"Next, let's focus on defense and maintain the two-point lead…"
In the timeout area, Oikawa Tooru had fully stepped in for Coach Nobuteru Irihata, holding the tactics board and briefing the Aoba Johsai players on the next strategy.
Oikawa's plan was crystal clear: reinforce their defense to preserve the current lead. As for the offense, he would look to increase the efficiency of the other players.
But as he was talking, he suddenly noticed something off.
Wait a minute, where the hell did Akashi-chan go?
Don't tell me he's sulking after getting shut down?!
Oikawa scanned the bench and finally spotted Akashi Asuka, head covered with a towel, inhaling and exhaling in an odd, exaggerated rhythm.
"Is he seriously planning to use that move already?"
"Sub in Sanashita!"
Realizing what Akashi was up to, Oikawa shrugged and casually tossed the tactics board aside.
Fine, do what you want.
You're the ace, you've earned it.
Same as always: for Aoba Johsai to win the championship, they couldn't afford any surprises.
And now that a "surprise" had arrived,
They were going to crush it.
────────── ✦ ──────────
The players returned to the court.
Motoya Komori and Sakusa Kiyoomi had just stepped back onto the floor when they immediately noticed something strange.
"That guy… what's he up to now?"
Akashi Asuka, now back on the court, no longer carried the overwhelming presence from earlier. On the contrary, his aura seemed to have completely faded.
If you weren't paying close attention, you might not even realize he was on the court.
"They made a substitution… If I remember right, that's a first-year setter from Aoba Johsai. Are they… planning to run a dual-setter formation?"
While Sakusa and Komori picked up on the change in atmosphere, Sadayuki Mizoguchi focused on the lineup itself.
A one-for-one substitution: Ryuhei Sanashita in for Hajime Iwaizumi.
To Hanegami, this didn't look like a smart move at all.
Tweet!
The referee blew the whistle, and the timeout was over. The match resumed.
Itachiyama to serve.
The ball crossed the net and was received by Watari Shinji.
But this time, the first pass didn't go to Oikawa, it went to Sanashita.
"This first-year setter only ever sets to Akashi Asuka…"
That thought flashed through Hanegami's mind just as he shouted:
"Three-man block on Akashi Asuka!"
Frankly, the warning was unnecessary.
Unlike Oikawa's refined, deceptive sets, Sanashita's tosses were plain and predictable, basic to the core.
And yet, that simplicity had a strange power: almost every toss found Akashi at his absolute peak hitting point.
The three front-row blockers from Itachiyama instantly converged on Akashi.
Sakusa Kiyoomi took center as the core of the block, forming a three-man wall.
Sakusa stood at 190 cm. His vertical wasn't quite on Akashi's level, but as one of the top three aces in the country, his jump was nothing to scoff at.
So this wall, at least on paper, should've been enough to shut down players like Kiyotani Kentarou or Hajime Iwaizumi, who relied on technique.
But against Akashi Asuka,
This formidable wall looked like nothing more than a mud fence.
Sakusa's pupils shrank.
"What the hell? He… jumped higher?!"
It wasn't a trick of the eye. It was very real.
Akashi was jumping even higher than before.
Previously, his highest reach had been around 348 cm.
But now?
His contact point had definitely exceeded 350 cm.
Is this because of that guy?
Sakusa naturally thought of Sanashita.
As a fellow spiker, he knew, sometimes, when your setter is in perfect sync with you, you can go beyond your limits.
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar erupted above the block, louder than anything heard before.
The next moment,
The ball sailed clean over Itachiyama's triple block, like a meteor, and crashed straight toward the back row.
At the last possible moment,
Their savior, Motoya Komori, appeared out of nowhere, stepping into a perfect cross-step and reading the landing spot with sharp precision.
But the instant he caught the ball,
His face contorted.
"So heavy…!"
"This hit's even stronger than before!"
Whack!
It took everything Komori had to barely pop the ball back up into the air.
But the recoil was so intense, it sent him flipping backward into a full roll.
And by the time he managed to steady himself,
He watched, horrified, as the ball he had barely received flew straight into the second level of the audience stands.
[He's… he's down!]
[Akashi Asuka responds to the humiliation of being dug with a thunderous cannon that completely knocks out Itachiyama's nationally ranked libero!]
[Aoba Johsai's offense is now unstoppable. There's no one left who can stand in their way!]
"OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!"
"That was insane! I've never heard a spike that loud before!"
"Did you see that jump?! Aoba Johsai's #8 was like… flying!"
────────── ✦ ──────────
13–10.
That spike from Akashi had sent shockwaves through the crowd, both literally and emotionally.
And more importantly, it had widened the score gap back to three.
As the rest of the Aoba Johsai players celebrated in high spirits, Akashi quietly stepped aside.
Silent, so silent it sent a chill down your spine.
Sakusa and Komori couldn't shake the unease building in their chests.
But they brushed it off.
After all, even if Komori had received one of Akashi's spikes earlier, that didn't mean he could do it every time.
Losing a point here and there was normal.
Itachiyama quickly regrouped.
Next to serve: Oikawa Tooru.
To everyone's surprise, Oikawa didn't use his signature Super High-Speed Jump Serve.
Instead, he just went for a regular jump serve.
This caught Itachiyama off guard.
Hanegami assumed it was just a misfire and didn't think much of it.
He received the serve and quickly set the ball to Sakusa Kiyoomi.
Sakusa launched into his approach and swung hard,
The ball arcing perfectly to dodge the block in front of him.
It looked like it was going to score.
But then,
Out of nowhere, Akashi Asuka appeared, stretching out a single hand,
And effortlessly blocked the spike right in front of Sakusa's face.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria