Chapter 7: The Start of the Inter-High Tournament
The night before the National Junior High School Athletic Meet, Miyagi Prefecture preliminaries.
Having enrolled in spring April, endured two hours of club activities daily, and been ruthlessly drilled by Ichise Guren for three months, the three little newcomers were so excited about the upcoming official match that they couldn't sleep.
Hyakuzawa Yudai and Hinata Shoyo were similarly excited, but under the good sleeping habits formed by Ichise Guren's ironclad schedule, both still managed to drift off to sleep despite their excitement.
Hoshino Masaru was sleeping comfortably at home. As a libero who had participated in prefectural tournaments for two consecutive years, although his presence was low-key, these preliminaries weren't enough to keep him awake at night.
Meanwhile, Ichise Guren was in his home theater room, watching match footage of Kitagawa Daiichi from the past year.
Traditional powerhouse schools like Kitagawa Daiichi usually had third-years and second-years as regulars unless someone was exceptionally strong.
So the opponents they'd face tomorrow would mostly be players who had appeared as second-years last year. These people would definitely be their main adversaries tomorrow.
If he could thoroughly analyze them, their win rate would improve considerably.
Theoretically, watching footage together with teammates during club activities would allow better discussion of opponents' technical characteristics and solution strategies.
However, considering that aside from Ichise Guren, most team members were participating in this type of competition for the first time, they were already under considerable pressure. If they gathered together to watch match footage of a prefectural powerhouse like Kitagawa Daiichi, it would very likely add even more pressure on his teammates.
Rather than increase the pressure on these greenhorns, it was better for him to watch carefully at home and then properly brief them on important matters tomorrow.
Sitting upright on the leather sofa, watching the match footage intently.
In front of him was a laptop with an Excel spreadsheet open for data recording.
Service ace situations, who had the strongest serves, whether they favored left or right side probabilities.
How serving position affected serve placement, spin tendencies in mid-air.
Who received the most spike sets, what kind of sets the setter preferred when facing different defensive formations.
When they liked to execute second attacks.
Ichise Guren recorded data while taking analytical notes.
Kageyama Tobio, setter.
His serving preference was using ball control and speed to exploit gaps in the opponent's defensive positioning.
Fast ball speed, not much power, spin direction leaning right.
First choice for spikes is... Kindaichi?
"No, that's not right."
Ichise Guren felt something was off and went back to specifically review all the spikes in matches where Kageyama Tobio was the setter after the third-years retired.
"This guy doesn't have a first choice at all - he only sets to whoever has the best opportunity."
"Doesn't he have anyone he's close to on the team? No emotions? All logic?"
——
Club activity room.
Ichise Guren opened the door, and six people turned their heads in unison.
"Yo, good morning, everyone."
The response was also unanimous.
"Good morning!"
Although the three little ones had heavy dark circles under their eyes, you could tell they were in relatively good condition.
The three seniors were in high spirits, especially Hinata Shoyo, who was already eagerly doing warm-up stretches.
Looking at all the team members ready for battle, Ichise Guren couldn't help but show a smile full of fighting spirit.
"Bring your clothes and equipment."
Ichise Guren turned around stylishly.
"Let's go!"
Miyagi Prefecture Citizens' Gymnasium.
"Hinata-senpai! Wait for us!"
"Yeah, yeah, slow down!"
Leaving everyone behind, Hinata Shoyo, participating in an official match for the first time, was extremely excited.
He ran quickly down the sunken staircase and entered the competition venue.
Standing still, he was stunned by the spectacular scene before him.
Large venue, players in different school uniforms all doing their respective warm-up training.
Then came that classic phrase - the smell of pain relief spray.
Thanks to the addition of Ichise Guren, Hyakuzawa Yudai, and Hoshino Masaru, Hinata Shoyo's two childhood friends who might have originally been brought along as make-weights were told they just needed to be added to the roster for numbers.
If any injuries occurred, they'd be contacted in advance to come as substitutes.
Thus, a team of 7 people with an age gap appeared.
"Should we warm up?"
Suzuki, one of the super nervous three little ones, stammered a reminder to Hinata Shoyo.
"Yeah, everyone, let's go to our court to warm up first!"
Ichise Guren also spoke up, his gentle and calm tone easing his teammates' nervous psychology.
They walked to their team's court and began warming up.
Looking around, Hinata Shoyo suddenly felt his eyes getting moist.
'Three years! Do you know how I spent these three years?'
Not dwelling on Hinata Shoyo's inexplicably moved complex psychological activity.
Beside the court, two idle junior high students were attracted by the heights of Ichise Guren and Hyakuzawa Yudai in the Yukigaoka team.
"Whoa! So tall! That team!"
"What? Where?"
"Eh! Really! That team has such unique heights!"
"Two kings carrying a bunch of bronzes?"
"Could that tallest one be two meters tall?"
"Maybe almost there!"
They began discussing their height data.
After the Yukigaoka group came closer and they saw the school name on their uniforms, they suddenly understood.
"They're the team I was talking about!"
"What?"
"The school that wasn't famous before but has to face the national candidate Kitagawa Daiichi in their first match!"
"That one! 'Poor Yukigaoka'?"
"Right! Look, isn't 'Yukigaoka' written on their uniforms?"
After looking at the Yukigaoka team, the two looked at each other.
The one with shorter hair hesitated before speaking: "Do you think..."
"Does Yukigaoka have a chance to beat Kitagawa Daiichi?"
The one with longer hair answered without hesitation.
"Of course they don't! Well..."
Then he wavered a bit.
"Maybe they have a chance? That big guy should be the tallest volleyball player in Miyagi Prefecture, right?"
"Hard to say, Kitagawa Daiichi seems to have many players over 180cm tall too."
Just as these two idle people were whispering, Kitagawa Daiichi's volleyball team entered through the player tunnel, and these two directly faced all of Kitagawa Daiichi's overwhelming presence.
"Ah! They're here!"
"So tall! They don't look like ordinary people!"
"Are they really junior high students?"
A strong oppressive aura swept toward all the players present.
Accompanied by Kitagawa Daiichi's cheerleading squad's increasingly loud cheering, the aura of those Kitagawa Daiichi players, who were far taller than their peers, became increasingly intense.
It engulfed everyone on the court.
Looking at the Yukigaoka team, aside from Ichise Guren and Hyakuzawa Yudai, who weren't inferior in height to the Kitagawa Daiichi members, and Hoshino Masaru, who had rich tournament experience, the three little ones plus Hinata Shoyo were basically all intimidated by this overwhelming aura.
Combined with the nervousness of the preliminary round, all four had a trembling feeling.
Hinata Shoyo even felt like he needed to use the bathroom.
Suzuki spoke with a trembling voice: "Eh? They're our first round opponents?"
Mori also said with a horrified expression: "With that kind of aura, they're championship candidates, right? How are we so unlucky..."
Kawashima, who hadn't spoken, swallowed his saliva with difficulty.
Ichise Guren took a small step forward toward Kitagawa Daiichi's direction, and a powerful aura tinged with a hint of brutality rose up.
This step drew the attention of everyone from Yukigaoka.
Feeling the gazes from behind him, Ichise Guren turned around.
He clapped his hands.
"Alright, alright."
"We're all junior high students. Even if their average height is taller than ours, none of them is taller than Yudai."
Everyone looked at Hyakuzawa Yudai's tall figure, and instantly a sense of security arose.
"First-years!"
Ichise Guren's burning gaze looked at the three little ones who had calmed down somewhat.
"Feel free to do what you've done countless times these past three months!"
"Leave the rest to us with peace of mind!"
"Alright, continue warming up!"
****
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