"I think these are the things we love about volleyball!"
Hearing those words, the others nodded thoughtfully.
"If that's the case, then what do we have to be afraid of?"
Kei laughed and patted his teammate's arm.
"We're about to face the national champions!"
"There are so many strong teams, how can we fight them all?!"
"They all have to break through their prefecture qualifiers and make it to nationals just to have a chance to challenge the champions!"
"If the draw is unlucky, some teams won't get the chance until the final match!"
"Not everyone gets the chance to face the national champions!"
"But now, we've been handed this opportunity!"
"Isn't that amazing?"
"Yes!"
The others were also fired up by Nakajima's words.
Since they'd been given such a rare chance, they had to treasure it!
"So... we've reached the second round!"
"Let's show the champions what we're made of!"
"Let's go!"
—
Inside the Karasuno gym, an intense training match was in full swing.
Bang!
Facing a triple block from Tsukishima and the others, Ryūnosuke Tanaka hit a sharp cross from the flank!!
This powerful technique, which he had learned from Kōtarō Bokuto, was now being used with skill and confidence!
He also had an arsenal of straight shots, sharp angles, and cut shots that slipped past the blockers...
In these intra-squad scrimmages, he barely made any mistakes!
Tanaka's offense had improved by leaps and bounds!
But just as his spike was about to hit the floor, on the other side of the net, Yū Nishinoya leapt up and made the save!!
"Hey, hey!"
"You're going to have to go down 'seven or eight zero' more times to beat me, Tanaka!"
As Nishinoya picked up the ball, he grinned at Tanaka.
"No way!"
"You could read that angle?!"
Tanaka gaped.
He had thought his spike was perfectly disguised—but Nishinoya still read it and made the dig!
Immediately after, Kōshi Sugawara stepped in from the back line to organize the offense!
Bang!
The back-row attack initiated by Shōyō Hinata ended the rally with a bang!!
Then, Tanaka rotated to the back row!
This time, he stood far beyond the end line!
Drop!
Jump!
Bang!
A powerful jump serve shot toward the opposite court!!
"Out!"
Nishinoya eyed the trajectory and didn't even try to reach it!!
Thud!!
As the ball landed, the sideline player acting as line judge raised the flag!
Ace serve!!
"YES!"
Seeing this, Tanaka let out a loud roar of excitement.
Ever since Inter-High, he had been practicing his jump serve nonstop!!
By now, he could use it skillfully in play!
Though there were still occasional misses...
Not just him—even Hinata...
Everyone was paying close attention to their serving!
Because they had seen how dominant powerful serves could be on the national stage!
Nearly every player on those powerhouse teams had a strong serve.
Whether it was a powerful jump serve, a jump float, or even a regular float serve—when in their hands, each one was threatening!
And the impact of the serve was far greater than expected!
In their matches against Mujinazaka and Inarizaki, Akira had built huge advantages for Karasuno with his aggressive serves!
Aside from direct service aces...
Powerful serves could also disrupt the opponent's formation, forcing them into a rushed attack!
And rushed attacks often revealed flaws!!
As long as the blockers spotted those flaws, they had a great chance of shutting the attack down entirely!
That was the ideal scoring pattern off a serve!
So naturally, no one on Karasuno could afford to ignore serving!!
After Inter-High, aside from their regular scrimmages, the team spent the most time on one thing: serving!
—
Boom!
Akira's powerful spike landed squarely on the sideline!
The intra-squad scrimmage was nearing its end.
"Yamaguchi! Let's get a good serve!"
Tadashi Yamaguchi stood behind the end line, looking nervously across the net.
Even after so many serves, he still got a little nervous!
But after taking a deep breath, that feeling melted away.
Targeting the opposite sideline, Yamaguchi launched a jump float!
Not long after joining the team, Yamaguchi had already begun practicing this serve!
As a bench player, he spent almost all of his time perfecting his serves.
He knew his time on the court might come down to just a few serves.
So naturally, after the most practice among them all, his jump floats were far more polished than anyone else's!
The ball sailed awkwardly over the net.
It looked slow, but in an instant it had crossed more than half the court!
Seeing this, Daichi Sawamura at the back line took a quick step forward and positioned himself under the ball!
He raised both hands and precisely tracked its path!
Thump~
The ball landed softly in his palms!!
Perfect receive!
The ball flew straight toward the front line!
Tobio Kageyama, seeing the clean pass, sprinted to meet it under the ball!
And Hinata was already sprinting beside him!
With his 4.1-second hang time, the opposing blockers instantly readied themselves!!
Whoosh!!
Kageyama sent a fast, accurate set from behind!
But just before the ball reached Hinata's palm, something strange happened—it felt like the set hit its peak and slowed down for just a split second!
That slight slowdown was exactly what Hinata caught onto!!
Thwack!
Hinata's spike sliced through the air!!
He brilliantly bypassed the block and nailed it just inside the sideline!
Creak!
The whistle sounded from outside the court!
The final intra-squad match of the day had ended!
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1st Bonus Chapter - 400 Power Stones
2nd Bonus Chapter - 800 Power Stones
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