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Chapter 226: Crumbling Plans
🕑 Added 2025-02-12 16:02:01 +0000 UTC"These guys are relentless!" Akagi Michinari received the ball.
Right now, Aoba Johsai was undoubtedly a powerhouse team, at least when it came to serving—they had no weak points!
Miya Osamu moved into position once more.
When he watched Aoba Johsai's match against Nekoma, at least half of Nekoma's first touches could be sent directly to the setter. So at the time, Osamu didn't think it was much of a problem.
But now, against Aoba Johsai, they hadn't had a single perfect reception!
He had already covered far more ground than usual, and judging by Aoba Johsai's momentum, this match wasn't going to end in just two sets.
If it dragged into a third set, things would be bad for Inarizaki!
"This is such a pain!" Osamu set the ball.
Even with all these distractions running through his mind, his set was still pinpoint accurate. Ojiro Aran sprinted in from the left and leapt.
"Triple block!" Matsukawa Issei, Kunimi Akira, and Iwaizumi Hajime all jumped together.
Boom!
A high-point spike.
Ojiro Aran's spike soared over Kunimi's block and slammed into Aoba Johsai's court.
[Aoba Johsai 8 – 4 Inarizaki]
"YESSSS—!" Ojiro Aran roared. Nearly a third of the match had passed, and he had finally unleashed a satisfying spike.
"Aran! Aran! That was awesome!"
"Aran! Aran! You're the best!"
Inarizaki's cheering squad erupted into a frenzy.
Serve switch—Inarizaki to serve.
"Osamu!" Kita Shinsuke called out from the bench. "Stay composed!"
Miya Osamu stood at the service line, momentarily stunned, then gave a slight nod in Kita's direction.
Thats right. Inarizaki was the strongest challenger. They were just one step away from the pinnacle.
Right now, they were only four points behind.
In the blink of an eye, they would catch up!
"Tweet!—" The referee's whistle signalled the serve.
Osamu waited the full eight seconds before launching the ball.
Boom!
"What a powerful serve!"
"Taichi receives it, but the ball placement isn't ideal."
"Oikawa moves in to adjust—despite the awkward reception, he still sets the ball perfectly to the centre! Kunimi jumps, facing Inarizaki's triple block!"
"He tips the ball lightly into Inarizaki's backcourt."
"But this time, Inarizaki's libero, Akagi Michinari, is ready!"
"Chance ball!" Akagi easily picked up the ball and called out.
"Here we go!" Miya Atsumu jumped and set. "Bon appétit!"
Now, this was Inarizaki's pace. Atsumu's set soared to the highest point on the left wing.
Ojiro Aran sprinted down the sideline, leapt, stretched his body to its limit, and tensed his right arm.
Bearing the title of ace!
"Triple block!" Matsukawa, Kunimi, and Iwaizumi all jumped again.
Ojiro Aran avoided the tallest blocker, Matsukawa, and spiked a ferocious diagonal shot over the block!
Boom!
"Another cannon shot!"
"Aran completely ignored Aoba Johsai's block!"
"But—"
"Taichi digs it up! But the ball rebounds high into Inarizaki's court…"
"Looks like he barely managed to keep it in play!"
Just as the ball cleared the net, a figure suddenly leapt up and spiked it down.
Bang!
Ōmimi Ren scores.
[Aoba Johsai 8 – 5 Inarizaki]
"Ōmimi's height advantage at the net is an absolute weapon!"
"Aoba Johsai's front row looks a bit thin in this rotation. Against Aran's power and Ōmimi's height, they have little room to manoeuvre—both in offence and defence."
Inarizaki had pulled back a point.
Miya Osamu took a deep breath, regaining complete composure. He couldn't believe that he had actually been intimidated by Aoba Johsai's momentum at the start.
When it came down to it, they were just relying on two strong serving rotations—Oikawa Tōru's and Kaedehara Taichi's.
Boom!
Osamu sent out his second serve.
"I got it!" Watari Shinji received the ball.
