Haikyuu - Chapter 341 (Patreon)

The stands remained noisy as the commentator's voice rang out again.

"What an incredible rally! There were so many different techniques involved, and every player's handling of the ball was excellent. If anyone recorded that sequence, I strongly recommend watching it again when you get home."

"Let's break it down. The rally began with Shiratorizawa's Reon serving. Komori received, and Iizuna moved in to set while Sakusa and Doichiro crossed in the front row. Tendo prepared to block, with Ryosuke still rushing over, but surprisingly, Iizuna didn't set to Sakusa."

"Instead, he sent the ball to Kishimoto at position four. Kishimoto attacked with no blocker in front of him, but Ryosuke reacted extremely quickly. The moment he saw the set heading toward Kishimoto, he changed direction, and when Kishimoto spiked, Ryosuke received the ball from directly beneath the net!"

"After Ryosuke's receive, Ushijima approached from behind and attacked. Itachiyama's Nishio got his hands on it. He couldn't score with the block, but he slowed the ball enough to buy Komori time, and Itachiyama kept it alive!"

"Komori and Doichiro then combined for a back-row attack. Tendo couldn't stop it, but Ryosuke covered behind him and received it again!"

"Ryosuke followed his own receive into the attack. Itachiyama formed a two-man block, but at the last moment Ryosuke faked the spike and set instead, sending the ball to Ushijima for the point!"

The commentator rattled off the entire sequence in one breath, nearly talking himself hoarse.

Once he finished, Ryosuke walked over to Ushijima with a smile and raised his hand for a high-five. Ushijima really was like his perfect partner. No matter what kind of play Ryosuke wanted to try, Ushijima always seemed able to match him.

Even Ryosuke and Goshiki sometimes failed to get on the same wavelength, but that never seemed to happen with Ushijima-senpai.

It was strange.

Shirabu, meanwhile, was staring at Ryosuke with an odd expression. He hadn't expected Ryosuke to be capable of setting like that, much less with that kind of precision. Accuracy like that wasn't something you developed without at least a year or two of practice.

And Shirabu wasn't the type to sit on a question once he had one.

"When did you learn to set?"

Ryosuke blinked in confusion.

Wasn't setting a basic skill every volleyball player should know?

One look at his expression and Reon knew he'd misunderstood, though Shirabu's wording hadn't exactly been clear.

"What Shirabu means is, how was your set that accurate? I've never seen you specifically practice setting during regular training."

Understanding dawned on Ryosuke's face.

Still, he personally thought the set he'd just made was pretty ordinary.

"Coach Washijō taught me. He said a good player should know how to do everything and be capable of playing as a regular no matter where you put them."

"But my setting is nowhere near Shirabu-senpai's. For me, a set like that still depends on luck sometimes."

"Why?"

Shirabu didn't understand.

Why would setting depend on luck?

Ryosuke touched his chin and thought back to his earlier training before finally arriving at an answer.

"Back then, setting was the drill I hated most. You have to coordinate with different players, know exactly where their contact point is, understand what they're thinking, and work together perfectly."

"That was really difficult for me."

There was one more reason Ryosuke didn't mention.

Back then, a large part of why he couldn't coordinate well with others was because he himself had been reluctant to communicate.

His social anxiety had probably been much worse at the time, and he hadn't really developed much awareness of playing as part of a team yet.

Hearing that only made Shirabu more curious.

He wanted to know where Ryosuke's actual ceiling as a setter lay.

Perhaps that competitive instinct was simply ingrained in every setter.

Ryosuke saw the question lingering on Shirabu's face and added, "A set like that really is difficult for me. I might only manage one or two in an entire match, and even that's when I'm unusually lucky."

Ryosuke was still being modest.

A set that precise was genuinely difficult for him, but ordinary setting was something he could do easily.

He simply felt that saying so right now might not be the best idea.

Shirabu clicked his tongue and gave up on the idea of discussing setting with him for the moment.

Better to focus on the match first.

And with that, Shirabu successfully avoided an opportunity to have his confidence crushed by Ryosuke.

Komori sighed.

Spectators were always saying Itachiyama was full of tricks, but from where he stood, Shiratorizawa wasn't any better.

Every single one of them was slippery as an eel.

Sakusa walked over and quietly said to him, "Hang on a little longer. Once these three rotate through, we can start pushing harder."

Komori was almost flattered by the concern.

