What makes a good receiver in volleyball?
For instance, a receiver who can pick up difficult balls with incredible saves.
For instance, a receiver who can cover an exceptionally wide area.
For instance, a receiver who steadily delivers A-passes without needing flashy plays.
There are many criteria for evaluation.
And one of those many criteria is "resilience against powerful spikes."
Volleyball is a sport played (in principle) by directly touching the ball without using any equipment. For that reason, it can actually be quite painful when you're not used to it.
It's not uncommon to get bruises on your arms from underhand passes.
Almost everyone has experienced a jammed finger from overhead passes.
Plenty of players have ended up with nosebleeds from face-first receives.
And the higher the level of competition, even in girls’ volleyball, the ball speed can exceed 100 km/h. You have to receive that with your bare body, no protective gear.
Naturally, that’s scary.
It should be scary.
But at the same time, people can get used to things.
Even a jack-in-the-box that startles you at first stops being surprising after a few tries.
No matter how frightening it may be, if you keep going into the same haunted house over and over, you’ll eventually get used to the tricks, and the fear fades.
Thwap...
With a soft sound, Yukiko receives another spike from Kinhouzan Osaka's representative without any sign of panic. They counter with a broad attack from the center. It scores. 3–1. The match is going in Yukiko and the others’ favor.
The hallmark of Kinhouzan, the queen of high school volleyball, is a power style that makes full use of their imposing physique.
Their spike speed is said to rival the pros. In fact, compared to other top national teams, their spikes are over 10 km/h faster. Normally, that speed would be intimidating to some extent—but so far, Yukiko shows no such signs.
In fact, to her, this kind of speed is so familiar that she could even call it "slow."
Since enrolling, Yukiko has been constantly facing off against the monster, Yuuri’s, spikes during practice. Monster Yuuri has spent her entire time since joining the team practicing spikes and serves instead of receives.
Her speed is on par with—if not surpassing—male professional players, not just female pros.
Whether it was good or bad luck, Yukiko, the team’s libero, has been the primary receiver for most of those practices.
Of course, schools like Himesaki and other national powerhouses sometimes train with boys to prepare for Kinhouzan. But in those cases, there’s a tendency to make excuses—“Well, it’s a guy’s spike, of course we can’t receive it.”
In contrast, Yukiko was practicing against a total beginner who just started volleyball in high school—and was still the same gender. Not being able to receive her spikes felt shameful. For pride’s sake, Yukiko never backed down from Monster Yuuri’s power hits.
That went on for about six months. During those six months of what could be called spike and serve receive training bordering on torture, Yukiko unknowingly developed an exceptional resilience against strong hits.
Coach Akai was able to recognize that unique quality.
Noticing it during just two limited three-hour joint practice sessions before Nationals was only possible because of how closely she always watches her players.
And then she even went so far as to say:
“You're the key to our victory, Arimura-san. It's you.”
Even for Coach Akai, those words were humiliating.
It was effectively admitting that Yukiko surpassed the receivers she had personally trained and nurtured. But Coach Akai wasn’t the kind of person to let personal feelings get in the way of victory.
“Arimura-san! Nice receive! Blockers, jump so you don’t obscure Arimura-san’s line of sight!”
Victory was the result expected of her. Reflecting on the process could wait. Swallowing her pride, Coach Akai continued directing the game.
The match began to shift at 9–7, with Kinhouzan Osaka chasing two points. The server rotation came back around to Tobita.
(Even if Chizuru’s not in top form after coming back from injury, it’s been a while since we’ve been pushed like this. That’s exactly why we need to stay aggressive. No more targeting that tiny libero.)
Tobita Mai’s second serve. The first shot strikes the far left corner of the opponent’s court with pinpoint accuracy.
The opponents judge it as going out and let it go, but it lands just inside the line. 9–8.
Her second serve pierces straight through the center of the opposing formation—another service ace. 9–9.
To break the flow, Coach Akai calls a timeout—one of only two per set. Then:
“We’re changing our defensive shift. Arimura-san, could you cover a slightly wider area?”
Yukiko, with her strong defense against power hits, would now cover the backcourt behind the attack line, while another specialist would cover drops in front of it.
