Haikyuu: I Grind To Beat My Genius Twin Brother

Coach Irihata: "Oh Oikawa, you're back. How's your foot?"

Oikawa maintained a relaxed demeanor, first casually observing Karasuno's situation before turning back to the coach with an OK gesture: "Completely healed. I can resume normal training now. It was just a minor sprain anyway."

That gesture looks familiar... Coach Irihata glanced at Yuma Kikuzawa's embarrassed face before giving Oikawa a skeptical look: "Really? Yuma said the same thing earlier. Look at him now."

"Uh..." Oikawa exchanged awkward looks with Yuma Kikuzawa, "Can someone explain what's going on first?"

Iwaizumi sighed: "Long story short, Yuma got elbowed in the kidney by you yesterday, then took consecutive hits from Kageyama and Yuuki today. He can't play now."

Oikawa's face stiffened. Under Yuma's unfriendly gaze, he forced a sincere expression: "Nani?! How could this be?!"

He vigorously ruffled Yuma's neatly styled silver hair into a mess, giving him a thumbs-up: "Don't worry little Yuma! Your senpai will defeat Kageyama to avenge you!"

Yuma Kikuzawa: Hey...you're completely ignoring your own responsibility here...

As the school celebrity, Oikawa's appearance immediately drew all the female spectators' attention. When they heard the coach mention Oikawa's previous injury, some girls started worrying from the stands.

"Hey Kageyama, who's that handsome guy? I'm feeling extremely displeased right now."

Ryuunosuke Tanaka gritted his teeth, jabbing his finger toward Oikawa as if trying to crush him from a distance.

Daichi Sawamura: "That's Aoba Johsai's captain."

"Oikawa-san is an aggressive setter with top-tier offensive abilities in his team..." Tobio Kageyama immediately went on alert upon seeing Oikawa, "Also, his personality is terrible."

Hinata: "Even you think he's bad?!"

Tanaka: "If you know him, does that mean he's also from Kitagawa Daiichi?"

Kageyama nodded: "Yes, he was my senpai in middle school."

Hinata: The King's senpai...so that means...the Great King?!

Oikawa waved cheerfully at Kageyama: "Yahou~ Long time no see, little Kageyama. You've grown taller. Enjoying being the King?"

Ignoring Oikawa, Kageyama turned to warn his teammates: "I learned my serves and blocks by watching him. He's really strong."

Hinata shuddered: The master of killer serves?!

The coach arranged for Oikawa to replace Yuuki's position after warming up. Until Oikawa entered, Yuuki would remain as setter.

Without Yuma as their defensive core, Aoba Johsai stood little chance against Kageyama and Hinata's freak quick attack.

Though Yuuki could somewhat handle the freak quick, when he focused on receiving and blocking, Takahiro Hanamaki had to take over setting, making scoring increasingly difficult.

The back-and-forth brought the score to Aoba Johsai: Karasuno, 22:22

Yuuki gradually grasped the freak quick's rhythm, improving his blocking success rate. Just as he felt he could completely shut it down next attempt, Oikawa finished warming up.

"Good work, Yuuki-chan. Leave the rest to Oikawa-sama...eh? What's with that look?"

As Yuuki stepped off, he saw his older brother on the bench with a face full of schadenfreude.

"Yo~ Welcome back~"

Yuma Kikuzawa enthusiastically patted the empty spot beside him, grinning ear to ear.

Current lineups:

Oikawa | Iwaizumi Hajime | Yutaro Kindaichi

Matsukawa Issei | Hanamaki Takahiro | Hideaki Kunimi

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Ennoshita Chikara | Tobio Kageyama | Shouyou Hinata

Ryuunosuke Tanaka | Daichi Sawamura | Tsukishima

"Handing it to me when the match is practically over..."

Oikawa checked the scoreboard - both teams still needed 3 points to reach 25.

"You've all done great holding out this long against that quick attack without Oikawa-sama."

He patted each teammate's shoulder in turn.

When he reached Iwaizumi, the latter roughly shoved his hand away: "You're too damn late, bastard."

Hanamaki made a megaphone with his hands: "No worries, we had Yuuki anyway. Stupid Oikawa's presence doesn't matter~"

Oikawa: "How cruel!" (=°Д°=)

Despite the words, Aoba Johsai's morale visibly surged after Oikawa entered. Though Yuuki was skilled, the team naturally felt more comfortable with their familiar setter.

Even Karasuno clearly sensed the change. If earlier Aoba Johsai was a precise machine following commands, now they were a tightly-knit team united in purpose - their fighting spirit on another level entirely.

Kageyama: "As expected, Oikawa-senpai is Aoba Johsai's true starting setter. That silver-haired setter had good technique, but something felt off between him and the team."

The middle school Kageyama might not have noticed, but after experiencing abandonment and rebirth, he was beginning to understand teamwork's importance. A good setter needs both personal skill and the ability to connect everyone.

The match resumed with Oikawa heading to serve.

"No matter how strong your offense is, it means nothing if you can't reach attack position."

With an almost musical rhythm (not really), Oikawa tossed the ball, approached, and swung - executing a powerful jump serve nearly identical to Kageyama's.

Boom!

Like a cannon shot, the ball barely grazed Tsukishima's arm before rocketing straight into the second-floor railing.

"Beep—"

Aoba Johsai scores.

Tadashi Yamaguchi: Tsukki! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

Oikawa rested a hand on his hip: "Just as I thought. After watching a set, I see you're number 6 (Tsukishima) and you're number 5 (Hinata) - neither can receive well. First-years, right?"

His cheerful smile contrasted sharply with Hinata's visible discomfort.

"Alright, one more then."

Smiling gently, Oikawa returned to serve.

Yuma smirked: "What a sadist."

Says you... Yuuki turned away, rolling his eyes silently.

Oikawa served again, scoring another point off Tsukishima.

Daichi: "Don't mind, Tsukishima!"

...Tsukki's always bullying people...I hate him...but still...

Seeing Tsukishima targeted, Hinata felt strangely unsettled.

"Hey! Great King! Serve to me! Looking down on me?!"

Hinata started jumping.

Oikawa: Great King?

Tsukishima: "You're embarrassing us. Quiet down."

Hinata: "What?!" Even in this situation, he's so infuriating! But...but...

Clenching his fists, Hinata shouted at Tsukishima: "Listen up! In volleyball, everyone on this side of the net is your teammate!"

Tsukishima: Cringes internally.

Tanaka: "Ooh! What an impressive line!"

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