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Tamaki Commercial High School Side
Ichikawa Makiko's POV
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It’s currently 23–22.
Just two more points and we can take the first set.
But now, it’s their number 1 serving.
I really don’t like that girl’s serve. She’s not flashy like Monster-chan, but she hits it exactly where you don’t want it to go.
…Is she reading our facial expressions or something?
BEEEP!!
The serve comes flying.
Wait—!!!
No way—!!!
You're aiming near the net now!?
You’ve been targeting the spaces between players or the corners of the court this whole time! And now you're going for the net? You realize if you mess that up and it doesn’t clear, that’s an instant point for us, right? That would give us set point!
Unbelievable. What nerves of steel. That girl's gotta have a ridiculously thick skin.
Chiaki dashes forward and receives it with an overhead toss. Number 1's serve is a floater—a tricky type that moves unpredictably. It's more stable to receive with a ten-finger overhead toss than with a two-arm underhand pass...
Wait—!!! I’m the setter!!!
I’m not even over there!
Chiaki’s first touch went a bit wild—and to make matters worse, it flew in the opposite direction from me. Chiakiii…
“Makkii!”
Oh! Mari-chan is going to set it in my place! She’s giving a hand signal…
Mari-chan is a demon.
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POV Shift – Matsubara Girls’ High School Side
Tachibana Yuuri’s POV
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Eri-senpai’s serve flew toward the net area on the opponent’s side. A little less distance and it would’ve been a miss—it might’ve hit the net. And yet she aimed there with such audacity. I thought she was being bold, but later she told me she actually meant to serve deep and just messed up the toss. She forced the hit, and it just happened to land there.
That honesty—that’s so Eri-senpai. She doesn’t even try to act cool and say, “I aimed for it.”
That borderline serve disrupted the opponents’ formation.
“Makkii!”
Makkii = Makiko = the ikemen (handsome) senpai, right?
I wonder what that shout meant. Was it to tell the setter that “I’ll take the ball”? Or maybe it meant “I’ll set it, so you go for the attack”?
Probably the latter. I’m not guessing here—I saw a quick flash of a hand signal earlier.
In volleyball, coordinated moves like quick attacks or broad attacks aren’t just whipped out on the fly. Usually, the setter gives a hand signal before the serve comes, out of sight of the opponent, to decide on the play.
Normally, the setter—Ikemen-senpai—would be the one to give the sign and coordinate everything, but since the reception was off, they must’ve had to change the plan.
Also, their front row right now consists of Ikemen-senpai, the substitute setter, and the player who received the serve. And that receiver doesn’t have enough room to get a proper running start.
So she probably won’t be jumping. The substitute setter obviously won’t be spiking. Well, since they’re in the front row, I need to watch for a second attack, but there’s no one running from the back row for a back attack either. So the spike will come from Ikemen-senpai.
Of course, it could be a bluff, but if they’re pulling that kind of trick in this emergency, I’d have to throw in the towel.
First things first—focus on three things: the reception cover, the ball, and Ikemen-senpai. (It’s obvious, but I can’t watch everything on the other side of the net. I need to zero in on the most suspicious movement or the block won’t work.)
Even with all the times we’ve been beaten so far, one thing has stayed true—no matter how strong Tamaki Commercial is, if you block directly in front of the hitter (more accurately, in line with their dominant hand), the block will succeed. Sure, they can twist their arms to change the course a little, but there’s only one arm that launches the ball. Stop that, and you’ve got it. Don’t get distracted by flair.
And they always spike in the direction they run. Just because they’re using decoys doesn’t mean a ball flying right is suddenly going left. Broad attacks that sprint across the middle are still just them running and jumping.
So the key is the path the spiker takes. Where they run, where they jump—if you figure that out and jump in front of them, you can block it.
And for me specifically, there’s no need to go all-out on the jump like with a spike. If I jump seriously, my face easily clears the net, but for blocking, it’s enough if the part of my arms from the elbows up is over the net.
…Back when I first started, I used to just jump blindly, but I’ve come to realize that blocking only works when you think through all of this.
Ikemen-senpai makes a run for it. Probably an A Quick!
She jumps! We move to match—wait!
No way—?!
Ikemen-senpai jumped diagonally! And the substitute setter responds with a back toss!
Later, Hina told me this move is called an “air fake”—they fake an A Quick, but actually do a C Quick instead!
Tch. I jumped the wrong direction—but it’s not over. Not yet. That small jump saved me. As I landed, I immediately jumped again diagonally to block Ikemen-senpai’s spike!
I barely managed to get just my left arm into the spike’s path! If nothing else, that should give us a one-touch—
Thump…
Even though a blocker suddenly appeared, Ikemen-senpai didn’t bat an eye. It’s like she saw it coming.
In fact, as if she had read our block perfectly, she didn’t go for a full swing. Instead, she used just her right wrist to gently push the ball over in a soft arc.
If I’d been able to block from the front like usual, I could’ve deflected a soft arc like that with no problem. But now, it’s just one arm—my left—and only a little of it is sticking out past the net…
Hina and Yuki, realizing what had happened, scrambled to dive for the ball—but it hit the court before either of them could touch it.
22–24
It’s the opponent’s set point.
“Nice jump. That was impressive. You.”
The ikemen senpai seemed to be praising my jump. But I could feel the unspoken message behind her words—Still not quite there yet, huh.
Just how carefully is she watching our side of the court, to be able to switch from a power hit to a soft touch in that split second?
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POV Change – Tamaki Commercial High School Side
Ichikawa Makiko’s POV
A little earlier
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Mari-chan sent me a downright demonic order to do an air fake.
This... seriously sucks. It’s insanely hard and I have to jump like crazy—I hate it...
But complaining won’t score us any points. If I just went for a normal C quick, the monster girls would’ve blocked it for sure.
Then came the real deal. The monster girls took the bait beautifully!
Got them to bite on the block! No blockers! Clear view! Now I just need to—
—
—!!!
—
A white, slender arm suddenly shot up in front of me!
Monster-chan!!
Wait—she bit on the fake, and still managed to get that high without a running start?! Or actually, she must’ve jumped again right after landing, right?
No, seriously—can someone her height even extend an arm this far on a diagonal leap?
She’s not just some athletic amateur. She instantly figured out how to stop the attack and acted on it. That kind of judgment...
I was shaken. I don’t think it showed on my face—my expression muscles are dead—but Monster-chan’s insane jumping power and decision-making rattled me.
And spikes are all about precision—even a tiny shift in the air throws everything off.
That shake caused a misalignment. Bad. I’m going to whiff this. I somehow manage to push the ball with just my right wrist.
But in the end, it worked out. If I had gone through with the full spike without flinching, it probably would’ve hit her arm. But this way, it ended up looking like a clever feint.
24–22
We’re at set point. But honestly, we’re scoring on the thinnest edge of ice.
Monster-chan. You’ve only been playing volleyball for two months, right? And you’re already this good?
“Nice jump. That was impressive. You.”
Before I knew it, I found myself offering heartfelt praise to the enemy team’s Monster-chan.
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POV Change – Matsubara Girls’ High School Side
Tachibana Yuuri’s POV
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Current score: 22–24
If they get one more point, they take this set. This is the first time since I started playing volleyball that the opponent has reached set point. Volleyball’s terrifying at times like this—one mistake can give the point straight to the other team.
“Everyone, I’m going to spike like usual, so if I mess up or hit the net, I’m sorry.”
Before the tournament, we were told that aggressive mistakes are okay. It’s better to mess up boldly than to hold back and regret it. So I announce it—partly to my teammates, but mainly for myself. A way to fire myself up.
“If we get two more points, we can take it to deuce. We haven’t lost yet!”
Eri-senpai also encourages us.
BEEEP!!
The opponent’s serve comes flying. As usual, I dart off-court.
Tamaki Commercial has a wide variety of offensive plays, but when it comes to serving, none of their players are especially powerful. They’re all control-focused. They probably don’t emphasize serving as much as we do—instead, they seem to devote more time to team coordination.
This serve also came to a good spot, but Yuki returned it cleanly to the setter.
“Yuu-chan!”
Hina tosses up a perfect textbook open set.
Squeak-squeak—Squeak!!
My volleyball shoes sing against the court.
I jump like always and go for a spike—wait, this might be bad!
BOOM!
My spike hits an opponent player—probably her forehead—dead-on.
Normally, that wouldn’t be such a big deal, but my spikes are fast. And with speed comes energy...
“Yuuri! Push it in!”
“Yuu-chan! Keep your eyes on the ball!”
Voices from my teammates—
“Makki! Push it in!”
“Maki, I’m fine! Just push it in!”
—are mixed with voices from the other side.
The ball, after smacking into the opponent’s forehead, floats back up into the air above the net. From our side, I’m the closest. On theirs, it’s the ikemen senpai.
Time for a showdown.
I’m worried, but when I glance at the girl I hit, she’s moving and speaking, so she’s probably okay.
Sorry, but I’m taking this point. Net battles aren’t the place for tricks. I can jump higher than the ikemen senpai, and I won’t lose in power either.
This one’s mine!
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POV Change – Tamaki Commercial High School Side
Ichikawa Makiko’s POV
A little earlier
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The ball from Monster-chan’s spike slammed into Yacchin’s head with a seriously impressive thwack and went airborne again.
“Maki, I’m fine! Just push it in!”
She said it herself, so she’s probably okay. Volleyballs are light, after all...
...She is okay, right?
A net battle. The opponent is probably Monster-chan.
We both jump.
But our hand positions on the ball are different.
I should be about 10 cm taller than her, yet I’m pushing up from below, and Monster-chan is pressing down from above.
She has the advantage—pressing from above carries more force. Plus, she’s stronger to begin with.
Monster-chan was probably taught that the key to winning net battles is to press the ball down from above whenever possible.
That’s the textbook answer. The common-sense answer.
But, you know—sometimes, in real games, things don’t go by the book.
I intentionally let my strength drop for a moment. Monster-chan, who was pushing hard, lost her balance. Her arm extended too far. Like that, she can’t apply power.
I redirect the ball to the left and push it down.
Monster-chan, you really are amazing.
It’s not just raw physical ability. Your reflexes, judgment, instincts—they’re all incredible.
Even this little trick of mine probably won’t work on you a second time.
With every single play, you’re getting better and better. It won’t be long before I’m not even a match for you anymore.
—
But that moment isn’t now.
Tamaki Commercial High School VS Matsubara Girls’ High School
Set 1
25–22
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