(Of course, Yukiko wouldn’t cover the entire back half alone, but she would be the core of that area.)
The blockers would continue their role of cutting off certain spike lanes, guiding the opponent’s shots.
Thanks to the new formation, they managed to halt Tobita’s serve rotation. 10–9.
Compared to the Inter-High, Himesaki now had a libero strong against power hitters—Yukiko. Meanwhile, Kinhouzan’s ace, Miyamoto, wasn’t in top form, her jump a few centimeters lower than during the summer.
That small difference tilted the match slightly in Himesaki’s favor.
The score moved from 18–15 to 19–15.
((We can do this!))
((At this rate, we’ll lose...))
Just as those opposing thoughts crossed the court, someone broke the silence.
“To~tt-san! I can’t get fired up doing rehab tosses. Can you set it like usual instead?”
At Kinhouzan, their ace Miyamoto had injured her foot during the Inter-High finals when she landed badly after a lateral block. She hadn’t jumped much in nearly a month since then, which is why her jumps lacked height...
“Haa? Are you serious, Chizuru? You’ve barely practiced your jumps for a whole month. How exactly do you plan on jumping?”
“Duh—sheer willpower?”
“You can’t just jump with—”
“Tobita! Please. Just do what this idiot says. Hey! Idiot! You said it yourself! If you can’t jump, you’re benched! Benched!”
Just before the playmaker and the ace could start arguing, Coach Otomo gave Tobita the go-ahead. He also smacked the open spot on the bench beside him, warning that failure meant substitution.
It’s not like willpower alone could make jumping easy—but at the whistle, Himesaki launched their serve.
Still, Miyamoto never intended to jump higher on willpower alone.
As the serve flew in, she left the receive to a teammate and moved out past the left sideline. She was securing extra runway for her approach.
Normally, she takes three steps to approach. This time, she took seven.
After the serve was returned to the setter, Tobita sent a parallel toss to the left—at Miyamoto’s usual height.
What’s amazing is how precisely Tobita adjusted her set height by centimeters to match the spiker’s condition—an extraordinary skill.
Thanks to that…
With her extended approach, Miyamoto jumped to her usual height—just as promised. The jump was clearly higher than before, though by less than 10 cm. But even that small difference was crucial.
Smack!
The spike hit just the tips of the blockers’ fingers, resulting in a block-out.
The change in spike height shifted the contact point—from the palm earlier to just the fingertips now. That tiny difference decided whether the ball was stopped by the block or forced its way through.
19–16.
“Alrighty then. Let’s keep it going!”
With the ace regaining her rhythm, the match took a turn and tilted in favor of Kinhouzan Osaka.
Up until now, they had managed to stop Kinhouzan Osaka’s attacks by using blocks to limit the spiking course, placing Yukiko—who excelled at receiving powerful spikes—in those areas, and assigning separate coverage for feints.
But once their ace began aiming for block-outs, the defenders became more cautious, expanding their individual coverage zones to account for that possibility. As a result, those wider defensive ranges created holes in their defense.
Furthermore, as attention focused on the ace, tactics using her as a decoy became more effective.
Tobita on the opposing side didn’t miss this opportunity, skillfully executing broad attacks and D-quick hits from the right. This further disrupted the defense.
19–17
20–17
20–18
20–19
・
・
・
・
23–23
23–24
23–25
Piiiii!
The first set was taken by Kinhouzan Osaka.
The second set also saw Kinhouzan Osaka maintaining dominance throughout.
And then...
"Ah..."
Yukiko, the receive specialist, failed to receive Miyamoto’s spike. 7–15. Their lead widened to 8 points.
"I'm sorry..."
"Don’t worry about it, don’t worry! Besides, none of us except Arimura-san have been able to receive properly anyway!"
Captain Nishimura encouraged her with forced cheerfulness.
Yukiko might be used to handling power spikes, but that didn’t mean she could stop every one of them. Still, the fact that she failed to receive a powerful spike for the first time in this match heavily impacted team morale.
On the other hand—
“Yesss!!! I finally did it!!”
Miyamoto sat down triumphantly, as if declaring she had accomplished her mission.
“Phew... I challenged her head-on 17 times and finally made her miss once. That’s one win and sixteen losses, okay? Don’t get so cocky.”
