JSWGAS Chapter 100

100.

——Qingcheng’s momentum is very strong this year.

This was the thought of most people after the morning matches on the second day of the IH qualifiers. If the first day of the qualifiers was a warm-up for each division, the second day’s matches were even more anxious. The teams that persisted through the high elimination rate were clearly at a different level than before. Every team wanted to take another step forward, with fierce momentum and unwillingness to yield. Among them, Qingcheng was the most eye-catching.

“Yesterday, Qingcheng’s number 12 scored a total of 10 points from serves, right? Although Jōzenji isn’t considered a strong school in the past two years, his serve is really strong.”

“Yesterday? You don’t know, this morning when they played Shiratorizawa, Shiratorizawa called a timeout when number 12 was serving to interrupt his consecutive serves… Shiratorizawa isn’t a weak school either, and they were forced to this extent.”

“…I’ve never heard of this person in Miyagi before?”

Kageyama Tobio happened to hear these conversations as he walked in from the back entrance. This year’s IH qualifier schedule for the last two days was arranged on the weekend. So, Kageyama Tobio, still in his second year of middle school, hurriedly ran to the Sendai City Gymnasium after visiting his grandfather in the morning.

When he took his seat, the match in the arena was just reaching the end of the first set. The Qingcheng number 12, who had just been talked about, was currently at the service line. Seconds after the referee’s whistle sounded, the player standing outside the line began his approach at the last moment. The figure reflected in the center of his pupils was small, but when the volleyball was hit into Date Tech’s half of the court, it made a deafening bang.

Date Tech had already witnessed Kokonoe Taka’s jump serve during the practice match and heard about the serve that directly ended the first set yesterday, so they were prepared and waiting in full force. The libero, who expanded the defense range, stared intently at the opponent’s movements. Before the start, the coach had reminded them to stabilize their mentality and not let Kokonoe Taka’s serve disrupt their rhythm. His serve could quickly establish an advantage when facing schools with weaker receives, but the threat would be reduced when facing teams with stable receives.

Even so, the libero was still shocked when receiving this ball: the power is even greater than during the last practice match!

While his first pass was only halfway to the target, the setter in the front row stepped forward and successfully covered the position. At the same time, Date Tech’s captain ran up and jumped aggressively, tricking Saijo into jumping with him. As the ball was passed to the setter’s fingertips, the ace had already jumped high in front of the net with the belief that he would definitely spike the ball down—

Oikawa and Iwaizumi, who were participating in the block, were fully focused, while Saijo quickly moved back to defend after realizing he had been tricked, resulting in a two-and-a-half-person block. In Aoba Johsai’s turn, Saijo was in the front row for defense, but Kokonoe was still in the back row due to serving, and the libero had not been substituted, making it a rotation with stronger attack but slightly weaker defense. Date Tech’s ace was tall and burly, and they could even feel the hot air radiating from his body through the net—the ace put all his strength into the attack, and Oikawa’s palm only blocked it for a moment, but it still couldn’t withstand the impact.

21:24, Date Tech successfully switched to serve at the end of the set with one point.

“Nice! I’m so glad you were able to receive it!”

Date Tech on this side breathed a sigh of relief, while Qingcheng on the other side remained calm despite having their advantage broken.

In fact, one of the tactics proposed by Qingcheng before the match was to have Kokonoe Taka try to reach the limit of what he could do with his serve in a formal match. If anyone noticed, they would find that his serving points combined yesterday and today had reached an astonishing twenty-five points.

“How does it feel?” Oikawa Tōru asked, turning his head.

“The power can still be improved,” Kokonoe Taka replied, “but the accuracy will decrease, and it might go out of bounds… Tōru, if you try to wipe your sweat on my clothes again, next time I’ll aim for you when I serve.”

Without even looking, he accurately caught Oikawa Tōru’s ill-intentioned wrist that was about to pat him on the back, shaking it with disgust as if he were holding something dirty. Oikawa was pinched by him and couldn’t break free for a moment. He also heard a gloomy sneer, and instantly became honest, “…Yes.”

“It’s too lame to always trouble the younger players to do the work,” Arahata said, “Anyway, just give the orders, Oikawa.”

Oikawa Tōru rubbed his wrist, raising an overly bright smile with ill intentions. He hadn’t forgotten the Date Tech setter’s provocation earlier, “In that case, I’ll have to ask everyone for support.”

“Go! Go! Go Aoba Johsai!”

“Go! Go! Let’s go! Date Tech!”

Date Tech serves, a normal overhand serve.

Miyano’s first pass was on point, and Oikawa moved to the net, using force with his fingertips while jumping lightly. The volleyball was tossed up and flew lightly in front of Iwaizumi—

“A-style quick attack…”

Kageyama Tobio muttered softly, his eyes shining—that place can actually launch a quick attack? As expected of Oikawa-senpai.

This type of quick attack has a fast tempo and great power. The hitter must jump before the setter passes the ball, intercepting and spiking it in the air. It is a very flexible tactic.

When the Date Tech middle blocker jumped to block, only half of his palm touched the ball. But this little bit of resistance successfully bounced the volleyball back into Qingcheng’s court. As Iwaizumi fell, he quickly reached out his left arm and bumped it upwards. The consequence of not being fully prepared was that he almost fell awkwardly—he did save the ball again.

But if the landing point of the volleyball was so easy to control, this sport wouldn’t have such a captivating charm. Oikawa was the closest, but he wasn’t fast enough to catch the natural descent of the volleyball and could only use an underhand pass.

