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“Let’s go! It’s our turn to play next.”
The second set, between Kitagawa Daiichi and Yukigaoka Junior High, also ended quickly, in around ten minutes.
Asuto finally witnessed Hinata Shoyo’s final spike, a lightning-fast flat shot.
However, this only drew a few small exclamations from the crowd. Given the overwhelming disparity between the two teams, one impressive spike simply wasn’t enough to attract much attention.
Of course, Kageyama Tobio, who had been standing directly opposite him, might have had a different experience altogether.
······
“Our opponents this time, Sengoku Junior High, were one of the dark horses of this year’s Prefectural Athletic Meet. Honestly, after carefully studying the match footage, I realized that if they hadn’t run into Kitagawa Daiichi in the Round of 16, they might have gone further.”
Inside Shirakawa Junior High’s waiting area, a middle-aged coach was giving a stern speech to his players.
“What? We’ve run into another strong team?”
“So unlucky…”
“Ugh! Looks like we’re getting eliminated in the first round again this year.”
“Stop being so negative and let me finish!”
Seeing his team lose morale before the match had even started, the middle-aged coach’s expression darkened as he continued sharply:
“Sengoku Junior High is indeed strong, but it’s not impossible for us to beat them. Based on my analysis last night, this team is built entirely around one person: their number one outside hitter and ace spiker.”
“Their Number 1 is already considered a top-tier ace in the prefecture, but the other Sengoku Junior High players are fairly ordinary.”
“So in this match, there’s only one thing all of you need to do: completely shut down their ace. As long as we can limit his scoring ability, we still have a chance to win. Understood?”
“Understood…”
······
“······My ass!”
Bang!
“Nice!”
Another spike shot past Shirakawa’s setter and landed heavily on the court.
As he watched Sengoku Junior High’s energetic Number 3 score once again with a spike, Shirakawa’s setter couldn’t help recalling his coach’s words before the match:
Something’s wrong here, Coach. Sengoku Junior High is nowhere near as weak as you said!”
Still, there was one thing the coach had been absolutely right about:
They could not allow the opposing Number 1 to attack.
With this in mind, Shirakawa’s setter once again glanced at the towering figure wearing the Number 1 jersey for Sengoku Junior High on the other side of the net.
From the start of the match until now, that player hadn’t attacked once.
Yet his instincts as a volleyball player were screaming warnings at him.
“That guy… is way too dangerous.”
Another bead of sweat slid down the setter’s forehead. Despite the current score being 9:4, he hadn’t felt particularly nervous until now. However, whenever he stood near the opposing Number 1, he felt as though he were being watched by a savage beast.
Bang!
Omae Masato scored another spike, clenching his fists in excitement and cheering loudly.
But Asuto felt no excitement at all at this moment.
In fact, he was getting sleepy.
Asuto had no idea what the opposing setter was thinking at that moment. If he did, he would probably tell him:
“Dude, you’re overthinking things.”
From the beginning of the match until now, Asuto hadn’t attacked, and it was not because the opponent had shut him down completely.
After all, at Shirakawa Junior’s level, even a triple block would have little chance of stopping him.
The real reason he hadn’t attacked at all… was simply because of the coach’s strategy.
Level grinding.
This was Sengoku Junior High School’s main tactic during the early rounds of the qualifiers.
During the Prefectural Athletic Meet, Sengoku Junior High had actually used the same tactic.
However, the rest of the team simply weren’t strong enough at that time, while Asuto’s individual ability was overwhelmingly powerful. Consequently, Shimokawa Mitsuto’s strategy of ‘having a high-level player carry the newcomers while they gain experience’ completely failed.
But this time was different.
Now that every other member of Sengoku Junior High had improved by one or even two levels, they were able to handle battles on their own. They therefore had to take advantage of the early rounds to let the others accumulate as much real tournament experience as possible.
The idea sounded wonderful.
Unfortunately, reality always had a way of throwing a spanner in the works.
Because Shirakawa was so wary of Asuto, whenever he was in the front court, at least two defenders would mark him tightly.
Even when Asuto retreated to the back court, the opposing side still split their attention to keep watch on him.
As a result, Shirakawa’s defense in every other area was full of holes.
When Omae Masato and Kazama Jujirō attacked, they felt practically no pressure at all.
Twelve minutes later…
The referee blew the whistle, signaling the end of the set:
25:16.
Sengoku Junior High won the first set by a large margin.
…
During the timeout break, Coach Shirakawa frowned deeply as he thought things over.
“It looks like in the first set they intended to use their ace as bait. In that case, we should loosen up our defense against him a little in the second set.”
“We can’t.”
Just as he was about to suggest this, his setter suddenly interrupted him.
“Coach! We absolutely cannot let Number 1 attack freely. Otherwise, we’ll lose even more miserably.”
Shirakawa Setter’s expression was incredibly grave, and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor.
Seeing this, the coach narrowed his eyes slightly.
…
Meanwhile, while the Shirakawa Team was discussing how to deal with Asuto in the second set, Shimokawa Mitsuto was making an adjustment to Sengoku Junior High’s strategy.
“Asuto, you don’t need to play in the second set.”
“What?”
Before Asuto could respond, the rest of the team were already stunned by those words.
“Why, Coach? Did Asuto do something wrong?”
“That’s not the reason.” Shimokawa Mitsuto shook his head and explained:
“Our main objective during the early rounds of these qualifiers is to help everyone, except Asuto, adapt to the intensity of national-level competition as quickly as possible. However, our current opponents are focusing too much attention on Asuto, meaning the rest of you aren’t truly experiencing what national-level volleyball is like.”
“So, before the Round of 16, I plan to stop using Asuto in matches temporarily. That way, we can also keep a hidden trump card up our sleeve.”
“I understand.”
Asuto nodded, agreeing to Shimokawa Mitsuto’s arrangement.
Objectively speaking, Mitsuto’s strategy carried a certain amount of risk. After all, in a tournament like this, you never know when a dark horse might appear.
But there was no helping it.
Ultimately, the team couldn’t rely on Asuto to win every match alone.
If the others failed to improve quickly, Sengoku Junior High would easily find themselves in the same situation they were in during the Prefectural Athletic Meet as their opponents grew stronger and stronger.
(End of Chapter)
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