Carry the Day

Chapter 17: The Iron Wall

'He's making a puppet out of you...'

'You need to stop doing this!'

'It's your life, so do what you want with it.'

My brother's words echoed through my head as I sat beside the coach. The match against Dateko had just started a few minutes ago. Kei's words also rang through my mind. I pushed the thoughts out of my head, deciding I'd deal with it later. I looked back at the court, where Dateko's Kamasaki served.

He jumped and slammed his hand against the ball. There was a lot of power behind it, but it simply wasn't good enough a serve. Daichi easily returned it and passed it to Tobio. He jumped, his form clean. He tossed the ball to Shoyo, but Dateko's blockers were already jumping.

My eyes widened as I observed the blockers. Shoyo spiked the ball, which was blocked by Dateko, but managed to fall through the gap between them and the net. We scored a point with that one, but just barely. I looked back at Dateko's blockers. Aone had been standing on the other side of the net when Tobio tossed, so his reaction was extraordinary.

I narrowed my eyes and huffed. "I hate read blockers." I said.

"All our previous opponents used commit blocks, they jumped when they found out who would get the toss. Dateko has perfected the read block. They jump as soon as the toss goes up." Coach said. "In other words, they aren't easily tricked by a decoy." he said.

Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I looked back to the court when Tobio served. Unfortuneatly he hit it right to the libero. The libero received the ball easily and sent it to their setter. Aone jumped up and spiked it. Yuu managed to receive it, but it wasn't a perfect receive. Tanaka covered and sent the last ball to Asahi.

However, his spike got blocked. Yuu dived to try and save the ball, but he failed. "Asahi-san! I'll definitely save the next one!" he exclaimed. He bowed, apologizing.

Asahi smiled at him. "Right, I'm counting on you. Though, I'll score next time." he said.

A smile made its way onto my lips at his words. I closed my eyes, thinking back to when he was still depressed about being blocked. When I opened my eyes, I locked eyes with Asahi and smiled, giving a small thumbs up. 

The match continued and finally, we scored another point. It was through a net violation, but a point is a point. Asahi spiked again, but got blocked. Thankfully, the ball slammed out of bounds and so we still earned a point. Asahi clenched his fists and I frowned. 'How long will he be able to keep up.'  I thought.

After we got a chance ball, Shoyo jumped, Tobio sending him a toss. Trying to trick Dateko into thinking he was spiking the other way, he glanced at another spot. When he swung his arm, Dateko read it and blocked him anyway. I scoffed again, glaring at Dateko's side of the court, where their supporters went wild. 

'A high, fast and expansive wall... How can we overcome this?'  I wondered. I looked up and saw Tobio taking Shoyo apart, telling him it was time to show Dateko their freak quick. Shoyo's face lit up and he started getting excited, jumping all over the place. 

Dateko's coach glanced at Shoyo, obviously confused. Futakuchi of Dateko served, Ryuu receiving and sending it to Tobio. A smirk formed on my face when I watched Shoyo sprint down the court and jump, slamming the ball down on the other side of the court. Dateko's blockers stood frozen in their place, not even able to move a muscle. 

While my team cheered, Dateko's side was having a heated discussion about what they'd just witnessed. It was Yuu's turn to go out, and Kei's turn to go in. I looked at Kei as he walked up to the court. "I'm counting on you, Kei." I said, a smirk on my face.