…Too low, and the angle is a bit off.

He realized this as soon as the ball bounced off the plane pushed open by his forearm. Only Kokonoe in the back row could launch an attack. But compared to the experienced others, he ultimately lacked a few years of experience in dealing with emergencies. Oikawa knew all too well that his passes to him were often high and far, maintaining a perfect and smooth parabola—that kind of ball could accurately bring out all of Kokonoe Taka’s advantages.

But now this ball had lost its usual ease. This was a ball that needed teammates to cover.

His heart tightened, but before he could think of a solution, a ready-to-go figure jumped from the back row. Date Tech had been waiting for a long time, and the three-person block tightened the space on the net. His jumping ability was amazing, and his arm swing was quite intimidating. But if the pass was inappropriate, all advantages would be in vain.

—Wait, that posture…

If Oikawa and Iwaizumi knew Kokonoe Taka so well because of their many years of friendship, then Saijo’s ability to occasionally guess Kokonoe Taka’s thoughts was due to a strange, similar intuition. Kokonoe Taka wasn’t a simple-minded person who played without thinking. On the contrary, he had a cautious observation and daring attitude towards the information around him.

And now his intentions were captured by Saijo in an instant—speaking of which, this move was originally his specialty. Although it was often used to be lazy and let others attack during the team’s 3v3 matches.

So, he lunged forward with a half-serious, half-joking attitude. At the same time, Kokonoe, who was staring fixedly at the block, cracked a smile and swung his arm down without hesitation. He abandoned the posture he had been maintaining and chose a more comfortable way to exert force to deal with this ball.

The volleyball touched the blocker’s palm and bounced back into the court cunningly, a little far away, with moderate force. A figure appeared at the landing point of the ball, and Saijo shouted, “Oikawa!”

Oikawa Tōru realized the situation when he caught a glimpse of Saijo’s sudden action, and didn’t even doubt whether the guess was correct—it had to be.

“It’s a rebound ball!”

The dazzling attack and defense confused most of the audience, and only the experienced ones with sharp eyes blurted out at this time. At this time, Oikawa Tōru had once again gotten this hard-won ball, and his warm-toned pupils quickly swept across the opponent’s defense in these few seconds. The face that always had a light smile was rarely peaceful.

One person on the left, one in the middle, and one in the back row. The hitters began to act with different rhythms without hesitation, each with the determination that ‘this ball will definitely be passed to me, and I must score.’ Oikawa Tōru’s standard posture during the long pull still put a veil of uncertainty on the final destination of the volleyball—

That veil was transparent in front of Kokonoe Taka.

At this time, there was no need to think too much, that person would only choose one path.

—A second attack.

The sound of his heart and the sound of the volleyball landing ended together, and the referee’s long whistle ended the first set’s battle. There was a commotion everywhere. Those who understood the game marveled at the courage to choose a second attack at the end of the set, with several hitters available to call. Those who didn’t understand—

“Oikawa-senpai…waaa, so handsome…”

—were like this.

There were several beautiful upperclassmen standing near Kageyama Tobio, clinging to the railings with excited faces at this time. He stared at the players in the arena who formed a circle. Their uniforms were a very beautiful mint green, and when they gathered together, they were like a river rushing with summer ripples. The coldness poured down from his head, causing him to tremble, and his heart pounded along with it—

But why couldn’t he help but tremble?

He only knew that he wanted to play volleyball at this moment.

The many matters on the sidelines did not affect the players on the court.

Iwaizumi took the water bottle and naturally handed it to Kokonoe behind him, “On purpose?”

Kokonoe Taka took the water bottle and smiled, “On purpose.”

Saijo passed by and complained: “Sometimes I think Oikawa is easier to understand, after all, his insults are quite easy to understand… You two really seem to have brainwaves that connect inexplicably.”

Oikawa Tōru was happily accepting Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s perfunctory cheers with his tail up. His enthusiasm for the second attack was linked to his aggressiveness that far exceeded that of a normal setter. If he knew this, he would be relentless.

Kokonoe Taka asked back, “Is it difficult to understand?”

Saijo: “Difficult.” He paused, unable to hide his curiosity, “What exactly does this ‘on purpose’ mean?”

“A rebound ball to readjust the position and start over,” Iwaizumi explained, “He was probably ready to cover the position from the start, right?”

“A-I can’t break through the block for the time being,” Kokonoe Taka replied frankly.

“Yeah. I still don’t feel like I’ve found the right way to exert force,” Iwaizumi admitted readily, “Date Tech’s blocking is indeed very strong, I can’t break through it for the time being.”

Saijo spaced out for a moment, thinking that if Oikawa had said these words, Iwaizumi, you definitely wouldn’t be so calm, “…Being able to say your weaknesses without hesitation, from this aspect alone, Iwaizumi, you are already very strong.”

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. Before he could say anything, Kokonoe Taka pressed a towel on his head, his tone determined: “After all, it’s A-I.”

Saijo: “Your tone is as if it’s as obvious as the sun rising from the east… And why did I become the one who’s doing the commentary?”

Kokonoe Taka turned a deaf ear, saying to himself: “Anyway, you’ll definitely do it, after all, A-I has always been a very amazing ace.”

Iwaizumi coughed twice, a little uncomfortable, “…Chatty.”

Saijo noticed something was wrong. These two definitely hadn’t finished speaking, “There’s more than just this one intentional thing, right?”

“Of course not,” Kokonoe clicked his tongue, “There’s also… of course, to let our competitive setter show off!”