Haikyuu - Chapter 328 (Patreon)

"If I'd known, I would've just received it with my face."

Ryosuke sighed again after saying that, and even the little curls on top of his head seemed to droop with him, making him look somewhat dejected.

Goshiki was speechless.

Why would Ryosuke even have such an immature idea?

Receiving a ball with your face wasn't impossible, but hearing Ryosuke say it somehow felt completely wrong.

Goshiki couldn't even imagine what a red volleyball mark would look like on Ryosuke's delicate face.

He simply couldn't picture it.

Shirabu, who had jogged over, heard him and said with a sour expression, "As long as you're not hurt, it's fine. We'll just take the point back."

Shirabu had been standing right behind Ryosuke and had clearly seen the volleyball flying toward his face.

For a moment, he'd thought Ryosuke had actually been hit, and he'd been seriously worried.

After all, none of them wanted to see any marks left on Ryosuke's fair, delicate face.

Shirabu rarely showed concern for anyone.

Aside from Ushijima, Ryosuke was probably the only other person who received this kind of treatment from him.

It was practically unprecedented.

Yamagata watched them from behind with a smile.

This was nice.

Ever since the first-years joined, Shiratorizawa had become much livelier.

Even Shirabu wasn't as quiet and blank-faced as he used to be.

If only they could keep playing together like this forever.

Ushijima walked over without saying anything.

His eyes swept across Ryosuke's face several times.

Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he look away.

"Get back into position."

With that, Ushijima turned and walked off.

Shirabu, Ryosuke, and Goshiki followed behind him like a mother hen leading a group of chicks.

On Itachiyama's side, Komori finally felt the weight on his chest lift after they won the point.

He silently swore that once the match was over and they got back, he would study every single frame of Ryosuke's match footage from beginning to end.

That serve was far too exhausting to deal with.

"Who's serving next?"

Still thinking about it, Komori looked up and asked the others.

Iizuna's ears immediately caught the word "serve."

He raised his hand like an elementary school student.

"Me!"

Seeing that it was Iizuna, Komori didn't say much.

"Serve well."

Then he returned to his receiving position.

Iizuna pouted.

He'd thought Komori was going to show him a little concern.

Come on.

Ryosuke had just scored four straight points from the service line.

If Iizuna followed that by failing to score even one, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

He'd expected Komori to tell him not to worry about it.

Apparently he'd been imagining things.

Sakusa noticed the commotion, glanced over briefly, then looked away again.

Once everyone had returned to position, the referee blew the whistle.

The next rally began.

Iizuna stood at position one to serve.

At first, he'd been planning to use a left-handed serve.

Then he reconsidered.

Ushijima was famous for being left-handed, so Shiratorizawa's players had probably been tormented by left-handed serves plenty of times during practice.

If Iizuna served left-handed too, they might receive it immediately.

After thinking it over, he decided to serve normally.

Aside from his left-handed serve, Iizuna was best at the jump serve.

It sounded ordinary, but his jump serve was far more accurate than most.

He could basically place it wherever he wanted.

After all, he was a setter.

Seeing Yamagata grow serious in Shiratorizawa's backcourt made Iizuna a little nervous too.

Yamagata's ability wasn't far behind Komori's.

During practice, Iizuna couldn't even fool Komori easily.

Trying to fool Yamagata would be a joke.

Iizuna sighed inwardly.

As long as the serve was fast enough and accurate enough, Yamagata wouldn't be able to receive it.

With that thought in mind, he encouraged himself.

Then he tossed the volleyball into the air and began his approach.

Once the ball reached the ideal contact point, Iizuna swung hard.

"Bang!"

With the loud impact, the volleyball shot forward with a sharp rush of air.

The moment Iizuna landed, he sucked in a breath.

It had been too long since he'd served seriously.

He'd put a little too much force into it, and his arm felt slightly strained.

From the moment Iizuna served, Yamagata's eyes had locked onto the ball like a hawk.

The volleyball reached them within only a few breaths.

Yamagata was surprised.

Was this guy's serve really that fast?

The serve had a very distinct character.

It deliberately traveled through the most crowded path on the court, aimed directly at Goshiki in the back row.

At first, Goshiki assumed it would curve like Ryosuke's serve.

He could already tell that the ball was initially aimed at him.

What he hadn't expected was that it wouldn't curve at all.

It came straight at him with enough force to make it look as though it intended to crush him.

Goshiki froze.

Even Yamagata was briefly stunned.

It was the first time he'd seen a serve like this in a major tournament.

Still, Yamagata didn't panic.

He immediately sprinted toward Goshiki.

He was worried that the idiot kid would just stand there and wait for the ball to hit the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye, Goshiki saw Yamagata running toward him.

That was when he understood.

This serve really was coming straight at him.

The volleyball was already in front of him.

Goshiki knew Yamagata wouldn't make it in time.

As the ball came closer, memories of being pelted with volleyballs by his senpai back at school flashed through his mind.

His body reacted before he could think.

Goshiki crouched and brought his arms together for a receive.

The instant he finished positioning himself, the ball slammed into his forearms.

"Bang!"

Goshiki let the force carry him into a forward roll, using the motion to absorb the impact.

The volleyball rose into the air.

Yamagata's gaze followed it upward.

Not bad.

It wasn't perfect, but it was more than usable.

Goshiki breathed a sigh of relief after getting the ball up.

That had scared him to death.

He'd genuinely thought he was about to get crushed by the serve.

Ever since a few senpai at school had "bullied" him with volleyballs, Goshiki had become extremely sensitive to the feeling of a ball hitting his body.

He would rather dive, roll, and scramble across the floor to receive than let a volleyball hit him directly.

Shirabu saw the ball rise and glanced at Goshiki.

There was a hint of approval in his eyes that even he didn't seem to notice.

He moved under the ball and prepared to set.

Ushijima and Kawanishi charged toward the frontcourt.

Ryosuke followed behind Ushijima to cover the attack.

Goshiki ran all the way to position four and took his place there.

He wanted to attack too.

During the first half of the set, Goshiki and Ryosuke had done most of the work, with Kawanishi supporting them.

Now that they had reached the latter half, Ushijima was starting to step up as well.

Ushijima and Ryosuke arrived at position two, one behind the other.

The moment Nishio saw Ushijima move there, he followed.

Right now, Ushijima and Ryosuke were the two biggest threats.

If those two were both involved in the attack, stopping them would be incredibly difficult.

Nishio's priority was to mark the most dangerous player.

He didn't care whether that player actually ended up attacking.

He wouldn't relax until he saw the ball sent across the net.

Even if Ushijima wasn't the attacker, Nishio's speed and reactions were good enough that he could still adjust to position three or four in time.

A setter dump, however, might be another matter.

It seemed like first-years from every school had trouble dealing with setter dumps from their senpai.

Ryosuke and Goshiki were no exception.

For now, neither of them had found a perfect way to stop Iizuna's attacks.

This time, Shirabu was setting to Ushijima.

He made no attempt to disguise it.

He believed Ushijima-senpai would score.

With a light movement of his wrists, Shirabu sent the volleyball across the court in a perfect arc toward Ushijima.

Ushijima glanced upward, took several steps back for his approach, then jumped.

The moment Nishio saw him begin his run-up, every warning bell in his head went off.

This time, Nishio had learned his lesson.

He didn't stare only at Ushijima.

Instead, he alternated his gaze between Ushijima and the volleyball, guarding against a time-difference attack or a back-row attack.

But this play didn't seem to contain any trickery at all.

The volleyball simply traveled straight toward Ushijima.

Ushijima jumped to attack.

Nishio jumped with him.

Kishimoto had already noticed that Nishio was trying to block Ushijima alone.

Even though Ushijima might not necessarily be the one to attack, Kishimoto still admired Nishio's courage for daring to face him head-on.

A split second before Ushijima made contact, Kishimoto reached the block and jumped beside Nishio.

Ushijima's left arm whipped through the air.

"Bang!"

His hand struck the volleyball with a heavy impact.

The ball flew directly between Nishio and Kishimoto's arms.

The two worked together to stop it.

But their combined strength was nowhere near Ushijima's.

His spike forcibly blew their arms apart.

"Bang!"

The volleyball tore through the middle of the block and flew toward Itachiyama's backcourt.

Komori had already seen Ushijima's attack coming.

He crouched behind Kishimoto, waiting for the ball.

The volleyball was rapidly heading toward the edge of the court.

Komori accelerated.

He sprinted underneath it, rolled across the floor, and managed to dig it back into play.

Iizuna was waiting inside the court.

The moment the ball came back, he set it toward Sakusa at position four.

