Yamaguchi didn't want to waste it anymore.

He will prove his self and worth to Ayame and to the team. And he'll no longer run away from his responsibility.

Shimizu called him to the bench and gave him the #10 sign as they wait for their turn. The third year patted his shoulder as soon as she gave it to him "Good luck, Yamaguchi"

"H-Hai"

He sat next to the violet eyed girl while waiting for the substitution call. As expected, his heart is beating from anticipation and nervousness. Although his nervousness is lesser compared than earlier, he still can't deny the nervousness inside him.

"Tadashi-kun"

He felt her gentle hand on top of his own shaking hand "Are you nervous?"

Looking at her gentle and violet eyes, his nerves were put at ease "Yeah. Just a bit"

She gave his hand a squeeze "I believe in you"

He smiled "Thank you"

Kyotani served again and it went to Tanaka, who received it and Kageyama sets it to Hinata. The point goes to them and their rotation is now where Hinata is serving.

Yamaguchi was now called to substitute the shorter teen for the serve. He gave her hand one last gentle squeeze before standing up and breathing deeply.

Hinata grabbed the number from the freckled teen and suddenly told him "Yamaguchi! Get ten points!"

He was surprised from his suggestion "That would end the match..."

"I'd forgive you" the shorter teen simply replied and gave the ball to him. At first, Yamaguchi seemed taken back at Hinata's trust in him but he replied with a grin afterwards.

"G-Give it to 'em good, Yamaguchi!" Tanaka was trying to motivate him but he was secretly nervous for the teen's sake.

"R-Remain calm...Just remain calm!" Asahi said but he was more like telling it to his self.

"Nice serve!" Kageyama told him, feeling slightly better since he thought that Yamaguchi is better than Hinata at serving.

"Nice serve" Tsukishima said in a monotonous voice.

Yamaguchi stared at them with a deadpanned expression "I don't know if that's a good motivation or what...I appreciate it though..."

"Give it your all!" Daichi told him.

"Hai!"

"One and..." the bench players raised their leg and pointed to the freckled teen's direction, imitating what other cheerleaders would do "Yamaguchi, one more! Nice serve!"

Their poses are a little silly but their support is really heartwarming.

Yamaguchi took a deep breath and recalled Shimada's words after he talked with Coach Ukai and Ayame.

You went to Ukai, right? On your own. Then you are already a completely different player. Go out there and do what you want to do.

He opened his eyes with renewed confidence and determination. He could hear his heartbeat pounding loudly in his chest, but he could feel it in his self that he is calm. Even though the whistle sounded, he took his time to focus and think.

He recalled Kazumi's teachings when she was helping him practice his serve.

You kept denying that my Aya-chan is your source of inspiration. Do you think I mastered the jump float serve alone? No. I found Kaito and he inspired me to do my best. It may sound stupid but that's trick to it, Tadashi.

He tossed the ball mid-air and took three steps before jumping and hitting the ball.

And most importantly, he recalled Ayame's words of encouragement in his mind.

I believe in you.

The ball soared and the Karasuno players tensed when they saw it was a long serve. Seijoh's libero slightly raised his hands and yelled "Out!"

What everyone thought it was an out, the ball suddenly dropped inbounds.

A service ace.

"That's the beauty of a float serve, people" Ayame smiled in satisfaction when she saw Seijoh's shocked expressions.

Yamaguchi clenched his fists "I did it...I DID IT!!"

He tightly closed his eyes and yelled at the top of his voice "YOSHAAAAAAA!!"

Tanaka and the other Karasuno players on court ran to him while screaming with him.

"YOOOOO..." Sugawara and Ennoshita were struggling to keep Hinata and Nishinoya from running to Yamaguchi but they were also extremely happy like the two.

"...SHAAAAA!!" Mr. Takeda and Ukai were jumping from their seats in happiness.

"Yoshaa!!" Ayame jumped and smiled widely when she saw the freckled teen surrounded and being praised by his teammates "He did it! That was a beautiful service ace! I'm so proud of you, Tadashi-kun!"

It was Yamaguchi's moment of glory. It wasn't just only a point. His efforts, his time and his skills he polished were all put into that one point. That point gave him a chance to redeem his self and show his worth.

Calling it just a point is an understatement.

"That was awesome!" Tanaka grinned while ruffling his green hair.

"O-Osu" he couldn't help but grin with his senpai even though he was messing his hair.

"It's not that surprising"

They all turned their attention to the blonde megane who spoke indifferently. The baldy was quick to scold to him.

"There you go again-"

"In these five months, he practiced serving more than anyone else" Tsukishima continued, stopping the baldy from scolding him. Even though he looked like he didn't care or show little interest at stuffs, the megane knows how hard the freckled teen practiced with his serve "And..."

"And?"

He smirked at him and glanced at their precious assistant coach "And also because of Ayame's encouragement and support he got his confidence from. Right, Yamaguchi?"

Yamaguchi's face burned bright red from his statement "E-Eh?!"

"Seriously, you don't have to be embarrassed about it" he deadpanned after seeing him make another embarrassed face "It's pretty obvious, you know?"

