Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty

"Taichi, do you understand now?"

"Volleyball has never been a one-man game."

Miya Atsumu tossed out that one sentence toward Kaedehara Taichi before walking back to the Black Jackals bench.

Sakusa Kiyoomi said nothing, but he also gave Taichi a long look.

It had been a long time since either of them had won—even a single set—against Kaedehara Taichi.

The crowd was silent.

Whether it was fans of the DH Club or Kaedehara Taichi's personal supporters, none of them said a word.

Although DH had managed a powerful comeback mid-set that briefly made it feel like they had a shot at taking it, the truth was that from start to finish, they had never once overtaken Black Jackals in the score.

Which meant: the tempo of the match had always been in Black Jackals' hands.

On the offensive side, DH simply didn't have enough scoring options. That had been true last year, and while the addition of Kaedehara Taichi this year had significantly improved things, it still wasn't enough to face off against a top-tier team like Black Jackals.

On the defensive side, DH was considered one of the best in the league—but even they struggled to contain Black Jackals, the most offensively dominant team in the entire league.

From both offensive and defensive standpoints, DH had flaws. At least judging from the first set, Kaedehara Taichi alone could not overturn the team's structural weaknesses.

The ideal for any team is to be well-rounded on both ends, but in reality, most teams lean toward one or the other.

Black Jackals prioritised offence—that's why they had a player like Oliver Barnes, who practically didn't participate in serve reception.

Schweiden Adlers prioritised defence—that's why they fielded both Hoshiumi Kōrai and Tsunotate Kazuki, two wing spikers without a height advantage.

A team that blindly chases balance without excelling at either end isn't truly "well-rounded." It's just…mediocre.

To move forward, you have to chase change.

The short set break passed quickly, and the second set between DH and Black Jackals began.

DESEO Hornets' rotation:

Front row—Middle Blocker Nitta Asahiro, Opposite Hitter Yoshii Hiyu, Outside Hitter Kaedehara Taichi.

Back row—Outside Hitter Kitajima Kippei, Setter Iizuna Tsukasa and Middle Blocker Tom Wilde (Libero: Kubo Wataru).

MSBY Black Jackals' rotation:

Front row—Middle Blocker Adriah Thomas, Outside Hitter Sakusa Kiyoomi, Opposite Hitter Oliver Barnes.

Back row—Setter Miya Atsumu, Outside Hitter Bokuto Kōtarō and Middle Blocker Meian Shūgo (Libero: Inunaki Shion).

Black Jackals made only a minor adjustment to their rotation, shifting the attack order so that Adriah Thomas could match up directly with Kaedehara Taichi.

After all, limiting Taichi's height was the only way to have a shot at stopping his spikes.

DH, on the other hand, had made a significant change to their formation—one clearly centred around Kaedehara Taichi.

Iizuna Tsukasa and Nitta Asahiro were moved away from Taichi, dismantling the powerful triple stack they'd used in the first set.

"That does reduce the chances of getting stuck in a weak rotation elsewhere," someone commented, "but isn't that putting way too much pressure on Taichi alone…?"

"Are you worried about Taichi?" Kindaichi Yūtarō asked.

"Hmph. After he went pro, we lost a lot of matches," Kunimi Akira muttered. "Let him feel what it's like to lose a set for once."

"Wait—why 'lose a set'?" Kindaichi asked, confused.

"Idiot. It's best-of-five. You can only lose two sets max." Kunimi rolled his eyes. "Letting Taichi lose one? Fine. But expecting him to lose three? Be realistic."

Black Jackals had serve. Their captain, Meian Shūgo, stepped up to the service line.

In Meian's eyes, Kaedehara Taichi was unquestionably a formidable opponent.

To be performing at this level so soon after turning pro—it was frightening.

He finally understood why Bokuto Kōtarō, Miya Atsumu, and Sakusa Kiyoomi all saw Taichi as a top-tier threat.

But...

That didn't mean he'd get any extra points just because he was young and full of potential.

Meian Shūgo wasn't about to let his guard down just because Taichi might be a future global star.

Today, the victory belonged to Black Jackals.

Meian launched a powerful jump serve.

BOOM!!

The ball spun fiercely as it rocketed toward Iizuna Tsukasa.

Smack!

"Cover!" Iizuna barely managed to pop the ball up.

Right away, the problem with DH's new rotation showed itself: the setter was forced to receive.

With their primary playmaker handling serve reception, their first touch was shaky—and no one else could reliably fill that setting role.

Fwooosh—!

Yoshii Hiyu sprinted in to cover and sent the ball forward.

"Nice set."

Kaedehara Taichi jumped from the right sideline.

Was that set less than ideal? Maybe for others—but not for Taichi.

