Reon waved a hand.
"It's fine. Inarizaki has always been tricky. If we couldn't stop that one, there's still the next point. Don't worry."
Hearing Reon's words, Ryosuke silently shifted his gaze toward the scoreboard.
If they failed to stop the next one, they might have to wait until the next set.
Everyone returned to their positions.
The score was now 24:22.
If they could hold on for the next point, that would be ideal.
If they could not, this set would be over.
After Inarizaki scored the previous point, the serve rotated to Shinsuke Kita.
This was his first time serving in this set.
He returned to the team with the volleyball in his hands, while Atsumu Miya hovered around him like an eager lackey.
"Kita-senpai, don't feel pressured. The set's almost over. Just serve normally."
"Yeah, Kita-senpai. Just serve like usual. Leave everything else to us."
Osamu Miya stood beside Atsumu Miya and chimed in.
Aran nodded solemnly.
For once, the twins were actually talking sense.
Shinsuke Kita found it amusing, but warmth spread through his chest at the same time.
Did these guys think he was a little kid?
"I'll do my best."
Shinsuke Kita nodded to everyone, then walked to the service line without hesitation.
Behind him stood an entire team supporting him.
Once Shinsuke Kita reached his position, he gave the referee a small nod to indicate that he was ready.
The referee immediately blew the whistle.
"Beep-----------!"
At the sound, Shinsuke Kita looked up at Ushijima and Yamagata on the other side before calmly withdrawing his gaze.
He tossed the volleyball into the air and began his approach.
Shinsuke Kita was genuinely happy to be standing here.
It was thanks to his juniors that an ordinary person like him had been brought all the way to the IH to see a bigger world.
He could not have been more grateful.
The volleyball rose toward the ceiling, briefly overlapping with the glare of the spotlights.
Shinsuke Kita tilted his head back and watched it.
Then he jumped, raised his right arm, swung, and struck the ball.
Just like he had repeated countless times during those two years of practice in an empty gym.
Monotonous, perhaps, but always filled with hope.
"Thud!"
His palm slammed into the volleyball with a heavy impact.
This time, the ball deformed far more than it had on his previous serves. The spot where Shinsuke Kita struck it visibly caved inward.
The volleyball shot toward Shiratorizawa's court like a cannonball.
Yamagata's pupils tightened.
He had never received Shinsuke Kita's serve before.
This one did not look much weaker than Ushijima's.
Inarizaki's captain was terrifying.
The volleyball whistled toward Shiratorizawa's backcourt.
Yamagata shuffled backward.
If he stayed too far forward, the ball might rebound too high.
He took several steps back, braced his legs, extended both arms, and prepared to receive.
In the blink of an eye, the volleyball was already upon him.
Yamagata dropped his stance sharply.
The ball smashed into his forearms.
"Thud!!"
The volleyball spun violently against Yamagata's arms.
The force felt like being rammed by a bull.
If his lower body had not been so stable, he might have been knocked straight to the floor.
The ball kept spinning against his forearms as though it were trying to drill a hole through them.
Yamagata gritted his teeth against the pressure and tried to lift the ball.
But after spinning against his arms several times, the volleyball suddenly slipped away.
It shot off while still spinning, so abruptly that Yamagata had no time to react.
The ball spun down onto the floor.
"Thud."
The impact of the serve had been thunderous, yet the ball landed almost lightly.
"Beep---------! Beep-----------!"
Not only had the serve scored, it also brought the second set to an end.
"All right! The winner of the second set is Inarizaki High School! The final point came from a serve by Inarizaki's captain, Shinsuke Kita!
"Shinsuke Kita did not appear in either of the previous two tournaments, yet his serve is hardly inferior to Ushijima's!
"It really makes you wonder why Inarizaki never put Shinsuke Kita on the court before.
"That's certainly something worth thinking about."
"All right, everyone, the second set is officially over! Both teams will now leave the court to rest and recover. The third set will begin shortly. We'll be right back after the commercial break!"
...
"Ahh, I wasn't done watching yet. It's over already?"
Back in Miyagi, everyone gathered around their televisions complained almost simultaneously.
Nishinoya leaned over the back of a chair, rocking back and forth with an ice pop in one hand.
Shoyo Hinata was sitting on the floor beside him.
He thought the bench was too hot, since the sunlight coming through the window landed right on it.
Shoyo Hinata felt like he was about to get roasted alive.
Hearing Nishinoya complain, he immediately nodded.
