"Is Sengoku Junior High any good?"
"Hmm… no idea."
"I feel like I've heard of them before. Probably the same as us, eliminated in the first round."
"That's good news for us then! We might actually make it to the second round this time!"
In the waiting area, the players from Haneishi Junior High were visibly excited. Despite their school's weak track record and consistent first-round exits, even underdogs had dreams.
"All right, enough speculating. No matter who the opponent is, let's stay focused and take the first set," the Haneishi team captain clapped his hands and rallied the team.
"Yes, sir!"
"Let's give it our all!"
…
The players from Haneishi Junior High stormed out of the tunnel with high spirits and confident smiles, until…
Boom!
With a thunderous crack, the volleyball soared over the net with unimaginable force, breaking through six outstretched arms before slamming hard into the floor.
In an instant, every face on Haneishi's side froze.
"It… it went through a triple block."
"So strong…"
"Who is that guy? I've never heard of him before."
The audience erupted into loud discussion after a moment of stunned silence.
"It's okay, don't worry about it," their captain quickly recovered and clapped his hands. "That might've just been a lucky shot. Let's focus on our defense."
The other Haneishi players slowly snapped out of it.
Yeah, maybe that spike was just a fluke.
Tweet!
The whistle blew again. This time, Sengoku's right-side hitter, Oda Miki, served a standard overhand serve, nothing special. It was received easily by the opponent.
Haneishi set up for their attack. The setter passed the ball to the outside hitter. Sengoku's middle blockers, Oomae Masato and Jujiro Kazama, jumped to block—
But the spike never came.
Instead, a shadow rose behind the spiker, leaping into the air against the backdrop of the gymnasium lights.
"It's a decoy! It's Akashi!"
Oomae Masato, already descending from his block, turned sharply to shout a warning—
But before he could get the words out, two sharp sounds echoed through the gym. First, the slap of the ball hitting an arm. Then, the loud thud of it crashing to the ground.
When he turned around, he saw Akashi Asuka, wearing the number 1 jersey, landing gracefully, while the ball rolled across the opponent's court and their stunned expressions said it all.
Tweet!
The whistle blew again.
Akashi had scored with a solo block.
Score: 2–0.
Using an attacker as a decoy to mislead the defense was a common volleyball tactic. In fact, back when Akashi had first joined the team, Oomae and Kazama had scored on him with that exact strategy during practice.
But that was then. Back when he had no experience. After nearly two weeks of intense retraining, that trick wasn't going to work again.
…
Cheers erupted from the Sengoku side. The entire team swarmed Akashi.
"Yo! That was amazing, Akashi!"
"Nice one!"
"Great block!"
Meanwhile, the fire that once burned in Haneishi's eyes was gone. Their previous bravado had completely vanished.
Seeing this, their coach quickly called a timeout.
Spectators began murmuring from the stands.
"Whoa, a timeout already? Only two rallies in and they're already shaken up? Kids these days are intense."
"Yeah, things aren't looking good for Haneishi."
"That third-year kid… his presence is insane. Could he be another Ushiwaka?"
…
Haneishi's coach hadn't planned any new strategy during the timeout. The main goal was to break Akashi's momentum and reset his own team's rhythm.
After all, the match had only just begun.
When play resumed, Sengoku served again. Haneishi's libero received the ball cleanly, and the team set up their offense once more, this time wisely avoiding Akashi and going for a power spike between Kazama and Oomae.
The ball was blocked, but not completely.
Kazama didn't jump as high as Akashi, and his timing was slightly off. So while they managed to touch the ball, it deflected high into the air on their own side.
"Free ball!"
Sengoku's libero, Neko Kurata, shouted a warning, but also a cue.
Everyone quickly returned to formation. Once the defense was in position, Neko passed the ball to the setter, Ryuhei Sanashita.
And Akashi was already in motion.
Unlike Haneishi, Sengoku had no use for "decoys" anymore.
They used to, but not today.
Before the match began, their coach had issued a simple tactical plan:
"Hold the defense. Feed the ball to Akashi."
Just two sentences, but it effectively removed Oomae and Kazama from the offensive rotation.
At first, neither Oomae nor Kazama were happy about it, and even Sanashita was confused.
But now, he understood.
With a soft flick of his fingertips, Sanashita sent a high, perfect set to the front of the net, right where Akashi was flying in.
"Block him!"
Haneishi's players shouted in desperation.
Their outside hitter and both middle blockers jumped together, three men giving it everything they had. Their expressions were fierce, as if this block was a final stand.
They knew:
If they couldn't stop this next point, their morale would collapse.
This wasn't just about stopping Akashi anymore, it was about saving their team's pride.
In a flash, six arms formed a wall in front of Akashi, blocking the gym's ceiling lights like a towering cliff face.
But Akashi's expression didn't change. Calm and composed, he formed a graceful arc in midair, drawing his right arm back like a bow.
And then—
Bang!
He struck.
The ball exploded off his hand and slammed into the triple block.
For a split second, Haneishi's front row thought they had it.
"We stopped it…!"
But the next moment, an incredible force surged through the ball. One player's eyes widened in shock as his arms were flung apart by the sheer power. The ball broke through, soaring behind him untouched.
A shaft of light pierced through the gap in their broken wall and lit up Akashi's face.
The wall… had cracked.