A/N: Thank you so much for 100K views on this book! Means a lot. Enjoy the chapter!

unedited

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CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE - TRAP

"And Sarukawa gets a break point! They've taken the lead for the first time halfway through the second set."

"It's annoying how they hit the ball where it's hard to receive." Naoi commented.

"Even in situations where they might score if they go all-out, they're holding back on purpose." Nekomata observed. "They've been skillfully weaving that strategy into this game. When you actually stand on the court and are facing your oppenents' attacks, things might not go as you planned on the whiteboard. But the resilience to pull it off, as well as the smarts and calm to look at the game as a whole. You've got some great players there, Aritaka."

"Nice receive!"

Kenma got under the ball as Lev charged forward. Kenma ended up passing towards Fukunaga who spikes past the blockers and made a point.

"Nice kill!"

"That was a bit low." Fukunaga told Kenma.

"Sorry." Kenma apologized.

"Nekoma High's center line, #8 Mizuki-kun, #1 Kuroo-kun, and #11 Haiba-kun, are all incredibly strong."

"I'm sure that Sarukawa's blockers were on their guard here with Haiba-kun, and that's how Fukunaga-kun on the left got that point."

"Kenma-san, you look super tired!" Lev commented.

"Shut up." Kenma complained, closing his eyes.

"Um... the setter? If you guys knew that he was so weak, couldn't you guys have ganged up on him, too?" Mika asked.

"Ah, well, even if we were going to gang up on him, the setter usually touches the ball second. Ganging up on anyone else is a pretty good strategy." Daisho explained. "You need a lot of guts and persistence to put that much direct pressure on someone for that long."

The game resumed as Sarukawa's setter did a setter dump in which Kenma quickly dived down to receive it. Sarukawa was in the lead with 22 points while Nekoma was at 20. Kenma kept running, tossing the ball towards his teammates until he tripped and fell to the ground.

"Did the setter, Kozume, trip over his own feet?"

The ball soon hit the net and onto the court, getting Sarukawa the point.

"Lucky, lucky, Sarukawa!"

"You do move around quite a bit as the center. That position is a lot harder than it looks."

"You good?" Mizuki asked, holding his hand out to Kenma, who took it.

"Ugh, how lame..." Kenma responded as blue-haired male helped him up. "We've only played two sets so far. My hands are melting."

"No one ever looks cool when they're desperate." Kuroo chimed in, having a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Seriously. Could you not look so happy about it?" Kenma asked.

"Sarukawa definitely has the upper hand this set, so letting Kozume rest until the next set is an option. And look." Daisho pointed towards Teshiro who was holding the number 5 plate. "Speak of the devil..."

"All right, just one more push."

Sarukawa served the ball once the whistle blew as it went out.

"It's all good. Let's keep this up."

"Man, that was close! They were aiming for a great spot, though."

The ball was spiked as Yaku received it. "Don't rush it!" Shishio told his team as Kuroo spiked the ball.

"One-touch!"

"Follow through! Follow through!"

"Zawa!"

Fukunaga reached forward and saved the ball. "Nice receive!" Mika complimented from the stands.

"It's short." Daisho thinks to himself, his hand on his chin.

"Sarukawa Tech is calmly aiming for all the holes. Nekoma's being thrown off their game!"

Kenma sets the ball over towards Kai, who spikes it down, making Nekoma and Sarukawa tied with 23 points.

"Nekoma's catching up at the end of the set! They tied it up!"

"They were thrown off balance, but they got the ball to the right, where the blockers weren't as deep."

TWEEEEET!

Mizuki did a jump serve, but it ended up crashing into the net and falling to the ground. "Sorry about that!" He apologized.

"Don't worry about it!"

The whistle blew as Sarukawa served next.

"Nice serve, Kura!"

Wakura spiked the ball into the air as it went over the net.

"Front! Front!"

"That serve heads casually to the front."

"Got it!" Yaku reassured, saving the ball as it went back up in the air.

"Did Nekoma's receive veer too far to the side?"

Kenma took a step backwards. "Hey, come on, now. Get that ball up properly." Daisho commented before he suddenly noticed something. Shishio soon noticed as well.

"Over here." Kenma thought as the blocker followed him.

"Wait. They did that on purpose to lure our blockers away from the left..."

"Stay there!"

"You figured it out? Okay. Guess we're going to the right, then." Kenma noted, tossing the ball towards Kai who scored a point.

"Yeah!" Kuroo cheered, giving Kai a high five.

"Kai Nobuyuki scores from the right!"

"Nice, nice, Nekoma! Push it, push it, Nekoma!"

"They're going after the right, even though it's narrow."

"Sarukawa's blockers look a bit shocked, too. Kozume-kun is a setter who doesn't stand out very much. But he may be the one everyone needs to keep an eye out for."

"It was short. I'm sorry." Kenma apologized.

"It's okay." Kai reassured.

"Looks like their team is trying to get Kenma to run around."

"Yeah." Yaku agreed.

"Huh? What? What's that mean?" Lev asked in confusion.

"Inuoka..." Kuroo said.

"Well... You know what an A-pass is, right?" Inuoka questioned.

"Yeah." Lev replied.

"The receive goes back to the setter with an A-pass."

"Can we come up with some strategy where we win without me getting tired?" Kenma asked as Inuoka and Lev's voices faded into the background.

"Yeah, right." Kuroo responded.

"Are you really Kenma? That was a dumb thing to say." Yamamoto commented.

"In order to get past our opponents guts and perseverance, we're gonna have to be just as resilient." Nekomata informed.

"We'll get used to it. The receivers will, that is!" Kuroo exclaimed.

