Fukurodani’s bench was tense. Every player, including the coach, wore a grim expression on their faces. They were only one point away from elimination, and in a situation like this, it was hard for anyone to stay calm.
“Hehehe~~ What are you all looking so down for? The match isn’t over yet. Why are you acting so defeated?”
The team looked at one another before turning to the ever-energetic Bokuto.
“Bokuto… aren’t you nervous at all? We’re only one point away from being eliminated!”
Bokuto tilted his head in confusion. “Why would I be nervous? If we’re only one point behind, then we’ll just win it back.”
The others fell silent.
“…That’s so like you, Bokuto.”
“But you’re right. It’s only one point. We’ll just fight and take it back. We’ve come this far, being nervous isn’t going to help now.”
—
On Aoba Johsai’s bench, Hanamaki Takahiro was the first to notice the change in Fukurodani’s atmosphere. Even with the match at this stage, not a single Fukurodani player looked discouraged. Hanamaki’s already weary eyes somehow looked even more exhausted.
“Seriously… do these guys not know what fear is?”
“Heh… This is Nationals. No team that made it this far was ever going to go down that easily.” Iwaizumi adjusted his knee pad, stood up, and headed toward the court first. “Alright, enough thinking. Let’s finish this.”
The referee’s whistle sounded, and the match resumed.
Asuto stepped back to serve for Aoba Johsai. The moment he walked into the service zone, every Fukurodani player frowned.
“Damn it… Of all times, it has to be his serve. It couldn’t get any worse.”
Asuto casually spun the volleyball in his hands. The closer the match came to its end, the calmer he became. His mind was as still as a perfectly clear mirror. Everything happening around him reflected clearly in his awareness, yet nothing disturbed the calm within his mind.
Without the slightest warning, Asuto unleashed a power jump serve.
‘Boom!’
The volleyball visibly compressed under the force of the hit before rocketing across the net, flying straight toward Fukurodani’s libero.
“Damn it… Don’t underestimate me!”
Seeing the serve coming directly at him, Fukurodani’s libero felt a surge of irritation. He knew that Asuto probably couldn’t deliberately control the exact landing spot of a serve that powerful. Even so, aiming straight at him felt like a challenge.
‘Smack!’
The ball flew high into the air after the receive, rising well over ten meters. This time, though, it stayed inside Fukurodani’s court.
“Nice!”
“Great job, Komi!”
“Beautiful receive!”
Fukurodani’s spirits immediately lifted.
Akaashi moved under the first pass and sent a perfectly timed back set to Bokuto. Kindaichi, Matsukawa, and Kunimi reacted instantly, their six arms rising together to form a towering triple block. At the end of the second set, running into a block like this was a nightmare for any spiker.
Yet strangely, none of Aoba Johsai’s three blockers felt relieved. Instead, an inexplicable sense of unease crept into their hearts because Bokuto Kotaro’s eyes were shining far too brightly. In those eyes, they saw excitement, anticipation, and burning passion, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of fear.
‘Bang!’
Bokuto’s thunderous spike exploded into the block. The instant the ball made contact, Kunimi felt a sharp pain shoot through his arms. His hands were forced backward, opening a tiny gap in the triple block.
‘Thud!’
In the end, the ball broke through the block and slammed into the floor.
[He scores!]
[Bokuto Kotaro delivers when it matters most! With a devastating spike, he breaks through Aoba Johsai’s defense and pulls Fukurodani back from the brink of elimination!]
[He has truly lived up to the title of ‘Ace!’]
—
Compared to the cheers erupting from the Fukurodani side, the Aoba Johsai players were left stunned.
“Seriously… he can still hit even harder at a time like this?”
“What kind of monster is this guy?”
More than a few Aoba Johsai players genuinely couldn’t understand Bokuto. At the start of the first set, his mentality had seemed as fragile as a child’s. But now, with his team trailing and only one point away from elimination, not only was he completely unfazed, his fighting spirit had somehow grown even stronger.
‘Clap! Clap! Clap!’
“Alright, enough talking about them.”
Oikawa clapped his hands, pulling everyone’s attention back before Bokuto’s spike could shake the team’s confidence.
“No matter how strong their Ace is, he can only score one point at a time. Don’t forget, we’re still the team in the lead.”
Then he grinned.
“Besides, their Ace isn’t the only great one. Ours is pretty incredible too.”
Everyone instinctively turned toward Asuto, and only then did they notice something unusual about him. Bokuto’s presence blazed across the court like sunlight, but Asuto stood quietly at the back of the court like a shadow. If you weren’t paying close attention, you might not even notice he was there.
His current state felt strange. His heart was perfectly calm, as though he already had one foot standing at the entrance to the ‘Zone’… yet he couldn’t quite step inside. It felt as if he was still missing the key to open the door.
‘Tweet!’
