Haikyuu - Chapter 338 (Patreon)

As Reon swung, Nishio glanced at Ushijima across from him. Ushijima had already jumped, but this time, even though Nishio could feel the pressure of a coming attack from him, he wasn't going to blindly jump and block. He knew for certain that Ushijima wasn't the one hitting this ball.

So Nishio decisively abandoned the idea of blocking Ushijima. This time, he wouldn't let Ushijima's presence intimidate him.

Nishio moved toward position three. At the same time, Reon had already jumped from the back row, his arm swinging down toward the volleyball.

"Bang!"

The ball flew toward Itachiyama's court. Nishio still didn't jump. He settled into position and waited until he had confirmed the height and trajectory of the attack before moving.

Once he saw the ball coming toward him and judged its height, Nishio bent his knees and jumped.

"Bang!"

The volleyball slammed directly into Nishio's palms with a heavy impact. His hands instantly went numb, but compared with Ushijima's spikes, the force was still manageable. Nishio gritted his teeth, braced his arms and hands, and forced the ball sharply downward toward Shiratorizawa's court.

After landing from his attack, Reon saw Nishio pressing the ball down over the net, and a bad feeling immediately rose in his chest.

No way. Was this kid really going to block that?

But there was no time to think about it. Reon immediately sprinted toward the net. If anything happened, he might still be able to save the ball.

"Bang!"

Before Reon could reach it, Nishio had already pressed the ball down and planted it into Shiratorizawa's floor.

Realizing he wasn't going to make it, Reon threw himself into a dive and tried to dig it up.

He was still too late.

The volleyball hit the floor.

Reon lay on the court and looked up at Nishio.

Nishio was looking down at him.

"Beep————!"

The moment Nishio heard the whistle, pride surged through him.

That point.

He had scored it with a solo stuff block.

Nishio spun around excitedly toward his teammates.

From the backcourt, Komori smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

He knew this kid could do it.

Iizuna broke into a huge grin, looking even happier than if he'd scored the point himself. Even Sakusa's eyes carried a hint of satisfaction.

"Not bad, kid!"

Kishimoto, usually so composed, slapped Nishio hard on the back. He was genuinely happy for him.

Kishimoto had joined the team at the same time as Nishio. He had personally watched Nishio stay behind night after night to train with the upperclassmen. He had seen Nishio fail to stop a single ball during matches, and he'd heard plenty of discouraging comments from other people.

But Kishimoto had always known Nishio could do it.

Nishio must have been waiting a long time for a point like this.

Doichiro was just as excited.

"Nice one. From now on, we're counting on you for our front-row defense."

Seeing how happy everyone was for him, Nishio's eyes turned red. Overwhelmed with excitement, he raised one hand and shouted,

"Nice ball!"

At that moment, Nishio was cheering for himself.

"Nice one, Nishio!"

"Little Nishio's finally looking the part!"

"Who's that blocker? That was pretty cool."

One of Nishio's former junior-high senpai was also in the stands. He smiled as he watched Nishio's eyes turn red, feeling a complicated mix of emotions.

That silly brat from back then had really grown up.

There were also spectators who hadn't thought much of Nishio at first, only to change their minds after that block.

The commentator's voice rang out at that moment.

"Itachiyama pulls another point back! This rally began with a serve from Shiratorizawa's Shirabu. Itachiyama's libero Komori received it, and Iizuna set the ball with a back set to Sakusa. Tendo was the blocker directly across from Sakusa."

"Sakusa attacks! Cross-court shot! No, it's down the line! Tendo gets one hand on it, but the block isn't controlled. Yamagata dives to keep it alive, and Shirabu adjusts the play!"

"Ushijima and Kawanishi move toward the net, but Ushijima isn't the one attacking. Shirabu sets, and Reon comes in with a back-row attack!"

"Nishio leaves Ushijima and moves to position three, waiting for the right moment to block. The instant Reon attacks, Nishio jumps and shuts him down! A stuff block!"

"This is Nishio's first blocking point of the match! Everyone in the arena, let's hear it for this young player, Nishio Satoru!"

"Nice block, kid!"

"That's a real man!"

The stands erupted into noise.

Iizuna patted Nishio's shoulder and turned him around so he was facing the crowd.

"See that? They're all cheering for you."

