"And ah!"
Ikkei Ukai rubbed his chin thoughtfully and continued:
"Not long ago, I saw a really impressive player on TV during a Karasuno match!"
"So, I couldn't help but come see for myself this time!"
"Haha! You must be talking about Akira!"
Makoto Shimada immediately guessed the player Ukai was referring to.
"That's right!"
"When that kid came to me, he mentioned it."
"But I still wanted to witness it with my own eyes."
"After all, I haven't seen such a talented player since I first started coaching."
...
While they were deep in conversation, the warm-ups for both teams had wrapped up.
The starting players gradually stepped onto the court, and once the referee confirmed the player numbers, he blew the whistle to officially start the match!
Thus, Karasuno's first match of the Spring Tournament had officially begun!
Karasuno had the serve!
And this time, the first server in the back row was none other than Shōyō Hinata!!
This time, his serve had improved dramatically compared to before!
It was no longer a simple underhand serve but a powerful jump serve!!
Though still a bit raw, it already carried significant power!
Boom!
The ball shot toward the left side of Kakugawa's back row!
Smack!
The serve struck the arm of libero Taishi Minamida, who barely managed to pick it up!
However, the trajectory was poor, and the ball veered toward the front row near Yuzuru Komaki!
"Sorry!"
Minamida clenched his teeth—he hadn't expected Hinata to deliver a jump serve!
Obviously, in previous footage of Karasuno, Hinata's serves had always been basic underhand ones!
"It's okay!"
Komaki saw that the ball had been kept alive, regardless of its placement.
He dashed in the direction where the volleyball was headed!
On the other side of the net, Karasuno's three front-row players quickly adjusted.
With a poor pass like this, Kakugawa's options were severely limited!
Which meant Karasuno had an easy chance to block!
Sure enough, when Komaki reached the ball's landing point, he made a low set from below—
A second touch, sent backward!
"Hyakuzawa!!"
Komaki called out loudly:
"Coming to you!"
On the other side of the net, the Karasuno blockers immediately recognized the setup!
With the poor receive, Kakugawa was relying—again—on their secret weapon:
Yūdai Hyakuzawa, standing two meters tall!!
With that height advantage, very few teams could touch his spikes!
But this time…
Hyakuzawa jumped just like always, swinging his arm with full force at the front of the net!
And on the Karasuno side, Akira and the other two front-row players jumped together!!
Smack!!
The once-unbreakable spike was blocked solidly by Akira!!
Tweet!
The referee's whistle sounded off the court!
Karasuno scored the first point!!
"Oh my God! What insane jumping power!!"
"He's way too strong!"
"So this is the strength of a championship team?!"
...
Cries of shock echoed from the audience.
Especially from veteran fans.
In previous matches, they had known Akira was strong.
His jumping ability was already beyond average—he could spike above blockers effortlessly!
But they'd never felt just how extreme his bounce really was—until now!
Seeing him face off against a 2-meter-tall attacker made it crystal clear!
The visual of Hyakuzawa's height was overwhelming on its own!!
Yet Akira, despite being more than ten centimeters shorter, had jumped high enough to stop that spike cold!!
Hyakuzawa, whose Spike had been blocked, stood frozen, staring across the net...…
This was the first time he'd experienced this kind of thing!
He'd only been playing volleyball for half a year!
And this was just his second time in an official match!
The first was during a Spring Tournament qualifier, where he played in two matches.
Up to now, whether in practice games or team scrimmages, no one had ever blocked his spikes!
His height advantage had been overwhelming!
But today was the first time his attack was stopped!
And it was stopped by someone over ten centimeters shorter!!
Yet this Karasuno #7 had jumped higher and completely shut down his smash!!
The other Kakugawa players glanced at him, sighing quietly…
They had expected this.
They'd seen Karasuno's previous matches!
With Akira's incredible bounce, how could he not stop Hyakuzawa's spike—one that relied on height alone?
Komaki had even warned Hyakuzawa before the match to be prepared.
That against Karasuno, someone would definitely block his smash!
At the time, Hyakuzawa hadn't quite believed it.
He had always thought that height was everything.
And now…
Komaki walked over, placed a hand on his shoulder, and sighed.
"Don't worry about it, Hyakuzawa."
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1st Bonus Chapter - 400 Power Stones
2nd Bonus Chapter - 800 Power Stones
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