Bang!
From the back row of Mujinazaka, Naoharu Ezota launched a powerful jump serve!
The ball spun sharply and flew directly to Akira's left!!
Bang!
But Akira slid sideways and picked it up cleanly!
Immediately, Karasuno's front row launched a counterattack!
With Shōyō Hinata's decoy run, the front row blockers of Mujinazaka were drawn in his direction!
Right then, Kei Tsukishima exploited a gap in Mujinazaka's defense and scored from the middle!
Creak!!
The referee's whistle echoed from the sideline!
The ball changed possession once again!
Now, it was Hinata's turn to serve from the back row!
At the same time, Akira rotated to Karasuno's front row.
Seeing this change, the mood on Mujinazaka's side sank slightly.
But for them, it was something they had already anticipated.
On the bright side, Akira now in the front row would have to participate in more attacks and blocks…
Which meant he would burn through his stamina even faster!
...
In the stands, Michiko Kusumi watched the court with a deep frown.
She didn't know why, but ever since the start of this match, she had a bad feeling.
At first, she thought it might just be nerves—that maybe her strategy wouldn't unfold as smoothly as planned.
That perhaps the rest of Karasuno would interfere and slow down the pace of Akira's physical exhaustion.
But as the game progressed, that concern faded.
There had been some resistance, sure—but overall, it was going better than expected.
After all, she knew it was unrealistic to drain Akira's stamina with every attack.
That kind of perfect scenario was impossible.
Even so, this lingering sense of something being off refused to go away.
And when she tried to pinpoint what exactly was wrong—she couldn't.
"What the hell is going on...?"
Kusumi rubbed her chin, brow furrowed in frustration.
She really wanted to call a timeout and ask her players if they had noticed anything unusual.
But she knew how irrational that would be.
A timeout...
Only thirty seconds long...
But in those thirty seconds, not only would her players get rest—
The enemy team would too!!
In other words...
If she called a timeout, Akira would get thirty full seconds to recover!!
And that could undo everything they'd worked for up to this point.
So unless it was absolutely necessary, Michiko Kusumi had no intention of calling a timeout.
...
Bang!
Akira launched another powerful smash from the right wing!
Mujinazaka's blockers were focused mainly on the rest of Karasuno's front row.
The only one who stepped up to block Akira was the setter, Michiru Usuri.
Akira easily avoided his block and slammed the ball straight into Mujinazaka's back row!
Though Haruma Bishin, the libero, scrambled to reach it, the ball struck his arm and shot off diagonally!
But Bishin didn't look frustrated.
Instead, there was a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes!
Because he could clearly feel it—
The power of that Spike… was weaker than before!
He exchanged looks with his teammates from Mujinazaka and nodded subtly, their expressions brightening.
It seemed their plan was starting to show results!
Otherwise...
Why would Akira's Spikes feel like this?
And Akira's performance continued to prove their theory!!
Not only were his Spikes growing weaker...
His steps were becoming less steady, and the sound of his gasping breath became harder to ignore...
And the rest of Karasuno was starting to notice, too!
They seemed to realize Akira was running out of gas.
So they began adjusting their play.
Kageyama started setting to him less often, and others began taking over attacks in his zone...
But there was no way Mujinazaka would just stand by and let this happen.
They had fought hard for this momentum—they weren't going to give it up now!!
So Mujinazaka doubled down on their strategy!
Whenever Akira was in the front row, they focused all their blocking effort on the rest of Karasuno's attackers—
Leaving the net wide open in front of Akira!
This forced Kageyama into a dilemma—tempted to pass to Akira because of the open net.
And when Akira rotated to the back row...
Mujinazaka's attacks were all directed at him!
Even if such obvious targeting made it easier for Karasuno to defend, Mujinazaka didn't care!
It was clear now—their real target all along was Akira.
To Karasuno, it looked like Mujinazaka didn't care about the score at all!
Everything they did was focused solely on exhausting Akira's stamina!
And the more Akira struggled, the more pleased Mujinazaka became!
His Spikes grew weaker...
His signature powerful jumps—now barely used...
Even his footsteps occasionally stumbled.
And the height of his jump serves no longer reached what it once did!
Seeing him falter like this made Mujinazaka's players grow more and more energized.
To them, it didn't matter if they lost this set.
Watching Akira's stamina slowly wither away—
That was more thrilling than any kind of victory.