NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Chapter 7 - Match Conclusion
"Beep—"
Coach Mizoguchi blew his whistle from the sidelines, signaling the chattering students to continue the match.
Hideaki Kunimi retrieved the volleyball and returned to the serving area, delivering his serve under the intense gazes of everyone.
The ball was perfectly received by Issei Matsukawa once again and passed to Oikawa.
This time, Oikawa considered more thoroughly, running through all possible reactions from the Kikuzawa brothers before subtly glancing at Hajime Iwaizumi.
As the ball descended toward Oikawa's hands, Yuma Kikuzawa decisively moved to block Iwaizumi, convinced Oikawa would think: "Since Iwaizumi got blocked last time, they'll expect me to pass to Matsukawa—so I'll give it to Iwaizumi again."
Yuuki's calculations ran even deeper. Having caught Oikawa's eye signal, he wondered: "Is this a fake-out to trick me?"
Their mental gymnastics of "I think he knows that I know that he knows..." ultimately led Yuuki to position himself in front of Iwaizumi anyway.
Three minds worked at lightning speed, though the actual play unfolded in mere seconds.
Thud!
The ball landed cheerfully at Yuuki's feet, bouncing twice.
For the first time, Yuuki wore a stunned expression as he slowly looked up to see Oikawa's smug grin across the net.
"A dump shot?!"
"Only Oikawa-senpai would pull that move at this moment!"
Kindaichi gazed at Oikawa with admiration.
"Wahahahaha—!" Oikawa laughed triumphantly, hands on hips, thoroughly pleased with fooling the first-year. "See that? That's your senpai's real skill!"
Yuuki silently stared at the ball by his feet without speaking.
As a fellow setter, he'd frequently used dump shots to outplay opponents before.
The dump shot was downright dirty—even during intense matches, players inevitably had blind spots in their awareness. Against a cunning setter who deployed them unpredictably, stopping them required exceptional court vision and reflexes.
"Don't worry, we'll block it next time."
Yuma patted Yuuki's shoulder before retrieving the ball and tossing it to the other side.
Truthfully, Yuuki already possessed remarkable game sense—but when it came to sheer trickery, the entire court combined probably couldn't match Oikawa alone.
Where normal people had internal organs, Oikawa was all scheming tricks if you cut him open.
First-Years: Starters, 5-2
The match resumed with mounting tension.
After Takahiro Hanamaki's serve, the ball became airborne ping-pong, stubbornly refusing to land.
Yuma found almost no attacking opportunities, stationed in the back row with nothing but receives to handle. Meanwhile, every spike from his teammates met Oikawa and Iwaizumi's iron wall—either blocked outright or deflected with a one-touch to be received in the back.
The starters took two consecutive points before Yuuki's sudden dump shot disrupted their momentum.
First-Years: Starters, 6-4
Rotation brought Yuma's smile back—now it was Yuuki's turn to serve.
Trained by the same parents, Yuuki's serves were equally demonic. While equally proficient in quadruple-threat serving, his precision surpassed even Yuma's.
The third-years recognized Yuma's grin as an omen, quickly substituting Shinji Watari in for Hanamaki.
Even prepared, they lost two points to Yuuki's terrifyingly accurate serves. His third serve was barely received by a gritting Watari, leading to Iwaizumi's quick attack.
First-Years: Starters, 8-5
Several exchanges later, the score reached 11-9—unfavorable for the first-years as rotation brought Oikawa to serve.
Learning his lesson, Oikawa targeted Kunimi's zone exclusively with increasingly line-hugging jump serves.
While Kunimi's receives were excellent for a high schooler, Oikawa's monstrous jump serves proved overwhelming.
The first-years conceded three straight points under Oikawa's bombardment.
First-Years: Starters, 11-12
Yuma nearly shoved Kunimi aside to take the receives himself in frustration.
Salvation came when Oikawa's fourth serve finally went out, giving the first-years breathing room.
What followed was pure tug-of-war—a first-year team with two powerful servers and decent fundamentals but poor coordination versus a starter team with one elite server but seamless teamwork.
They traded points relentlessly, small leads appearing during strong servers' turns until both sides were exhausted. The match concluded at 28-26 in the first-years' favor.
[Results: Yuma - 5 spikes, 1 block, 8 serves]
[Yuuki - 8 spikes/sets (including dump shots), 5 blocks, 7 serves]
[Host's serving points exceed Yuuki by 1]
[Grind Points +0.1]
Some people appear alive but died inside long ago.
Since both spiker and setter get credit for spike points, Yuma could never surpass Yuuki there—but why was there a 4-point gap in blocks?!
Too difficult. Absolutely brutal.
Yuma collapsed on the court, arm over his eyes as he pulled up his stats:
[Yuma Kikuzawa, 16, 188.6cm, 71.4kg, Reach: 338cm, Power:89, Speed:92, Stamina:69, IQ:72, Spiking:92, Setting:87, Serving:93, Blocking:83, Receiving:85]
Damn it, why is my court IQ still so low?!
My academic scores are decent—why do I turn into a blockhead on court?!
Must be everyone else's fault for being too sneaky!
—Rather than self-reflect, blame others.
Yuma mentally cursed all scheming players.
Suddenly, he felt his collar yanked as he was hauled upright, coming face-to-face with a handsome smirk.
Oikawa: "What's little Yuma up to?"
Yuma: "...Philosophizing."
Yuma sneak-checked Oikawa's stats:
[Oikawa, 18, 184.3cm, 72.2kg, Reach:335cm, Power:92, Speed:78, Stamina:87, IQ:88, Spiking:77, Setting:94, Serving:92, Blocking:87, Receiving:83]
Yuma stared in shock.
Who knew this seemingly gentle-looking guy packed 92 power?
For high school volleyballers: 60=passing, 70=average, 80+=excellent, 90+=elite.
Every point above 90 became exponentially harder to gain.
For Yuma, improving his 87 setting by 1 required 10 Grind Points—but boosting his 92 spiking demanded 100.
___________________________________________
To read 40 advanced chapters you can visit my Patreon:"https://patreon.com/Excaliburs''