"Anything is possible! Keep going!"
"As long as you don't give in, that's victory!"
The entire Aoba Johsai team looked at the receive that had already gone high into the air, but no one panicked. Oikawa seized the best possible timing, rose slightly, and set the ball up.
Immediately after that, Hank beside him moved at full speed.
A left-handed power spike!
The volleyball even warped at the instant of impact. In the end, it flew in a curved trajectory and slammed straight into Tendō's blocking hand before drifting out of bounds!
At this point in the match, the score had already reached 23–20!
Aoba Johsai held a three-point advantage. However, because Iwaizumi had left the court, the situation was becoming somewhat difficult to hold together. On the other side, Shiratorizawa had also substituted Goshiki out midway to reinforce their back-row defense, but because their overall strength was superior to Aoba Johsai's, they did not reveal any obvious weak points.
Right now, it was merely a contest over three points!
Would Aoba Johsai be the first to reach 25 and win this set, or would Shiratorizawa ride their momentum and take five points first? No one knew yet. However, judging from the current situation, Aoba Johsai was showing signs of exhaustion.
"I don't really want to say this, but ever since Aoba Johsai's middle blocker twisted his ankle, they probably won't be able to last much longer."
"As long as we drag this out a little longer, they'll be worn down."
Tendō knew very clearly that as long as his side continued putting pressure on Hank and the others in front of them, they would soon start losing their form because of their fading stamina. But in truth, he had already had that thought since the previous set.
He had been waiting all this time for Hank's movements to possibly break down, for him to make a technical error. For some reason, though, the longer the match dragged on, the more Hank was still able to hold on.
And as time passed, Tendō did not know whether it was his imagination or not, but he felt as though Hank was slowly recovering.
That feeling was simply too subtle. It made him somewhat unable to understand it.
"There's only one attacking option left. We just need to shut him down."
"There's no need to waste time."
Kenjiro quickly made his decision. Now, all of them had reached the final stretch. Logically speaking, as long as nothing unexpected happened, Hank would be crushed. Even if the opposing setter worked perfectly with him, there was no way they could continue maintaining the situation.
"Something's strange. After such a long time, this guy should already be at the point where he can barely even stand."
Ōhira and the others suddenly sensed something unusual about Hank. They had been using their stamina advantage to play against Aoba Johsai, trying to drag things out until the substitutes came onto the court. But now… they discovered that even after Hank had been running nonstop for so long…
He still was not showing the slightest sign of running out of stamina. Logically speaking… even the opposing setter had already gone off the court to rest for a while, but this guy was acting as if he could not feel fatigue at all.
Every time they thought he was about to rest, that he no longer had the strength, they discovered that he could still continue attacking. Not only that, each attack was stronger than the last. Even his technique was slowly beginning to improve. This discovery was simply too unbelievable…
If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they probably would not have been able to believe it at all.
"As long as we get one more point, we can… win this set."
Kunimi was also panting heavily. His stamina had begun to fail as well, and they would need to rotate in a replacement soon. However, because of the final point coming up…
All of them were bitterly holding on.
Yet at that moment, Ushijima, who had just rotated back into the front row, once again displayed terrifying pressure and led his team to score another point.
The score had now reached 24–23. The next ball, no matter who took it, would directly affect how the situation developed from here.
(End of Chapter)
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