The instant Iizuna said it, Nishio's nose stung and his eyes grew red again.

To be honest, throughout this match Nishio hadn't scored a single blocking point. He hadn't even managed to shut down a ball cleanly.

He never said anything about it, but he'd been deeply disappointed and frustrated.

What made him feel even worse was that no one on the team had blamed him even once.

Nishio sniffed.

"Thank you, senpai. I'll work even harder from now on."

Deep down, Nishio felt that the only reason he'd stopped that ball was because his senpai had never given up on him. They had kept encouraging him the entire time.

As for blocking back-row attacks, Nishio was unusually familiar with them because Doichiro had battered him with back-row attacks countless times during practice. The instant Nishio saw one coming, muscle memory took over.

If it had been another kind of attack, Nishio still didn't know whether he could have blocked it.

But he wasn't as worried anymore.

He knew his senpai would keep supporting him.

Reon grimaced as he climbed up from the floor, with Tendo helping him with one hand.

Reon rubbed his lower back.

"That dive was way too hard. I think I tweaked my back."

Yamagata hurried over and stared at him with wide eyes.

"You okay? Do you need the team doctor to look at it?"

Reon shook his head.

It wasn't that serious. It didn't even hurt much.

"I just didn't expect that kid to actually be that good."

Reon had to admit it.

He had underestimated Nishio.

Tendo gave a soft snort.

"Nobody on Itachiyama is any good."

Reon had no idea why Tendo had developed such a strong grudge against Itachiyama, so he simply patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"All right. Let's get back into position. Once we reach the middle of the set, Ryosuke can come in."

Tendo nodded and returned to his place.

The referee hadn't interrupted the celebration at all. He had simply stood there quietly and waited for the excitement to settle.

Watching the teenagers on court cheering so openly, the referee felt as if he'd been taken back to his own school days.

Nishio's smile reminded him of how he'd felt the first time he'd ever successfully put away a spike.

That really was youth.

"It's such a shame Reon-senpai didn't score that one."

Goshiki drooped, looking as though he'd been the one stuffed at the net.

Ryosuke, however, was much calmer.

"It's fine. The score probably won't swing much right now. They're still locked in a stalemate. We'll need another six or seven rallies before we can tell which side is gaining momentum."

Hearing that, Goshiki stopped worrying.

He picked up the pom-pom in his hand and started waving it again.

"Shiratorizawa! Shiratorizawa! Let's go!"

"Reon! Reon! You're the best!"

Then one hand reached out and dragged Ryosuke to his feet again.

Ryosuke stood with a helpless sigh.

At this point, he'd already embarrassed himself enough.

It was fine.

It was fine.

He repeated that to himself internally.

"Shiratorizawa! Shiratorizawa! Let's go!"

"Ushijima! Ushijima! You're the best!"

Sure enough, once there was a first time for cheering, a second came much more easily.

The players on court heard them and turned around.

They saw Goshiki and Ryosuke waving their arms like two grasshoppers, and smiles appeared in their eyes.

Seeing that, Reon started rallying the others.

"Keep your heads up! Our underclassmen are watching us!"

"Yes!"

The excitement on both sides finally cooled, and everyone returned to position.

Once the referee confirmed that both teams were ready, he blew the whistle to officially begin the next rally.

Nishio's block had earned Itachiyama the right to serve again.

This time, Iizuna stood at position one.

He smiled toward Nishio.

"I really have you to thank for that one, kid. Keep it up for the rest of the match!"

Nishio's face reddened, then immediately turned serious again.

"Yes, Iizuna-senpai!"

At the referee's whistle, Iizuna took a deep breath and tossed the volleyball into the air, aiming toward Shiratorizawa's backcourt.

He took several approach steps, jumped, drove through his core, and swung his right arm hard into the ball.

"Bang!"

The volleyball flew over the heads of the Itachiyama players.

Nishio was standing closest to Iizuna. He could even hear the distorted sound of impact when Iizuna struck the ball.

Iizuna-senpai really hits hard.

Thank goodness Iizuna-senpai was a setter.

Thank goodness he was on Nishio's team.

Otherwise, Nishio didn't even want to imagine how many times he'd fail trying to block him.

The volleyball tore across Itachiyama's court and headed straight for Shiratorizawa's backcourt.

Iizuna had learned from his previous mistakes.

