Aran lowered his pressed hands and slowly let out a sigh of relief.
Chapter 419: The Four Hundred and Nineteenth Fox
Yura Shota withdrew his gaze from the scoreboard at the side of the court and slowly exhaled.
A 2:0 opening, huh..
Although it was terrible, it wasn't as if they hadn't played before.
An opponent's strong opening phase is the hardest to endure; as long as you can stabilize and hold on, there are still opportunities later on.
The opponent, Miya Atsumu, was preparing for his second serve, he was still using a running approach distance suitable for a Power Serve.
Even though the previous ball had been a chest-aimed spike from Miya Atsumu, Akakura still didn't dare to make any reckless moves; after all, Miya Atsumu had a history of changing to a light spike during his approach for a power serve.
If you let them get the upper hand, you'll just be giving Miya Atsumu a chance for an ACE Serve.
Stay calm. Even if the situation is unfavorable, you must, must stay calm—this was something Yamagata Hayato and Ohira-senpai had told them more than once.
—Even though Yamagata Hayato himself didn't quite manage to do it.
The whistle sounded in his ears, causing Akakura to instantly focus his mind.
Miya Atsumu lightly spun the volleyball in his hands, letting it dance and spin upon his fingertips. His gaze swept over the tense faces of the Shiratorizawa players, with his touch feeling perfectly calibrated, he raised his hand to toss the ball.
A heavy thud occurred again; this time, Akakura saw a glimpse of the ball's trajectory through the gap in Inarizaki's front row serve cover.
With this angle and the effect of the spin.. it should be over here!
Akakura moved quickly to the side based on his own judgment and stepped back, lowering his center of gravity and reaching out to prepare for the receiving movement.
Miya Atsumu's Serve had a lot of power, but it was nowhere near Ushijima's level; as long as he could keep his footing stable, he could receive the ball.
Thud!!
Nice hit!!
Great First Receive! Follow up!
As the calls went up, Yura Shota had also stepped forward to provide support.
He kept Coach Washijo's words firmly in mind, knowing that he had been a bit too impatient just now; this time, his movements were much more composed.
In Suna's field of vision, Yura slightly pulled back his arm, appearing as if he were preparing to send a dump directly over the net.
In that moment of hesitation, Yura Shota suddenly extended his arms upward and sent a dump over the net.
His movement was actually quite crude, but it was enough.
The brief moment of hesitation from Suna and the others was enough for Goshiki Tsutomu to get into position and create an opportunity for his spike.
Miya Atsumu, who was nearby, had already lunged forward. Because his center of gravity had dropped slightly at the start, Suna failed to follow this ball smoothly, his timing in arriving was a bit too late.
Goshiki Tsutomu stared intently at this opening, raising his hands to spike the ball with all his might over Suna's head.
Suna decisively pulled back, letting the ball smash straight through.
Although his fingertips could barely touch the ball, setting aside whether that contact could dissipate the force or change the direction of the volleyball, Goshiki Tsutomu's terrifying spiking power alone was enough to make him stay vigilant.
He didn't wrap his fingers during this match, he could very well get injured; if he did, the impact on his subsequent matches would be truly unacceptable.
Unabara Uta dove from the back row in an attempt to receive the ball, but he ultimately failed to control it, the ball flew toward the net with insufficient height.
Hinata hurriedly reached out to dig it, but the ball still hit the net and eventually hit the floor.
Goshiki Tsutomu clenched his fists and cheered, "Yes!"
It only allowed Miya Atsumu to score one point, which was much better than their original estimate of two.
Aran turned his head in the stands.
Kita Shinsuke watched the crowd in the court in silence, his raised hand slightly obscuring his lower lip, his expression calm and serious.
Beneath that calm expression, Aran sensed an extremely dangerous aura.
He pressed his hands together in prayer, mourning Miya Atsumu once again.
—Atsumu, it's not that I won't help you, it's just that there's no way to help anymore.
——Good luck.
Watching Kanegawa go to serve, the Shiratorizawa players shouted, "Give us a good one!"
Goshiki Tsutomu raised his hand to touch the part of his face that had ultimately swollen, he bit his inner lip lightly.
It was fine; it wasn't like he had lost an arm or a leg, so it wouldn't stop him from playing volleyball.
He knew that at this stage, Shiratorizawa's overall skill level was relatively average, making it difficult for them to defeat Inarizaki, but.. losing like this was something he could not accept.
Before this match ends, we must play to our heart's content, no matter what.
Unlike Shirabu, whose style leans toward single-core offense, Yura's setting style is more diverse.
Additionally, since Shiratorizawa is no longer that kind of absolute single-core lineup that it was when Ushijima was there, his adaptability is actually even higher.
Goshiki.. he really does feel more suited to being a secondary spiker.
Amatori evaluated it this way from the stands.
