Chapter 81: The Will of the First Years 1
Witnessing all of this, Takinoue Yusuke had no intention of speaking up. He simply caught the volleyball thrown to him and continued preparing for his serve.
He had seen this kind of thing countless times back in their day. Countless guys with certain talents who couldn't make a name for themselves at Karasuno back then could only obediently sit on the bench, or even in the stands.
If they couldn't cross this threshold themselves, they might as well quit club activities early.
And Yamaguchi Tadashi, who had begun to doubt himself, had countless highlight moments from his fellow first years flashing through his mind.
'In the practice match against Aoba Johsai, I was one of only two first years who didn't get to play.'
'But the other one was the MVP of a championship team who voluntarily quit.'
'His defense in team scrimmages and his serve just now were indisputably strong.'
'What right do I have to compare myself to him?'
'I don't have Tsuki and Hyakuzawa's height, nor Ichise and Hinata's athletic ability. My passing and receiving techniques can't compare to Hoshino and Kageyama either.'
'This volleyball team has enough with just them, right?'
'What am I here for?'
'What am I doing here?'
Looking at Yamaguchi Tadashi, who had already sunk into his own world, Tsukishima Kei simply said flatly:
"Snap out of it, Yamaguchi."
Hearing Tsukishima Kei's voice, Yamaguchi suddenly lifted his head and looked at Tsuki, who had already turned his gaze forward. This time, Yamaguchi Tadashi didn't lower his head, but closed his eyes instead.
'Think quickly—if it were Tsuki, what would he do!'
'That doesn't make sense. Tsuki is so tall, strong at both blocking and spiking.'
'He's smart too. There's no way he'd be called the weak point of the first years.'
'Idiot! Is now really the time to worry about this?'
'If I were Tsuki, what would I do!'
'What should I do?'
'Think about how Tsuki usually handles things. I'll find the answer.'
'Although Tsuki seems lazy on the surface and doesn't fight for anything, he's actually quite competitive.'
'If he got scored on by the opponent's serve, he might not say anything, but he'd definitely think this way in his heart.'
Thinking this far, Yamaguchi Tadashi took a deep breath, expanding his chest to its maximum.
Facing the blonde guy in the serving area across from him, he roared:
"One more ball!!!!!!"
Both Hinata Shoyo and Ichise Guren on either side of him were startled by Yamaguchi Tadashi's sudden shout, and even the three in the front row turned their heads, attracted by this cry.
Tsukishima Kei showed a disgusted expression, though there was a faint warmth in his eyes.
On the other side of the court, Takinoue Yusuke, who had just been preparing to toss the ball, was startled by Yamaguchi Tadashi's shout.
But immediately after, his previously lackluster eyes began to gradually brighten.
"Hahahaha, you!"
"Full of spirit!"
"Then I won't hold back!"
Lightly tossing the ball up, accompanied by his shout, his right arm created a whooshing sound through the air as it swung.
"Here it comes!"
Yamaguchi Tadashi concentrated intently on this ball's trajectory, mobilizing all his attention, moving his eyes to follow the ball's path.
'Here it comes!'
'Just like last time, it'll curve!'
Sure enough, exactly as Yamaguchi Tadashi predicted.
This ball, like the previous serve, carried strong rotation and curved toward his right side. But the arc was even greater than last time, and the distance from him was even farther.
"I've got it!"
Yamaguchi Tadashi loudly declared his claim to this ball.
Then with a diving save, he successfully made an extremely poor quality first pass.
Fighting spirit can be raised, momentum can be gathered, and awareness can be changed. But receiving technique alone cannot be mastered overnight.
Nor would it improve with one's determination and high morale.
Although focus allowed Yamaguchi Tadashi to receive this ball, his weak foundation meant that aside from getting it up and making it fairly high, there was nothing good about this pass.
It was nowhere near his team's setter, Kageyama Tobio's position.
But fortunately, there was someone who, while not great at setting, was still an all-around capable warrior—Ichise Guren.
Looking at this wildly off-target first pass from Yamaguchi Tadashi, Ichise Guren couldn't help but sigh internally. 'If he had gotten serious earlier and trained more diligently, it wouldn't be this ridiculous.'
"I'll fix this!"
Taking three steps to catch up with the volleyball's landing point, Ichise Guren jumped directly, using his powerful core muscles to execute a 180-degree turn with a two-handed overhead pass in mid-air.
The volleyball cooperatively flew toward Kageyama Tobio's direction.
"Can't set..."
Kageyama Tobio jumped with tremendous force, facing this second pass that wasn't much better than the first pass, and executed a textbook cross-court spike.
Piercing through Azumane Asahi and Sugawara Koshi's double block, a sharp cross-court shot hit the right arm of Sawamura Daichi, who had come up to defend against dumps.
"Don't set such difficult balls!"
Although Kageyama Tobio's cross-court spike was executed masterfully, unfortunately, first passes are Karasuno's foundation—Captain Daichi.
In that split second, Sawamura Daichi's receiving instincts made him raise his right arm at that moment, touching Kageyama Tobio's sharp cross-court spike.
And Nishinoya Yuu perfectly received it, passing to Sugawara Koshi at the net.
"Final attack! Suga-san!"
"Yeah!"
Sugawara Koshi's playing style was far from as cheerful and sunny as he appeared. After all, excluding that Oikawa guy, you could say all setters have dirty hearts.
An underhand bump—the volleyball traced an arc and returned to the position where the spike had just occurred.
This ball was aimed at Kageyama Tobio.
After anticipating that his side couldn't mount an attack, to avoid giving the opponent a chance ball, Sugawara Koshi decisively bumped the ball to the fellow setter at the net, Kageyama Tobio.
"Damn it!"
Kageyama Tobio, seeing the volleyball come to him, had no choice but to reach out and receive the ball.
The volleyball flew high into the air. Just as the upperclassmen team was wondering who would handle the set...
A large hand, before the ball even reached its highest point, violently slammed the ball down onto the opposing court.
Looking at the volleyball bouncing high, everyone on the upperclassmen team slowly shifted their gaze to the owner of the hand responsible for that spike.
Karasuno's giant, Hyakuzawa Yudai.
With his commanding bird's-eye view, Hyakuzawa Yudai didn't learn his cousin's nasty trash talk. He simply looked down, gazing coolly at everyone across from him.
But that one look was more excessive than trash talk.
Reflecting on Hyakuzawa Yudai's short, flat, quick spike just now, everyone was somewhat dazed. 'Could he spike the ball down during its upward trajectory?'
'Jumping speed faster than ball speed?'
'No!'
'He didn't even jump just now. His knees didn't even bend. He just used pure ankle and core strength for a light hop, relying solely on his height and reach to spike it down.'
Looking at Hyakuzawa Yudai as he turned and walked away, they finally realized:
What two meters truly means in high school volleyball.