"Are you okay, Watari?" The Aoba Johsai team was more ed about Watari Shinji, who had just taken a ball to the face, than about losing the point.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Watari replied, rubbing his face. Thankfully, it wasn't a powerful jump serve; otherwise, he might have ended up with a nosebleed and been forced to sit out for a while.
Seeing that Watari wasn't ihe team let out a small sigh of relief. But the situation on the court remained dire.
Right from the start of the sed set, Inarizaki had demonstrated why they were known as the 'Stro Challengers'.
Kaedehara Taichi g Kita Shinsuke, who stood posed on the sidelines. He specuted that Kita must have said something to the Inarizaki pyers during the break.
To outsiders, Kita Shinsuke ractically invisible in scoutis. Though he had been named captain during his third year, he hadn't participated in any official matches thus far.
Yet, there were people in this world who, despite not being 'superstars', could instantly shift the atmosphere of a match.
Kita wasn't trusted by his team for his exceptional skills, but because his daily as and unwavering reliability had built an image of someone who never made mistakes.
That nearly fwless dependability made him a lighthouse for the team.
In crucial moments, Kita could stabilize the team's morale and point them in the right dire with calm, precise guidance.
His unication was cise and effit—void of unnecessary ptitudes or harsh criticisms. Every instru hit its mark, helping his teammates quickly uand and execute his strategies.
Behind this effective unication y Kita's deep uanding of his team's abilities and his sharp grasp of the game.
He never demahe impossible but iaught his pyers how to perform at their best under pressure.
Boom!
Ojiro Aran's spike tore through Aoba Johsai's block.
"Powerful attacks bined with relentless quick pys—Inarizaki scores another point!"
"Though Aoba Johsai isn't making many errors, the rhythm and trol of the game have been firmly in Inarizaki's grasp sihe beginning!"
[Aoba Johsai 12 – 17 Inarizak
The gap had wideo five points. Aoba Johsai's 'Unyielding Spirit' buff might have activated, but the team wasn't losing posure. This wasn't about mentality—it was simply a differen raw strength.
Kaedehara Taichi could tell his teammates were still thinking critically. They were calm, but the lead had slipped bit by bit, mainly because their attack options—himself included—were being systematically ralized.
His left-haraight shots had been read and tered, while his right-handed diagonal shots were sistently blocked.
Inarizaki's powerful servers were wreaking havo Aoba Johsai's receives, redug the effectiveness of his and Oikawa's quick attacks.
Furthermore, the Miya twins and Suna Rintarō kept him tightly marked, making it nearly impossible to outmanoeuvre them with speed alone.
"Jack of all trades, master of none..." It hrase ofteo describe Bokuto's teammate, Konoha Akinori. But now, Taichi realized it also applied to himself when fag top-tier teams.
What frustrated him the most was his inability to find a solution. pared to pyers like Ushijima Wakatoshi or Kiryū Wakatsu, Taichi knew he still had a long way to go.
The game tinued.
As Ojiro Aran observed the Miya twins regain their momentum, he recalled a versation with Kita Shinsuke from before the match.
-----
"I don't uand why I get nervous," Aran had fessed while Kita quietly teo his fingers.
Kita's response was calm but ued. "People only get nervous when they're trying to exceed their usual limits."
Aran had instinctively teased, "Are you even human? You sound like a robot."
Unbothered, Kita tinued, "No os nervous doing ordinary things like walking or eating. Volleyball's the same. If it's something you've practised thhly, what's there to be nervous about?"
------
Inarizaki served again. Ginjima Takashi's powerful jump serve was ly received by Watari Shinji.
Oikawa quickly moved into position ahe ball high in the middle for Kaedehara Taichi.
"Double block!" Suna Rintarō and Miya Osamu were already in front of him.
Taichi leapt, his gaze fixed on Rintarō's hands. His mind raced: Are they blog my left-hand angle because they've noticed I 't hit a diagonal shot with my left?
He spiked hard toward the edge of Rintarō's palm.
Smack!
Almost as if he'd predicted Kaedehara's i, Suna Rintarō adjusted his hand subtly upward, ging his roof-style bloto a ptform-style defle. The ball bounced off his hand and sailed into the air.
"Touch!"
Ojiro Aran dashed out of bounds and saved the ball, while Miya Atsumu set it perfectly toward the right side.
"This guy loves quick attacks!"
"Double block!" Taichi and Oikawa leapt in unison to ter.
Suna Rintarō jumped, maintaining stability in his lower body and showing no ge in his hitting angle. Yet, mid-air, he twisted his torso unnaturally to the left.
Boom!
His spike narrowly evaded the blod nded ly in Aoba Johsai's court.
[Aoba Johsai 12 – 18 Inarizak
"Is that how his attack range is so vast? Through the flexibility of his waist?"
