After Shinsuke Kita's warning, Atsumu Miya stayed on his toes and looked far more focused.
Once everyone finished cheering, Atsumu Miya slowly walked to the service line. At that moment, music began playing from the stands.
The members of the brass band blew their trumpets with all their strength.
Atsumu Miya spun the volleyball several times in his hands, then held it in his left while slowly raising his right hand overhead. As the music reached its climax, he abruptly clenched his fist.
The music stopped instantly.
Atsumu Miya tossed the ball with his left hand, followed it into his approach, and jumped in one fluid motion.
Yamagata watched Atsumu Miya closely. Something about him seemed different from the previous set, though Yamagata couldn't tell exactly what had changed.
He soon got his answer.
Atsumu Miya targeted Yamagata in the back row. He struck the side of the volleyball with his right palm, snapping his wrist to give it unpredictable spin and movement.
When it came to controlling the ball's rotation, Atsumu Miya was completely at ease.
"Bang!"
The moment the serve left his hand, Yamagata understood what was different.
The spin and trajectory were more complicated than before.
Yamagata narrowed his eyes and watched the ball, then ran forward. Judging by its flight, it would begin dropping immediately after crossing the net.
Before crossing, it flew at tremendous speed. After clearing the net, it would suddenly sink like a breaking ball.
Yamagata ran toward the three-meter line and prepared to receive it overhead.
There were many ways to handle a jump float serve, but Yamagata preferred an overhead receive.
The volleyball quickly reached him.
Yamagata raised his hands, ready to take it.
The ball arrived directly in front of him. Everything was in place, and he was about to make contact.
Then, just before it struck his hands, the volleyball curved in a completely unexpected direction.
Yamagata's eyes widened.
What happened?
He had already calculated its spin and curve. This shouldn't have been possible.
Unable to understand what had gone wrong, Yamagata watched the ball graze his raised hands and hit the floor.
"Thud!"
His expression darkened.
This was the first time he had misjudged a ball at the IH, and the mistake left him slightly discouraged.
"Beep---------!"
The serve scored.
Yamagata had known the rally was lost the moment the ball changed direction, but hearing the whistle still left an unpleasant feeling in his chest.
"It's okay, Yamagata-senpai. We still have the next one."
Tsutomu Goshiki hurried over to comfort him.
Ryosuke ran over as well and looked at Yamagata seriously.
"I'm fine. I won't let him score with the next one. I just misjudged that serve."
After a brief moment of disappointment, Yamagata quickly steadied himself.
Everyone made mistakes. There was no point dwelling on it.
He would treat this serve as a lesson.
Yamagata swore that he would receive the next one.
"Nice one, Atsumu Miya!"
Aran jogged over and bumped chests with him.
Atsumu Miya grinned.
"Of course. Don't you know who I am?"
The moment he finished speaking, he eagerly ran over to Shinsuke Kita to show off.
Calling it showing off wasn't quite accurate. He was really just finding an excuse to get Shinsuke Kita to praise him.
"That last serve was pretty impressive, right?"
Atsumu Miya stared expectantly at Shinsuke Kita.
A faint smile appeared on Shinsuke Kita's lips, and he extended his hand.
Atsumu Miya obediently lowered his head.
Shinsuke Kita placed his hand on Atsumu Miya's golden hair and ruffled it several times.
Atsumu Miya's eyes narrowed happily.
Amusement flashed through Shinsuke Kita's gaze.
At that moment, Atsumu Miya looked like some kind of small animal, completely unlike his usual obnoxious self.
Ryosuke saw the scene from the other side of the net, his eyes filled with confusion.
He wondered whether he had seen it wrong.
How could Atsumu Miya-senpai ever behave so obediently?
That had to be fake.
Ryosuke wasn't the only one shocked. Everyone else on Shiratorizawa's side was equally astonished.
Inarizaki, however, had long since gotten used to it.
Atsumu Miya showed one face to Shinsuke Kita and another to everyone else.
What a schemer.
"Is that really Atsumu Miya?"
Konoha pointed toward the court.
Keiji Akaashi answered hesitantly, "It... probably is."
Clearly, Keiji Akaashi was also questioning whether that person was truly Atsumu Miya.
Could someone as flamboyant as him really have such an obedient side?
Bokuto tilted his head in confusion and spoke with complete seriousness.
"That's Atsumu Miya. Did you two mix up Atsumu Miya and Osamu Miya?"
Bokuto looked at Konoha as though he were an idiot.
