Haikyuu - Chapter 318 (Patreon)

In the stands, a curly-haired boy's face was flushed red with excitement. He shook his friend's shoulders enthusiastically while shouting nonstop.

His friend rubbed his ears with a miserable expression. At this rate, he felt like he might actually go deaf after today.

Still, he nodded halfheartedly.

After all, the last time you watched a baseball game, you said you wanted to become someone like Kazuya Miyuki.

The boy huffed indignantly.

"That's completely different!"

Then he turned his sparkling eyes back toward Ushijima on the court.

There were also several girls swooning over Ushijima, their cameras clicking nonstop as they took photo after photo.

And if you listened more closely, you could hear the cheers coming from Shiratorizawa's cheering section.

"Ushijima! Ushijima! Take them down in one shot!"

"Shiratorizawa! Shiratorizawa! Go, go, go!"

Everyone in the cheering section waved their cheer sticks so vigorously that they rattled loudly, their arms practically leaving afterimages.

Reon came up from behind and gave Ushijima a punch on the shoulder.

"Nice one. If that had been me just now, I wouldn't have been completely confident I could finish the set."

Even Reon hadn't expected Ushijima to play so aggressively in the very first set.

Ushijima's style had always been fairly steady and cautious. But looking at him now, perhaps changing things up a little counted as progress too.

Ushijima turned toward Reon and rubbed his wrist.

"You're being too modest, Reon."

Reon chuckled and didn't say anything more.

Shirabu walked over from behind, looking at Ushijima with open admiration.

As expected of Ushijima-senpai.

Even in all that chaos just now, Ushijima-senpai had still managed to coordinate perfectly with his set.

As expected of Ushijima-senpai.

In short, when it came to Ushijima, Shirabu was completely incapable of being objective.

Compared to the cheerful atmosphere on Shiratorizawa's side, Itachiyama's mood was noticeably more subdued.

After failing to save the final ball, Komori had completely withdrawn into himself.

He couldn't stop thinking that if he hadn't interfered with that play, Iizuna and Sakusa might have been able to send the ball back.

Sure enough, on the court, it wasn't enough to keep track of the ball. You also had to constantly know where your teammates were.

Making a mistake like that in such an important match felt like one of the biggest blunders of Komori's entire playing career.

Iizuna and Kishimoto exchanged glances as they watched Komori sulking in the corner, practically surrounded by a cloud of gloom. Neither of them knew how to comfort him.

Off to the side, Sakusa sprayed himself thoroughly with disinfectant from head to toe before putting on his mask.

Only then did he reluctantly walk over to Komori to comfort him.

Of course, Sakusa wasn't worried about Komori.

He simply thought that if Komori went into the next set in this state, it would hurt the team's chances.

That was all.

Sakusa walked over and gave Komori a disgusted kick, neither too hard nor too light.

"It's only one point. Just take it back next set. Since when did you get this pathetic?"

Having grown up with Komori, no one knew better than Sakusa how to push his buttons.

The one thing Komori absolutely couldn't stand was Sakusa looking down on him.

Sure enough, the moment Sakusa kicked him, Komori shot to his feet like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Who's pathetic?! Who?!"

His face turned bright red with anger as he waved his fist.

"Just you wait! Next set, I'm going to crush them!"

Komori declared it with absolute conviction.

Under his puzzled gaze, Sakusa reached out, grabbed his head, and turned it toward Shiratorizawa's side of the court.

Caught completely off guard, Komori found himself staring directly at Ushijima.

Sakusa's flat voice sounded beside his ear.

"Don't say that to me. If you're declaring war, say it to your opponent."

With that, Sakusa slipped his hands into his pockets and calmly walked away.

Leaving Komori and Ushijima staring at one another.

Ushijima: ?

From that distance, Ushijima hadn't actually heard what they were saying.

All he saw was Sakusa suddenly turn Komori's head toward him.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

Unable to figure out what Komori was trying to communicate, Ushijima finally gave him a nod across the net before leaving the court.

Komori, however, interpreted Ushijima's gesture as a provocation.

Yes.

That was definitely a provocation!

Having thoroughly misunderstood the situation, Komori stormed off the court as well.

He swore that in the next set, he wouldn't give Shiratorizawa a single chance to score.

Watching Komori suddenly regain his fighting spirit for no apparent reason, Kishimoto raised an eyebrow at Nishio, silently asking whether they still needed to comfort him.

Nishio rubbed his nose and muttered, "As expected, Sakusa-senpai is the only one who knows how to handle Komori-senpai."

Both teams left the court.

