushijima's spikes for so long, I'd be able to handle Sakusa too… but this guy's spin is even more vicious. His power may not match Ushijima, but his shots are just way harder to predict."
"Guess I'll need to tweak my angle for the next one…"
Sakusa couldn't hear the libero's musing, but inwardly, his thoughts were a storm.
What the hell happened to these guys?!
Compared to their performance at Nationals, this Aoba Johsai team had undergone a complete transformation. From Kindaichi's newfound intensity to Watari's explosive burst of speed, everything was different.
Not just those two, either, every single player on the team had shown a visible boost in fundamentals, from coordination to reaction speed. It was an across-the-board improvement.
Sure, Itachiyama had been training hard too. But the rate at which Aoba Johsai had improved? It was like night and day.
Ordinarily, once a team reaches the top 8 in the country, it becomes nearly impossible to make huge leaps in progress. Their systems are already polished and refined.
But what Sakusa was seeing now… defied that logic.
He couldn't understand it.
If he'd known about the intense joint training Aoba Johsai had endured with Shiratorizawa over the past few weeks, maybe he would have understood.
Just the daily 500-meter cross-country sprints they had to run as punishment had drastically boosted their stamina.
Since they had mostly been training against each other, the gains had seemed marginal, until now.
Now that they were up against a new opponent, the results of their brutal training were finally showing.
Realizing this, all the players, whose spirits had been flagging after a week of hellish practice, felt their fighting will ignite once again.
"Hell yeah!"
"All that training… it was worth it!"
"Alright! Let's go all out!"
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