[30] Grade 11: IH National Tournament

The Shiratorizawa players on the field were unaware that the national youth team's training camp coach off the field did not approve of their new tactics, as did the setter from their hometown county's rival school.

After the setter voluntarily abandoned the "one-point attack" strategy, the situation in Shiratorizawa's game gradually became clear.

After scoring several consecutive points, the starters shook off their frustration and actively launched an attack on Heming Hall under the setter's command.

Since the second technical timeout had not yet arrived and the starting players were in strong form, leading to Shiratorizawa scoring consecutive points, Coach Washi didn't waste the opportunity of a regular timeout to communicate with Semi.

"Beep—"

This whistle signaled the fifth point scored by Shiratorizawa after a tactical change, which was achieved through Tsurumeikan.

At this point, they were only one point away from catching up with the six-point serve from the setter and number 4 at Heming Hall.

"Senior—you're getting hit out of bounds a little too often, aren't you?"

Saotome was criticizing the front-row blockers.

"Are you an undercover agent sent by the other side? Or are you just blind and can't see the volleyball?"

Shiratorizawa (front row): Is it internal strife?

It's probably internal strife—

...And the first-year students at Heming Hall are so arrogant, daring to point fingers at their own seniors.

The middle blocker in the front row of the Crane Cry Hall showed no dissatisfaction and readily admitted his mistake to the younger player.

Shiratorizawa (front row): ...

I don't understand, the atmosphere between seniors and juniors is so strange.

Tendo smiled mischievously and teased, "Oh dear~ Poor Number 9, being bossed around by a junior despite being a senior~"

Seeing that No. 9 of Heming Hall did not respond, Tiantong continued to fan the flames: "Could it be... that this is the general atmosphere in your school? You don't even pay attention to the most basic senior-junior etiquette?"

Although the last sentence was addressed to number 9 of the Tsurumyoukan, Tendo looked at the captain of the Tsurumyoukan setter team and covered his face, making a "disbelief" expression.

The rabbit-like child's mouth curved upwards, making no attempt to hide his desire to watch a good show.

...What a low-level attempt at provocation.

It might be useful in other school teams—but in Heming Hall, it's practically useless.

Apart from Imadegawa, all the students at Tsurumeikan came from the same gacha pool.

The distinction between senior and junior is entirely determined by Imadegawa's design.

In other words, Saotome, who was drawn by Imadegawa in his first ten-pull gacha pull, is the oldest "senior" in the Tsurumeikan Men's Volleyball Club besides Imadegawa.

"At Heming Pavilion, the greatest respect is to give the most capable a higher position."

Imadegawa looked directly at Tendo and said, "If you can win a game just by being senior—why doesn't Shiratorizawa put all your seniors in the starting lineup?"

"Oh, of course it's the magnanimity of our seniors who voluntarily stepped aside—" Shiratorizawa, the red-haired vice-attacker, whose strategy had been turned against him, remained smiling.

...I won't fall for it.

It's a pity about Tiantong.

Tendo, who is also skilled in psychological tactics, intermittently provoked everyone at Tsurumeikan during these four matches.

The libero of the Crane Pavilion was the easiest to provoke, but the angrier he was, the more accurate his pass became. After several provocations, Tendou simply changed his choice.

The fourth middle blocker seemed to be deaf and unresponsive, pretending not to hear anything Tian Tong said. Her blocking and quick attacks were as consistent as a robot from beginning to end.

The captain and setter of Tsurumeikan is a deep and cunning man, hard to shake. Too much provocation will only put pressure on Shiratorizawa.

Only players number 8, 9, and 10, along with the rest of the starters and substitutes, are at a normal level. After fooling (iwla) with their spikes or blocking them, a little provocation will make you feel their emotional fluctuations and a slight decline in performance.

However, once their performance drops to a certain threshold, the junior free agents from the Heming Hall will rush out and berate them, instantly bringing these senior Heming Hall players back to normal.

