Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty-Chapter 589]: Unreadable (Double-Length)

The score was tied!

"As expected, Ryujin's early advantage couldn't last. San Juan effortlessly caught up again."

"Even though Ryujin's rotation strategy worked initially and let them briefly control the rhythm, San Juan clearly adapted far faster than they imagined."

"Now both sides are back on equal footing, and in the end, it's always the team with stronger raw power that will laugh last…"

-----

Smack!

Iizuna Tsukasa received the serve, and Kunimi Akira stepped in to set.

On the right side, Sakusa Kiyoomi leapt for a spike!

"Double block!" Conte and Ramos tracked him closely.

It was a feint!

Ojiro Aran charged in from the back row for a second-wave attack!

Conte and Ramos jumped again, still right in front of Aran.

"Ah—San Juan's blocking is just too hard to shake off for Ryujin!"

BOOM!!!

The ball slipped past the left side of the block and slammed into San Juan's back corner.

Smack!!!

Santiago dug it out, the ball flying toward the front row.

Bruno set it high to the middle, Conte leapt for a spike.

"Double block!" Meian Shūgo and Sakusa jumped at the same time.

They had to block it!

They pushed up as high as possible, forming a solid wall in mid-air, cutting off Conte's options.

BOOM!!!

The ball avoided the block, smashing down towards Ryujin's right baseline.

Smack!

Komori Motoya swiftly slid in and picked it up securely.

The ball shot forward. Kunimi jumped to set, Ramos sliding across to face him.

BAM!!!

A fake set, sudden spike!

"Second touch attack?!"

"Ryujin's offensive choices this set have been so bold, always filled with risk!"

"Even with defenders ready, Kunimi still calmly slammed it down!"

SMACK!!

The ball hit Ramos' arm and flew out of bounds.

Off-the-block point. Kunimi Akira scored!

[San Juan 10 - 10 Ryujin]

"An off-the-block point, huh," Kuroo Tetsurō chuckled. "So Kunimi was already planning for the block?"

"I never thought he was such a smart guy."

"Ha!" Iwaizumi Hajime grinned proudly. "After all, Kunimi's always been an 'energy conservation' type. When Oikawa and Taichi were holding the front, he'd slack off whenever he could."

"Ah, I get it." Kuroo gave a sideways glance at Kenma beside him. "Guess all the smart ones act like that."

"When Taichi went pro early and left Aoba Johsai to Kunimi, that really fired him up," Iwaizumi reminisced. "In that year, he finally led Seijoh to dominate the whole country."

If Kaedehara Taichi had planted a seed in Kunimi's mind back then, that year was when it broke through the soil and grew wildly.

"Enough, no need to talk about what came after," Kuroo interrupted, clearly not wanting to hear about Seijoh's championship.

Seriously, who even asked you!

-----

Service switched, Ryujin's turn.

Meian Shūgo's powerful jump serve!

BOOM!!!

Ryujin's serving level was high—not far behind the other world-class teams in this regard.

Smack!

"Tch—" Taichi received steadily, perfect pass.

Oikawa quickly stepped in and set high to the middle.

"I'll take it!"

Taichi shouted. Actively receiving and attacking was entirely different from being forced into it.

Thud!

Taichi jumped from the back row.

"Double block!" Sakusa and Hondō Sakuma jumped together.

BOOOM!!!

The ball struck Hondō's arm, flying high and deep into the stands.

"Oh my god—"

"Off-the-block point!"

Kaedehara Taichi scored!

[San Juan 11 - 10 Ryujin]

"Don't act like you guys have me locked in the back row," Taichi tilted his chin slightly, cocking his head as he glanced at Ryujin. "That would seriously annoy me."

Service switched, San Juan to serve.

Ramos' powerful jump serve!

The ball dropped between Iizuna and Ojiro Aran.

"I got it!" Iizuna called as he took it.

Right now, Ryujin was lacking strong attack options, so they had to keep the back-row spike as a threat.

Smack!

The ball popped up high, only a half-decent pass.

Kunimi quickly moved in, stepping on the three-meter line to jump set.

Front row: Sakusa and Hondō.

Back row: Ojiro Aran—all charged forward to attack.

"Bruno, right side!" Oikawa shouted, reading Kunimi's set direction first.

Hondō went up for a fake swing. Conte and Bruno only gave a small jump to limit his angle.

WHIFF!

Hondō swung but missed on purpose—the true attack was Ojiro Aran from the back row!