Forget hanging on a little longer. If Sakusa asked, Komori felt like he could run around the entire court receiving balls nonstop.

He grinned at Sakusa with all his teeth, looking so hopelessly delighted that the sheer stupidity of it practically radiated off him.

Sakusa frowned.

He had no idea why Komori had suddenly become so happy.

Whatever.

As long as he was happy.

"So these are going to be our future opponents?"

Up in the stands, Tanaka had completely dropped his usual joking demeanor.

He stared seriously at every Shiratorizawa player.

Ever since he'd sat down, his eyes had barely left the court.

And now, for the first time, Tanaka truly understood just how large the gap between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa was.

It felt like an enormous chasm.

Something almost impossible to cross.

A heavy sense of helplessness settled over him.

Beside him, Azumane had already gone pale from watching Shiratorizawa's defense.

He was starting to imagine his own spikes getting shut down over and over.

Those two blockers didn't look nearly as intimidating as Date Tech's.

Yet for some reason, Azumane was convinced he wouldn't be able to get through them.

Nishinoya turned around, saw Azumane's deathly pale face, and immediately sprang out of his seat.

"No way, Asahi! Don't die on me!"

He grabbed Azumane by the shoulders and started shaking him.

Sugawara turned around at the noise and saw Azumane looking like he was about to pass away.

Even he was startled.

Fortunately, Azumane finally recovered.

Still shaken, he pressed a hand against his chest.

"That's terrifying. I feel like I wouldn't survive a single set against those two blockers."

Sugawara laughed lightly.

"No way. Asahi, you're the strongest."

Tsukishima silently scoffed at Sugawara's obvious attempt to comfort him like a child.

At least Azumane-senpai knew his own limits.

"Enough. Watch the match."

Daichi spoke, and the noisy group finally quieted down, their attention returning to the court.

The whistle for the next serve had already sounded.

Reon stood at position one to serve again.

Without hesitation, he tossed the volleyball, began his approach, and jumped.

"Bang!"

The serve carried plenty of force and flew straight toward the backcourt.

Komori had already gotten used to this level of power.

He moved to the spot he'd predicted, lowered his stance, and received.

"Bang!"

The ball rose cleanly.

This time, Komori's first pass was excellent, with no wild deflection or awkward drift.

Iizuna ran forward to set.

Sakusa moved ahead of him, and Tendo naturally locked onto Sakusa.

Doichiro approached behind Sakusa.

Farther back, Kishimoto followed right behind Doichiro.

It looked like a staggered attack.

Tendo focused on blocking, while Ryosuke watched from beside him.

Ryosuke kept an eye on every Itachiyama player.

The one who concerned him most, however, was Iizuna.

The last time Itachiyama had created such a large, complicated attacking formation, it had been to cover for Iizuna himself.

Ryosuke was worried this rally might be another setup for a setter attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, Iizuna noticed Ryosuke watching him relentlessly and frowned.

He had originally planned to use a setter attack and steal the point outright.

But with Ryosuke staring at him like that, it would be difficult.

Sakusa had already bent his knees in preparation to jump.

The corner of Iizuna's mouth curled upward.

Fine.

If this kid was going to watch him that closely, it would almost be rude not to mess with him.

Right in Ryosuke's line of sight, Iizuna slowly raised his left hand and lightly touched the ball.

Ryosuke's eyes widened immediately.

He knew Iizuna-senpai was up to something.

He shot toward Iizuna without hesitation.

The moment Ryosuke, who had barely moved until now, suddenly sprinted toward Iizuna, everyone else's attention followed him.

Even Tendo's gaze shifted toward Ryosuke.

Ryosuke was practically like a giant cat toy. Wherever he went, everyone's eyes followed.

Iizuna noticed Tendo looking over too.

He stopped playing around.

His raised left wrist twisted sharply, and with a light touch of his left hand, he redirected the volleyball toward Sakusa.

Ryosuke watched the ball that had practically been within reach suddenly fly away.

For a moment, he froze.

Tendo reacted, but it was already too late.

Sakusa and Iizuna's timing was simply too fast.

Iizuna set.

In the next instant, Sakusa jumped.

Sakusa had already crouched beneath the net, and the momentum from his original approach was almost gone.

But the moment he saw Iizuna send him the ball, he sprang back into action.

He launched himself upward with almost no preparation, the ball appearing perfectly at his hand.

