The Pinnacle

Ch 1

Ushijima Wakatoshi was the pinnacle of volleyball. That's what I thought when I first saw him play.

...

In my second year of middle school, our team wasn't the best. Our serves were average, no one was very tall, and our blocking timing was frankly subpar. We weren't bad, but there wasn't anything that made our team members stand out. Because of that, our plays depended on solid combinations and well-timed sets which were entirely reliant on the setter. And of course, that was me. I felt like I had to play perfectly every match for us to have a chance of winning. It was exhausting. But it was the only way I could win and keep playing volleyball. So I gave 150% every time. Everyone was impressed with me. Even though it was clear that I didn't have the most talent or the best technique, the team relied on me to make sound decisions and clear the path to victory.

But my play alone wasn't enough. Eventually, a team with stronger players beat us in the quarter-finals. Although we were disappointed to be out of the tournament, we also knew we lost because it was as far as we could go. So we didn't have any regrets. After our match was over, Coach brought us to watch the final match of the tournament. We got there just in time to watch the second set between Shiratorizawa and Kitagawa First.

Kitagawa were amazing, they had perfectly synchronized teamwork. Their time-delayed attacks were on point. The serves from most of their players were solid, or downright scary. And their setter, the best middle school setter in the prefecture, Oikawa Tooru. You could tell he was a cut above the rest. I had encountered him before in matches as well. He's only gotten better since I last saw him play. He commanded the flow of his team in perfect harmony, using his talent to compensate for the physical and technical deficits of his team. As a setter myself, it stressed me out to watch someone with that much talent.

Then you had Shiratorizawa. Frankly, when you watched their plays from above, you could easily see they were a little unorganized. There were even moments when players were getting in each other's way. "Ushiwaka!" I heard their setter call out. Then I saw him, their team ace. While he looked vaguely familiar, I couldn't remember ever playing him before. The set wasn't very good, it was high and slow. A triple block quickly made its way to the net and was positioned in front of the spiker. They were giving Kitagawa too much time to react to the play. Even if their wing spiker was taller than most, it wouldn't be easy for him to face the blockers in this situation.

His sneakers squeaked when he stamped the balls of his feet down onto the court. He bent his knees but not too far, and using the momentum, launched himself up. His form was perfect, there were no holes, no inefficiencies. Each muscle of his body had a job and it was executed to a T. Like the wave of a tsunami crashing down on the opponent. I could feel the air leave my lungs as his spike landed in Kitagawa's court, completely blowing through the triple block. His height, speed, power, technique, all of it was overwhelming. It consumed me completely. "Who is that?"

My teammate looked up at me and laughed, "Dude, how could you not know him? He's like, the best middle school spiker in the prefecture!"

"He's good," was all I could manage to say. I could barely manage a thought. I was completely captured in watching this spiker.

"Yeah, he's only in middle school, I heard he spends half his time training with the highschool team instead. They've basically already got him in the starting line up for next year and want him to get used to the team. He even plays practice matches with the high school first string." My teammate rambled on but I wasn't paying any attention. I just kept my focus on the court.

In the short time that we were watching, Ushiwaka had scored three-quarters of Shiratorizawa's points, winning them the second set. In the third, Kitagawa threw everything they had into stopping him. But it still wasn't enough. They lost 25-18. Ushiwaka had scored fourteen of those points on his own merit. Overwhelming didn't even begin to describe it. He was a complete monster. The pure unadulterated power that gave him the ability to smash through any opponent. That was what I really wanted. I had to play on the same team as him. I had to. "I'm going to go... to Shiratorizawa."