Haikyuu - Chapter 324 (Patreon)

Just as Shirabu had said, Itachiyama's strategy was completely out in the open.

They were deliberately making Ryosuke run back and forth across the court.

And the worst part was that Ryosuke couldn't complain about it.

It wasn't a foul, nor was it anything underhanded.

It was simply incredibly annoying.

Iizuna walked up to the net with a cheerful smile and addressed the group standing there.

"Nice play."

The mockery in his tone couldn't have been more obvious.

The moment he said it, everyone except Ryosuke glared at him.

Goshiki immediately bristled.

He was already furious, and now Iizuna had come over specifically to provoke them.

If fighting had been allowed on the court, Iizuna would probably have been chased all over the gym by now.

The atmosphere suddenly became so tense it was almost suffocating.

Watching all of this, Nishio and Kishimoto practically trembled.

What kind of nightmare was this?

Could Iizuna-senpai seriously not feel the murderous atmosphere around him?

Was he trying to get himself dragged somewhere and silenced?

Doichiro, unlike the other two, stood beside Komori with a worried expression.

"Do you think someone's going to throw a sack over Iizuna-senpai's head? It'd be bad if it affected the match."

Komori waved a hand dismissively.

"It's fine. Once the match is over, anything goes."

Sakusa stood a short distance away and called out, "Iizuna, hurry back. The match is about to continue."

Iizuna nodded at Sakusa.

Then, before leaving, he gave the group at the net another brilliant smile.

It gave Goshiki goosebumps.

Only then did Iizuna return to his position.

The Shiratorizawa players also headed back, their expressions far from friendly.

Ryosuke still looked as calm as ever.

Seeing that, Shirabu walked over to him.

"Don't worry. This rally, I'll make their blockers run for a change."

Ryosuke raised an eyebrow.

That was rare.

He hardly ever saw Shirabu-senpai show his emotions this openly.

Still, Ryosuke gave him a reminder.

"There's no need yet. Let's see whether they really intend to keep playing like this."

Shirabu turned his head away with a huff and started walking.

A moment later, he reluctantly replied, "Got it."

Ryosuke smiled without saying anything.

That wasn't the only reason he'd stopped Shirabu.

Ryosuke couldn't shake the feeling that every move he made was being anticipated.

Just now, he'd predicted that Sakusa wouldn't attack, and Sakusa really hadn't.

The ball had even gone exactly where Ryosuke expected, all the way to position four.

Everything had gone far too smoothly.

Ryosuke suspected Iizuna had deliberately guided him into that conclusion.

After all, Iizuna was the one deciding where the ball went.

If Shirabu let his emotions get the better of him now and tried to drag Itachiyama's blockers around in return, the situation on the court would change again.

Ryosuke didn't mind changes.

He simply wanted those changes to happen on his terms.

By the time everyone had returned to position, the commentator had finally finished talking.

His throat was completely dry.

He lifted his cup with a conflicted expression.

Watching the match was incredible.

Commentating on it was torture.

He'd nearly run out of breath trying to explain that last rally.

aking money really wasn't easy. Some jobs were just miserable.

Once the referee saw that both sides were ready, he blew the whistle.

The next rally officially began.

Up in the stands, Hoshiumi was still thinking about the previous rally.

It was a shame he hadn't brought a camera.

Otherwise, he definitely would've recorded it.

That rally had been incredible.

He could've spent half the day studying that one sequence alone.

Sitting a little farther down, Oikawa rested his chin on his palm and spoke to Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan, the teams that make the quarterfinals and semifinals really are full of monsters."

His tone was unusually serious.

Iwaizumi turned to look at him in surprise.

Whenever Oikawa sounded this serious, he was usually planning something ridiculous.

Sure enough, the next second Oikawa continued.

"Hey, once the tournament's over, what if we beg Ryosuke to arrange practice matches with all these quarterfinal teams?"

"One team per day. Then we'd have practice opponents for the whole summer!"

Oikawa grew increasingly excited as he spoke.

Iwaizumi's eyebrow twitched.

Then he smacked Oikawa hard on the arm.

"What are you talking about?! You think you can work those ace players like pack animals? Keep dreaming!"

"And besides, you'd be putting Ryosuke in a really awkward position, idiot!"

"Ow!"

Oikawa cried out and grabbed his reddened arm.

Tears welled in his eyes as he glared accusingly at Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan! You hit me again!"

Iwaizumi stared back with a cold expression and said nothing.

Seeing that he really wasn't going to respond, Oikawa stopped fooling around.

Then he spoke seriously.

"I really do think it could work. Once the tournament's over, I'll ask Ryosuke."

