December 17th, the second day of the Club World Championship.

Morning matches: Group A—Russia's Nizhnev vs. Brazil's ASAS São Paulo; Group B—Japan's Ryujin NIPPON vs. Poland's LUK Lublin.

Afternoon matches: Group A—Argentina's CA San Juan vs. Italy's Trentino Volley; Group B—Qatar's Al Rayyan vs. Congo's Mazembe.

San Juan had no match in the morning, so the players gathered in the head coach's room to watch the other matches live and analyse their future opponents.

After their loss to San Juan, Nizhnev had quickly adjusted. From the very first set, they repeatedly used powerful jump serves to disrupt São Paulo's first touches and offensive rhythm. But São Paulo responded swiftly, relying on Hinata Shoyo's excellent passing and agile movement to defuse the Russian team's serving pressure and counterattack effectively.

The scores rose neck and neck, making for a fiercely contested first half. In the latter part of the set, Nizhnev's Mikhail, Viktor, and Igor reinforced their blocking, successfully stifling São Paulo's offence and gradually pulling ahead. In the end, Nizhnev took the first set 25-23.

In the second set, São Paulo seized the momentum through quick attacks, with wing spiker Yoandy and opposite Wallace's relentless strikes suppressing Nizhnev's defence. After the technical timeout, Nizhnev shifted their block focus—instead of aiming to stuff attacks outright, they prioritised controlling shot trajectories, while Yaku handled the back defence, enabling successful counterattacks.

However, Hinata's unpredictable movement once again broke the balance. São Paulo unleashed a barrage of quick, varied attacks, using Hinata as a decoy for sudden strikes that left Nizhnev's defence scrambling. São Paulo took the second set 25-21 and tied the match.

Both Nizhnev and São Paulo were familiar foes for San Juan, and the flow of the match was largely as the coaching staff had anticipated. After the tie, everyone shifted their attention to Group B, where Lublin and Ryujin were likely to finish as the top two—the teams they might face in the knockout stage.

-----

An hour later.

"Ah-ra~ This is really…" Oikawa Tōru had a strange expression.

Ryujin looked utterly powerless.

Lublin's players, leveraging their natural physical advantages, erected an impenetrable wall at the net, blocking Ryujin's spikes again and again. On serve, León alone scored five direct points in the first set!

Ryujin's defence was completely reactive. Even if they barely managed to dig the ball up, Lublin's second attacks would crush them.

In the second set, Miya Atsumu tried to disrupt Lublin's blocking scheme by increasing their offensive tempo. Their quick attacks briefly took effect, but the Polish team swiftly adjusted their defensive positions. Middle blocker Jakub displayed phenomenal lateral blocking ability, repeatedly shutting down Ryujin's attacks.

Meanwhile, Lublin continued to dominate offensively, with León's high-reaching spikes proving utterly unstoppable.

[LUK Lublin 25 - 18 Ryujin NIPPON]

[LUK Lublin 25 - 20 Ryujin NIPPON]

In a flash, Lublin had taken two straight sets.

The San Juan players weren't surprised at all. In their minds, Japan's men's team was roughly at that level.

"Lublin has two of your countrymen too, huh," Loser suddenly remarked in surprise.

"Yeah," Kaedehara Taichi replied, a bit surprised himself.

Ushijima Wakatoshi had mentioned it before, but seeing Akutsu Ao also playing in Lublin caught him off guard. Then again, Akutsu had played in the Polish league before—it made sense that he'd return to his old team.

Back to Group A. In the third set, Nizhnev took the win, but São Paulo stubbornly tied it up again in the fourth, dragging the match into a deciding fifth set.

Mikhail and Igor's blocking once again shut down São Paulo's offence, repeatedly stopping Wallace's spikes.

"They still rely too much on Wallace's individual power…" Conte analysed calmly.

The deeper into the match you went, the harder it became to win on individual efforts alone.

Nizhnev focused their attacks through Mikhail and Ivan, breaking through São Paulo's back row defence repeatedly. Meanwhile, São Paulo tried to use Hinata's quick attacks as bait, but Nizhnev's libero Yaku read the positioning perfectly and neutralised it.

At the critical moment, São Paulo's ace Yoandy Leal stepped up, exploiting frequent tool-outs off the block and sharp cross-court hits to finally tear open Nizhnev's defence.

Unable to keep up, Nizhnev crumbled in the final stretch. Relying on their technical versatility, flexible tactics, and tenacious spirit, São Paulo pulled off a dramatic comeback victory.

"Thank goodness we didn't have the team dinner today—Yaku would have been even more furious…" Taichi thought to himself.

