Chapter 30: Railgun
Line up, bow, begin the match.
In this coin toss round, Ichise Guren suffered his first overall failure of the tournament, as Goshiki Tsutomu accurately guessed which side of the coin would face up.
I really am amazing, even my coin guessing is so cool - a smile containing this sentiment, with a slightly provocative undertone, spread across his face toward Ichise Guren.
Goshiki at this moment was like a child wanting to show off but having his attention stolen, single-mindedly focused on displaying his own coolness and prowess.
"Nice luck!"
Ichise Guren also generously gave Goshiki a thumbs up.
Seeing even his opponent express admiration and respect for him, Goshiki immediately became smug.
'As expected of me, even my opponent has started to admire my luck... luck?'
'Damn it, he really is the opposing captain, even his admiration contains an underlying mocking subtext.'
'Good thing I saw through it immediately, or I might have actually thought the opposing captain was a pretty nice guy!'
'What a sneaky bastard.'
Ichise Guren looked with bewilderment at Goshiki, whose expression had suddenly turned indignant. Not knowing about Goshiki's internal monologue, he could only think that this Shiratorizawa guy seemed to have something wrong with his brain.
After his indignation passed, Goshiki quickly made his choice - he decided to receive serve and choose court position. Because he wanted to be the first to spike on this court, which meant the other side would serve first, then his team would receive the ball.
Then setter Shirabu Kenjiro would deliver a comfortable assist, and he would happily feast on the perfect set in mid-air, scoring in one shot, smoothly reclaiming the face he'd lost from Momosawa Yudai's earlier spike.
Thinking of this, an excited smile had already appeared on Goshiki's face. Then he was collectively scolded by his coach and teammates.
"Tsutomu! What are you doing?! Who told you to choose receiving rights?"
"What do you mean giving the priority serve to that Yukigaoka heavy cannon?"
The smile that had just formed on Goshiki's lips was immediately scolded away.
"You're still smiling! This is what happens when you don't watch the game footage!"
Shiratorizawa's middle blocker aimed a kick right at Goshiki's butt.
"Do you really think you're Ushiwaka-senpai?!"
Looking wronged and confused, Goshiki covered his butt and asked: "What's wrong? Is his serve really that good?"
"Are you an idiot? In his first match against Kitagawa Daiichi, he scored 5 points in a row just with his serves and serve disruption!"
"In the last match, he scored 9 points straight at the start - the other team nearly collapsed!"
The color under Goshiki's bowl cut immediately turned somewhat pale.
"9 points? You're joking, right? Even professional players can't score nine points in a row just with serves, can they?"
"Who's joking with you? Even Kitagawa Daiichi's ace could barely keep up with his ball speed on the fourth serve."
Only then did Goshiki realize his mistake, turning to look at Ichise Guren on the other side of the net.
Ichise Guren, who had inexplicably gained priority serving rights, was also completely bewildered. Are these guys always this bold? Don't they know I can do powerful jump serves?
At this moment, seeing Goshiki turn to look at him, he couldn't help but find it amusing, grinning at him. Since you're being so enthusiastic, I won't be modest about it.
"Gulp."
Goshiki, seeing Ichise Guren's malicious expression, couldn't help but swallow.
"This guy! It must be this guy's trap!"
"What nonsense are you talking about! Hurry up and get into position! The match is about to start!"
After being scolded again by his coach, Goshiki could only walk dejectedly toward the court, still not forgetting to glare at Ichise Guren on the way.
Meanwhile, Ichise Guren, who had witnessed that provocative spike earlier, had already applied hair wax, his neat slicked-back hairstyle now declaring that:
The mind-game master, the one with maxed-out taunting talents, the body language expert, the sign language master of the court - Ichise Guren was about to start causing trouble.
Come say hello to my serve first!
The volleyball spun several times in his palm. Ichise Guren, feeling good about the ball's touch, tossed it up with one hand, and the volleyball rose in response.
Perfect approach and jumping form - Ichise Guren leaped high, took a deep breath in mid-air, and held it.
His left hand swept from right to left, from front to back. This arm swing would transfer part of the momentum to his body. His torso, having received this momentum, began rotating with the help of Ichise Guren's extremely powerful core muscle groups, developed through accumulated functional training.
His deltoids began exerting force, his right hand swinging back. His chest muscles, deltoids, biceps, triceps, and even his forearm muscle groups all began working together.
His palm carried an unstoppable force as it struck, instantly flattening the volleyball into a crescent shape. After an extremely brief pause, the volleyball was launched toward the opposing court by that powerful strike.
'Railgun?'
This was Goshiki's first thought after Ichise Guren's serve, and also his last thought.
Because the ball had already hit the ground.
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