Haikyuu - Chapter 323 (Patreon)

Kawanishi came flying in from the back and jumped to attack.

Nishio reacted instantly, adjusting his stance to prepare for the block, while Kishimoto rushed over from position two.

Nishio might not be able to stop Kawanishi by himself.

But this was where Nishio's ability really showed.

His blocking was a lot like Goshiki's serving. Surrounded by so many exceptional players, it didn't seem particularly impressive. But when Nishio had to stand on his own, he was more than capable of turning the situation around.

"Bang!"

Kawanishi swung hard and drove the ball straight down the line.

It was almost as if Nishio had known exactly what he was going to do.

With one hand, he sealed off the line completely.

Kawanishi raised an eyebrow in confusion.

The line shot had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.

So had Nishio really predicted it?

Were his reactions simply that fast?

Or had he just gotten lucky?

Whatever the answer was, stopping the ball still took skill.

Nishio had blocked it, but not perfectly.

Kawanishi's contact point had been much higher than Nishio expected.

The volleyball clipped Nishio's fingertips and shot toward the ceiling.

Komori tracked it overhead while shouting, "Nice one!"

If Nishio hadn't reacted in time, Itachiyama would've lost another point right there.

Komori kept his head tilted back, found the right position, and got under the falling ball.

It had gone up extremely high and was dropping fast.

When Komori finally received it, he was surprised by how much force was still left in the ball.

It had already gone through the block, yet it was still that heavy.

That alone showed just how much power Kawanishi had put into the attack.

The moment Komori sent the ball up, Sakusa came charging forward, following it toward position two to prepare for another attack.

Seeing that, Ryosuke and Goshiki both rushed toward position two to block.

If Ryosuke were blocking Sakusa alone, he could adjust freely at any moment.

With Goshiki beside him, however, things became more complicated.

Goshiki was a strong blocker too, but he'd never dealt with an attacker like Sakusa before.

There was no time for a detailed explanation.

Ryosuke only gave him one short instruction.

"Seal the line."

"Got it!"

On the court, Goshiki basically did whatever his senpai told him.

If Ryosuke said something, Goshiki listened.

After all, everyone else was smarter than him.

And after the match, Ryosuke would always explain why he'd told Goshiki to do something a certain way.

That meant Goshiki could learn something from every play.

So at this point, Goshiki's attitude toward Ryosuke was basically:

Ryosuke's right!

I'll do what you say!

Got it!

Things like that.

With Ryosuke's instruction settled, the two prepared to block.

Sakusa reached the net and jumped.

His wrist bent downward in its usual way as he prepared to hit cross-court.

Then Sakusa suddenly realized that Ryosuke had already sealed the cross-court lane.

His eyes followed that path and met Ryosuke's green gaze.

Sakusa immediately adjusted.

He prepared to switch to a line shot instead.

He knew his own limits.

If he tried forcing a cross-court shot past Ryosuke now, it would definitely get blocked.

A spike tight against the net wouldn't work either.

Ryosuke was getting far too comfortable receiving those with his feet.

So Sakusa had only one option.

Avoid Ryosuke.

With Itachiyama trailing, this wasn't the time to challenge him head-on.

But before Sakusa could switch to the line, he glanced over and saw Goshiki completely sealing that route too, staring straight at him.

Now Sakusa was genuinely trapped between two bad options.

The moment Ryosuke saw Sakusa's expression, he knew he'd guessed correctly.

Based on what Ryosuke knew about him, Sakusa would always prefer the cross-court shot first.

So Ryosuke sealed the cross-court lane.

If Sakusa couldn't go cross-court, he'd naturally switch to the line.

But Ryosuke had already told Goshiki what to do, so Goshiki had sealed that too.

If Ryosuke were Sakusa right now, there would be three choices.

The first was to hit straight through Goshiki's block.

But breaking through Goshiki by force would take a tremendous amount of effort for very little reward.

The second was an ultra-sharp cross-court shot.

That option was out too.

Sakusa's feel for the ball wasn't particularly good right now, and Ryosuke could tell from how often his attacks were falling short that he couldn't reliably hit such a sharp angle.

Even if Sakusa forced one anyway, the ball would probably be easy to receive.

That left a third option.

A simple one that would let Itachiyama reset the attack.

A rebound shot.

Ryosuke's thoughts raced.

The moment he reached that conclusion, his gaze sharpened and fixed on Sakusa.

Sure enough, after hesitating for the briefest instant, Sakusa swung directly at Goshiki's hands.

Ryosuke's eyes widened.

He'd actually guessed it.

Was this what Tendo-senpai meant by "anticipation"?