"Exactly! And now we have to wait through commercials. Nishinoya-senpai, did you see Ryosuke's block and serve earlier? Wasn't that awesome?!"
Shoyo Hinata stared at Nishinoya with sparkling eyes.
He knew Nishinoya would definitely be interested in Ryosuke's serve.
Sure enough, Nishinoya sprang up from his chair and started gesturing wildly.
"Yeah, yeah! It was insanely cool! The ball went whoosh when he tossed it, smack when he hit it, then bang when it landed! That was so cool! I really want to play Shiratorizawa as soon as possible!"
The sunlight made Nishinoya's eyes shine.
It was obvious just how much he was looking forward to it.
Daichi Sawamura looked at the excited Nishinoya with helpless amusement and pushed him back down onto the chair.
"I know you're excited, but calm down a little. We won't get a chance to play Shiratorizawa until next semester at the earliest."
Only then did Nishinoya come back to himself.
"I still can't wait!"
Tanaka ran over from beside Nishinoya, shouting just as excitedly.
The two looked at each other, then called out in perfect sync.
"Tanaka!"
"Nishinoya!"
"If we win, I can propose to Shimizu-senpai!!"
They really were best friends.
Even their reason for wanting to win was exactly the same.
Fortunately, Shimizu was not there.
Otherwise, the two of them would probably have earned a slap each.
The atmosphere at Karasuno was as lively as ever.
Meanwhile, everyone at Date Tech was already discussing whether the team could charter a bus to Tokyo to watch the final live at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Futakuchi and Aone were currently hovering outside the coach's office.
They were trying to work up the courage to discuss the idea with him.
But Futakuchi figured the coach probably would not agree.
A bus to Tokyo would cost a fair amount of money, and their coach had always been stingy.
Inside the office, the Date Tech coach sat with his arms folded.
He had been waiting for ages, yet those brats still had not come in to ask him.
He had already decided that if Shiratorizawa made it to the final, he would take everyone to Tokyo to watch the match live.
But somehow, not a single one of them had come to mention it.
How irritating!
Coach Oiwake was so annoyed that his hair seemed ready to stand on end.
He stormed toward the door, intending to bring it up himself.
The moment he opened it, however, he found a flustered Futakuchi and a silent Aone standing right outside.
Coach Oiwake immediately became suspicious.
Had these two been standing outside his office the entire time?
Then why had they not come in?
...
Coach Oiwake was curious, but decided not to pursue it.
"Ahem... I have something to tell you. If Shiratorizawa makes it to the final at the IH, I'll organize a trip for everyone to Tokyo to watch it live..."
Futakuchi's eyes gradually lit up.
The coach really was dependable.
Futakuchi had not even managed to ask yet, and the coach had already brought it up himself.
What an unexpected surprise.
...
Back at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, the match was still in its break period.
Both teams were resting in their respective areas and recovering their strength.
Tendo, who had not played in the previous set, had several towels draped over his arms and was handing them out one by one.
Perhaps this was simply one of Shiratorizawa's good traditions.
Whoever was not on the court handled the support work for those who were playing.
Everyone had always done a good job with it.
Still, when it came to Tendo, everyone was surprised that he had actually washed all the towels beforehand.
Normally, Tendo could barely be bothered to wash his own.
Ryosuke took the towel Tendo handed him and scrubbed his face roughly.
He dragged it from the top of his head all the way down to his chin with so much force that his face turned red.
Tendo winced just watching him.
He almost wanted to grab the towel and do it himself.
Ryosuke lowered the towel and let out a satisfied sigh.
His little curls sprang back up on top of his head.
"Ah, that feels good."
His face was flushed red.
Tendo looked at him with helpless amusement.
"Easy, easy. You're going to rub the skin right off your face."
Ryosuke casually flicked the towel aside.
"I'm a guy. Why would I care about that?"
The others overheard their conversation and all turned to look at Ryosuke's face.
If that fair, soft-looking face really got scraped raw, it honestly would be a shame.
Coach Washijō stared at Ryosuke's face for two seconds as well.
Then he gave a soft snort and called everyone over.
"You all know how you played in that last set, don't you? Shinsuke Kita comes onto the court and suddenly none of you know how to play volleyball anymore?"
Coach Washijō swept his gaze across the group, as if trying to pick someone out on the spot and give them a thorough scolding.
The previous set had been awful.
Almost painful to watch.
But after thinking about it more carefully, Coach Washijō realized that nobody had actually played badly.
They had simply struggled.
The main problems were with the blockers and attackers.
