[64] Grade 11: Spring National High School Competition
The moment Imadegawa finished speaking, the usual gentle and harmless aura around him vanished abruptly.
An invisible, unsettling sense of oppression spread out from him.
Now, Chuchuan didn't glance at the general's stunned expression again.
The golden-eyed setter calmly turned to his own half of the court, raising his chin very slightly, almost imperceptibly, and almost elegantly.
That subtle movement seemed not to be a command, but an action of pressing a button for final command and decision.
And so, with his movements, some invisible gears began to turn at that moment.
The demeanor of all the Hemingguan team members on the field suddenly changed.
The slight agitation caused by the loss of points due to controversy vanished instantly, replaced by a profound and unfathomable tranquility.
The starting lineup of Heming Hall, dressed in white team uniforms, stood in a staggered pattern on the field.
Like a chess game meticulously planned, everyone's eyes were calm as still water, yet carried a chilling intent to see through everything, all focused on Tomi's half of the court.
Not only them, but also their substitutes' bench after halftime and the cheering squad in the stands, all seemed to be in sync, falling silent and quietly watching Tomi's halftime.
All the angry whispers and resentful words, all the restless and helpless facial expressions, all transformed into a calm and tranquil pool—
A pond that serves only as a habitat and habitat for cranes.
Countless gazes fell calmly and attentively on Hu Mei's half of the court.
Like a net suddenly woven in a pool, it invisibly and heavily surrounds the still bewildered little snakes.
Amidst all these gazes, the general's peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the scoreboard on the sidelines.
The score, which had become soft and blurry in the corners of his vision after taking the point from Tsurumeikan, was once again clearly and sharply outlined in this strange "silence"—
——
Crane Pavilion: Tomi
20:13
——
General Yu's heart skipped a beat.
......
The following matches became a one-sided performance by the Crane Pavilion.
With his golden eyes that seemed to see through everything, Imadegawa completely controlled every inch of space and every second on the court.
Numai, the first-year main attacker for Tomi, stood behind the baseline and took a deep breath.
He tossed the ball, took a running start, and jumped—his movements were fluid and explosive. The volleyball left his hand and flew straight to the back corner of the Heming Hall.
Saotome had already anticipated this, and his movement when receiving the ball was perfectly precise, with his arms brought together to meet Numai's incoming ball.
—Although Saotome is the shortest player in the current national competition, his skills are among the best of all liberos in the country. His selection as the best libero in the nation, achieved by breaking through the ranks of upperclassmen in his first year, is a testament to his exceptional talent.
With a dull thud, the ball was caught smoothly, tracing a gentle arc as it flew towards Imadegawa's position.
The volleyball lingered briefly at the setter's fingertips before being quickly pushed out—a low, fast back pass that flew straight to the right wing.
Qingliu, who had taken a running start and jumped early under the direction of her own setter, swung her arms with a graceful movement like willow branches swaying in the wind.
A powerful but beautiful diagonal smash, penetrating right into the gap in Tomi's defense.
The ball's speed, unlike his seemingly slow movements, was surprisingly fast.
When Hu Mei made a diving save, her fingertips could barely graz the ball.
The ball slammed heavily onto the floor.
"Beep—!" The referee blew his whistle.
A gasp erupted from the audience, followed by the loud, clear clanging of the gongs from the Crane Cry Pavilion support group and restrained applause from the audience.
The support group on Tomi's side fell silent instantly, and some supporters in the audience behind her covered their mouths.
—Too fast!
This counterattack was incredibly swift.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Tsurumeikan's fast attack landed on Tomi's court.
Numai stood frozen in place, staring at the volleyball that had been swiftly countered and was still bouncing slightly after landing, his lips pressed tightly together.
"Don't mind!" Hu Mei's ace shouted, clapping her hands loudly. "Stay calm! Take the next point!"
But a hint of anxiety flickered deep in his eyes.
—The mentality of Heming Pavilion is terrifyingly good.
Despite being so provoked, he was still able to spike such a stable and beautiful ball.
...That's hard to understand.
General Yu Guangzhong's scoreboard flipped silently.
——
Crane Pavilion: Tomi
21:13
——
After the rotation, it was Akiyama's turn to serve at Tsurumeikan.
Akiyama is the only player in the Tsurumeikan official team besides Koizumi who can freely serve jump serves in major competitions without having to follow Imadegawa's instructions.
