Tweet...…!!!
The referee imdiately blew the whistle for a tiout due to the sudden accident.
The libero of Shinkongji Private, who had been struck by Asuto's serve, was instantly KO'd...
...Well, more accurately, he was knocked to the ground.
The enormous impact sent the volleyball flying high into the air, landing in the second-floor spectator stands.
The Shinkongji Private players froze for a mont in confusion before hurriedly rushing towards their fallen libero.
Only then did they discover that the lower half of his face was covered in blood, which was streaming from his nose.
After all, they were still just junior high school students.
None of them had ever seen a scene like this before.
Several of Shinkongji Private's players imdiately panicked.
Fortunately, Shinkongji Private's coach and the venue doctor arrived at that mont.
After a preliminary examination, the conclusion was that it was most likely just ruptured capillaries in the nose.
Although it looked frightening, it probably wasn't serious.
However, to avoid the possibility of nasal or brain injury, the doctor recomnded that the libero leave the court temporarily for a more thorough examination.
The Shinkongji Private coach agreed with the doctor's assessnt.
After all, as a coach, he was well aware that, in a sense, volleyball was no less dangerous than basketball or football.
He didn't think a junior high school student like Asuto should realistically be capable of displaying the more terrifying side of volleyball; he also had to admit that the power behind that serve had been truly shocking.
Shinkongji Private's starting libero didn't want to leave the court.
However, due to the joint decision of the coach and doctor, he could only be carried away on a stretcher.
Thus, in only five minutes and thirty seconds after the start of the match, Asuto successfully achieved the accomplishnt of "First Blood."
Once the libero from Shinkongji Private had been taken away, the referee blew the whistle to resu the match.
However, at that mont, the coach of Shinkongji Private imdiately called another tiout.
......
"You don't need to think too much about it. This was just an accident. These things happen in sports. Just keep playing normally."
Shimokawa Mitsuto was worried that the incident might affect Asuto psychologically, so he was doing his best to comfort him.
After all, while accidents like this were supposedly common...
…well, actually, maybe not that common.
But none of that was important.
What mattered was that Asuto was still ultimately just a junior high student in Shimokawa Mitsuto's eyes.
Kids at this age were emotionally sensitive.
If this incident left a psychological mark on Asuto, it could beco a serious problem.
However, Shimokawa Mitsuto's concern was clearly unnecessary.
For Asuto, causing a nosebleed was nothing.
Even if the injury had been more severe, it would still have fallen completely within the category of 'normal occurrences' in competitive sports.
Asuto himself remained perfectly calm.
It was Oda Miki and the others whose expressions were filled with lingering fear.
"Eeeeh~ That's terrifying!"
"Even during practice, I knew that serve was powerful, but I never imagined it had that much force."
"Seriously! Thinking back to practice, I got hit in the back of the head by serves like that before... After the match, maybe I should go to the hospital too."
Oda Miki rubbed the spot on his head where he had once been hit by a serve.
He hadn't thought much of it before, but it suddenly started hurting again now.
Shimokawa Mitsuto: "······"
Well then.
Who knew if the opponents had been intimidated by that serve?
But their own teammates had already been scared half to death.
That said… forget these junior high students.
At this point, even Shimokawa Mitsuto himself felt that Asuto's serve was becoming absurdly overpowered.
After all, he had seen powerful jump serves before.
But seeing a junior high student produce a serve like that was a first for him.
While Shimokawa Mitsuto continued trying to stabilize Asuto's mindset...
...
On the other side...
anwhile, Shinkongji Private's coach was trying to stabilize his players' ntality.
The difference was...
One coach was comforting his players so they wouldn't be frightened by themselves.
The other was trying to calm his players down so that they wouldn't be intimidated by their opponents.
At that mont, the coach of Shinkongji Private felt an imnse weight on his heart. It wasn't because their libero had left the court and weakened the team's fighting spirit. It was because the reason for the libero's departure had already pushed the team's morale to the brink of collapse.
Originally, Shinkongji Private's morale had already been completely suppressed by Sengoku Junior High.
Then, after the opposing Ace's terrifying serve, it was as though another crushing weight had been added to the suffocating pressure already hanging over Shinkongji Private.
If they couldn't turn the situation around in the next rallies, then they likely wouldn't even need to finish the entire match.
The first set alone would decide everything.
"At this point, all we can hope for is that the opponent's ntality isn't stable enough and that the earlier accident causes him to make mistakes..."
Shinkongji Private's coach desperately tried to think of a counterasure. But until the referee blew the whistle, he failed to find an effective solution.
The prerequisite for any tactical plan to work was that the gap in raw ability between the two sides couldn't be too large.
However, the opposing team's offensive spearhead was simply too strong.
Even if they pooled all their defensive resources, they might still not be able to stop him.
Not to ntion that they were now missing the libero, the core of their defense.
Tweet!
After both sides returned to the court, the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the serve.
Standing at the baseline, Asuto bounced the volleyball lightly a few tis to find its feel again...
As expected, he used another Power Jump Serve.
Bang!
That explosive sound erupted once more.
The ball flew with almost the sa speed and force as before, instantly soaring past the court, tracing a curved path through the air, and crashing directly onto the baseline for a clean ace.
Tweet!
The referee blew the whistle.
Another point for Sengoku Junior High.
The score beca 9–3.
Omae Masato and the others celebrated wildly.
anwhile, the coach of Shinkongji Private slowly closed his eyes.
From the mont Asuto struck that serve, he knew the match was over.
It wasn't because Asuto had scored another point but because injuring an opponent had done nothing to diminish the power of his attacks.
Shinkongji Private's spirit was broken.
Everyone involved in competitive sports believes in one saying:
"Until the very last mont, victory and defeat are never decided."
That saying was correct.
But, in reality, there was another saying as well:
"The outco of a match is often decided before the ga even begins."
Not everyone has the strength of character to keep fighting from behind until the end.
In truth, coback victories are rare.
Precisely because of that, every match in which a team turns the tables against overwhelming odds becos especially precious.
In most competitions, you can usually tell how well prepared the teams are before the match, based on their training, the ti they have invested, the effort they have put in, and countless other factors.
...The result can usually already be seen.
As for whether Shinkongji Private could ultimately achieve a coback, even their coach himself didn't know.
He believed in the existence of miracles.
It was just that, in all their previous matches, Shinkongji Private had never managed to seize the mont when a miracle descended…
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: spatreon/darkshadow6395
User Comments
0 comments from readers