Casting Pre-Shake Only You Can See

The sound of shoes squeaking on the court continued, like a never-ending melee.

After Sawamura Daichi replaced Lu Ren, the defense of this temporary B-team became significantly harder. After all, he was the official captain; his defensive coverage and stability were more than a notch above Lu Ren, who still needed a strategy guide as a beginner. Tsukishima Kei was clearly more comfortable too, no longer needing to constantly watch out for leaks from the back row, making his blocking choices more precise.

As for the two on the other side of the net...

"Bang!"

Another spike, but this time Tsukishima timed it perfectly, his fingertips grazing the ball's surface. The volleyball changed direction and flew out of bounds.

"Tch." Kageyama Tobio irritably tugged at the collar of his jersey.

This guy was getting heated.

Although that orange-haired freak's movement speed was still ridiculously fast, Kageyama had been forcing himself to speed up in pursuit of that "absolute speed." The quick attack was indeed fast, so fast that Tsukishima sometimes couldn't even raise his hands, but its success rate was abysmal. It felt like... sacrificing accuracy completely for DPS (damage per second), gambling on critical hits.

Lu Ren sat on the floor by the sidelines, condensation on the outside of the cola can in his hand trickling down his fingers, making his palm numb with cold.

"Lu Ren-kun," Kiyosawa Mashiba crouched beside him, holding a clipboard, her brow furrowed like a little steamed bun. "What are you looking at? You wouldn't have been able to receive that last ball, would you?"

"I really couldn't have received that one." Lu Ren tilted his head back and took a gulp of the happy water. The carbonated bubbles exploded on his tongue, and the previously flashing stamina bar finally stopped its alarm. "But I already saw his read the bar."

"Read the bar?" Mashiba looked bewildered.

"That setter, Kageyama Tobio." Lu Ren pointed at the black-haired boy on the court, his face full of killing intent. "Every time he prepares to force that super-high-speed pass, the tip of his right foot turns inward more than usual, and his shoulders dip more noticeably. In games, this is called 'casting pre-shake'."

Mashiba's eyes widened, and she looked back and forth. "Is... is there? It all looks the same to me."

"Regular players obviously can't see it; this is the privilege of the data party."

Lu Ren crushed the empty can and casually tossed it into the trash can a few meters away. With a clang, it was a perfect shot.

The first game had already ended in this chaotic battle. Kageyama and Hinata had lost miserably. After all, volleyball wasn't a game where speed alone guaranteed victory; their error rate was too high, and coupled with Sawamura Daichi's rock-solid defense, they were basically gifting points.

Now it was the second game.

The scoreboard read 12:10. Kageyama and his team were still trailing by two points.

While that monster quick attack was intimidating, as long as it didn't trigger on a large scale, its threat was limited. Kageyama now was like a child holding the button to launch a nuclear weapon, wanting to press it but afraid of a misfire. Hesitation leads to defeat.

It was about time.

Lu Ren stood up, dusting off his pants. The tearing pain in his muscles had subsided considerably. As expected, the recovery power of a young body was also a kind of hack.

Lu Ren walked over to the referee's chair and made a gesture to Sugawara Kōshi sitting there.

"Substitution."

Sugawara was stunned for a moment, then blew his whistle.

Sawamura Daichi walked over, looking surprised, and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Hey, Lu Ren, aren't you going to rest more? Your face went pale just now, don't push yourself."

"Full health revival." Lu Ren stretched his ankles, which made crisp cracking sounds. "If I don't get on the court soon, Captain, you'll eat all the experience points. Besides..."

Lu Ren looked at Kageyama Tobio, who was panting across the net, and couldn't help but smile.

"I've memorized the boss's attack patterns. It's time for score farming now."

Sawamura had a look of "I have no idea what you're saying, but it sounds amazing," and patted Lu Ren on the shoulder before leaving the court.

Lu Ren stood back in the rear row.

Tsukishima Kei pushed up his glasses, and that infuriating gaze swept over him again. "Yo, isn't this our Game Master? I thought you'd already disconnected and abandoned the game. What, is your stamina bar full again? Don't go lying on the ground pretending to be dead again later."

"Shut up, Glasses." Lu Ren stood behind him, lowering his stance. "Keep talking, and I'll treat this as a PvP match, turn red name first, take you out, and then hit the opponents."

"Huh?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding what "turn red name" meant, but he could sense it wasn't a compliment.

The whistle blew.

It was Kageyama Tobio's serve.

He stood at the baseline holding the ball, the oppressive aura around him terrifying. The consecutive points lost and coordination errors had clearly pushed this genius to the brink of an outburst.

He tossed the ball high into the air.

This toss was higher and further forward than usual, and his approach steps were wider.

It was a powerful jump serve.

The moment his palm was about to touch the ball, Lu Ren's brain began to sound frantic alarms. Based on the data model he had developed by observing for a whole game from the sidelines, this toss height and approach angle had only one possible landing spot.

The bottom left corner, the dead corner of the baseline.

As Kageyama leaped into the air and swung his arm down, everyone's eyes in the entire stadium were fixed on the ball.