Taichi Kaedehara slumped in the farthest er of the bus, his body swaying with the vehicle's bumps and jolts.

  He was utterly exhausted both physically aally, zoning out as he rested while cheg the system for updates on his task pletion.

  [Ding! Temporary mission 'Finals Rehearsal' has cluded.]

  Aoba Johsai lost to Shiratorizawa with one win and two losses. Top scorer of the match: Ushijima Wakatoshi with 35 points, sg 11, 14, and 10 points ihree sets respectively.

  [Mission Goal 1: Defeat Shiratorizawa (Mission Failed).]

  [Mission Goal 2: Bee the match's top scorer (Mission Failed).]

  [Mission Goal 3: Limit Ushijima Wakatoshi's si score to 10 points or less. pleted for o.]

  [Reward: +2 to Receive.]

  [Ding! Temporary mission 'Only Oaichi' has cluded. The host scored 17 spike points across three sets, while Kawanishi Taichi scored 7 spike points in the same period.]

  [Mission Successful. Reward: +1 to Spike.]

  [Ding! Temporary mission 'Surpassing the Ace' has cluded. The host's overall performance exceeded Goshiki Tsutomu's.]

  [Mission Successful. Rewards: +1 to Receive, +1 tth.]

  Shiratorizawa was far tougher than expected. Goshiki Tsutomu was still raw, and Kawanishi Taichi's serves cked precision, still, this team put Aoba Johsai through signifit trials.

  However, it wasn't just Taichi who would grow stronger—any team aiming for the championship would tio improve.

  Taichi leaned ba his seat, repying ses from the mat his mind. Despite ag as a surprise on in the first set and giving his team an early advahe overall gap in strength made it impossible to maintain that edge.

  In the inal story, Karasuno mao defeat Shiratorizawa through this very method: bining diverse ons and strategies.

  If Shiratorizawa were given even one more set, the oute would have been uable.

  For Aoba Johsai tress further in uping matches, they would o develop and cultivate more potent offeions, building a diversified attack system.

  Lost in thought, Taichi soon drifted off to sleep.

  ...

  "Hey, Taichi, wake up! e o up!" A familiar voice roused Taichi from his slumber.

  Startled, Taichi's first thought was that he had somehow travelled to another world again. He quickly realized that the voice beloo the same well-meaning teammate who had dragged him off the bench earlier in the game.

  Kindaichi's face twisted slightly as he caught Taichi's indescribable expression, shivering a little. "He doesn't have a bad temper when he wakes up, does he?" he wondered.

  Despite his tall frame, Kindaichi Yutaro's straightforersonality was almost endearing.

  "Everyone else is off the bus already. Coach wants us to head to the gym for the review," Kindaichi expined.

  "Oh," Taichi replied, stretg befrabbing his bag and following Kindaichi toward the gym.

  "Gather up!"

  As soon as they arrived at the gym, they heard the anding voianager-Coach Mizoguchi, calling the team to order.

  The pyers quickly assembled in a tight semicircle at the tre of the gym, surrounding Sadayuki Mizoguchi.

  Coach Irihata stood by the whiteboard, writing down statistics from today's match. The first thing to catch everyone's eye was Ushijima Wakatoshi's score: 35 points.

  With Shiratorizawa's total team score at 74 points, Ushijima alone had tributed nearly half.

  "Our first challenge is figuring out how to limit Ushijima's sg," Coach Irihata began. "Of course, pletely shutting him down isn't possible. oal must be phased and strategic."

  "First, we o make it harder for him to score so easily. Focus on touches aions during his spikes. In the first set, we should aim to drain his stamina as much as possible."

  _________

  [T/N] - If you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you support me on my Patreon. Trust me, it's awesome!

  Link - (P)atreon./Iseebbsp;[Remove the brackets]