Sakusa controlled the power perfectly.

Not so lightly that the ball would fail to rebound.

Not so hard that he'd simply blast Goshiki's hands aside.

"Bang!"

Goshiki watched Sakusa deliberately spike straight at his palms.

He couldn't understand it.

Why aim directly at his hands when Sakusa could clearly see the block?

Goshiki was certain Sakusa had targeted them on purpose.

Still, he didn't think much about it.

The moment the volleyball touched his palms, Goshiki pressed forward, trying to stuff it down.

Just as the ball seemed about to drop, it bounced off his hands and flew back toward Itachiyama.

Goshiki's eyes widened.

So that was the plan!

What a dirty trick!

His face flushed bright red with anger.

In Goshiki's mind, getting used for a rebound shot was downright humiliating.

As the ball bounced back, Sakusa immediately retreated to prepare for another attack.

Iizuna saw the rebound and raced over to adjust.

He jumped and set the ball in midair.

Ryosuke and Goshiki landed too, but neither jumped again immediately.

Ryosuke didn't think Iizuna would send the ball back to the same side.

There was a high chance he'd pull the set all the way across.

Iizuna rose into the air.

Seeing Sakusa still moving through his approach and the two blockers who hadn't jumped yet, he decisively back-set the ball toward position four.

It was the exact opposite side from the previous attack at position two.

Ryosuke had already expected it.

He immediately adjusted and sprinted toward position four.

When Goshiki saw him move, he followed.

For now, Shiratorizawa wasn't putting as many players into the attack.

Most of their focus was going into defense.

After all, Ushijima was there to anchor the offense, while Ryosuke was the only true dedicated blocker on the court.

Having Goshiki help with the block took a considerable amount of pressure off him.

Nishio was still at position four.

He'd been standing there ready to block when he suddenly heard the volleyball cutting through the air behind him.

He turned.

Iizuna had set the ball to him again.

Nishio was completely dumbfounded.

What was going on?

This was already the second time in this set!

Why did Iizuna keep setting him?

He was a blocker, not a wing spiker!

Nishio complained furiously in his head while taking several steps back to begin his approach.

At that moment, he was incredibly grateful that he'd never slacked off during practice.

Otherwise, he might not even have been able to get the ball over the net.

If Iizuna had sent him the set, then there had to be a reason.

Nishio just had to do what he was told.

His greatest strength was how well he followed instructions.

Ryosuke watched the ball travel toward position four.

Everything was unfolding exactly as he'd predicted.

For the first time, Ryosuke felt as though he'd finally touched the edge of what "anticipation" or "prediction" really meant.

There was no time to dwell on it.

He sprinted toward Nishio, with Goshiki immediately following.

Kawanishi was already near position four.

At first, he didn't understand why Ryosuke and Goshiki were suddenly rushing over.

Then he spotted the volleyball.

Kawanishi immediately joined them, forming a three-man block.

Nishio's attacking ability was mediocre to begin with.

And before he'd even jumped, three towering blockers appeared in front of him.

His scalp practically went numb.

But what else could he do?

He couldn't refuse to attack.

Whether he went forward or backed down, he was in trouble either way.

So Nishio decided to go for it.

Doichiro didn't quite understand what Iizuna was doing either.

Still, he rushed up behind Nishio and quietly said, "Tool it off number eight's hands and bounce it back. We'll handle the next touch."

Number eight was Goshiki.

They weren't aiming for Ryosuke or Kawanishi because those two would see through the plan immediately.

Goshiki was the safer option.

Nishio obediently nodded just before taking off.

Then he jumped.

Ryosuke and Goshiki stood side by side, with Ryosuke in the middle, Kawanishi on the far side, and Goshiki on the other end.

Following Doichiro's instruction, Nishio deliberately aimed for Goshiki's hands.

Goshiki didn't even have time to pull them back.

Nishio's movement was simply too quick.

"Bang!"

The volleyball struck the block with a dull impact and bounced back into Itachiyama's court.

The moment Goshiki landed, his expression twisted.

Again.

That was the second time!

Damn it!

He'd been used twice now!

Proud as he was, Goshiki was so furious he nearly exploded on the spot.

This was the first time anyone had toyed with him like this during a match.

Even Goshiki's normally resilient mentality was reaching its limit.

The volleyball rose.

Iizuna appeared beneath it like a flash of lightning.

He jumped immediately and sent the ball toward position two.

Goshiki had no time to adjust.

Everything was happening far too quickly.

From the moment Nishio attacked, the tempo of the entire rally had suddenly accelerated.

Ryosuke and Kawanishi sprinted toward position two.