From Suna Rintarō's posture, it initially seemed he was going for a cross-court spike.
Taichi quickly deciphered his i, sealing off the angle for a cross-court kill. Oikawa Tōru's ce was also perfectly in position, but…
Suna Rintarō's approad body orientation were all feints, baiting the blockers into jumping toward the cross-court spike position. Mid-air, he redirected the ball to the opposite dire.
And all of this was dohout promising the power behind the spike.
"Aoba Johsai's blog might seem quick, but it's full of holes!" jeered some fans from the Inarizaki cheering squad.
"No, it's the plete opposite. The more refihe blog teique, the easier it is for Suna Rintarō to lead them by the nose," tered a proud fan of his, revelling in his brilliance.
"—Beep!"
Aoba Johsai called for a timeout.
There hadn't been many errors on their part—it was simply that Inarizaki's pyers were on fire. As the match progressed, both sides began revealing their respective strengths.
While Aoba Johsai had taken the first set by catg Inarizaki off-guard, the gap in raw skill was now evident.
Coach Irihata used the timeout to break Inarizaki's momentum, providing his pyers a ce to breathe and recalibrate.
Most of Aoba Johsai's pyers were thinkers, which was both their greatest strength and a potential weakness. They were calm in matches, adjusting tactid deferategies based on the game's flow.
But against a clearly superior oppo, overthinking could leave them trapped, suppressing their oabilities.
"Taichi, are you overthinking this?"
During the timeout, the atmosphere was heavy. Breaking the silence, Oikawa Tōru suddenly directed his question at Kaedehara Taichi.
"First of all, we've already won the first set. Sedly, you're just a first-year." Oikawa's tone was that of an experienced senpai. "Trust your teammates and attack freely. Leave everything else to us."
"You're far gloomier now than you were this m against Mujinazaka. That's uable for an ace," Oikawa added, sounding half-teasi half-serious.
Taichi fell into a momentary silence. Was that true? He had thought he was calmly strategizing a way to break the deadlock.
Yet, without realizing it, he had bee the one most affected by the situation in the sed set.
"Just leap fearlessly and spike with all your strength!" Oikaatted him firmly on the back. "It's time for you to step up!"
"Yes!"
Timeout over, the game resumed.
Inarizaki's Ginjima Hitoshi delivered a powerful jump serve. Hanamaki Takahiro received it, and Oikawa moved in to set.
"Send it to me!" Kaedehara Taichi called, retreating to create space for a full approach.
Without hesitation, Oikawa sent a high toss to the left wing. This little monster adjusted so quickly, Oikawa thought.
Taichi's mind briefly fshed back to the m match against Mujinazaka.
A strange sense ency surged within him, as though his body was silently urging him to remember something.
During his csh with Kiryū Wakatsu, every spike he unleashed felt like an explosion of power—a moment where he and the ball became one, every swing a decration of unyielding will.
But now, in his pursuit of perfeg his teique and finesse, he had uionally ed his most primal strength—his raw power.
Among the pyers on the court, he was one of the few whose physical strength exceeded 90.
He should have realized this sooner. In his quest for teical improvement, he had subsciously shackled his instincts, fetting that sometimes, the simplest and most direct approach was the most effective.
'Simple is the best'
Taichi inhaled deeply, feeling the surge of energy c through him. It rimal force, built on tless hours of sweat-dreraining.
From now on, every spike would be all-in—not only refined in teique but powered by a newfound, awakened ferocity.
Boom!
Kaedehara stepped into the three-meter line and unched himself skyward.
"Left wing? He's going for a straight-line shot!"
Miya Osamu shifted to cover the sideline, while Suna Rintarō and Miya Atsumu jumped to seal off the angle for a cross-court shot.
Kaedehara locked eyes with Suna Rintarō mid-air. His upper body arched back slightly, his muscles taut like a coiled spring. With his left arm accelerating like a whip, he smashed the ball with terrifying force.
—BANG!
The impact blew Suna's hands apart, and the ball tore through the block, smming into Inarizaki's court.
[Aoba Johsai 13 – 18 Inarizak
"Did he not realize this earlier?" Oikawa observed the shift in Taichi with fasation. It seems I really did awaken the beast…
Suna found himself log eyes with Kaedehara Taichi. His normally indifferent gaze was now lit with a fierce, uing resolve.
It wasn't just a challe was a decration that echoed without words, reverberating straight to Suna's core: Who do you think you are to stop me?!
This wasn't merely a statement; it rimal roar from the depths of the soul, sending chills down Suna's spine as if a predator lurking in the shadows of a dense forest had finally set its sights on him.
"Such straightforwardness feels surprisingly refreshing," Taichi thought, targeting Suna deliberately, Inarizaki's weakest in strength, for an ued strike.
", it's time to test the others," He muttered, his gaze sweeping across Inarizaki's lineup.
_________
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