Haikyuu - Chapter 301 (Patreon)

When Yamagata saw the volleyball spin off Ryosuke's shoulder, he immediately sensed trouble. He rushed behind Ryosuke, trying to save the ball, but even Yamagata went to the wrong spot. He had moved toward Ryosuke's side, never expecting the ball to actually fly backward.

The volleyball slipped between Yamagata and Ryosuke and slammed squarely into the floor with a heavy thud.

“Beep!”

Immediately afterward came the referee's whistle signaling a service ace, followed by the commentator's voice over the speakers.

“Service ace! Itachiyama's Sakusa scores directly off the very first serve! Shiratorizawa's libero, Yamagata, was on the receiving side, but surprisingly, Sakusa didn't actually target the libero. He aimed directly at Ryosuke instead. What an unexpected choice!”

The commentator was still talking, but Ryosuke no longer had the attention to spare.

He couldn't even tell what he was feeling anymore.

The thought that he had failed to receive the very first serve filled him with guilt and disappointment. If Coach Washijō found out that they had lost the opening point because of him, who knew how badly he would get scolded?

But Ryosuke should have been happy to finally stand on the same court as Sakusa.

All those conflicting emotions tangled together, and on the very first serve of the match, Ryosuke's mood sank.

Yamagata hadn't noticed anything was wrong yet.

He straightened up and patted Ryosuke on the shoulder.

“Get the next one. We believe in you.”

Ryosuke looked up at Yamagata, then pressed his lips into a small smile and nodded.

His amber eyes were filled with emotions Yamagata couldn't understand.

Yamagata felt that something about Ryosuke seemed strange, but he couldn't figure out exactly what.

Sakusa's service ace immediately set the tone for the match.

Komori ran up from behind and threw an arm around Sakusa's neck, grinning excitedly.

“An ace on the first serve! You're really on fire today.”

Sakusa rolled his shoulders, about to shake Komori off, but Komori's next words made him stop.

“If you play this well today, Ryosuke's definitely going to admire you once the match is over.”

Sakusa's ears twitched.

He thought about it for a moment and decided Komori had a point.

Then he rolled his shoulders again and finally shook Komori's arm off.

He returned to the service line and got into position for the next serve.

Ryosuke looked up and saw Sakusa standing there again, so he returned to his own position and waited.

Without Coach Washijō watching him from the sidelines today, Ryosuke felt unusually restless.

The unfamiliar agitation made him frown.

He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself, forcing his emotions back under control.

Starting the set like this wasn't a good sign.

Once the referee saw Sakusa ready at the service line, he blew his whistle again.

“Beep!”

The moment the whistle sounded, Sakusa moved.

He tossed the volleyball into the air, repeating the same motion as before.

Sakusa followed the ball into his approach and jumped. The instant it reached the ideal striking point, he swung his right hand without hesitation.

Once again, he aimed directly at Ryosuke.

“Bang!”

The moment Ryosuke heard the impact, all the noise in his mind disappeared.

His attention locked entirely onto the volleyball.

The ball cleared the net and flew toward Shiratorizawa's side. Its general trajectory and angle were almost identical to the previous serve, except this time, both its speed and spin were even more vicious.

“Damn... If I didn't know they were childhood friends, I'd think they were mortal enemies.”

Hoshiumi scratched his hair as he watched from his seat.

There wasn't even the slightest hint of mercy in Sakusa's serve.

Just watching it made Hoshiumi nervous.

Hirugami chuckled.

“They may be childhood friends, but if Sakusa deliberately went easy on Ryosuke, that would be the greatest disrespect he could show him.”

Hoshiumi nodded thoughtfully.

That actually made a lot of sense.

Then he imagined himself and Hirugami as opponents.

If Hirugami deliberately missed a serve while playing against him just to go easy on him...

Good.

He was already getting angry.

The more Hoshiumi imagined it, the more irritated he became.

He shot Hirugami a sidelong glare, snorted, and turned his head away.

Hirugami stared at him in confusion after suddenly being glared at for no reason.

Hadn't everything been fine just a second ago?

What had gotten into him now?

On the court, Sakusa's serve came roaring toward Ryosuke.

All of Ryosuke's complicated emotions had vanished the instant he heard the ball being struck.