Thanks to years of practice with Yahaba Shigeru and Kunimi Akira, he'd smashed plenty of awkward, borderline insane sets.

"Triple block!" Sakusa, Adriah Thomas, and Oliver Barnes all leapt to meet him.

BOOM!!!—

A super-tight cross shot, right off the net.

The ball slammed into Black Jackals' court just inside the three-meter line on the left.

"…He actually landed that fine cross-shot with his left hand…?"

Sakusa Kiyoomi would've needed to shift an entire body-width left to even have a chance at blocking it.

Kaedehara Taichi scores.

[DH 1 – 0 Black Jackals]

Taichi glanced toward the Aoba Johsai corner.

Yahaba Shigeru: "Was it just me, or did he basically insult us just now?"

Kunimi Akira: "Nah. I felt it too."

-----

Serve rotates. DH now had the serve.

Oliver Barnes immediately retreated to the back row, tucking himself into the far corner of Black Jackals's formation, diagonally behind libero Inunaki Shion.

With their original target out of play, Nitta Asahiro aimed at Miya Atsumu and launched a powerful jump serve.

"I got it!"

Bokuto Kōtarō slid in front to shield Atsumu and receive the ball himself.

Even if it meant sacrificing an attack point, Black Jackals was crystal clear about their priority—Miya Atsumu's set quality came first.

Whoosh!—

The ball soared high to the left. Adriah Thomas took to the air.

Kaedehara Taichi and Tom Wilde were both baited right by a clever decoy.

Yoshii Hiyu leapt alone to block.

—BOOM!!!

As expected—a high reach-over spike, the ball smashing into DH's sideline and bouncing high.

Adriah Thomas scores.

[DH 1 – 1 Black Jackals]

"Phew—" Adriah Thomas pointed finger guns at Taichi and blew off some imaginary smoke.

No one could outmatch Black Jackals' offence. Not Akutsu Ao.

Not even Kaedehara Taichi.

Serve rotated again. Black Jackals now served.

Oliver Barnes stepped up to the line.

"…Huh?"

A few sharp-eyed spectators noticed something odd:

DH had no libero on the court.

Normally, the libero is only off the court during the serving rotation of the middle blocker. During all other times, the libero switches with the back-row middle blocker.

"So DH is deliberately weakening their defence in order to boost their offence?" Black Jackals' coach, Samson Foster, immediately saw through Nick Foster's intentions.

Oliver Barnes launched a powerful jump serve toward Nitta Asahiro.

BOOM!!!

Smack!

Nitta Asahiro barely managed to receive the ball.

"What's the point of this? Even if he tries to attack from the back row, it poses no threat. In that case, having the libero on court to deliver a proper first touch to the setter would be way more useful."

Iizuna Tsukasa swiftly moved into position, leaping up to set the ball high to the middle.

Thud!

Kaedehara Taichi sprang up and spiked.

"Triple block!" Miya Atsumu, Adriah Thomas, and Sakusa Kiyoomi all jumped at once.

—BOOM!!!

Kaedehara Taichi scored with a spike that went over their hands.

[DH 2 - 1 Black Jackals]

Expressionless, Kaedehara Taichi silently rotated out.

"What's up with that guy?" Miya Atsumu tilted his head. "Don't tell me he's depressed just because they lost the first set."

"Kinda reminds me of how gloomy I used to be," Bokuto Kōtarō muttered.

"Reminds you my ass! He's just not talking. His spikes are still monstrous!" Miya Atsumu shouted. "You used to have that whole 'trash time' slump every match!"

"But I always bounced back stronger," Bokuto Kōtarō said, unfazed by the jab. "By the way, how would Tsumu-Tsumu know what my slumps were like? We never even played against each other in high school."

"Hmph."

Miya Atsumu certainly wasn't going to admit he'd watched all of Bokuto's national tournament matches just to study his attack patterns. Especially the match between Fukurodani and Aoba Johsai—he'd watched it at least five times.

"These people are insane."

When serve possession changed again and DH rotated, the spectators finally noticed that DH's libero was nowhere to be seen. Once you picked up on that, it became easy to understand DH's intentions.

"They're trying to out-hit Black Jackals?!"

"They think they can overpower the best offensive team in the league? Are they out of their minds?"

"Hahaha, and with what? That rookie high school ace? Even Akutsu wasn't this cocky!"

Noticing the stir in the crowd, Coach Nick still wore his usual cheerful grin, the fat on his face bouncing slightly as he laughed.

"It's not every day you get invited to a preseason match against such a strong team. Wouldn't be any fun if we didn't go all out."

"Besides," he added, "I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Someone just said it themselves earlier—"

—'It's about time that title of best offence in the league found a new owner.'