On the other side, shockingly, Ryujin managed to claw back and win the third set against Lublin. The nearly fifty-minute-long set testified to how tightly contested it was, with both teams showcasing their unique styles.

Lublin's offence remained as ferocious as ever, but Ryujin seemed to gradually adapt. Libero Komori Motoya's relentless chasing and diving saves kept seemingly lost balls alive miraculously; the back-row players coordinated seamlessly, creating a tight defensive net that fully embodied Ryujin's "all-libero" spirit.

With their defence stabilised, Ryujin counterattacked using quick, varied tactics, slowly but effectively earning points one by one.

Although Lublin still scored repeatedly through their strong attacks, Ryujin's stubborn defence gradually agitated them, pushing them into a vicious cycle. In the end, Ryujin fought hard and took the set.

Lublin, infuriated by the third-set loss, ramped up their offence and raised their block even further, ending the fourth set in less than thirty minutes.

[LUK Lublin 28 - 30 Ryujin NIPPON]

[LUK Lublin 25 - 18 Ryujin NIPPON]

Lublin Club ultimately won the match 3-1. Even though Ryujin lost, their indomitable defence earned the respect of both their opponents and the entire crowd.

"Too bad—even though they took a set, they still get zero points," Loser remarked. Ryujin's defence had clearly impressed him.

"It's fine. As long as they win the last match, it'll be enough," Taichi replied. "Luckily, it's a single round-robin points system—wins matter more than points."

"Today, we have to hold on to first place in our group too!" Loser exclaimed, raising both arms excitedly.

"Yeah…Trentino, huh…" Taichi murmured to himself.

Elsewhere, Oikawa Tōru's expression grew increasingly solemn as he watched the match. "Tobio-chan…let me see just how much you've evolved!"

———

Afternoon.

"Up next is the fourth match in Group A—Argentina's San Juan versus Italy's Trentino!"

"On the first day, San Juan crushed their opponent with lightning speed. Their explosive serves and seamless quick attacks dazzled on the world stage for the first time! Meanwhile, Trentino also showed their champion form, using their steel defence and unstoppable offence to secure a dominant victory!"

"Now, these two undefeated powerhouses collide. Who will continue to defend their honour in this group-of-death showdown?"

"Will San Juan's ace Kaedehara Taichi keep up his scorching form and blast through Trentino's ironclad defence like a cannon shell? Or will Trentino's artist-like setter orchestrate a perfect symphony of tactics to seize the upper hand in this hard-fought battle?"

"Every serve will sound like a death knell. Every block might decide victory or defeat!"

"Dear viewers, hold your breath! Let us witness this battle for the top of Group A together!"

"The players are now entering the court for warm-ups!"

Floodlights poured down from above, forcing Kageyama Tobio to squint slightly. He withdrew his gaze from Oikawa Tōru and lowered his head to stare at his elongated shadow on the floor. Under the tangled beams of light, that sharp silhouette looked like a physical manifestation of his inner tension.

"Are you nervous?" Zaytsev noticed the genius setter's state wasn't quite like usual. "That's not like you, Kageyama."

"The setter for San Juan…he was my senior in junior high," Kageyama said quietly. "On my path in volleyball, he was my teammate, my mentor…and the towering wall standing in front of me."

Kageyama's sudden confession surprised his teammates, making the player tunnel momentarily fall silent.

Though Kageyama had become much more fluent in Italian and his communication with the team had improved greatly, he had never talked about himself before.

A genius setter, introverted by nature, and with a pure love for volleyball.

Those traits were enough for the Trentino players to accept him as one of their own. But sometimes, they also wished they could understand Kageyama a little more deeply.

"Kageyama!" Alexander suddenly spread his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture. "Has God finally allowed you to open your heart to us?!"

"???"

Kageyama Tobio showed a puzzled expression—he had never understood Alexander's words. So he ignored it and continued speaking slowly, "Oikawa-senpai is the person I want to defeat the most."

"Only by defeating him can I become the world's number one setter!"

"Don't worry!" Alexander patted his chest confidently. "It'll happen today!"

-----

The players from both sides finished warm-ups and took their positions ten minutes later.

CA San Juan's starting lineup:

Front row—Setter Oikawa Tōru, Middle Blocker Agustín Loser, Outside Hitter Kaedehara Taichi.

Back row—Outside Hitter Facundo Conte, Middle Blocker Martin Ramos (Libero: Santiago Danani) and Opposite Hitter Bruno Lima.

Trentino Volley's starting lineup:

Front row—

Opposite Hitter Luca Boro, Outside Hitter Alexander Delloro, Middle Blocker Ivan Zaytsev.

