Haikyuu - Chapter 337 (Patreon)

The volleyball slipped past the block and flew toward position four.

Kawanishi was stationed there, but even he hadn't expected the ball to come his way. He immediately threw himself into a dive, stretching out one arm to try to keep it alive.

He was still a fraction too slow.

By the time Kawanishi hit the floor, the volleyball had already landed.

"Bang!"

"Beep————!"

At the sound of the whistle, Tendo closed his eyes for a moment.

He'd only been on the court for a little over ten minutes, yet it felt as though every setback he'd ever experienced had been crammed into this one stretch of the match.

Tendo was starting to suspect Itachiyama had been specifically designed to counter him.

At the same time, he genuinely couldn't understand what had happened.

His instincts hadn't been wrong.

For that brief instant, Sakusa really had intended to drive the ball straight into his hand.

So why had he suddenly changed his mind?

After hearing the whistle, Sakusa studied Tendo thoughtfully.

He might have figured out how to deal with a blocker who relied on instinct like this.

On the previous play, Sakusa really had intended to hammer the ball into Tendo's palm.

He had only changed direction at the last second because his touch felt good, and he realized he could produce a sharp cross-court shot.

But judging from Tendo's expression, that change had completely caught him off guard.

Sakusa thought about it more carefully.

Tendo's intuition really was impressive.

But Sakusa had never seen him suddenly change the direction of his block halfway through.

It was almost as though Tendo could sense how the attacker initially intended to hit the ball, allowing him to prepare in advance.

But if the hitter suddenly changed the direction of the attack or made some other small adjustment at the last moment, Tendo seemed to have difficulty reacting.

He could sense the attacker's first intention.

What came after that was different.

Even if Tendo noticed a later adjustment, he rarely changed the direction of his block. At most, he would try to guide the attacker or leave an opening for Yamagata to cover behind him.

Seen that way, the biggest weakness of Tendo's gift was obvious.

He couldn't reliably read the attacker's second thought, and he couldn't adjust quickly enough once the initial intention changed.

Once Sakusa worked that out, the look he gave Tendo became increasingly meaningful.

So that ridiculous instinct of his wasn't invincible after all.

Once you understood how it worked, it suddenly looked much easier to break.

While Sakusa was studying him, Tendo abruptly whipped his head around.

He had the distinct feeling that someone was plotting against him.

A chill ran down his back.

When he looked over, Sakusa happened to turn his head away.

Tendo narrowed his eyes, then looked back toward the court.

After figuring out Tendo's blocking, Sakusa's mood visibly improved.

Even Komori noticed.

Why did Sakusa suddenly look happier?

Still, Komori wasn't going to ask.

As long as Sakusa was in good condition during the match, everyone generally knew better than to bother him.

Both teams returned to position, and the serve went back to Itachiyama.

This time, Nishio was serving.

Nishio sighed.

His turn again.

If there was one part of volleyball he hated most, it was serving.

Standing alone at position one with everyone's attention on him was already stressful enough.

If the serve went well, fine.

If it went badly, it could become the kind of memory that haunted him for the rest of his life.

And Nishio's serve wasn't especially good to begin with.

Every time his turn came around, the pressure on him seemed to double.

His senpai always tried to reassure him by saying it was fine even if his serve wasn't good.

Unfortunately, every time they said that, Nishio felt even more pressure.

"Nishio, you've got this! It's fine even if the serve isn't great!"

Komori called from beside him.

The corner of Nishio's mouth twitched.

Thanks a lot, Komori-senpai.

He'd been better off before Komori said anything.

Now he was nervous again.

Nishio sighed and turned his head, intending to say something back.

Then the referee's whistle sounded.

"Beep————!"

Too late.

Nishio resigned himself to his fate, tossed the volleyball into the air, and sent over a straightforward jump serve.

"Bang!"

The ball flew toward Shiratorizawa's backcourt.

Yamagata read the trajectory almost immediately and got into position early.

Still, he didn't relax.

A serve that looked this ordinary could always do something strange at the last second.

But even after Yamagata stayed completely alert, the ball simply flew straight into his arms without any surprises whatsoever.

The entire sequence was so smooth that Yamagata almost started wondering whether this simplicity itself was some kind of Itachiyama trick.

