Note : There are no Chapters of What Happened next, the chapters were missing This is after they Defeated Inarizaki So I Wrote This ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
32–33.
The gym was dead silent, tension crackling in the air like a storm waiting to break.
Karasuno was one point away from an impossible victory. Everyone on the court knew it—the next serve could decide it all.
Kageyama's eyes sharpened as he stood behind the line.
He tossed the ball.
Bang!
Another jump serve shot through the air like a bullet!
Inarizaki's formation braced—but the serve curved mid-flight!
"Short serve!" Suna yelled, lunging forward.
He barely got his fingers under it. The ball wobbled—Atsumu scrambled under it for the set.
But Karasuno was already in motion.
Hinata was sprinting in from the side like lightning.
Akira was in position again—calm, focused, shoulders squared.
Atsumu hesitated.
Who to follow?
Hinata?
Akira?
He gambled—and followed Hinata.
Mistake.
The set went to Akira—soft, high, a perfect toss from Kageyama, who had already raced into position after the serve.
Akira soared.
Not just jumped—soared.
The moment felt like slow motion.
The crowd gasped.
His form twisted mid-air, hands slicing forward as he struck—
Bang!
The ball sailed off the blockers' hands, flying diagonally toward the back corner—
Smack!
It landed.
Out of reach.
Karasuno wins, 34–32
Karasuno 2 : 0 Inarizaki.
...
For a second, no one reacted.
Then—
"YESSSSSS!"
Tanaka screamed, diving to the floor in celebration.
Nishinoya jumped onto Asahi's back.
Kageyama's expression didn't change, but his fist clenched tight.
Hinata was already racing toward Akira, leaping into him with full force.
"WE WON! WE WON!"
Akira stumbled back, laughing for the first time in the whole match, hands raised.
Even Daichi, always composed, roared:
"GOOD JOB, EVERYONE!!"
The bench emptied. Yamaguchi ran onto the court. Coach Ukai just exhaled deeply, his eyes shining behind his glasses.
Takeda wiped his eyes quietly behind a clipboard.
Across the net, Inarizaki stood frozen. Atsumu stared at the ground, fists clenched.
Suna looked at the scoreboard, then turned away.
Ojiro panted, then gave a small nod of respect toward Akira, who caught his gaze and nodded back.
Sakusa, watching from the stands, narrowed his eyes.
"Spin ball... out-of-bounds strike..." he muttered. "That kid... he's a problem."
...
Later, Karasuno gathered in the tunnel outside the court.
Ukai addressed them, voice low but proud:
"We made it. Finals."
"Mujinazaka," Sugawara said, still breathless. "They're up next."
Yaku, Bokuto, and the rest of the spectators watched the Karasuno team leave, murmuring among themselves.
"That Akira guy," Kuroo muttered. "He's like... a fusion of Sakusa's unpredictability and Oikawa's pressure."
"He's terrifying," Kozume said simply.
"But he's on their side," Bokuto grinned. "So I'm good."
...
The arena lights dimmed as the match replayed on screens, crowd still buzzing.
Karasuno was walking off the court as heroes—but not champions.
Not yet.
Finals: Karasuno vs. Mujinazaka.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As if not noticing the crowd's reaction, Akira continued with a self-focused concern:
"People who are good at strategizing are generally quite confident in their abilities!"
"But during the game, as soon as their tactics start to fail or don't work…"
"They gradually fall into self-doubt!"
"If their sense of responsibility is strong, then when Mujinazaka begins to fall behind…"
"Kiryū might also have some slight self-reproach!"
"After all, the team uses his tactics, and the setbacks mean the strategist might have overlooked something!"
"When that happens, we can target that a little!"
"Amplify this negative emotion of his…"
"At that time, there will be a mistake in Mujinazaka's second pass!"
"Is that so…"
Hearing this, the crowd gradually fell into contemplation.
So it's also possible to prepare countermeasures based on the other team's strategies and tactics...
"However, this counter-strategy is still a little insufficient!"
