The moment Atsumu Miya saw the volleyball go up, his excitement was obvious.
He had not made a proper set once in this entire set. Shiratorizawa had kept Inarizaki pinned down from the start. Even though his body practically radiated excitement now that they finally had a chance, his head remained clear.
He knew that if he let himself get carried away, it would be disastrous for the team.
Akagi had only barely managed to get the ball up, and it was wobbling off in who knew what direction. Atsumu Miya hurried over to salvage the play.
Osamu Miya and Aran had already started their approaches toward the net, clearly preparing to attack.
This time, however, Shinsuke Kita did not follow behind Osamu Miya to cover him. Instead, he stayed behind Atsumu Miya at a moderate distance.
Shinsuke Kita knew Atsumu Miya was getting excited.
And whenever Atsumu Miya got too excited, there was always a chance he would do something impossible to take back.
So Shinsuke Kita stayed close, ready to cover for him.
Atsumu Miya was fairly far from the net, and the ball's position and angle were both terrible for setting.
He found himself in a difficult spot.
Sending the ball all the way to the net from here would be extremely troublesome.
On Shiratorizawa's side, the instant Akagi got the ball up, Tendo locked onto Suna and deliberately moved directly across from him.
After finishing his serve, Ushijima had already run toward the net.
He was not preparing to block this rally. He was getting ready for the next attack.
Tsutomu Goshiki was starting to feel anxious.
Coach Washijō had said that he had to score within three balls, yet he had not even touched the volleyball so far.
But being anxious would not help.
The set had only just begun.
All he could do was wait patiently for his chance.
For now, blocking came first.
Suna was tied up by Tendo, so Tsutomu Goshiki and Reon split up, one moving to block Osamu Miya and the other taking Aran.
It looked as though Shiratorizawa intended to shut down both attackers.
Unless Atsumu Miya attacked on the second touch or something unexpected happened, Inarizaki would not score easily on this rally.
Atsumu Miya naturally saw how tightly Shiratorizawa had locked down his options.
Setting toward the net did not seem viable.
Trying a long quick from this angle would be extremely reckless.
Fortunately, Shinsuke Kita was still behind him.
Shinsuke Kita immediately saw Atsumu Miya's predicament and burst forward from behind.
"Atsumu Miya, give it to me!"
His voice swept past Atsumu Miya's ear like a gust of wind.
Atsumu Miya's eyes instantly lit up.
Right.
Captain Kita was still there.
Almost entirely out of blind trust, Atsumu Miya reached out and sent the volleyball toward Shinsuke Kita's moving figure.
It looked like a back-row attack, but it was not quite a conventional one.
The biggest difference was the position.
Shinsuke Kita was neither particularly close to the net nor especially far from it.
It simply was not a good position for a back-row attack.
Even Coach Kurosu found himself tense, unsure whether Shinsuke Kita could actually put the ball away from there.
As the volleyball approached, Shinsuke Kita took off from behind Suna.
At that exact moment, the ball reached the perfect height.
Shinsuke Kita did not hesitate at all.
He aimed his palm at the volleyball, fixed his sights on the opposite court, and struck with lightning speed.
"Thud!"
"Beep-----------!"
The sudden impact stunned everyone.
Who had attacked?
When had it even happened?
Everyone was left confused.
Tendo had been focused entirely on Suna.
For that brief moment, he had not noticed Shinsuke Kita jumping from behind him at all.
By the time Tendo reacted, the spinning volleyball had already shot past his side.
Tendo immediately grew nervous.
He was screwed.
He had failed to block a ball like that.
That old man Coach Washijō was definitely going to blow up.
Sure enough, the moment Coach Washijō saw Tendo miss the block, his eyebrows shot up.
He could not even stop a ball like that?
In truth, there was nothing especially tricky about the attack.
Everyone's attention had simply been elsewhere, so Shinsuke Kita had naturally slipped out of notice.
Tendo had seen Atsumu Miya move, but he assumed the set was going to Suna.
During the first two sets, Tendo had seen Suna attack plenty of times.
He had never seen Shinsuke Kita spike.
For that split second, Tendo had fallen into the assumption that Shinsuke Kita simply did not attack.
And that one moment of assumption had cost him the ball.
Suna watched the volleyball land, then smiled at Tendo.
"Ah, sorry about that. I wasn't the one who hit it."
