42 No Holds Barred

During the interval before the set began, Takihiko tweaked a little their rotation, in a way that for the next side out, their setter, Wataru will be moving up front with Rimuru also there, which means, that their quick attacks will be their next offensive strategy right after getting the point needed for the side out.

Turns out, they didn't have to wait too long for that, since Kouen's serve contained a little more power than needed, as it landed outside the lines.

"Sorry." He softly muttered for the service error.

Now, the ball was sent over by another player from Takihiko, and Hiro got the first touch from it. The receive was a bit sloppy and the ball bumped low, so Kouen had to dive to get it up, and the next spike was made by Maki. Unfortunately, the ball was received on the other end, and the setter got it next.

Rimuru made a run-up, along with another guy, making it appear that two attackers were waiting for the set. Kakuzo followed Rimuru's movements and he jumped along with the toss, in order to deflect the spike.

However, he was mistaken – because no toss was sent. Instead, Wataru changed his form in the last second and dumped the ball to the side of the Stags. Hiro and Asuma moved for the receive, but the ball already landed. Two straight points for Takihiko right off the beginning of the second set.

"Nice dump, Wataru-san!" His teammates complimented their captain, to which he only laughed.

"Alright, alright, one more time!" He said, then his eyes turned to Kakuzo who was watching him from beyond the net. Inside Wataru's mind, 'I think this guy is more gullible than the other blocker. He'll fall for decoys easily. And it's not as if my only tricks up on my sleeves are just my dumps or my making use of Rimuru's decoy.'

'One more time? As if I'll let you have your way.' Kakuzo internally thought.

Hiro went out for Gai, and the ball was served again but this time, Maki raised it cleanly. From the bench, Hiro looked as the next sequence of movements that played before his eyes. It was an intelligent manipulation, that requires extreme knowledge on the technicalities of volleyball. It's not often seen, and it made clever use of Kakuzo's inexperience.

When the ball came back to Takihiko's side, the couple of plays went like this: Wataru got the ball, and made a form as if he's about to do a setter dump again. Kakuzo, who obviously doesn't want him to score another one, jumped in to block the dump. However, it turns out the setter wasn't gonna dump the ball, instead, he was about to toss it to another spiker.

When Kakuzo made contact with the ball, the foul was called.

"Overnet." Hiro said, impressed yet annoyed by the fact the Wataru pulled off that one against them.

"Eh?" Megumi turned to him, confused, and Kayo stepped in to answer her.

"That was an overnet. It's a foul to reach for a block when the setter is trying to toss the ball." She said as she fixed her killer gaze at the setter, scanning his athletic stats. "I'd say the intelligence of that setter is on 4 or 5 in a five-spoint scale. Not many can think about successfully fooling a blocker like that."

"He manipulated Kakuzo on that. And to me, that fake looked like a dump too. I don't know if I would've avoided that call either." Hiro admitted, and drilled it to his brain for future references.

'There are setters out there who can pull of that trick too. Wataru isn't all there is to them.'

Kakuzo pleaded with the umpire, saying it was a clean block, but the umpire remained firm on his call for the foul. Kakuzo pleaded again, but Maki now stopped him before he'll earn a warning this early in the set.

[Overnet – When a blocker tries to deflect a dump attack, but the setter in truth was actually trying to make a set, during that point, it is still against the rules reach your hand over for the ball in the opponent's court. If the opponent was trying to execute an offensive play, that would've been okay, but in Wataru's case, it wasn't because he was trying to toss to Rimuru. This violation is called an overnet.]

Kouen narrowed his eyes at Wataru, who only smiled at him. This triggered him more silently, then he thought about how brilliant that move actually is. 'I mean, the ones who play the best games at the edge of the net, are neither the tall players nor the middle blockers all the damn time, but it's actually the setters who preside over the net boundary as their domain, right?'

When the ball was served next, it hit the net, and now the Stags earned their first point of the set. Kouha went to the service line, and his serve cut through the air like a cannon, which bounced off wildly from Rimuru's arms, going out.

"SERVICE ACE!! LET'S GO, LET'S GO, SHIROOOO-SHIKATA! PUSH IT, PUSH IT, GINOZA!! ONE MORE POINT!!" The cheerleader team from Shiroshikata came alive once more after the loud statement that the serve carried. Both teams are going all out, no holds barred.

Soon enough, the rest of the set continued to go on, and somewhere along those plays, Shiroshikata had managed to catch up. By now, the score is tied at 23-all, and Asuma moved to the service line to send the ball over.

'Prrrrrt!' The whistle was blown.

'Huh?' Asuma turned and found out that he's supposed to be going out and another person was coming in as a pinch server. 'It's Toshiro-senpai!'

"Nice serve, senpai!" He said as he gave him a high-five, and Toshiro went in to take his place.

"SCORE 10 POINTS, MEGANE!!!" Kayo, along with some older players from the bench shouted in support.

Toshiro wasn't known for flashy serves, but his aims are on point. Now with the proper eyegear, his vision has returned and he's now more confident in targeting his serves. He made a normal serve that was aimed to Takihiko's setter, and Wataru almost didn't catch it with his overhand.

'Dammit, I got the first touch.' He almost lost his balance from looking up to the ball. "Follow!"

Another player made a follow up, and the ball went back to Shiroshikata's side. Before it crossed the net, Kakuzo jumped to hit it home directly, and he scored on that play. "YEAAAAHHHH!!" 24 – 23, Shiroshikata.

"LET'S GO, LET'S GO, KAKUZO!! PUSH IT, PUSH IT, KAKUZO!! ONE MORE POINT!!" Yeah, one more point and they'll take the W.

"WAAAAAH KAKUZO NICE KILL!!!" Asuma cheered, and then immediately shut up, realizing that he just complimented his rival among the rookies.

Toshiro served again, this time, near Rimuru, who dived in to bump the ball, thus disabling him from the current attack options. When Wataru got the ball, he tossed it to the left, and the spike was caught in the double block of Kouen and Kakuzo. However, the ball remained in play after Rimuru's hustle, and Wataru again tossed it to the middle.

The spike went in between Kakuzo's arms, but Toshiro got it. "YUS!! KOUEEEEN!!"

Kouen was far off, but Kouha covered for his brother in setting. "Maki!"

Maki was open in the left, and his spike connected to Wataru's hands. "CHANCE BALL!!"

"CAPTAIN, NICE RECEIVE!!" The one who yelled it was his teammate who got the next touch. "RIMURU!!"

Finally in position, Rimuru spiked with all his power to force a deuce. But Kakuzo wouldn't yield, either. "WAAAAHHH!!"

'Not on my watch, dude. We're the ones going to the finals.' 25 – 23, block point for the Stags. They will enter the finals.

"OHHHH YEAAAAAHHHH!!!"