"STOP!"
The gym floor shook as Ryuu landed.
On the other side of the net, Bokuto Koutarou stared at the ball. It was lying on the floor on his side, directly under his feet.
He had been stuffed. Again.
The score of their 1v1 battle?
Bokuto: 4.
Ryuu: 4.
The Fukurodani players had stopped practicing. They were watching in stunned silence. Their Ace, a Top 5 spiker in the nation, was being stalemated by a first-year nobody from Nekoma.
"One more!" Bokuto shouted, his eyes wide with a mix of frustration and thrill. "Akaashi! Higher! I need to go over him!"
Ryuu stood at the net. He wasn't panting. He wasn't sweating nervously. He looked bored.
'He's simple,' Ryuu analyzed, his golden eyes glowing faintly under the gym lights.
With the Emperor's Eyes, Ryuu saw the world in high-definition slow motion. He saw the twitch in Bokuto's calf muscle before the jump. He saw the rotation of Bokuto's shoulder before the swing.
He didn't need "good form." He just needed to put his hands where the ball was going to be before Bokuto even hit it.
"Come, Owl," Ryuu beckoned with a single finger. "Try the cross again. I dare you."
"Don't provoke him, Gojou-san," Akaashi sighed, picking up the ball. But the setter's eyes were sharp. 'This blocker... he doesn't react to the toss. He waits. He waits until Bokuto-san is committed to the swing. It's terrifying.'
Akaashi tossed.
It was a high, beautiful arc.
Bokuto approached. He was fast. He exploded off the ground.
Ryuu jumped.
He didn't jump as high as he could. He didn't need to. He just matched Bokuto's height perfectly.
Bokuto cocked his arm. He glared at the line shot.
'Fake,' Ryuu's internal voice noted instantly. 'Pectoral muscle didn't contract fully. Wrist is loose. He's going for a cut shot.'
Bokuto swung, whipping his arm across his body to hit a sharp cross. It was his signature move. It was fast, deceptive, and usually unblockable.
But Ryuu's hands were already there.
He didn't guess. He moved his arms to the left before Bokuto released the ball.
BAM.
The ball slammed into Ryuu's palms. It didn't trickle over. It was a roof. A complete shutdown.
The ball bounced back onto Bokuto's head.
Ryuu: 5. Bokuto: 4.
"HOW?!" Bokuto screamed, grabbing his hair. "HOW DID YOU KNOW?! I sold the line shot! I looked at the line! My eyes were lying to you!"
Ryuu landed, dusting off his hands.
"Your eyes lie," Ryuu said coolly, tapping his own temple. "But your muscles tell the truth. You dropped your right shoulder by two centimeters. You were never hitting line."
Bokuto gaped at him. "You saw... my shoulder drop? In mid-air?"
"I see everything," Ryuu stated. It wasn't a boast. It was a fact.
Akaashi looked at Ryuu with genuine concern. 'To read micro-movements at full speed... He's not just athletic. He's a genius.'
"Okay, that's it!" Bokuto's mood shifted. His "Emo Mode" didn't activate. Instead, his "Hyper Mode" kicked in. "I'm not losing to a first-year! Akaashi! Give me the ones that are close to the net! I'm going to use Rebound!"
"Rebound?" Ryuu raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Bokuto grinned wildly. "If I can't hit past you, I'll hit off you! I'm going to use your hands against you!"
"Try it," Ryuu smirked.
The next rally began.
Bokuto jumped. Ryuu jumped.
Ryuu saw the swing. It was aimed right at his fingertips. Bokuto wanted to ricochet the ball off the block, out of bounds, and reset the play.
'Clever,' Ryuu thought. 'He knows he can't beat me with power or angle, so he's using technique.'
But Ryuu was a genius. And geniuses adapt.
As Bokuto swung to wipe the ball off Ryuu's fingers, Ryuu didn't stiffen up. He didn't let his hands be a solid wall.
In the split second before impact, Ryuu pulled his hands back.
WHOOSH.
Bokuto's hand hit nothing but air.
The ball, which Bokuto had intended to hit off the block, sailed harmlessly over Ryuu's retracted hands and landed...
...Out of bounds.
"Out!" Akaashi called.
Ryuu: 6. Bokuto: 4.
Bokuto landed, stumbling forward because he had expected impact. He looked at the empty space where Ryuu's hands had been.
"You..." Bokuto whispered. "You dodged? You dodged my spike?!"
"You were aiming for my fingers," Ryuu shrugged. "So I moved them. Why would I let you use me?"
The gym was dead silent.
This wasn't a practice drill anymore. This was a slaughter. A Top 5 National Ace was being toyed with by a rookie.
"He... he read the wipe," Kuroo whispered from the balcony, his grin gone. "He baited Bokuto into aiming for the block, and then removed the block. That's high-level pro stuff."
"He's not learning basics," Kenma murmured, his eyes glued to Ryuu. "He's skipping the tutorial."