Tendo always fails in his attempts to sow discord among his teammates at Tsurumeikan.

The Crane Cry Pavilion is surprisingly united, and no matter how much they are provoked, they never complain about their teammates.

Perhaps because the setter captain was a freshman, the senior middle blockers and outside hitters also treated the other two strong freshmen with a accommodating and respectful attitude.

In this psychological battle, Tiantong was unable to find a leverage point that could completely break down Hemingguan.

......

The pace of the match was fast, and after being reprimanded by Saotome, Tsurumeikan's front row regained their form and their blocking accuracy increased sharply.

The entire Heming Hall team, led by their setter, once again broke back the two-point deficit against Bai Niao.

Perhaps due to his focus on blocking and attacking, Shiratorizawa's receiving ability is slightly inferior to Inarizaki's.

After receiving Shiratorizawa Taihei's spike, Saotome immediately sent the first pass towards Imadegawa.

Before the volleyball even reached the hands of Imadegawa at position three, the attackers at Tsurumeikan were already preparing to launch their attack.

Qingliu, in position four of the Crane Sound Hall, suddenly pushed off the ground and sprinted to the right, his sneakers screeching against the floor.

At the same time, the outside hitter at position two of the Heming Hall launched their attack simultaneously like an arrow released from a bow, and the two drew two intersecting streams of air in front of the net.

...Is it a backflip or a close-range speed attack?

—It's near-body fast!

Tiantong's intuition seemed to foresee his prediction.

Tiantong raised his arms and kicked with his legs.

His body leaned slightly to the right, blocking Aoyagi's spike route, which was already less than half a meter in front of Imadegawa.

A smile had just begun to appear on Tendo's lips.

Can--

Now, leaving Sichuan, they suddenly pulled their hands back!

The volleyball, without being passed by the setter, flew straight over the net and hit Tendo, who jumped to block.

"Smack—"

It was an extremely loud sound.

The volleyball, like a passionate lover rekindled after many years, eagerly kissed Tendo's face.

The Nagoya Municipal Gymnasium, which had always been filled with hushed discussions since the start of the match, suddenly fell silent at this moment.

It seemed as if even the air itself had frozen in that instant, and the tiny dust particles floating in the beam of the overhead light seemed to have stopped moving.

The volleyball, after making close contact with Tendo, unexpectedly did not bounce back from Tendo's face to the half of the court at Tsurumeikan. Instead, it reluctantly slid down his face, along his body, and to his feet.

"Thump—"

"clatter,"

Tendo landed on the ground with a blank expression, just like the volleyball.

The volleyball that slipped off him bounced at his feet.

Two sounds, "da, da".

—It seemed as if volleyball had some lingering affection for Tendo, but it also sounded like the starters at Tsurumeikan were gloating and mocking him.

"puff--"

Loud laughter erupted from the audience.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

"Hahahahahahahaha..."

First, a few audience members couldn't hold back their laughter, then one person led another, and two people led two more... bursts of laughter spread uncontrollably throughout the venue.

The entire audience was filled with joy.

"Beep...beep—"

The referee couldn't help but laugh, and the whistle signaling that Heming Pavilion had scored was blown in two parts.

Tendou looked up at Imidekawa with an incredulous expression.

Jin Chuchuan smiled calmly.

The intuitive, red-haired middle blocker, Shiratorizawa, was completely speechless, his pupils, the size of fruit pits, trembling violently within their sockets.

"puff--"

The commentator couldn't help but suppress his laughter and explained to the audience: "That was brilliant! Shiratorizawa's Tendo anticipated that Imadegawa was going to use a close-range fast attack against Aoyagi, so he jumped to block the route. But the big-hearted Imadegawa played along and successfully scored a point with a tip shot!"

Even the cheering squad at the Heming Pavilion didn't realize they needed to cheer for a moment, and ended up laughing with the audience.

The audience in Shiratorizawa's stands also couldn't help but chuckle.