He could simply serve away from Yamagata.

That was exactly what he did this time, aiming in the opposite direction.

Yamagata had managed to force Sakusa off serve after a single rally before. Iizuna had no intention of challenging him head-on, especially with the score this close.

Both teams had worked hard to maintain this balance.

Iizuna didn't want to be the one to break it.

Yamagata watched the ball fly like an arrow from a bow.

Before it crossed the net, he was still waiting comfortably in the backcourt.

Then the ball cleared the net and seemed to turn into a wild horse breaking free.

Yamagata stared.

Then he took off after it.

As he ran, pain throbbed faintly in his shoulder.

The air dragged harshly through his nose and mouth.

Instead of slowing him down, all of it only made Yamagata more excited.

He sprinted across almost the entire court.

A split second before the volleyball hit the floor, Yamagata launched himself into a dive and got underneath it.

"Bang!"

Iizuna stared in disbelief.

Was that actually a speed a human being could run at?

The volleyball couldn't even outrun him.

Had Yamagata been a sprinter in a past life?

Iizuna genuinely couldn't understand it.

Even the spectators were stunned.

Shoyo Hinata rubbed his eyes, wondering if he'd imagined what he'd just seen.

Something had gone whoosh across the court so fast that he'd barely seen anything but a blur.

The little crows sitting together above immediately started chattering.

"Whoa, he's that fast?! I thought Shoyo Hinata was already insanely fast, but Shiratorizawa's libero is even faster!"

Nishinoya exclaimed loudly, staring at Yamagata with pure admiration.

That was the kind of speed a libero needed.

Nishinoya immediately made up his mind.

Once he got back to school, running drills were going straight into his training schedule.

Hinata was stunned too.

He'd always thought Kageyama and Nishinoya-senpai were already ridiculously fast.

Compared with Yamagata, though, everyone else almost looked like they were crawling.

After sprinting across the court, Yamagata managed to get the volleyball back into the air and toward the playing area.

Shirabu had already prepared himself.

He looked up and chased after the ball, ready to set.

He'd never doubted that Yamagata would get it up.

Yamagata never disappointed them.

Shirabu jogged underneath the ball.

The rest of Shiratorizawa immediately began moving too.

Ushijima charged to the front, ready to jump at any moment.

Reon created distance from him, deliberately drawing the blockers' attention and spreading the defense.

From the backcourt, Shirabu sent a long set toward Ushijima.

Kishimoto's attention had initially been pulled toward Reon, and he started moving over to block him.

But the moment he saw the trajectory of the set, he stopped and changed direction, sprinting toward Ushijima instead.

Doichiro reacted the same way and moved toward Ushijima.

Sakusa stayed prepared in the back row. If the ball crossed the net, he was ready to attack it immediately.

Ushijima jumped.

Nishio and the other blockers jumped with him.

The set arrived perfectly at Ushijima's hitting point.

His left arm was already loaded with power.

Even Iizuna couldn't help admiring the precision of Shirabu's set.

Shirabu really was good.

The first pass had been unstable and the route awkward, yet from the backcourt Shirabu had still delivered the ball precisely into Ushijima's hitting window.

If it had been Iizuna himself as a second-year, he wouldn't have dared guarantee he could make that set.

The younger generation really was impressive.

Ushijima's left arm swung down hard.

"Bang!"

The volleyball flew off his hand and drove straight toward Nishio's palm at the outside edge of the block.

Seeing the ball coming toward him, Nishio tensed his entire body.

"Bang!"

The instant the ball struck his palm, an enormous pressure crashed into his hand.

For a moment, Nishio nearly lost control.

But he held on.

One second.

Maybe two.

To everyone watching, those one or two seconds felt impossibly long.

Reon almost thought Nishio had scored another stuff block.

Even Sakusa raised an eyebrow.

In the end, however, Ushijima's spike still broke free from Nishio's hands.

But those one or two seconds of resistance had bought precious time for Komori in the backcourt.

Komori had been positioned on the opposite side from the block. Even if he'd started moving the moment Ushijima jumped, there was no guarantee he could have gotten there in time.

Thanks to Nishio holding the ball up for those extra seconds, Komori reached the correct spot.

He appeared directly behind Nishio and dropped smoothly into a crouch.

The next instant, the volleyball flew straight into Komori's arms.