Chapter 37: Mind Games and Celebrations
Shirabu Kenjirou displayed his extremely solid fundamental techniques and elite-level observation skills.
After his successful dump attack earlier, each of his sets would now attract a player to mark him. Among the front row players responsible for defending him—Mori, Hyakuzawa Yudai, and Ichise Guren—naturally only Ichise Guren could handle this defensive task.
Because with Mori's height and very average jumping ability, combined with the extremely high-quality first pass at this moment, Shirabu might very well go for a direct spike.
And Hyakuzawa Yudai, as Yukigaoka's defensive core, naturally had to lead the block against the attackers.
So at this moment, Shirabu, leveraging his previous surprise attack as a setter, had successfully laid a trap. He forced Yukigaoka's current front-row triple block formation to be partially split apart.
Knowing how to maximize the use of his own setup, Shirabu very cleverly positioned himself and captain Goshiki at the maximum distance apart.
He stood slightly in front of the net's edge, both giving himself dual spiking options for cross-court and line shots, and pulling the spring monster Ichise Guren to a position far from the others.
'The key to organizing the team's offense to perfection is to firmly believe one thing: the ball will always travel faster than a person.'
'I don't believe that even if I set the ball over there, you can still make it over to block!'
Gritting his teeth, Shirabu was now facing enormous pressure from Ichise Guren's solo defense.
He had to wait until the last moment to set, which meant he needed to maintain his attacking posture until the final second. He was very clear that Ichise Guren absolutely knew the purpose of his positioning here. Because this was an open strategy, not a hidden scheme.
Ichise Guren was also definitely prepared to sprint from one end of the court to the other, as long as Shirabu showed that he wouldn't attack, or if Ichise Guren judged that Shirabu's current posture couldn't transition into an attack, he would inevitably rush straight to Hyakuzawa Yudai's side to provide defensive support.
The volleyball fell closer and closer, and Shirabu kept timing it in his mind.
Taking a moment to glance at Ichise Guren across the net, he found no trace of hesitation on his face, clearly very certain about what he was going to do.
'Truly impressive!'
After mentally praising the opposing captain's level, Shirabu seized the final instant.
"Goshiki-senpai!"
After jumping, he still maintained a posture with a hint of attacking threat, only completely transforming into a setting position the moment his hands touched the ball.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that after his posture completely transformed into a setting motion, Ichise Guren unhesitatingly abandoned the defense on this side and charged toward the other side of the court.
'So decisive! Truly worthy of being Yukigaoka's ace!'
'But... it's too late. The ball is definitely faster than a person!'
The volleyball flew from Shirabu's hands, shooting straight toward the space above Goshiki. Obviously, to increase the speed of this attack, Shirabu hadn't chosen to set with an arc.
Instead, he delivered an assist with a straight trajectory.
He firmly believed that the ball was faster than a person, that Ichise Guren couldn't possibly make it in time to block, and as long as Goshiki faced a two-person block where one was under 170cm tall.
That definitely couldn't stop Goshiki's spike, and would ultimately score!
On the other side of the court, Goshiki, who had already jumped high, smiled.
'Though I already knew...'
'But...'
'Your sets are really strong!'
'Shirabu!'
BANG!
Avoiding Hyakuzawa Yudai's defensive area, he chose to score over the head of Mori, who had jumped with all his might.
Even before spiking, Goshiki had specifically looked at Mori and Hyakuzawa Yudai's positions.
Because if they had done another instant position switch for blocking, then Goshiki would have executed his more skilled line shot.
But they didn't switch.
'Pretty cautious, but my cross-court spike isn't something you can defend!'
He roared this sentence in his heart at Yukigaoka's setter.
Though his heart was wildly roaring, Goshiki still used all his strength to execute this cross-court spike, just like in regular training.
The volleyball also went as Goshiki and Shirabu had imagined—after avoiding Hyakuzawa Yudai's block, with just 163cm Mori, no matter how much soft blocking he did, it was impossible to block this ball, let alone...
Goshiki's attacking range in the air wasn't comparable to ordinary middle school wing spikers.
Mori, jumping with all his might, didn't even touch the ball.
Just as the volleyball was about to break through Yukigaoka's blocking defense...
"What?!" x2
Shirabu and Goshiki simultaneously cried out in their hearts. How could this be?
'A beast with bloodthirsty light glowing in its eyes pounced over from the other end of the court.'
'A male lion roared and took off both their heads.'
The above was Hinata Shoyo's mental visualization.
In reality, it was Ichise Guren bringing intense pressure, using amazing explosive power to cross the entire court in just an instant.
A badge in his mind was flashing wildly—Net-front Quick Riser Expert.
With inhuman jumping speed, he shattered Shirabu's estimation of ball velocity.
If Shirabu had been like Kageyama Tobio, setting at all costs to avoid blocks, he actually could have delivered a ball speed that even Ichise Guren couldn't keep up with.
But setters who came out of Shiratorizawa precisely lacked this point of pressuring attackers.
Slap!
Ichise Guren's hand appeared from behind Mori, once again forming Yukigaoka's twin blocking towers with Hyakuzawa Yudai!
Complete shutdown!
The volleyball hit the ground with a thud.
Shirabu looked bitter. He really hadn't expected that even though he had already imagined Ichise Guren's running speed to be quite fast, he hadn't anticipated that his jumping speed would be this fast too.
'Simply... like a helicopter...'
Though Goshiki's eyes showed no bitterness and still maintained vigorous fighting spirit, a trace of unwillingness was clearly visible.
After blocking this ball, Ichise Guren's eyes carried absolute confidence as he looked down on the Shiratorizawa duo.
'Don't embarrass yourselves with such petty tricks.'
After giving such a soul-crushing look, Ichise Guren immediately turned to face the audience, raised one index finger, and began wagging it.
In the stands:
"Hey! This guy's pretty arrogant!"
"Now he's wagging his finger!"
"Does he think this is the NBA?"
Shiratorizawa's assistant coach suddenly shot up from the bench and began complaining to the referee.
"Referee! Isn't this unsportsmanlike behavior?"
"Aren't you going to call a foul on him?"
The referee looked at him, then at Ichise Guren, who had finished wagging his finger at the audience and was now celebrating wildly with his teammates.
"He didn't wag his finger at your players. This can only be considered a celebration, and I can't call it unsportsmanlike."
"..."
The assistant coach helplessly sat back down on the bench.
Muttering to himself: "This kid, did he think of even this?"
After celebrating and returning to their positions, Ichise Guren came to the net, tilted his head, and said to Shirabu and Goshiki:
"Sorry, but wherever I am is a no-fly zone."
Thud.
Like the sound of something piercing their hearts.
Hash marks appeared on both Shiratorizawa players' foreheads.
'This person is so annoying!' x2
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