Chapter 18: Chapter 18
I widened my eyes for a while, clearly surprised by this question.
"What is the occasion?" I cannot help but ask. However, it is not Kiyoko who answered my question, but the captain, Sawamura.
"We know that we didn't perform our best today. Coach Ukai has also evaluated our performance today, but we would like to hear from the perspective of the best player in Japan if you don't mind." I rubbed my chin, thinking about this question.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Well, we want to know how far we are from the national team, and if you have any advice for us to improve our game."
"And you are fine with this, coach?" I narrowed my eyes to coach Ukai. But he just shrugged and replied back,
"Well, I have already given my evaluation, and they clearly want to hear from you. It would be a good thing because the perspective of the coach and the player is usually a bit different. And if it helps those brats, then I am all ears for your thoughts." I sighed and turned my attention to Karasuno's team.
"Are you sure you want to hear it from me? Because I will not hold back, and it will definitely hurt almost all of you." I stared at them with serious eyes. In turn, they give me a determination look -even Kageyama gritted his teeth about this-, with Tanaka and Nishinoya being the loud duo shouted,
"COME ON! WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF YOUR WORDS!"
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, RYUU!!"
I sighed and looked back at Sawamura who gives me apology eyes for those two's antics.
"Well, I don't mind telling you. Which one do you want to hear first?"
"Let's start with our stand in the national tournament first, okay?" Kiyoko gives me reassuring smile. I smile back at her before started speaking.
"First, because you asked me, I want all of you to know I will not hold back my opinion and it will hurt almost all of you, so if you don't want to hear it, you can just leave, okay?" Seeing that nobody moves from their spots, I sighed.
"Well, for the first question, only two or three of you are ready for the national team. As for the rest, you will probably be able to go through the top four of this prefecture, but Aoba Johsai or Shiratorizawa will definitely knock you off." I stopped my explanation to see their reaction. Surprisingly, there are no shouting this time, and the loud ones just clenched their fists in frustration. It seems coach Ukai has already told them about that.
"The three players who are up to the national standard are the libero -Nishinoya's eyes gleamed at me-, the captain -Sawamura just nodded-, and the third-year setter."
"Umm.. Hori-senpai, are you sure that it is me, not Kageyama?" Unlike the first two, Sugawara clearly didn't expect that I tell him he is up to the national standard. But I can understand his insecurity, being compared with the first-year genius setter.
"You sell yourself too short. You are a far better player than you imagined. Maybe you are not the best setter, but among all the other national teams, I can see you are being their setter. It is clear to me you are the best setter of this team." I said, ignoring the murderous glare from Kageyama. Sugawara chuckled awkwardly while being patted by their teammates, trying to avoid Kageyama too.
"As for the advice, what do you want to hear?" I asked all of them. It is Tanaka who answers that, and with a polite tone, surprisingly.
"What advice do you have for us to improve our play so we can be ready for the national?"
"Well, I will start with the libero. You are good, better than most of the national team's libero. But you need to work on your weakness of floating serve and overhead receive, you know that right?" Nishinoya nodded, paying attention to every word that comes from my mouth.
"If you can't improve that, you will be the downfall of your team. Every pinch server in the national tournament will target you to break your teammates, because if the best defender cannot receive it, what is the chance of his teammates?" This time, I can see the determination burning through Nishinoya's eyes.
"For the captain, you will probably fit on the Nekoma team. You are a solid all-around player with a good defense capability. But you need to be more deadly when you attack, either with more power or send the ball to the difficult course. You can learn from Kenma, our setter today on where to send the ball. He was able to fool you a few times, right?" Sawamura nodded, remembering the tricky place Kenma sent his serve.
"And as for the third-year setter, you are a good setter. You can make teamwork with anyone on the team and your accuracy is of top quality, not far from your first year. But you need to have more self-esteem. When you doubt yourself, you become predictable. Always send the ball to the baldy here or the samurai -I pointed to Tanaka and Asahi-. You need to be more daring and trust your other teammates. Your problem is basically your mind right now." I paused, take a deep breath, and scan the room once again.
"Now, that the three best players are done, the rest will be quite harsh. Do you think you can handle it enough?"
"HELL YEAH! BRING IT ON!" Now it is Hinata who shouted. Honestly, I don't know what is the problem with Karasuno and not shouting. It must be hard for the captain.
"I will start with your ace, the samurai." He straightened his sit, ready to hear the worst from me. "Well, I think the only reason you are the ace is that you can hit hard. There are not a lot who can receive your spike. But you know from the match earlier that you can be stopped easily, right?" He nodded solemnly.
"Well, your problem is the same with Sugawara, your mentality. When your spike didn't make it through your opponent a few times, you started to doubt yourself, and your spike is getting weaker each time you failed. You also didn't dare to spike into a tricky course, but playing it safe. Maybe you are the ace on this team. But in the national tournament, you will be just a normal opposite hitter, and that is only because of your heavy hit.
Your receive is shaky at best and your block is not good either. Your only strong point is your heavy hit. And if your opponent knows about your mentality, you will be targeted. Hell, even if they don't know, they will still target you just because you are the ace. Your opponent will target you to break your teammate's mental, so if you cannot handle that, you will destroy the team." Asahi shut his eyes and clenched his fists, thinking about what I said.
My attention turned to Tanaka who is growling, but being held back by his teammates, Ennoshita if I am not wrong.
"And you, the baldy one.." Coach Ukai snorted from behind. "You are a good player, with a solid technique as your foundation. Unfortunately, the blocker can read you easily like an open book, because your game sense is almost zero. If you look behind from the game earlier, you would notice that your first-year setter didn't even pass to you if there are any blockers who mark you. He will only pass to you after doing some complicated diversion so that you leave your blocker at least one step behind you.
That is because you didn't think too much before you hit. You just follow your instinct. And it was easy enough for any decent blocker to stop you. Learn from your middle blocker, maybe when you know enough about how the blocker makes their decision, you will think more about when you hit the ball. If not, you will only be the liability of the team."
I paused a bit, looking at them all. Tanaka looked like he wants to murder me and strangle Tsukishima's smug face. I took a deep breath and sighed,
"Well, now I will explain the biggest problem in your team, your first year."
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Author note:
It is not like I hate Karasuno's team, but I feel they can get stronger if they know their strengths and weakness from the start, and this is the best way for me to show it.
The opinion for the first year will be harsher, but in the end, I will not make Karasuno weaker than in the story. However, maybe they will develop different personalities from the original series, so I hope you can bear with it.
You can also read Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 23 at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_'). Thank you for your support! :)
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