Back row—Middle Blocker Ryan Mosca (Libero: Fabio Balaso), Outside Hitter Yuri Romano and Setter Kageyama Tobio.

The match began with Trentino serving first.

Kageyama stepped up to the service line.

San Juan set up a four-man receive formation, but instead of Oikawa moving back, it was Kaedehara Taichi who retreated to the back row. This indicated that San Juan prioritised Oikawa's role in orchestrating the offence over covering for the ace's attack.

"Tweet!—"The serve whistle sounded.

Kageyama took a deep breath, held it, and tossed the ball into the air.

"Here it comes!"

San Juan's back-row receivers tensed up.

BOOM!!!

The ball flew out like a cannon shell, tracing a perfect arc through the air.

Smack!!

Conte received it!

"Cover!"

The ball veered out to Conte's front-left.

In a flash, Oikawa moved under it, his upper body arching slightly backwards, hands steady as he prepared to set.

Thud!

Taichi was already soaring in the front row.

"Block him!!" Kageyama shouted loudly.

Alexander and Zaytsev both leapt up in front of Taichi—

"Damn it! How is he so fast?!"

"Faster and higher than that shrimp from yesterday!"

—BOOM!!!

The ball shot over their double block.

Kageyama reacted quickly and faced the ball head-on.

SMACK!

The ball slammed into his forearm and ricocheted out of bounds.

Kaedehara Taichi scored with a spike!

[San Juan 1 - 0 Trentino]

"Yo, nice reaction, Kageyama." Taichi sincerely complimented him.

For a moment, a few images flashed through Kageyama's mind. He shook his head and easily cleared them away.

"Taichi, I'll receive it next time."

"That would be best," Taichi replied with a soft smile.

Serve switch—San Juan to serve.

"Tobio-chan, let me show you how to serve properly!"

Hearing Oikawa's lighthearted words, Taichi immediately raised his hands to protect the back of his head.

"Huh?" Loser looked at Taichi in confusion, just about to ask something—

BOOM!!!

The ball slammed into the net on Loser's right side.

Oikawa's serve error.

[San Juan 1 - 1 Trentino]

"You idiot, Oikawa!"

In the stands closest to the court, Iwaizumi Hajime was swinging his fist furiously.

Taichi had no doubt that if Iwaizumi were on the court, that fist would have landed squarely on Oikawa's head.

"Taichi, why didn't you warn him?" Loser asked.

It was clear from Taichi's reaction earlier that he had anticipated Oikawa's mistake.

"Yeah! Why didn't you warn me?!" Oikawa retorted shamelessly instead of reflecting.

"So you could later claim that I messed up your serving rhythm?" Taichi sneered.

"How could I?!" Oikawa argued righteously.

Taichi looked at Conte.

"You pulled the exact same stunt at the South American Championship," Conte said seriously.

"Eh? Did I?" Oikawa scratched his head sheepishly. "Ahaha…"

"But I definitely wouldn't do that now!"

"No, you would." Taichi declared firmly.

It was too obvious. After scoring beautifully off Kageyama's set, Oikawa got carried away and wanted to show off on serve too—but overdid it in his excitement and misfired.

Still, fortunately, he was dependable when it truly counted.

Seeing that Oikawa still wanted to argue, Taichi shot him a look, motioning toward the sideline.

"Haha, it's fine, next ball!" Oikawa clapped his hands, trying to rally the team.

Those words shouldn't come from the one who made the mistake, Conte thought silently, but kept it to himself.

Serve switch—Trentino to serve.

Zaytsev stepped up to the line.

San Juan maintained the four-man receive formation, but because Oikawa was already in the back row, Bruno moved back instead.

"Not shielding the setter this time?"

With a questioning look, Zaytsev launched a powerful jump serve!

BOOM!!!

The ball flew straight at Oikawa.

Smack!

Oikawa received it, a slightly off-centre pass.

"I got it!" Conte stepped in to assist the setter.

Whoosh!—

The ball soared high into the middle of the court.

Thump!

"We don't need that many tactics," Oikawa said, looking up at the figure in the air. "When Taichi is in the front row, all we have to think about is how to give him the ball stably~"

"Triple block!" Ryan, Boro, and Alexander all jumped at once.

—BOOM!!!

The ball sailed over the block yet again, crashing straight into the centre of Trentino's court!

Kaedehara Taichi scored with another unstoppable high reach spike!

[San Juan 2 - 1 Trentino]

"Facing me across the net—isn't that a bit too cruel for you?" Taichi said expressionlessly to Boro.

_________