Tendo narrowed his eyes.
Anyone familiar with him knew what that little gesture meant.
He was starting to find things interesting.
Usually, once Tendo made that expression, he was about to get serious.
It was such a small habit that even Tendo himself had never noticed it.
Still smiling pleasantly, Tendo replied,
"No need to apologize. You guys really are impressive."
For some reason, Suna could not shake the feeling that Tendo sounded sarcastic.
The two stared at each other for a moment before turning and heading back to their positions.
"Was that cool or what?"
Atsumu Miya immediately started showing off in front of Osamu Miya.
That play had been completely improvised between him and Shinsuke Kita, yet it had worked surprisingly well.
Osamu Miya had long since gotten used to Atsumu Miya bragging every time a play went well.
He was practically immune by now.
"Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Of course, Kita-senpai's attack was the most impressive part."
Osamu Miya simply refused to admit that Atsumu Miya had done well.
"All right, you two. Get back into position. Aran is serving next."
With a single sentence, Shinsuke Kita put an end to the twins' childish squabbling.
Atsumu Miya and Osamu Miya exchanged a look, then turned and walked over to Aran.
The three slapped hands.
"Give us a good serve."
"Nice serve."
Aran met their eyes and smiled.
"Of course. Don't you know who I am?"
After that, everyone began returning to position.
"You missed that block."
Reon said it as Tendo came back.
Tendo pressed his lips together in a smile.
"That was just an accident."
What Reon did not know was that Tendo's calm expression was entirely fake.
He was already sweating.
Coach Washijō had been staring at him from the sideline the entire time.
Tendo knew perfectly well that if he missed the next block too, Coach Washijō would not let him off after the match.
He sighed inwardly, decided to ignore Reon, and focused entirely on the game.
When Reon saw that Tendo did not answer, he knew Tendo was feeling guilty.
Normally, Tendo's skin was thicker than a fortress wall.
If Reon said something like that to him, Tendo would usually fire back at least a couple of remarks.
"Beep-----------!"
The whistle interrupted Reon's thoughts.
He turned toward Aran at the opposite service line.
His gaze immediately sharpened.
Across the court, Aran shivered.
The moment he stepped into position, he could clearly feel several pairs of eyes settle on him.
Goosebumps rose across his skin.
It did not feel like people were watching him.
It felt like a pack of wild beasts had locked onto him and were ready to tear him apart at any moment.
Aran closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ignore those stares.
Two seconds later, he moved.
He tossed the volleyball and began his approach.
Inarizaki was trailing by three points.
Ideally, Aran would score directly with this serve.
Then the gap would shrink to two points, which was still perfectly manageable.
Aran took off.
When the volleyball reached the right height, he drove his hand hard into it and sent it toward Shiratorizawa.
"Thud!"
His palm struck the volleyball with a thunderous sound.
The ball flew straight toward Shiratorizawa's court.
Yamagata took one look and immediately identified the landing point.
This serve was aimed at him.
He adjusted his footwork, positioning himself more precisely beneath the ball's path.
Honestly, Yamagata had never understood what went through the heads of these servers.
They knew perfectly well that serving directly at the libero meant the ball would probably be received.
Yet they still did it anyway.
For players like Ushijima or Bokuto, fine.
But why did seemingly every attacker love serving at the libero?
Were they all really that fearless?
Once Yamagata settled into position in the backcourt, he crouched and prepared to receive.
By then, the ball had already crossed the net, though it was still some distance away.
In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of him.
Yamagata thrust his arms out.
The volleyball slammed precisely into his forearms.
"Thud!"
Yamagata felt his arms sink under the weight.
There was plenty of power behind this one.
Even so, his arms never stopped moving.
He put force through them and lifted the volleyball cleanly into the air.
It flew toward Shirabu.
Seeing that receive, Atsumu Miya was practically green with envy.
Shirabu had it so good.
As a setter, he barely had to move.
Their own libero was good too, of course.
But compared with Yamagata, Akagi was still slightly behind.
Up in the stands, everyone was eagerly discussing which team would win.
"I think Shiratorizawa takes it."
Konoha was the first to speak.
Inarizaki was undoubtedly difficult to deal with, but even they could not gain much of an advantage against Shiratorizawa.
Besides, aside from Shirabu and Yamagata, practically everyone on Shiratorizawa was a serving specialist.