Although Akiyama's jump serve error rate was twice as high as Koizumi's, his jump serve had an advantage that Koizumi couldn't match—his jump serve was the most powerful and energetic serve among all the players at Tsurumeikan.
After the referee blew the whistle, Akiyama immediately threw the ball out.
He rarely serves while keeping the countdown in place; he serves spontaneously.
The volleyball dropped rapidly after crossing the net, heading straight for the back corner of the net.
The third-year libero, Hu Mei, gritted her teeth and managed to get the ball up, but the first pass was of poor quality, and the volleyball once again flew out in a high and floaty arc.
Sakishima tried to adjust, but the ball's spin wasn't ideal. He managed to lift the ball towards position four, but the height and position were both subpar.
“Numai!” Sakishima shouted.
Numai sprinted up from the back row, jumped with all his might, and tried to break the deadlock with a powerful dunk.
In the future, third-year student Numai will be Tomi's only power 5 player, while now first-year student Numai also has power far exceeding that of Tomi and the other students, and even surpassing the third-year technical seniors.
Therefore, his arm swing was powerful and forceful, accompanied by the sound of wind breaking through the air—
However, two high walls had already been erected in front of Numai's hitting spot.
The double block at Tsurumeikan – Aoyagi and Koizumi jumped in unison, with perfect timing.
Four long arms and hands formed an impenetrable barrier, completely blocking Numai's straight-line attacks and most of his diagonal attacks.
Numai tried to twist his body and wrists to avoid their blockade and redirect the volleyball to another route, but the inertia of his body prevented him from doing so.
With her wrist already twisted into position, if she were to frantically twist it due to inertia, she might accidentally hit the ball out of bounds and lose a point. In this situation, Tomi's deliberate loss of a point would only put her in a more disadvantageous position.
So the only option was to try and force your way through the opposing team's net.
Numai gritted his teeth and used all his strength to slam down—
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two heavy, heart-stopping thuds.
The volleyball was blocked solidly, and bounced back even faster, slamming hard into the three-meter line of the court, even bouncing half a meter high.
When Numai landed, he stumbled and almost fell.
He braced himself on his knees, suddenly looked up, and his pupils contracted slightly from the frustration.
The entire stadium fell silent at that moment, with the only sound being the volleyball bouncing up and landing back in Tomi's half of the court.
"It doesn't matter!!!"
Ace Tomi's voice rang out, but her tone was no longer as steady as before, "Next point!"
Hiroo clicked his tongue and turned his face away.
He tried to say something about spreading poison, but swallowed it back, only scratching his head in frustration.
Meanwhile, the numbers on the scoreboard in the corner of the general's field of vision started to jump again.
——
Crane Pavilion: Tomi
22:13
——
Akiyama stepped up to serve again.
Hu Mei's team members were on high alert, their formation slightly tightened.
This time, Akiyama's serve went straight to the center of the backcourt.
Hu Mei, the libero, receives the ball and moves it towards the net.
"Chance ball!" Sakishima quickly stepped forward, ready to organize an attack.
He chose to entrust this ball to his team's ace—but Sakishima did not directly call out his senior's name.
Before the ball even landed in his hands, he gestured almost imperceptibly behind him. Only after confirming the pass was in place did he suddenly step forward and shout, "General!!"
Two consecutive quick losses caused Senjima to instinctively tighten his breathing. He had to be more cautious and stealthy, and couldn't give his opponent any more chance to anticipate his moves.
Knowing that he was merely "covering" for this wave of attacks, the general did not let his guard down.
His running start was still solid and decisive, as if the ball was truly going to be passed to him.
Tomi launched a tiered attack.
But Imadegawa saw through their true attacking target.
"right."
As the Perception-type Aoyagi moved to the right, Imadegawa also spoke.
Koizumi followed in their footsteps.
As a result, the three-man blocker in front of the Crane Pavilion followed closely towards Ace Tomi's usual attack route, blocking all his habitual spiking angles.
In a flash, Tomi made her decision.
Instead of launching a strong attack, he flicked his wrist, attempting to create a time difference with a light drop shot and flick the ball into the open space in front of the Heming Hall.
The volleyball flew over the net and past Aoyagi's fingertips as he blocked the shot, its trajectory light and seemingly about to land and score.
However, another figure darted out from the back of the Crane Cry Pavilion.
It's Saotome again.
The pink-haired free agent moved with astonishing speed, as if he had already anticipated the other party's intentions.
He didn't even make a diving move; he simply took a few quick crossover steps, moved to the front row, and then lowered his body to deliver a clean and crisp underhand pass.