The freckled couldn't reply from what he said out of embarrassment but he was really happy that his bestfriend, the ever impassive Tsukishima, noticed him practicing really hard in his serves. He silently agreed to what he said about Ayame as his support and smiled.

"That's right, Tsukki"

He glanced to Ayame's direction with a smile on his face and the violet eyed girl suddenly blushed, but she returned it back with one of her happy grins and she gave him a victory sign.

Tanaka lightly punched the megane's stomach to praise him, much to Tsukishima's pain "Why you little..."

Yamaguchi was up to serve again.

"A shot to break through the skin..." Mr. Takeda said.

"Yeah, and..." Coach Ukai nodded "The start of our counterattack"

"With this, the tables will turn" Ayame said as the teen did his second serve "When the game volleyball was invented, the serve had been nothing more than used to put the ball into play to start the volley. However, as volleyball evolved, different kinds of serves were born and the serve's purpose also changed. Serves in modern volleyball nowadays highly impact the play and affect the outcome of a match. Right now, the serve is the solitary play where Tadashi-kun can score on his own and cannot be stopped by the wall known as "block""

The ball floated to Kyotani's direction and just as he was about to receive, the ball changed direction and he didn't manage to receive it, earning Karasuno another point.

"A-A second service ace!" Tanaka jumped in awe and surprise.

"Yosh!!" Yamaguchi pumped his fist for achieving a second ace.

"Yes...! Hell yeah!!" Coach Ukai was grinning like a shark while Shimizu smiled and clapped her hands.

"Nice going, Tadashi-kun!!" Ayame cheered.

His fellow teammates ruffled his hair and shook him to praise him, minus Tsukishima who only monotonously said "Nice serve"

"Yamaguchi! One more!"

In his third serve, Hanamaki received his serve using an overhand receive.

"He picked it up! They're going to attack!!" Yamaguchi gritted his teeth. His field of vision turned shaky when he saw Oikawa set the ball. His usual nervousness is slowly starting to take over "This fear when you change from being a hunter to becoming the hunted..."

The toss went to their ace "Iwaizumi!"

Iwaizumi spiked it past the blockers when Yamaguchi moved to the ball's direction and took the hit.

"Ngnh!!" His body throbbed from the impact but he refused to back down "Not yet... I'm not done yet!"

His dark brown eyes steeled with determination and resolve "I won't hand over the serve just yet!"

"Cover!"

Kageyama was fast to cover the ball and send it to Tsukishima.

"Thanks, Kageyama" Yamaguchi weakly thanked him.

"Tsukishima! Last hit!"

The tall blonde jumped and did a block out, which pissed Oikawa when it hit his fingers.

"All right!"

The freckled teen sighed in relief when Tsukishima threw the ball to him.

"One more"

The teen was taken aback at what he said before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah!"

Seijoh asked for a timeout and the players gathered to their coach.

"Making Seijoh ask for a timeout is amazing, Yamaguchi!" Sugawara told him.

Ayame was silent at the side while the others complimented Yamaguchi's skill, her brown bangs covering her eyes. Shimizu momentarily stopped what she's doing to ask her.

"What's wrong, Ayame-chan?"

When he felt that nobody was looking, Yamaguchi felt the stinging pain on his chest of the spike he took and he slightly clutched it "Wow... it really hurts...!"

She suddenly stormed to the freckled teen, who nearly flinched when he saw her standing in front of him silently.

"A...Ayame?"

Daichi flinched when he sensed the aura she was giving off "Crap! She's in her dead worried mode!" he nervously looked at the teen she was facing "Yamaguchi, good luck for taking the hit"

Oh yeah, when Ayame is really worried or pissed, she tends to punch someone on the stomach. It's only single punch but it would hurt a lot like hell.

An example? When Oikawa suddenly took a bite of Pocky from her mouth last Inter-high.

Another is when Daichi was switched out after his head was hit during the Wakunan match (even though he is already injured, she doesn't give a damn).

The others noticed the aura she was giving off and backed off to observe the freckled teen's fate. The captain and ace were already praying in advance for his well-being.

"Ayame?" Yamaguchi said again. Damn, he's starting to feel nervous when she's being all silent in front of him.

When she clenched her fist on her side, the rest of them stiffened and could only pray for the teen's fate.

He flinched when she loudly clasped his hand together and she finally looked up at him with a very worried face.

"Don't do something like that again!" she raised her voice in worry "D-Does it still hurt?! It still hurts, right?! I-I know that your receive is lacking but, doing that is seriously dangerous! O-Of course as a player, it can't be helped that you do unorthodox receives sometimes but..."

She was ranting how dangerous it was for Yamaguchi to do that while the teen just stared at her in surprise. Meanwhile, the guys on the side blinked in surprise, definitely not expecting that.

"Eh? She's not punching him?" they thought.

Daichi was mentally sobbing "So unfair..."

"-that's why, please don't do that again! I'm worried, you see-" she was still talking when the freckled teen suddenly burst out laughing.

"E-Eh? Wh-Why are you laughing?! I'm seriously worried, you know?!" her face flushed in embarrassment.