That alone gave them an edge over Inarizaki.
Having fewer elite servers meant having fewer chances to score directly.
"I think Inarizaki will win."
Unlike Konoha, Hirugami believed Inarizaki had the better chance of taking the match.
Inarizaki's setter was far more flexible and unpredictable, and Osamu Miya was his twin brother. Their coordination was naturally going to be stronger than Shirabu and Ushijima's.
Their defense was not weak either.
Suna's blocking was already comparable to Tendo's.
As a blocker himself, Hirugami thought Suna was genuinely impressive.
And then there was Shinsuke Kita.
Hirugami truly admired him.
Anyone who could keep the Miya twins under control clearly had something special about him.
Shinsuke Kita's defense was also excellent.
Across the first two sets, he had saved countless balls, always appearing at the most critical moments.
That alone was incredibly impressive.
Then there was Akagi.
Akagi could be considered a genius too.
At the very least, he had managed to receive Ushijima's serve within three attempts.
Even Keiichiro Kanbayashi would not dare guarantee that he could do the same.
But Akagi had managed it.
After analyzing everything rationally, Hirugami still believed Inarizaki had the higher chance of winning.
"So, want to bet on it?"
Bokuto had listened to the two of them arguing their own sides for a while and finally offered the suggestion.
He had no idea what they should actually bet.
But every time he heard Kuroo say something like that, it sounded incredibly cool.
So Bokuto beat Kuroo to it.
Kuroo: That was supposed to be my line!
Hirugami and Konoha both shook their heads immediately.
No betting.
If their coaches caught them, they would be finished.
Seeing both of them refuse, Bokuto sat back down in disappointment.
Keiji Akaashi, however, was concerned about something else.
"Bokuto-senpai, who taught you to talk like that?"
Bokuto tilted his head at Keiji Akaashi.
What did he mean?
Was he talking about the line about betting?
Realization dawned on Bokuto.
"I heard Kuroo say it."
Instantly, eyes from every direction turned toward Kuroo.
Even Kenma, who had been dozing with his eyes half-closed, turned his head.
Apparently, everyone was ready to condemn Kuroo for corrupting the innocent Bokuto.
Kuroo had been stabbed in the back without warning.
Cold sweat immediately broke out across his forehead.
He spoke stiffly.
"Uh... I didn't teach him that. Bokuto, don't make things up. When did I ever teach you anything?"
Under Keiji Akaashi's deadly stare, Kuroo's survival instinct was working overtime.
Bokuto opened his mouth as though he still wanted to say something.
But Kuroo was frantically signaling at him with his eyes.
Miraculously, Bokuto's not especially sharp mind actually caught the message.
He grabbed Keiji Akaashi's sleeve and immediately changed the subject.
"Look! Shiratorizawa is about to attack!"
Keiji Akaashi's attention was instantly drawn toward the court.
Even so, he still shot Kuroo one last glare.
Only after Keiji Akaashi turned away did Kuroo finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He had actually started sweating.
That setter from Fukurōdani had some serious pressure behind his stare.
Kenma glanced at Kuroo.
Seeing that nothing interesting was going to happen, he slowly closed his eyes again.
He had only opened them to watch the commotion.
Now that the entertainment was over, he decided to keep napping.
The match could always be watched on replay later.
If he did not sleep now, though, Kenma genuinely felt like he might die from exhaustion.
Thinking about how he had stayed up late gaming the night before, Kenma felt slightly guilty whenever he looked at Kuroo or Coach Nekomata.
"Thud!"
A tremendous impact startled Kenma awake.
His eyes snapped open and returned to the court.
Tsutomu Goshiki was standing across from Aran.
The volleyball lay near Aran's feet.
It looked like Tsutomu Goshiki had just scored.
"Beep------------!"
Sure enough, the whistle confirming the point sounded.
Tsutomu Goshiki froze.
He stared at his own hand.
Had he really scored that?
He could hardly believe it.
He had scored on his very first attack.
Of course, the point did not belong to Tsutomu Goshiki alone.
Shirabu had drawn the blockers away for him.
Tendo had blocked the opponents' line of sight.
Reon had stayed behind him to cover the attack.
Ushijima had willingly acted as a decoy and drawn their attention.
Only because of all that had Tsutomu Goshiki been able to score.
As for exactly what happened, we need to go back one minute.
...
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