Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty
Author: IseeBlack
Chapter 476: The Opening Match (Double-Length)
"We look forward to playing with you!"
With the referee's whistle, the opening match of the DH regular season officially began.
:
.
.
:
After the match against the Black Jackals, Coach Nick had gained a whole new perspective on Kaedehara Taichi's serving abilities.
A powerful serve wasn't just a tool to score
It could break the opponent's first touch, disrupt their offensive rhythm, and even shake their mental focus. Based on that, Coach Nick made Taichi's aggressive opening serve one of DH's core tactical systems.
But the Green Rockets
any team in the league that had watched that match—now saw Kaedehara Taichi's serve as the key to breaking DH.
Kazama Hayato, Nishiumi Keigo, and Kuga Sōichirō—the Green Rockets had brought out their strongest receiving formation to deal with Taichi.
—as soon as the whistle blew, setter Tsukishima Ren even dropped to the back row.
DH had serve first, and Kaedehara Taichi stepped up to the line.
—they didn't care how thick your defences were.
Taichi took a deep breath. His eyes sharpened like a hawk's in an instant. Toss, approach, swing, impact—his movements were seamless, fluid like flowing water.
He didn't even go full power on his first serve.
The volleyball streaked like a white bolt of lightning, slicing through the air and hurtling toward the deep end of Green Rockets' court.
Though all three players in the back row were on high alert, the ball's pinpoint placement made it impossible to react. Nishiumi Keigo's pupils contracted—he could only watch as the ball screamed past the sideline.
Kaedehara Taichi scored directly off his serve.
The audience erupted in thunderous cheers
was the scene they came to see.
---
It took the Green Rockets three full serves just to get one of Taichi's balls up
These three alone, relying solely on the ball's spin and laser accuracy, already had them at their wits' end.
Kaedehara Taichi's serving pressure was on full display.
Finally, on the fourth serve, Nishiumi Keigo barely managed to track the ball's trajectory and got the receive up.
Tsukishima Ren quickly filled in. Luka Moreno and Kiryū Wakatsu were already in an offensive position at the front.
Time was tight for Tsukishima to make the set, and DH's front line easily read where he was going.
The ball arced high to the right side. Kiryū Wakatsu sprinted along the sideline for the spike.
"Double block!" Kitajima Kippei and Tom Wilde leapt at the same time, arms tensed to the max, pushing forward and down.
From his build alone, it was clear what kind of player Wakatsu was—solid, full muscle lines in his arms that bulged without looking bulky. As he took flight, the contours of a six-pack could be faintly seen under his jersey, and his powerful thighs and quadriceps radiated explosive force.
He was like a 6cm shorter version of Akutsu Ao
A deafening crash followed. The ball punched right through Kitajima Kippei's block and slammed into DH's three-meter line.
The crowd gasped. Just watching the ball hit someone's arm made them wince from imagined pain.
Kaedehara Taichi's eyes gleamed.
---
: 355 cm
: 333 cm.
---
Kiryū Wakatsu scored off the spike.
Kitajima Kippei rubbed his arm with a resentful look and turned to glare at Kaedehara Taichi.
"I told you, didn't I?" Taichi blinked innocently. "Wakatsu-senpai hits
."
Kitajima Kippei: "…"
-----
DH couldn't stop Kiryū Wakatsu—and the Green Rockets couldn't deal with Iizuna Tsukasa's offensive setups either.
For DH, the match against the Black Jackals had been more than a battle for victory. As a long-standing powerhouse in the league, the Black Jackals' deep tactical knowledge, well-honed systems, and stability under pressure were like a mirror—clearly reflecting DH's flaws and potential.
That match gave them something more valuable:
Even though DH won, the media still largely considered the Black Jackals to be the stronger team.
That was because DH relied
on Kaedehara Taichi's individual brilliance and in-game explosiveness—a highly unstable factor for any team aiming for the championship.
After the match, Coach Nick restructured DH's tactical system, with the most crucial changes being:
"Every attack should mesh together like precision-engineered gears."
This opening match
would be their perfect touchstone. The real focus for Coach Nick was on how to leverage Tom Wilde's cover role, and how to get Nitta Asahiro more involved in the back row's coordination.
