The timeout ended quickly, and the Aoba Johsai High School players returned to the court.
Back in the rest area, Coach Irihata Nobuteru watched Asuto’s departing figure and suddenly spoke up.
“Hey, Mizoguchi… Do you think there are people in this world who are born to be ‘aces;?”
Team manager Sadayuki Mizoguchi froze for a moment before replying.
“Why do you ask that, Coach Irihata?”
Irihata shook his head.
“It’s nothing. I just realized that even people with the same level of talent are fundamentally different from one another.”
………
Even after the timeout, Aoba Johsai could not change the flow of the match once they returned to the court.
Thanks to Nobuteru Irihata’s encouragement, the psychological impact of Asuto and Oikawa losing points off their serves had lessened somewhat.
But it still remained.
Combined with the large number of points they had fallen behind by earlier on, no matter how hard Aoba Johsai tried to catch up, they were unable to close the gap.
Instead, under the pressure of Ushijima Wakatoshi’s powerful offense, the point difference only continued to grow.
In the end, the second set concluded with a decisive score of 19:25.
The third set began immediately afterwards.
Right from the start, Aoba Johsai was under pressure from Shiratorizawa Academy.
Asuto was still being tightly marked with a man-to-man defense.
Interestingly enough…
This man-marking tactic was not something that Shiratorizawa had suddenly come up with on the spot.
In fact, it was a method previously used by Shiratorizawa’s opponents at Nationals to specifically counter Ushijima Wakatoshi.
As one of the ‘Top Three National Aces,’ it had long since become normal for Shiratorizawa for Ushijima to be specially targeted by opposing teams at Nationals.
By the time the score in the third set reached 11:14…
The players on both teams were already drenched in sweat and had lost a lot of stamina.
There were only two exceptions.
The first was Ushijima Wakatoshi.
As a powerful opposite hitter, Ushijima’s role was usually extremely demanding because the position required all-around abilities.
However, Ushijima’s role within Shiratorizawa was unique.
From the outset, Tanji Washijō had built the team around Ushijima as an ‘absolute offensive core.’
Consequently, during normal matches, Ushijima rarely participated in serve receives because the initial touches would disrupt the rhythm of his subsequent attacks.
Not only that, but…
For most of the match, he also rarely participated in defensive duties such as digging or blocking.
The other players conserved his stamina for him.
In turn, Ushijima used all of that saved stamina solely for scoring through offense.
This was one of the key reasons why Shiratorizawa had remained victorious for so long.
Of course, in necessary situations…
For example, if the opponents specifically targeted Ushijima with their spikes…
… he would not mind receiving a ball or two casually.
However, very few opponents actually did this because Ushijima’s ability to avoid receiving was merely part of Tanji Washijō’s tactical setup.
This did not mean that his receiving skills were weak.
The second exception was Asuto.
Ushijima Wakatoshi’s abundant stamina came from his Shiratorizawa teammates conserving energy for him, then Asuto’s abundant stamina was, in a sense, also being preserved by Shiratorizawa’s players.
After all, under Shiratorizawa’s suffocating defensive focus, Akashi barely touched the ball throughout the entire set.
Naturally, he had very few opportunities to expend stamina.
BEEEEEP!!!
Irihata Nobuteru called a timeout.
This timeout was not for tactical adjustments.
The idea was simply to give the players a chance to catch their breath and regain some stamina.
“Phew! I’m exhausted. Seriously, isn’t this just supposed to be a practice match? Why does it feel even more tiring than an official game?” Hanamaki Takahiro complained, taking a drink of water.
“There’s no helping it. After all, our opponents this time are Shiratorizawa Academy.” Matsukawa Issei replied lazily before continuing.
“And it’s not just us. The Shiratorizawa players are probably almost out of stamina too.”
“Speaking of which… Oikawa, after letting Akashi rest for so long, it’s about time you made your move, right?”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Hanamaki Takahiro and several other players asked in confusion.
A trace of surprise flashed across Oikawa’s eyes.
“Oh? Matsukawa-chan, you figured it out?”
“I only started noticing something was off just now.”
“Hey! Matsukawa, what kind of riddle are you two talking about?”
Matsukawa glanced towards Asuto, who was drinking water nearby, before speaking slowly.
“Hanamaki… do you think Aoba Johsai could stop Ushijima’s attacks with a simple man-to-man defense?”
Hanamaki answered immediately, without hesitation:
“How is that even possible, idiot? If stopping Ushijima were that easy, we would have beaten him ages ago.”
“Exactly. It’s the same thing for Shiratorizawa.”
“Hm?”
Hanamaki froze for a moment, finally starting to understand.
“We already played one match with Akashi before. Hanamaki, do you think you could stop Akashi on your own if you were assigned to defend him?”
“Uh…”
Hanamaki carefully recalled the freshman welcome match.
In less than a second, he had his answer.
“So you’re saying… Oikawa, you intentionally stopped giving Asuto the ball afterwards?”
“Hehe~~”
Oikawa smiled gently.
As always, his expression looked bright and sunny, but for some reason, everyone could almost see a phantom fox standing behind him.
“Well now~~ since the other side worked so hard to set up a strategy targeting Asuto specifically, this is the first time we’ve experienced something like this.”
“So naturally… I had to make good use of it.”
The group fell silent for a moment.
After a while, Hanamaki Takahiro suddenly muttered,
“All you setter types are dirty-minded.”
………
BEEEEEP!!!
The timeout ended, and both teams returned to the court.
This rally belonged to Shiratorizawa’s serve.
After the ball flew into Aoba Johsai’s back court, Iwaizumi received it and passed to Oikawa.
This time, Oikawa gave no tactical signals whatsoever.
Instead, he set the ball directly and decisively to Asuto.
Asuto leapt high towards the incoming volleyball.
The Shiratorizawa player assigned to mark him immediately jumped to block it too.
But in the next instant, he realized that something was wrong.
The opponent was jumping absurdly high.
Although the blocker had jumped first, Asuto still reached the peak of his jump before Akashi.
And Asuto was still rising.
It was only after Asuto’s chin had risen above the Shiratorizawa player’s head that he finally swung his arm downwards with force.
BOOM!
An explosive impact sound accompanied the move, the volleyball traced a beautiful cross-court trajectory, avoiding both the front-row blockers and the libero in the back row, and smashing directly onto the sideline at the opposite end of the court.
Tweet!
Point for Aoba Johsai.
12:14.
The Shiratorizawa players were instantly stunned.
Meanwhile, Oikawa slowly raised one finger towards Ushijima Wakatoshi on the opposite side of the court and calmly declared,
“Now then~.”
“Let’s start the real match.”
······
(End of Chapter)