[Aoba Johsai 23 – 17 Noheb
"Why 't we stop them?!" Nohebi Academy's middle blocker, Seguro Akihiko, stared at the widening scap with growing ay.
"Hold the line! We won't fall here!" Their captain, Suguru, shouted with determination as he received the serve.
Sakishima Izumi set the ball to the right wing, and their spiker, Naoyasu Kuguri, prepared for the attack.
"Double block!"
"Oouch!" Taichi yelled toward the bae.
Hanamaki Takahiro dove and saved the ball, sending it bato py. Taichi sprioward the .
"Block him!" Hiroo Kōji cried out urgently. In the front row, Seguro Akihiko leapt up to form a wall.
But the ball never came.
"One-man tempo dey!"
As Seguro's figure began to desd, Kaedehara Taichi soared above him, spiking the ball effortlessly over his head for the point.
[Aoba Johsai 24 – 17 Noheb
"Ah, so this is all you're capable of without res to your little tricks?" Taichi's gaze pierced Seguro Akihiko, devoid of aion.
On Nohebi's bench, Coach Kiyoshi ōmizu ched his hands tightly. Under normal circumstances, we'd have seen through a 'one-man tempo dey' like that. But our usual tactics have been tered, and the pyers' posure is slipping as the set reaches its climax…
Most critically, their timeouts had already been used up.
Coach ōmizu g Aoba Johsai's #1 and #10. Their calm and posed execution of this tacti a pivotal moment was nothing short of remarkable.
Aoba Johsai had taken trol, sg repeatedly.
"Calm down!" Their aumai Kazuma tried his best to steady his teammates. "We'll take it back, one point at a time!"
Aoba Johsai's serve.
Kunimi Akira uhe third ball, which erfectly received by Nohebi's libero, Akama Sō. The ball assed to the tre.
Numai Kazuma rushed forward and spiked with all his might.
Smack!
Watari Shinji dove to save it, and the ball was returo Nohebi's court.
"Free ball!" Sakishima Izumi yelled, quickly running toward the . He leapt mid-air ahe ball to the right wing.
"Naoyasu!"
First-year pyer Naoyasu Kuguri uood the weight of this ball. Following the set, he jumped high, aiming for Watari Shinji, who was still rec from the st dig and hadn't fully reset his stance.
Boom!
Smack!
The ball collided with Kaedehara Taichi's forearm and ricocheted bato Nohebi's court.
"You guys are far too obvious," Taichi remarked calmly as he nded.
The ball rolled lifelessly on the court.
[Aoba Johsai 25 – 17 Noheb
"The final point es from Kaedehara Taichi's block! A perfect read!"
Tweet! The referee's whistle sighe end of the match.
"That feeling of targeting someone's weaknesses—I uand it very well," Taichi smirked with his characteristic mischievous grin.
"Yes! We won!!!"
Coach Irihata stood and cpped with a smile, while the pyers on the bench rushed onto the court to celebrate with their teammates.
[Aoba Johsai 25 – 22 Noheb
[Aoba Johsai 25 – 17 Noheb
Aoba Johsai secured their first match of Nationals in straight sets—an impressive start to their campaign!
-----
"Yood at provoking oppos and influeng the referee's decisions—that's fine," Coach Kiyoshi ōmizu addressed his dazed pyers. "But remember, the most important thing on the court is still skill."
The faces of Nohebi's pyers were filled with frustration. At st, they realized they had lost sight of their priorities during the match.
"Alright, let's head bad review," Coach ōmizu turned and walked away.
"Yes…"
First-year pyer Naoyasu Kuguri turo take o look at the Nationals arena.
After enduring gruelling battles, we barely mao rise above the petition in Tokyo…
We came here with the dream of making our school's name known nationwide, only to fa uedly strong oppo on the very first day...
His legs felt as heavy as lead and his breathing boured. The familiar sensation of pying volleyball had slowly slipped away, and by the time he regained his posure, the whistle signalling the end of the match had already sounded.
"What was I even doing out there…" Tears streamed down his face before he realised it.
"Let's go, Naoyasu." Captain Suguru patted his back gently. "Finally, I see the expression I've been waiting for. We'll e back for Spring High year!"
[Date Tech's puter Lab]
Several tough-looking students were crowded around one of the puters—her than the current starting lineup of Date Tech's volleyball team.
Regardless of whether Aoba Johsai scored or lost a point, sed-year captain Futakuchi Kenji always wore a sour expression as he watched the match.
"Tch, Seijoh's #10 is being harder and harder to stop…"
Aoakanobu nodded in silent agreement. "Hm."
First-year setter Kanji Koganegawa, full of curiosity, pointed excitedly at Kaedehara Taichi on the s. "Futakuchi-senpai, have you ever pyed against Seijoh?"
"No, but we've seen their matches against Karasuno and Johzenji," Futakuchi replied gruffly.
"Hm," Aone affirmed again.
"Then why are you paying so much attention to them, Senpai?" Kanji asked ily, his fusion evident.
First-year libero Kōsuke Sakunami tugged at Kanji's sleeve and whispered, "Because their #10 taunted us during the preliminaries…"
Bang!
Futakuchi smmed his hand oable, his voice dripping with frustration. "An utter humiliation!"
Aone calmly pushed Futakuchi's hand away, gesturing for him not to scare the undercssmen, but nodded in agreement. "Hm."
Kanji, oblivious to the tension, tinued, "But we didn't even py against Karasuno, so we never got the ce to face Seijoh…"
Before Kōsuke could cover his mouth, it was too te.
"Kanji! Add 500 tosses to your evening training!" Futakuchi barked.
"Oh, sure, Senpai!" Kanji agreed enthusiastically, pletely unaware that it unishment.
Futakuchi rubbed his temples. At this rate, could Date Tech ever hope to defeat Aoba Johsai?
On the s, Taichi was shown blog the final spike from Nohebi.
Futakuchi's expression turned inexplicably plicated. "That kid's blog has improved a lot. If he came to Date Tech, his skills would go up another notch for sure."
"Hm," Aone agreed yet again.
"Tch…" Despite Aoba Johsai's victory, Futakuchi remained visibly displeased.
"Futakuchi-senpai, the match is over! Let's get started on our afternoon training!" Kanji excimed, itg to get ba the court.
"Fiiine…" Futakuchi's drawn-out reply was interrupted as Aone hoisted him up and dragged him toward the gym.
-----
"Taichi, grats on making it to the sed round," came a familiar voice.
Kozume Kenma and Kuroo Tetsurō approached the Aoba Johsai's team.
"Kenma! When did you get here? I didn't even notice!" Taichi beamed as he hurried to Kenma's side.
"At the end of the first set," Kenma answered softly, his usual calm demeanour unged.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, Kenma's eyes narrowed, log onto Taichi.
"Taichi, the ime we meet, I'll defeat you."
_________
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