"You can play middle blocker, can't you, kid?"
"No problem."
"Great, then let's officially start the match!"
After everyone had discussed their positions and Chiba had confird things with the opposing side, the ga began.
Chiba and Akashi Asuto were on the Red Team.
Kyotani Kentaro was on the opposing Blue Team.
It was a six-versus-six format.
During the opening side selection, the Blue Team won the toss and chose to receive the serve, aning that the Red Team, with Asuto playing, would serve first.
The skill level of Chiba's two teams was far higher than that of the amateur hobbyists Asuto had encountered in previous pick-up gas.
Although they were technically still "amateurs," the re fact that they had ford dedicated teams ant that the coordination between players was at a completely different level.
Moreover, they were all college students. Even if they weren't strong enough to compete in university leagues, their extra years of training and adult physiques made them far stronger than ordinary high school players.
Bang!
The Red Team's setter opened the match with a jump serve.
Although it wasn't particularly powerful and the Blue Team still managed to receive it, the tricky landing point disrupted their setup. At least this ti, unlike when they played against middle schoolers, the serve didn't simply hand the opponent an easy offensive opportunity.
"Sorry, the ball drifted off!"
"It's fine, it's fine. Leave it to . I'll give you the first attack!"
The Blue Team setter gave Kyotani Kentaro the first offensive opportunity.
It was pretty much the sa habit as at the previous sports complex.
At public gyms like this one, giving the first ball to the newcor was practically an unspoken rule.
Firstly, it served as a greeting for the newcor.
Secondly, it allowed the veteran players to assess the newcor's ability, enabling them to coordinate more effectively afterwards.
"Watch the block!" The Red Team setter shouted a reminder.
Asuto was currently positioned at the front-right Opposite Hitter position, while Kyotani Kentaro was attacking from the left side. Asuto obviously couldn't make it in ti for the block, so he could only watch as the team's main attacker and middle blocker shifted sideways to defend.
At around 178 centiters, Kyotani Kentaro wasn't short, but among these college students, whose average height was probably above 183 centiters, it clearly wasn't an advantage.
When the Red Team's ace and middle blocker joined forces to block, their four arms ford an overwhelming wall in front of Kentaro, blotting out the sky and casting his entire body into shadow.
Not only the Blue Team players, but even the two Red Team blockers themselves cried out inwardly, 'This is bad,' feeling they might have taken things a little too seriously.
Yet in the very next second, Kentaro, already suspended in mid-air, suddenly twisted his body into an incredibly bizarre shape.
His right arm and legs stretched backwards to their limits. Rather than resembling a fully drawn bow, his entire body curved into sothing closer to a C-shape, almost forming a complete circle.
BOOM!
An explosive sound rang out through the air.
The volleyball traced a sharp arc through the air, bypassing the two-man block before smashing onto the floor behind the Red Team setter at lightning speed.
Kentaro landed on the ground, still wearing that sa arrogant expression.
Even at this mont, the Red Team setter still hadn't reacted. His arms remained bent in front of his body as if he had turned to stone, his pupils fixed on the beautiful cross-court shot.
"Huh?"
The Red Team's ace and middle blocker blinked repeatedly and turned their heads towards where the volleyball had landed, completely stunned.
"What on earth was that?"
"No way..."
"What kind of insane spiking posture was that just now? Can a human body really bend at that angle?"
The entire Red Team was dumbfounded.
Especially the two blockers.
They had clearly seen Kyotani Kentaro preparing for a straight-line spike. Yet, after they had completed their block positioning, he had sohow adjusted his posture in mid-air and instantly switched to a cross-court spike.
It was absurd beyond belief.
And it wasn't just the Red Team mbers who were stunned.
Even Asuto himself was slightly stunned.
Although he had known from the beginning that Kentaro could control his body in midair, ani and reality are completely different.
Many things shown in ani are only rough representations. The real situation often contained countless details that the original work never fully conveyed.
Just like during the earlier match against Kitagawa Daiichi.
Although Asuto had long known that Kageyama Tobio had psychological issues, it wasn't him who ultimately succeeded in exploiting that weakness and formulating a proper strategy.
It was Oda Miki.
This was partly because Asuto himself wasn't particularly skilled at volleyball tactics and strategic planning.
More importantly, successfully exploiting Kageyama's weakness in actual combat required taking countless subtle details into consideration.
This required the ability to observe the overall flow of a match.
Asuto did not possess this ability. In fact, there wasn't even a relevant stat displayed on the System panel.
However, through constantly watching Professional League matches, Oda Miki had gradually developed a similar ability.
The sa logic applied to Kentaro.
If Asuto hadn't witnessed it for himself, it would have been hard for him to imagine just how outrageous and bizarre the talent of adjusting one's body posture in mid-air really was.
· · · · ·
"Don't worry about it. Let's focus on defending the next ball."
Kentaro's first attack had indeed shocked everyone.
After all, it was the first ti they had ever seen such an unusual attacking style. But they were only stunned for a mont. They had all played volleyball for many years, so they quickly recovered and prepared for the next rally.
After Kentaro scored, the serve rotated to the Blue Team. After one rotation, it was Kentaro's turn to serve again.
He delivered a fairly ordinary overhand serve.
In the original series, he was actually a strong server, but it was still about a year before that period, so he hadn't learned jump serves yet.
The Red Team's libero received the ball from the back court, and the setter organized the attack.
Just like the Blue Team, the Red Team's first offensive opportunity was given to Asuto.
The mont the volleyball flew towards him, the Blue Team's block instantly moved into position.
"Since you didn't make it easy for our newcor at all, we can't exactly hold back either!"
The Blue Team also sent two blockers.
Both over 185 centiters tall, the two players grinned as they stepped up to the net, instantly sealing off Asuto's spiking routes.
The Red Team mbers' expressions imdiately darkened.
While neither team showed rcy towards newcors, the Blue Team's blocking ability was clearly far superior to that of the Red Team.
Earlier, the Red Team's ace and middle blocker had been shorter than their opponents, aning they could only fully block the straight-line route.
Now, however, the Blue Team's two blockers had not only sealed the straight shot but also the cross-court angle that Kyotani Kentaro had used earlier.
Asuto sprinted forward from the backcourt towards the net. After briefly glancing at the block in front of him, he jumped as high as he could.
Thud!
A dull sound seed to echo from the floor.
Then, to the astonishnt of both teams, Asuto shot into the air as though he had grown wings.
"So high!"
The Blue Team blockers were startled at first but imdiately jumped as well.
"But height alone isn't enough to break through our defense!"
Of course, the two blockers couldn't jump as high as Asuto.
However, thanks to their height advantage and excellent timing, they still completely sealed off the attack route in front of him with their four arms.
Suspended in mid-air, Asuto felt that as his 'Hang Ti' attribute increased, he could remain airborne for a tiny instant longer than before.
It was precisely that instant that allowed him to see more clearly in the air than ever before.
A pause lasting only a few hundredths of a second.
Finally, Asuto found an opening.
Without hesitation, he swung his arm towards that tiny gap.
In the next instant...
Bang!
The volleyball shot forward in an almost perfectly straight line with a muffled explosive sound, barely grazing the right-hand blocker's wrist before crashing precisely onto the boundary line of the court.
The Blue Team mbers: "······."
The Red Team mbers: "······"
(End of Chapter)
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