Even if they were seniors, ohey stood on the opposite side of the hey became oppos.
Taichi Kaedehara's response made Ichisuke Takahashi's eyelid twitch. As the most mild-mannered member of the uy team, even he couldn't help but feel the urge to shut him down after such a cheeky remark.
Aoba Johsai served. This time, Akira Kunimi learned from his previous mistake and avoided targeting the oppo's setter.
The ball nded between Kazuya Sugimoto and Yuri Kobayashi, aiming to create some fusion.
"I've got it!" Yuri Kobayashi shouted immediately, with Kazuya Sugimoto shifting to the side. They had entered this situation tless times before, and their accumuted experiensured they acted without hesitation.
The ball erfectly received and passed to Heiji Morita. Without overthinking, Morita immediately set the ball high above Ichisuke Takahashi—a simple and direct sg strategy.
Ichisuke Takahashi spiked the ball with a powerful overhead strike, earning a point.
[Aoba Johsai 2 - 2 Uy Team]
They couldn't block him at all!
Aoba Johsai firmed this face again. Takahashi's diagonal spikes, bined with his hitting point, which was even higher than Wakatoshi Ushijima's, made him a formidable force.
When Takahashi was in the front row, the damage he inflicted on Aoba Johsai was massive.
"Well, Takahashi-senpai has rotated to the back row now," Taichi Kaedehara remarked as though he could read everyohoughts. "Let's widen the scap while we !"
"Taichi, don't uimate the other seniors!" Takahiro Hanamaki reminded.
"I'm not uimating them. But we hahe others, 't we?"
"That's true…but first, we o deal with Takahashi-senpai's serve."
The uy team served. I round, Takahashi's serve had rendered Aoba Johsai helpless. But this time—
Smack!
Hajime Iwaizumi braced himself and successfully received the ball.
"Nice receive, Iwa-!"
"Well done, Iwaizumi-senpai!"
Tōru Oikawa quickly positioned himself beh the ball, with Taichi Kaedehara readying himself for the attack.
"The receive wasn't perfect, so they 't unch a quick attack. If Oikawa sets to the first-year, block his left-handed spike." The uy team swiftly analyzed and adjusted, log their eyes on Oikawa's set.
Whoosh!—
Yet, Oikawa still set the ball to Taichi.
Taichi's eyes followed the ball as he began his approach. He leapt, preparing for the spike.
"Double block!" Ryo Sato aaro Matsumoto jumped together, arms exteo form a solid wall. Meanwhile, Heiji Morita, now rotated to the front, stayed back to prepare fanizing the attastead of joining the block.
"He's using his right hand?!" Ichisuke Takahashi, watg from the baoticed that Kaedehara was about to spike with his right hand—a stark trast to his usual left-handed pystyle he had shown so far.
"What's going on…?"
The double block gave Taichi room to manoeuvre. After a brief thought, he avoided the risky diagonal spike and instead aimed at Sato's fiips to hit out-of-bounds—a on spiking teique.
At the st moment, Sato read Kaedehara's iion and adjusted his blog angle slightly.
Smack!
"Touch!"
With little time to react, Sato chose the safest optioing the ball rebound upward. Ichisuke Takahashi ran off-court ahe ball back toward the .
Heiji Morita jumped.
"It's a setter dump!" Oikawa immediately identified the move and took a step forward, successfully receiving Morita's spike.
"Damn it!"
After Oikawa's receive, Shinji Watari stepped in to set in his pce.
"I've got it!" Taichi Kaedehara charged toward the for the third time.
How could they defend against this?
For the first time, the uy team showed signs of disarray. The secutive attacks left them no time to think. The fact that Taichi could spike with either hand only added to the fusion.
Kaedehara leapt once more, positioning himself midair for a powerful spike.
It was his right hand!
But by the time they realized, it was already too te. The uy team's three blockers were spread too thin, leaving a gaping hole in the middle.
Kaedehara aimed for the gap, twisted his wrist slightly and smmed the ball down.
Boom!
The ball nded sharply in the uy team's court, cutting diagonally across their defence.
[Aoba Johsai 3 - 2 Uy Team]
"Nice spike, Taichi!"
His teammates' praise echoed in his ears, but Taichi's expression was plicated.
The spike had gone in, but the angle was way off from what he had envisioned!
"He 't do diagonal spikes properly. Fet blog his diagonals ahe back row hahem!" Heiji Morita quickly identified the fw and adjusted their strategy.
Bck lines seemed to form across Taichi's face as he processed the ent.
Coach Irihata watched from the sidelines, his face brimming with delight. "This group of experienced uy pyers might just be the most challenging oppos Taichi has faced so far."
Sadayuki Mizoguchi stood silently beside him, nodding along. Whether he fully uood or not was irrelevant—maintaining appearances was key.