Over on Shiratorizawa's side, Ryosuke and Tsutomu Goshiki were like two overexcited puppies, practically bouncing around in circles.

Goshiki hovered around Ushijima, staring at him so intensely it almost felt like his gaze could burn a hole through him.

Ryosuke was a little more restrained, but the excited flush on his face gave away exactly how he felt.

Goshiki really did worship Ushijima.

"Ushijima-senpai! That last attack was so cool! You practically broke the blocker's arm!"

The moment those words left his mouth, both Ushijima and Reon turned to look at him.

Ushijima was puzzled.

Was he really that brutal in the eyes of his juniors?

Reon looked at Goshiki speechlessly.

"You're exaggerating. People rarely even get seriously hurt playing volleyball, much less die."

"Huh? So his arm isn't broken? But his arm bent just now! There's no way a human arm is supposed to bend at that angle!"

"You're overthinking it. He's really fine."

"Wow! Ushijima-senpai is amazing! You hit him that hard and still didn't break his arm!"

Realizing he'd said something stupid, Goshiki immediately changed his wording.

Kishimoto: Thanks. Really.

Ryosuke stood nearby with a smile, watching everyone joke around.

Then, without warning, a hot, sweat-dampened body pressed against his back.

Ryosuke was so startled that every hair on his body stood on end.

Tendo had pounced onto him from behind with a grin, wrapping an arm around Ryosuke's neck and pressing his face close.

"Oh my, Ryosuke. How come you haven't praised me yet? I did really well just now too, you know."

Ryosuke didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.

"Tendo-senpai, don't be so childish. But of course you did great."

At the same time, he quietly tried to pull Tendo's arm off him.

For some reason, the gesture suddenly felt a little awkward.

But he'd always interacted with Tendo like this before, hadn't he?

Tendo noticed Ryosuke's movement.

Smiling, he lowered his arm from around Ryosuke's neck.

Then, in the very next second, he wrapped both arms around Ryosuke's waist from behind and pressed his face against Ryosuke's back.

"Ryosuke I'm so tired"

He practically went limp against him as though he had no bones.

If Coach Washijō had been here, Tendo definitely wouldn't have dared to behave like this.

But Coach Washijō wasn't here today.

Feeling the firm, youthful strength beneath Ryosuke's jersey, Tendo's eyes curved happily.

He was content again.

Keigo Atobe had been holding his binoculars and camera the entire time, intending to take a few more pictures of his younger brother.

Instead, he captured this scene.

Dark energy practically began pouring off him, and the pressure around him became almost suffocating.

Matsukawa looked at Keigo Atobe in confusion.

What was wrong with the young master now?

Who had stepped on one of his nerves this time?

He leaned over to look at the photo on Keigo Atobe's camera.

His eyes immediately widened, and he nearly stumbled over his own words.

"Th-this! Why is he putting his hands all over him?! Shameless! Absolutely shameless!"

Looking at Ryosuke in the picture, who seemed to be getting harassed, Matsukawa was so furious that his voice shook.

Keigo Atobe gripped the camera in one hand.

Then came a sharp crack.

The poor camera split in two right through the shutter.

Seeing the camera brutally broken apart in Keigo Atobe's hand, Matsukawa became too frightened to speak properly.

Darkness practically radiated from Keigo Atobe's entire body.

He looked like he'd completely shut himself off from the world.

He never could have imagined it.

After taking every precaution and finally managing to get that clean freak out of the way, another shameless bastard had appeared.

Keigo Atobe rapidly ran through the murder cases from Tokyo over the past two years in his head.

By the end of it, he'd even decided where the body could be buried.

A sinister smile slowly appeared on his lips.

None of these bastards eyeing his precious little brother deserved a good ending.

Tendo, meanwhile, still had his arms around Ryosuke's waist and was grinning happily.

Then he suddenly felt several gazes land on him.

The one coming from behind was especially intense.

If looks could kill, Tendo would already have died countless times.

He whipped his head around.

Behind him stood Sakusa, staring at him and Ryosuke like a resentful husband.

His eyes were full of grievance.

But because they were still in the middle of a match, Sakusa couldn't come over and stop him.

Otherwise, Tendo would probably have gotten hit.

The realization that Sakusa couldn't do anything right now only made Tendo happier.

Still holding Ryosuke around the waist, he looked toward Sakusa and flashed him a deliberately provocative smile.

No matter how anyone looked at that bright grin, it definitely wasn't the expression of someone trying to get along with Sakusa.

The veins on Sakusa's forehead throbbed with anger.

His fists clenched tightly.

He genuinely hadn't expected Tendo to pull something this shameless.

