Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty

"Taichi! Date Tech advanced too!"
"So?" Kaedehara Taichi grumbled, pushing away the excited Kindaichi Yūtarō, who had leaned in too close.
"Wasn't that kind of expected? What's there to get
hyped about?"
"But that means," Kindaichi went on excitedly, "
of the teams in the national Top 8 are from Miyagi! Isn't that kind of awesome?!"
"
...so what?"
"Huh?"
Did there need to be a
? Kindaichi hadn't really thought it through that far.
"Kindaichi," Taichi narrowed his eyes, "there's only
championship. Whether Miyagi has two teams or ten doesn't matter."
"Oh…right…"
"But if Date Tech wins their afternoon match," Taichi continued, his tone suddenly shifting, "we'll end up meeting them in the semifinals. That…doesn't sound so bad."
Kindaichi: "..."
Taichi's phone buzzed suddenly. He glanced at the screen, then gave a knowing smirk.
"Kindaichi, check this out
That means Tokyo's got
teams in the Top 8."
"Whoa, no kidding! Big cities
something else!" Kindaichi said with awe.
Taichi flicked his forehead. "Didn't I just say this a second ago?"
"Even if they've got three teams in the Top 8, if
of them win the title…doesn't that make it more entertaining?"
Nearby, Yūki Yōji—Tokyo native—glanced over his shoulder at Taichi.
Suddenly, he understood exactly what his former Rakunan teammate meant during Golden Week when he messaged him:
Nekoma's match had been the last one to finish that morning—
And with that, the
of this year's Inter-High Nationals had officially been decided.
As the infamous
continued into the afternoon, the quarterfinal matchups were soon announced:
Just like Kindaichi had said, five of the eight remaining teams hailed from Miyagi and Tokyo—
A fact that quickly drew the attention and chatter of both on-site spectators and online fans alike.
Tokyo, prideful as ever, took it in stride.
this was just their rightful place on the national stage.
Nekoma's players overheard the crowd's buzzing commentary and couldn't help but sigh.
"Too bad Karasuno didn't make it here."
Just a year ago, Nekoma had a win rate of over 90% against Karasuno.
Now, in their recent practice matches, it was more losses than wins.
There was no doubt—
"Miyagi's really no joke," Shibayama Yūki said.
"Guess that's why every team that manages to climb out of that hell is so
strong."
-----
At 2:00 p.m. sharp, both teams for the quarterfinal match stepped onto Court A.
"Well, well, Matsuo-senpai. We meet again."
Kaedehara Taichi smiled as he walked up to the other captain. "
but your team's journey ends here."
"Not at all," Matsuo Satoshi returned the smile with equal sharpness. "If anything, I'm glad we get to settle the score early."
The two shook hands tightly
"Both teams may begin warmups. The match will begin in 30 minutes."
"Got it!"
Aoba Johsai and Ichibayashi had already played each other once during Golden Week.
Although Aoba Johsai had taken the match with a clean
it had been anything
easy.
And more interestingly—
Rumour had it that even Itachiyama had suffered a string of losses against Ichibayashi in practice matches.
That definitely caught Kaedehara Taichi's attention.
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Kaedehara Taichi furrowed his brows.
None of Ichibayashi's players stood out on their own—they were all,
just decent.
But when you looked at them as a unit...
To put it simply, they were the most
team Taichi had seen all tournament.
Once they stepped onto the court, it was like every seemingly ordinary part clicked into place.
Together, they formed something
greater than the sum of their stats.
Even Irihata Nobuteru found himself sneaking glances toward Ichibayashi's bench, where Coach Tamagawa stood.
Finding
for
...That was no easy feat.
"You all understand, don't you?" Coach Tamagawa addressed his team, his unshaven face looking as stern as ever.
"They're last year's national champions."
"If we're talking pure individual ability, all of you—every last one of you who got passed over by top-tier schools
No chance."
"Kaedehara Taichi. Kyōtani Kentarō. Kunimi Akira. Even that first-year libero. Every one of them's the type of player who could go pro if they wanted to."
"But in the end, none of that matters—because
, right here in high school, is your
to beat players like that."
"Throw away your pride. Every single ball—fight like hell for it."
"And then—
!"