Haikyuu - Chapter 335 (Patreon)

Tendo had chosen to seal the line instead of covering his usual cross-court route.

One possibility was that he simply hadn't had enough time, so he'd sealed the line and deliberately left the cross-court lane open, guiding Doichiro into attacking there. The other possibility was that Tendo had done it on purpose from the start.

Considering the speed of Doichiro's spike, Yamagata's reaction speed, and everyone's current positions on the court, as long as Yamagata got this ball up, Reon could immediately transition into the next attack.

Whatever Tendo's reasoning had been, Yamagata didn't care. All he needed to do was work with him.

Tendo always had his reasons.

"Bang!"

Doichiro had barely landed when he heard the sound of the receive.

He turned around and saw that Yamagata had already sent the ball into the air.

Reon was the closest player to Yamagata, and their transition was seamless. Reon had already completed his approach, and the moment the ball rose, he jumped.

Nishio and Kishimoto's hearts lurched.

They rushed over to block, but by then it was already too late.

There was no way Nishio could reach the ball in time.

Everything was happening too quickly.

Reon swung hard and crushed the volleyball.

"Bang!"

The force of the impact visibly compressed the ball.

Then it shot forward, spinning rapidly through the air.

The volleyball brushed past Nishio's cheek as he hurried over.

Komori's view from the backcourt had been blocked by Kishimoto.

By the time Kishimoto moved aside, Reon was already swinging.

Komori sprinted forward to receive, but he still couldn't make it.

The moment Kishimoto had blocked his view, Komori had already missed the best window for the save.

At this level, even losing 0.01 seconds could be enough to make the ball unreachable.

"Bang!"

The volleyball struck the floor.

Komori had thrown himself into a dive, but he failed to save it.

Instead, his chin slammed into the floor, and he nearly bit his tongue.

Kishimoto was the closest player to him and naturally heard the strange sound.

He turned around and saw Komori rubbing his chin as he climbed back to his feet.

Iizuna hurried over, his expression unusually serious.

He looked Komori over from side to side.

"You okay?"

Komori rubbed his chin and shook his head.

"Almost wasn't. If I'd hit any harder, I might've bitten my tongue off."

The fact that Komori still had enough energy to joke immediately reassured everyone.

Iizuna relaxed too.

"If you can't reach a ball, forget it. As long as you're okay. Safety comes first."

Komori nodded perfunctorily.

As far as he was concerned, nobody was going to die from playing volleyball. A few minor injuries were normal.

One look at him was enough for Iizuna to know none of that advice had gone in.

Komori had always been like this.

The older he got, the more rebellious he became.

Doichiro, meanwhile, still hadn't figured out what had gone wrong with the previous rally.

It had clearly looked like a scoring opportunity at first.

Then, in an instant, the entire situation had reversed.

He couldn't understand it.

Doichiro began replaying the rally in his mind.

The only thing that stood out was Tendo sealing the line.

But even that shouldn't have been enough to completely turn the point around.

Sakusa watched the thoughtful Doichiro and said nothing.

It was better to let Doichiro work this one out on his own.

Sometimes spoon-feeding someone the answer wasn't a good thing.

Only after Doichiro understood the cause and effect himself would he truly learn from it the next time.

"Excellent! Shiratorizawa takes another point! These two teams really are evenly matched!"

"That's right! This rally began with Kawanishi serving for Shiratorizawa. Instead of using a normal jump serve, Kawanishi chose a jump float! The ball moved unpredictably through the air, but Itachiyama's libero Komori still managed to receive it!"

"After Komori's first pass, Iizuna moved in to set. Doichiro and Sakusa combined for a brilliant front-cross attack!"

"Tendo couldn't stop the attack, but Yamagata kept the ball alive! Off Yamagata's receive, Reon immediately transitioned into the next attack and hammered it back across!"

"Nishio and Kishimoto couldn't get there in time to block. Komori rushed forward from the backcourt, but unfortunately, even he couldn't save the ball!"

As the commentator finished, another wave of cheers rose from the stands.

Shoyo Hinata sat in his seat clapping like a seal.

Kageyama had also been drawn in by the previous rally, his hand tightening around the strap of his backpack.

The two of them were completely absorbed in the match.

They had tuned out everything around them so thoroughly that neither even responded when Daichi Sawamura asked whether they wanted something to eat.

