"Yo! Akashi-chan, looks like your old teammate just got subbed in, huh?"
When Oikawa Tooru saw Karasuno's substitution, his eyes brightened a little. He remembered Oda Miki quite well, not just because he was Akashi Asuka and Ryuhei Sanashita's Junior High teammate, but also because when Karasuno faced Shiratorizawa before, Oda's defensive skills really stood out.
"By the way," Oikawa continued, "with your teammate's ability, even if he took a main player's spot on Karasuno, it should be no problem. So why did he hardly ever play before?"
Akashi Asuka replied, "Probably because he's not that interested in volleyball."
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The match went on.
Shiratorizawa served, and this time they brought in their key server, Semi Eita.
Semi's jump serve ranked right behind Ushijima Wakatoshi among Shiratorizawa players. Though limited by talent, he couldn't quite reach the insane levels of Akashi, Oikawa, or Ushijima, his serve speed and placement were still razor sharp.
Bam!
In an instant, Semi unleashed a powerful jump serve. The ball pierced the net, landing deep in Karasuno's backcourt, right toward where Oda Miki was positioned.
"Huh?"
Karasuno's players were momentarily stunned.
Seriously, who serves straight at a defensive specialist like Oda? That's basically giving the other team a point!
Smack!
Oda was caught off guard for a split second but reacted quickly, calmly receiving the ball.
A near-perfect pass went right to Kageyama Tobio's hands.
Karasuno launched their counterattack, and their New Monster Quick slipped past Shiratorizawa's defense for a clean kill.
4–6.
Semi's face twisted in confusion.
This isn't how it's supposed to go!
Wasn't he just a substitute rookie?
Watching from the sidelines, Shiratorizawa's coach Tanji Washijo casually twitched the corner of his mouth. That was exactly why Shirabu Kenjiro replaced Semi as the team's new setter!
Semi's individual style was strong, but that wasn't the real problem. The issue was he often ignored even Ushijima's orders and acted recklessly, bold to the point of arrogance.
Like that last serve, while the coach was still wondering why Oda was subbed in, Semi just straight up tested the waters with a serve of his own.
Semi was subbed off.
Score: 0–1.
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The game resumed.
This time Karasuno served.
Kageyama rotated to the back row, position 1, while Sawamura Daichi moved to the front.
Kageyama's fast jump serve threw Shiratorizawa's formation off balance, forcing them to rush an attack, which Nishinoya Yuu easily received.
Karasuno countered, but Tendo Satori blocked it, and no point was scored.
Then Shirabu Kenjiro sent Ushijima to attack from the back row.
Back-row attacks are risky, but for Ushijima, even a back-row spike packs terrifying power.
Boom!
The block formed by Sawamura and Azumane in front was almost meaningless to Ushijima.
His powerful hit flew cleanly over the net, dropping straight onto Karasuno's court with such speed that even Nishinoya couldn't catch it.
At that critical moment,
Suddenly, Hinata Shoyo appeared from nowhere.
He straightened up, chest forward, and literally caught Ushijima's spike with his body.
Thud.
The ball bounced off Hinata's chest.
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"Uh…"
"Hahaha! What was that? Catching the ball with your body? Can you really do that?"
"That's hilarious! So impressive!"
The crowd around the court was stunned at Hinata's move. After a moment, laughter erupted across the stadium.
Akashi Asuka was also taken aback.
Damn!
Looks like this guy picked up a new skill.
If Akashi remembered correctly, this move was originally created by the Owl of Fukurodani.
Thanks to that play, Karasuno successfully countered and scored again.
5–6.
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The match went on.
Shiratorizawa, having lost two points in a row, naturally wanted to quickly recover the score.
But as they pushed hard, they noticed something strange.
The ball just wouldn't fall.
Because Ushijima was in the back row, Shiratori mainly assigned Goshiki and a few others to attack.
To their surprise, no matter from which direction they spiked, Karasuno's defense seemed weightless, like the ball simply refused to drop.
"Whoa, what's going on here?"
"Karasuno's defense really this good?"
Shiratorizawa's attackers started doubting themselves. After several rounds, whether front-row or back-row attacks, it felt like someone was always ready to receive.
"Looks like this has to do with that guy," Shirabu Kenjiro narrowed his eyes on Oda Miki.
Since Oda subbed in, Karasuno's ground defense had visibly improved several notches. Even when their libero was subbed out, the ground defense barely weakened.
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Off court,
Seeing Shiratorizawa's scoring efficiency plummet, Ukai Keishin couldn't help but smirk proudly.
"Hehe, this 'flawless defense' isn't something Karasuno just pulled out of nowhere, they learned it after a whole month of practice matches against Nekoma. Even Shiratorizawa breaking through this defense won't be easy."
New skill: Flawless Defense.
This was a group technique Karasuno "borrowed" from Nekoma during their month-long summer training camp.
Compared to other skills, it had one requirement: Oda Miki had to be on the court. Only with Oda and Sawamura working together could Karasuno cover all defensive blind spots in time.
Right now, Karasuno's lineup was: Azumane Asahi, Tsukishima Kei (with Nishinoya Yuu), Hinata Shoyo, Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi, and Oda Miki.
Every one of these six players had top-tier defensive ability.
Yes, every single one, even Hinata.
Because in this summer's training camp, Hinata had mastered ground defense techniques early.
Though his receive skills weren't perfect yet, his talent for reading the ball's landing spot gave him astonishing reaction and anticipation.
That explained how he managed to appear just in front of Ushijima's spike and catch the ball with his body.
In the original story, Hinata only gradually mastered this skill during the spring high nationals.
But now, he had learned it early, thanks to Ukai Keishin's special training plans.
In other words:
With this lineup, Karasuno's defense would improve drastically.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria