Survival Mode! (I)

Miura Hata, the head coach of Shimoyawata High crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at his players with a blank expression. This kind of blank was something that his players knew exactly what it meant. His coach was pissed. That was why they just bowed their head, not daring to meet his eyes directly.

After the uncomfortable silence lasted for a few moments, Miura finally sighed, saying, "It seems a part of this is also my fault." He admitted. His players raised their heads immediately, looking at him in disbelief. He continued, "I am too excited for our first game, thinking of making a statement that we are back and the only worthy opponents for us are Matsukita and Konan. You are just poisoned by my thoughts, so I apologize."

Everyone around him just stared at each other confusedly, didn't know what to say.

"Fortunately, this happened in the first round, so we have a chance to fix it quickly." He continued. "Let's start thinking about our immediate problem first, and that is how to stop the ace serve from that number 7." His eyes turned to the blonde boy on the other side of the court.

Everyone straightened their back when they heard this.

"Of course, I can put Kubo-kun on the court this early, and it would solve everything," Miura said. Kubo was the libero of the team and probably the best defensive player they had right now. "But it would mess up our entire rotation system. Besides, if we have difficulty playing against Tsunemori, what would we do against Matsukita or Konan? You still remember their serve squad, right?"

The solemn nods were shared by everyone there as they had been studying about those two teams for a long time and knew how terrifying they were.

"Since I will not bring Kubo-kun this early, that means we need to think of a way to stop the opponent's serve. Your approach before was good, clearing the area and letting Wakamatsu receive the ball. You just need a bit more time to adapt to his serve. Sooner, you will get it. But let's modify it a little. Hideo, you will also help him, okay?"

"Yes, Sir!" The captain of the team nodded firmly.

"Good. Here is what we are going to do…"

-0-

A moment later, the referee blew his whistle, asking for the players from both teams to go back to the court. The timeout was over, and the game should be continued again. The atmosphere in Tsunemori was bright, everyone was still excited for this quick lead. They all heard the reputation of Shimoyawata High as a school that could break the hegemony of Konan and Matsukita in the past, so for them to dominate the game this early, it was like a fever dream.

However, their cheerfulness was subdued a bit when they saw the expression of their opponents change. Gone was all the arrogance before, replaced with the firm determination that only meant business. No one looked down on Tsunemori anymore, knowing that it could bring them to their downfall.

"So, they are finally starting to get serious, huh?" Yuki muttered.

"Yeah." Riku nodded with a solemn expression. "It seems we are finally going to see their real ability. Be careful."

"You too."

The game was restarted again with another serve from Riku. However, while it was still powerful like before, the moment the blonde boy unleashed its serve, all the Shimoyawata players rushed forward, leaving two in the back to receive the ball. This was the perfect strategy to cut off the opponent's serve momentum. By putting one or two best defenders of the team, the others rushed forward, ready to counterattack by overwhelming Tsunemori's blockers with their number.

*BAM!*

"Nice receive, Wakamatsu!"

Wakamatsu, the player with jersey number 6 who failed a few times to receive Riku's serve earlier saved the ball perfectly. It was true what Miura said before, that what Wakamatsu needed was time. The ball flew straight into the setter's position on the right side, and with three players ready to attack, Ueno, the setter of Shimoyawata had a lot of choices to pick here.

Yuki had his eyes completely on Ueno. He observed every detail of his movement before finally reacting.

"Hirano-senpai, left!"

Hearing that, Hirano moved quickly toward the left. By now, everyone on the Tsunemori team had already acknowledged that Yuki's game-reading ability was far superior compared to the others. That was why when Yuki commanded one thing, even Hirano, the proudest of them all had to listen to what he said.

Yuki himself didn't just stand there and do nothing. Even though he was on the right side, he still followed Hirano's movement. It would be good for the middle blocker to have someone assisting him, at least it would cover up the space around him.

Unfortunately, this decision was proven to be incorrect a second later, when Hirano managed to deflect the opponent's spike to slow it down, the referee suddenly blew his whistle.

*FWEEE!*

"Eh?" Yuki turned his head immediately, confused at the referee who signaled it was a point for Shimoyawata. "What happened?" He asked.

"It is a blocking fault." The referee explained. "You touched the net first before your teammate made contact with the ball."

This was a new knowledge for Yuki. He could only nod silently, couldn't even complain to anyone. Still, he regretted the momentum that would be gone after this since Shimoyawata finally got their first point.

"Kobayashi," Hirano suddenly called his name, surprising Yuki a bit. In his memory, this was probably the second time he communicated with the middle blocker directly, the first one was when they introduced each other in the past. "You don't have to come to help me. Let me do the blocking alone, join the others to defend the back side. Just tell me where to go."

Once again, Yuki was surprised. This was the longest he had ever heard Hirano talk, and it had been about a month since he joined the team. Still, the glasses boy furrowed his brows, couldn't agree with his senpai's request. In his mind, blocking was a team event, couldn't be done by only one person. However, before he could say anything, he was dragged immediately by Kaede.

"Don't worry, Kobayashi. Just follow his words. In terms of blocking, there is no person in this team that could beat him."

Even though Yuki hesitated, looking at the conviction in his senpai's face, he could only nod, decided to trust them for once. It wasn't like he couldn't help in the blocking, and if the worst happened, he could go back on the front line. And it would be a lie if Yuki said he was not curious about why anyone could trust Hirano completely in terms of blocking. With this, he would be able to see directly, how Hirano took control of the front side.

'Well, let's hope it is not a mistake…' He murmured.