The squeak of shoes on the court continued, like the chaotic battle would never end.
After Sawamura Daichi took Lu Ren's place, the makeshift B team's defense had improved by leaps and bounds. After all, he was the real captain. His coverage and stability were more than a level above Lu Ren, a rookie who still needed to consult a strategy guide. Tsukishima Kei had clearly gotten more comfortable, too. No longer needing to constantly watch out for holes in the back row, his choices at the net had become even trickier.
As for the two on the other side of the net...
"Thump!"
Another spike, but this time Tsukishima read the timing and grazed the ball with his fingertips, sending it flying out of bounds.
"Tch." Kageyama Tobio tugged irritably at the collar of his jersey.
He was getting carried away.
The orange-haired monster was still moving absurdly fast, but Kageyama kept forcing himself to speed up in pursuit of "absolute speed." The quick attacks were indeed fast—so fast that sometimes Tsukishima couldn't even get his hands up—but their success rate was abysmal. It was like... giving up on accuracy entirely to maximize DPS, then gambling on a critical hit.
Lu Ren sat on the floor at the side of the court. Condensation from the can of cola in his hand trickled between his fingers, chilling his palm until it went numb.
"Lu Ren," Kiyosawa Mashiba crouched beside him, holding a clipboard. Her brows were knitted together like a little bun. "What are you looking at? You wouldn't have been able to receive that last ball, would you?"
"I couldn't have received that one." Lu Ren tipped his head back and took a gulp of soda. The carbonation burst across his tongue, and his Stamina bar, which had been flashing a warning, finally stopped blinking. "But I've already seen his Reading the bar."
"Reading the bar?" Mashiba looked bewildered.
"That setter, Kageyama Tobio." Lu Ren pointed at the black-haired boy on the court, who wore a murderous expression. "Whenever he's about to force one of those ultra-fast sets, the tip of his right foot turns inward a little more than usual, and his shoulders drop more noticeably. In a game, that's called a 'Casting pre-shake.'"
Mashiba's eyes widened as she looked back and forth. "I-is it? They all look the same to me."
"Of course ordinary players can't see it. It's a Data Party privilege."
Lu Ren crushed the empty can and casually tossed it into a trash can several meters away. It clanged against the rim and went straight in.
The first set had already ended amid all that chaos. Kageyama and Hinata had lost badly. Volleyball wasn't a game you could win just by being fast; their error rate was too high, and with Sawamura Daichi's defense as solid as a rock, they were basically handing over points themselves.
Now it was the second set.
The scoreboard read 12–10. Kageyama's team was still down by two.
That Monster Quick Attack was frightening, but as long as it wasn't triggered too often, it wasn't all that threatening. Right now, Kageyama was like a kid holding the launch button for a nuclear weapon, wanting to press it but afraid it would blow up in his face. Hesitation meant defeat.
That should be enough.
Lu Ren stood up and dusted off his backside. The tearing ache in his muscles had eased considerably. Sure enough, a young body's ability to recover was a kind of Hacks, too.
Lu Ren walked over to the referee's chair and gestured to Sugawara Kōshi, who was sitting in it.
"Substitution."
Sugawara froze for a moment, then blew his whistle.
Sawamura Daichi came over, looking surprised, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Hey, Lu Ren, why not rest a little longer? You looked pale earlier. Don't push yourself."
"Full health revival." Lu Ren rolled his ankle, which cracked several times. "If I don't get back out there, you'll hog all the Experience Points, Captain. Besides..."
Lu Ren looked at Kageyama Tobio, who was panting on the other side of the net, and couldn't help grinning.
"I've memorized the boss's attack patterns. It's time to farm some points."
Sawamura wore an expression that said, I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds impressive, then patted Lu Ren on the shoulder and left the court.
Lu Ren took his place in the back row again.
Tsukishima Kei pushed up his glasses, giving him that infuriating look again. "Oh, it's our Game Master. I thought you'd disconnected and abandoned the game. What, your Stamina bar's full again? Don't go lying on the floor pretending to be dead in a minute."
"Shut it, four-eyes." Lu Ren stood behind him and lowered his center of gravity. "Keep talking, and I'll treat this as PvP mode. I'll get a Red name and take you out first, then deal with the other side."
"Huh?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. He clearly didn't know what it meant to get a Red name, but he could tell it wasn't a compliment.
The whistle sounded.
It was Kageyama Tobio's turn to serve.
He stood at the baseline with the ball, radiating an intimidating pressure. The consecutive lost points and failed plays had clearly pushed the prodigy to the brink of an outburst.
He tossed the ball high into the air.
The toss was farther forward than usual, and his approach was longer, too.
A Powerful jump serve.
Before his palm even touched the ball, Lu Ren's brain was already blaring alarms. Based on the data model he'd built by watching the entire previous set from the sidelines, there was only one landing spot for a toss at that height and an approach at that angle.
The bottom-left corner, right on the baseline.
The instant Kageyama's body rose into the air and his arm swung down, everyone on the court had their eyes fixed on the ball.
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