Then he drove it down right beside Tendo's arm.

"Bang!"

The volleyball shot past the edge of Tendo's arm.

His body hadn't caught up with his thoughts quickly enough.

Spikes that passed right beside him were incredibly difficult to block.

They were among the attacks Tendo hated most.

"Beep————!"

The referee awarded the point without hesitation.

Tendo landed and clicked his tongue in frustration.

Then he glared at Sakusa with such open hostility that every expression on his face and every strand of hair seemed to scream how much he disliked him.

Tendo had the distinct feeling Sakusa was hitting those balls specifically to irritate him.

Sakusa: He wasn't wrong.

Ryosuke, meanwhile, had no idea how annoyed Tendo was.

He was too busy regretting the fact that even after guarding against Iizuna so carefully, he'd still been tricked.

There was just no defending against that guy.

Ryosuke stood there surrounded by an almost visible cloud of gloom.

The sight made Iizuna want to laugh.

"Your reaction really was fast. Just not as fast as my hands."

One of Iizuna's favorite hobbies was teasing younger players.

Ryosuke's resentment immediately deepened.

Usually, he was the one fooling other people.

This time, he'd finally met an opponent who could do the same thing to him.

He wasn't actually upset.

He simply found it embarrassing to have been tricked.

Still, Ryosuke recovered in less than three seconds.

Then he stared curiously at Iizuna's wrist, his large eyes full of fascination.

Iizuna nearly laughed again.

"Being able to twist your wrist like that is a basic skill for everyone at Itachiyama."

Ryosuke's eyes widened in understanding.

So it wasn't only Iizuna.

Everyone could do it.

That would make Itachiyama even harder to deal with.

Then Ryosuke paused.

Wait.

Iizuna-senpai was definitely messing with him.

If everyone could do that, then Kishimoto should be able to as well.

They were already in the third set, and Ryosuke hadn't seen Kishimoto do it even once.

Forget it.

Nothing Iizuna-senpai said could be trusted.

He loved messing with people.

During training camp, Ryosuke had personally watched Iizuna confuse Hoshiumi so thoroughly that he didn't know what to believe.

Ryosuke refused to indulge him.

He gave Iizuna a haughty little snort, then deliberately dragged out his voice.

"Woooow. So impressive."

Iizuna paused.

Then he laughed and shook his head.

Sure enough.

No matter how mature Ryosuke looked, he was still just a kid.

"Itachiyama takes another point back! The rally began with a serve from Shiratorizawa's Reon, which Komori received cleanly!"

"Itachiyama's attackers then prepared a staggered attack, but Iizuna wasn't planning to set at all! We can see him raising his left hand, preparing for a setter attack!"

"Ryosuke reacts immediately and moves toward the net to defend!"

"But at the last moment, Iizuna changes his hand movement again and sets with his left hand!"

"The ball goes to Sakusa! Sakusa and Iizuna connect perfectly, and Sakusa drives the ball right past Tendo to score the point!"

After teasing Ryosuke, Iizuna turned around.

Sakusa was staring at him ominously.

Iizuna gave a few awkward laughs.

"Nice hit just now."

Sakusa turned his head away and ignored him.

Sakusa hadn't managed to say much to Ryosuke on the court himself.

Yet Iizuna had gotten there first.

There was no way Sakusa was going to be pleased about that.

In the stands, Kageyama's eyes had already lit up the moment Iizuna began manipulating the ball with his left hand.

That was the kind of setter Kageyama wanted to become.

Oikawa was extremely skilled too.

But Oikawa refused to teach Kageyama.

And besides, Kageyama had already learned nearly everything he could from watching Oikawa.

There weren't many new techniques left for him to pick up there.

Shoyo Hinata looked at Kageyama, then at Iizuna.

He caught the determination in Kageyama's eyes and felt momentarily dazed.

Where had he seen that expression before?

Maybe in his own mirror at six in the morning on a winter day.

Their attention returned to the court.

The next rally was already being prepared.

Doichiro would serve next.

He stepped to position one again, repeatedly spinning the volleyball in his hand as he tried to rediscover the excellent feel he'd had earlier.

Once Doichiro was ready, the referee's whistle sounded.

He tossed the ball upward and began his approach.

When the volleyball reached the right height and position, Doichiro bent his knees, extended through his body, drove his arm forward, and struck it hard.

"Bang!"