Konoha felt deeply insulted.
The brief commotion in the stands quickly passed, while the match below continued.
Atsumu Miya returned to the service line, looking delighted.
The music began again.
Sitting in the stands, Oikawa stared with eyes red from envy.
It was far too cool.
Oikawa wanted cheering like that for his own serves.
The music surged passionately through the arena. The band had even switched to a different song, one stirring enough to make everyone's blood race.
Atsumu Miya raised his hand overhead, then clenched his fist sharply.
The music stopped.
Sometimes, Coach Kurosu couldn't understand Atsumu Miya's obsession.
A serve was just a serve. Why did he have to make such a spectacle of it?
Was he afraid no one would notice that he was serving?
Still, Coach Kurosu turned a blind eye to the behavior and allowed him to mess around.
What else could he do?
A player from his own team still had to be indulged.
Coach Kurosu could only sigh.
After the music stopped, Atsumu Miya tossed the volleyball high into the air with his left hand.
He followed it into his approach.
With every step Atsumu Miya took, Yamagata became more alert.
Atsumu Miya jumped, swung his arm, and struck the ball with his right hand.
"Bang!"
The impact was crisp and clean.
Anyone could tell it was a good serve.
Yamagata quickly adjusted his position.
It was the same as the previous serve.
The serving motion and the ball's trajectory were identical.
Yamagata immediately determined that the serve would behave the same way.
He ran forward several steps.
This time, however, he chose not to receive it overhead.
He had just realized something.
An overhead receive was certainly convenient, but once the ball reached his hands, any unexpected movement left him no time to adjust.
For this serve, Yamagata decided to use a forearm pass instead.
It might be more troublesome, but if the ball curved again at the last moment, he would still have room to react.
The serve approached rapidly.
Yamagata's palms were already sweating from tension.
He had to receive it.
Otherwise, Shiratorizawa would fall too far behind, which would make the rest of the set much harder.
Yamagata crouched and prepared for a forearm pass.
Everything was ready.
The ball flew toward his raised arms.
Just as it was about to make contact, it curved again at the last moment.
Yamagata had expected it.
He still didn't understand how Atsumu Miya produced such a strange serve, but that wouldn't stop him from receiving it.
Yamagata angled his arms in the direction of the curve and caught the ball perfectly.
"Thud!"
Because his arms were tilted when he received it, the pass also rose at an angle.
Shirabu immediately ran toward it.
Just keeping the ball in play was already impressive.
A slightly crooked pass was hardly a problem.
Ushijima and Tsutomu Goshiki began their approaches from the back, one from the left and the other from the right.
Ryosuke and Reon moved toward the center of the net.
One kept Suna occupied, while the other stood in front of the net with both hands raised, watching Osamu Miya to prevent him from attacking an overpass.
Reon had only recently noticed that everyone on Inarizaki was extremely good at overpass kills.
Whenever they attacked one, Reon and Tsutomu Goshiki barely had time to react.
The attack came so quickly that they hardly had a chance to prepare their jumps.
Shirabu saw Ushijima charge toward the net at position three.
Under normal circumstances, Suna would have followed Ushijima the moment he spotted him.
Unfortunately, Ryosuke had already obstructed him.
Before Ushijima entered Suna's field of vision, Ryosuke had moved directly in front of him and blocked his view.
Only Aran was running toward Ushijima.
The moment Suna noticed Aran moving in his peripheral vision, he knew something was wrong.
He could no longer afford to worry about Ryosuke and sprinted toward Aran.
Ryosuke had no intention of letting him escape so easily.
The moment Suna moved, Ryosuke followed.
Shirabu looked at both sides and immediately knew where to send the ball.
He pushed with his fingers and set it toward Tsutomu Goshiki.
Only Akagi was near Tsutomu Goshiki.
Shirabu thought that if Tsutomu Goshiki couldn't even avoid a single libero, it would be far too embarrassing.
As Shirabu jumped from the back row to set, Suna finally shook Ryosuke off.
At that moment, Ushijima jumped again.
Suna fell for it.
Compared to Tsutomu Goshiki, Ushijima was clearly the greater threat.
Suna jumped beside Aran.
The moment he rose and found no ball, he knew he had been deceived.
As soon as he landed, Suna sprinted toward Tsutomu Goshiki without hesitation.
He had seen it.
Shirabu had sent the ball to the opposite side.
He had been fooled.
Suna wished he could fly.
Ryosuke might have been able to catch up with a ball, but that didn't mean every blocker could.
