This match had clearly been carefully orchestrated. Through the ret exges and rallies, subtle truths about both teams' performances swirled in Taichi’s mind. Bit by bit, the fragments aligned like pieces of a puzzle, revealing a clear picture before his eyes.
If volleyball could be boiled down into two elements—offenbsp;and defehen his current team was built entirely around one cept: extreme defeo terattack.
In terms of offensive power, the biggest threats on their side were, surprisingly, both first-years: himself and Goshiki Tsutomu.
But without Oikawa Tōru setting for him, Taichi was signifitly handicapped. The super-quick attack was off the table, and the mix of left- and right-hand strikes that once kept bluessing was no longer an option. His attag power was sharply reduced.
On the flip side, though, the team’s blog strength was unparalleled:
Aoakanobu, Tendō Satori, Futakuchi Kenji, Koganegawa Kanji, and himself—all formidable blockers.
Whether individually or as a group, they were a wall that would be extremely difficult to pee.
The goal of the teams’ division was being clear:
Would their block evolve fast enough to stop Ushijima Wakatoshi, or would the opposing hitters find a way to break through?
And standing as the final line of defen this setup, Iwaizumi Hajime had to be feeling enormous pressure…
Taichi lowered his gaze.
Defence alone wouldn’t be enough.
His personal challenge in this match was to figure out how to tribute offensively without Oikawa by his side.
-----
“Beep—!” The matded.
[ Team Irihata 17 - 25 Team Washijō]
The differeweewo teams was stark. Washijō’s side had scored a total of 16 points through Ushijima Wakatoshi and Oikawa Tōru alone.
Irihata’s team had racked up most of their points through blog, managing to score 8 points that way.
The most surprising stat? Kaedehara Taichi had only scored 4 points with spikes throughout the ech—a far cry from his usual performance.
Not only had it bee harder for him to score, but the two setters on his team also weren’t prioritizing him the way Oikawa once had.
Koganegawa was more aced to setting for his seniors from Date Tech, while Shirabu naturally favoured his Shiratorizawa teammates.
“Hahaha…Taichi, see? Without me, you’re totally lost!” Oikawa’s ugh was obnoxiously loud.
“Mm.” Taichi responded with a curt hum and turned away.
Oikawa: “???”
“Oi, Iwa-, you and Taichi together couldn’t match me, you know!” Oikawa taunted Iwaizumi .
“Get lost, you idiot. I don’t want to talk to yht now.” Iwaizumi’s scowl deepened as he walked off with a grim expression.
Oikawa: “???”
Iwa- didn’t even hit me this time…
While Washijō chewed out both Goshiki and Tendō, Irihata Nobuteru remained calm, his ever-present smile firmly in pce.
“Aren’t you going to che your prized little ace? He only scored four points. He’s probably devastated,” Washijō muttered sourly.
Irihata shot him a gnce. “Cheg on” for this old man likely involved yelling aing someone.
“Taichi’s just spoiled by Oikawa’s setting,” Irihata replied with a zy smirk. “He just o adjust. Seijoh’s pyers are smart enough to figure things out on their own.”
“Hmph!” Washijō scoffed. “You make it sound like Shiratorizayers aren’t smart.”
After the scrimmage, Aone and Futakuchi pulled Koganegawa aside to discuss his blog form. Futakuchi, too, had noticed the curious design behind the teams, but having a top-tier spiker like Taichi beside him was a rare opportunity to sharpen his own skills.
Meanwhile, Goshiki and Shirabu practised hitting drills while Tendō took turns blog their attempts. Iwaizumi was deep in versation with Yamagata Hayato, learning more about libero teiques.
Taichi, however, practised his serves alone, repying the mat his mind.
Just as he didn’t trust Shirabu anegawa’s sets, they also weren’t fident enough to set him sistently. Even though they had traiogether the night before, in-game decisions happened in fras of a sed.
If things stayed this predictable, the opposing team would have no trouble reading their attack patterns.
Smack!
Taichi's powerful jump serve was received ly by Oikawa.
“Taichi, your power’s too weak!” Oikawa teased. “Wao teach you how to serve again? I never even showed Tobio- this!”
That’s it—I need more power!
Taichi realized he had been thinking about things all wrong. He o simplify.
Without another word, he turned and walked off.
“Hey, wait! Taichi! Are you going to learn or not?!” Oikawa called after him, hand outstretched.
-----
The winning team, apart from the usual steady performance of its third-years, had issues t degrees with its younger pyers.
To put it simply, the victory felt disected from their personal tributions.
For Terushima Yūji, this was the first time he had ever pyed with sucredible teammates. A, in this set, he had only hit two balls.
He couldn’t even find it in himself to pin to Oikawa Tōru. It was obvious—the reason he wasn’t getti was that he couldn’t score, whereas Ushijima could.
This reality g Terushima, leaving him feeliless and frustrated.
Kindaichi and Kunimi shared simir frustrations. Kindaichi, in particur, was being painfully aware of the stark differeween the blog on both sides.
Even with his less-than-sharp mind, Kindaichi Yūtarō khis was a crucial opportunity. He didn’t want to be left further behind by Taichi and Kunimi…
As for Hyakuzawa Yūdai, he had the sed-highest spike attempts after Ushijima Wakatoshi. With Oikawa setting for him, every ball felt smooth and perfectly pced—but his actual scores were few.
Even when he mao push the ball past the blockers, there was always someohere to receive it. Hyakuzawa’s eyes kept drifting to Ushijima, his heart yearning to bee an ace like him one day.
As the matches cluded and calm settled over the gym, the pyers’ hearts remained anything but tranquil.
In this unfamiliar enviro, paired with eammates and pitted against evenly matched oppos, they had faced challehat went beyond their routine practices.
The intense games had id bare their weaknesses and highlighted the areas where they o grow.
Every pyer was lost in thought—some quickly finding crity and new goals, while others remained mired in fusion after a whole day of effort.
The coaches observed the young pyers in sile was only the sed day of the training camp, but the signs of growth were already promising.
And this was just the beginning.
Growth always came with pain and struggle, and these pyers were teetering on the edge of transformation.
Everyone was waiting for the moment when they would break free of their cos and take flight.
-----
After dihe pyers returo the gym. After a light warm-up, they divided into teams and began the sed round of matches.
The energy on the court was fierce, and the pyers' coordination had improved from the m games.
Smabsp;Yamagata Hayato received a perfect first touch, the ball arg beautifully toward the setter.
“Ushijima!” Oikawa called as he sent the ball to the left wing.
Ushijima Wakatoshi sprihe into the air with effortless power. His body stretched into a fwless form as his left arm pulled back.
“Triple block!”
Koganegawa Kanji, Aoakanobu, and Kaedehara Taichi rose oher side of the , f a formidable wall.
Taichi's arms strained, pressing forward and down in sync with his teammates, his eyes locked fiercely on Ushijima.
“You’re not getting past us!!”
The wall loomed in the air with an overwhelming, unshakable presence.
For a brief moment, Ushijima felt the crushing force of their block from across the hen, instead of hammering the ball through, he simply tapped it upward.
The ball sailed gently over the blod dropped to the ground behind them.
Washijō’s team scored.
[ Team Irihata 14 - 18 Team Washijō]
Ushijima stood fag the trio oher side of the .
Though his team had scored, Oikawa’s face broke into a mysterious smile.
“Well, well. Ushijima-, were you avoiding the block just now?”
“ime—”
Taichi and Aone spoke in unison, eyes bzing.
“We’ll stop you for sure!”
_________
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Link - (P)atreon./Iseebck [Remove the brackets]