A shadow suddenly fell over the stat sheet in Taichi Kaedehara's hand. He looked up and saw Tooru Oikawa standing in front of him, smiling.
"Well? Now you see how amazing your senpai is, right?" Oikawa teased with a grin.
Kaedehara was silent for a moment, then lowered his head. "Yeah. I've always known that Oikawa-senpai is amazing."
"Huh?" Oikawa was taken aback. He had thought he had figured out Kaedehara's personality—polite on the surface, but willful and full of schemes underneath. That straightforward compliment caught him off guard and made him a little embarrassed. Ahem, maybe this kouhai is kind of cute after all.
"So, Oikawa-senpai," Kaedehara looked up and fixed his eyes on him, "please set for me more. I want to spike even more!"
Oikawa: "…"
Okay, never mind. This kouhai isn't cute at all.
…
After a brief break, the second set quickly began.
Hakunankita had already thrown in everything they had in the first set. Though the players were in decent form, they still lost by a wide margin. Their morale was understandably low.
But Coach Onikubi thought this was the perfect moment to teach them a lesson: volleyball is a six-player sport, and relying on a single strong player won't win matches. So he didn't interfere too much with their emotions—it was, after all, just a practice game. Winning or losing wasn't the focus.
He glanced at Takeshi Nakajima, his prized student, who actually understood Hakunankita's situation better than he did—they were relying too much on him.
"I understand, Coach. I'll reduce my attacking attempts in the second set."
"Good. Freshman Matsushima just doesn't get many chances to face strong teams. Let him be more involved in offense in this kind of scenario," Coach Onikubi advised.
Sometimes, the coach even wondered how great Nakajima would be on a powerhouse team. Even if not at Shiratorizawa, pairing up with that monster setter from Aoba Johsai could still give them a shot at Nationals.
But that was just a fantasy. If it really came to that, he wouldn't have the heart to let Nakajima go.
"Matsushima is currently our tallest player. His jumping and speed aren't bad either. If he can make significant progress before the Inter-High prelims, you'll have a lot less pressure," Coach Onikubi patted Nakajima's shoulder. "You've worked hard, Takeshi."
"Yes, sir!" Nakajima replied loudly, eyes slightly red, his shoulders trembling a bit.
The second set turned out to be even closer than the first. From Kaedehara Taichi's perspective, there was only one way to describe it: a battle of the rookies.
Both coaches were tacitly trying new things.
Oikawa was told not to do jump power serves—only float serves. After several serves, his score-to-error ratio was nearly 1:1.
Kaedehara, focused on completing his "tooling the block" mission, spiked recklessly, making his intentions too obvious. Hakunankita caught on, and he made multiple errors, earning himself a scolding and a trip to the bench to "cool off."
Nakajima mostly stayed out of offense, leaving it to freshman Matsushima to spike with all he had—so much that he became exhausted halfway through the match.
In short, the game became chaotic and mistake-filled. But the tension was far less than the previous set. The two coaches were joking and chatting at the sidelines, looking like they were one tea set away from a picnic.
"Taichi, do you know why I benched you?" Coach Irihata walked over after seeing Kaedehara had calmed down.
"Because I kept trying to practice 'tooling the block' but kept making too many errors?"
"Wasn't I the one who told you to practice that during the match? Why would I bench you for that?" Coach Irihata laughed. "You looked at the scoring sheet earlier, right? Nakajima's stats?"
"His 'tooling the block' only accounted for a third of his total points in the first set. Tips and line shots are what make that move hard to defend."
"Think back to the time you made him whiff on a spike—wasn't that because you predicted his attack pattern? If you keep using the same move, your opponents will catch on and neutralize it."
"Just like I'm having Oikawa practice float serves now—we're not just stacking weapons; we're combining them. Only by multiplying your tools can you get the most out of them."
Coach Irihata's words struck Kaedehara like lightning. He suddenly remembered that night of training with Amano Tenma. Come to think of it, Amano hadn't started by teaching him "tooling the block" either. The reason he couldn't stop Amano's attacks… was because he could never predict what kind of hit was coming, not until the very last moment.
Seeing the thoughtful look on Kaedehara's face, Coach Irihata nodded. Aoba Johsai students really did have a knack for insight.
"If you've figured it out, go back out and try again."
Coach Irihata returned to his seat, squinting with satisfaction. He had a feeling he was raising a little monster of his own.
Kaedehara returned to the court with a new mindset. No longer bound strictly by the system task, he began to play smart, rather than just hard.
The second set ended with [Aoba Johsai 29 – 27 Hakunankita]. Surprisingly, it turned into a tug-of-war. In the end, Aoba Johsai won, taking the practice match 2-0.
When both Oikawa and Nakajima weren't focused on showing off, the overall strength of Aoba Johsai's team clearly surpassed Hakunankita's. If Kaedehara hadn't made so many mistakes early on, the match might've ended much faster.
But the man of the moment, Kaedehara Taichi, clearly didn't care about that. He was basking in the joy of completing his mission.
"Ding! Temporary Mission [Heir to the Little Giant] complete. Nakajima Takeshi 'tooling the block' points: 3; Host 'tooling the block' points: 5."
"Mission complete. Host jump stat +5."
Kaedehara stood still for a moment, waiting to see if anything felt different. When he felt nothing strange, he let out a sigh of relief. If he passed out like he did after the first training session, it would be too embarrassing.
"Taichi, you attacked 15 times and only got 7 points…" a familiar annoying voice rang out. Kaedehara didn't even have to look—of course it was Oikawa.
"If it were Kageyama setting, he'd probably get mad and never toss to you again," Kindaichi added with a sincere expression.
"But I feel like Kageyama would be different now," Kunimi mumbled, looking completely exhausted.
Yeah, right. Kunimi was the biggest slacker on the court!
Realizing he was getting surrounded, Kaedehara quickly darted to Iwaizumi and grabbed his last lifeline.
"Captain!"
"Who are you calling captain? I'm the captain!" Oikawa shouted, chasing after him.
"Oops, my true feelings slipped out…"
Kaedehara and Oikawa started running circles around Iwaizumi.
"You two!" Iwaizumi grabbed each of their heads with one hand. "Line up for the closing!"
"Yes, sir!" Oikawa replied immediately, falling in line obediently.
Both teams lined up and bowed to each other. "Thank you for the match!"
Coach Onikubi shook hands with Coach Irihata. "Thanks for accepting Hakunankita's invitation. Today's match was excellent."
"Hopefully, we'll meet again in the prefectural finals."
"Definitely!"