“Man... Pops, you really can’t read the room, huh?”
For Kinhouzan Osaka, making the libero who had been tormenting them all match finally fail felt like breaking through a huge wall. Their morale soared sky-high.
"...You're right. If we’re gonna press the advantage, now’s the time. Chizuru, let’s go!"
"Ahh, about that—yeah, no can do. I went too hard. Can’t jump anymore today."
"YOU IDIOT!!"
Tobita’s scolding echoed across the court.
After that, the ace was benched, and although they regained some momentum, they couldn’t turn the tide of the match. The second set ended 20–25 in favor of Osaka, sealing the game.
Yukiko and her team’s National Sports Festival ended on Day 2, after two matches.
===
After the match, just as Yukiko was about to leave the venue, she was caught.
"Found you, little libero-chan!"
“Kyahhh!!”
Yukiko let out an involuntary scream—and who could blame her?
Even though they had just played a match against each other, they’d hardly spoken, and now this woman had suddenly grabbed her under the arms and lifted her high into the air. Anyone would be startled.
But Miyamoto acted like she hadn’t heard a thing.
"Whoa—libero-chan, you're so tiny and light. That’s not good, y’know. You gotta eat more and grow—"
Up until now, she had only seen Yukiko from across the net, several meters away. From a distance, she’d suspected it, but—
Now, looking at her from less than 50 cm away, it was even more astonishing.
Yukiko was short… but massive.
"...You’re the real deal, huh?"
Even quadrupling her own size wouldn’t compare—that overwhelming mass made Miyamoto flinch.
“Put her down already, you pervert!”
Tobita smacked Miyamoto on the head.
“Ow!! Pops, what the heck!?”
“What the heck is my line! Just put her down already!”
As Miyamoto finally let Yukiko down, Tobita continued:
“Sorry. I know it probably felt super creepy, but she really didn’t mean any harm.”
“No, I was just surprised, that’s all…”
“I see. Glad to hear that. By the way, you’re amazing. I’ve never seen a high schooler who can pick up Kinhouzan spikes like that. What kind of practice do you usually do?”
“I think our training is just normal. It’s just that... the person I practice against hits faster spikes than Kinhouzan’s.”
“WHAT!?” “Say what now!?”
The two of them reacted childishly, raising their voices.
“That’s not something we can ignore. Someone who spikes faster than us? Who the heck is that?”
“I think Tobita-senpai might know her. Do you remember a girl named Yuuri Tachibana?”
“Oh no… I see now. If you’re her teammate, then it makes sense.”
“Wait, wait, wait! If she’s with that Yuuri-chan, why didn’t they make it to the Inter-High finals!? Is their setter that terrible!?”
“The setter is apparently Yuuri’s older sister. From what Yuuri tells me, she’s actually pretty decent…”
“You met Yuuri-chan at beach volleyball, right? Why didn’t you two play together in beach volleyball?”
“…Her sister wouldn’t do it. Said her boobs bounced too much in a swimsuit. That sister—at the very least, she was bigger than an apple.”
“Big girls like that should just explode already.”
・
・
・
・
===
Perspective Shift
POV: Tachibana Yuuri
===
It’s Saturday. That means we’ve got the whole gym to ourselves for practice.
We usually have eight members, but today Yuki’s out at the National Sports Festival.
"Aww... Yuki lost..."
Normally, we’re not allowed to bring phones into the gym, but today our captain Asuka got special permission to bring hers.
She’d been checking the updates between drills, and yep, looks like they lost...
"But hey, Yuki’s opponents were the reigning Inter-High champs, right?"
“Yeah. The Osaka team is basically Kinhouzan, so it’s not surprising they lost…”
Ping!
A cheerful chime rang from Asuka’s phone.
“Oh, it’s from Yuki. Probably saying how frustrated she is about the loss… wait, what the heck is this?”
“Huh? Asuka, what’s wrong?”
“Something definitely happened to Yuki. Look at this.”
Asuka showed me her phone screen—
[We became friends!]
That message was accompanied by a photo of Yuki with Mai-san and two of her teammates, judging from their uniforms.
What the hell happened out there!?
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