The current score was 22–18.
Inarizaki was trailing by four points now. If they didn't start closing the gap soon, they might run out of time. Twenty-two points was already dangerously close to set point.
Aran took a deep breath with the volleyball in his hands and walked toward the service line.
He felt much the same way Ryosuke had when serving earlier. A little nervous.
After all, at a moment like this, Aran had been entrusted with an important responsibility.
"Aran, just do what you normally do."
Shinsuke Kita could tell that Aran was tense, so he stepped closer and spoke to him.
Strangely enough, Aran's nerves immediately eased.
As expected, Kita-senpai really was his anchor.
Aran gave Shinsuke Kita a broad, sheepish grin and nodded.
"Don't worry, Captain Kita. I'm totally calm."
Shinsuke Kita patted him on the shoulder, signaling that it was time to go.
With Shinsuke Kita's encouragement, Aran walked confidently to the service line.
Behind him, Shinsuke Kita simply watched with a quiet smile.
Now that Tendo was back on the court, everyone had returned to their positions as well.
The match resumed.
It was Inarizaki's turn to serve.
Whether Aran could score from the service line, or how many points he might manage to win, remained completely unknown.
Of course, that was the charm of competitive sports.
Until the very last moment, no one could know which side would win.
"Beep--------!"
The whistle sounded.
The match resumed.
Aran stood at the service line and tossed the volleyball into the air the instant the whistle blew.
He followed it with his approach and jumped, carrying plenty of momentum.
Yamagata watched Aran serve from Shiratorizawa's backcourt, his eyes full of caution.
He couldn't afford to underestimate anyone on Inarizaki.
Earlier, he had let his guard down against Aran and Shiratorizawa had lost a point because of it.
That absolutely could not happen again.
Aran had already jumped.
In the air, he swung his palm hard into the volleyball.
"Bang!"
The ball shot forward.
Not long after Aran served, before the volleyball had even crossed the net, Yamagata had already judged its general direction.
He moved toward that spot and made a few small adjustments with his feet.
Once the ball crossed the net, its trajectory became even clearer.
Yamagata confirmed that his position was right and waited for it to come to him.
The volleyball quickly arrived in front of him.
Yamagata extended both arms to receive.
"Bang!"
The ball slammed heavily into his arms.
A tremendous force traveled through them.
This one had some weight behind it.
It was heavy.
Yamagata tried to lift the volleyball off his arms, but then something unexpected happened.
Whether he had used too much force or the serve itself was simply too powerful, the volleyball struck his arms and rebounded away.
It flew behind Yamagata without showing any sign of slowing down.
He immediately turned and chased after it.
But in the time it took him to react and turn around, the ball had already traveled a considerable distance.
By the time Yamagata started after it, it was far beyond his reach.
"Bang!"
"Beep-------!"
The whistle announced the point.
Yamagata stood where he was, staring after the ball.
He wasn't disappointed that he had failed to receive it.
He was simply confused.
How had that ball bounced away like that?
It shouldn't have happened.
The serve and his receive had felt exactly the same as before.
Why had this one behaved so differently?
Had he really used too much strength?
But from Yamagata's perspective, he honestly hadn't put that much force into it.
"Yamagata, what are you spacing out for?"
Tendo waved a hand back and forth in front of Yamagata's face and successfully pulled his attention back.
Yamagata scratched his head.
"Nothing. I just don't understand why that ball bounced away."
Tendo rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking extremely serious.
Then he opened his mouth.
"I don't know either."
"......."
Yamagata had expected him to offer some genuinely useful insight.
Instead, after all that thought, that was all Tendo had to say.
Yamagata rolled his eyes with remarkable elegance and walked away without even looking at him.
Tendo stared after Yamagata in confusion.
Weren't they talking just fine a second ago?
Why had he suddenly walked off?
Even after returning to his position, Yamagata remained deep in thought, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Across the net, the Inarizaki players all looked quite pleased.
After all, Aran had just scored directly off his serve.
That was a big deal.
"Aran, nice one! You actually managed to score a service ace against Yamagata."
Osamu Miya happily slapped Aran on the shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.
But Aran didn't join in with Osamu Miya's excitement.
"That was pure luck. I don't think that serve was any different from the earlier ones. If I managed to score with it, then Yamagata was probably just a little off. Otherwise, there's no way that serve should've been an ace."
"Huh?"
Atsumu Miya, who had just walked over, heard Aran and immediately objected.
