Chapter 79: The Will of the Third Years (1)
Upperclassmen 0:2 First Years
Hyakuzawa Yudai's incredibly high attack point and Ichise Guren's powerful serve sounded the horn for the first-year team's offensive charge.
The greenhorn first years, carrying the fearless courage of newborn calves unafraid of tigers, launched their assault on the regular positions against their second and third-year senpais and already graduated former teammates.
Next, the upperclassmen team about to face Ichise Guren's second serve had an extremely brief exchange before Shimada Makoto quickly retreated to the sideline, adopting a stance that clearly said: Absolutely not receiving this ball
Drawing on accumulated experience and stronger social skills than the first years, after communicating with the back row's Nishinoya Yuu and Sawamura Daichi, Shimada Makoto quickly realized something.
Rather than using his already mediocre defensive abilities to clash head-on with Ichise Guren's powerful jump serve and lose the point, it would be better to let these two underclassmen—who had unshakeable confidence in their receiving—share the pressure of ball reception.
All he needed to do was stand aside and signal that he absolutely wouldn't receive the ball, so Sawamura Daichi wouldn't worry about colliding when making the receive.
"Oh?"
"Quick thinking."
"As expected of experienced senpais."
"Let's see how you handle this ball."
Speaking with his mouth, his hands never stopped moving.
Once again, Ichise Guren displayed before everyone his super-acceleration ability that was absolutely unrivaled in the high school world.
If Hinata Shoyo's acceleration ability was like a supercar among high schoolers, then Ichise Guren was like an F1 formula race car among high schoolers.
Another cannon shot exploded over the heads of the first-year team.
"Let's see if you can receive this!"
This volleyball, carrying Ichise Guren's friendly greeting to his senpais, charged toward the upperclassmen on the other side.
Enhanced by the "Getting Into Rhythm" badge and "Heavy Hitter" badge, the powerful serve was about to crash into the middle of the back court when Sawamura Daichi used his ultimate summoning technique.
"Nishinoya!"
And hearing this incantation, Nishinoya Yuu appeared like a super hero jumping out of an interdimensional portal, using his natural ball sense talent and physical abilities honed through training until bruised.
At the last moment, he received Ichise Guren's powerful jump serve.
Bang.
The volleyball flew up into the air.
Everyone looked up at this volleyball that had been successfully saved and sent flying into the air. Including Ichise Guren, who was still airborne and hadn't landed yet—he stared at Nishinoya Yuu who had completed this save, showing an incredibly innocent and pure smile.
'Amazing!'
For Hoshino Masaru, he could receive Ichise Guren's jump serves because he had continuously received Ichise Guren's serves and was incredibly familiar with his serving form.
Plus, he had been bombarded by high-speed serving machines for an entire break, so his reactions to these fast balls had almost formed muscle memory.
But precisely because he was so familiar with Ichise Guren's serves, Hoshino Masaru was even more aware that even after enduring so much punishment, he couldn't guarantee successfully receiving every single ball.
Yet this genius libero senpai, seeing Ichise Guren's serve for the first time just moments ago and now encountering his serve for the first time, could successfully receive this ball that was aimed for an untouchable ace.
Nishinoya Yuu even complained after receiving it that he hadn't received the ball well and couldn't pass it nicely to the setter.
For Hoshino Masaru, he couldn't help but want to complain about the world's inequality.
'Why am I suddenly starting to hate geniuses?'
But the match's intense pace gave him no time to voice this complaint—he could only silently grumble internally before quickly throwing himself into defense.
"It's really impressive that the second-year libero could receive that. That serve was no ordinary level."
"Yeah, it's been a long time since I've seen a jump serve of that caliber. That first-year kid really has some skill."
Narisawa Hideki and another third-year university student, Moriyuki Naru, watched their juniors' techniques with great interest, occasionally letting out exclamations of admiration.
Unlike the relaxed upperclassmen off the court, Sugawara Koshi's nerves were stretched tight, his brain constantly thinking about how to proceed with the next attack.
'Can't be like before—whenever the first pass isn't good enough, just blindly rely on the ace's power attack.'
'Need to use more tactical quick attacks to reduce the pressure on the ace.'
Sugawara Koshi directed Takinoue Yusuke to spread out from Azumane Asahi in advance, then decisively jumped up himself, using his potential second attack threat to successfully draw away one blocker's defense.
Using the setter's offensive threat, he tore open the first years' exaggerated height blocking defense, giving his team's two front-row attackers more comfortable spiking range.
But simply restraining Hyakuzawa Yudai, who happened to be nearby, wasn't enough—the other two players with sufficient mobility, Tsukishima Kei and Ichise Guren, completely ignored Sugawara Koshi's offensive threat.
Because in their view, Sugawara-senpai, who wasn't even 175cm tall, couldn't possibly break through Hyakuzawa Yudai's two-meter wall with his merely average athletic ability.
Therefore, they completely left the setter, who had been pulled to the edge by the poor first pass, choosing single coverage instead, with Ichise Guren and Tsukishima Kei pursuing and blocking the remaining two attackers.
In just a few tenths of a second of eye contact with Takinoue Yusuke, Sugawara Koshi miraculously understood what this blonde-haired guy meant.
No more hesitation—since he had chosen not to rely purely on the ace's power attacks, even if the spike failed, he needed to convey his intention to pass to others.
A Type-A quick attack was passed to Takinoue Yusuke—this ball was surprisingly short, flat, and fast. Tsukishima Kei, who hadn't fully gotten into rhythm yet, couldn't keep up with this ball in time. On the contrary, his delayed footwork even blocked Ichise Guren's blocking route.
This resulted in only 0.5 blockers for this attack, and obviously, against such an experienced middle blocker, a one-handed block posed no defensive threat whatsoever.
Easily extending his arm, a high ball strike broke through Tsukishima Kei's one-handed block. The crisp but not loud sound of the volleyball hitting the ground was exactly like a slap that wasn't very damaging but extremely insulting.
It slapped right across Tsukishima Kei's face.
Upperclassmen 1:2 First Years
The face-conscious kid's jaw muscles were visibly clenched.
Frowning as he glanced at Sugawara Koshi's solemn expression, Tsukishima Kei also understood that this usually gentle and easygoing senpai wasn't playing around this time.
He was seriously trying to defeat their side.
After grasping his senpai's meaning, Tsukishima Kei said nothing more, but walked aside and silently prepared for the next attack and defense.
Yamaguchi Tadashi, who knew Tsukishima Kei's personality, looked somewhat worriedly at his lifelong idol. He didn't know what Tsukishima Kei was thinking at that moment, but he knew very clearly that Tsuki definitely realized he had blocked Ichise Guren's defense.
Although Ichise Guren hadn't said even a single word, smart kids have the most self-awareness.
***
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