Sakusa had been hovering around that area since the previous play.

He trusted Iizuna to send the ball his way.

And sure enough, the set came.

By the time it arrived, Sakusa had already finished his approach.

He jumped and swung his right arm.

"Bang!"

The volleyball slammed into the floor right beside Ryosuke's feet as he rushed over.

Ryosuke tried to receive it.

He couldn't reach it.

He stood there panting.

Now he understood what Iizuna was doing.

Iizuna was running them back and forth like dogs on a leash.

Nishio at position four.

Sakusa at position two.

Back and forth.

Again and again.

Nishio's spikes weren't especially dangerous.

But Nishio listened to instructions.

And more importantly, he knew how to use the block for a rebound.

That alone was enough.

If the attack couldn't finish the point, they could simply reset.

Then Sakusa came into play.

Sakusa had been waiting for Iizuna to set him the ball the entire time.

He didn't fully understand what Iizuna was planning either.

But Sakusa knew one thing.

When things mattered most, Iizuna had never failed them.

Throughout this match, aside from the period in the first set when Tendo was on the court, Iizuna had been deliberately or unconsciously forcing Ryosuke to run from side to side.

Because outside of the libero, Shiratorizawa's defense depended heavily on Ryosuke.

If Itachiyama could break down Shiratorizawa's defense, everything afterward would become much easier.

And right now, Shiratorizawa had no other dedicated blocker to take pressure off Ryosuke.

Goshiki wasn't a specialist either.

He was an attacker.

Whenever Ushijima couldn't reach the ball, Goshiki had to be ready to send it back.

That meant Ryosuke was carrying an enormous defensive burden in this set.

"Beep————!"

The referee blew the whistle and awarded the point.

Ryosuke remained standing where he was.

Sweat dripped steadily from his forehead.

Even with the arena's air conditioning running, he couldn't stop sweating.

He couldn't tell whether it was from the heat or cold sweat brought on by the pressure.

The stands were roaring around him.

But Ryosuke stood there blankly, almost as though he couldn't hear anything.

"Itachiyama! Itachiyama! One more!"

"Sakusa-senpai is so cool!"

The commentator's voice mixed with the noise of the crowd.

"Congratulations to Itachiyama for scoring and regaining the serve!"

"In the previous rally, Shiratorizawa's Goshiki opened with the serve. Komori received it, but the first pass was only partially on target, forcing setter Iizuna to adjust."

"Unexpectedly, Iizuna sent the ball to Nishio, who had been positioned to block."

"With no one directly in front of him, Nishio attacked, but Shiratorizawa's Ryosuke reacted incredibly quickly and rushed over to keep the ball alive!"

"After the receive, Kawanishi immediately attacked. Nishio blocked it, but couldn't completely shut it down!"

"Komori then received the rebound, Sakusa attacked, and Ryosuke and Goshiki formed a two-man block. One sealed the cross-court lane while the other took away the line."

"With nowhere else to go, Sakusa deliberately used the block for a rebound and reset the play..."

The commentator continued rattling off the rally in one long stream.

During live play, he'd only been able to summarize the action briefly.

Now he could explain every detail.

Most of the spectators listened closely.

The people actually involved, however, barely reacted.

Goshiki noticed Ryosuke still standing there in a daze.

He waved a hand in front of his face.

"Ryosuke, Ryosuke. What are you spacing out about?"

Ryosuke snapped back to reality.

He smiled at Goshiki and shook his head.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

Ryosuke knew Goshiki had to be furious after those last two rebounds.

This was the first time since entering high school that someone had toyed with him like that on the court.

Of course he was angry.

It would've been better not to mention it.

The instant Ryosuke did, Goshiki exploded.

"Fine? How could I possibly be fine?! I'm furious!"

His cheeks puffed out.

One look was enough to tell how angry he was.

Seeing Goshiki's puffed cheeks inexplicably improved Ryosuke's mood a little.

He reached out and poked one.

A small dent appeared.

Then he poked it again.

Another dent.

"Ryosuke!"

Goshiki strongly objected to Ryosuke's shameless behavior.

Shirabu and Kawanishi approached from behind, both wearing serious expressions.

Kawanishi looked at Ryosuke.

"You okay? How are you feeling?"

He had also seen through Itachiyama's strategy.

Ryosuke shook his head.

"I'm fine. I can keep going."

Shirabu's expression was sour.

"Itachiyama isn't even trying to hide what they're doing. It's a completely open strategy. Even when you know exactly what the plan is, you can't ignore it because we still have to keep the ball alive."

He frowned.

"It's seriously irritating."