Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty

Hinata Shōyō and Kageyama Tobio both fell back onto the floor. As they looked up, what greeted them was Kaedehara Taichi's gaze, peering down from above.
"You get it now, don't you?" Taichi's voice was icy. "The match only truly starts
."
Aoba Johsai reclaimed the serve. Kindaichi Yūtarō stepped onto the service line.
"I still don't understand what Taichi meant earlier," Kindaichi thought as he watched Taichi's back. "But we've always relied on him. So...as long as I give it my
, that's enough, right?"
He tossed the ball, ran up, jumped, and swung his arm.
—"This guy?!"
Kita Seio barely managed to receive the ball.
"All these Aoba Johsai
hit like cannons!"
"Cover!"
He didn't even need to shout it—Kageyama Tobio was already moving to the left side to cover the receive.
Hinata Shōyō leapt up in front of the net to spike.
The ball evaded Kaedehara Taichi's block and slammed into the space between Kindaichi Yūtarō and Kyōtani Kentarō.
Hinata Shōyō scored with his spike!
Karasuno's offence wasn't easy to stop either!
Serve rotation—
.
Ennoshita Chikara sent a jump float over. Nakamori Daiki calmly received it.
Kunimi Akira moved in and sent the ball to the centre. Kaedehara Taichi jumped for the spike.
"Triple block!"
Kita Seio, Hinata Shōyō, and Kageyama Tobio all jumped at once.
Karasuno was different from Aoba Johsai—they had to fight tooth and nail for every attack and defence!
The ball soared above Hinata Shōyō's head and drew a perfect arc through the air.
Nishinoya YÅ« backpedalled furiously. Every time, Taichi made it seem like his spike might fly out, but it always landed
in.
Even with his hands fully extended, Nishinoya couldn't stop the ball. The angle Taichi created was too sharp
The ball smacked the back line and bounced off cleanly.
Kaedehara Taichi scored again with his spike.
"Come again!"
Taichi shot a provoking glance at Hinata and Kageyama.
Serve rotation
Kunimi Akira aimed a jump float serve toward the front row, directly at Hinata Shōyō.
"Don't panic. Just get into your ready position first..."
Hinata gently bounced on his toes, eyes locked on the ball.
—"Left side!"
Nishinoya, Kageyama, and Hinata shouted out their judgment at the same time.
Hinata swiftly shifted left and bumped the ball up.
"Nice receive!"
Kageyama instinctively praised him, stepping in to set.
"He's even improved on his first touch?" Kunimi Akira blinked in surprise. Still, the serve had accomplished its second goal—because Hinata took part in the receive, he couldn't immediately use that blinding quick attack to get around the block.
Kageyama realised this too. He deliberately slowed the pace of the attack.
Kita Seio jumped from the left. Hinata ran a wide arc toward the right.
"I can only block one of them!"
Kaedehara Taichi didn't hesitate
Seio's contact point was clearly higher than Yahaba's. Setting left would've been safer.
But for some reason, the ball flew up toward the right, as if pulled by Hinata Shōyō.
"Double block!"
Teaming up with Yūki Yōji on the right, Taichi jumped to block.
Hinata's approach wasn't clean—his jump was lower than usual. But he quickly adjusted and locked onto a viable shot.
The ball zipped past Taichi's left shoulder and flew toward Aoba Johsai's back row.
"This year's Aoba Johsai backline's different," Taichi muttered, not even turning around as the ball passed.
A figure darted out from behind him.
Nakamori Daiki received the ball, and Yahaba quickly moved in to set.
All four of Aoba Johsai's hitters moved into attack formation!
From the left, Kunimi Akira struck with a back-row attack—clean point.
"They didn't set to Taichi?!"
At such a critical point in the game, Aoba Johsai hadn't relied on their ace.
"Does that mean they still have that much breathing room?" Kageyama Tobio gritted his teeth beside Hinata.
That point had a huge impact on the match's momentum.
Aoba Johsai continued serving—Kunimi Akira stepped up again.
"I got it!"
Nishinoya stepped up to help Hinata receive and quickly cleared the way.
Kageyama jumped to set.
Hinata ran behind Kageyama, sprinting to the far right. On the other side, Kita Seio surged toward the front left for an attack.
"Will they still give it to Hinata?"
There wasn't time for the Aoba Johsai blockers to overthink. Once again, Kaedehara Taichi and Yūki Yōji jumped in front of Hinata.
Yahaba hesitated for a moment, then shifted left to block Seio. But before he could take two full steps—
The ball dropped behind him.
Kageyama Tobio scored on a setters dump.