He hadn't forgotten that he was still in the middle of a match.

He quickly moved several steps forward.

Based on his failure on the previous serve, Ryosuke had judged that this was the correct position to receive from.

The volleyball crossed the net and hurtled toward him so quickly that anyone unfamiliar with volleyball could barely make out more than a blur.

Ryosuke's eyes tracked it like a hawk's, never leaving the ball for even an instant.

It was here!

The image of the volleyball spun and expanded in Ryosuke's vision.

Then it seemed to break apart and slow down.

The instant the ball began spinning toward the right, Ryosuke spotted the opening.

He drove both arms upward.

“Bang!”

The familiar sound.

The familiar sensation of the volleyball striking his arms.

He got it!

The moment Ryosuke saw the ball make contact with his forearms, excitement flashed through his eyes.

Good.

That receive had finally awakened his rhythm.

Now it was Ryosuke's turn.

Before the ball could drop, Ryosuke raised his arms and sent it upward with force.

He followed the direction of the ball's rotation as he did so.

Originally, Ryosuke had planned to send up a high pass if the spin made it difficult to direct toward the setter.

Shirabu-senpai would have needed to run an extra couple of steps, but that was still better than an ugly first pass.

Fortunately, the ball's spin was already carrying it toward Shirabu.

There was nothing to worry about.

The instant Ryosuke redirected the volleyball and added his own force, he quickly pulled his arms away.

“Bang!”

The ball that had carried such tremendous force just moments earlier was now launched upward, racing toward Shirabu's position.

Shirabu had been watching Ryosuke from the moment he began moving.

The instant Ryosuke sent the ball his way, Shirabu started running.

He moved toward the volleyball while the volleyball flew toward him, almost as though they were meeting halfway.

As Shirabu moved, everyone else began moving as well.

After receiving the serve, Ryosuke felt the numbness spreading through his arms.

For a moment, he couldn't keep his expression under control.

He grimaced and gave his arms a small shake.

Up in the stands, Keigo Atobe had been watching through an absurdly powerful camera lens.

He captured Ryosuke's expression even faster than the television cameras and successfully preserved it in a photo.

Remembering that tiny expression, Keigo Atobe couldn't help chuckling.

How long had it been since Ryosuke had made such an adorable face?

Coming all this way had definitely been worth it.

At that moment, the commentator's excited voice rang out.

“He received it! Shiratorizawa's first-year player, Ryosuke Hanyu, managed to receive that serve! That's incredible! Sakusa's previous serve would rank among the very best at the national level, yet a first-year managed to receive it after seeing it only twice!”

“That's right! From what we know, Ryosuke is only a first-year, and he's already an excellent player who excels at both serving and blocking. It looks like we may have to add another title to his name. A reception specialist!”

Ryosuke's receive stunned everyone watching, whether they understood volleyball or not.

So a human really could serve a ball like that.

And someone could actually receive it.

In the stands, the way Yaku and Keiichiro Kanbayashi were staring at Ryosuke went far beyond simple admiration.

They practically wanted to take Ryosuke apart on the spot and study him piece by piece.

What exactly was this guy made of?

What kind of genius could somehow be good at everything?

Hirugami looked at his own libero, who seemed to have lost his soul staring at Ryosuke, and shook his head in amusement.

Another man had fallen at Ryosuke's feet.

Shirabu quickly reached a position where he could set.

The instant Ryosuke finished receiving, he sprinted toward the front court to join the block.

Right now, Ryosuke was the only player on the court dedicated primarily to blocking.

Tsutomu Goshiki and Reon still had to participate in the attack at times, so without Ryosuke, Shiratorizawa's defense at the net would become considerably weaker.

Ryosuke's sprint from the very back of the court to the very front was practically a race against time.

Shirabu jumped to set.

Ushijima began his approach from behind and headed toward position three, clearly intending to break through from there.

The moment Nishio and Kishimoto saw Ushijima move, they rushed over to block him.

The two middle blockers, both around 190 centimeters tall, stood side by side like an impenetrable wall.

The pressure they gave off was intense.

It looked like Itachiyama's blocking shared some similarities with Date Tech's.

Were they trying to dominate their opponents through height?

Ushijima's brows tightened almost imperceptibly when he saw the two blockers closing in.