The unexpected point from Hemingguan temporarily dispelled the tension of the fourth game of the quarterfinals.

"That was amazing! I'm going to cut this out and watch it over and over again when I get back."

"It would definitely go viral on the forum, right?"

"It can be directly included in the highlights of all previous IH national competitions."

"Such ingenious tactics... the setter at Heming Hall is really not very honest," a spectator said tactfully.

In the audience seats at half of the performance at the Heming Hall.

Blackbeard covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking.

Jiaoming heard the eccentric laughter of the overly familiar middle-aged man next to him.

If the actor were walking down the street and heard this sound, he might have suspected that someone was mentally ill, but now he says he understands.

...Your heart is too dirty. Now you're leaving Sichuan.

Why didn't he record it?

The actor's name is a source of great regret.

—Afterwards, you must find the videotapes and official video clips and save them to your photo album.

"evil!!!"

"That's so evil!!!"

The Inarisaki group, not far behind them, spoke in unison.

"Luckily, our setter is a kind and good kid!"

The third-year ace of Inarizaki hugged the third-year setter of Inarizaki and said lovingly.

Inari-saki, the setter who often launches second-chance attacks and has almost been challenged to fights by countless schools after matches: ...

He nodded in deep agreement.

I'm just such a kind-hearted person.

It's rare for Wei Bai not to complain about the ace senior's fatherly love for the setter senior.

He thought with a heavy heart: It's good that Jin Chuchuan went easy on them; such a vicious trick wasn't used on them.

Becoming the rival school of a server who breaks the IH tournament record for consecutive service points, or becoming a topic of endless online discussion and jokes that will be unearthed by schools participating in the national tournament in the future—it's better to be the former.

They, Inarizaki, lost with dignity!

Even if Shiratorizawa wins against Tsurumeikan in this match, it won't be a respectable victory afterwards!

That flaming head will definitely be the star of any classic highlight reel video from IH history—

Ooshiro expressed his condolences to the middle blocker of Shiratorizawa.

——————

Despite this unexpected situation, the tense atmosphere of the competition eased slightly.

But Imadegawa's incredible stop-and-go shot, dubbed "the divine move," brought the game back into a tense atmosphere.

The fourth game went into its second technical timeout.

At this point, the score difference between Tsurumeikan and Shiratorizawa was almost negligible.

"Eitai, pass the ball to Jolly next." Coach Eagle's voice was calm and confident.

Semi suddenly looked up, her pupils contracting sharply, and she opened her mouth slightly as if she hadn't heard clearly: "...What?"

--Why?

The situation in Shiratorizawa is clearly very good right now...

Semi couldn't understand.

Not only Seti, but all the starting players in Shiratorizawa also looked puzzled.

Apart from Ushima Island, he always maintained a calm and composed expression.

"Wakari, can you guarantee that you can maintain your highest level of spikes under the defense of Tsurumeikan?" Coach Washi looked directly into Ushijima's eyes.

"I can." Ushijima said calmly and without fear.

"Can you do it?" Coach Eagle turned and stared into the eyes of each of the starting players.

The starters were speechless.

Semi's throat tightened, but she couldn't refute it.

————————

(Ta-da!) (The evil author makes a grand entrance) What's the first thing to do today? — Reach out your evil little hands and touch my little treasures from head to toe.

Before writing Shiratorizawa, my only inspiration was the scene where Tendo gets his face slapped by a volleyball (feeling guilty) (hands clasped together). Kaku, I'm sorry, but your intuitive blocking and this plot are such a perfect match, I couldn't stop writing it... But it took me so long to get to this part, Shiratorizawa, you guys are really a formidable opponent—

Since I started writing this, I've been frantically catching up on volleyball knowledge, watching all sorts of volleyball videos on the "Muyin Digua Xiaodian TV" (a popular Chinese video streaming platform), and following dozens of volleyball bloggers. Men's volleyball is so powerful and fast-paced; you can barely keep up! But it's so exciting!!!