[76] Grade 11: Spring National High School Competition
Another spike sailed over Inarizaki's front-row blocker's fingertips.
"I'll do it!"
A calm voice rang out.
The ball was predicted to land deep on the right wing, but Akagi was on the left wing and couldn't reach it.
Just as Ooshiro, who was standing nearby, was about to take a step, he hesitated for a moment because of his hesitation about the defensive responsibility area, and was a beat too slow.
Following that voice, Kita Shinsuke appeared.
He moved swiftly, taking a few quick, overlapping steps to reach the volleyball's landing point. At the same time, he lowered his center of gravity extremely low, bringing his arms together, and aimed at the rapidly descending volleyball.
"Bang!"
He steadily lifted the volleyball, sending it in a gentle arc towards the setter without any unnecessary spin.
"Oh oh oh oh—! It's connected!"
"That first-year student! How can he be so calm at a time like this!"
"That ball was at such a tricky angle, I thought it was definitely going to land!"
A wave of discussion arose from the neutral audience.
At this moment, Kita Shinsuke's heart was as calm as the ball he had just lobbed.
His mind was completely free of distractions, and he remained unmoved by the audience's gasps.
The ball's spin drifted slightly outwards, deviating a bit more than expected.
'Correct placement, appropriate force, and correct direction.'
'Task complete.'
Koizumi landed lightly after smashing the ball, the sole of his shoe making a slight sound as it rubbed against the floor.
He tilted his head slightly, and a slightly aggrieved and reproachful expression even unconsciously appeared on his face, as if he was silently complaining, "Oh dear, how come I didn't kill this ball?"
Koizumi always maintained a soft and harmless facade that was enough to deceive most of his opponents.
'……Um? '
A very subtle sign of doubt flickered in his mind.
Koizumi had expected to hear a dull thud as the ball hit the floor, but to his surprise, he was greeted with a solid, clear, and even perfect tapping sound.
The sound interrupted his smooth offensive rhythm.
'Oh dear...it's been connected.'
His inner voice remained almost cloyingly sweet, as if it were none of his business.
'The landing point calculation was correct, and the speed and angle were tricky enough; theoretically, it should have perfectly avoided all conventional defensive zones.'
'...Shouldn't he have been the one to receive this ball?'
Koizumi's gaze unconsciously turned to the net, briefly meeting Imadegawa's eyes.
There was no surprise in those golden eyes, only complete understanding.
In just a fleeting glance, both of them understood each other perfectly—Inarisaki was making a final struggle.
Jin Chuchuan was the first to turn his attention away.
The slightly aggrieved look on Koizumi's face disappeared, replaced by an intense, focused interest, as if she had discovered a new toy.
This interest is devoid of warmth; it's like examining an experimental subject, driven by pure curiosity.
'That's really interesting~'
Koizumi's inner voice rose slightly, carrying a hint of joy.
'He looks like an ordinary player, but he managed to disrupt my offensive rhythm—'
But the feeling of being interrupted did not annoy him.
Koizumi narrowed her eyes slightly, and the softness she feigned in her gaze as she looked at Kita Shinsuke vanished, leaving only a cold scrutiny.
'But...'
Koizumi's body moved towards the backcourt as the offense and defense switched, her movements still as light and graceful as a butterfly.
'Next time'
'They'll target more vulnerable areas.'
He has already set his sights on a new target.
Koizumi's face quickly regained its harmless expression.
Kita Shinsuke glanced at Koizumi as if he sensed something.
Under Inarisaki's direction, Kita Shinsuke received the volleyball, which was then dodged by Akiyama and spiked diagonally.
Saotome Tsurumeikan provided crucial first pass support.
The first pass is in place, and the second pass from Heming Hall will now be delivered from Sichuan.
Tsurumeikan Akiyama jumps and quickly attacks to dunk on the waistline.
Inarizaki Akagi held up the ball, and the first pass was completed in one and a half places.
After the second pass, Inarizaki ace spiked a short cross-court shot.
In front of the Crane Cry Pavilion, Qingliu made a first pass; in the back row, Xiaoquan made a first pass; and now, Chuchuan made a second pass.
It was another round of offense and defense.
'Can you tell who he intended to pass to from this ball?'
While observing the movements of the Tsurumeikan attackers, Kita Shinsuke also subconsciously analyzed Imadegawa's actions and expressions.
During his IH period, Imadegawa's ball-handling style was extremely restrained, even in practice matches against Inarisaki.
His ball-handling motion was clean and precise, impartial, and showed almost no intention to favor any particular attacker, demonstrating extreme restraint and concealment.
Therefore, their opponents at the time were forced to focus their attention on observing the running timing and jumping movements of the various attackers from the Crane Sound Hall.
Beyond this extremely restrained ball-handling style, what supports the Hemingguan IH tactical system is an efficient multi-point attack.
The synchronized and realistic approach and jump movements of multiple attackers are enough to confuse the opponent's blocking vision.
Although there was only one volleyball, every attacker in the Heming Hall seemed determined to spike the ball at that moment, giving it their all.
This meant that in the last IH National Tournament, very few teams were able to successfully block Hemingguan's spikes with an effective three-man block.
This multi-pronged attack tactic forces the opponent to be distracted and wary of every attacker's potential offensive routes. If the opponent misjudges the situation or fails to recover in time, Tsurumeikan can easily seize scoring opportunities.
However, the advantage of multi-point attacks comes at the cost of enormous physical exertion and endurance for the attackers.
This is also one of the main reasons why Hemingguan used up all six substitution opportunities in almost every game during the IH stage.
But Imaide Kawakita on the Spring High School Championship field has been completely transformed.