Iizuna Tsukasa's serve was smoothly received by libero Kuga Sōichirō.
Tsukishima Ren repositioned, his eyes calmly sweeping DH's defensive layout.
Kiryū Wakatsu began a run-up along the left sideline. Nitta Asahiro immediately swapped positions with Yoshii Hiyu, planting himself right in front of Wakatsu.
Tsukishima gave the ball a gentle lift—straight to the far right for Nishiumi Keigo.
"He ignored Kiryū Wakatsu and two-meter-tall André, and passed to the opposite hitter?"
Kitajima Kippei held the line at the right-wing net.
The ball landed right on DH's right sideline and bounced up.
Nishiumi Keigo scored on the spike.
"Nice kill!" Cheers erupted from the Green Rockets' bench.
After landing, Nishiumi turned to high-five Tsukishima Ren, a confident smile on his face.
Serve change—Green Rockets to serve.
The ball rebounded off Iizuna Tsukasa's arm and flew back into Green Rockets' court after Kiryu Wakatsu's powerful serve.
Without delay, Tsukishima Ren organised another attack. Ignoring both André Kovach and Kazama Hayato once again, he set the ball high toward the middle.
Nishiura Keigo and Nitta Asahiro faced each other across the net.
With eyes sharp like a hawk's, Nishiura made a slight adjustment with his wrist mid-air. The ball evaded Nitta's block and landed once again in the centre of DH's court.
"Even Nitta couldn't block him?"
"It doesn't even look that powerful or fast—how is he still scoring?!"
In a corner of the stands, Green Rockets' fans shouted his name in unison.
Wearing a calm smile, Nishiura waved to the crowd, as if this point had always belonged to him.
---
: 343 cm
: 318 cm.
---
"What a clever shot. Did he confirm the block angle before he spiked it?" Kaedehara Taichi narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
"He's not
that terrifying," said Nitta Asahiro. As a player from the same era, he'd faced Nishiura countless times. "One-on-one,
very few can block him."
"Mm." Kitajima Kippei nodded in agreement. Though, had he not just been directly scored on by Nishiura a moment ago, he might've thought Nitta was simply covering for him.
"Nishiura waits until after the block before he takes the shot. His dynamic vision is incredible, and he's good at varying his shots, so it's nearly impossible to stop him with a single block."
"But," Nitta continued, "he lacks height. His power and speed are average at best.
—whether to narrow his spiking angle at the net or to fill the open space near the front—you can limit him effectively."
After Nitta offered his solution, a strange silence settled over his teammates.
"What's wrong?" Nitta looked around in confusion. "It shouldn't be that hard to adjust…"
"
" Kitajima Kippei growled through gritted teeth. "Why didn't you say that earlier?!"
Nitta blinked. "Well,
…I didn't think Green Rockets would centre their offence around Nishiura at the start…"
Everyone gave Nitta a light kick of frustration before heading back to their positions.
The whistle for serve echoed. Kiryu Wakatsu sent out his second serve.
This time, the ball went straight and clean. Kubo Wataru received it steadily, and Iizuna Tsukasa set it to the right wing.
Facing a double block from Nishiura and Kazama, Nitta Asahiro scored forcefully.
The serve changed hands. DH now had the serve, and Kaedehara Taichi rotated into the front row.
As DH's offensive core, Taichi's arrival in the front line made their rhythm visibly more varied and flexible.
For the first attack, Iizuna used Taichi as bait. From the right side, Nitta executed a quick attack—the ball shot past the block and slammed into Green Rockets' court.
With Nitta scoring consecutively, Green Rockets were forced to adjust their defence to focus more on him, no longer zeroing in on Taichi alone.
But that was exactly what DH had hoped for. Their strategy simplified:
-----
In the blink of an eye, DH had expanded their lead and were the first to reach 20 points.
Green Rockets' coach had no choice but to call for a timeout.
In reality, the current lineup on DH's side mirrored the one they started the match with: Kaedehara Taichi and Nitta Asahiro up front, ensuring solid blocking; Kubo Wataru, Iizuna Tsukasa, and Kitajima Kippei in the back row, with top-tier receiving skills.
Even if Green Rockets tried to disrupt DH's rhythm by targeting Iizuna as the setter, the fact that Yoshii Hiyu
was also in the front line only gave DH more options.