"Aran, ya can't think like that. Whether it was luck or not, if ya scored, ya gotta think it's because ya were amazing! Psychologically, that's called... called... suggestion! Yeah, suggestion! Apparently, if ya keep thinking that way, ya'll get stronger."
Osamu Miya listened to Atsumu Miya ramble from the side, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.
He was convinced Atsumu Miya had watched too much anime.
Otherwise, where had he picked up this kind of nonsense?
"All right. Quiet."
Shinsuke Kita suddenly appeared behind Atsumu Miya like a ghost, his voice sounding almost like a demonic whisper.
Atsumu Miya jolted.
He immediately went silent, looking nothing like the chatterbox from a moment ago.
Shinsuke Kita nodded in satisfaction at the suddenly obedient Atsumu Miya, then led everyone back to their positions.
Before leaving, he turned to Aran.
"Aran, that was a good serve. Just do your best. If you can win that many points for the team, we're already coming out ahead."
Then he even winked at him.
Aran burst out laughing.
It was rare to see their captain act this playful.
Then he straightened his back and said,
"Don't worry, Captain. I'll score even more points for the team."
Shinsuke Kita nodded and returned to his position.
Once again, Aran was left alone at the service line.
Holding the volleyball, he looked toward Yamagata.
That previous point might have been an accident.
Maybe he had only scored because Yamagata's touch was off.
But judging by his expression, Yamagata himself didn't seem to realize it.
Whatever.
No point thinking about it.
He should just focus on serving.
Aran shook his head, clearing those thoughts away.
Even if he knew Yamagata's touch was off, what could he actually do with that information?
There wasn't any obvious way to target him because of it.
So Aran could only serve normally.
The referee blew the whistle.
"Beep--------!"
Aran's second serve began.
He stood in the same position as before.
Holding the volleyball, he settled himself for a few seconds, then tossed it upward and followed with his approach.
Yamagata waited in Shiratorizawa's backcourt, looking completely calm.
He had been a little worried before.
Missing the previous serve was one thing, but if he failed to receive this one too, they would really be in trouble.
But the instant the whistle blew, Yamagata immediately sank back into the match.
The moment he realized how focused he was, he knew he would be fine.
His feel had returned.
Aran tossed the ball up, began his approach, and jumped.
He raised his right arm and slammed his hand into the volleyball.
"Bang!"
The impact sounded powerful.
It seemed like another dangerous serve.
But Yamagata wasn't worried.
None of that was a problem.
The volleyball flew straight toward him at high speed.
Yamagata crouched in the backcourt and raised both arms to receive.
He barely needed to move.
A few tiny adjustments of his feet would be enough.
Watching the volleyball race toward him, Yamagata couldn't help thinking that Aran's serving accuracy really was impressive.
Several times now, Aran had managed to send the ball almost directly at him.
That had to count as a talent of its own.
Once the volleyball crossed the net, it seemed to pick up even more speed.
In the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of Yamagata.
He raised his arms and received.
"Bang!"
The volleyball struck directly against his forearms.
Yamagata immediately put strength into his arms and lifted the ball.
It flew upward.
The moment the volleyball made contact, Yamagata knew he had it.
His receive traveled toward Shirabu.
Tsutomu Goshiki and Tendo were both nearby.
As soon as they heard the sound of Yamagata's receive, both of them rushed toward the net.
Tendo was running over to keep Suna pinned down.
During the previous rally, he had watched Suna slip away from Ryosuke right in front of him.
There was absolutely no way he was going to let that happen again.
He had to keep Suna completely locked down.
Tsutomu Goshiki, meanwhile, rushed forward to attack.
The moment Tsutomu Goshiki started his approach, Ushijima moved forward too.
That immediately put Aran and Osamu Miya in a difficult position.
They couldn't tell which of them was going to spike.
So they handled it the same way as before.
Aran moved to block Tsutomu Goshiki, while Osamu Miya went to cover Ushijima.
The two split the work between them.
Still, Osamu Miya knew that if Ushijima was the one taking this spike, there was no way he could block him alone.
All he could do was hope Suna shook off Tendo quickly enough to come help.
Suna was already doing everything he could to lose Tendo, who was clinging to him like glue.
But Tendo was completely different from Ryosuke.
He wasn't someone who would casually lose track of his target.
So whenever Suna sped up, Tendo sped up.
Whenever Suna slowed down, Tendo slowed down too.