Oikawa immediately adjusted, and Aoba Johsai launched a full-team attack. If individual power wasn't enough, then they would break through with teamwork!
Bang!
Kaedehara Taichi fired a back-row attack, scoring with ease.
[Aoba Johsai 9 – 5 Inarizaki]
Even though Inarizaki had lost a point, Osamu was now convinced—their chance to overtake Aoba Johsai would come in the next rotation!
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The match entered a deadlock, with both teams trading points. Eventually, Aoba Johsai was the first to reach 20 points.
The atmosphere on the court grew even more tense—time was running out for Inarizaki.
[Aoba Johsai 20 – 16 Inarizaki]
"Tweet!—" "Inarizaki calls for a timeout!"
With that, Inarizaki had used up both of their timeouts for this set.
"How many points did Kaedehara Taichi and Oikawa Tōru score on their serves?"
Now that they had finally broken through Kaedehara's service rotation, Osamu turned to Inarizaki's team manager.
"Oikawa got three, and Kaedehara got five..."
"Damn it. Just dealing with Oikawa was already annoying enough, and now there's an even bigger pain in the ass—Kaedehara Taichi." Osamu scowled.
"It's because your serves are too weak. If you could serve like me, we would've won by now," Atsumu quipped.
"Shut up! I'm not in the mood for this!"
"I'm just speaking the truth!"
Just as the twins were about to start bickering again, Kita Shinsuke stepped between them.
"We're still behind. Are you two trying to lose this match?"
The twins fell silent.
Sensing the tension, Ojiro Aran quickly stepped in to ease the mood. "Coach is about to go over our strategy. Focus up!"
"This is our last chance," Coach Kurosu Norimune said, holding up the tactics board. "We need to take advantage of this rotation—Kaedehara Taichi and their big guy are both off the front row. This is our opportunity to turn the game around!"
"Use our serves to target Kaedehara. His reception has improved significantly, but as long as we can disrupt his back-row attack, that's enough."
"Victory belongs to Inarizaki!"
"Yes!"
-----
The timeout ended, and the match resumed.
It was Osamu's turn to serve again.
"My serves are plenty strong! That idiot acts like everyone's as obsessed with volleyball as he is!" Osamu grumbled under his breath, standing at the service line.
He had half a mind to smack Atsumu in the back of the head.
"Hm?" Atsumu turned around. "Don't do anything stupid! Just focus on your serve!"
Ojiro Aran sighed. "At this point, we should've just let these two duke it out off the court and be done with it."
Osamu tossed the ball up, eyes locked onto Aoba Johsai's back row.
Boom!
The serve flew straight toward Kaedehara Taichi, completely undisguised.
"Seriously? You think I'm that easy to target?" Kaedehara was more than ready, receiving the ball cleanly.
Here it comes!
The entire Inarizaki team locked onto Oikawa Tōru's movements. No matter who he set to, they were going to shut it down and counterattack!
But—Oikawa didn't go to the ball.
He sprinted toward the net along with the others.
"What the hell?!"
Kunimi Akira had stepped in as the setter!
A simultaneous multi-position attack!
Kunimi took off from the right-side three-meter line.
Matsukawa Issei, Oikawa Tōru, and Iwaizumi Hajime all launched their approach from different angles at the net.
Inarizaki's instincts screamed that Oikawa would be the one to spike, but the way the other two swung made them hesitate for even a split second.
Boom!
"Kunimi Akira scores!"
"From the far right, he fired a straight-line shot right at Ginjima Hitoshi!"
"There was no hesitation in his movement at all. Inarizaki only realized his true intention at the very last moment!"
"Kunimi Akira outplays Inarizaki once again!!!"
[Aoba Johsai 21 – 16 Inarizaki]
"That was close…almost went out," Kunimi muttered lazily, unfazed by the commentator's excited praise.
With just a single play, Aoba Johsai had completely neutralized Osamu's serve rotation.
Inarizaki's comeback plan—before it could even begin—was already halfway shattered...
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