The serve ges hands as Oikawa Tōru steps up to the service line.
Aoba Johsai wasn't particurly surprised by Miya Atsumu's improvements.
It was only natural—when your teammate was Kaedehara Taichi, you'd start to believe that no amount of ge was beyond expectation.
"Let's go, Seijoh!""Victory! Victory! Victory, Seijoh!"
Oikaointed directly at Ojiro Aran and tossed the ball into the air.
Have you ever seen a serve that es with its own BGM? Last time, Oikawa had wao let Miya Atsumu witness it firsthand…
"OHH—HEYYY!"
BANG!
The r t made the Inarizaki pyers tense up, and the ball shot straight toward Ojiro Aran's face.
"You've got to be kidding me! He's actually aiming at me?!!"
"Weren't we teammates just a few days ago?! And besides, shouldn't he be going after Atsumu instead?!!!"
tless thoughts fshed through Aran's mind in an instant, but his hands moved automatically to receive the ball.
!!!?!
The volleyball suddenly dove sharply to the right!
What kind of movement is this?!
SMACK!
The ball clipped the right sideline—a line shot!
Oikawa Tōru had scored an ace!
[Aoba Johsai 2 – 1 Inarizak
As if to terbance Miya Atsumu's powerful jump serves, Oikawa Tōru had chosen to score using Atsumu's own speciality—the jump float serve!
"You're not the only one who's improved~" Oikawa smirked.
"As expected! When talking about Aoba Johsai and Inarizaki, we have to focus oters!" The entator, Otomo, analyzed with posure.
"Two of the best high school setters in the try are fighting for trol of the match right from the first few serves!"
"Even from the entary booth, I feel the explosive tension on the court!"
Oikawa tossed the ball up again.
"OHH—HEYYY!"
The intense t once again rattled the Inarizaki pyers.
BOOM!
This time, it owerful jump serve!
POP!
And the target was still Miya Atsumu!
"Damn it!"
The ball struck Atsumu's arm and bounced high into the air.
"Cover it!"
The moment Atsumu called out, Miya Osamu had already sprinted into positioh the ball.
WHOOSH—
The ball soared to the middle, where Suna Rintarō was already approag for his attack.
"Double block!"
Kindaichi Yūtarō and Kaedehara Taichi leapt into position in front of him.
Suna found himself tightly locked in by both blockers. The height of their read the tension in their arms clearly veyed a message—spiking in this dire was a guaranteed kill.
"What a hassle…"
Suna adjusted his posture mid-air. His lower body remaiable as his waist twisted sharply to the right.
Smack!
Using the flexibility of his waist, he narrowly avoided the block while applying intense spin to the ball. The volleyball shot straight toward the back row of Aoba Johsai's court.
Pop!
Kunimi Akira received it ly, sending the first touch directly to the middle.
Kindaichi Yūtarō jumped up instantly, while Suna was still rec from his nding.
Bang!
With no blockers in front of him, Kindaichi easily scored the point.
[Aoba Johsai 3 – 1 Inarizak
"Suna's spike got shut down so easily?"
"Who is that kid? I don't even remember him at all…"
"He's just a first-year from Seijoh, but I don't think he did anything special st match. Why is he pying like this now?"
Inarizaki's cheeriion buzzed with fusion, surprised by Kunimi Akira's defensive py. A seemingly unremarkable pyer had just successfully dug Suna's spike.
"Nice receive, Kunimi!" Oikawa gave him a thumbs-up.
With Kindaichi and Taichi's double block sealing off Suna's angle, digging that ball hadn't been overly difficult. Aoba Johsai had specifically pnned for this iactical meeting the night before.
However, what even Oikawa hadn't expected was how Kunimi had set the ball straight to the middle to coordinate a terattack with Kindaichi.
To be able to do that—besides the fact that they had been teammates for four years, meaning their coordination was on another level—Kunimi's teical ability also couldn't be overlooked.
No wonder, after returning from the Japan Youth Camp, Coach Irihata had ughed and said, "In terms of improvement alone, Kunimi was actually our best performer."
Even Shiratorizawa's legendary Coach Washijō had decred Kunimi the most well-rounded pyer at the First-Year Training Camp.
"It's nothing special. I just want to finish this match quickly." Kunimi muttered under his breath.
Aoba Johsai tinued serving as Oikarepared his third attempt.
BOOM!!
Another powerful jump serve—so the first jump float had only been a setup to pnt doubt in Inarizaki's mind.
Smack!
Libero Akagi Miari barely mao receive it.
It wasn't a pass, but this time, Atsumu was free to set up an attack.
He swiftly positioned himself, and the moment his fingers made tact with the ball, it was like watg the result of thousands of training reps in perfect execution.
WHOOSH!—
The ball sailed toward the right wing.
Miya Osamu dashed in and unched into his spike.
"Double block!"
Kaedehara Taichi and Kindaichi Yūtarō were already in front of him.
So fast!
