Thunk!
Shinji Watari barely managed to get an arm on the ultra-fast serve, but he failed to control the receiving angle properly, and the volleyball flew straight back into White Team’s court.
Oikawa Tooru immediately organized a quick attack, bypassing Asuto. Meanwhile, both Kindaichi and Ryuhei Mishita were running low on stamina, and neither of them managed to catch Iwaizumi Hajime’s spike.
The score became 21:22.
Near the end of the second set, the Red Team suffered a major stamina crisis, and the score was reversed at this critical moment.
For the Red Team, the situation could hardly have been worse.
The key point was…
The serve was still in Oikawa’s hands.
In Asuto’s mind, the background music seemed to start playing again.
At the same time, Oikawa’s third serve arrived.
It was aimed at Akira Kunimi, who failed to react to it at all.
Although Kunimi was an ‘energy-saving type’, Asuto had made it clear earlier that they would settle the match in the second set. From the very start of the second set, therefore, Akira Kunimi had begun to exert himself fully.
After playing until now, his stamina was almost depleted.
Besides which, even if he had had energy left, there was no guarantee that he could return Oikawa’s ultra-fast serves.
Thunk!
Akira Kunimi stretched out an arm and barely touched the serve.
However, he neither found a good receiving angle nor absorbed the force properly.
Unsurprisingly, the volleyball flew straight out of bounds.
21:23.
In the blink of an eye, Red Team’s lead had been wiped out by three consecutive serves.
This feeling was very familiar to Mishita Ryuhei…
Except in the past, they had always been the ones serving.
“Haaa…”
Asuto, who was standing in the front row, slowly exhaled, sensing the shift in momentum.
The imposing aura surrounding him gradually retreated, making him appear as though he had suffered a heavy blow to his morale.
Only Mishita Ryuhei, standing beside him, could sense the explosive force brewing inside Asuto.
“Is it happening again?”
Mishita Ryuhei’s heart stirred.
Just then, Oikawa’s fourth serve arrived.
The ball was still traveling at an incredible speed and was still heading towards Akira Kunimi. But this time, before Kunimi could react, Watari suddenly burst forward, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
“I’ve been waiting for this.”
At that crucial moment, Shinji Watari exceeded expectations once again, successfully predicting where Oikawa’s serve would land.
Thunk!
The volleyball was cleanly received in the air.
The ball rose very high, giving the Red Team ample time to organize their offense but also giving the White Team plenty of time to set up their defense.
“Get ready; watch the ball carefully. They still can’t run a quick attack as long as…”
Bang!
Before Iwaizumi Hajime could finish speaking, a figure suddenly leapt into the air.
Catching the volleyball directly from Shinji Watari’s serve, he swung his arm down without hesitation. The ball shot out like a cannonball, brushing past Issei Matsukawa’s block, kicking up a fierce gust of wind, and smashing directly into the floor.
No one had time to react.
22:23.
Tap.
Asuto landed on both feet.
An extremely restrained aura surrounded him. Without even glancing at the opposing side, he simply turned around and walked straight towards Position One at the back.
The moment Mishita Ryuhei saw this, he immediately covered the back of his head and hurried far away from Asuto.
At this point, Kindaichi and Akira Kunimi hadn’t even finished rotating into position yet.
Then, less than two seconds after the referee’s whistle sounded, an explosive blast suddenly erupted from behind them.
The sudden noise startled Akira Kunimi so badly that he jerked in shock. Before he could understand what had happened, the volleyball had already landed on the White Team’s court.
BOOM!
Everyone’s breathing stopped instantly.
Even Oikawa, who had just scored three consecutive points and was still riding the momentum, suddenly contracted his pupils.
Turning back to look at where the ball had landed, he grinned and said,
“What a terrifying first-year student! Doesn’t he ever get discouraged?”
Under normal circumstances, any team that lost three points in a row to Oikawa’s serves would inevitably suffer a blow to their morale.