—BOOM!!!—

Conte and Bruno jumped again, this time also just to limit Aran's angle.

The ball went over the block, spiking toward San Juan's right corner.

A super high straight shot!

Aiming directly at Ramos!

Smack!

"Nice block coverage!" Oikawa moved swiftly, shielding Ramos as he picked it up.

"A decoy attack?!" David exclaimed.

"By having Conte, the stronger blocker, guard the left side, they forced Aran to spike over Bruno!"

"Not only that," Lim added, "but Ramos was also deliberately used as bait—as San Juan's weakest back-row defender, it's only natural they targeted him."

Taichi stepped in to set. San Juan's front row all launched a triple threat attack!

"Damn it, can't read the set direction!"

Ryujin's block was forced to spread out.

The ball flew to the left side, Loser jumped to spike!

Sakusa jumped for a solo block.

BOOM!!!

The ball crashed down in the centre of Ryujin's court and bounced high.

Loser scored!

[San Juan 12 - 10 Ryujin]

"Hey, you did read the set at the end, right?" Sakusa complained. "Block properly!"

Kunimi frowned, paused a moment.

"Okay."

Explaining was tiring anyway. In this match, he didn't need to conserve energy. Even if his block wasn't very effective, he would at least try to follow.

"Huff—"

Komori and Iizuna were ready to jump in and stop a fight, but Kunimi was actually quite mature.

Ojiro Aran glanced toward the bench—if Miya Atsumu had been there, they would definitely be arguing by now.

"Hey! Aran! What's that look for?!" Atsumu shouted noisily from the sidelines. "I don't know what's happening, but your eyes look super suspicious!"

"Yeah, just like that." Aran withdrew his gaze and refocused on the game.

-----

San Juan continued to serve.

Ramos' second serve!

BOOM!!!

The ball curved to the left side. Komori easily received it, perfect pass.

Iizuna jumped to set—Ryujin's four attackers all charged forward.

"This is their most perfect attacking rhythm yet!"

Iizuna's movement didn't give away a single clue, forcing San Juan's blockers to spread out.

BOOM!!

Sakusa slipped past the block and scored!

[San Juan 12 - 11 Ryujin]

"Such precise ball control—it landed exactly in an unguarded spot on San Juan's side."

"Ryujin holds on tightly to the score gap."

Service change, Ryujin to serve.

Sakusa Kiyoomi stepped up to the service line.

"Sakusa scored 10 service aces during the group stage. He's an extremely dangerous power server."

"But it seems San Juan doesn't intend to add more passers to deal with him."

In this rotation, San Juan's three back-row receivers from left to right were Kaedehara Taichi, Oikawa Tōru, and Santiago. All three had excellent passing skills.

But the most critical point was—

"Sakusa's serve isn't something you can deal with just by adding numbers."

"Tweet!—"The service whistle blew.

Sakusa tossed the ball, ran up, jumped, and swung!

BOOM!!!

The ball was sharply "whipped" out—extremely fast, yet its trajectory still visible.

"So it's coming to me after all?"

Santiago faced the ball directly. Following Taichi's instructions, he lowered his center of gravity as much as possible to absorb the spin.

Smack!!

The ball hit Santiago's arms. The force wasn't particularly heavy, but the ball barely popped up and dropped right beside him.

Sakusa scored a service ace!

[San Juan 12 - 12 Ryujin]

"Sakusa scores back-to-back points!"

"One from a spike, one from a serve—Sakusa Kiyoomi single-handedly stabilises Ryujin's almost crumbling situation!"

"Mr. Lim, Sakusa's serve doesn't seem that powerful, nor does its trajectory float like a typical jump serve. Why was it so hard for the libero to receive?"

The big screen replayed Sakusa's serve: the ball speed was 101 km/h—not as flashy as other servers—but that was precisely why it looked even more inexplicable when it gently rebounded off Santiago's arms as if it "stopped" mid-air.

"It's probably because that serve is dominated by underspin," Lim explained. "An underspin serve drops lighter and slower than usual. When Santiago tried to absorb the force, it played perfectly into Sakusa's intention."

"He specifically targeted the libero, since compared to Taichi and Oikawa, the others have no experience receiving this type of ball," Kenma added, resting his chin on his hand. "So annoying."

-----

Ryujin continued to serve.

Sakusa served a second ball!

Santiago fixed his eyes on Sakusa's motion, but he couldn't detect anything unusual.