"Let's go one full set, Black Jackals!"

Yoshii Hiyu launched a powerful jump serve. Inunaki Shion received the ball.

Miya Atsumu leapt up in the front row to set, with Bokuto Kōtarō and Adriah Thomas attacking from the left and right.

Iizuna Tsukasa and Tom Wilde switched positions—DH was now using man-to-man defence.

Whoosh!—

The ball flew to the right side. Miya Atsumu instinctively avoided setting toward Kaedehara Taichi's position.

Adriah Thomas sprang up for the spike.

Tom Wilde jumped up for a solo block. Yoshii Hiyu, Nitta Asahiro, and Kitajima Kippei were all ready to receive.

"We have to stop this one!"

BOOM!!—

The ball struck Tom Wilde's arms and soared high, ricocheting back toward Black Jackals' side.

"With that kind of power, he wasn't aiming for a follow-up shot…"

Smack!—

The ball landed just beyond Black Jackals' end line.

Block-out.

Adriah Thomas scored.

[DH 2 - 2 Black Jackals]

"It's not like no team's ever tried to take us on in a slugfest."

"Actually, quite a few have tried. But they all quickly realised it's not going to work."

"How much longer until you give up, I wonder?"

-----

BOOM!!!—

"Another stunning cross-court shot from Bokuto Kōtarō!"

[DH 12 - 13 Black Jackals]

"Watanabe-sensei, looks like DH is dead set on going head-to-head with Black Jackals. What do you make of that?" Commentator Daisuke asked.

"So far, it hasn't amounted to anything," Analyst Watanabe replied, adjusting his glasses. "With Black Jackals targeting him, Nitta hasn't made a single effective attack from the back row. Keeping him on the court like this is just wasting his energy."

"Oh? You mentioned Black Jackals are targeting him?"

"That's right. This supposed showdown of offensive power is just an illusion. Black Jackals' serves and spikes are all aimed directly at Nitta. And with his current receiving ability, he can't build any follow-up offence."

"So right now, the only one actually going toe-to-toe with Black Jackals is Taichi. The rest of the team hasn't contributed much offensively."

"Exactly. And because of that, I'd say DH's chances of winning this second set are zero."

"Zero? That harsh?"

"As harsh as reality. Just like in the first set, once Taichi's attack is blocked and Black Jackals seize control, DH has no opportunity to claw their way back."

"Thank you for the analysis, Watanabe-sensei."

Most of the spectators shared the same view—and frankly, the match was unfolding just as they said.

Nitta Asahiro was contributing nothing to the offence from the back row, and even defensively, he wasn't measuring up to Kubo Wataru. Technically, Kubo could switch in for him at any time, but for some reason, Coach Nick refused to make the call.

"Still not giving up?"

Black Jackals couldn't understand DH's pointless stubbornness. But all they needed to do was win.

Serve possession changed—Black Jackals to serve.

Sakusa Kiyoomi unleashed a powerful jump serve.

BOOM!!—

Smack!

The ball slammed into Nitta Asahiro's arm and ricocheted toward the net.

"Sorry—cover!"

Iizuna Tsukasa dove low and bumped the ball up. Tom Wilde launched a quick middle attack.

"Double block!" Bokuto Kōtarō and Adriah Thomas both jumped.

BOOM!!!

Smack!

"Touched it!" Adriah Thomas called out.

—"Free ball!"

—"Mine!"

Miya Atsumu once again took over the first touch from Inunaki Shion, setting the ball high to the right.

Adriah Thomas launched into a quick attack.

"Double block!" Tom Wilde and Iizuna Tsukasa went up.

BOOM!!!

Smack!

"Touched it!" Tom Wilde redeemed himself by blocking it. The ball bounced back.

"Finally…a chance."

"Chance ball!" Kitajima Kippei received cleanly, sending it to the setter.

Iizuna Tsukasa jumped in the front row to set. Kaedehara Taichi and Tom Wilde from the front, and Nitta Asahiro from the back—all three positions launched an assault!

"At a time like this...shouldn't they give that rare chance to the back-row middle blocker?" Miya Atsumu thought as he ran. "He's been the target all game, soaking up everyone's negativity—if he doesn't contribute soon, he's gonna explode."

Bokuto Kōtarō had his eyes locked on Kaedehara Taichi. The rivalry between Adriah Thomas and Tom Wilde had already reached its boiling point.

Boom!—

From the far right at the net, Iizuna Tsukasa scored with a surprise second-touch attack.

[DH 13 - 13 Black Jackals]

"…?"

Miya Atsumu froze. "Iizuna-senpai…I didn't know you could be such a cold-blooded guy."

_________

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