Akira spoke again, drawing everyone's attention back.
"Because we don't know what their tactics are right now!"
"And if we want to counteract them, their tactics have to fail first!!"
"Everything I just said is based on this foundation!"
"Yes!"
Hinata suddenly added:
"If we can't make the other side's tactics ineffective, then nothing behind it matters!"
"But…"
He scratched his head and thought for a moment, then continued:
"Even if we don't know clearly, we can guess roughly!"
"Their tactics basically try to shake one of our players' confidence!"
"Then that player's mindset breaks down and affects their performance!"
"As long as we all keep our mentality steady in tomorrow's game, no matter how well they play…"
"We won't be fooled by them!!"
"Yes!!"
————————————-
At the same time, in Mujinazaka's lounge, a similar scene was unfolding.
Michiko , an extremely rare middle-aged female coach, was showing video footage of Karasuno's previous games to the Mujinazaka players.
"There aren't many full-game videos from Karasuno!"
"Among them, the most informative is their prefectural qualifier final against Shiratorizawa!"
"And the game this morning against Inarizaki!!"
She paused, then looked around at the Mujinazaka team.
"You've all seen the morning game, right?"
"What do you think?"
The room was silent for a moment, then Kiryū spoke up:
"The key is mainly to handle their serves…"
"If it's like Inarizaki, when Akira's serves scored more than ten points in a row…"
"Our chances of winning will be very slim!"
As soon as he said this, everyone immediately agreed.
They all understood the truth.
However, the Mujinazaka players couldn't figure out how to defend against the kind of powerful jump serves that Akira had!
Everyone had watched what happened with Inarizaki this morning.
To be honest, if they themselves were on the court then, Mujinazaka couldn't guarantee they would do better than Inarizaki!
Now, Akira's serve had become their urgent problem.
If they couldn't find a good solution soon...
Everyone knew they were likely to repeat Inarizaki's mistakes in tomorrow's game!!
"Also!"
Just as everyone was lost in thought, Michiko Kusumi spoke again.
"Don't just focus on those powerful jumps."
"Based on yesterday's game…"
"Like Inarizaki's Miya Atsumu, Akira has mastered two types of jump serves—the jump float and the jump topspin!"
"That's what we usually call the [Second Knife Flow]!!"
"And…"
"From what I observed yesterday, whether it's the jump float or the jump topspin, the number of steps he takes behind the sideline is the same!"
"That means…"
"We simply can't tell which serve he's about to use by the number of steps he takes!"
"You don't know until the moment he tosses the ball…"
Everyone at Mujinazaka was slightly unsettled.
Because yesterday, they also saw Akira's jump float serve.
Though it wasn't as unpredictable as the jump topspin…
It still gave Inarizaki a headache for a long time!
This was a big problem!!
Because the two serves require slightly different reception techniques.
If the opponent mixes these two types of serves…
They would definitely get wrecked!!
Seeing their reaction, Michiko sighed helplessly.
"We have no solution for his serve right now!"
"After all, reception skills can't be improved overnight!"
"Now, let's talk about the strategy for when we officially take the court!"
"To beat Karasuno, we have to limit their maximum scoring…"
"Especially Akira!!"
She turned her gaze toward the clear face on the big screen beside her.
The video paused at the moment when Akira had just completed a successful serve.
He still had a faint smile on his face.
But that simple smile had become the top priority of the Mujinazaka team right now!
"As Karasuno's Ace, he is exceptional in both offense and defense!"
"Whether it's a powerful attack or solid blocking, his skill is top tier!!"
"Even... not inferior to Kiryū!"
At this point, she looked over at Kiryū sitting among the players.
"Hmmm!"
Kiryū nodded.
After watching this morning's game and past recordings,
He also felt that Akira's abilities in both offense and defense were not weaker than his own.
"What about reception?"
Kiryū, who had been silent until now, suddenly asked.
"In today's game, the number of times Akira received in the back row didn't seem very high!!"