He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes from laughing too much "A-Ah, sorry, sorry. It's just that, you really surprised me when you suddenly grabbed my hand and told me that you were worried. It's not that I'm making fun of you. It's just... I'm really glad that you're worried for me"

He faced her properly and smiled "Thank you"

"E-Eh?!" she blushed and hugged him to hide her red face, careful not to touch the part where he took the hit.

"No fair... Yamaguchi, no fair..." Nishinoya and Tanaka mentally sobbed when they saw the two but they can't help but cheer for them.

"He can be pretty cool, huh?" Sugawara whispered to the blonde megane.

"Told you so"

Shimizu was clapping her hands on the sides while the others chuckled in amusement when they saw the embarrassed Ayame.

Meanwhile, on Seijoh...

"Oho~? This is the first time I see Ayame-chan getting embarrassed" Oikawa noted when he saw her hiding her red face on the freckled teen's chest "How cute~"

"Oi, remember that she's got a boyfriend" Iwaizume reminded him.

"Speaking of that, didn't she reject Oikawa?" Hanamaki asked out loud and the setter popped a vein in his head.

"She didn't reject me!"

"Says the guy who bawled like a kid when he came back"

"I wasn't crying!"

"Yeah, yeah, we already knew you were to be rejected anyway"

"Then stop hurting my feelings! I already accepted it yet you guys just keep on reminding me!"

The second years and first years sweat dropped as they watched the third years bully Oikawa "Mizuki Ayame is really an amazing person... to think this would affect Oikawa-san and the others...."

The timeout ended and the players went back to the court. Yamaguchi could no longer feel the nervousness in his heart. He is calmer, he could tell, yet his heart is slightly pounding loudly. He was no longer afraid. He's now more confident in his serve.

As the whistle was blown to indicate he can now serve, he recalled Shimada and Kazumi's teachings. This time, he's going to switch to offensive.

"I only have one weapon" he thought as he did his fourth jump float serve "My serve... The chance I received is just one service chance. I'm going to fight putting my pride and the flow of the game into that shot. I'm not going to put it to waste. I won't let Ayame's faith in me go to waste. I'll keep on fighting with the weapon I have! That's what it means to be..."

He recalled the times Ayame had supported him and pushed him to do his best, to never give up. It was really nice how the two complimented each other. She leaning on to him and trusting him while he leaned on to her for her support and her faith in him.

And maybe that's why, her kindness and charm made him fall for her.

The ball hit the white band on the net and crossed over to Seijoh's court.

"A pinch server!"

"NET IN!!" everyone screamed in surprise and happiness.

Ayame's violet eyes widened in surprise before smiling widely "He switched to offensive!"

"Is luck on our side now?" Mr. Takeda wondered in awe as Karasuno kept on scoring.

"No, it's not just that" Coach Ukai replied when he saw the scoreboard "Ayame, did you see our current score now?"

"Eh? A-Ah..." her eyes wandered to the scoreboard and her eyes widened yet again "We're...tied"

Score: Karasuno–23, Aoba Johsai–23 (Second Set)

She didn't notice that. She wasn't really paying attention to the scores this time because her attention was focused on the whole court and to Yamaguchi serving. And this is the first time she didn't notice the score.

"We caught up!"

Yamaguchi took a deep breath as he looked for a place to aim. Before, he used to think whether his serve would go over or not but right now, he completely banished that thought. He refused to be negative anymore. Ayame believed in him, the team believed in him, and both his mentors believed in him. He cannot afford to put it to waste.

Right now, he's thinking where to aim his serve.

Though he is secretly worried that his serve toss keeps getting too low.

"No, no, no. I should stop thinking like this!" he shook his head and did his fifth jump float serve "It's got a loose spin! It's not changing direction!"

Iwaizume received and Oikawa prepared his set. Seijoh has two spikers and Tsukishima was fast to know and react to where the toss will go.

"One-touch!"

"Nice one-touch!"

Tanaka received after it and Kageyama followed "Azumane-san!"

"Three blockers!"

"And a very high block" Coach Ukai sweat dropped when he saw the three blockers.

Ayame gripped her pencil "It won't matter if the wall is high. Break through it if you can. Use the blocks to your advantage if you have to"

Asahi slammed it against it the blocker's hand and it landed outside, making Karasuno in a match point.

Only one point needed to win this match.

"Yamaguchi-kun..." Mr. Takeda said "...is the hero of this match"

"Just one more point" Ayame thought as she silently prayed "Do your best again, Tadashi-kun...!"

When Yamaguchi did his sixth serve, he felt the good sensation when his palm came in contact with the ball "I have good feeling about this one..."

The serve floated between Kyotani and Wataru and the libero made the call for the receive. Oikawa sets it to Iwaizume, who slammed it past the Tsukishima's single block and Yamaguchi was unable to receive it.

Score: Karasuno–24, Aoba Johsai–24 (Second Set)

Yamaguchi was switched out after his serve was over. Smiles and praises greeted the freckled teen as he returned to the bench where Ayame and the others are.

"That was magnificent!" Mr. Takeda told him.

"Good job" Coach Ukai flashed him a thumbs-up.

He bowed in gratitude "Thank you very much!"