The echo of Ryuu's missed serve hung in the air.
Usually, this was the moment for a joke. A self-deprecating laugh. A taunt at Sakusa.
But the service line remained quiet.
Ryuu turned and walked back to his position. His head was tilted slightly, a small, unreadable smirk playing on his lips. His golden eyes were dilated, unblinking, taking in every pixel of movement on the court like a high-speed camera.
"He's quiet," Kenma noted, glancing at his Ace's back.
"Yeah," Kuroo muttered, wiping sweat from his jaw. "That's worse."
The Phantom.
Itachiyama Serve.
Iizuna Tsukasa served. He aimed for the back corner to reset the tempo.
Kai received perfectly. "Center!"
"Kenma!"
Ryuu was in the back row. There was no approach call. No "Bring it!" No scream to demand the ball.
He just moved.
It was ghostly fluid. One moment he was standing still; the next, he was launching from behind the 3-meter line.
Kenma set the Back-Row Pipe.
Ryuu took off.
The Itachiyama blockers were a split-second late because there was no audio cue to trigger their reaction.
Ryuu saw the open court. He saw Komori shifting left.
Smash.
Ryuu hit the ball with a terrifyingly clean contact.
BOOM.
The ball impacted the floor before Komori could even lock his elbows together.
Nekoma 4 - 1.
Ryuu landed.
He simply turned his back on the net and walked to his rotation spot, his eyes already scanning Iizuna's hands for the next play.
Iizuna felt a cold chill run down his spine. He looked at his middle blocker.
"The taunt was annoying," Iizuna whispered, rubbing his arms. "But this... this silence is heavy."
_______________
Score: Nekoma 8 - 4.
Nekoma was cruising. Ryuu was warping the game's gravity with his presence.
Iizuna set to Sakusa.
Ryuu and Kuroo formed the block.
Sakusa jumped. He saw the block sealing the cross. He decided to hit a rebound off the top of the net tape to reset the play—a classic, high-level tool.
He tapped the ball.
The ball hit the white tape. Tink.
It lost all momentum. It trickled over the net and began to fall straight down, inches from the mesh.
Gravity was winning. It was a guaranteed point. No one could reach that in time. Yaku was too deep. Kuroo was falling from his jump.
But there was a blur of red.
Ryuu, who had just landed from the block, didn't hesitate. His brain processed the net deflection in nanoseconds.
He dropped his center of gravity and lunged forward.
His hand shot out like a cobra strike.
FLAP.
The back of his hand slid between the ball and the floor just as the leather touched the wood.
The ball popped up.
"CONNECTION!" Yaku screamed, his voice cracking in shock.
Kenma was already moving. He set the ball to Yamamoto.
Yamamoto smashed it against a disorganized Itachiyama defense.
Nekoma 9 - 4.
The crowd gasped, the sound sucking out of the room.
Ryuu pushed himself up from the floor. He dusted off his chest, his expression blank.
He looked at Sakusa.
Sakusa stared at his own hands, then at the net. His brow twitched.
'Impossible,' Sakusa's expression screamed. 'He reacted to a net deflection that fast? He didn't even think.'
Ryuu just watched him, that cold, predatory glint remaining unchanged.
______________
Score: Nekoma 15 - 9.
Itachiyama was trying to play clean, but Ryuu was a force of nature. Every time he touched the ball, the Itachiyama defense flinched, anticipating a bomb.
Nekoma served.
Itachiyama attacked. Sakusa hit a wipe—aiming for Ryuu's fingertips to force the ball out.
Ryuu read the wrist angle.
He didn't block. He yanked his hands back instantly.
The ball flew past his withdrawn hands and sailed out of bounds.
Nekoma 16 - 9.
Sakusa glared at him through the net, his composure cracking. He wanted a reaction. He wanted Ryuu to mock him so he could get angry.
But Ryuu gave him nothing.
He just stared at Sakusa with that unnerving, slight smile. It was the look of someone watching a movie they had already seen the ending to.
