Chapter 23: Task Completion

Taichi noticed a shadow falling over the statistics sheet in his hand. He looked up to find Oikawa Tōru standing in front of him, smiling brightly.

"Well? Do you see how amazing your senpai is now?" Oikawa teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Taichi paused for a moment, then lowered his gaze. "Yes, I've always known that Oikawa-senpai is incredible."

"Huh?" Oikawa blinked. He thought he had figured out Kaedehara Taichi's personality—polite on the surface but utterly self-centred with a head full of devious schemes. Yet the direct compliment caught him off guard, making him feel a bit flustered.

Ahem, maybe this kouhai isn't so bad after all.

"So, Oikawa-senpai, please set more balls for me. I want to spike even more!" Taichi looked up, his eyes filled with determination.

"..."

Scratch that. This kouhai isn't cute at all.

-----

The brief rest period ended, and the second set began quickly.

In the first set, Wakunan had pulled out almost every weapon in their arsenal. The players performed admirably, but they still lost by a significant margin, leaving their morale noticeably low.

Coach Masaomi Onikobe, however, saw this as an excellent opportunity to drive home a lesson: volleyball is a six-player game. Relying on one person alone isn't enough to secure victory.

Thus, he refrained from interfering too much with their emotions—after all, it was just a practice match. Winning or losing wasn't the priority.

His gaze fell on Nakashima Takeru, his prized disciple who understood Wakunan's predicament better than anyone—it was too reliant on him.

"I get it, Coach. I'll ease up on my attacks in the second set," Nakashima said with a nod.

"Good. Let first-year Matsushima Tsuyoshi take on more offensive responsibilities against a strong opponent like this," Coach Onikobe suggested.

Sometimes, Coach Onikobe wondered how amazing Nakashima would be if he played for a powerhouse team. Not necessarily Shiratorizawa—even Seijoh with that monster setter on the other side would likely have a shot at Nationals with him in the lineup.

But that was just a fleeting thought. Even if given the chance, he couldn't bear to let Nakashima leave Wakunan.

"Matsushima is currently our tallest player, with decent speed and jumping ability. If he makes significant progress before the Inter-High preliminaries, your burden will ease considerably," Onikobe said, patting Nakashima on the arm. "Keep up the hard work, Takeru."

"Yes!" Nakashima replied loudly, his voice tinged with emotion. His eyes reddened slightly, and his shoulders trembled.

To everyone's surprise, the second set turned out to be even more intense than the first. From Taichi's perspective, there was only one way to describe it—a battle of the rookies.

Both coaches seemed to have reached a tacit understanding and began experimenting with new strategies.

Oikawa was instructed to abandon his usual powerful jump serves and stick to float serves instead. After several attempts, his success-to-error ratio hovered around one-to-one.

Meanwhile, Taichi, determined to perfect his 'tooling the block' tactic, relentlessly spiked the ball.

However, his intentions became so obvious that Wakunan saw through them, leading to repeated errors. After a scolding from the coach, he was benched to "clear his head."

Nakashima almost entirely refrained from attacking, leaving first-year Matsushima Tsuyoshi to shoulder the offensive load.

Matsushima gave it his all, but by mid-match, he was utterly drained.

In short, the game devolved into a chaotic mess riddled with mistakes. Yet, this relaxed the previously tense atmosphere. Both coaches chatted and laughed on the sidelines, looking as if they were about to sit down for tea together.

"Taichi, do you know why I pulled you out?" Coach Irihata asked once he saw that Kaedehara Taichi had cooled down.

"Because I kept practising 'tooling the block' but made too many mistakes?" Taichi guessed.

"I didn't bench you because of your mistakes," Coach Irihata said with a laugh. "Wasn't it me who told you to practice during the match? Take a look at the scoring chart you were holding earlier. Especially Nakashima Takeru's scoring stats."

He pointed at the sheet. "His most effective scoring method, 'tooling the block,' only accounted for a third of his points in the first set. His tipping and down-the-line attacks are what make that move so hard to defend against."

"Think about the play where you forced Nakashima to hit a ball out of bounds. Didn't you predict his attack and respond accordingly? If you rely too heavily on one technique, the opponent will catch on, and your weapon becomes useless."

"It's like how I'm making Oikawa practice float serves now. To maximize your potential, your arsenal needs to multiply, not just add up."

Coach Irihata's words struck a chord with Taichi. He suddenly recalled that night when Tenma Udai had trained him.

It wasn't "tooling the block" that Tennma started with. The reason Taichi couldn't defend against Tenma was that he never knew what kind of shot Tenma would execute until the very last moment.

Seeing Taichi deep in thought, Coach Irihata nodded approvingly. Aoba Johsai students never lacked in intuition.

"If you've figured it out, go back on the court and give it a shot."

Coach Irihata returned to his seat, squinting with a self-satisfied look. He couldn't help but think that he might just be coaching another little monster.

Back on the court, Kaedehara Taichi was no longer shackled by the system's mission. He played with a clear mind and full focus.

The second set ended with a scoreline of [Aoba Johsai 29 – 27 Wakunan].

It turned into a gruelling tug-of-war, but Aoba Johsai emerged victorious, wrapping up the practice match 2-0.

When neither Oikawa Tōru nor Nakashima Takeru was trying to shine, the difference in overall team strength became evident.

Aoba Johsai's players were clearly a cut above Wakunan's. If not for Taichi's early mistakes, the match might have ended even faster.

Not that Taichi cared. He was basking in the joy of completing his mission.

[Ding! Temporary mission "Successor to the Little Giant" completed. ]

[Nakashima Takeru's 'tooling-the-block' points: 3. Host's 'tooling-the-block' points: 5.]

[Mission accomplished. Jump stat: +5.]

Taichi stood in place for a moment, waiting for any noticeable changes in his body. When nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He still remembered how he had fainted from overexertion after his first training mission. That would have been humiliating.

"Taichi, you had 15 attacks and only scored 7 points," a smug voice rang out. Taichi didn't need to turn to know it was Oikawa.

"If Kageyama were the setter, he'd probably get mad and stop passing to you altogether," Kindaichi added earnestly from the side, twisting the metaphorical knife.

"But I feel like Kageyama's changed a bit recently," Kunimi said, looking as exhausted as if he had just run a marathon.

Exhausted? That had to be a lie. Everyone knew Kunimi was the king of conserving energy on the court.

Realizing he was being surrounded, Taichi dashed toward Iwaizumi Hajime, grasping at his last lifeline.

"Captain! Oikawa-senpai is bullying me!"

"Who are you calling captain? I'm the captain!" Oikawa shouted, hot on his heels.

"Oops, slipped out my true feelings~ Teehee~"

Taichi and Oikawa started circling around Iwaizumi like kids playing tag.

"You two!" Iwaizumi grabbed each of them by the head. "Line up for post-match formalities!"

"Yes!" Even Oikawa obediently fell in line.

Both teams lined up, bowing to each other. "Thank you for the game!"

Coach Onikobe shook hands with Coach Irihata. "Thank you for accepting Wakunan's invitation. Today's match was great."

"Hopefully, we'll see each other again in the prefectural finals."

"Of course!"

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