"I give up…"
Yahaba Shigeru looked dejectedly at the calm-faced Kageyama Tobio. That guy
kept the possibility of a second attack hidden up his sleeve.
Serve switch.
.
"Letting Kageyama serve while he's in this state…that's not good…" Taichi muttered, brows furrowed.
In Kageyama Tobio's mind, he had replayed countless scenarios of serving at critical moments against Seijō. And now
The whistle for the serve blew.
The ball was tossed high into the air. Kageyama sprinted forward right after it.
"That motion…" Yahaba blinked. "Kageyama's serve…it resembles Oikawa-senpai's more than Taichi's…"
The volleyball accelerated explosively, cutting through the air like a missile and plunging deep into Aoba Johsai's court.
It hit Kunimi Akira's arm and flew out of bounds.
"Save it!"
Nakamori Daiki barely managed to chase the ball down, but he didn't have the strength to return it inside the court.
"I got it!"
Kyōtani Kentarō's voice rang out from behind.
The ball was sent back from beyond Seijoh's end line and returned to Karasuno's side.
"Chance ball!"
Nishinoya YÅ« delivered a perfect first touch.
Even though his confident serve had been received, Kageyama showed no signs of panic. He quickly repositioned and jumped to set the ball.
"Crap."
Taichi was directly in front of Hinata Shōyō—but—
Nakamori had just returned to the court and had no time to react.
Hinata spiked the ball. Point for Karasuno.
The Date Tech players exchanged glances with Futakuchi Kenji. Just as he predicted, Karasuno hadn't let this final opportunity slip past them. Seijoh was
on the verge of a crisis now.
Kageyama Tobio's serving turn continued.
He sent out his second serve.
Nakamori Daiki received it, but the ball again veered toward the end line. This time, Kunimi chased it beyond the boundary.
He barely managed to send it back to the left side. Kaedehara Taichi jumped for the spike.
"Triple block!"
Tanaka Ryūnosuke, Kita Seio, and Hinata all leapt to form a wall.
But the set was a bit off—it was another
. Tanaka and Kita, both directly in front of Taichi, were confident they could shut it down.
"We've got this!"
Kageyama could already see the ball's trajectory. He raised his arm—
"Still one step too late."
The ball slammed down along Karasuno's right sideline and bounced out.
That diagonal shot
Even after restricting Taichi's approach so thoroughly, they
couldn't lock down his attack route!
Kaedehara Taichi scored.
"Damn it!!" Kageyama growled in frustration.
The faces of Karasuno's players fell. Even the crowd on the sidelines fell silent.
Seijoh had reached the set point. And now—
Kaedehara Taichi stepped onto the service line again.
"So close…" Futakuchi could feel it deep in his bones. Taichi's dominance at the end of a set was simply
. If you couldn't finish him off in one push—then the match might as well already be lost.
Taichi casually bounced the volleyball on the floor, then held it single-handedly and pointed at Karasuno's back row
Enoshita's breath caught. His body trembled slightly.
"So Taichi's done playing around. He's aiming to end it quickly—and he's targeting me?"
"Don't be scared, Chikara!"
Nishinoya YÅ« took two steps to the right, standing close beside Enoshita. "I'm here!"
"Leave it to us, Enoshita-senpai."
Kageyama Tobio moved two steps to the left, flanking Enoshita from the other side.
"Right!"
Enoshita clenched his fists and pounded his trembling legs.
"Let's do this together!"
The serve whistle blew.
Kaedehara Taichi's pitch-black eyes narrowed.
"What's he doing? Why isn't he serving yet…"
Just before the eighth second—
He finally tossed the ball high into the air.
"It's coming!"
The ball cut through the sky—heading
for Enoshita!
"I got it!" Kageyama dropped into position—but he was too late to lift his arms.
The ball struck Kageyama square in the chest and bounced forward toward the net.
"Nice receive!"
Even without using his hands, the ball floated perfectly into position.
Hinata Shōyō leapt for a spike.
Yahaba Shigeru and Kyōtani Kentarō closed in on him.
"?!?"
Hinata
the ball to the left side! Kita Seio jumped and spiked it!
"Touch! That's one!" Yūki Yōji shouted.
"They saw through it?!" Hinata shouted in disbelief.
"Chance ball!" Nakamori Daiki received the ball stably.
"Kunimi!!!"
Kaedehara Taichi had already started his approach from the back line the moment Nakamori made contact. He soared from the back row and arrived at the net.
—"I told you, I'm not waiting for you."
—"So right now, right here—
"
Under a voice laced with the kind of pressure only
could carry, Kunimi Akira jumped and set the ball.
The ball dropped perfectly in front of Taichi—
.
Kaedehara Taichi spiked it.
Point.
End of Set 1.