Chapter 9: A Deadly Strike

The knight, covered in his plate armor swung down the sharp halberd upon the enemy viciously. It was a lethal overpowering blow down straight, its sharp steel edge bearing down upon the practically helpless enemy.

Kindaichi was a good-natured kid who cared much for his teammates. He was tall for his age, with a muscular build and pale-ish skin. His face was sort of ovular and he had wide eyes, with a long nose. His most striking feature was his hair, which was black, sticking up straight in a gravity-defying foundation, looking much like a turnip.

He was one of Kitagawa Daiichi's best, a middle-blocker who quite enjoyed volleyball. He'd always tried to meet his setter's expectations, whoever they were, but Kageyama? He was just too much. Too demanding and arrogant, too self-centered to care for how others felt.

And that was what made most of the team hate him. But this time was different. It wasn't that Kageyama had completely stooped down to set them something good. Instead, it felt more like… It was hard to explain.

Straight up into the air the ball went, at a certain angle that allowed anyone of the right-hand to slam it down, though it was low enough that it wasn't a two. And that was exactly what Kindaichi wanted to do. No blockers. Number seven was backrow. Beautiful.

He swung with all his might as his wrist snapped down like a pouncing jaguar. Like the rest of his teammates, the serving run had frustrated him quite a bit. They couldn't do anything in the face of such monstrous power… Yet the way they managed to side out was because the server had simply messed up his footwork? Utterly humiliating. This was him paying Yukigaoka back.

*WATOOM!!!*

A line shot down straight. A powerful spike it was, with the ball shooting straight as a bullet as it traveled downwards. The halberd had arrived, in the midst of its strike.

*Trbmp!*

Too bad a new sword had appeared, stopping the mighty polearm in its tracks.

His sneakers ripping across the ground, Hayato's whole upper body snapped to the side as he whipped his arms up as the hit connected. He swung back with his hip flexing, feeling his forearms sting. That was quite the hit.

It spun up high inwards, practically touching the ceiling lights as the stunned Yukigaoka players finally reacted, screaming as they watched the ball come down.

Izumi arrived underneath the ball, tossing it up in his steady hands. It rose directly above him with not much purpose in mind, and the rest of the players froze up, all looking at each other. Each of them was expecting someone else to get it.

Hayato looked about for a second before running towards the flying ball. His veins pulsed with blood as he raised his hands before him, the ball right in front of him. He would have to speed up.

*Trchk!*

He slid his foot back before with a surge, he rose up into the air. Hayato grinned as he watched the ball spiral towards his outreaching hand. Connecting with the top of the ball, he twisted back as he seemingly hovered, snapping down.

*Wam!*

The ball slammed just over the net, hammering into Kageyama's side, causing him to recoil back. It spun from the impact, before landing far out of bounds. Yukigaoka's point.

"A back-row attack from the setter!? What the hell!? Am I seeing things!? Why is this dude so freaking aggressive?" Tanaka's eyebrows were raised and his jaw dropped. Sugawara and Sawamura were more calm and collected, though it was also quite unexpected. Instead of timing the ball for the approach, number seven had simply used his speed and vertical to ascend to the ball's height.

Honestly, it was quite lucky that the setter had not doubled the ball in the first place. Izumi was indeed starting to get the hang of it, despite not being the setter. Hayato sighed. He should start to set the rest of the team. Didn't want them to feel left out. After all, it was a team game.

"Nice set!" Hayato high-fived Izumi as they celebrated the kill. It was a thing of beauty, that comeback. The raging powerful kill from the other side had been barely dug, and sent ripping back over with a point as a bonus.

[17-12]

Was that point pure luck and coincidence? Mostly. If Hayato had swung his arm at the wrong moment, it would have just glanced off and flown up the bleachers. He sighed, thinking of his split-second decision.

Swinging the arms when attempting to dig a serve or hit was something that most coaches looked down upon, as it made the ball hard to control and such. Usually resulting in it going sky-high out of the court.

But when it did work, no one was really complaining. Especially against a hit like that, swinging was probably considered understandable. It was a good spike, in Hayato's opinion. While he had dug harder, it was still a mighty impressive one.

Hinata returned to serve, some of his nervousness quelled as he took a deep breath. He straightened out his arm and palm, lobbing the ball up in a high toss.

*Wack!*

It flew through the air like a crooked blind pigeon, shaking uneasily as it traveled into the grasp of the brown-haired outside. With a nice clean toss, it arrived in Kageyama's hands, the setter letting loose a terrible aura as the yellow-blue ball sped out in a narrow shoot.

'Ack! Too fast!'

The outside hitter ran fast, skipping a step or two as he jumped up, smacking it down the court in an awkward hit. It hit the ground as Hinata rolled down towards the net, unable to save the ball.

Once again, Kitagawa Daiichi seemed to gain all of their lost points back with ease.

[17-13]

[17-14]

[18-14]

[18-15]

[18-16]

Hayato felt the ball rebound in a solid rainbow off his forearms. Izumi grasped the ball, jumping as he gave a high lob. Koji rushed into action, skipping forwards as he awkwardly jump-slapped the ball to the other side.

Glancing off the tip of the blocker's fingers, the opposing school worked like an orderly hive of bees as they got into position. The ball was received, set in a high arc, and smashed down the middle of the court. Its hard surface bounded up as it flew past Kawashima's head.

[18-17]