The most important number for volleyball was three.
Receiving, tossing, and attacking was the basic
strategy. To receive, one planted their feet on the ground, prepared their
shoulders, and received the ball. Each team of six was split into two groups of
three and victory was determined by whoever won three sets first.
It was not a simple sport that could be won
with just three people, but three powerful players could greatly increase a
team’s overall offense and defense.
The summer game tournament was the big
event just before summer break and Fujita Mutsuki’s class had placed their
three most athletic members on their volleyball team: Jiyuuni Ange who excelled
at all sports, Satowa Lucia who did the same, and Kurikara Saya who was captain
of the girls softball team.
Ibekusa Machina and Tomono Sakae had also
been placed on the team and Mutsuki himself was only there to bring the total
up to six.
Machina had been an unexpected boon for the
team. While she would not take the initiative, she was perfect at accurately placing
the ball in the perfect spot for the attacker to make their move.
However, the three most promising players had
an unexpected flaw.
“Wah, wah, wah! Knock it up a little higher
than that!”
It was afterschool on the volleyball court
at one corner of the school grounds.
Ange panicked as the ball tossed to her
stopped at about knee height. She still managed to flip around in midair and
hit it to the opposite court, but her legs got caught in the net.
“She got tangled up again!”
Her own team laughed cheerfully.
“Hey, hey. Did you see that, Mutsuki-kun?
She really is clumsy. Touching the net is a foul, isn’t it? F! O! U! L!”
“Y-yes, it is. Now, Lucia-kun, can we start
practicing?”
Even though he was laughing at Ange, Lucia
was still learning the rules himself as he clung to Mutsuki.
As the class representative, Sakae was also
leading the volleyball team, but he only smiled bitterly and shrugged.
Mutsuki felt bad that it was his roommate
and friend arguing, so he turned to the last member of the team.
Kurikara Saya sat on the edge of the bench
and showed no sign joining them as they practiced.
She was wrinkling her brow and clearly
looked unwell.
Mutsuki was worried she was sleep deprived,
and then their gazes met.
“Ah.”
She would normally smile whenever she saw
someone, but she looked away a little awkwardly.
Each team was taking turns using the practice
court, so after a set amount of time passed, they let the next team take over. The
five of them moved to the bench they had left their things on, which was in the
opposite direction from Saya.
“Sigh~ I don’t have any complaints about
our individual abilities, but we might not even be able to win the first round
like this.”
Their teamwork could not have been worse, so
Sakae gave an exaggerated sigh.
He had not been trying to match the other
boy, but Mutsuki gave a quieter sigh of his own.
Their individual athletic abilities were
ten times as amazing as Sakae had imagined.
They were hiding their identities, but
Fujita Mutsuki was surrounded by representatives of heaven, hell, and the human
world: Jiyuuni Ange, Satowa Lucia, and Ibekusa Machina respectively. Their
physical abilities far surpassed those of a normal human.
However, Lucia was mostly just having fun,
and…
“Wait, Ibekusa! Toss the ball to me a
little better than that! I can’t reach it!”
“Jumping any higher than that would seem
unnatural. You should restrict yourself to the height I provide you. Using the
powers of an angel for sports is unfair.”
“I don’t care!”
Machina did not want to show off any
athleticism that went beyond the category of a normal student, so Ange’s
abilities went to waste with her assistance.
They only had three days until the ball
game tournament. These were representatives of hostile organizations, so getting
them to work together by then was not going to be easy.
