“Karasuno vs Aoba Johsai… the match officially begins!”
“Karasuno will serve first.”
As the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the match, the atmosphere across the entire court became instantly serious.
………
“All right! Let’s head onto the court! Today, I also… trust all of you!”
During the first half of the sentence, Oikawa sounded somewhat carefree and insincere. But by the second half, his expression had become incredibly serious.
With just that simple sentence, the entire atmosphere of the Aoba Johsai team changed instantly.
Inside the substitute area, Mishita Ryuhei stared blankly at the scene before him, muttering unconsciously:
“So amazing…”
Shigeru Yahaba, who was standing beside him, paused.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean Oikawa-senpai is incredible. With just a single sentence, he can completely transform the atmosphere of the entire team. He’s basically a born setter!”
Only fellow setters could truly understand how amazing Oikawa was.
“Does Oikawa-senpai really worry about losing to Kageyama Tobio?”
“Hm? Honestly, I’m not too sure about that myself. But I once heard a little about it from Iwaizumi-senpai. Apparently, back in junior high, Oikawa-senpai was discouraged for a while because of a ‘genius’.”
“A genius, huh? Maybe that’s true in terms of talent. But from my perspective, Kageyama still has a long way to go before he can catch up with the current Oikawa Senpai.”
………
The match began.
For this set, Aoba Johsai’s opening formation placed Asuto, Oikawa, and Kindaichi in the front row.
Meanwhile, the back row defense consisted of Iwaizumi, Shinji Watari, and Issei Matsukawa.
The heights of Aoba Johsai’s front row were:
185 cm, 184 cm and 189 cm.
Yes, that’s right.
Ever since joining Aoba Johsai, Asuto had grown another centimeter taller. This was discovered unexpectedly the previous night.
This information was a devastating blow for Iwaizumi, whose height had not changed at all for a year.
On the opposite side of the net… Karasuno’s front-row lineup consisted of:
Tanaka Ryunosuke (178 cm),
Hinata Shoyo (162 cm),
and Kageyama Tobio (181 cm).
The height difference between the two teams was striking.
Karasuno served first.
After the volleyball flew over the net, Iwaizumi received it and sent it towards the space above Oikawa.
In an instant… Asuto and Kindaichi in the front row moved simultaneously, and Iwaizumi in the back row also approached for a jump attack.
This completely fooled Karasuno’s defense.
For a moment, nobody on the opposing team could tell who the actual attacker would be.
Then, in the very next instant… Oikawa suddenly reached out and tipped the ball directly into Karasuno’s court.
Thud!
The volleyball struck the floor with a dull thud.
For a split second, the entire arena fell silent.
And then… a thunderous eruption of cheers burst out from the stands.
“He started with a setter dump attack!”
“So awesome!”
“Oikawa-kun is so handsome!”
………
“Hey, hey! Don’t just stand there spacing out. Stay alert! I’ll use the same attack again next time, so make sure you defend properly!”
Oikawa smiled as he called out to Karasuno from behind the net.
That completely shameless taunt instantly caused Kageyama and Tanaka to explode with anger.
“Uh… Has Oikawa-senpai’s personality always been this awful?”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Aoba Johsai scored the first point.
The score became 1–0.
The serve then returned to Aoba Johsai.
They sent out another serve, which was cleanly received by Karasuno’s libero, Nishinoya Yuu. Kageyama Tobio immediately organized an attack, quickly connecting with Hinata Shoyo.
However, because this was only a normal quick attack, the ball was directly received by Aoba Johsai’s backcourt defender, Shinji Watari.
Aoba Johsai reorganized their offense.
Once again, Oikawa put on the posture of preparing for a setter attack. After drawing Karasuno’s defenders toward himself, he suddenly changed his form midair and sent the ball to Asuto instead.
“Damn it!”
Tanaka and Hinata, who had been completely toyed with by Oikawa, hurried back to defend, but they were still one step too late.
Asuto smashed a straight-line spike, helping Aoba Johsai score another point.
2:0.
Aoba Johsai retained the right to serve.
The third ball was once again served by Aoba Johsai. After crossing the net, the volleyball was received by Sawamura Daichi of Karasuno and passed above Kageyama Tobio’s head…
In the next second…
Several Karasuno players moved simultaneously, just like Aoba Johsai had done on the very first rally of the match.
Once Aoba Johsai’s attention was drawn away, Kageyama Tobio suddenly launched a setter attack without the slightest warning.
However, just as the ball left Kageyama Tobio’s hand, a hand suddenly shot out from behind the block and slapped the ball straight back into Karasuno’s court.
Bang!
The sound of the volleyball hitting the floor was exceptionally sharp.
Kageyama’s pupils contracted violently. He turned towards the other side of the net and saw Asuto landing on the ground at the same time.
Looking at Kageyama with a calm expression, Asuto said,
“Unfortunately, setter dumps won’t work against me…”
Back in junior high, Asuto had suffered several times at the hands of Kageyama’s setter attacks during his match against Kitagawa Daiichi. Ever since then, he had been somewhat wary of that style of offense.
However, it was after he joined Aoba Johsai that a “qualitative change” in Asuto’s vigilance towards setter attacks truly occurred.
There was no helping it.
If you had a ridiculous teammate who could use setter attacks three or four times in a single practice match, you would naturally become especially alert to that type of offense too.
“Ara, ara. So Kageyama was trying to imitate my attacking style? What a shame; it looks like you failed, huh?”
Oikawa froze briefly because he had genuinely been fooled by Kageyama Tobio’s play just now too. However, as a setter with no trace of mercy in his heart, Oikawa instinctively launched a taunt attack.
The effect was immediate.
Kageyama clenched his fists tightly and nearly lost control on the spot.
However, at the critical moment, he still managed to restrain himself. He turned around, returned to his position, and continued preparing for defense.
The referee blew the whistle for the next serve.
Aoba Johsai delivered their third serve.
The volleyball crossed the net and was received by Nishinoya Yuu. Kageyama then organized the third offensive play.
Asuto stood at the net and watched Hinata Shoyo begin his approach run towards his side of the court.
But in the very next instant…
Asuto watched almost helplessly as Hinata suddenly shifted a huge distance sideways.
His speed was so fast it looked almost like teleportation.
Bang!
The volleyball brushed past Asuto’s side and slammed onto the court floor.
Seeing this, Oikawa froze slightly, seeming somewhat puzzled.
Meanwhile, as Asuto felt the light breeze caused by the passing volleyball near his ear, a strange gleam gradually appeared in his eyes.
“So this is the Freak Quick Attack… Its speed really is incredible.”
······
(End of Chapter)