Nishinoya quietly crept up behind Daichi Sawamura.

While Daichi wasn't looking, Nishinoya reached out and snatched the snack resting on his knees.

He immediately received a smack for his trouble.

"This... munch, munch... is really good... munch... Tanaka, have some too."

Nishinoya spoke around a mouthful of food.

Tanaka reached over, grabbed the bag, and dumped a whole handful into his mouth.

"You bastard, Tanaka!"

The two of them immediately started fighting in the back row.

Oikawa took a deep breath.

Never in his life had he missed his own teammates this much.

These crows were unbearably noisy.

Daichi Sawamura and Koshi Sugawara, however, seemed completely used to it.

They sat happily in the front row watching the match and showed absolutely no intention of stopping the chaos behind them.

The stands remained noisy.

On the court, Tendo smugly waggled his eyebrows at Yamagata.

"Well? Pretty amazing, right? That last point only happened because of me, didn't it?"

Yamagata nodded with absolutely no enthusiasm.

"Yeah, yeah. All thanks to you. Otherwise, I never would've gotten the ball up."

Tendo knew perfectly well that Yamagata was brushing him off.

That didn't stop him from enjoying himself.

He happily turned toward the bench and waved at Ryosuke like a peacock showing off its feathers.

Goshiki could barely stand to look at him.

He quietly leaned toward Ryosuke.

"Tendo-senpai isn't feeling sick, is he? His eyes keep twitching. Could that affect the match?"

Ryosuke hesitated and looked at Tendo several times.

Finally, he answered uncertainly, "He should be fine. If something were really wrong, Ushijima-senpai would probably have me substitute in."

Goshiki nodded in sudden understanding.

If Ryosuke said it was fine, then it must be fine.

Tendo: All that flirting, wasted on two blind idiots.

The referee saw that no one was returning to position after the rally and was seconds away from blowing the whistle to hurry them along.

Then, just before he did, everyone obediently went back to their places.

The referee silently withdrew the warning whistle.

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

Kawanishi silently counted down in his head as he prepared to serve.

This time, he didn't plan on using another jump float.

What was the point?

Komori would just receive it again.

He might as well use a jump serve.

Kawanishi tossed the volleyball into the air, judged its position, and began his approach.

His target was Itachiyama's sideline, at the point farthest away from Komori.

His arm drove through his wrist.

With a sharp burst of power, he struck the volleyball hard.

"Bang!"

The ball tore toward Itachiyama's court.

Before crossing the net, its flight looked remarkably stable.

Its direction barely changed at all, making it difficult for Komori to judge what would happen.

Only after the volleyball crossed the net did the trajectory begin to shift noticeably.

The ball suddenly raced toward the left side of the backcourt.

Komori's eyes widened.

He hadn't expected Kawanishi to serve it like that.

He immediately chased after the ball.

The volleyball kept flying.

Komori kept running.

By the time it reached deep into the backcourt, Komori hesitated.

Was this ball going out?

If he received a ball that would've landed outside, that would be humiliating.

But he couldn't tell for certain.

And if he let it go only for it to clip the line, that would still be his mistake.

Komori refused to allow himself that kind of error.

He didn't spend much time thinking about it.

He believed he could receive the ball.

That was enough.

Komori accelerated and sprinted toward it, finally getting directly in front of the ball just before it dropped.

He had been running so fast that one foot slipped across the floor.

For a split second, Komori thought he'd lost his chance.

Then he realized his center of gravity was still stable.

He could recover.

Komori dropped onto one knee and planted one hand against the floor to steady himself.

Using that hand as a pivot, he forced his body around until he was facing the ball again.

The moment his posture stabilized, the volleyball arrived.

Komori pulled his supporting hand off the floor and arched his body forward.

The ball landed cleanly on his forearms.

Komori glanced down at the boundary line.

There was still some distance between the ball and the line.

He released a breath of relief, extremely grateful that he'd chosen to play it.

"Bang!"

The volleyball rose high into the air.

The first pass was far from textbook.

Calling it messy would be generous.

But Iizuna thought the receive had looked incredibly cool.

Especially Komori's posture.

It reminded him of a manga where the protagonists were in danger, only for Super Komori to suddenly appear and save everyone.

Iizuna's inner middle-schooler practically burst into flames.

