The whistle still echoed in the gym, but the air felt split.On one side: Date Tech's bench — stiff, shoulders squared, jaws clenched. On the other: Karasuno — laughing, stretching, stealing each other's towels like mischievous kids at a summer pool.
Date Tech's coach slammed his clipboard on the bench. The crack made a few younger players flinch."Is that what you call the Iron Wall?" he barked. "You let a pack of street crows turn this match into a comedy skit!"Futakuchi tried to speak, "Coach, they—""They what? They're unpredictable? Then read them. You think they don't have patterns? They're hiding them in that chaos. Find them. Shut it down."
Across the court, Ukai leaned forward, smirking. "They're steaming. Perfect."Takeda-sensei tilted his head. "Perfect?""Yeah. When a wall is mad, it stops thinking. We want them swinging blindly."
Akira was sprawled on the bench like he owned the place, sipping water. Oikawa, from the stands, yelled down,"Hey, little brother, maybe try winning without turning the court into a comedy stage?"Akira raised his bottle in salute. "But comedy's part of the show, Oikawa!"Izumi, perched beside the Karasuno bench, chimed in, "He's just mad you can't pull it off without looking stiff."Oikawa looked two seconds away from leaping over the railing.
From the Fukurodani section, Bokuto hollered, "KEEP THE CHAOS, CROWS!" while Akaashi, deadpan, filmed the whole thing."Viral by the end of the day," Akaashi muttered. "I'm calling it — 'Chaos Derby.'"
In another block of seats, Shiratorizawa's Tendō was leaning over Ushijima's shoulder."They're breaking the iron wall like it's paper mache. Fun, right?"Ushijima didn't look away from the court. "No. But it is… intriguing."
The Date Tech bench was in full lock-in mode now — their libero muttering to the middle blockers, "We stop him, we stop the rhythm," glancing at Akira like he was a puzzle that had insulted his family. Their captain nodded, eyes narrowed. The Iron Wall wasn't used to being laughed at.
On Karasuno's side, the mood was looney tunes.Hinata was bouncing around, recounting his spike to anyone who'd listen."I saw the fingertips twitch! Then I—""You nearly missed," Kageyama interrupted flatly."But I didn't!" Hinata beamed.
Yamaguchi handed Tsukishima a towel. "They're looking scarier now."Tsukishima adjusted his glasses. "Good. It'll make it funnier when we crush them again."
Ukai finally called them in. "Listen. We're not just keeping the chaos — we're amplifying it. Think of yourselves as the wind in a storm. No rhythm. No pattern. Just noise and destruction."Nishinoya pumped a fist. "We're the hurricane!""No," Akira corrected with a smirk, "we're the beautiful, flamboyant, catastrophic hurricane."
Takeda-sensei winced. "Flamboyant?""Trust me," Akira grinned, "they'll remember it."
The second-set whistle loomed. Date Tech's iron wall was waiting — taller, tighter, their eyes locked forward.Karasuno's bench? Still laughing. Still dangerous.
Somewhere in the gym's upper seating, a Nekoma player muttered to Kuroo over the phone,"Yeah… it's exactly like you think. They've gone rabid."Kuroo's voice crackled back, amused, "Keep the footage rolling. I wanna see every second of the chaos derby."