Oikawa's head was already full of schemes.

All he could think about was how to trick those prodigies into becoming practice partners for Aobajosai.

He stared at the two teams still playing below with burning enthusiasm.

Higher up in the stands, Hoshiumi complained, "I really should've brought a camera to record all this."

Hirugami heard him.

"It's fine. They'll release recordings of the tournament later, and those will be high quality. Just save them when they're available."

Hoshiumi thought about it.

Hirugami had a point.

So he stopped complaining.

Hirugami smiled and asked, "Hoshiumi, what did you think of the last rally?"

Hoshiumi kept his eyes on the court.

Without even turning his head, he replied, "Itachiyama's setter is seriously ruthless."

"Oh?"

That answer caught Hirugami by surprise.

Interested, he physically turned Hoshiumi's head toward him.

"Go on."

Hoshiumi shot him an annoyed glare before quickly turning back toward the match.

"I'm not blind. Iizuna was obviously making Ryosuke run all over the court."

"He's full of bad ideas."

"And the worst part is that he's an attacking setter. His left-handed setter dumps are a nightmare to defend against."

"If you asked me which setter I'd least want to face, Iizuna would be number one."

Hirugami raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected Hoshiumi to notice that much.

Apparently, Hoshiumi's brain worked perfectly well whenever volleyball was involved.

So why were his grades so bad?

"Then who's number two?"

Hoshiumi turned back with an unusually serious expression.

"I wouldn't say I hate them. I just really don't want to face this type of setter in a match."

"One is Iizuna."

"The other is Kenma from Nekoma."

"Kenma?"

Now Hirugami was genuinely confused.

Nekoma had very little to do with their team, and they hadn't even played each other many times.

So why was Hoshiumi so reluctant to face Kenma?

Perhaps hearing the confusion in Hirugami's voice, Hoshiumi explained.

"Iizuna is an attacking setter who's nasty and troublesome. Every now and then he comes up with some irritating trick."

"Kenma's different. He just likes calculating everything and setting people up."

"He's creepy."

"I don't know how to explain it. I just feel like Kenma and I don't get along at all. Every time I see him, the hair on my arms stands up."

After hearing that, Hirugami became genuinely curious about Nekoma.

As soon as Hoshiumi finished speaking, a group from Nekoma happened to walk past.

Kenma had heard every word.

He rubbed his nose.

So that was how other people saw him.

Then again, as a setter with limited stamina, he had no choice but to make up for it by using his head.

Sorry for scaring you, I guess.

Kuroo let out a short laugh after hearing Hoshiumi's comments.

Hoshiumi turned around.

Only then did he realize that the entire Nekoma group had somehow ended up nearby.

Kuroo immediately started teasing him.

"Well, well. Who would've thought the Small Giant was capable of being scared? Hahaha!"

And just like that, his taunting began.

Hoshiumi had originally been a little embarrassed.

The moment Kuroo said that, however, he bristled.

"What do you mean, scared?! I'm not scared!"

"I just said I'm bad at dealing with setters like that!"

"If I had to use my brain this much every day, all my brain cells would've died already!"

Kenma scratched his hair.

"Thanks for the compliment."

Hoshiumi's face immediately turned red.

That wasn't what he'd meant!

He'd only been complaining!

He hadn't expected Kenma himself to hear it.

And now Kenma was thanking him?

What was that supposed to mean?!

Was he making fun of him?!

In the span of a few seconds, Hoshiumi's thoughts had already twisted themselves into knots.

Hirugami watched him bristle with amusement.

He reached over and pressed down the stray tuft of hair sticking up from Hoshiumi's head.

Then he gave Kuroo a faintly amused look.

Hoshiumi was thin-skinned.

If Kuroo kept teasing him, he'd probably start looking for a crack in the floor to crawl into.

Kuroo read the situation and wisely stopped talking.

He looked around and realized there were no empty seats.

So he simply sat down in the aisle.

Kenma looked down at Kuroo sitting beside his feet and lightly kicked him.

"Kuroo, you're going to block the aisle sitting there."

Kuroo waved him off.

"It's fine. Nobody's leaving before this match ends."

"Anyway, the Small Giant was just talking about Itachiyama's setter. What do you think, Kenma?"

Hearing his name, Hoshiumi turned around too.

When Hirugami saw him turn, he rested his chin on one hand and looked back as well.

Suddenly finding himself stared at by three people, Kenma grew a little uncomfortable.

He slowly crouched down and pulled out his game console.

Only then did he start talking.

"Iizuna and I aren't alike at all."

"His setter dumps are powerful, and he doesn't normally rely that much on tactics during matches."