Running was definitely not Suna's strength.
Hearing the movement behind him, Tsutomu Goshiki jumped without turning around.
Akagi watched him closely from the backcourt.
The moment Tsutomu Goshiki rose, he hammered the volleyball down without hesitation.
Akagi hadn't reached the front yet.
Suna and Aran were still running over.
There was no one at the net.
For a brief moment, the completely open net felt strange to Tsutomu Goshiki.
It didn't matter.
All that mattered was scoring.
Tsutomu Goshiki drove the volleyball down with all his strength.
"Bang!"
The ball landed in the empty frontcourt.
Suna dove in from behind the instant it hit the floor, but naturally, he couldn't save it.
He had noticed far too late.
Shirabu and Ryosuke had both played essential roles in the point.
One had disguised the set as though it were going to Ushijima.
The other had obstructed the blocker's vision.
Their coordination had been remarkably smooth.
Shirabu walked over to Ryosuke and offered him rare praise.
"Not bad. You reacted quickly."
Ryosuke pressed his lips together and smiled shyly.
"You're giving me too much credit, Shirabu-senpai."
Calling it coordination between Shirabu and Ryosuke wasn't entirely accurate.
It had been more of a fortunate coincidence.
One had been trying to draw the blockers away with his setting, while the other had devoted himself to blocking their line of sight.
Both had been necessary.
As for Ushijima serving as a decoy, he wasn't upset in the slightest.
The blockers had already run all the way over to him.
Not jumping would have wasted all the effort they had made.
Tsutomu Goshiki had been certain to score.
With the timing, position, and teamwork all in his favor, missing the point would have been harder than making it.
"Ah, I'm really sorry."
Suna sighed as he climbed to his feet, still muttering under his breath.
He knew Atsumu Miya's mood probably wasn't good.
Atsumu Miya had confidently promised Shinsuke Kita that his serving rotation would score, only to lose the serve almost immediately.
There was no way he could be happy.
Shinsuke Kita had been following behind Osamu Miya throughout the rally.
He also felt somewhat guilty for missing the ball.
"Ah, we lost it."
Atsumu Miya tilted his head back and groaned.
He knew it wasn't Suna's fault.
If anyone was to blame, it was that cunning group from Shiratorizawa.
Atsumu Miya walked over and stopped beside Suna, wearing a fierce expression.
"Next time, make sure you hold the front line. You're Inarizaki's high wall."
It was unusual for Atsumu Miya not to yell at someone after losing a point.
Suna looked at him in surprise.
Atsumu Miya immediately bristled.
"What's with that look? Do I seem like someone completely unreasonable?"
Osamu Miya walked over just in time to hear him.
He gave a quiet laugh.
"You are."
Before Atsumu Miya could lose his temper, Shinsuke Kita arrived.
He reached out and ruffled Atsumu Miya's hair.
Atsumu Miya instantly fell silent, as though someone had struck a pressure point.
The great Shinsuke Kita brought the impending farce to a silent end.
Both teams returned to their positions and prepared for the next rally.
Unfortunately for Inarizaki, Ryosuke was serving.
"Ryosuke, bring us level again."
Yamagata stood behind him with a smile.
Tsutomu Goshiki ran over as well.
"Ryosuke, we're leaving everything to you!"
The moment he finished speaking, he received a knock on the head.
Reon had struck him with his fist.
"Don't put pressure on Ryosuke, you little brat."
Tsutomu Goshiki grumbled but said nothing else.
Lately, he felt that Reon-senpai was becoming more and more like that fierce wing spiker from Aobajosai.
He was always hitting Tsutomu Goshiki on the head for no reason.
How he missed the gentle and kind Reon-senpai from before.
Some people were still alive, yet others had already begun mourning them.
Fortunately, Reon had no idea what Tsutomu Goshiki was thinking.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have ended with a single punch.
Ryosuke accepted every word they said.
Whether it was Tsutomu Goshiki and Yamagata's encouragement or Reon's reassurance, it made him happy.
It meant everyone needed him.
Ryosuke nodded to them, then walked toward the service line beneath everyone's gaze.
When the spectators saw that Ryosuke was serving, the stands went quiet for a moment.
Then they erupted into enthusiastic cheers.
"Ryosuke, take the whole set in one go!"
"That's way too much, idiot!"
"It's that handsome server again!"
"Shiratorizawa is incredible with you!"
Ryosuke calmly walked into position.
His slightly long hair covered part of his ears, so no one noticed that they had quietly turned red.
...
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