He was practically hanging off Ryosuke.

Hugging him in front of everyone!

Tendo was still enjoying Sakusa's darkening expression when someone came up from behind and forcibly peeled him off Ryosuke.

The moment Tendo felt that familiar strength, he turned around.

Unsurprisingly, it was Ushijima.

"Huh? Wakatoshi, what are you doing?"

Ushijima wore a stern expression.

"Don't hang on other people. Ryosuke has to play in the next set."

The reason sounded perfectly reasonable.

In reality, though, Tendo wasn't using up much of Ryosuke's stamina at all.

It was obviously just an excuse.

As Ushijima spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Tendo.

If Tendo crossed the line again, Ushijima would intervene again.

Keigo Atobe: Ushijima. As expected of my close friend. Truly the god of knowing where to draw the line!

Once Ushijima dealt with Tendo, both Keigo Atobe and Sakusa breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Ushijima really was reliable.

After hearing Ushijima's words, Tendo lowered his head.

His narrow eyes curved slightly, hiding whatever emotion was inside them.

"Fine, fine. Wakatoshi's right."

He agreed readily enough, but no one knew what he was really thinking.

After all, the Monster was always the one reading other people's minds.

No one could ever tell what was going on inside the Monster's own head.

Not even the person who had captured the Monster's heart.

The sensitive, quiet little Monster disliked examining his own feelings.

He preferred hiding them behind happiness and smiles.

Once Ryosuke felt the weight disappear from his back, he also registered what Ushijima had just said.

"Huh? Ushijima-senpai? I'm playing in the next set? What about Tsutomu Goshiki?"

Hearing that, Goshiki hurried over too.

Two pairs of bright, sparkling eyes stared up at Ushijima with the trusting look of small animals.

No one could refuse that.

Not even Ushijima.

Ushijima looked away and placed a hand on each of their heads, ruffling their hair.

"Of course. Tsutomu Goshiki is playing too. Tendo and Reon will sit out the next set. It'll be up to you two."

Ryosuke was surprised by the arrangement.

Why was Reon-senpai being substituted out?

Kawanishi would still be on the court, of course, but the sense of security he provided wasn't quite the same as Reon's.

As long as Reon was standing behind them, Ryosuke and Goshiki never felt afraid of anything.

Goshiki didn't understand Ushijima's decision either.

At first, it didn't seem like anything significant.

But once the next set began, the reason behind it would become obvious.

Standing a short distance away with Eita Semi, Hibarida overheard Ushijima's arrangement and raised an eyebrow.

Not bad.

After watching only one set, Hibarida had already understood the situation.

Those first-years were undeniably talented.

But they depended too heavily on their senpai.

Whenever their senpai were on the court, Ryosuke and Goshiki played without worrying about what happened behind them.

Once their senpai were gone, however, they became hesitant and cautious.

Hibarida sighed slowly.

They really were still children.

He'd originally thought Coach Washijō was the harshest and strictest person at Shiratorizawa.

But looking at things now, Ushijima could be every bit as ruthless as Coach Washijō, if not more so.

Hibarida understood why Ushijima had made this choice.

Sooner or later, young birds had to learn to stand on their own.

If not today, then tomorrow.

Coach Washijō and the upperclassmen could certainly shelter them enough to let them play comfortably.

But no one could spend their entire life beneath someone else's wings.

Even the fiercest birds would eventually have to face the open sea.

The storms and harsh conditions waiting out there were things sheltered children would never encounter while protected beneath someone else's wings.

Goshiki, meanwhile, was ecstatic after learning he would play in the next set.

He bounced around beside Ryosuke, gesturing excitedly while chattering nonstop.

"Ryosuke, Ryosuke, we're counting on you next set! You've got to shut them down completely. Block every ball they send over and don't give them a single chance! But why is Reon-senpai the one being subbed out...?"

Before he could finish, Kawanishi snorted from behind him.

"What? Got a problem with me?"

Goshiki nearly jumped out of his skin.

He whipped around and frantically waved his hands.

"No, Kawanishi-senpai! That's not what I meant! I'm just... I'm just not used to it!"

Kawanishi couldn't help laughing at how desperately Goshiki tried to explain himself.

He'd only been teasing him.

He hadn't expected Goshiki to take it seriously.

Of course Kawanishi knew exactly what Goshiki was thinking.

After all, Ryosuke and Goshiki had spent most of their time on the court playing alongside Reon.

They had probably gotten used to Reon always being there to clean up after them.

Now that Reon was being taken off the court, the two of them were understandably a little lost.