[67] Grade 11: Spring National High School Competition
In the stands, Kuroo let out a long sigh of relief.
His eyes burned: "Did you see that, Grinding Stone?"
Kozume Grinding buried his face in his collar, his voice muffled:
"...Ugh. This is so troublesome."
"But... a lot of data has been collected."
Meanwhile, Yoru muttered to himself, "We have to practice more when we get back... They're amazing..."
Hisense looked at the dejected state of the Hu Mei team members, a hint of pity on his face, and sighed: "Although it's satisfying to see them get crushed—it's also a little pitiful to watch..."
"Idiot!" Yoru slapped him hard. "This is the National Tournament!! It's precisely because we lose so decisively that we can truly see where we're lacking!"
The cat coach, sitting in the front row of the Nekoma group, glanced at both sides lining up on the field and suddenly spoke slowly, his voice not loud but clearly reaching the ears of the team members in the back rows:
"Tomi's defensive formation...the positioning and movement tendencies are somewhat similar to those of Tsurumeikan during their IH national team days."
His words were like a pebble thrown into calm water, creating ripples in Kuro's heart.
Kuroo immediately realized, "Eh? Director, are you saying they're imitating Tsurumeikan?"
"How did you figure that out?!" Hisense looked completely bewildered, clearly unable to grasp this tactical connection from the specific match footage.
Lone Claw didn't participate in these lowered gazes, silently nodding in agreement with the cat's supervision.
The similarity of the data, the preference for defensive coverage—these subtle clues had already been automatically compared in his mind, leading to similar conclusions.
As for Yoruichi, as the libero who guards the back line for Otokoma, he has the most keen insight into the defense of both sides.
While Hisense was still wondering, he had already spoken decisively:
"—Because Tomi's defensive focus shift pattern and coverage priority are almost identical to the videos from Tsurumeikan IH National Tournament and Spring High School Qualifying Tournament."
"When dealing with a strong diagonal attack, the back row defense will tend to position itself to protect the center of the court."
Yoru used his finger to trace the movement of dots and lines on the ground in his field of vision.
"But the characteristic of the Hemingguan system is that their libero and back row attackers have a very subtle tendency to move towards the sideline in advance, betting that the opponent's spike is long enough to create space for the first step of the counterattack."
"And just now, in the middle of the second set, in three consecutive rallies against Tsurumeikan's diagonal attacks, the movement choices of their libero and corner players—"
Ye Jiu paused for a moment, then emphasized.
"—It completely replicates this gambling-style substitution pattern. This is not a coincidence; it is muscle memory formed through deliberate learning and imitation."
“However,” Yoru frowned, pointing out the crux of the matter, “they only learned the ‘form’ of moving in advance, but they lack the terrifying instantaneous judgment and explosive starting speed of the Tsurumeikan players to support the ‘soul’ of this back row defense.”
"Therefore, with the same tactical choices, Tsurumeikan can defend and launch counter-attacks, while Tomi will only leave more gaps."
After he finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair: "It looks similar, but it doesn't capture the essence. Using this trick in front of the real person is simply exposing your weakness."
So, did Imadegawa on the field realize it?
This question requires almost no thought.
As the command center that laid the foundation for the current sophisticated and efficient tactical system of the Crane Sound Hall, Imadegawa is thoroughly familiar with this style of play, from its concepts to its details.
How could he not see that the opposing team's tactics were influenced by his own team's?
In the early rounds of the match, Imadegawa had already figured out Tomi's level of imitation and proficiency.
Those who learn from me will live; those who imitate me will die.
Although Tomi is on the path of "learning", because she lacks the absolute individual ability honed by Tsurumeikan with volleyball as the foundation, and the tactical brain of Imadegawa with the ability to see the whole court and adapt to the situation, their imitation can only get the form but not the spirit.
In front of the real entity, this immature system was more easily seen through and targeted, ultimately leading to this complete and utter crushing defeat.
In fact, looking at the subsequent original world storyline, Tomi did not take the path of a purely overwhelming force that relied on absolute power two years later.
What they ultimately developed was a unique style that combined clever choice of attack routes, continuous psychological pressure, and certain serving skills.
Therefore, the existence of Tsurumei-kan was not merely a painful failure for Tomi.
It is more like a cold mirror, clearly reflecting Hu Mei's immaturity and limitations, while also revealing the possibilities of the future.
It was this complete and utter defeat, and the close observation of this team that reigned supreme with "absolute precision" rather than "absolute power," that unexpectedly catalyzed and clarified some of the ideas that Coach Tomi had vaguely sensed but had not yet taken shape before this match.
With his almost ruthless tactical execution, Tsurumeikan inadvertently pointed out a possible direction for future development for Director Tomi Daisui—a kind of "other kind of power" that is different from the one that relies on absolute height and pure strength, but focuses more on tactical games, skill application and mind.
Their learning was not a simple imitation of the Heming Hall, but the beginning of another unique path for Tomi volleyball.
As for Heming Hall, this efficient and crushing victory declared that the strength of this year's IH champion is genuine.
After the whistle blew, announcing that the group of teenagers had successfully entered the top eight, they did not cheer excessively, but instead calmly and quietly lined up and bowed after the match.
But this composure itself is the most powerful declaration.
It made it clear to all viewers that—
Faced with absolute strength, all tricks and psychological warfare are futile.