Sakusa jumped to attack.

Ryosuke and Goshiki immediately adjusted.

Kawanishi, who was already close to position four, joined them.

All three jumped to block at the same time.

Maybe Sakusa had suddenly found his rhythm.

Whatever the reason, he bent his wrist and produced an incredibly sharp cross-court shot.

Ryosuke had been preparing to seal the cross-court lane.

But he hadn't expected an angle that sharp.

It was already too late to change his hand position.

He couldn't reach it with his foot either.

All he could do was watch Sakusa attack from position four and send the ball all the way toward position two.

If Shiratorizawa lost this point, the gap Ryosuke had just fought to close would open again.

Everyone became anxious.

Then Yamagata appeared at position two like a savior.

He threw himself into a dive, flattening the back of his hand against the floor.

The volleyball struck his hand and bounced upward.

"Bang!"

"Nice one, Yamagata-senpai!"

Goshiki shouted at the top of his lungs.

He was completely fired up.

He'd been convinced that rally was already lost.

Then Yamagata had somehow saved it.

It felt like being on the verge of starving to death only to have a roast chicken suddenly appear in front of you.

The volleyball rose.

Right behind Yamagata, Ushijima was already finishing his approach.

Ushijima jumped.

His eyes swept across Itachiyama's court.

Then, without hesitation, he hammered the ball into the frontcourt.

Nishio saw the volleyball cross the net again and scrambled desperately toward it.

But he was still too slow.

By the time he reached the spot, the ball had already hit the floor.

"Bang!"

The referee blew the whistle.

"Beep————!"

The moment the whistle ended, Goshiki rushed straight over to Yamagata.

He stared at him as though he'd just discovered some rare species.

"Yamagata-senpai, you're seriously amazing!"

Goshiki had never admired Yamagata this much before.

After witnessing that receive himself, his respect for Yamagata had risen all the way to the same level as his admiration for Ushijima.

That had been a super-sharp cross-court shot.

The kind of ball even Komori, the "number one libero," couldn't always receive.

Yamagata chuckled and ruffled Goshiki's bowl cut.

"Come on, it wasn't anything special. As long as you read the play early and prepare properly, receiving a ball is pretty easy. Practice enough and you'll be able to do it too."

Yamagata made it sound effortless.

Goshiki absolutely refused to believe him.

If it were really that easy, everyone could become a top-class libero.

"Forget about me. Goshiki, your receive earlier was really good too."

Ryosuke joined in.

"Mm-hm. It was great. Clean and decisive. At this rate, Goshiki, you might even knock Yamagata-senpai off his throne."

Yamagata raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Then I'll be waiting for you to challenge me, Goshiki."

The two of them played off each other perfectly.

Goshiki's face turned bright red as he nodded again and again, completely taken in by their praise.

Shirabu rolled his eyes and pretended not to notice Yamagata-senpai misleading a child.

Kawanishi watched Goshiki surrounded by Ryosuke and Yamagata and couldn't help marveling.

Who would've thought that only two months ago, Goshiki had still been a kid who couldn't even receive properly?

He really had grown fast.

At that moment, Kawanishi finally understood the joy of watching someone develop.

"Shiratorizawa scores again! Their ace, Ushijima, finishes the rally with a left-handed spike!"

"That's right! The rally began with a serve from Itachiyama's Iizuna. His serve is extremely distinctive. Although it's a standard power jump serve, Iizuna can control the placement with remarkable accuracy."

"Instead of serving toward libero Yamagata, he deliberately targeted Goshiki."

"Before this rally, Goshiki had rarely been asked to receive during matches, so we hadn't seen much of his defensive ability. But judging from that play, his receiving skills shouldn't be underestimated!"

"Goshiki gets the ball up, Shirabu sets to Ushijima, and Ushijima attacks! Kishimoto and Nishio form the block, but Ushijima powers straight through it, and Komori keeps the ball alive!"

"After the receive, Iizuna sets to Sakusa. Sakusa attacks from position four!"

"As everyone knows, Sakusa has exceptionally flexible wrists. By adding even more wrist action to his cross-court attack, he produces a super-sharp cross-court shot!"

"And somehow, Yamagata, positioned at two, gets underneath it and keeps the ball alive!"

"Yamagata and Ushijima work together perfectly. One saves the ball, the other finishes the attack, and Shiratorizawa takes the point!"