Osamu was stunned for a moment. If it had been only Kindaichi, that would've been expected—but Taichi had been at the tre of the court just a sed ago. How did he get here so quickly?!
Bang!
Smack!
As soon as he touched the ball, Kaedehara Taichi called out, "Oouch!" and quickly retreated.
Watari Shinji's reception was fwless.
Oikawa Tōru leapt into the air to set, and by the time the ball left his fiips, Kaedehara Taichi was already sprinting toward the middle and s up.
Ridiculous! His speed was undeniably faster than before!
"Double block!" Ginjima Hitoshi and Aran Ojiro jumped to block him in the tre.
Bam!
Instead of Taichi, the ball was sent to the far-left wing.
Iwaizumi Hajime, fag an ope, smmed it down.
Pop!
Miya Atsumu had anticipated the py, but he still couldn't receive it ly.
The ball struck his forearm and bounced out of bounds.
[Aoba Johsai 4 – 1 Inarizak
-----
"What the hell?! What's going on? Why does it look like Inarizaki is getting pletely dominated by Aoba Johsai?" an angry spectator shouted.
"Our attad defence are both losing out?!" a bewildered fan excimed.
"We just o endure Oikawa Tōru's serves. Right now, his service rotation is disrupting our reception, making it hard tanize our offence," a more posed spectator analyzed.
"Rex! Last time, when we pyed Aoba Johsai, we started the first set down 0-4, too."
"Oh, really? You should've said that earlier. So we're just giving them a head start!"
"Wait…But didn't we lose that set?"
"Uh…I think we did..."
"Wait a damn minute—!"
-----
On the sidelines, Inarizaki's head coach, Kurosu Norimune, had already made up his mind—if they lost one more point, he would call a timeout.
This Aoba Johsai was on airely different level than before. The points they had just scored weren't something that Oikawa and Kaedehara alone could pull off.
From their match footage against Nekoma, Aoba Johsai had still been a team tred around those two. But against Inarizaki…it was like they had transformed.
-----
Oikawa bouhe volleyball in his hands.
Everyone's pying with sutensity…Looks like nobody has let go of that loss to Inarizaki at Nationals.
"Hmm, everyone's holding grudges now, thanks to Taichi," Oikawa muttered to himself with a smirk.
BANG!
Oikawa unched his fourth serve.
"I got it!" Akagi Miari stepped up and received it head-on. The ball shot high into the air.
"We o take a point here."
Miya Atsumu moved into position ahe ball, initiating a full-team attack.
Boom!
Aran Ojiro unched a back-row attack, with Kaedehara Taichi leaping up to block.
At the st moment, Aran twisted his wrist, redireg the ball past the bloto a sharp crosscourt shot.
Thud!
The ball barely clipped the sideline before boung out.
[Aoba Johsai 4 – 2 Inarizak
"Phew—close one!" Aran Ojiro let out a deep breath. That guy's block had actually startled him…No, more importantly—why was he blog him at all? Atsumu's sets shouldn't be that predictable.
"I guessed~"
Aran froze. Did he just read my mind? No, wait, that's not the point…
Kaedehara Taichi answered the question in his head while keeping his eyes fixed on Miya Atsumu.
"After all, I figured Miya-senpai would thiing to the front row would be too risky." His voice was light, almost teasing.
Atsumu didn't respond.
Ever siheir time training together in the Youth National Camp, he had sidered Kaedehara Taichi a rival of the same calibre.
During those training sessions, wheeams were randomly assigned for scrimmages, Taichi had stantly heckled him with sarcastic remarks.
They had all learned back then—engaging in banter with Kaedehara was a mistake. The deeper you got sucked in, the worse it got.
But still—damn, was it infuriating.
-----
With the serve switg over, Inarizaki .
Ginjima Hitoshi unched a powerful jump serve.
Watari Shinji received it effortlessly—perfect pass.
Oikawa set the ball to the right wing.
Kaedehara Taichi sprinted along the sideline before leaping high into the air.
"Triple block!"
Suna Rintarō, Miya Osamu, and Aran Ojiro formed a solid wall in front of him.
This time, they were ready. They wouldn't lose i to Kaedehara Taichi again. But—
Bang!
The ball slipped right through the narro between their hands and the , smming into the three-meter line on the left side.
A perfect down-the-line kill.
Kaedehara Taichi was on fire, sg with another spike!
[Aoba Johsai 5 – 2 Inarizak
-----
Ahh, this is so much easier.
Unlike Nekoma, Inarizaki didn't have that relentless defensive pystyle that made every single rally a war of attrition. Every well-struck spike actually resulted in points, giving him instant feedback.
If they were pying against Nekoma, there would probably be a Haiba Lev or a Yamamoto Taketora camping on that crosscourt shot, ready to pick it up.
Kaedehara let out a long sigh.
"Miya-senpai, you guys are way easier to py against than Nekoma…"
_________
[T/N] - If you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you support me on my Patreon. Trust me, it's awesome!
Link - (P)atreon./Iseebck [Remove the brackets]