Yet Asuto showed no sign of weakening, but the power of his serve had actually risen to another level.
He was practically a “monster.”
“Discouraged? Of course he is. The blow he’s taken right now isn’t small either.”
Perhaps having heard Oikawa’s muttering, Mishita Ryuhei thought silently to himself:
“It’s just that the way our ‘monster’ reacts after getting crushed by someone else’s momentum… is a tiny bit different from normal people.”
On further thought, it really was rather strange.
Mishita Ryuhei had only noticed this during the Junior High Nationals.
Whenever Asuto was overwhelmed by an opponent’s momentum, he would react like this.
When ordinary people lose morale, they usually become dispirited and sluggish.
But Asuto was different.
Whenever he was shaken by an opponent’s attack, his first reaction was not discouragement.
It was the urge to strike back immediately.
That’s right:
Revenge.
This kind of emotion was almost childlike.
Yet the way Asuto handled it was nothing like a child. Instead, he responded like a mature adult.
Whenever the opponent gained the upper hand, Asuto’s first instinct was to fight back with even greater force.
After Oikawa fired off four consecutive powerful serves, Asuto had only one thought in mind.
He wanted to unleash a serve that was stronger, faster, and fiercer.
Bang!
Asuto leapt high behind the baseline.
The muscles across his body tightened like a fully drawn bow as he swung his arm and struck the ball with all his might.
There was a thunderous explosion.
This serve was actually another notch faster than before.
The volleyball shot directly towards Shigeru Yahaba.
Faced with the ball, Yahaba looked almost stunned. It was only when the ball was right in front of him that he managed to react.
But by then, the volleyball had already crashed onto the floor.
Boom!
24:23.
The Red Team reached match point.
As there were no timeouts in the welcome match, Asuto immediately unleashed a third serve while his momentum was still blazing hot.
This third serve encountered a tiny bit of a mishap. It wasn’t quite as powerful as the second one, but it was still fierce and fast.
The ball flew towards Oikawa.
Although he managed to return it, the ball rebounded over ten meters into the air.
“Yahaba!”
Oikawa shouted.
Having already made the first touch, he could no longer organize the attack as the setter. However, the Red Team had more than one setter in their current lineup.
Shigeru Yahaba quickly flashed a coordination signal.
Immediately afterwards, Takahiro Hanamaki and Issei Matsukawa in the front row moved swiftly into action.
But this was all merely a feint to cover for their ace spiker, Iwaizumi Hajime.
The volleyball rose above Iwaizumi Hajime’s head.
Kindaichi and Akira Kunimi rushed into position in time to form a double block in the front row for the Red Team.
But their lack of stamina ultimately exposed a flaw in the block.
“You first-year brats are still far too inexperienced!”
Bang!
With an angry roar, Iwaizumi Hajime swung his arm down.
The volleyball shot through the gap in Kindaichi and Akira Kunimi’s double block like a meteor.
Yet in the next instant… The sound of the volleyball hitting the floor never came.
Kindaichi and Akira Kunimi landed back on the ground, and behind them, a volleyball slowly rose back into the air…
Without the volleyball concealing them anymore, the figure receiving the ball in the back row gradually came into view.
It was none other than Asuto.
“Mishita, send me the ball.”
Asuto’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority.
The moment Mishita Ryuhei received the ball, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest. With a backward toss, he sent the ball soaring high above the backcourt.
“Stop him!”
On White Team’s front line, Iwaizumi Hajime, Issei Matsukawa, and Takahiro Hanamaki rapidly formed a triple block.
Facing that triple block head-on, Asuto took several approach steps before soaring high from the backcourt like an eagle spreading its wings—
BOOM!
The sound of impact rang through the entire court.
The volleyball blasted forward like a cannon shell, bypassing the triple block and carving an incomparably perfect super deep cross shot across the court before smashing viciously into the far outside corner of White Team’s backcourt.
(End of Chapter)