Chapter 48:
Bang!
Kosen's number 1 captain landed gently with a satisfied smile on his face, performing a cushioning motion.
The referee signaled that the point was valid—Kosen scored 1 point with their spike.
The score had been chased by Kosen Academy to just a 1-point difference: Yukigaoka 4:3 Kosen Academy.
After the libero successfully received Hyakuzawa Yudai's spike, their setter quickly moved under the volleyball and began preparing for the attack.
All three front row players from Yukigaoka were already in position, ready for blocking. What none of them had expected was that Kosen's setter, who had previously been considered purely a support player, would shine brilliantly in this offensive-defensive exchange.
From extremely close to the net, he delivered a short, fast, and exceptionally precise pass—no parabolic arc, purely a through ball—that perfectly coordinated with the number 1 captain's first-tempo quick attack.
After the pass, there were no provocative gestures—just simple celebration with teammates before immediately throwing himself back into the match.
'Quite focused attention. Although not an offensive setter, he's still a serious and calm troublesome opponent.'
Ichise Guren slowly rotated his right shoulder, his mind still pondering that pass from the opposing setter.
His facial expression showed no emotional fluctuation—just a purely handsome face.
Hyakuzawa Yudai began looking toward Ichise Guren, planning to see what Guren-nii was going to do.
Thinking was something that, for him, was limited to spiking and studying.
Although Hyakuzawa Yudai wasn't stupid and could quickly understand some of his teammates' eye signals, when it came to volleyball tactical thinking (dirty tricks), even first-year Mori was much stronger than him.
Hinata Shoyo couldn't wait to rotate to the front row. Aside from his own attacks, his defense could currently only be considered "won't become a weakness"—far from being one of Yukigaoka's regular strategic weapons.
Mori took a deep breath, calmly processing his negative emotions.
'As expected from a team that made it to the finals. Even a setter I hadn't paid attention to before can deliver this kind of forced quick attack pass.'
'However, although the opponent is very strong, my teammates are stronger!'
Encouraging himself, he stopped the negative emotions deep in his heart that formed from clearly knowing the opponent's strength and his own weakness.
'The match is long—no need to rush things in the short term.'
'The flying knives aren't all used up yet, and we still have our strongest trump card.'
The opponent didn't coddle Yukigaoka, not wanting to give them even one more second of thinking time. After the referee's serve whistle, they sent another powerful jump serve aimed at Mori right on the whistle.
'Never-ending, damn it!'
'Is their ball control really this good?'
Mori barely managed to receive this powerful jump serve again, but was still quite annoyed at being unable to create offensive opportunities for his teammates through second touches.
Even the calm-minded Mori cursed twice in his heart after being precisely targeted by the opponent again. Although this was perfectly acceptable in competition, they were all young people with hot blood—having a temper was normal, especially just cursing silently in his heart.
Ichise Guren noticed Mori's emotional change but didn't immediately offer comfort. Because he knew that Mori's emotional control and stability might be the team's strongest—six years of elementary school go experience indeed made him much more mature than his peers.
Based on his understanding and trust in his teammate's abilities, Ichise Guren didn't offer comfort during the ongoing match, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do anything.
He was the captain and had to look after his teammates. Moreover, the Ichise family tradition was protecting their own.
"Shoyo!"
While loudly calling for Hinata Shoyo, who was closest to the volleyball, to set, Ichise Guren extended his finger and pointed toward the sky.
Hinata Shoyo also understood immediately. Although somewhat unclear whether he could handle this high ball properly, when his ace called for it, he had to set—and set it well.
With this feeling, Hinata Shoyo began handling this high ball feed to Ichise Guren.
'Guren likes high balls, and doesn't like balls falling from high up.'
'So this ball needs to go straight up to the net.'
Hinata Shoyo, not skilled enough in overhand setting, used an underhand bump to send the ball flying above the net.
But the moment he hit it out, Hinata Shoyo inwardly cried out in alarm.
'Too high!'
"Sorry! My fault!"
Hinata Shoyo quickly voiced an apology, and the content of this apology matched what the opposing blockers thought. The moment they saw this ball, they perceived it through years of experience:
'This ball is high.' x3
The opposite responsible for blocking felt secretly pleased, because Kosen Academy's current front court defense formation was really not that good.
