The Birth of A Volleyball Legend-Chapter 382: End of the Second Set!

In Konan’s next serve, strangely enough, Akihiro made the same mistake Shimada made earlier, letting the serve stuck on the net. All the members of the Tsunemori team who watched from the small screen of Riku’s phone were confused. They all had experienced playing against Konan High, and they all knew this wasn’t their real quality. Even though they had a bad day, it was impossible for two players to make the same mistake in a row.

It was only when the rotation happened for Kyoei Gakuen that Akira finally realized Konan High’s intention. "They want to get rid of that middle blocker so bad, huh?"

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"Eh?!" Most of the players were still confused, with some understood what the coach meant immediately.

"So, that’s it…" Asahi nodded in understanding, yet a hint of awe still could be seen in his expression.

"Wait, what?! What did you see? Come on!" Ogawa asked impatiently.

Yuki and Riku just stared at his slow senpai in pity before the former started explaining, "You know that Haruo is the biggest threat for Konan High in this game, right? So, instead of trying to bulldoze the problem head-on, they decided to best way to handle this situation was by forcing Haruo to move to the back as quickly as possible, and the quickest possible way to do that was by losing points deliberately just to regain it back later. That way, they would force Kyoei Gakuen to rotate too, and now, with Haruo on the back, Kyoei Gakuen has no choice but to replace him with the libero."

"That…" Ogawa widened his eyes in realization, yet words stuck in his throat as he didn’t know what to say. "Isn’t that a bit too cowardly, though? Running away from the problem like that?" He asked hesitantly, with some of the hot-headed players there like Koji and Riku nodding in agreement.

However, Akira shook his head firmly, answering, "No, if anything, it shows their flexibility as a team." When his players turned at him, the coach continued, "They are not running away from the problem. If anything, they get rid of it in the smartest possible way, and it shows that in the end, the team’s spirit is always to win the game. See? No one from Konan High makes a fuss about this cowardly thing and having to win the duel head-on, showing their maturity. After all, it is useless if they win against that blocker yet lose the entire game."

Some of the players there flushed in embarrassment at the intentional jab from the coach.

"Still, can the team just not replace him? I mean, even though he is in the back row, he could still contribute just like usual, right?" Ogawa fired away another question, trying to get rid of his embarrassment.

"No, it doesn’t work that way." Akira shook his head. "You know the rule of the game, a back-row player couldn’t join the frontline to block the attack, and – "

"Wait, there is such a rule?!" This time, it was Yuki who asked that. After all, compared to anyone there, he was the one who got into the game the latest, so a rule or two would definitely slip away from his mind. "I swear, I have done a support block from the back row several times! How come not a single referee questioning that?!" Now that everyone thought about that, they could see where Yuki was coming from.

"Well, that is because of the combination of two things," Akira said wryly. "First, you are mostly walking into a grey area. While joining the blockers is prohibited, just like a back attack, if you jumped from behind the line separating front and back, it wouldn’t count as a block." He ignored the dumbfounded look Yuki gave to me. "As for the second thing, it is because of the referee’s incompetence. As long as it is not a big game involving Konan High or Matsukita High, they wouldn’t be too strict with us, so we basically took advantage of it in the past."

"… Sensei, when do you plan to tell us about that?"

"Urgh… Never?"

Yuki twitched the corner of his lips to show how ridiculous the explanation was. As for Akira, just like the true man he was, he ignored this and continued his explanation. "So, yeah, since Haruo couldn’t join the front line, he would definitely not be able to contribute to the team to the fullest. While he might be able to play as a defender, it would just be a waste of his stamina, so the best approach is to replace him until he has a chance to go back to the front again."

"And that is something that Konan High would not allow if they have any say about it," Yuki added wryly.

Now that the situation was explained clearly, all of the Tsunemori players turned their attention back to the court, couldn’t wait to see how Kyoei Gakuen would deal with this kind of situation.

-0-

Unfortunately for Kyoei Gakuen, six players left on the court after Haruo was replaced couldn’t find any solution to cover the hole left by the middle blocker. Konan High, in their cowardly strategy, really exploited Haruo’s absence by spreading their offense wide and using so much synchronization attacks, not letting them all to get a break even for a second.

Meanwhile, their offense also got stuck. Their opponent suddenly got a second wind as they all were determined to stop their attack at all cost, preventing them from forcing the rotation and bring Haruo back to the court.

So, yeah, overall, the situation in the court was definitely far from their favor.

"Goddamnit!" Nitta punched the ball to the floor in frustration as this was the second time in a row Lucas forced a block-out off him. While he was a pretty decent blocker, Nitta knew he was far from Haruo’s level, and stopping Lucas’s attack alone was never something he could do. "Captain, can your support be a bit faster next time?! You know I need it, right?" He started to get impatient here.

Ito who received his complaint scowled, dissatisfied with Nitta’s attitude. "Well, you know that I cannot read the game faster than you and Haruo-kun, right?! If you don’t tell me beforehand, how could I give my support on time?!"

It was clear that emotion was running high on Kyoei’s side with those two were stubborn enough to admit their mistake. It didn’t help that Konan supporters on the stand kept adding more fuel to the fire there.

"Haha! Come on, keep fighting!"

"Yes, that’s it! That’s what we are looking for!"

"Hey, Monkey! If I were you, I would just beat your captain up!"

"Yeah! Don’t let him get away just like that after blaming you!"

The situation was pretty chaotic on the away team’s side, and as the best team in the country, it would be so strange if Konan High couldn’t capitalize on it. They kept pushing their opponent to the edge, not giving them any chance to force rotation until a moment later…

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"ONE CHANCE!"

"FUCK! AGAIN?!" Nitta scowled furiously when another one of his attacks was blocked by Lucas. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PEST!"

Even though Lucas didn’t understand what he was saying, the Brazilian boy knew Nitta was insulting him, so he just grinned widely, showing his white teeth infuriatingly. Then, just right after he landed on the floor, Lucas moved back quickly before dashing off to join the counterattack. Of course, Nitta didn’t want to get beaten again as he also paid more attention to Konan’s ace.

Unfortunately, by doing so, he didn’t notice Sawada’s eyes on him, and before he knew it, the opponent’s setter had already sent another dump straight in front of his eyes, without him being able to stop it.

Thud!

For a moment, there was a silence fell on the court, all eyes were on the ball rolling gently on the floor. After a while, though, the referee finally announced, "POINT FOR KONAN HIGH! GAME SET!" And hell broke loose.

Konan High 25 – 19 Kyoei Gakuen