BOOM!!!—

This serve was even faster than the last and still aimed at Santiago.

Santiago pressed his arms together, forming a stable platform, stepping forward to meet it. But the ball drifted sideways.

Smack!!!

The predicted landing point and the actual contact point didn't match.

The ball bounced off Santiago's arms and flew out of bounds.

Another service ace from Sakusa!

[San Juan 12 - 13 Ryujin]

Ryujin took the lead!

"Another ace by Sakusa!"

"This one was sidespin. Even though his serving form looked the same, the spin on the ball was completely different!"

"Sorry, I can't handle this serve right now," Santiago admitted bluntly.

Since they were now behind, there was no point in acting tough.

"Then let's handle it in phases!"

Conte retreated to the back row. San Juan formed a four-man reception pattern.

Unlike other teams that expand their reception area to simply keep the ball up, San Juan's approach was to weaken the spin with the first touch so the setter could adjust and reorganise the attack.

"Tweet!—"The service whistle sounded.

Sakusa served a third ball!

BOOM!!!

Smack!!

"I see," Conte realised immediately upon contact why Santiago had struggled so much.

The ball hit his arms as if it had struck cotton, with almost no rebound. It simply dropped straight down beside him.

Smack!!

Santiago dived, sliding his palm under the ball to pop it up.

There was no chance for a strong attack. Conte had no choice but to lightly push the ball toward Ryujin's back line.

"Chance ball!"

Komori immediately set it to the front. Kunimi jumped to spike!

"Damn troublesome!"

Loser went up alone to block.

Whoosh!—

Though this was an even better chance than before, Kunimi didn't opt for a second-touch spike.

Instead, the ball flew to the right side. Ojiro Aran jumped for the spike!

"Double block!" Bruno and Conte jumped together.

BOOM!!!

The ball slipped between the block and the net.

Loser landed and quickly switched to receive, stepping up to the three-meter line to meet it.

Smack!!

The ball hit Loser's arm and flew out of bounds.

Ojiro Aran scored!

[San Juan 12 - 14 Ryujin]

"Damn it!"

Coach José slammed the tactical board hard. San Juan still had one timeout left, but it looked like he'd have to save it for the endgame.

The current predicament had to be resolved by the players on court.

-----

"Loser, you actually could have left that ball for me," Taichi said.

Just now, Aran didn't have many shot options—either cross-court or straight. Compared to Loser hastily recovering after the block, Taichi at position 5 only needed to move up slightly to cover.

"Ah…sorry," Loser scratched his head.

"No, your proactiveness is good," Taichi said casually. "Just remember to call out next time."

"Got it!"

The momentum was still firmly in Ryujin's hands. Sakusa continued serving!

BOOM!!!

The ball dropped between Conte and Santiago!

Targeting them to the end!

"I got it!" Conte shouted.

Smack!!

The ball hit Conte's arm and veered out of bounds.

"Can't predict it at all!"

Santiago supported the setter, diving to bump the ball forward.

Bruno jumped to spike!

"Double block!" Hondō and Aran jumped together.

BOOM!!!

Smack!!

The ball struck Hondō's arm and deflected to the left.

As the ball was about to fly out, Kunimi jumped and set it back to the front.

Sakusa jumped from the back row to spike!

"Will he set?"

Loser scanned Ryujin's formation.

BOOM!!

Sakusa swung immediately—a second-touch spike!

SMACK!!!

The ball struck Loser's arm and bounced up.

"Damn it, that was so fast," Sakusa muttered darkly, staring across at the other side.

Just then, Loser and Conte had formed a double block in front of him. He had timed it precisely to catch them distracted, yet—

"One touch!" Loser shouted loudly.

Taichi smoothly received, perfect pass.

Oikawa jumped to set.

Taichi and Conte charged in from both sides.

One wanted to receive and immediately spike; the other wanted to follow up the block and attack quickly.

Hondō and Aran each focused on them one-on-one.

Whoosh!—

"Oikawa…"

"This guy…"

The ball soared high to the centre. Oikawa wore a sly grin.

Thud!

Loser leapt from the middle.

"So you really insist on spiking over me, huh?" Kunimi looked at Oikawa with a resigned face.

Hondō and Aran quickly moved to the middle.

"Triple block!"

—BOOM!!!

The ball shot straight over the block, smashing off Komori's arm and flying far out of bounds.

Loser scored!

[San Juan 13 - 14 Ryujin]

San Juan finally broke the serve!

_________