The scoreboard dispyed: [Team Irihata 14 – 12 Team Washijō].

  For the first time, Team Irihata held the lead past the halfoint of a match. The advahey had built early on gave them trol over the game's tempo.

  Tendō Satori stepped up to serve.

  His serve wasn't particurly powerful, and Kunimi Akira easily received it.

  "Hyakuzawa!" Oikawa Tōru called, setting the ball high toward the middle of the court.

  Since arriving at the training camp, Hyakuzawa Yūdai had been w ohing and ohing only—spiking.

  What made Shiratorizayers feel a mix of emotions was the sight of Coach Washijō personally training Hyakuzawa every single day during the camp.

  Though most pyers feared the stern coach, holding him in reverence more than affe, there was also simmering envy.

  After all, everyone wao be a pyer worthy of Washijō's focused attention.

  Boom!

  Hyakuzawa leapt into the air.

  Oikawa had been carefully gauging Hyakuzawa's maximum reach for days. If his calcution was correct—

  "Double block!" Koganegawa Kanji and Aoakanobu's iron wall rose before him.

  Smack!

  Even two blockers standing over 190 cm couldn't stop a spike that soared past the 200 cm mark.

  Hyakuzawa scored over the top of their hands.

  [Team Irihata 14 – 13 Team Washijō]

  "Beautiful hit, Hyakuzawa!" Oikaraised sincerely.

  "Th-thank you, Oikawa-senpai." Despite his imposing frame, Hyakuzawa always seemed shy when receiving praise.

  Coach Washijō had told him: it wasn't his spiking power that made him formidable—it was Oikawa's setting that allowed him to hit with such force.

  Ever since his defeat to Kaedehara Taichi and being assigo this team, Hyakuzawa had beeing himself as the weakest pyer on the court.

  serve—Washijō's team took aim at Kaedehara Taichi.

  While Taichi was versatile in his offerategies, his receiving skills were average at best. Targeting his first touch was the optimal pn.

  Forced into a, Taichi hahe serve. Koganegawa followed up with a set to Aone, who prepared to spike.

  "Double block!" Hyakuzawa and Ushijima formed a t defe the .

  Despite Hyakuzawa's clumsy blog form, their sheer height and power pelled Aoo switch tactics.

  Thud!

  Aohe ball skimming diagonally.

  Smack!

  Kunimi dove, delivering a perfect pass directly to Oikawa.

  Taichi's eyes narrowed. The precision of that receive pced the ball squarely in Oikawa's hands, opening tless offeions.

  "Goshiki!" Taichi shouted a warning.

  Bang!

  Befoshiki Tsutomu could react, Oikaerformed a lightning-fast setters dump over the .

  [Team Irihata 14 – 14 Team Washijō]

  "You're sharp, Taichi." Oikawa grinned.

  Their lead had vanished in an instant, and the score was now even.

  Taichi returned his gaze, feeling the oppressive presehat Oikawa brought as an oppo—so different from the reassuring figure he had orusted as a teammate.

  Team Washijō's sed serve stayed sistent—again aimed at Taichi.

  "I'll take it!"

  Pop!

  Kenji Futakuchi preemptively moved to assist with the receive, seg the first touch.

  "Let's go, Taichi!"

  The ball soared into Koganegawa's zone. Precision didn't matter; as long as it was high, Koganegawa could ha.

  He took e step, positioning himself uhe ball before leaping.

  From behind, Taichi and Aoh approached from opposite sides.

  Hyakuzawa hesitated.

  Taichi was attag from the back row, which would lower his striking point. Moreover, exeg a backset to Taichi would carry signifit risk given Koganegawa's level of accuracy.

  The logical choice was Aone on the right.

  But the sheer iy in Taichi's posture made Hyakuzawa falter.

  After a single moment's hesitation Hyakuzawa chose to split—single-blog both attackers with Ushijima.

  Boom!

  The ball crashed betweewo blockers, smming into the floor.

  Koganegawa had gone for a quick attack after faking a set, earning a point!

  [Team Irihata 15 – 14 Team Washijō]

  "Whoooaaa—!" Koganegawa Kanji roared with excitement.

  "Did you see that, Futakuchi-senpai?"

  "Did you see that, Aone-senpai?"

  To Koganegawa, setter dump was the ultimate move for a setter—the coolest tri the book.

  He had dreamed of pulling it off tless times before, but his attempts were always read by the opposing team.

  Seeing Oikawa score with a setter dump just noarked his impulsive side, and this time, he had learned a valuable trick: he kept repeating to himself, "Set, Set, SET," right up until the moment his hand made tact.

  The result? No blockers marked him, and for that brief moment, he felt like the tre of attention iire gym.

  Futakuchi, while impressed, simply smirked without any praise.

  Aone's rea was more reserved; after a long pause, he nodded slightly and uttered a quiet "Mm."

  "Well done, Koganegawa!" The voice came from Kaedehara Taichi.

  Hearing the pliment, Koganegawa's face lit up with a grin as radiant as a field of blooming flowers.

  Team Irihata served . Goshiki Tsutomu's serve had sharpened signifitly siheir match against Aoba Jōsai.

  Pop!

  Kunimi received it fwlessly, his posure unshaken.

  Exactly as expected.

  This time, Taichi watched Kunimi's reception ily.

  Before the ball even touched Kunimi's arms, he had already begun positioning himself, trag its trajectory and anticipating its nding point.

  By the time it arrived, he erfectly aligned, redug what could have been a challenging serve into an ordinary ohose unaware of the intricacies would think the serve had simply been easy to receive.

  The ball sailed smoothly into Oikawa's hands.

  This time, even Koganegawa watched Oikawa with hawk-like focus.

  Fwoosh—

  The set shot toward the left wing—Team Washijō's most reliable sg option. It could only be one man:

  Ushijima Wakatoshi.

  "Triple block!"

  Koganegawa, Aone, and Taichi leapt together, f a unified wall of muscle aermination.

  Smack!!

  Taichi gritted his teeth as the impact from Ushijima's spike reverberated through his arms. The ball ricocheted high, s across the court and nding just beyond the baseline on Irihata's side.

  Out-of-bounds. Team Washijō scored.

  [Team Irihata 15 – 15 Team Washijō]

  "What insane power…"

  No matter how many times they saw it, Ushijima's spikes were in a css of their own—undeniably one of the best iion.

  But it was just one point.

  "Shake it off, one!" Iwaizumi Hajime called out, rallying his teammates with calm authority.

  He had a feeling—just a fleeting ohat he might have been able to catch that ball himself.

  ——

  As the other matches ed up, all eyes turoward the battle between Irihata and Washijō's teams.

  The iy of the match wasn't the only reason for the growing crowd—it also showcased the pinnaiyagi Prefecture volleyball.

  With nearly half the pyers having peted oional stage, it wasn't an exaggeration to call this a national-level match.

  The air grew heavier with tension, each rally heightening the stakes and drawing pyers and coaches alike into a trance-like focus.

  For the coaches, this game was a barometer—an opportunity to evaluate how far their pyers had e during the training camp aermine how best to push their development further.

  —Boom!

  Ushijima smashed another point.

  [Team Irihata 24 – 25 Team Washijō]

  With a narrow lead, Washijō's team had seized match point.

  And now, stepping up to serve—

  Ushijima Wakatoshi.

  The air grew still. Every pyer, spectator, and coach fixated on the figure at the service line.

  Ushijima stood with a calm, unshakable presence. His eyes revealed his i—focused, relentless, ready to close the game.

  For Team Washijō, this was their moment to strike ahe match.

  _________

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