[81] Grade 11: Spring National High School Competition
For Koizumi, the overwhelming pressure of the scene was actually quite interesting.
Koizumi curiously observed the excited audience in the stands.
In his eyes, those shouts that attempted to exert psychological pressure seemed to be a grand performance that had nothing to do with him.
Koizumi would even observe with great interest the reaction speed and organization of the audience in different areas during the intervals between ball possession changes.
Occasionally, Koizumi would turn to his teammates and say in his unique, slightly coquettish voice, "Wow, everyone's shouting so hard, don't your throats hurt?"
His tone was so innocent, as if he genuinely cared about the audience, completely ignoring the hostility hidden in his voice.
...How could the occasional interesting noises from these boring people affect his original strength?
For Akiyama...
—Huh? What kind of pressure?
What? The cheers from the audience are also a form of pressure?
This is beyond Akiyama's comprehension.
Having an empty mind has its advantages.
Akiyama's brain was only loaded with a few simple commands such as "spiking" and "blocking".
As long as the audience doesn't point their fingers directly at Akiyama and loudly say things like "Akiyama, you're terrible at dribbling," and makes sure that the words are clearly heard by him.
Therefore, Akiyama will not be affected by this undercurrent of pressure.
—After all, even if it's cheering for the opposing team, isn't it good in the context of the whole event? What an enthusiastic audience!
The rest of the people in Heming Pavilion—those SRs whose will was not as firm as the SSRs—were not crushed by the atmosphere of being an away team.
However, this is not because each of them has an exceptional ability to withstand pressure, but rather because of the unique atmosphere within the team.
The SSR characters and Imadegawa are all so calm, do they still need to panic?
When they see Imadegawa, the team's commander, steadily deploying tactics, when they see Saotome calmly getting up after each diving save, and when they see even Aoyagi, who is most easily influenced by external factors, focusing on every block jump, a strange sense of security arises spontaneously.
With such spontaneous and willing teammates behind me, what is there to be afraid of?
This unusual composure made some volleyball players in the stands who had faced off against Heming Hall in the Spring High School Volleyball Championship feel regretful.
This unusual composure made some of the volleyball players in the stands, who had previously played against and lost to the Chun High School team, sigh with regret.
"...these guys,"
"It's really perverted," Tomi whispered through gritted teeth.
He recalled that when he first stood on the national competition stage, his palms were sweating with nervousness in the face of cheers that were far less enthusiastic than this.
At the time, the school they were playing against was not the home team either; both schools were playing away games. However, the opposing team had more and more enthusiastic supporters, and the cheers were a bit more intense.
Even so, he was incredibly nervous.
The group at Heming Hall, especially the first-year students, seemed to lack the nerve to handle pressure.
——————
The first game, amidst this somewhat one-sided pressure from the cheering crowd, slowly passed at a pace that didn't quite match the enthusiastic atmosphere, almost dull.
Saying it was dull doesn't mean the game wasn't exciting.
The offensive and defensive transitions between the two sides remained rapid, with the sounds of spikes and blocks ringing out constantly.
However, Heming Hall seemed to be intentionally dragging the match into a war of attrition that they were better at, a test of patience and a low error rate.
They don't pursue flashy attacks, but rather, like the most patient hunters, they gradually wear down their opponents' spirit and stamina through rigorous defense.
Even in the first set, Mokuto was very active, and his spikes broke through the defense of Tsurumeikan several times.
But whenever Fukutani tried to widen the gap to Tsurumikan, someone from Tsurumikan would always step up, with a tenacious save, a timely block, or Imadegawa's seemingly ordinary but always effective set shot, quietly suppressing Fukutani's burgeoning flame by one point.
So when the final whistle blew at the end of the first set, the scoreboard showed a fairly close score—
——————
Crane Cry Pavilion: Owl Valley
26:24
——————
The difference in points doesn't seem large, it could even be described as negligible—in terms of scores, Fukutani has indeed forced the Tsurumeikan, known for its tight defense, into the point-scoring phase.
However, anyone who truly understood the game could see that in order to stay close to the score, Fukutani paid a far heavier price than his opponents. Every save and every attack by the players was accompanied by greater physical exertion and a stronger emotional investment.
When the Xiaogu team members walked off the field, their breathing was noticeably heavier than that of the Hemingguan team members.
In contrast, the players from Heming Hall appeared more relaxed, as if they had just finished a training match of moderate intensity.
According to conventional tactical understanding, the first game is often a probing phase for both sides, a process of assessing each other's strengths and weaknesses and adjusting their rhythm.
However, for Fukudani, who are based in Tokyo and have a strong foundation and home advantage, failing to establish a clear lead in the first game and suppress the away team, Tsurumeikan, is already a passive and rude act.