Heming Hall is about to embark on the path to the national top eight, semi-finals, and finals once again.
————
The members of the Humei team silently began to tidy up the towels and water bottles scattered around the bench.
The air was thick with the sluggishness of defeat. Towels were haphazardly stuffed into backpacks, and mineral water bottles made hollow squeaking sounds.
"...except for the little mole that clings to the ground and is impossible to kill no matter how hard you try,"
Hiroo finally couldn't hold back any longer. He shoved his knee pads into his bag in a fit of anger, clicked his tongue, and said with a tone full of tired exasperation, "How can there be such a gorilla who can jump three meters high and spike the ball even when the blocker's hand is almost poking his eyelid?"
He zipped up his jacket, making a rather large movement.
"Is the Crane Pavilion some kind of amazing zoo? The variety of animals is just too complete."
Takachiho, who was bending over to tie her shoelaces, nodded weakly in agreement, her voice muffled: "Yeah... They're running around on the ground and we can't get through them, and they jump so high that we can't stop them at all—are we playing volleyball or an animal documentary?"
Numai, having changed out of his team uniform, muttered, "And that setter... his eyes are as cold as a reptile's..."
"Do you need me to send a few of you to the zoo right now for a field study and to do a classification research report?" The general roughly pushed his bangs to one side, revealing a smooth forehead with tightly furrowed brows.
His tone was blunt, but it contained more of a powerless self-mockery.
He zipped up the main compartment of his backpack, the jarring sound interrupting everyone's complaints.
The entire team fell into a brief silence.
During the match, they tried to distract their opponents with trash talk, psychological tactics, and all sorts of underhanded tricks, but the people from Heming Hall never seemed to take it seriously from beginning to end.
However, after being completely countered by the opponent with such flawless volleyball, they themselves fell into a state of bewilderment.
...They were completely powerless to fight back.
Hiroo leaned back abruptly, raising his hand to cover his eyes, as if to shut out everything from the outside world and to conceal any expression he might reveal at that moment.
The light from the stadium's overhead lights shone through his fingers, but it couldn't dispel the heavy weight of his realization.
"……after,"
It was unclear who it was, perhaps it was Senjima who had been silent in the corner, but he asked the question tentatively and weakly.
"Want to come and watch their next match?"
The general frowned and did not answer immediately.
Takachiho stared at the tips of her shoes, which were still covered in a little dust from the ground.
"Look! Why won't you look?"
Hiroo abruptly lowered his arm and angrily tightened the last strap of his backpack.
He raised his head, and the burning in his eyes was no longer the gloom and unease he felt on the field, but a more stubborn flame of resentment after being scorched by the crushing defeat.
"Keep an eye on them! Let's see if these monsters can make it all the way to the end and win their second championship!"
"I want to see with my own eyes just how far this team that has beaten us to this state can go!!!"
This strong sense of determination, fueled by intense resentment, unexpectedly rallied Tomi's low morale.
So they actually watched the quarterfinals at Heming Hall.
Watching Hemingguan and his team effortlessly advance to the semifinals with two straight sets of 25-20 and 25-16 victories.
This year's Spring High School Championship schedule was changed, with the entire tournament using a best-of-three format before the semifinals. However, Heming Hall has never been forced into a third game by any school.
However, Tsurumeikan's performance in the Spring High School National Tournament was completely different from that in the IH National Tournament.
Back in the early stages of IH, when Heming Hall played against other schools, they almost always played the full number of games required by the tournament rules, and their advancement process was far from the overwhelming success they have now.
This rapid rate of evolution left the audience in the stands with mixed feelings.
They continued their pursuit of the semi-final match at Heming Hall.
Then, right there in the stands for the semi-finals, they ran into another team.
That familiar, cunning yet composed aura—it's Otoko.
Yinju, the third-year setter, obviously noticed them as well. He raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly, as always, and spoke up: "Hey, aren't these the people from Tomi?"
His gaze met that of the captain, Tomi, at the front of the team.
Meanwhile, the gaze of Kuroo behind Otoko met the gaze of the general behind Tomi.
"What a coincidence."
Yinju Erchuan said, his tone full of meaning.
What a coincidence!
Kuroo didn't speak, but instead mouthed the same words to the general, just like his senior had said.
The captain, Tomi, stopped and met the eyes of setter Onoma.
The air instantly became subtle.
At that moment, it seemed as if some invisible threads were quietly connecting them in the air.
This thread wrapped around Captain Tomie, who was about to graduate, and Captain Otokoma, who was about to graduate.
It also surrounds the future Captain Tomi and the future Captain Otokoma.
————————!!————————
(Feeling guilty, she pats the little ones' paws) They've been chased out, but it's not Inari-zaki ( ).
Big mistake! I thought I could bring up Inarisaki later in this chapter, but it has to start in the next chapter.
After that abrupt ending, it wasn't appropriate to cut directly to Inarisaki; I needed to write something to wrap things up and transition to a different scene. However, the ending didn't keep up with the word count.
Inari-zaki doesn't have as much inspiration as Tomi, so her work might be shorter. Tomi has so much inspiration, she wrote so many chapters!
Finally, I'll save up the comments for the previous and this chapters and post them together tomorrow—I'm a little sleepy, goodnight everyone zzz
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