Both tall players had already retreated to the back row. Kosen's iron wall was down to just the number 1 captain alone.
Although the other middle blocker's jumping wasn't bad either, he was only just 180cm tall. Compared to height and reach, which could serve as weapons without needing full jumping in blocking situations where approach runs were difficult, jumping seemed less important.
But Ichise Guren didn't think this way at all.
'Beautiful pass, Shoyo. I just need a high ball.'
The volleyball's reflection flashed through Ichise Guren's eyes as all his attention was poured into the volleyball in the air. At this moment, Ichise Guren had eyes only for this volleyball—nothing else existed.
The shouting from the audience, Hoshino Masaru's calls directing teammates to adjust positions, the voices of opposing blockers reminding teammates—all disappeared in this instant.
No spare mental capacity to think about how to jump or how to spike, but these were already ingrained in Ichise Guren's instincts.
Relying on muscle memory, his body naturally performed the thoroughly practiced jumping motion, even carrying a trace of artistic beauty.
"So beautiful."
Yukigaoka's players, looking up at Ichise Guren's silhouette above their heads, all thought the same thing.
'Precisely because humans don't have wings, they search for ways to fly.'
'The captain's jumping form should count as flight, right?'
Hoshino Masaru, standing in the warm-up area, couldn't help thinking this as he watched Ichise Guren flying in mid-air.
"Here it comes!"
Although still puzzled about whether Ichise Guren could reach this super high ball, the three Kosen players responsible for blocking still jumped with all their might to attempt the block.
Kosen's back row players also quickly followed up. If Ichise Guren didn't touch this ball, the volleyball might fall directly onto their side of the court. If they were overly wary of Ichise Guren's spike, they might get scored on by Hinata Shoyo's 'second attack.'
Players from both sides used their maximum jumping ability. The blocking players wished their bodies could stretch several feet in the air like Luffy's to block this ball.
The audience outside the court and Kosen's coaching staff on the bench all watched this ball intently—they too wanted to know what the result would be.
Puff! Thud!
Three cameras at courtside recorded Ichise Guren's spike from three different angles.
"!!!!" x +∞
Everyone on the court was shocked by this ball from Ichise Guren. Countless seated spectators straightened their backs and craned their necks, wanting to see the replay of this ball more clearly.
The venue's broadcast director, worthy of being an experienced veteran, instantly compiled an edited version from the three camera angles.
For this impossibly high ball just now, Ichise Guren didn't use a powerful spike. Instead, relying on his super high jumping height, he exceeded the opposing block height by more than half an arm's length in the air, using his wrist to complete a light spike at an ultra-high contact point.
The front-angle close-up light spike, the side-angle close-up light spike, the other side-angle light spike—three 'puff-thuds' were precisely captured by the sound equipment and broadcast.
Ichise Guren's fingertips made contact at an extremely limited surface area in the air, barely managing to spike the ball down. After completing this spike, Ichise Guren also barely managed not to touch the net through extreme control.
Through careful replay, everyone realized that if Ichise Guren's height had been even one centimeter less, this ball probably couldn't have been spiked and would have become a tip instead.
In that case, Kosen's back row players would have had a good chance of receiving it.
Even as a light spike, this ball passed over the fingertips of the back row players who had already moved up before dropping to the wooden floor—extremely thrilling.
"A-amazing!!!"
"This is way too strong?!!!"
"This is definitely the highest contact point in this prefectural tournament."
"Being able to see this ball made this match worth watching."
"I can brag about seeing this ball for the rest of my life."
The audience's reaction already demonstrated just how spectacular and shocking this spike was.
Kosen Academy across from Yukigaoka once again fell into dead silence. A player in the warm-up area even threw a fierce punch at the air.
"Even like that! He can still spike? Isn't this way too ridiculous!"
"How are we supposed to play against this?!!!"
Although somewhat damaging to their own morale, this player had indeed voiced what most Kosen players were thinking.
An obvious mistake pass from the opponent, so high it exceeded the blocking distance by a meter, yet the opposing ace still relied on super jumping ability and reach to forcibly spike this ball down from 340cm in the air.
It had to be said, this was truly a spike that made opponents despair.
***
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