He sprinted after the volleyball.

After seeing Komori save a ball like that, Iizuna was determined to save this rally too.

As he chased after it to adjust, Sakusa and Kishimoto moved toward the net.

One approached from the right.

The other came from the left.

It looked like another front cross, except this time Kishimoto was Sakusa's partner instead of Doichiro.

Tendo narrowed his eyes as he studied the two of them.

Kishimoto attacking?

And openly coordinating with Sakusa?

That was unusual.

It felt suspicious.

From the backcourt, Iizuna jumped and aimed his set toward Sakusa and Kishimoto at the front.

A set like this demanded exceptional precision and spatial awareness.

Even the smallest error could completely ruin the play.

For Iizuna, though, this was routine.

His eyes might as well have been rulers for measuring space.

The volleyball quickly traveled toward the frontcourt.

At the same time, Sakusa and Kishimoto's paths began to overlap.

Tendo stared intently at the pair, trying to find any flaw in their movements.

Sakusa approached from the rear right.

Kishimoto came from the left.

Their figures overlapped in Tendo's field of vision.

Then Sakusa bent his knees.

The instant Tendo saw that, he looked away.

This ball definitely wasn't going to Sakusa.

If anyone asked why he was so sure, Tendo could only shrug and say it was instinct.

Sakusa's fake takeoff simply looked terrible.

It was awkward.

Forced.

One glance was enough to tell he wasn't really committing to the jump.

Having immediately ruled out Sakusa, Tendo locked his attention onto Kishimoto.

As Sakusa jumped and came back down, Kishimoto quickly bent his knees and prepared to take off.

His right arm was already raised, ready to attack.

The moment Tendo saw that motion, he became certain.

Kishimoto was going to hit this ball.

This time, it wasn't a guess based on instinct.

Tendo had reached the conclusion by reading Kishimoto's movements.

Kishimoto jumped.

Tendo jumped with him.

Tendo raised both hands toward Kishimoto's hitting point.

Kishimoto swung hard.

Tendo was already preparing to put strength into the block.

Then nothing hit his hands.

His eyes widened.

Seriously?

They'd fooled him again?

Itachiyama was going to drive him insane.

Tendo looked up.

The volleyball was still in the air.

He hurried to land, readying himself for another block.

The moment his feet touched the floor, Doichiro, who had been approaching from the back row, jumped.

He launched a stable, extremely fast back-row attack.

Tendo had no time to jump again.

Doichiro had timed his swing to the exact instant Tendo landed.

By the time Tendo regained his balance and prepared to take off again, the volleyball was already brushing past his arm and slamming into the floor beside his feet.

"Bang!"

"Beep————!"

The ball landed right next to Tendo.

He'd been preparing to jump and couldn't possibly receive it.

All he could do was watch it hit the floor.

In the brief instant before it landed, Yamagata came diving from behind and Reon from the left.

Both threw themselves toward the ball.

Neither reached it.

The two of them ended up sprawled at Tendo's feet, looking up at him.

Tendo pressed his lips together and fought desperately not to laugh.

Getting fooled by Itachiyama had been irritating.

But getting to see Reon and Yamagata in such an undignified position almost made it worth it.

Both of them were lying right at his feet.

From this angle, the view was fantastic.

Reon saw the corners of Tendo's mouth twitching upward and immediately knew exactly what he was thinking.

He struggled to control the fist that desperately wanted to move on its own.

Tendo's sharp instincts eventually warned him that the atmosphere had become dangerous.

He quickly extended both hands and helped them up.

Yamagata was easygoing enough not to care.

Instead, he was busy blaming himself for failing to receive the ball.

Tendo repeatedly nodded along with everything Yamagata said, making him feel even guiltier.

Reon wasn't going to indulge Tendo.

He smacked him across the back of the head.

Then he turned toward Yamagata.

"Don't listen to him. That point happened because Tendo didn't block it. It wasn't your fault. Don't take it to heart."

Yamagata nodded.

It didn't look like he'd actually taken Reon's words to heart either.

Reon shot Tendo a warning glare, telling him not to make things worse.

But now every time Tendo looked at Reon, all he could picture was the way Reon had been sprawled on the floor staring up at him.

Tendo let out two muffled chuckles.

Then he nodded obediently at Reon to show that he understood.