There was nothing to criticize about Ryosuke's blocking.
But whenever Ryosuke was on the court, the other side kept finding ways to occupy him.
Reon and Tsutomu Goshiki could not match Ryosuke as blockers, so Ryosuke had to cover far more ground and constantly run back and forth.
That drained an enormous amount of stamina.
Ryosuke had not complained, but Coach Washijō could still tell that his energy was dropping quickly.
Coach Washijō had originally intended for Shirabu to give Tsutomu Goshiki more opportunities to gain experience.
But against a group of old foxes like Inarizaki, Tsutomu Goshiki was still too inexperienced.
Coach Washijō stood there in silence for a long while.
After carefully considering everything, he finally made his decision.
"In the next set, Ryosuke and Tendo will switch. Tendo, you're going in. Don't keep getting dragged back and forth by that Suna. Focus on blocking.
"Reon, stay behind Tsutomu Goshiki and cover his attacks.
"And Shirabu, if Goshiki can't score within three balls, stop setting to him."
Coach Washijō had decided to put a little pressure on the younger players.
Everyone whose name had been called immediately straightened up and shouted at the top of their lungs.
"Yes!!"
Tsutomu Goshiki immediately started to panic.
Coach Washijō had just said that if he failed to score within three balls, Shirabu would stop setting to him for the rest of the set.
Just thinking about it made Tsutomu Goshiki nervous.
What if all three attacks failed?
Not only would he stop getting sets during the match, but once the game ended, Coach Washijō would definitely make him do extra training.
Tsutomu Goshiki's expression immediately turned miserable.
He looked utterly pitiful.
Ryosuke had heard Coach Washijō's instructions as well.
He walked over to Tendo and looked directly into Tendo's rabbit-like eyes.
Then he spoke with complete seriousness.
"Tendo-senpai, I'm counting on you for the rest of the match!"
Seeing how solemn Ryosuke looked, Tendo briefly froze.
Ryosuke did not look like he was handing over responsibility for a volleyball match.
He looked more like he was entrusting Tendo with some life-or-death mission.
Tendo, who had always treated the court like his own playground, found it difficult to understand.
Why would someone take a match this seriously?
But faced with Ryosuke's sincere request, Tendo's own tone grew serious.
"Of course. Leave the rest to me. Even though you won't be on the court, I'll make sure to win your share too."
Tendo and Ryosuke looked at each other, then slapped palms.
Only after settling that did Ryosuke return to Coach Washijō's side.
Coach Washijō looked at Ryosuke standing obediently beside him and asked,
"Do you blame me for taking you out?"
That was what Coach Washijō cared about most.
He had his own reasons for making the substitution, but he did not know how Ryosuke felt about being taken off the court.
If it had been anyone else, Coach Washijō would simply have substituted them without bothering to ask what they thought.
But this was Ryosuke.
Coach Washijō genuinely cared for him like his own child.
He did not want something like this to create any resentment between them.
Ryosuke looked up at Coach Washijō in complete confusion.
"Why would I blame you? Grandpa Washijō, did you do something you feel guilty about?"
In Ryosuke's experience, Coach Washijō only spoke this gently when he had done something he felt guilty about.
The explanation Coach Washijō had been preparing immediately got stuck in his throat.
His temper flared.
He had gone out of his way to speak nicely to this brat.
What kind of response was that?!
Coach Washijō was irritated, but when he saw that Ryosuke genuinely had no objection to being substituted, he held back his anger and asked again.
"You really don't blame me for taking you off?"
Ryosuke looked even more confused.
Coach Washijō was the coach.
Why would he need Ryosuke's permission to substitute him?
"Of course I don't mind. You're the coach. Besides, the last set is really important, so if you're putting Tendo-senpai in, you obviously have your reasons. And honestly, if the third set dragged on for too long, I definitely wouldn't be able to keep going."
Ryosuke's answer was perfectly rational.
Of course, he had felt a little disappointed when he learned that he would be substituted out.
But he quickly got over it.
Gaining more experience was still a good thing.
Once Ryosuke finished speaking, Coach Washijō felt so relieved that every trace of his irritation disappeared.
The kid really had grown up.
Not bad at all.
Coach Washijō reached out with one rough hand and vigorously ruffled Ryosuke's curls.
His palm came away sweaty.
Pretending not to care, he casually wiped it against Ryosuke's shirt a few times.
"Since you're not going in, watch carefully how Tendo plays. Watch more, learn more, and ask more questions."
...
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