He refused to give Suna even the slightest opening.
At the same time, Shirabu had already jumped and was preparing to set.
Suna was still stuck in that frustrating stalemate.
Just as he was about to lose his mind, Atsumu Miya suddenly charged in from the side and knocked Suna out of Tendo's line of sight with his hip.
Then Atsumu Miya met Tendo's startled gaze, raised an eyebrow, and grinned.
Once Atsumu Miya shoved him free, Suna immediately ran toward Osamu Miya.
There was no mistaking it.
Ushijima was taking this spike.
Suna had already seen Shirabu's setting motion.
Given the situation, there was no one else it could be.
There was still Reon, but Suna had seen him while running over.
Reon was following behind Tsutomu Goshiki, covering the attack.
So Suna headed toward Ushijima without hesitation.
Ushijima sensed the ball coming and took several steps back to begin his approach.
He had already seen Suna running over.
But Ushijima showed no fear at all.
He remained as calm as ever.
If there was a block in front of him, then he would break through it.
Ushijima stepped back, looked up, and saw the volleyball arriving overhead.
He began his approach beneath it.
When the ball reached the right height, Ushijima jumped after it.
Suna was already in position.
His plan was simple.
If he couldn't block the spike outright, then even getting a touch would be enough.
At the very least, he had to create one more chance for his team.
Suna had wasted too much time dealing with Tendo earlier.
Because of that, the moment he prepared to block, he immediately noticed that his timing felt different from usual.
There was no time to think about it.
The volleyball was already beneath Ushijima's left hand.
Ushijima put strength into his left arm and slammed it down.
"Bang!"
The instant Suna and Osamu Miya heard the impact, they reflexively tensed their arms.
Every time Ushijima spiked, their arms suffered for it.
The volleyball crashed heavily into Suna's arms.
For once, a visible grimace appeared on Suna's usually expressionless face.
It practically screamed, Damn, why is this ball so heavy?
Even Ushijima paused slightly when he noticed Suna's expression.
A strange thought crossed his mind.
Was Suna cursing him internally?
Ushijima didn't score this time.
In the end, Suna managed to get a touch on the ball.
Suna had put plenty of force into his hands, but he still couldn't press the ball back down.
All he could do was send it flying toward the backcourt.
The moment the volleyball went behind them, Atsumu Miya lost all interest in continuing his standoff with Tendo.
He turned, intending to chase the ball.
But then another problem appeared.
Tendo had now switched his attention to Atsumu Miya.
He simply refused to let him leave.
Whenever Atsumu Miya moved one way, Tendo shifted with him.
Now Atsumu Miya finally understood just how difficult Tendo was to deal with.
He really was a pain.
While Atsumu Miya was thinking about how to shake him off, he caught sight of Osamu Miya beside Suna from the corner of his eye.
He immediately relaxed.
For a moment, he had thought Aran and Suna were the ones blocking together.
But if it was Osamu Miya and Suna, then there was no need to worry about the setter.
Atsumu Miya instantly refocused and continued playing cat and mouse with Tendo.
The ball Suna had touched was still flying toward the backcourt.
Before Shinsuke Kita or Akagi could even react, Osamu Miya suddenly shot forward like an agile fox racing across the grasslands.
He was so fast he looked like a streak of lightning.
"Whoa, he's pretty quick."
Konoha couldn't help commenting on Osamu Miya's speed.
He genuinely hadn't expected Osamu Miya to move that fast.
He still wasn't as fast as Hinata, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Hoshiumi, who had been thoroughly kept in check by Hirugami this whole time, suddenly let out a snort.
No matter how fast Osamu Miya was, he still couldn't match his captain!
...
Osamu Miya really was fast.
Not only could he catch up to the volleyball, he could even circle around in front of it after doing so, crouch down, and receive it.
Only then did everyone outside Inarizaki finally realize just how much they had underestimated Osamu Miya.
Or perhaps Osamu Miya had always been this good.
His brilliance had simply been overshadowed by his twin brother, Atsumu Miya.
Compared to Atsumu Miya's dual-style serving and his bold, legendary plays, Osamu Miya's precise, steady style seemed far less eye-catching.
So naturally, the other teams had always focused most of their attention on Atsumu Miya.
Osamu Miya, however, never found it annoying that his twin brother stole the spotlight.
Quite the opposite.
Osamu Miya genuinely enjoyed the peace and quiet.
...
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