Chapter 19: Battle Against Kitagawa Daiichi (Part 1)
After landing, Ichise Guren didn't make any unnecessary movements, simply standing there with a neutral expression, scanning the opposing players. As his gaze met each Kitagawa player, they felt an unprecedented sense of oppression, as if caught in the center of the ocean, facing towering tsunami waves.
The awe-inspiring presence, wave after wave, assaulted them. Ichise Guren, exuding this incredible aura, turned back and started high-fiving his teammates to celebrate.
He then calmly returned to his position, leaning on his knees and looking up at the opponents.
"Alright everyone, warm-up is over."
"We're going to keep winning, right?"
His calm, soft-spoken words reached each of his teammates' ears.
Hinata was the first to respond.
"Of course! Now that we're on the court, we'll keep fighting till the end!"
As always, the energetic Hinata's fighting spirit and presence, combined with Ichise Guren's overwhelming spikes, successfully ignited the fighting spirit of the entire Yukigaoka team.
In contrast, on the Kitagawa Daiichi side, Kageyama Tobio's serve had only scored one point without any mistakes, which was a heavy blow to their morale.
While everyone knew Kageyama Tobio had a terrible personality, his volleyball skills were unquestionable. Whether spiking, receiving or blocking, he was undoubtedly the top player on the team.
Yet this super offensive "king" had his serve received smoothly by the opposing captain on the second attempt, who then comfortably completed the approach, jump, and scoring spike.
Meanwhile, the opposing captain's serve had directly scored 4 points.
This meant the opponent's strongest point, their single-serve offensive level, was stronger than Kitagawa's best. And with Ichise Guren's earlier superhigh spike, Kitagawa Daiichi also realized that in terms of spiking, Ichise Guren's ability might even surpass Kageyama Tobio's.
Comparing this, it essentially meant the team's strongest player, the attacking setter Kageyama Tobio, was outmatched in his own specialty area.
Surprisingly, Kageyama Tobio didn't say much.
Because he knew the starting point of this offense-defense was his serve. If he couldn't score or at least disrupt the opponent's formation, and his receiving couldn't handle the opponents' spikes, then it was all for naught.
He was fully aware that even if he rotated to the front row to block, his jumping reach wouldn't be enough to meaningfully challenge those high-reaching spikes.
Only blockers of equal level or taller could have a chance of limiting those spikes. Up close, they could ignore the defense and choose their shot trajectory freely. From further away, a straight-down spike would be no problem.
As much as Kageyama Racked his brain, he couldn't figure out how to break this situation.
But being single-minded, since he couldn't stop them, he decided to go all-out in offense to compensate for the defensive holes. Offense would have to make up for the inability to defend.
Thinking about this, Kageyama started getting annoyed again.
If his teammates could reach the heights and speeds he wanted, they could definitely unleash attacks that could rival the opponents. But his teammates weren't supporting him, leading to this predicament.
As the situation continued to evolve, the one constant was Ichise Guren's unstoppable scoring. No matter what lineup Kitagawa Daiichi put up.
Even their strongest defensive trio of the 185cm Kindaichi, the captain, and the incredible jumping Kageyama Tobio - they were completely powerless against Ichise Guren's desire to score.
Without reaching a certain height, all of Kitagawa Daiichi's blocking attempts were futile in front of Ichise Guren. He could freely choose whichever area of the opponents' court to spike into.
Straight or cross, Ichise Guren's every spike was a real threat to Kitagawa.
Meanwhile, Kageyama Tobio, in his gloomy mood, fully unleashed his setting speed without regard for his teammates' coordination, forcefully driving the tempo and dictating all their attacks. While the attacks could still score, it also drew the displeasure of his teammates.
Kageyama's unconscious speed-up often led to a high probability of mistakes, and a setting-spiking error was essentially just giving a free point to Yukigaoka.
The score climbed from 9-7, continuing to rise.
9-8
10-8
10-9
11-9
12-9
And as Yukigaoka approached 20 points first...
The Kitagawa Daiichi players could no longer sit still.
"What is he doing?"
"With four blockers that are completely inadequate, what's the point of forcing such high-speed balls?"
"Well, he is the 'king', who can understand his thoughts."
The straight-tempered Kindaichi could no longer hold back, disregarding the ongoing match, and directly marched up to Kageyama Tobio, grabbing the collar of his jersey.
"What the hell are you doing? In an offense-oriented game, are you saying the slower sets are not good enough for me to spike?"
"What's the point of setting balls I can't hit?"
"Are you just trying to hand points to the other side? Do you even want to win?"
The first two sentences, Kageyama Tobio had to admit were his own shortcomings, letting his emotions affect his setting and leading to lost points. No rebuttal there.
But the last sentence truly angered Kageyama.
His competitive spirit, just like his volleyball skills, was the strongest on the Kitagawa Daiichi team.
He could tolerate others criticizing his mistakes, but he couldn't accept anyone questioning his desire to win.
"What are you saying?!"
Enraged, Kageyama Tobio forcefully pushed Kindaichi's body away, trying to argue and clarify whether he really didn't want to win.
But the referee wouldn't condone any violent tendencies on the court, immediately blowing the warning whistle.
The alert teammates also rushed in to separate the two.
The Kitagawa coach also spoke up in time, telling both to calm down.
But the irritated Kindaichi didn't care, directly repeating what he had told the coach earlier.
"Coach! This setter who just recklessly acts without any regard for coordination, what's the point of keeping him on the court?"
"Take him out! Our team will be stronger without him, I completely don't want to hit any of his sets anymore!"
Kindaichi's shout silenced the entire venue.
The first to erupt were the voices from the stands.
"Eh? What did he say?"
"You heard right, he said he doesn't want to hit any of the 'king's' sets anymore."
"What's the deal? Is there a conflict between the spiker and the setter?"
"Is this considered an internal team conflict?"
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