"Nishiura's in the back row now, so he can't block Taichi anyway. Tsukishima, Sōichirō, I want you two to focus on locking down zones 3 and 4. Use your blocks to cut off Taichi's straight shots and Nitta's cross shots—funnel all the balls into Sōichirō's defensive zone."
"Nishiura, you screen for Kiryu. Their defence is quick, so we'll have to break through with sheer power."
"Yes!"
The players understood clearly—this was only the
scenario the coach had laid out. Figuring out how to actually limit Kaedehara Taichi's shot angles was the real challenge.
-----
The timeout ended, and the match resumed.
Kitajima Kippei continued his serving assault, targeting Kiryu Wakatsu with a sharp serve to the left-back corner.
Nishiura Keigo reacted quickly, but because he had to shift left to cover, he couldn't control the ball's spin or direction well.
"Sorry, cover me!"
The first pass was rough. Tsukishima Ren had no choice but to send the ball leftward—André Kovach leapt to spike.
"Double block!" Kaedehara Taichi and Nitta Asahiro jumped simultaneously.
André went for a powerful strike, but the ball hit Taichi's arm and dropped back into Green Rockets' court.
Nishiura salvaged the play with a quick dig.
Kazama Hayato followed up, setting the ball to the back row—toward Kiryu Wakatsu.
"Let's go!"
Taichi's eyes lit up. He and Nitta jumped again, forming a wall in front of Kiryu.
But Kiryu suppressed his desire to challenge Taichi head-on. Since André's spike hadn't broken the block, it would be reckless to attack blindly. Instead, he went for a soft touch, tipping the ball toward DH's backline.
"This guy—!"
Kubo Wataru reacted in a flash. He spun around and dove, flinging the ball back toward the front with a backhanded dig.
"I got it!"
After landing, Taichi sprinted to the right, leapt with one step, and swung with a single arm for the spike!
"No way!"
"Double block!" André and Kazama moved quickly to shut down the middle.
"Just kidding." A mischievous grin curled on Taichi's lips.
With a slick feint, he tapped the ball behind him—right into Nitta Asahiro's path.
A clean spike—point scored!
With the referee's whistle, the opening match of the DH regular season officially began.
:
.
.
:
After the match against the Black Jackals, Coach Nick had gained a whole new perspective on Kaedehara Taichi's serving abilities.
A powerful serve wasn't just a tool to score
It could break the opponent's first touch, disrupt their offensive rhythm, and even shake their mental focus. Based on that, Coach Nick made Taichi's aggressive opening serve one of DH's core tactical systems.
But the Green Rockets
any team in the league that had watched that match—now saw Kaedehara Taichi's serve as the key to breaking DH.
Kazama Hayato, Nishiumi Keigo, and Kuga Sōichirō—the Green Rockets had brought out their strongest receiving formation to deal with Taichi.
—as soon as the whistle blew, setter Tsukishima Ren even dropped to the back row.
DH had serve first, and Kaedehara Taichi stepped up to the line.
—they didn't care how thick your defences were.
Taichi took a deep breath. His eyes sharpened like a hawk's in an instant. Toss, approach, swing, impact—his movements were seamless, fluid like flowing water.
He didn't even go full power on his first serve.
The volleyball streaked like a white bolt of lightning, slicing through the air and hurtling toward the deep end of Green Rockets' court.
Though all three players in the back row were on high alert, the ball's pinpoint placement made it impossible to react. Nishiumi Keigo's pupils contracted—he could only watch as the ball screamed past the sideline.
Kaedehara Taichi scored directly off his serve.
The audience erupted in thunderous cheers
was the scene they came to see.
---
It took the Green Rockets three full serves just to get one of Taichi's balls up
These three alone, relying solely on the ball's spin and laser accuracy, already had them at their wits' end.
Kaedehara Taichi's serving pressure was on full display.
Finally, on the fourth serve, Nishiumi Keigo barely managed to track the ball's trajectory and got the receive up.
Tsukishima Ren quickly filled in. Luka Moreno and Kiryū Wakatsu were already in an offensive position at the front.
Time was tight for Tsukishima to make the set, and DH's front line easily read where he was going.
