“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
Heavy breathing echoed continuously across the White Team’s side of the court. The strangely oppressive atmosphere made even breathing itself feel difficult.
Large beads of sweat rolled down the chins of Iwaizumi Hajime and the others. They could only just stop the sweat from slipping into their eyes by tilting their heads upward at a forty-five-degree angle.
“It looks like Oikawa and the others are in a pretty bad situation now.”
“Yeah.”
At courtside, Coach Irihata Nobuteru stroked his chin and said:
“That last spike had a huge impact on the White Team. After all, it was a point scored while the White Team was defending with everything they had. Everyone knows that kind of spike can’t be replicated consistently, but in an actual match, this sort of ‘miracle ball’ is the biggest blow to morale.”
When the enemy completely seals off every attacking route and the attacker still manages to score through the block with a kill shot, it’s a huge blow to morale.
A ‘miracle ball’ like that often leaves the opponent with the impression that:
“If even our strongest defense couldn’t stop them, wouldn’t ordinary defense be even more useless?’
Once that thought appears, it deals a devastating blow to morale.
Honestly, even Irihata Nobuteru himself had never expected the match to develop this far.
Although he had anticipated that Asuto would deliver an eye-catching performance before the match began, he never expected him to display this level of strength.
Moreover, the other freshmen entering this year also possessed dazzling talent.
Although Kindaichi Yutaro and Kunimi Akira were technically somewhat immature, their height put them on a par with high school players.
And with that kind of talent, the freshman team had a blocking lineup that was completely on par with the upperclassmen.
As for Mishita Ryuhei, although his coordination with the others as a setter was fairly average, he had astonishing chemistry with Asuto.
Combined with the fact that Asuto himself was already a super Ace Spiker at the junior high level… the duo gave the freshman team an offensive power that was on par with the senior team.
In fact, it might even surpass them.
After all, although Aoba Johsai High School was one of the top four teams in the prefecture, they were not actually offense-oriented.
Even though Oikawa was an ultra-offensive setter, Aoba Johsai’s true strength lay in their tactical coordination and balanced individual abilities.
If this were the full, complete Aoba Johsai lineup, the freshmen would basically have no chance of winning at their current level.
This is because, while the full Aoba Johsai team’s offensive power might not necessarily be stronger than it is now, their overall defense and coordination would be virtually flawless.
However, before the match began, Irihata Nobuteru had intentionally assigned Aoba Johsai’s strongest libero to the freshmen team.
The original purpose of this was merely to give the freshmen a little extra fighting power so they wouldn’t lose too miserably.
Yet, unexpectedly, this became the final straw that broke the White Team’s back.
Currently, a comparison of the two teams is as follows:
In terms of offense, the Red Team held a slight advantage.
In blocking defense, the two sides were evenly matched.
In terms of tactical coordination, however, the White Team completely overwhelmed the Red Team.
In backcourt defense, the Red Team held the advantage because the starting libero had moved from the White Team to the Red Team, strengthening one side and weakening the other.
Even Irihata Nobuteru could not help but smile bitterly at this point, unsure whether to feel happy or troubled.
Logically speaking… he should be happy right now.
After all, this was just a friendly match. Once it ended, Asuto and the others would become members of Aoba Johsai anyway. The better the freshmen performed, the better it was for the volleyball club.
However, this also posed a problem.
Asuto and the others were freshmen after all, and if they were to defeat the upperclassmen on their very first day after joining the club, it would be hard to imagine what kind of attitudes these newcomers might develop in the future.
Irihata Nobuteru sighed, saying, “Sigh! Coaching isn’t as easy as people think!”
· · · · ·
Just as Nobuteru predicted, the White Team’s morale had fallen rock bottom.
Hanamaki Takahiro, Matsukawa Issei, and Yahaba Shigeru uncontrollably replayed that unbelievable spike in their minds.
It was a curved spike hit from outside the court boundary that scraped right along the sideline for a point.
Forget an official match… even during ordinary training, pulling off a shot like that was incredibly difficult.
Yet now, someone had actually used such an unbelievable shot to score through their block.
Needless to say, they were shaken.
Oikawa stood in the backcourt with his hands on his hips, replaying the trajectory of the last spike in his mind, but after a short while, the image of Asuto gradually transformed into that of someone even taller, who exuded an even more overwhelming sense of pressure.
Gradually, the two silhouettes in his mind began to overlap.
Oikawa clenched his fists, his expression darkening.
But at that moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside him:
“Hey! Trashykawa, if you dare think about Ushiwaka during a match, I’ll beat the crap out of you!”
Oikawa Tooru: “(Д)ノ”!!!
Oikawa jolted violently and instantly snapped back to reality. Turning around stiffly, he was met with the sight of Iwaizumi Hajime standing there with fists already clenched hard enough to crack bones.
“Uh~~ Iwaizumi-chan, are you a parasite living in my stomach or something?”
Iwaizumi Hajime sneered.
“Hah! Every single thought you’re having is written all over your face… I’m warning you, idiot Oikawa—our opponent right now isn’t Ushiwaka. And if we can’t even defeat the freshmen standing in front of us, then we have no right to think about defeating Ushiwaka.”
Oikawa Tooru froze slightly.
Then the gloom on his face gradually disappeared, replaced once again by his usual warm smile.
“You’re absolutely right, Iwaizumi-chan. If we can’t even deal with these cocky freshmen, forget Ushiwaka—we probably won’t even be able to preserve our dignity as seniors anymore!”
“So then, Iwaizumi-chan, are you ready?”
“Isn’t that obvious, shitty Oikawa? Let’s properly teach these freshmen how to respect their seniors!”
Iwaizumi Hajime fiercely cracked his fingers, instantly sweeping away the team’s dispirited atmosphere and restoring their fighting spirit.
At courtside, coach Irihata Nobuteru and the assistant coaches saw this, their eyes flickering slightly as they smiled.
“Looks like our side’s ‘ace’ is also unwilling to lose.”
The referee’s whistle sounded, and the Red Team served once again.
A standard overhand serve crossed the net and was steadily received by Yahaba Shigeru. The ball then reached Oikawa Tooru’s hands.
It stayed there for only an instant.
The volleyball cut through the air in an almost perfectly straight line before instantly flying toward the already-jumping Iwaizumi Hajime.
“Don’t underestimate your seniors too much, first-year brats! These past two years of ours weren’t spent wasting time!”
The sudden flat quick attack between Oikawa Tooru and Iwaizumi Hajime completely bypassed Kindaichi’s defensive range.
Facing an open path ahead of him, Iwaizumi roared inwardly as he violently swung his arm.
The next second…
Bang!
Thunk!
Two collision sounds rang out almost simultaneously, and time itself seemed to freeze in that instant.
Still suspended in midair, Iwaizumi’s pupils suddenly contracted.
At the same time, behind him on the floor, a volleyball bounced high into the air.
After landing… Iwaizumi raised his violently trembling eyes toward the opposite side.
There, beyond the block, Asuto’s tall figure stood like a mountain, casting him beneath a shadow.
Looking down calmly, Asuto spoke indifferently: “Senpai, what you said earlier was indeed correct. I am not Ushijima. Because Ushijima never participates in defense during matches.”
“But… I do.”
(End of Chapter)