He himself is a specialist in secondary attacks, in some ways, he is actually very similar to Goshiki.
Of course, it wasn't the hairstyle.
Sakusa nodded. "Yeah, it would be even better if there were a spiker as powerful as Wakatoshi."
Iizuna asked Ushijima, "Does Goshiki have any intentions regarding graduation?"
Ushijima shook his head. "Not yet."
He added after thinking for a moment, "He doesn't have any thoughts yet, but I watched Miyagi's Preliminary Round when I was with Wakamura Kiryu and the others before, Kiryu really likes Goshiki."
For professional players, the schedule for a year is nothing more than participating in various international competitions in the summer, preparing for the National Sports Festival in various prefectures and cities as autumn approaches, the V League regular season in late autumn, the V League playoffs in early spring, preparing for the Black Eagle Flag in late spring, before starting the repetitive process for the second year.
For college students who have already entered the National Team selection process, they simply replace the V League matches in the aforementioned process with the University Championship.
But only the semifinalists of the University Championship can participate in the Black Eagle Flag, so besides the very top few schools, none should be within the selection range of Goshiki and the others.
Based on Ushijima's personal observations of various schools, the ones with strong competitiveness and those poised for major development are Central Physical Education University, Nippon Sport Science University, Waseda, Tokai Heavy Industries, among others.
As for himself, he is currently pursuing his degree at Juntendo, but his overall schedule is primarily centered around the National Team.
In addition to the regular schedules for major tournaments, he will also lead a team to participate in some international Three-on-three tournaments. Furthermore, after completing this year's coursework, he has a trip to Europe for exchange and study next year.
If possible, he will recommend Goshiki Tsutomu to the Azure Rockets.
But it would ultimately depend on Goshiki Tsutomu's own thoughts at the time; it wasn't out of the question that Coach Washijo and the others might have other arrangements after their discussion.
Sakusa asked, "What about you, Wakatoshi?"
Ushijima said calmly, "I still have a lot of things to learn."
Hearing this, Sakusa had no more doubts and refocused his attention back onto the court.
Unabara Uta received Kawanishi Taichi's serve, Miya Atsumu orchestrated a two-point attack using Hinata and Rishia in the front row.
Yuunohama completed a One-touch, on the other side, Yanagita, who had stepped back, received the ball.
Having secured the ball, Yura Shota immediately passed it to Goshiki Tsutomu in Position 2.
Goshiki pulled back his strength at the moment of the spike, lightly tapping the volleyball into a dump toward the Inarizaki court.
Unabara Uta dove from the back row to save the ball.
Unabara's dump wasn't high enough, the ball was still very fast..
Miya Atsumu could no longer keep up with this ball.
Goshiki Tsutomu's brain quickly reached this conclusion, his gaze following the ball as it rose and then fell.
The ball was falling near Rishia and Hinata; if nothing unexpected happened, the set should come from one of those two..
“I've got it!”
Rishia shouted, tilting his head back while stepping back to find the ball, managed to dig it with a forearm pass.
In such a low position, he couldn't actually provide a very delicate set, it was quite difficult for him to control how close or far the ball would be from the net.
But he didn't plan on worrying about all that; in a situation like this, the only thing he had to consider was the single task of "getting the ball out there."
Moreover, Hinata isn't picky about the set at all.
Even when his most frequent setter is Miya Atsumu, Hinata's requirements for a setter have always been quite low.
As long as.. the ball stays up.
As Goshiki Tsutomu and Kawanishi Taichi chased after it, Hinata had already jumped up as well.
It didn't really matter if his vertical jump wasn't high enough; he was constantly working hard for the sake of being able to spike any kind of ball.
Having dabbled in most technical plays, Hinata could actually come up with many different solutions.
Whether it was a back-row attack or a deceptive spike, both were highly feasible options.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of the opponent's positioning, while the back row remains vigilant against a dump, the willingness of the Shiratorizawa block, led by Yuunohama, to allow a direct score is not particularly high, making it difficult to deceive them.
The Libero is not on the court, but Kanegawa's receiving is also quite good; trying to play a back diagonal or find a way to play a line probably isn't a great option either.
So.. he prepared to choose a different way to play.
Hinata jumps below this ball.
Because his height is not great, he has almost no arm extension during his jump; it could be said that his jump is quite perfunctory, as if he is preparing to let the ball go straight over the net as a dump.
On the other side, Yanagita took a step closer to the block.
Just then, Hinata went for a backhand touch on the ball, his entire body shifting slightly with the motion of his arm, hooking the ball toward Shiratorizawa's front court.
It was too late for Yanagita to turn his head and save the ball; the ball landed softly, hitting just a few millimeters inside the line.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
After landing, Hinata took two steps back to dissipate the momentum and let out a soft breath.
“Yes! It worked!”