Beep!
1:0.
The referee rcilessly blew the whistle, awarding the point.
The Yamabuki Industrial players stared blankly in shock while the audience in the stands on the second floor erupted into thunderous cheers.
"Whoa!"
"What an incredible serve! It even knocked soone down!"
"Nice one, Sengoku Junior High's Number One!"
...
Whether or not they understood volleyball, everyone was unusually excited at that mont.
Violence is an animal instinct hidden deep within human genes.
They might not have understood volleyball, but they were excited to see Akashi Asuto knock over an opponent with what seed like a light volleyball.
"Wooooo~!"
"Well done! Hit another one, Sengoku Junior High's Number One!"
So people in the stands started cheering for Asuto, although most of them were just joining in.
Asuto paid them no attention.
His opponents were not in the audience, after all.
After the referee's whistle, he served the second ball.
This second jump serve was not as perfect as the first. There was a slight error in the toss height, which caused the ball to travel at a slightly lower speed.
"I'll take it!"
Yamabuki's libero shouted, successfully receiving the ball.
However, due to Asuto's natural strength, even this imperfect serve still carried considerable force. After being received, the powerful impact sent the ball rebounding more than ten ters into the air.
This gave Yamabuki's setter plenty of ti to react to the excessively high first receive.
But, at the sa ti, it also gave Sengoku Junior High's defense plenty of ti to prepare.
BAM!
THUD!
Ultimately, Yamabuki Junior High's initial offensive attempt was blocked by Omae Masato. The spiked ball rebounded back into Yamabuki's court, bringing the score to 2–0.
"Tch!"
Yamabuki's ace spiker clicked his tongue, unwillingly glancing at the ball on the floor, before turning around to regroup with his team and reorganize their formation.
Inside the rest area, Shimokawa Mitsuto frowned slightly.
"Strange... Given the power of Asuto's opening serve, the other side's morale should have been shaken. So why does Yamabuki still seem completely unaffected?"
Yamabuki's reaction gave Shimokawa Mitsuto a faint sense of unease, but he could not imdiately figure out what the opposing team was thinking.
Just then...
Asuto served the third ball.
Unfortunately, this resulted in an error. After crossing the net, the ball flew directly out of bounds, failing to score.
The score beca 2:1.
"It's okay, it's okay!"
The Sengoku Junior High players ca over and comforted Asuto habitually before continuing the match.
The serve rotated.
One of Yamabuki Industrial's middle blockers stepped into position one. After standing still for a mont, he focused his gaze on a certain player from Sengoku Junior High.
"It's not only violent serves that can score points."
Recalling the tactics arranged before the match, the middle blocker slowly exhaled, relaxed his body, and lightly sent the ball over.
Pa!
This serve was almost the complete opposite of Asuto's Power Jump Serve. It had no strength, no sharp angle, and no advanced technique.
The only trick was perhaps its unusually precise landing point.
The slowly floating volleyball lost all montum imdiately after crossing the net and dropped straight towards the floor.
Mishita Ryuhei, who happened to be directly in front of the ball, hurriedly stretched out his arm to receive it.
Instantly... Shimokawa Mitsuto's expression changed inside the rest area.
"So that's it... From the very beginning, your target was never Asuto."
As soon as he saw the opponent specifically targeting Mishita Ryuhei with their serve, Shimokawa Mitsuto imdiately grasped Yamabuki Industrial's strategy for the match.
He also finally realized why Yamabuki Industrial had remained so calm, even after Asuto scored two points in a row at the start.
The reason was simple.
In Yamabuki Industrial's plan, they had never intended to target Akashi Asuto.
...
In the nearby rest area of Yamabuki Industrial...
After seeing Mishita Ryuhei receive the first ball, Yamabuki Coach slowly smiled.
Having thoroughly studied the recording of Sengoku Junior High vs. Shinkongji Private, the coach realized that, given his players' abilities, it would be impossible to stop the opponent's "Ace."
Yamabuki Industrial was not a team of genius players.
They were composed of ordinary players whose individual talent was not outstanding but whose overall abilities were extrely balanced.
Such a team possessed neither notable strengths nor glaring weaknesses.
They were the very definition of an ordinary team.
And the biggest characteristic of an "ordinary team" was this:
They could not defeat stronger teams, but weaker teams could not defeat them either.
So, if a team like theirs tried to confront a 'monster' head-on, there was a high probability that they would simply be crushed.
But what if they chose not to confront that 'monster' directly?
The strength of any ace spiker was reflected not only in their own skill and technique.
The type of set delivered by the setter also greatly affected the ace's performance and the stronger the attacker, the stricter their requirents for the setter usually beca.
After observing the Sengoku Junior High vs Shinkongji Private recording for several days, the Yamabuki coach finally concluded that not even Sengoku Junior High's starting setter could bring out the full strength of their number one player.
If the main setter could not do it, then the other team mbers obviously stood even less of a chance.
Therefore, for this match... Yamabuki's strategy had already been decided before the ga even started:
They would completely give up on Asuto and instead devote all their strength to limiting Mishita Ryuhei's performance.
As long as Sengoku Junior High's main setter had no opportunity to set the ball, their 'Ace' would never be able to unleash his full power.
...
BAM!
THUD!
On the court...
Mishita Ryuhei had been forced to receive the first pass, so Kazama Jujirō had to temporarily take on the role of setter.
However, Kazama lacked the ability to organize a back-row attack, aning the ball could only be passed to Omae Masato.
Masato unleashed a powerful spike, but the opponents easily predicted the route of the attack and blocked it completely.
2:2.
The advantage that Sengoku Junior High had established at the start vanished in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, Yamabuki Industrial's players pressed ho their advantage.
Their next serve once again targeted Mishita Ryuhei.
After Mishita was forced to handle the first reception again, their subsequent offensive organization beca overly simplistic, and they failed to score.
Instead, the opponents received the ball and launched a counterattack, successfully scoring with a spike.
The score was reversed:
2:3.
Yamabuki Industrial continued serving.
This ti, having been warned by Mishita Ryuhei beforehand, Kazama Jujirō rushed out in ti to receive the ball, completing the first pass.
When it ca ti to set... Mishita Ryuhei organized a decisive back-row attack.
Asuto leapt high from the back row, and his powerful spike blasted straight through the opponent's double block, tying the score once again.
3:3.
However, the mbers of Sengoku Junior High were not especially happy.
Because they all knew that this was rely treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.
If they could not solve the problem of the opponent specifically targeting Mishita Ryuhei, then the later stages of the match would be just as difficult to handle...
(End of Chapter)
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