"If he's actually using his head this much now, it's probably because Shiratorizawa is difficult to deal with."

"He's kind of like Taketora. Taketora usually doesn't think much, but the moment he runs into an opponent he can't handle easily, he starts thinking about how he should spike."

It was rare for Kenma to say so much at once.

Hirugami looked thoughtful.

"So Iizuna is specifically targeting them?"

Kenma slowly nodded.

Hoshiumi rubbed his arms, trying to smooth down goosebumps that weren't even there.

He'd honestly rather take one of Ushijima's spikes head-on than deal with a setter like that.

It was terrifying.

You never knew when one of those tricks was coming, which made it almost impossible to defend against.

Once their conversation ended, everyone fell silent again.

Then, almost at the same time, they turned their attention back to the court.

Itachiyama had won the previous rally.

That meant they were serving again.

And unfortunately, the server this time was Nishio.

Nishio couldn't help feeling that this match had become very strange.

He was a blocker.

Yet he hadn't actually blocked that many balls.

Instead, he kept getting asked to spike and serve.

It was ridiculous.

What had he done to deserve this as a blocker?

Nishio trudged toward the service line with the volleyball in his arms.

Kishimoto watched him with an expression that was half amused and half sympathetic.

Poor guy.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just focus on getting the serve in."

Nishio quietly nodded while holding the ball.

Iizuna also waved at him.

"Nishio, give us a good serve! You can do it!"

Nishio sighed inwardly.

He was carrying pressure no one his age should have to endure.

He nodded to everyone, walked into position, and prepared himself.

Then the referee's whistle sounded.

At the signal, Nishio tossed the volleyball into the air.

The ball rose high.

Nishio began his approach.

He knew his serve wasn't particularly good.

Trying to score an ace against that collection of monsters on Shiratorizawa was practically impossible.

All Nishio could do was make a solid serve, avoid mistakes, and make sure he didn't cause trouble for his teammates.

The volleyball dropped into the right position.

Nishio jumped and struck it cleanly.

"Bang!"

The ball flew across the court.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about Nishio's serve.

Its greatest strength was simply that it was stable.

On Shiratorizawa's side, Yamagata watched the ball coming and adjusted his position in the backcourt.

The volleyball flew steadily, with hardly any unusual spin or curve.

Yamagata easily predicted where it would land.

He moved toward the back-left area and crouched with his knees bent.

Both arms extended forward.

The next second, the volleyball dropped directly onto his forearms.

Yamagata shifted his weight backward and smoothly absorbed the force.

Then he pushed through his arms and sent the ball upward.

The volleyball rose high and steady.

Yamagata watched it and silently admired the pass.

Perfect.

This was the kind of serve that felt good to receive.

As the ball rose, Shirabu moved underneath it to set.

He'd originally wanted to do exactly what Iizuna had done and make Itachiyama's blockers run around for a while.

But after listening to Ryosuke earlier, Shirabu decided now wasn't the time to act recklessly.

So he obediently set the ball to Ushijima.

Whenever the team hesitated or fell into a slump, only the ace could break through that atmosphere.

Ushijima had already completed his approach and reached the net.

He'd barely attacked at all during this set.

He had been conserving his strength the entire time.

With Ryosuke and Goshiki handling the front court and Kawanishi and Yamagata worrying about the backcourt, Ushijima felt, for the first time, almost unnecessary on the court.

It didn't bother him.

His objective remained perfectly clear as he moved toward the ball.

The set reached the net.

Ushijima jumped.

Across from him, Sakusa, Doichiro, and the others were already waiting.

Kishimoto was also rushing over.

Itachiyama intended to form a three-man block.

At the very least, they wanted to stop one of Ushijima's attacks.

Ushijima rose into the air.

His left hand was ready to swing.

Then his gaze caught the positioning of Sakusa and the other blockers.

Their hands were all angled slightly toward the right, prepared to adjust to his left-handed attack.

Ushijima immediately abandoned the idea.

Instead, he raised his right hand.

Then he drove it hard into the volleyball.

"Bang!"

The spike went straight toward Sakusa on the far edge of the block.

For the briefest instant, Sakusa failed to react.

Ushijima could use his right hand now.

That realization made him freeze for a fraction of a second.

Then Sakusa quickly adjusted his right hand, moving it toward the left.

The moment his hand reached the proper position, Ushijima's spike slammed directly into his palm.

Sakusa's wrists were naturally extremely flexible.

The ball struck the center of his hand, and as Sakusa tried to control the impact, his wrist bent sharply backward.

At first glance, it looked as though his wrist had snapped.

The sight was genuinely terrifying.