Bokuto stared at Ryuu. The frustration vanished from his face, replaced by a pure, predatory focus. The "Owl" had finally woken up.
"Okay," Bokuto said, his voice dangerously low. "No more playing around."
Ryuu felt a chill. The pressure coming from Bokuto spiked. This was the aura of a National Ace.
"Come," Ryuu grinned, his competitive spirit igniting. "Show me a National level attack."
Akaashi tossed.
Bokuto approached. It was faster this time. More violent.
He jumped. Ryuu jumped.
Ryuu saw the path. 'Straight. Pure power. He's going to try to blow my arms off.'
Ryuu braced himself. He stiffened his arms to take the impact.
Bokuto swung.
BOOM.
The impact was heavy. Ryuu felt the shockwave travel down his spine. He stopped the ball... for a second.
But the spin on the ball was insane. It ripped through Ryuu's hands, forcing them apart, and trickled over the net onto Ryuu's side.
Ryuu: 6. Bokuto: 5.
"Power," Ryuu muttered, looking at his stinging palms. "Raw, rotational power."
"HEY HEY HEY!" Bokuto roared, pumping his fist. "I BROKE THE WALL!"
"Barely," Ryuu retorted. "You needed maximum effort just to get a lucky trickle."
"A point is a point!" Bokuto pointed at him. "Again! I figured you out, Dragon! You read the body, right? So I just have to move faster than you can think!"
They went again.
Bokuto spiked. Ryuu blocked.
Bokuto feinted. Ryuu didn't bite.
Bokuto hit a cut shot. Ryuu stopped it.
Bokuto hit a super-straight. Ryuu got a touch, but it blew out of bounds.
The score climbed.
7-6.
8-7.
9-9.
It was a dogfight.
"Last one!" Coach Nekomata shouted, clapping his hands. "We need to pack up!"
"One more!" Both Ryuu and Bokuto shouted in unison, glaring at each other.
Akaashi looked at the coaches, then shrugged. "Last one."
He tossed the ball.
It was the best set of the day.
Bokuto jumped. He was in the zone. His form was perfect.
Ryuu jumped. His Emperor's Eyes were fully active.
'He's not hitting line. He's not hitting cross. He's...'
Ryuu saw Bokuto's wrist snap straight down.
'A vertical spike? Into the block?'
No. Bokuto hit the very top of the ball.
It was a Block-Out. But not off the side. He hit it off the top of Ryuu's middle finger, sending the ball flying high into the back of the gym, impossible to retrieve.
Bokuto: 10. Ryuu: 9.
"YEAAAAAH!" Bokuto ran a victory lap around the court. "I WIN! I BEAT THE DRAGON!"
Ryuu landed. He stared at his middle finger. He had touched it. He had been there. But Bokuto had used Ryuu's height against him, aiming for the very tip where Ryuu had the least leverage.
"Tch," Ryuu clicked his tongue.
He wasn't panting. He wasn't exhausted. He was just... annoyed.
Bokuto ran up to him, sweating buckets, breathing hard. He slapped Ryuu on the back.
"You're a monster!" Bokuto laughed, though he looked relieved it was over. " seriously! I had to use my whole bag of tricks! If you learn how to serve properly, you're going to be unstoppable!"
Ryuu looked down at the Ace.
"I lost," Ryuu admitted. "You got 10 first."
"Barely!" Bokuto admitted. "Next time, I'm teaching you the Rebound! You have the eyes for it!"
Ryuu smirked. "I already learned it watching you."
Bokuto froze. "Eh?"
"And the cut shot," Ryuu added, walking away toward the Nekoma bench. "Thanks for the lesson, Owl. Next time, the score will be 10-0."
Bokuto watched him walk away.
"Akaashi," Bokuto whispered.
"Yes, Bokuto-san?"
"That guy... he's a first year?"
"Yes."
Bokuto shivered. "Tokyo is going to be scary this year."
_________________
The Bus Ride Home.
The bus was quiet. Everyone was asleep.
Ryuu sat by the window, staring at his hands.
He had lost the drill 10-9 against a Top 5 Ace. For a normal rookie, that was an achievement. For Ryuu, it was a failure.
But he wasn't discouraged. He was calibrating.
'He beat me with experience,' Ryuu thought. 'He knew how to manipulate the block. My stats are higher. My eyes are better. But my volleyball IQ is still just... theory.'
He clenched his fist.
'I need to weaponize everything. Not just spikes. Serves. Blocks. Receives. I need to be the Villain in every position.'
"You're smiling," Kenma murmured from the seat next to him.
Ryuu looked at the reflection in the window. He was indeed grinning.
"I found a ceiling," Ryuu whispered. "And it's lower than I thought."
"Sakusa is better than Bokuto," Kenma pointed out, destroying the moment. "And Ushijima is stronger."
Ryuu's grin widened."Good. Then the conquest will last a little longer."