While his own team members were taking advantage of the break to replenish fluids and adjust their breathing, the undercover supervisor's eyes were secretly fixed on the opposing setter.
Actually—shortly after the national youth team training ended, during a training session of the Fukutani volleyball team, Fukutani's coach, Kenji Akari, deliberately called Mokuto aside and casually asked him about Imadegawa Yuzuru.
The name of IH's best setter, Yuzuru Imadegawa, has already attracted considerable attention from coaches across various schools. Any ambitious coach would instinctively want to obtain more firsthand information.
However, the process of communicating with the wooden rabbit was quite tortuous.
In Wood Rabbit's descriptions, filled with leaps of thought and numerous exclamations—
"Kawakami is amazing!"
"His touch on the ball felt so good!!!"
"But it seems like he won't keep passing the ball to me; he'll pass it to everyone."
"That's right! His eyes are golden! They reflect light like a cat's eyes!"
—The undercover supervisor could only try to remain patient while piecing together a basic impression of Imadegawa's solid skills and calm mind from these fragmented, emotional, and incoherent words.
As for specific tactical skills, on-the-spot decision-making, and other key information, there is almost no information available.
The undercover supervisor gradually supplemented the footage with more information by obtaining video materials from the National Sports Festival, regional qualifiers, and even the first few rounds of the Spring High School National Tournament through various channels.
He observed Imadegawa's tactical choices at different stages of the game and against opponents of varying strengths, and gained a more concrete understanding of Imadegawa's broad vision and grasp of the timing of his ball control.
He even specifically studied the linkage between the Tsurumeikan defense system and Imadegawa as the core of the organization.
After all, Imadegawa is clearly the core of Tsurumyoukan. If there is a real possibility of a confrontation, it will be too late to cram at the last minute.
But all of this video-based analysis seemed somewhat inadequate at this moment—when he was actually standing on the final court, just one net away from Imadegawa.
Observing and analyzing the technical characteristics of Imadekawa from a distance via videotape is one thing.
Standing on the other side of the net and experiencing firsthand the all-around pressure from this first-year setter is a completely different story.
The video can be paused and replayed repeatedly to study Imadegawa's passing techniques and the logic behind his distribution of each ball.
However, it cannot fully convey the timeliness of some of Imadekawa's on-field decisions.
The real Imadegawa in front of us is much more composed than in the video. His control over the rhythm of the game and his decisiveness in making instantaneous decisions are far more imposing than what we feel through the screen.
The basic impressions pieced together through video analysis are being reconfirmed, supplemented, and even overturned by the real Imadegawa before our eyes.
This player, who won the Best Individual Award in his first national-level competition in his first year of high school, is far more composed and difficult to deal with than imagined.
Looking at the first-year captain who was still whispering with the smiling but ruthless coach of Tsurumeikan, Coach Anji sighed.
Looking at the first-year captain, Imadegawa, who was still whispering with the smiling tiger coach of Tsurumeikan in the distance, Coach Anji couldn't help but sigh.
Damn it!
Both are first-year setters, so why is it that Heming Hall can find such a monster-level player!
This is not meant to belittle our own team members, but Imaichi Kazukawa's performance has been far ahead of its time.
The current setter position is in a transitional period: the third-year main setter is about to graduate, the second-year setter lacks a suitable candidate, and among the first-year setters promoted, the strength is only barely enough to serve as a substitute, and the talent can only be described as barely passable. Compared to Imadegawa, they appear immature.
In the first game, as a test, the undercover supervisor prioritized sending out a first-year substitute second passer to adapt to the atmosphere of the competition.
However, the child's rhythm was completely led by Imadegawa. After each pause and slight adjustment, he would unconsciously fall into the opponent's rhythm trap again after a few rounds.
Even with deliberate precautions, it is always difficult to break free.
Even after replacing the setter with a more experienced third-year regular setter, the situation didn't improve much.
This experienced senior setter, due to excessive fear of Jin Chuchuan, was led astray in terms of tactical focus and played with limited freedom.
In a competition, whoever takes control of the pace first gains the upper hand.
Now, Chu Chuan's control of the game's rhythm is excellent, allowing Hemingguan to play smoothly throughout the first game, making Anro Coach almost want to beat his chest in frustration.
Yes, although the score difference seemed close, the rhythm was clearly always in the hands of Hemingguan.
On the surface, Owl Valley seemed to have a chance to turn the tide, but in reality, he was always being subtly suppressed by his opponent.
Crane Cry Pavilion, how cunning!
That's so lucky!!!
The undercover officer took a deep breath.
————————!!————————
(Sucks at my paws—) Goodnight, goodnight—
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