Volleyball: The Time of Resonance

The whistle blew, and the game began.

Fukutani serves first.

The formation for the setter remains the same: the setter stands in position 1 to serve, ensuring a three-point attack from the front row.

Kyoji Akaashi stepped to the service line, squeezed the volleyball to get a feel for it. Toss the ball, jump, swing—the ball hurtled towards Nekoma's back row.

"I'll do it!" Ye Jiuwei shouted, shifting his feet to the side and setting up the ball before it hit the ground, delivering a perfect first pass.

"Great pass!" Kuroo Tetsuro delivered the perfect emotional response.

Kozaki Grinding adjusted his position slightly below the landing point, raising both hands high. His gaze swept across the opposite side—Owl Valley's net was ready, the two of them joined together, their eyes fixed on Mianye's position.

However, Kozaki Kenmo did not pass it on to Ginchuan Mianye.

With a slight twist of the wrist, the ball flew towards position four.

Yamamoto Takeo had already taken his run-up and was in position when he faced a single blocker, and he smashed the ball without hesitation.

"Bang!"

The ball landed with a thud.

Otoko defeated Ootori 1-0.

"Nice!" Yamamoto Taketaka landed and swung his fist forcefully, giving his opponent a slightly provocative smile.

"Hey, Yamamoto! It's only the first ball," Kuroo Tetsuro reminded him with a laugh.

A change of serve, that's a good start.

On the other side of Fubuki, Kotaro Bokuto is standing in front of the net, staring blankly at the court on Otokoma's side.

"Bokuto-senpai," Kyoji Akaashi walked over, his voice calm, "Next ball, how about the power forward position?"

"Huh? Oh, okay." Kotaro Bokuto seemed to suddenly come to his senses. "Leave it to me!"

In the second round, Otoko serves.

Kozume sets a steady floater over the net, and the libero, Fukutani, receives it flawlessly, a perfect first pass. Akaashi moves quickly, catching the ball with both hands—

The ball flies towards position four.

The wooden rabbit takes a running start and jumps, its movements as graceful as a real owl soaring in the sky.

His arm was raised high, all his strength concentrated in the strike he was about to deliver—

"Straight line!" Kuroo Tetsuro shouted.

Yinju's double net has been set up.

Kuroo Tetsuro and Yamamoto Taketora jumped up at the same time, their four arms joined together to form an impenetrable wall.

Kotaro the Wooden Rabbit paused for a moment in mid-air.

At that moment, Yinchuan Mian also saw it very clearly.

He noticed that Kotaro Bokuto wasn't in the right state of mind and wanted to observe him closely, so he asked the coach to let him switch places with Yoru-senpai.

That hesitation of less than a second caused his spike to lose its usual sharpness. Although the ball cleared the block, the angle wasn't tricky enough, and the power wasn't great enough.

Yoru Eisuke was already waiting there.

He shifted his feet to the side, bent his knees, and brought his arms together—the ball slammed heavily against his forearm with a dull thud. His arm was a little numb, but he subtly adjusted his wrist and steadily flicked the ball towards the setter.

"Great pass!" shouted Kuroo Tetsuro.

Kouzhua had already moved to the landing point; he didn't even need to look up to judge the ball's trajectory.

With a gentle push of both hands, the ball flew towards the back row—

Hisense had somehow made a run into the box, and with a deft drop shot, it sailed over the block that Xiaogu couldn't get back to defend, landing in the open space in the center of the court.

2: 0.

"Beautiful!" A cheer rang out from Onkoma's side.

On the other side of Fubuki Valley, after landing, Kotaro Bokuto stared at his hand, motionless.

"Bokuto-senpai?" Akaashi Kyoji walked over.

"...It's nothing," said Kotaro Mokuto, his voice muffled.

This is not normal. Usually, when Bokuto is stopped, he either tries to throw another ball or turns into a black and white stone statue. But today, he just silently walks back to his position, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

The game continues.

On the third goal, Fukutani adjusted his tactics.

Kyoji Akaashi didn't pass the ball to Kotaro Bokuto again, but instead passed it to the middle blocker. The middle blocker launched a beautiful quick attack, incredibly fast, landing in Otokoma's court.

2: 1.

The fourth ball, served by Fukutani.

Kozume Kenma sets the ball to Yamamoto Takeo, who jumps to spike. But Fukutani's block is well-prepared this time, with two players closing in to intercept the ball.

"I'll go!" Ye Jiuwei shouted as he leaped to make the save, flicking the ball with his fingertips just before it hit the ground—the ball barely cleared the net.

