Blocked... He blocked it!
Aoba Johsai High School's Akashi Asuka finally succeeded in blocking Kiryu Hachi's cannonball in the last point of the match, and the referee has blown the whistle.
The second set officially ends.
26:24.
The current overall score is one all, so it seems the upcoming third set will be the true decider for both teams.
The second set ended.
Both teams' players officially left the court, but before leaving, Kiryu Hachi turned back and took a deep look in the direction of Akashi Asuka.
That block just now completely exceeded Kiryu Hachi's expectations.
It wasn't because he was blocked.
It was because he was blocked by Akashi Asuka.
Not only Kiryu Hachi, but even Aoba Johsai's own players couldn't understand why Akashi Asuka, who was clearly on the right wing just now, suddenly appeared on the left wing.
However, everyone ultimately couldn't ask, not because they didn't want to, but because they genuinely had no energy left to feel 'curious'.
After returning to the resting area.
All of Aoba Johsai's players were scrambling to recover their Stamina.
Only two people's conditions were completely different from the others, one of them being Oikawa Tooru.
Oikawa, who had maintained super concentration and Passing accuracy on the court just now, suddenly found his hands uncontrollably starting to tremble after returning to the resting area.
As a Setter, Oikawa Tooru knew very well that this was a sign of exhaustion.
However, this was not simply physical exhaustion; it was more due to overthinking, which led to a temporary abnormality in the brain's control over the body.
"Seriously, I didn't realize I had been thinking so much during the second set?"
Setter is an extremely mentally demanding position, but Oikawa Tooru had never before maintained this intensity of focus in a match, continuously thinking throughout an entire set.
This time, it was due to the immense pressure Mujinzaka put on Aoba Johsai, combined with the National Tournament, that caused Oikawa Tooru to experience such a rare situation.
Iwaizumi Hajime was the first to notice Oikawa Tooru's abnormality: "Hey, Oikawa, are you alright?"
Oikawa Tooru subtly hid his hands and replied, "No problem."
Iwaizumi Hajime narrowed his eyes. Although Oikawa Tooru's expression seemed no different from before, years of being together instinctively told him that Oikawa must be having some kind of problem now.
If this were a regular season game, Iwaizumi Hajime would probably have already dragged Oikawa Tooru to the coach by now.
However, thinking that this might be their only chance to participate in the National Tournament throughout their High School years, Iwaizumi Hajime pursed his lips and said, "Don't push yourself too hard!"
Oikawa Tooru smiled and said, "Don't worry, Iwaizumi-chan, I still plan to advance to the next round!"
And the other person who behaved completely differently from everyone else was Akashi Asuka.
At this moment, most of the team members were gathered together to rest and discuss tactics for the next round, but Akashi Asukaalone stood in the corner of the resting area with a water cup, 'spacing out' for a full few tens of seconds.
During this process, some players initially wanted to pull Akashi Asuka over to discuss tactics, but they were all blocked by Mishita Ryuhei.
"Let him stay there alone for a while; that guy is looking for his switch."
Mishita Ryuhei's words sounded a bit baffling to everyone, but since what they were discussing wasn't that important anyway, no one paid any more attention to Akashi Asuka.
And Oikawa Tooru, sitting on the bench, looked at Akashi Asuka 'spacing out' in the distance, his eyes flickering, unsure of what he was thinking.
Not long after.
The referee's whistle sounded.
The third set officially began.
After spacing out for such a long time, Akashi Asuka's aura became more and more contained, showing no hint of a powerful presence. If it weren't for the fact that he could still move normally, everyone would even suspect that his soul had left his body, leaving only a shell.
Just as the last set began, Irihata Nobuterumade a risky move. He once again substituted Iwaizumi Hajime out and brought Kyotani Kentaro in as a starter.
This was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous substitution for Aoba Johsai.
Because serving in volleyball is inherently a very risky offensive method.
If successful, naturally, it's best.
But once a mistake occurs, there is basically a 90% chance that the serving team will lose that point.
"Bang!"
Kyotani Kentaro, with his body like a drawn bow, sent out the first serve of the third set, and then... it hit the net.
0:1.
At the beginning of the match, Aoba Johsai successfully lost a point.
Subsequently, a Mujinzaka High School player served a jump serve. Under normal circumstances, a jump serve like this, unless it has considerable power or a tricky landing spot, generally finds it difficult to directly score points.
But this time, Mujinzaka High School directly scored a point with an ordinary jump serve.
Naturally.
This wasn't because the opponent's jump serve was very powerful, or that the landing spot was very tricky. It was because Aoba Johsai's own player failed to react immediately.
Or rather, Watari Shinji's brain reacted, but his body couldn't keep up...
Because he was too tired.
The intensity of the National Tournament is completely different from regular season games. With Aoba Johsai's basic Stamina, they would at least have 30% Stamina left after playing three full regular season games.
But the pressure faced in the National Tournament is enough to drastically increase Stamina consumption.
At this moment, not only Aoba Johsai, but even Mujinzaka High School's players were already panting, but their basic Stamina was far superior to Aoba Johsai's, and they also had more experience dealing with the National Tournament than Aoba Johsai, so they still appeared to be in the same state as the first two sets.
After Mujinzaka High School sent out their second serve, Watari Shinji forced himself to concentrate and barely managed to receive the ball.
However, just as Aoba Johsai was about to launch a counterattack, an unexpected event... occurred again.
Oikawa Tooru failed to Pass the volleyball.
Or rather.
Oikawa Tooru jumped and had already Passed the volleyball, but the power of the Passing was simply insufficient, and just as he jumped, Passed the ball, and landed back on the ground, Oikawa Tooru suddenly fell to the ground.
"Beep~~~"
The sudden change prompted the referee to quickly blow his whistle.
Everyone on the court rushed to Oikawa Tooru's side. Oikawa Tooru, who was sitting on the ground, was still mentally stable, but when everyone helped him up, they found his hands trembling uncontrollably.
Oikawa Tooru forced a smile and said, "I'm sorry, it was my mistake, I'll get up right away."
Oikawa Tooru stood up relatively easily, but when he tried to bend down to pick up the ball again, his body suddenly swayed, and he collapsed to the ground once more.
"Strange, strange, what's going on? Sorry, I'll be able to… "
"No need!"
Just then, Akashi Asuka suddenly walked over, interrupting Oikawa Tooru, and said indifferently, "You should go off and rest! You are no longer able to be a fighting force for the team now."