The score was 3–0.
The air in the gym felt stifling. It wasn't just because of the score gap, but also because of the bizarre sense of suppression on the court. On one side was a "dream team" featuring a Genius Setter and a superhuman rookie; on the other was a ragtag group made up of a gaming geek, a sharp-tongued guy, and a timid sidekick.
If you'd watched the past few days of practice, you'd have thought this scene was a game bug.
Yamaguchi Tadashi gripped the volleyball tightly, his palms slick with sweat. He stood at the baseline, feeling as though the sound of his heart pounding against his chest was loud enough for the whole gym to hear. His previous serves hadn't been faults, but those weak Underhand Serves were practically gifts to the other side at this level.
"Hey."
A voice suddenly came from beside him. Yamaguchi jumped and turned to see Lu Ren standing not far away, hands on his hips, watching the other side with an easy expression, as though he were waiting for a game to load.
"Um... Lu Ren?"
"Don't be so tense." Lu Ren didn't look at him; his gaze remained fixed on Hinata across the court. "Serving is like inputting a Special Move. Using light punches all the time is safe, but the other side has already gotten bored of the startup animation. Change the input once in a while. Even if you just mash buttons, you might land a Defense Break."
Yamaguchi blinked. "M-mash buttons?"
"Right. Don't worry about aiming for a particular spot." Lu Ren pointed at the ball in his hands. "Even changing your contact point a little, or not trying to make the ball spin. Just make it a little more 'unreasonable.'"
Unreasonable...
Yamaguchi stared at the ball in his hands. Don't try to make it spin?
The whistle blew.
There wasn't much time to think. Yamaguchi took a deep breath and stopped carefully cradling the ball as he had before. He tossed it gently, not very high.
Just as the ball dropped in front of his forehead, he swung his arm. It wasn't a spike or a push, but a short, forceful strike with the heel of his palm, right at the center of the ball.
"Pop."
A crisp crack rang out.
The volleyball flew from his hand.
The ball didn't spin. It drifted over the net as if it were a Texture map that had suddenly lost the Physics Engine's control. Without any spin, the airflow around its surface turned erratic, and its smooth arc suddenly began to wobble strangely in midair.
Hinata Shoyo stood in the back row, eyes wide.
"I've got it!"
He shouted and moved quickly. The logic in that orange-haired head was simple: the ball was coming, he'd receive it, then they'd attack.
He judged where it would land, brought his arms together, and got into a textbook passing stance.
In his view, the ball wasn't fast and looked harmless.
"What?!"
Hinata's pupils contracted. His momentum kept him from adjusting in an instant, so he could only twist his arms toward the ball on instinct.
Too late.
The volleyball skimmed past the outside of his forearm. It didn't bounce up; instead, it hit the floor with a dull thud by his feet, then rolled away at a leisurely pace.
"..."
Hinata froze in place, still holding his receiving stance.
4–0.
The gym fell silent for a moment.
Standing at the baseline, Yamaguchi watched the ball roll away, hardly able to believe he had served it.
"Was that... a float serve?" Sawamura Daichi raised his eyebrows in surprise from the sidelines. "The form was pretty unconventional—maybe even lucky—but that ball really didn't spin."
"Nice bug."
Lu Ren turned and gave a thumbs-up to Yamaguchi, who was still standing there in a daze. "Looks like this game's Physics Engine really is busted. With a ball that moves like it's dropping frames, even a god couldn't receive it."
Yamaguchi's face flushed bright red with excitement. He scratched his head awkwardly, then looked over at Tsukishima Kei.
The tall guy who usually never had a kind word to say pushed up his glasses. His eyes swept over the volleyball on the floor, then the grim-faced Kageyama across the court, before finally settling on Yamaguchi.
"Nice serve."
His tone was as flat as ever, without the slightest inflection. He didn't even turn his head.
But to Yamaguchi, those two words made his scalp tingle more than winning the lottery. He nodded hard and let out a slightly off-key, "Yeah!"
On the other side of the net, the atmosphere was completely different.
A storm was gathering.
Tanaka Ryūnosuke retrieved the ball that had rolled away, glanced at the scoreboard, then looked at the two first-years beside him.
"Hey, group up."
Tanaka beckoned Kageyama and Hinata over. The usually boisterous Wing Spiker had lost his trademark wild grin, his expression unusually serious.
"Listen up." Tanaka lowered his voice. "As much as I hate to admit it, we're in a really bad spot. That Lu Ren guy... there's something seriously weird about him. And with that nasty Tsukishima bastard, their defense is way tougher than we expected."
Kageyama Tobio scowled and said nothing, but his clenched fist showed how terrible he felt.
"We may have the Strongest Spear," Tanaka said, glancing at Kageyama before pointing at himself, "but there's a hole in our shield."
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