A block like this wouldn't necessarily stop his spike, but it was certainly annoying.

It reminded him of Date Tech's Iron Wall.

There was never any question about who would receive Shiratorizawa's first attack.

The ball went to Ushijima.

The volleyball flew in from behind him.

On Tsutomu Goshiki's side, Doichiro had temporarily been drawn away.

Fujino had watched Shiratorizawa's matches before.

He knew that whenever everyone's attention became fixed on a single player, they had to keep watching the other attackers as well.

Any one of them could suddenly appear from somewhere unexpected.

Shiratorizawa's setter was particularly skilled at using his attackers as bait to lure blockers into traps.

Ushijima heard the volleyball approaching from behind his head.

The instant the sound drew close enough, he swung his left hand without hesitation.

He aimed directly between Nishio and Kishimoto's arms and drove the ball downward.

“Bang!”

The sheer force of the spike forced Nishio and Kishimoto's arms apart.

The volleyball tore through them like a drill, as if trying to bore straight through their arms.

The two desperately held their arms firm, but they still began trembling uncontrollably.

Whether it was from the pain of the impact or something else, neither of them could tell.

Seeing the ball punch through between their arms, Komori immediately sprinted toward where it was about to land.

Komori was incredibly fast.

After only a few steps, he dropped low and slid smoothly across the floor like a fish through water.

The movement itself was flawless.

Unfortunately, he still didn't reach the ball.

Maybe Komori had gotten confident a little too soon.

His palm slapped against the floor.

The volleyball landed just beyond his fingertips with a heavy thud.

“Beep!”

The referee blew the whistle and awarded the point to Shiratorizawa.

“Nice one, Ushijima-senpai! We got the serve back!”

Tsutomu Goshiki walked over and gave Ushijima a thumbs-up.

The admiration shining in his eyes was almost bright enough to blind him.

Tsutomu Goshiki opened his mouth, ready to say more.

Ushijima covered it with one hand.

“?”

Tsutomu Goshiki stared at Ushijima in utter confusion, practically wearing a question mark over his head.

Ushijima simply said,

“Quiet.”

Right now, Ushijima needed silence to settle into his rhythm.

He had realized that he simply couldn't find the right feeling during pre-match warm-ups.

That kind of thing was difficult to explain.

It depended heavily on his condition and the actual flow of the match.

Without an opponent in front of him, naturally it was harder to find his rhythm.

Tsutomu Goshiki had no idea why Ushijima had suddenly told him to be quiet.

But Ushijima was the captain.

Whatever the captain said went.

Across the court, Nishio and Kishimoto awkwardly rubbed their arms.

Both could feel numbness spreading from their forearms all the way to their fingertips.

Kishimoto looked at the red swelling on his arm and sucked in a sharp breath.

Was this really volleyball?

If that ball had hit someone in the head, it would have looked like a crime scene.

Komori was still lying on the floor, waiting for someone to come pull him up.

After waiting for a while and realizing no one was coming, he finally climbed back to his feet on his own.

He glared indignantly at Nishio and Kishimoto.

“Why didn't either of you help me up?”

Only then did the two notice him.

They apologized without sounding apologetic in the slightest.

“Ah, sorry, Komori-senpai. We didn't notice you.”

“Really sorry, Komori-senpai, but I figured you could probably get up by yourself.”

“Exactly. A real man gets back up where he fell.”

“That's right.”

The two went back and forth so smoothly that they blocked every complaint Komori might have made.

Komori huffed and turned away, leaving Nishio and Kishimoto grinning behind him.

Watching the scene, Tsutomu Goshiki mistakenly assumed that the relationships within Itachiyama weren't particularly good.

In reality, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Everyone on Itachiyama got along extremely well.

Komori simply had a habit of being dramatic.

Most of the time, he was very reliable, but every now and then, he became childish.

Kishimoto and Nishio were long since used to it.

There was nothing surprising about it anymore.

After turning away, Komori walked over to Sakusa and whispered,

“Little Ryosuke really is impressive. It only took him two serves to receive yours.”

A slight change finally appeared on Sakusa's previously tense face, though his voice remained as flat as ever.

“That's nothing. If Ryosuke had been in better form, he would've received the first one too.”