______________
Score: Nekoma 20 - 12.
It was a blowout. Nekoma's momentum was an avalanche.
Itachiyama was desperate.
Iizuna set a quick to the middle.
Kuroo touched it. "One Touch!"
The ball flew awkwardly toward the scorer's table, way out of bounds.
"It's out!" Yaku yelled, pulling up.
It was impossible to save. It was flying toward the chairs and the officials.
Ryuu saw the trajectory.
He didn't run. He sprinted.
He exploded past the court boundary.
He leaped over the advertisement barrier, clearing it with a hurdle jump.
While in mid-air, floating over the scorer's table, he swung his right arm back.
He connected with the ball.
BAM.
He hammered it back toward the court just before crashing into the folding chairs.
CRASH.
The ball flew high, arcing perfectly back onto the Nekoma court.
"Kenma!" Kai yelled.
Kenma set it to the right. Kai smashed it home.
Nekoma 21 - 12.
The stadium went dead silent for one second—processing the absurdity of the save—then erupted into absolute pandemonium.
Ryuu stood up from the pile of chairs. He adjusted his kneepad.
He didn't wave to the crowd. He didn't check for injuries.
He just vaulted back over the barrier and walked onto the court, wiping dust from his shoulder.
Komori stood with his mouth slightly open. He looked at Iizuna.
"Are we playing against a person?" Komori asked, his voice shaking. "Because that looked like a machine."
______________
Score: 23 - 14.
Itachiyama looked broken. They were fighting a ghost that hit like a truck.
Ryuu rotated to the front row.
Sakusa was opposite him.
Iizuna set to Sakusa.
Ryuu jumped.
Sakusa tried to hit a feint—a soft tip over the block to break the rhythm.
Ryuu didn't fall for it. His eyes tracked the ball's rotation.
'Slow.'
When the ball left Sakusa's fingers, Ryuu's hand shot up. He didn't wait for the ball to come down. He invaded Sakusa's airspace.
BAM.
It wasn't a catch. It was a suffocating press. Ryuu met the ball at the very peak of its arc—his massive hand completely engulfing it—and slammed it straight down onto the Itachiyama court before it could even cross the net tape.
Kill Block.Nekoma 24 - 14. Set Point.
Sakusa stared at the ball bouncing on the floor near his feet. It had happened so fast he hadn't even finished his follow-through. He looked up. Ryuu was looming over the net.
He wasn't smiling anymore. He was looking down at Sakusa with pure, cold dominance. The gaze was heavy. It didn't need words.
It screamed:
You are beneath me.
____________________
Ryuu stood at the service line.
The crowd was chanting his name, but he tuned it out.
He tossed the ball.
He jumped.
A jump floater. A nasty change of pace from the power serves.
The ball danced in the air.
Komori stepped forward. Then back. He hesitated, his instincts scrambled by the previous power serves.
"Gah!"
He reached out, but the ball dipped under his arms.
Ace.
Game Set.
Nekoma Wins Set 2: 25 - 14.
Set Count: 1 - 1.
The whistle blew.
The scoreboard showed a massacre. 25-14 against the National Champions.
Ryuu landed.
He stood there for a moment, the silence of his focus finally breaking. The tension in his shoulders snapped, and he slumped slightly, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
He wiped the sweat from his eyes and looked across the net.
Sakusa looked destroyed. Not physically, but the mental wall of "Itachiyama Perfection" had been shattered.
Ryuu turned to his bench.
"Water," Ryuu croaked, his voice hoarse.
Yamamoto ran out with a bottle, shaking Ryuu by the shoulders. "DUDE! YOU WERE SCARY! YOU WERE LIKE A SERIAL KILLER OUT THERE!"
Ryuu drank the water, draining half the bottle in one go. He lowered it, gasping for air, his golden eyes finally softening back to normal.
He looked back at Sakusa, who was refusing to make eye contact.
"I didn't need to talk," Ryuu whispered, crushing the plastic bottle in his hand.
"The score spoke loud enough."