The volleyball struck his forearms and rose cleanly.

"Bang!"

The first pass traveled toward Shirabu.

Even after seeing it fly exactly where intended, Yamagata still found the whole thing strangely unbelievable.

So Itachiyama actually had someone this straightforward.

You could usually tell something about a player's personality from their serve.

And that ball had definitely come from someone who hadn't been corrupted by schemes and dirty tricks.

Shirabu looked up.

Yamagata's first pass was so precise that Shirabu barely needed to move.

Ushijima and Reon began their approaches from the backcourt, copying the crossing attack Itachiyama had just used.

One came from the left.

The other came from the right.

Kishimoto and Nishio immediately hurried toward the point where their paths would intersect, clearly not expecting Shiratorizawa to copy their own play so quickly.

Still, the move itself wasn't especially difficult.

Players like Ushijima could reproduce something like this easily.

And Ushijima and Reon already had excellent chemistry.

Shirabu took a quick look in midair and sent the set toward the point where their paths crossed.

Reon sensed the ball coming and jumped first.

His arm swung through a broad arc overhead before snapping downward.

Nishio was momentarily overwhelmed by Reon's presence and jumped on instinct.

It was one of the few times in the entire match that Nishio had gone directly against Reon.

The moment Nishio jumped, Kishimoto followed.

He trusted Nishio's judgment.

Unfortunately, Nishio had read it wrong.

Reon swung.

No impact came.

At that exact moment, using Reon's body as cover, Ushijima jumped from beside him.

His left arm rose high.

Then it came down hard.

"Bang!"

The volleyball brushed past Kishimoto's shoulder and slammed into Itachiyama's frontcourt.

Kishimoto and Nishio landed awkwardly.

Reon grinned and raised a hand toward Ushijima.

A trace of resignation flashed through Ushijima's eyes.

Still, he raised his own hand.

"Smack!"

The two exchanged a crisp high-five.

On the bench, Goshiki's eyes practically sparkled.

That high-five looked so cool.

"Ryosuke, Ryosuke! Next time we combine for an attack, can we do that too?"

Goshiki clearly wanted his own chance to look cool on court.

Ryosuke saw straight through him and smiled gently.

"Sure. But that's Ushijima-senpai and Reon-senpai's thing. Wouldn't it feel a little strange if we copied them exactly?"

Goshiki rubbed his chin.

That was true.

Using the exact same signature gesture as their senpai probably wasn't ideal.

He quieted down and started seriously thinking about what kind of signature gesture he and Ryosuke could use instead.

While Goshiki was lost in thought, the commentator's voice rang out.

"After Itachiyama took the previous point, Nishio stepped up to serve! Yamagata received it cleanly and sent the first pass to Shirabu!"

"Ushijima and Reon immediately moved forward and crossed at the net! Shirabu sets!"

"Reon jumps, drawing the block, but he doesn't attack!"

"Then Ushijima rises behind him and finishes with a powerful spike!"

"Shiratorizawa ties the score again!"

That was how the set had been going.

Shiratorizawa would move ahead by one.

Then Itachiyama would answer.

Neither side could pull away.

"Powerhouse schools really are something else."

Tanaka stared at the court in amazement.

His eyes followed the volleyball back and forth so intently that his head kept moving with it.

Beside him, Nishinoya's eyes seemed to light up brighter with every rally.

Karasuno rarely watched high-level matches in person.

Most of the time, they studied recordings.

The teams they faced in practice were usually smaller schools from Miyagi, with Aobajosai and Shiratorizawa being the major exceptions.

Watching a match like this live was different.

The impact was impossible to put into words.

Ukai's expression grew increasingly serious.

As far as he was concerned, everyone on Karasuno had plenty of talent.

Among the first-years, there was Shoyo Hinata, with his explosive jumping ability.

There was the genius setter Kageyama.

There was Tsukishima, whose blocking instincts were outstanding.

And Yamaguchi, who kept improving little by little.

Among the second-years, Tanaka was one of the team's key wing spikers, with a powerful attack and flexible shot selection.

And there was no need to explain the third-years.

Daichi Sawamura, Nishinoya, Koshi Sugawara, and Azumane were all excellent players in their own right.

Ukai also pushed them hard in training.

But watching this match, he suddenly felt as though Karasuno hadn't improved nearly enough.

