It was none other than Neko Kurata.
Unlike the other members of the volleyball team, Neko Kurata had neither talent for volleyball nor much interest in the sport.
He had originally joined the volleyball club for a very simple reason: none of the other clubs appealed to him, and the school required every student to join at least one. After some thought, he had decided to go with volleyball.
Once in the club, given his height and physique, the only position that suited him was libero.
And so,
After training through his first and second years, Kurata became a regular starter by his third year.
Kurata's skills weren't particularly strong, but he had never slacked off during practice. After an entire set of adjustments, he finally found his rhythm against Kitagawa's quick attacks.
The ball shot high into the air.
Ryuhei Sanashita shouted excitedly, "Nice one! Great job, Kurata!"
"Block them!"
Seeing their quick attack blocked so close to set point, Tobio Kageyama's expression changed dramatically as he shouted.
Then,
He was the first to rush to the net, leaping high to meet Akashi Asuka head-on, arms stretched skyward.
The next moment,
A large shadow suddenly eclipsed his vision. Akashi was airborne, jumping at least half a hand's length higher than Kageyama. His shoulders pulled back, calves taut, muscles outlined sharply through his uniform, radiating explosive power.
Boom!
His right arm swung down, smashing the ball with full force into Kageyama's fingers. It punched right through the block with ease and slammed hard onto the court floor.
Tweet!
The referee blew the whistle.
24:22
Sengoku had reached the set point first.
As the players landed, they faced each other across the net, both expressionless. But Kageyama's fists were clenched tight at his sides, knuckles pale and veins bulging, refusing to let go.
Sengoku served again.
This time, Kitagawa found a gap and launched a counterattack, clawing back one point.
24:23
But on the next rally, Sengoku received the serve cleanly, set up a smooth offensive sequence, and scored once more.
25:23
Sengoku took the first set.
…
Mid-Set Break
The mood on Sengoku's side wasn't exactly relaxed, but there was a sense of camaraderie and shared joy.
Kitagawa, however, was a different story. Even during past slumps, their team atmosphere had never been this cold.
Kindaichi and Akira Kunimi had formed their own little duo.
The rest of the team clustered around the captain, casually chatting.
Only Kageyama sat alone on the bench, drinking water with a stormy look on his face.
With just six players on the team, it had still fractured into three separate groups.
The coach of Kitagawa looked faintly green. He had long suspected that there were underlying issues on the team, but never imagined it would reach this level.
Even so, now wasn't the right time to solve them. After a moment's thought, he spoke up.
"Kageyama, in the next set, pay more attention to your teammates' condition. The key to winning isn't just your personal technique, it's making sure your teammates can bring out their best. You, "
"I know!"
Kageyama cut him off mid-sentence with a sharp, impatient shout.
The coach drew a deep breath, preparing to continue.
But just then, the referee's whistle signaled the start of the second set, and Kageyama stood up immediately, walking toward the court without a word.
…
Second Set Begins
Kitagawa served first.
After a short rest, both sides regained some stamina. Their rhythm in offense and defense stabilized, returning to the intense back-and-forth that marked the start of the first set.
Since Kitagawa served first, they gave up the initial point.
1:0
Then it was Sengoku's turn to serve, and they lost the point as well.
1:1
After several rounds of alternating service, it was finally time for Kageyama and Akashi to serve.
But neither had fully regained their feel for serving. Kageyama's high-speed jump serve hit the net. Akashi's serve barely made it over, lacking both power and precision.
When the score hit 11:11, signs of fatigue began to show on Sengoku's side. And this time, the drop in performance was worse than at the end of the previous set.
Earlier it had been mere tiredness, now it was true physical exhaustion, the kind that couldn't be fixed with just a short break.
Still, coach Shimokawa didn't call a timeout.
Because despite their physical decline, Sengoku's momentum only seemed to grow stronger.
By contrast, Kitagawa's players, though in better physical shape, were showing deeper problems.
From the very start of the second set,
Kageyama had been increasing his setting speed. At first, the team barely managed to keep up, but as the match dragged on, the attackers began making mistake after mistake.
Sengoku, to be fair, returned the favor with a few technical errors of their own, preventing the score from widening too much.
But Kitagawa's issues were clearly deeper than just a narrow point deficit.
Their coach called for a timeout.
From Sengoku's side, the exact discussion was hard to hear, but from the snippets of raised voices and tense expressions, it was clear that some kind of argument had broken out between Kageyama and the coach.
After the timeout,
Play resumed.
Judging from the expressions on Kitagawa's faces, it seemed the timeout hadn't resolved anything. In fact, if anything, the atmosphere had grown even worse.
First serve after the timeout.
Kageyama served. Perhaps following new tactics discussed during the break, he skipped his usual high-speed jump serve and instead went with a sharply placed, ordinary one.
The sudden change caught Sengoku off guard.
But they barely managed to scramble together a high ball, which was sent to Akashi. Facing a triple block, he executed a tight diagonal shot, scoring cleanly and regaining the lead for Sengoku.
12:11
"Tch. That guy's a monster. We're this deep into the match and he's still hitting with that kind of height and power. Doesn't he get tired?" muttered Kitagawa's captain, biting back his frustration.
Sengoku regained serve.
They rotated positions, and Akashi moved into position one.
Seeing this, the players at the net instinctively shifted back, guarding the rear of their heads.
Holding the ball in both hands, Akashi slapped it against the floor a few times. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and once his mind calmed, gently tossed the ball into the air. A few quick steps into his run-up, and he launched himself into the sky with force.
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