The ball arced high to the right side. Kiryū Wakatsu sprinted along the sideline for the spike.
"Double block!" Kitajima Kippei and Tom Wilde leapt at the same time, arms tensed to the max, pushing forward and down.
From his build alone, it was clear what kind of player Wakatsu was—solid, full muscle lines in his arms that bulged without looking bulky. As he took flight, the contours of a six-pack could be faintly seen under his jersey, and his powerful thighs and quadriceps radiated explosive force.
He was like a 6cm shorter version of Akutsu Ao
A deafening crash followed. The ball punched right through Kitajima Kippei's block and slammed into DH's three-meter line.
The crowd gasped. Just watching the ball hit someone's arm made them wince from imagined pain.
Kaedehara Taichi's eyes gleamed.
---
: 355 cm
: 333 cm.
---
Kiryū Wakatsu scored off the spike.
Kitajima Kippei rubbed his arm with a resentful look and turned to glare at Kaedehara Taichi.
"I told you, didn't I?" Taichi blinked innocently. "Wakatsu-senpai hits
."
Kitajima Kippei: "…"
-----
DH couldn't stop Kiryū Wakatsu—and the Green Rockets couldn't deal with Iizuna Tsukasa's offensive setups either.
For DH, the match against the Black Jackals had been more than a battle for victory. As a long-standing powerhouse in the league, the Black Jackals' deep tactical knowledge, well-honed systems, and stability under pressure were like a mirror—clearly reflecting DH's flaws and potential.
That match gave them something more valuable:
Even though DH won, the media still largely considered the Black Jackals to be the stronger team.
That was because DH relied
on Kaedehara Taichi's individual brilliance and in-game explosiveness—a highly unstable factor for any team aiming for the championship.
After the match, Coach Nick restructured DH's tactical system, with the most crucial changes being:
"Every attack should mesh together like precision-engineered gears."
This opening match
would be their perfect touchstone. The real focus for Coach Nick was on how to leverage Tom Wilde's cover role, and how to get Nitta Asahiro more involved in the back row's coordination.
Iizuna Tsukasa's serve was smoothly received by libero Kuga Sōichirō.
Tsukishima Ren repositioned, his eyes calmly sweeping DH's defensive layout.
Kiryū Wakatsu began a run-up along the left sideline. Nitta Asahiro immediately swapped positions with Yoshii Hiyu, planting himself right in front of Wakatsu.
Tsukishima gave the ball a gentle lift—straight to the far right for Nishiumi Keigo.
"He ignored Kiryū Wakatsu and two-meter-tall André, and passed to the opposite hitter?"
Kitajima Kippei held the line at the right-wing net.
The ball landed right on DH's right sideline and bounced up.
Nishiumi Keigo scored on the spike.
"Nice kill!" Cheers erupted from the Green Rockets' bench.
After landing, Nishiumi turned to high-five Tsukishima Ren, a confident smile on his face.
Serve change—Green Rockets to serve.
The ball rebounded off Iizuna Tsukasa's arm and flew back into Green Rockets' court after Kiryu Wakatsu's powerful serve.
Without delay, Tsukishima Ren organised another attack. Ignoring both André Kovach and Kazama Hayato once again, he set the ball high toward the middle.
Nishiura Keigo and Nitta Asahiro faced each other across the net.
With eyes sharp like a hawk's, Nishiura made a slight adjustment with his wrist mid-air. The ball evaded Nitta's block and landed once again in the centre of DH's court.
"Even Nitta couldn't block him?"
"It doesn't even look that powerful or fast—how is he still scoring?!"
In a corner of the stands, Green Rockets' fans shouted his name in unison.
Wearing a calm smile, Nishiura waved to the crowd, as if this point had always belonged to him.
---
: 343 cm
: 318 cm.
---
"What a clever shot. Did he confirm the block angle before he spiked it?" Kaedehara Taichi narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
"He's not
that terrifying," said Nitta Asahiro. As a player from the same era, he'd faced Nishiura countless times. "One-on-one,
very few can block him."
"Mm." Kitajima Kippei nodded in agreement. Though, had he not just been directly scored on by Nishiura a moment ago, he might've thought Nitta was simply covering for him.