After mastering how to suppress his passing tendency, Imadegawa began to use subtle body language and eye contact to confuse his opponents.
Now, Chuchuan has learned "performance".
If the opponent focuses their defense on the attacker he "reveals" based on some seemingly subtle movements or eye signals, then it is very likely to be a trap—he will instead pass the ball to another "ignored" attacking point.
However, if the opponent sees through this and deliberately excludes the passing direction and attacker that he clearly "hinted" with subtle movements, they will think that it must be a feint.
Now that he's leaving Sichuan, he might actually turn the act into reality and pass the ball in the direction initially suggested.
This choice often leaves the opponent regretting it: "My initial judgment was correct!" This can lead to fluctuations and confusion in their mindset.
When Coach Kurosu analyzed Imadegawa's evolution from the Spring High National Tournament videotape, Inarizaki's players were initially somewhat dismissive.
After all, back when they were playing a practice match against Tsurumeikan, Inarizaki and the others had already clearly observed that Imadegawa's actions were generally useless; this guy was too good at hiding his thoughts.
Only after facing each other again on the battlefield of the Spring High School Championship did they truly realize how troublesome the "evolution" of Imadegawa in this aspect had been.
This influence is subtle yet ubiquitous.
Apart from Tsurumeikan, which has an "outlier" like Imadegawa, all other schools—including Inarizaki—invariably include two core elements in their defensive strategy when facing any opponent: first, observing the running and jumping movements of the opposing attackers, and second, observing the movements and vision of the opposing setter to catch clues about the passing.
This has almost become a defensive instinct for all teams, an inertia ingrained in their muscle memory.
Every time they set up a defensive formation, their eyes would unconsciously sweep over the position of the opposing setter, trying to glean information from it.
Now, by leaving Sichuan, they are taking advantage of this "inertia" that is almost universal among volleyball players.
He was no longer satisfied with simply being "expressionless," but began to meticulously weave traps and engage in psychological warfare.
When setting the ball, Imadegawa would occasionally deliberately reveal some subtle, seemingly "subconscious" eye movements or body inclinations, guiding the opponent's gaze, which is accustomed to observing the setter, in the wrong direction he had set.
When Inarizaki's blockers, relying on years of ingrained habits, subconsciously try to interpret his seemingly plausible "hints," they step right into his rhythm.
By the time they realized it might be bait, it was too late; hesitation and confusion had already arisen.
That precious opportunity to intercept was lost in that fraction of a second of hesitation.
After being frustrated, some of Inarizaki's team members adopted a simple and direct method of self-control: since analyzing Imadegawa's actions and eyes would only lead to a trap, they would completely avoid this source of interference.
Instead of analyzing his movements, we should completely abandon any psychological battle with him.
Ignoring Imadegawa's presence, they focused all their attention on the movements of the Tsurumeikan attackers.
But this is undoubtedly difficult, as it involves going against one's own long-established instincts.
Therefore, the effect is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Occasionally, by deliberately "ignoring" the setter, some real passing signs that could have been caught are missed.
Therefore, Kita Nobusuke felt that something was wrong.
Completely ignoring something may seem like avoiding a trap, but it is actually a form of passive abandonment.
This is tantamount to handing over the initiative completely to Imadegawa.
Even now, Izukawa continues to subtly influence Inarizaki's defensive choices, forcing them to change their habits.
However, Inarisaki abandoned the idea of analyzing and countering the opponent's command tower.
According to Kita Nobusuke, while Imadegawa's "performance" was certainly superb, it was by no means without clues.
There must be an extremely subtle difference between his feint and his real pass.
It could be a momentary deviation in muscle exertion, a slight difference in the duration of visual focus, or a subtle imbalance in the body's center of gravity during a feint.
However, since they don't often practice against Tsurumeikan, they can't analyze the situation in depth, and Imadegawa's baiting maneuvers are so skillful that they can't technically distinguish them.
However, if we don't observe at all, it's equivalent to giving up the possibility of finding these tiny flaws.
Nobusuke Kita believes that the correct approach should not be to "avoid" or "ignore," but rather to "redefine the way we observe."
Trying to find out "who he's going to pass to" from Imadegawa's movements can easily lead to a trap. By not observing his movements, you'll miss out on useful information.
Therefore, we should observe calmly and with skepticism to find evidence of which of his actions were deliberate illusions.
It's not about believing what he shows you, nor about deliberately ignoring what he shows you, but about trying your best to distinguish what is false.
After eliminating all the seemingly "obvious" and suggestive actions, what remains—the most ordinary and unassuming—may be closest to the truth.
Kita Shinsuke noticed Imadegawa's subtle, almost deliberate, wrist-twisting motion.
He followed his movement and looked at Akiyama.
...
At that moment, Kita Nobusuke made a decision in his mind.
So this ball—
It was collected for Koizumi!!!
————————!!————————
(Happy paw pat) Finally, the weekend is almost here! I'm going to sleep in this weekend to my heart's content.
A few days ago, I felt like there wasn't much left to write about Inarizaki, and I figured it was almost over. But then I realized that I hadn't written the story about Koho and Kotsuru that I was supposed to write.
I really wanted to write a story about the two of them during the practice matches, but Xiaohe kept saying that they didn't interact much on the field during the practice matches, so I racked my brains but couldn't come up with a story.
Before this chapter, I was thinking of skipping Inarisaki directly, but as I was writing, I realized that this was exactly where the evolution of Tsuru's ball-holding ability was described—
How amazing! I originally intended to put this ball-carrying evolution in Owl Valley, but as I was writing, it was derived from our Xiao Bei.
Actually, I had this inspiration for evolution before the Spring High School Championship, but I don't know which competition it was from.
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