"How dare they look down on us? We have to show them what we're made of!"
After Shimokawa Sando announced the tactical plan, Akashi, the player being taken off the court, had no reaction. However, Omae Masato and the others became inexplicably angry.
'We know Akashi is strong, but for you Shirogawate guys to completely ignore us just to contain Akashi—isn't that taking things too far?'
'If we don't smash you now, how can we possibly hold our heads up in the volleyball world later?'
That, approximately, was the inner thought process of the other volleyball club members.
This situation was a classic case of reverse-engineered morale boost.
Even Shimokawa Sando, the originator of the plan, hadn't anticipated this reaction, but overall, he was thoroughly pleased.
The player replacing Akashi was a second-year Wing Spiker.
This was a temporary tactic. If the subsequent matches went smoothly, Shimokawa Sando planned to send in promising underclassmen like Nishimori Tomohiko for competitive exposure one by one.
After all, once Akashi's generation graduated, they would become the core of the club.
It was time to start nurturing them.
A Challenge Accepted
When the second set began, the Shirogawate Middle School team, who had spent the entire break discussing how to counter Akashi, were instantly dumbfounded when they saw Senkoku's lineup.
Stunned quickly turned to outrage.
What is the meaning of this?
They swapped out their ace? Are they looking down on us?
Thus, before the second set even started, the atmosphere between Senkoku and Shirogawate was already tense and ready for confrontation.
...
Akashi sat in the substitute area, yawning listlessly.
Suddenly, he sensed something, turned his head toward the spectator stands, and his gaze immediately met Kageyama Tobio's.
The two made eye contact, and electricity seemed to crackle in the air.
"Let's go. There's nothing more to see here," Kageyama Tobio abruptly stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"Leaving already? The match isn't over yet?" A member of Kitagawa Daiichi was slightly surprised and couldn't help but ask.
Many Kitagawa Daiichi members still had a strong impression of Akashi. Although they had easily crushed Senkoku during the Prefectural tournament, they had primarily defeated Senkoku's other players, not Akashi himself.
"No need. That guy won't be playing anymore."
With that, Kageyama Tobio walked straight out of the gymnasium, ignoring the reactions of the others.
The rest of the Kitagawa Daiichi team had no choice but to follow.
The match on the court continued.
Lacking the deterrent presence of Akashi, Shirogawate's true strength began to show.
The second-year substitute who replaced Akashi made several consecutive errors early on due to the pressure of playing in such a large event for the first time, causing Senkoku to fall behind.
However, with the help of the others, the score was quickly leveled again.
The second set lasted 26 minutes.
The referee blew the final whistle.
25:22.
Relying on consecutive attacks from the two Middle Blockers, Omae Masato and Kazama Juujirou, Senkoku won the second set by three points and successfully advanced to the next round.
After the match, Shimokawa Sando drove the school bus, dropping the team members off at their respective homes.
Akashi returned home and quietly continued his training.
After practicing for over three weeks, his Arm Strength attribute had successfully broken the 80 barrier.
80 points.
On the system panel, this was the peak strength attainable by an ordinary high school player.
To exceed 80 was the realm of high school players possessing a certain level of strength talent.
For example, Azumane Asahi, the future Karasuno player, had an Arm Strength attribute of around 82 to 83 at his third-year peak.
However, this was only Arm Strength.
Due to a gap in Core Strength, Azumane Asahi's spiking power couldn't fully compare to a true National-level power hitter in high school.
While Akashi's Arm Strength attribute still lagged slightly behind peak Azumane Asahi, once his Core Strength breaks 80 in time, the combined total should allow his spiking power to rival peak Azumane Asahi's.
...
The Qualifiers Continue
Qualifying Round 2: Senkoku vs. Midorino Middle School.
Akashi was still benched for this round, as Midorino Middle School was slightly weaker than Shirogawate.
In this match, Shimokawa Sando continuously substituted several first- and second-year players into the game.
Ultimately, Senkoku took the round with two close victories, 25:21 and 25:23.
After two rounds, there was a one-week break.
...
Qualifying Round 3: Senkoku ran into Seiten Middle School, another team that reached the top 16 in the Prefectural tournament.
In the first two sets, the scores between Senkoku and Seiten were 25:22 and 23:25, resulting in a 1-1 tie in sets.
Under these circumstances, Shimokawa Sando finally chose to let Akashi play in the third set.
Akashi didn't have to do much. After he blocked Seiten's ace spiker three times in a row, the opponent's morale instantly plummeted, and they were quickly crushed by Senkoku.
The final set score was 2:1.
Senkoku smoothly advanced to the Fourth Round.
...
Showdown
On Sunday, Senkoku faced their opponent for the Fourth Round of the qualifiers: Shiritsukujira Temple Middle School.
This school was one of the seeded teams in this year's qualifiers and had reached the Final Four in last year's National Tournament qualifiers.
The moment the Senkoku team stepped onto the court, a sense of déjà vu overcame them all. Not because Kujira Temple Middle School was so strong, but because the scene felt all too familiar.
The same stage of the qualifying rounds.
The same Final Four seeded opponent.
But this time, they absolutely would not allow history to repeat itself.
BEEP!
The referee's whistle sounded.
The first serve was taken by Senkoku Middle School's Opposite Hitter, Ota Miki.
The ball flew over the net and landed successfully in the opposing court. Kujira Temple quickly organized an attack, and the final ball, as expected, went to their Ace Spiker.
Very similar to Senkoku, Kujira Temple was also a super-aggressive team built around one core player as their spearhead.
And their spear was the prefecture's top Wing Spiker, Utagawa Tenkawa, who stood at 186 \text{ cm}.
Utagawa Tenkawa leaped high. As he took off, with a maximum reach already exceeding 330 \text{ cm}, the two Senkoku blockers, Omae Masato and Kazama Juujirou, felt like they were looking at Akashi from a few months ago.
BAM!
The volleyball crossed the double block without a doubt, but in the next second, the Kujira Temple members did not hear the sound of the ball hitting the floor.
Kurata Cat received the ball.
Because Kurata Cat had received so many of Akashi's spikes during the training camp, his body reacted almost instinctively to Utakawa Tenkawa's unusually similar spike.
The volleyball flew back up into the air.
Utagawa Tenkawa, still mid-air, was visibly shocked.
At the same time, Mishita Ryuhei quickly shuffled his feet, then tapped the ball lightly, setting it high above Akashi's head.
Then, the Kujira Temple members saw a massive black shadow, jumping even higher than their own ace, suddenly eclipse the lights of the stadium ceiling...