The ball was steadily lifted and sent in a perfect arc over Imadegawa's head.
"Great pass!"
Imaichi's voice remained calm and steady, without the slightest ripple, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
The golden-eyed setter leaped up to pass the ball, leaning slightly backward in the air, and instantly exerted force with his wrist—not a high-arc pull-out ball, but an extremely fast quick ball parallel to the net, low in height and high in speed, flying straight to position four.
Koizumi had already taken his run-up and was in position, almost perfectly timed to receive the ball.
The blue-eyed attacker leaped into the air, overtaking the falling blocker, and swung her right arm down!
"Whoosh—!"
A clean and crisp straight spike, the volleyball like a yellow lightning bolt, incredibly fast, struck the open space in front of the baseline on the Tomi court, leaving the Tomi defenders no time to react.
This ball did not give Tomi the opportunity to call it a controversial one—Koizumi carefully selected the opening after observing the perspectives of the referee and the linesman.
Not only did Tomi not have a chance to block the referee's and linesman's view, but even if she had, such an obvious ball that didn't touch the sideline at all could not have been considered a disputed ball.
Even though Akiyama is an idiot, it's still a bit unbearable to see him being bullied like this by people from other schools...
Koizumi recalled Akiyama's utterly devastated expression after his mistake and felt a strange chill run down her spine.
"Beep—!"
The first referee's whistle rang out sharply once again.
The numbers on the scoreboard seemed to be reflected in the very center of the general's iris, piercing the depths of his pupils with a cold and cruel intensity.
——
Crane Pavilion: Tomi
23:13
——
————————!!————————
(Patting the little ones' paws) Today's post is a super long one—I posted the article first and added the postscript later. I love to ramble on.
Because of considerations regarding the plot, and considering my typing speed is only about 500 words per hour, today's update is still late. Next week's updates will all be adjusted to before midnight every night, probably no later than 11 PM. Those who can't wait can check back the next day. I'll see if I can adjust it back to 9 PM next weekend. If not, it will be fixed before midnight from now on, so I've changed the update time in the synopsis to avoid some readers missing out.
Regarding comments, I realized last night while staying up late that I missed replying to some comments in the chapter before last. That darn writer's assistant swallowed the comments, so I didn't see them ( ). But I've already addressed most of the issues in the chapter before last, so I won't go back to reply. And I won't be replying to the comments for the previous chapter either (private message to Marseille). I hesitated for a long time before writing the first two chapters, and after studying them for a long time today, I still can't find a way to improve them. In the end, I've decided not to revise them for now. I want to stick to my own pace, so I won't be reading the comments for those two chapters.
I'll probably have to add today's comments to the rest of the list and reply later. I'm a typical office worker with only one day off a week, so I need to finish this and go to sleep tonight (otherwise I'll be late for work, sob sob). (Lays down listlessly)
——————
Regarding the rules for this spring high school season, the first-year students were originally supposed to play a best-of-five series, but it has been changed again.
Because there was a problem with the information I initially gathered, I was inexplicably misled by the search engine when writing about IH, thinking that the group stage was best-of-three and the official tournament (round of 16) was best-of-five. The IH rules were too complicated for me to understand (collapses). I was also misled by the search engine into thinking that the Spring High School Championship was a five-game series (completely collapses).
So I was initially convinced that the entire Spring High School Volleyball Championship was a five-set tournament. However, due to my recent deeper understanding of volleyball from writing, I've discovered that in recent years, only the International High School Championship (IH) finals have been five-set tournaments, while only the Spring High School Championship's semifinals and finals have been five-set tournaments. But I don't have the time or ideas for a major revision right now, so let's consider the IH tournament as a matter of timeline and personal settings—in this world, the 2010 IH tournament is a personal setting, and the rules changed in 2011 to reflect the real-world rules of recent years—only the IH finals are held at the national level, while the Spring High School Championship's semifinals and finals are five-set tournaments. Here (the Spring High School Championship for first-year high school students is in early 2011), the second set of the round of 16 match against Tomi completely decided the outcome.
And I'll probably finish with Tomi in one or two chapters, it's already quite long. Next up is Inarizaki. Tomi is in the top 16, but I'm still hesitating about whether to put Inarizaki in the top 8 or the semifinals—(I feel like Inarizaki has always been very strong, so maybe I should put him in the semifinals). If Inarizaki makes it to the top 4, then Fukutani will be in the finals.
Okay, that's about it for today's writing. Goodnight, little ones!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