That thought sent him into contemplation.

Maybe he could ask that kid from Shiratorizawa to arrange a few practice matches for Karasuno.

Ukai wanted to evaluate the team's current level through actual matches.

If he couldn't identify their weaknesses, they wouldn't know what they needed to improve.

Shoyo Hinata kept replaying Ushijima's spike in his mind.

It had been dazzling.

That height seemed so far beyond him that, for a moment, Hinata couldn't imagine ever reaching it.

His confidence wavered.

Kageyama seemed to notice.

He tilted his head and deliberately provoked him.

"Boke. When we get back, I'm doing extra practice. You better not lose to me."

"Huh?!"

Hinata stared at him.

Why was this guy suddenly provoking him?

"Don't worry! I'm definitely not losing to you! Whoever loses has to bring the winner breakfast for an entire month! It's decided!"

"I'm not losing."

"Neither am I!"

Daichi Sawamura finally lost patience and smacked both of them once.

That shut them up.

Koshi Sugawara watched the entire exchange with smiling eyes.

First-years really did have endless energy.

The match continued.

After Shiratorizawa took the previous point, Shirabu rotated to serve and had already sent the ball over.

Komori moved quickly in the backcourt and received it.

Iizuna glanced across everyone's positions before jumping to set.

As he surveyed the court, his eyes met Sakusa's.

Iizuna understood immediately.

Sakusa wanted him to shake off the block.

If he couldn't, that was fine too.

Either way, the ball had to go to Sakusa.

Having received the message, Iizuna acted at once.

He had already taken note of everyone's positioning.

Sakusa was moving toward position two.

This time, Doichiro wasn't trailing behind Sakusa to cover the attack.

Instead, he was moving toward position four.

Iizuna was facing Doichiro.

So Iizuna jumped and shaped his body as though he were setting to Doichiro.

Tendo didn't bite.

Kawanishi did.

Convinced the ball was going to Doichiro, Kawanishi rushed over without looking back.

Just as he saw Doichiro preparing to jump, Iizuna leaned back and sent a back set toward Sakusa at position two.

Even on a back set, Iizuna's accuracy was frightening.

The ball arrived perfectly above Sakusa's hitting point.

Only Tendo remained in front of him.

Having Kawanishi there probably wouldn't have changed much, but Sakusa certainly didn't mind having one fewer blocker to deal with.

Remembering the previous point, Sakusa decided to use the same idea again.

His posture suggested a cross-court attack.

His wrist bent.

The ball sat ready above his hand.

Anyone watching would have assumed he was preparing a standard cross-court shot.

Tendo sensed the same thing.

Sakusa really did intend to go cross-court.

So Tendo positioned one hand firmly to seal that route.

His other hand still covered the line, but not nearly as tightly.

Sakusa noticed the slight looseness in Tendo's right hand.

At the final instant, he changed his swing.

Instead of going cross-court, he drove the ball hard down the line.

"Bang!"

Sakusa's adjustment was incredibly fast.

It happened directly in front of Tendo's eyes.

Tendo saw it.

But the information didn't reach his brain quickly enough for his body to react.

The ball hammered into his less prepared right palm, blasting his hand backward before deflecting high toward Shiratorizawa's backcourt.

Yamagata immediately sprinted after it.

The volleyball was flying so fast that Yamagata practically felt like he was taking off.

Just before it hit the floor, he threw himself forward into a dive and barely managed to keep it alive.

The resulting first pass was ugly.

Crooked.

Barely controlled.

Shirabu knew that wasn't Yamagata's fault.

He immediately moved after the ball, circling around behind it so he could salvage the play.

Reon watched the terrible first pass and wondered how much Shirabu could really do with it.

Maybe a back-row attack would be the best option.

The thought crossed his mind, and his feet immediately moved.

Reon ran toward Shirabu.

Ushijima headed toward the front row.

Kawanishi followed behind Ushijima to cover the attack.

Shirabu saw Reon approaching and getting closer.

So he set the ball to him.

Reon jumped.

His target was the middle of Itachiyama's court.

Tendo was at position two, occupied with watching Sakusa.

Ushijima was at position four, preparing to attack at the net.

That left only Kishimoto around position three.

Reon raised his right arm and swung hard at the volleyball.