"Sadayuki, do you know why I pced Taichi iarting lineup from the very beginning?" Coach Irihata suddenly asked.
Caught off guard by the question, Mukouguchi hesitated for a moment.
"Coach must have been impressed by Taichi's offensive capabilities at the time," Mukouguchi replied early after giving it some thought.
"That's right," Coach Irihata said, recalling the previous Aoba Johsai lineup. "Back then, the team was a bit too mild. The biggest threat was Tōru Oikawa, which wasn't enough. Hajime Iwaizumi and the others worked hard—I saw that—but their offensive firepower wasn't suffit against stroeams."
"So, I thought about bringiarō Kyōtani back. But Kyōtani is a double-edged sword. Without a reliable spiker to bance him out, his presence could ively impact the team."
"But then Taichi appeared," Mizoguchi murmured.
"Exactly. Taichi ged the team dynamic—he even influenced Oikawa, something I hadn't anticipated," Coach Irihata admitted.
"On top of that, despite Taichi's weak fuals, his improvement was astonishingly fast. He learns quickly and isn't afraid to use what he's just mastered in real matches—often with great results."
Mizoguchi sidered the coach's words. "So, you're saying he has an excellent sense for the game and a high volleyball IQ. These traits not only make it easier for him to learn but also allow him to seize opportunities effectively."
Coach Irihata nodded with satisfa. "Exactly. Most pyers 't apply what they've learned so quickly, but Taichi's ability to do so is his greatest talent."
------
Smack!
Subaru Uchida's serve was received ly by Tōru Oikawa, the ball flying toward the aichi Kaedehara rushed forward.
"Are they still going for a quick attack?" Kentaro Matsumoto gritted his teeth a, blog Taichi head-on.
"Touch!"
His jump had been too rushed, and his spike failed to seal the point, allowing the uy team troup.
"If I had just set the ball instead…" A stray thought crossed Kaedehara's mind.
The more skills he mastered, the more dires his mind wandered, and the more things he wao try. Taichi was seeking new joys in volleyball.
Here it es!
Oher side, Ichisuke Takahashi had already leapt at the . Despite knowing it would likely be futile, Kaedehara jumped to block, hoping to interfere just a little.
Boom!
Another overhead spike from Takahashi.
But this time, Shinji Watari dug the ball in the back row!
The powerful spike sent Watari tumbling, but the ball stayed in py.
Oikawa sent up a high set.
Kaedehara approached from the back row, sprinting forward and leaping with all his might.
"Three-man block!" Ichisuke Takahashi, Ryo Sato, aaro Matsumoto formed an iron wall in front of him.
This time, however, Taichi jumped even higher. He could see the blog formation more clearly.
His left arm swung back as his body arched in midair, eyes log onto a small gap to Takahashi's left. With a sudden burst of power, he swung his arm.
"Not happening!" Takahashi, still airborne, forced his blog arm to the left, sealing the final opening.
I won't make the same mistake twibsp;Takahashi thought to himself.
But just as he braced for impact, he saw Kaedehara's faint smile.
Tap, tap, tap…
Taichi didn't spike with full forstead, he gently tipped the ball, sending it through the gap left by Takahashi's shifted arm.
He had gambled on Takahashi itting to the straight shot block!
Taichi Kaedehara's tip scored.
[Aoba Johsai 31 - 29 Uy Team]
Aoba Johsai fought tooth and nail to cim the first set.
-----
[Aoba Johsai 22 - 25 Uy Team]
[Aoba Johsai 33 - 31 Uy Team]
In a gruelling three-set match, Aoba Johsai emerged victorious, 2-1, avenging their previous defeat.
In the final set, Akira Kunimi was subbed out, and repced by Yūtarō Kindaichi, who exerted immense pressure on Takahashi with his blog. This substitution proved decisive in seg the win.
Coach Irihata observed Kindaichi's performahoughtfully, sidering potential rotation strategies for future matches.
"Thank you for the match, senpais!" Aoba Johsai's pyers bowed to their seniors in gratitude.
Over the course of two matches, they had experienced higher-level volleyball and built newfound fidence.
"Good luck at Nationals!" Yuri Kobayashi enced the third-years.
"We will!"
"Hey, kid, fident about Nationals?" Heiji Morita teased Taichi Kaedehara.
"Don't worry, senpai. He's the one who decred in an interview that he'd quer Nationals!" Oikawa interjected with a smirk.
"Oh?" Morita chuckled, finding Kaedehara uedly likeable. "If you make it to the finals, let us know. We'll e to watch!"
"Will do! Thank you, senpai!"
As the seniors prepared to leave, Taichi rao Takahashi and whispered, "Takahashi-senpai, did you guys hold back to give us fidence?"
Takahashi paused, then smiled warmly.
"Take a guess."
_________
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