The setter from Okabe moved quickly and passed the ball to the receiver who was making a run into the back row.

The receiver jumps and spikes the ball.

But Kuroo Tetsuro's net was already waiting there.

"Bang!"

The ball was blocked and bounced back onto the owl's field.

3: 1.

Another change of serve!

"Kuroo-senpai, what a great block!" Yamamoto Taketora rushed over and gave Kuroo Tetsurou a high five.

After giving a high five with a grin, Kuroo Tetsuro couldn't help but turn around and glance at Kiki Kotaro again.

"That guy..." The black cat, sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, frowned.

The score continued to fluctuate.

Owl Valley's attack remained fierce, but it clearly lacked its former sharpness—or rather, it lacked the sharpness of Wood Rabbit.

Their ace was like an empty shell, devoid of soul. Although he was still running, jumping, and spiking on the court, each shot lacked the intimidating power he once possessed.

Their coach clearly noticed this, but never called a halt to it.

Instead, Coach Nekomata noticed something else and started talking to Coach Naoi beside him.

Kyoji Akaashi began to reduce the number of passes he made to Bokuto.

He mostly deployed his middle blockers and opposite hitters, and occasionally set up attacks from the back row. The overall strength of the team remained formidable, and the score was very close, with neither side able to pull away.

At 12:10, Soundhorse was leading by two points.

It's Kotaro Bokuto's turn to serve.

He stood at the starting line and took a deep breath. The entire stadium seemed to fall silent, and all eyes were on him.

Toss the ball —

Take off—

Swing your arm—

The ball hurtled towards Nekoma's back row with astonishing speed, heading straight for the junction between Fukunaga Shohei and Yoru. This shot was perfect in terms of power, angle, and speed—it showcased Bokuto Kotaro's true strength.

"I'll do it!" Yoru shouted.

The libero, whose uniform is predominantly white, shifts his body sideways, arms together—and just as the ball is about to hit the ground, uses his forearm to steadily lift it up.

"Bang!"

ball

Kozume quickly moved into position, holding the ball with both hands. Ginkawa Mianye took a running start and jumped, but Fukutani didn't react in time, and Mianye's hands had already swung down before the block was formed.

The ball slammed into the Owl Valley field at an extremely high speed.

Soundhorse Valley - 13:10

Kotaro Mokuto saw it, but it was too late. He and Minagi Ginkawa locked eyes, their gold and blue clashing for two seconds.

"You—" Kotaro Mokuto began.

"Bokuto-senpai," Kyoji Akaashi walked over and reminded the captain, who was standing still, that it was time to change positions. "Change positions."

"......oh."

Kotaro the Wooden Rabbit walked back to his position with his head down.

On the sidelines, Suzume Kaoru frowned and whispered to Coach Anji, "Bokuto's performance today is really poor. Don't we need to take a timeout?"

"Hmm." Coach Anlu nodded. "Let him adjust on his own. He's not used to it yet, and interfering will only backfire."

"but......"

"Trust him," Coach Anro said. "And trust Akaashi and the others from Fubuki."

Suzumeda glanced at Akaashi Kyoji, who was organizing the defense on the field, and nodded.

In the latter half of the first set, Shirotani's offense began to fall apart. Not technically, but in terms of rhythm.

Without the stable core of the wooden rabbit, their offense became somewhat scattered, with occasional brilliant combinations followed by inexplicable mistakes.

It's not just Kotaro Bokuto who needs to adapt; Kyoji Akaashi, who has just officially taken over, is also adapting.

Meanwhile, Onkoma's defense became increasingly solid.

"Mianye, good ball! Mianye was great today!!" Kuroo Tetsuro praised Nekoma's cats whenever he had the chance in the warm-up area, especially his two childhood friends.

The big, blue sheep blinked its eyes as it was being praised.

His predictions became increasingly accurate. Even if he didn't block the ball, he still managed to touch it 100% of the time at the net. When the middle blocker, Fukutani, was used to playing fast balls, he would move half a step ahead; when the opposite hitter liked to play diagonal shots, he would block that position.

"That Yinchuan guy..." the Xiaogu team members whispered during a timeout, "He's getting more and more freakish, how did he find out?"

"...This is what genius is all about."

"Tsk, it's most troublesome when there's a genius on the other side." Every time Konoha Akiki sees that well-cared-for cat on the other side, he wonders why the coach didn't make a move back then.

"Is Wooden Rabbit alright?"

"Let him think it through himself first..."