"Yeah! We'll take care of our pampered little prince. Nekoma knows how to keep our setter from moving much." Yaku added on as Nekomata smiled.

"But... Just seeing who can hold out longer isn't that much fun." Kenma said.

"Huh? You mean you want us to do sloppy receives?" Lev questioned.

"I mean, we use that strategy sometimes, but..."

"Not every time, okay? Just at the opportune times." Kenma said.

"I mean, we can get the ball up wherever you need it, but you're pretty exhausted already. Are you gonna make it?" Yaku asked.

"I can move a little bit. I mean, I don't want to keep running to the end line and back every time, but... You guys will have it harder than me. Because I'm telling you to get me the ball where I asked you to while getting used to Sarukawa's attacks. But we can do it. Because you're all so determined to begin with."

TWEEEEET!

"So, any other requests?" Yaku questioned as Kenma looked towards him.

"Get the ball up high." Kenma responded.

"Got it!"

"You got it!"

"You've got some great players, Aritaka. But as usual, things don't always go as they were planned on the whiteboard." Nekomata said to himself as Shishio stood up, calling a time-out. "Well, isn't that some great timing."

"If Nekoma was doing sloppy receives on purpose, that means they realized their opponents' plan to wear Kozume down, and then they tired him out further to make this work. Are they friggin' sadists?" Daisho wondered. "There's no easy victory here."

"Hey, I know what this is. It's a deuce." Mika said.

"Uh, yeah..." Daisho said.

"This is, uh, that... really tough thing."

"Yeah."

TWEEEEEET!

Kai was the next one to serve as he bounced the ball. His served was received by Sarukawa's libero.

"Nice receive!"

"Their plan was to gradually crush Kenma..." Kuroo thinks to himself as he saved the ball. "Too bad we're Nekoma. We'll just get used to it."

"Nice receive!"

Kenma was panting heavily. "Everything will be decided at the end of the second set. Everyone's used to what's going on. Meaning the moment Sarukawa rushes to try to win, we're going to get the break point and win the game. At least, that was the plan, and everything was going well up until now..." Kenma jumped up to set the ball, tossing it to Lev in which his spike got received.

"You're so damn stubborn!"

The ball went over to Nekoma's side as Yaku dived down to save it on time.

"Would you just..."

"Let the ball drop!"

"Go, go, let's go, Sarukawa!"

"We're not going to lose..."

"Nice, nice, Nekoma! Push it, push it, Nekoma!"

"...at persistence!"

Both teams were tied with 28 points as both of the teams players were panting with exhaustion.

"Both teams are masters of defense and unwilling to back down. We can feel the tension from the court all the way up here!"

"I should've told them I'd work extra hard the third set, so they'd let me sit out the second set. Why is gravity a thing in this world? Gravity pisses me off." Kenma soon had an irritating aura around him. "If gravity didn't exist, the ball wouldn't fall into our court. Gravity is what causes the ball to fall and..."

"Kenma, concentrate." Kuroo's voice interrupted Kenma's thoughts.

"Curse you, gravity. Why do you exist gravity? Gravity... Gravity..."

"Concentration's is the one trait Kenma has more than anyone else, and he's starting to lose it." Kuroo noted. "He's reaching his limit."

"Tamahiko, warm back up." Nekomata told Teshiro.

"Right!" Teshiro replied, standing up from the bench.

The game continued on as Kenma was lost in his thoughts. "All of these rallies have been super long." Mika commented as Kuroo blocked the incoming spike.

"One touch!" He shouted out.

"Front!"

"Get to the ball a half-step quicker." Mizuki told himself. "That half-step will allow you to control the ball."

Mizuki quickly received the ball, making it go back into the air. Kenma tosses the ball over towards Kuroo, who spikes it down on Sarukawa's side.

"And there's the break point! It was Nekoma that finally broke through their opponent's defense!"

"Nice, nice, Kuro! Nice, nice, Kuro!"

Sarukawa was at 30 points while Nekoma had 31. The ball was spiked as Mizuki quickly saved it. "Sorry!" He apologized. "Someone cover!"

"Right now... Fukunaga's on the left. Fukunaga's good, so even if there're blockers, he'll still be able to make that point." Kenma noted.

"Huh... Then, hey. Is your team good?" Hinata questioned.

"But it's not me that's good. It's everyone together."

Kenma jumps up to set as everyone looked at him in shock. Kenma tosses the ball over towards Fukunaga, who easily spikes past Sarukawa's blockers.

TWEEEEET!

"And there it is! The one to finally break through the opponent's defense... was Nekoma High!"

"Well played, Kozume-kun. He didn't give the blockers a chance to read him at all. What an excellent set!"

"He really gave it his all."

"Nice toss, boss." Fukunaga gave Kenma a thumbs up.

Kenma looked up with a tired expression as Fukunaga held out his hand towards him, helping him up.

"Thank you very much!"

"Thank you very much!"

Both teams thanked their supporters in the stands.

"It seems we're going on to the third round." Nishimoto commented as Mizuki was laying down on the ground, stretching his muscles.

"Sarukawa has got to be the most annoying opponents we've faced." Mizuki mumbled, causing the pink-haired manager to giggle.

Mizuki stood up as he stretched his arms, making a satisfied 'pop' sound. The two of them walked forward, just in time to see Hinata jump up and spike past Suna and Atsumu.

"Heck yeah!" Hinata cheered.

"Looks like Karasuno's up against the Miya Twins."

"Oh, hey! It looks like they already took the first set, though!" Yaku pointed out.

"Hey, Karasuno. We're here." Kuroo thinks to himself.

All of Nekoma watched Karasuno's match against Inarizaki from the sidelines.

"We made it this far."

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A/N: Another chapter is completed! Thanks for reading!