"Nishiura waits until after the block before he takes the shot. His dynamic vision is incredible, and he's good at varying his shots, so it's nearly impossible to stop him with a single block."
"But," Nitta continued, "he lacks height. His power and speed are average at best.
—whether to narrow his spiking angle at the net or to fill the open space near the front—you can limit him effectively."
After Nitta offered his solution, a strange silence settled over his teammates.
"What's wrong?" Nitta looked around in confusion. "It shouldn't be that hard to adjust…"
"
" Kitajima Kippei growled through gritted teeth. "Why didn't you say that earlier?!"
Nitta blinked. "Well,
…I didn't think Green Rockets would centre their offence around Nishiura at the start…"
Everyone gave Nitta a light kick of frustration before heading back to their positions.
The whistle for serve echoed. Kiryu Wakatsu sent out his second serve.
This time, the ball went straight and clean. Kubo Wataru received it steadily, and Iizuna Tsukasa set it to the right wing.
Facing a double block from Nishiura and Kazama, Nitta Asahiro scored forcefully.
The serve changed hands. DH now had the serve, and Kaedehara Taichi rotated into the front row.
As DH's offensive core, Taichi's arrival in the front line made their rhythm visibly more varied and flexible.
For the first attack, Iizuna used Taichi as bait. From the right side, Nitta executed a quick attack—the ball shot past the block and slammed into Green Rockets' court.
With Nitta scoring consecutively, Green Rockets were forced to adjust their defence to focus more on him, no longer zeroing in on Taichi alone.
But that was exactly what DH had hoped for. Their strategy simplified:
-----
In the blink of an eye, DH had expanded their lead and were the first to reach 20 points.
Green Rockets' coach had no choice but to call for a timeout.
In reality, the current lineup on DH's side mirrored the one they started the match with: Kaedehara Taichi and Nitta Asahiro up front, ensuring solid blocking; Kubo Wataru, Iizuna Tsukasa, and Kitajima Kippei in the back row, with top-tier receiving skills.
Even if Green Rockets tried to disrupt DH's rhythm by targeting Iizuna as the setter, the fact that Yoshii Hiyu
was also in the front line only gave DH more options.
"Nishiura's in the back row now, so he can't block Taichi anyway. Tsukishima, Sōichirō, I want you two to focus on locking down zones 3 and 4. Use your blocks to cut off Taichi's straight shots and Nitta's cross shots—funnel all the balls into Sōichirō's defensive zone."
"Nishiura, you screen for Kiryu. Their defence is quick, so we'll have to break through with sheer power."
"Yes!"
The players understood clearly—this was only the
scenario the coach had laid out. Figuring out how to actually limit Kaedehara Taichi's shot angles was the real challenge.
-----
The timeout ended, and the match resumed.
Kitajima Kippei continued his serving assault, targeting Kiryu Wakatsu with a sharp serve to the left-back corner.
Nishiura Keigo reacted quickly, but because he had to shift left to cover, he couldn't control the ball's spin or direction well.
"Sorry, cover me!"
The first pass was rough. Tsukishima Ren had no choice but to send the ball leftward—André Kovach leapt to spike.
"Double block!" Kaedehara Taichi and Nitta Asahiro jumped simultaneously.
André went for a powerful strike, but the ball hit Taichi's arm and dropped back into Green Rockets' court.
Nishiura salvaged the play with a quick dig.
Kazama Hayato followed up, setting the ball to the back row—toward Kiryu Wakatsu.
"Let's go!"
Taichi's eyes lit up. He and Nitta jumped again, forming a wall in front of Kiryu.
But Kiryu suppressed his desire to challenge Taichi head-on. Since André's spike hadn't broken the block, it would be reckless to attack blindly. Instead, he went for a soft touch, tipping the ball toward DH's backline.
"This guy—!"
Kubo Wataru reacted in a flash. He spun around and dove, flinging the ball back toward the front with a backhanded dig.
"I got it!"
After landing, Taichi sprinted to the right, leapt with one step, and swung with a single arm for the spike!
"No way!"
"Double block!" André and Kazama moved quickly to shut down the middle.
"Just kidding." A mischievous grin curled on Taichi's lips.
With a slick feint, he tapped the ball behind him—right into Nitta Asahiro's path.
A clean spike—point scored!