The referee’s whistle sounded, and Fukurodani served.
After receiving Watari’s pass, Oikawa used his eyes to sell one option, drawing one of Fukurodani’s blockers out of position before sending the ball to Akashi attacking from the back row.
The remaining front-row defenders immediately committed to sealing off Asuto’s line shot, while the back-row defenders closed down the cross-court angle. It was flawless defensive coordination. The defense was so tight that even Oikawa, who had set the ball, couldn’t help but tense up.
Yet when Asuto looked at the seemingly airtight defense, he didn’t feel the slightest pressure. Instead, it looked full of openings. Suspended in midair, he even took a brief moment to consider which gap he should attack.
About a tenth of a second later, he chose the more difficult one.
The next instant…
‘Bang!’
The ball shot straight off Asuto’s hand. It flew directly toward the blocker in front of him, then, just before reaching the block, it suddenly bent. Tracing a beautiful arc around the outside of the blocker, it curled back toward the sideline and landed right on the line.
‘Thud.’
As the ball hit the floor, the entire court, and even the nearby stands, fell completely silent.
[A c-curved… curved spike!]
[Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable! Facing Fukurodani’s perfectly coordinated defense, Aoba Johsai’s ace, Akashi Asuto, has unleashed a curved spike!]
[Fukurodani’s blockers didn’t have time to react at all!]
[The ball curved around the block along the sideline before dropping right on the line!]
[25–24!]
[Aoba Johsai has taken the lead once again!]
The commentator was nearly shouting himself hoarse. After nearly three full seconds of stunned silence, the gym exploded.
“What was that?!”
“That’s unbelievable! He can actually hit a spike like that in a real match? Is Aoba Johsai’s first-year some kind of monster?”
“I always thought a volleyball couldn’t curve like that! That shot actually exists?!”
“Aoba Johsai! Aoba Johsai! Aoba Johsai!”
The stands instantly erupted into deafening cheers. On the court, every Fukurodani player stood frozen in shock. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they never would have believed a spike like that was possible.
What kind of miraculous attack was that? No matter how strong Fukurodani’s resolve was, a spike like that was enough to make even them feel a hint of despair.
Only Bokuto was different. Instead of losing heart, the light in his eyes burned even brighter.
The next rally began almost immediately. Aoba Johsai served.
Once Fukurodani received the attack, they once again sent the ball to Bokuto. Facing his overwhelming spike, the double block from Matsukawa and Kunimi might as well not have existed; he blasted straight through it with ease.
But just as the ball was about to hit the floor, something changed in Aoba Johsai’s back court.
Without any warning, and even Asuto himself didn’t know how he’d done it, standing just one step away from entering the ‘Zone’, it was as if he had instinctively predicted where the ball would land. He calmly walked into position and cleanly dug Bokuto’s spike.
Even Bokuto, who never seemed to know the meaning of discouragement, froze for a moment when he saw it.
In an instant, offense became defense. Faced with Asuto’s miraculous save, even Oikawa, normally so composed, couldn’t stop himself from trembling with excitement.
“Nice receive, Asuto-chan…!”
The words had barely left Oikawa’s mouth when he saw Asuto already soaring into the air. He’d moved so quickly that he’d jumped before Oikawa had even finished setting the ball.
It was almost unbelievable.
And as Oikawa released the set, the volleyball seemed to be drawn toward Asuto like iron pulled to a magnet, arriving perfectly above him in a flash.
At that moment, everything before Asuto became crystal clear.
In the back court, Fukurodani’s libero Komi Haruki and Outside Hitter Konoha Akinori wore panicked expressions as they scrambled to recover.
Middle blocker Onaga Wataru stood frozen, still unable to process what had happened.
In the front row, Washio Tatsuo and setter Akaashi Keiji rushed desperately toward him, stretching their hands high as they leaped for the block.
And there was Bokuto, he was just landing from his previous spike, unable to do anything except stand where he was.
The size of the court. Every player’s expression. Their jersey numbers. Their positions. Their movements. Everything.
In that instant, Asuto saw it all with perfect clarity. Time itself seemed to slow down. Looking at the court before him, he didn’t even need to swing hard; he simply flicked his hand forward.
The volleyball floated off his palm. It slipped through every defender by the narrowest of margins, yet never looked out of control, then landed softly on the floor of Fukurodani’s court.
‘Tweet…………!’
“The match is over! Aoba Johsai wins, two sets to none! The set scores are ’25–19′ and ’26–24’…”
A moment later, the referee’s long, piercing whistle echoed throughout the arena as the official result was announced. With that whistle, every Fukurodani player froze where they stood, as though time itself had stopped.
The light slowly faded from their eyes. Only Bokuto Kotaro remained standing tall in the middle of the court, his head held high, his gaze still burning with unwavering determination.
—
(End of Chapter)