Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty

"Not bad." Meian Shūgo said plainly.
In his eyes, Nitta Asahiro's growth was only natural.
—if they weren't, this match would end up painfully boring.
After breaking Miya Atsumu's serve, DH's lineup rotated.
Nitta Asahiro launched a powerful jump serve, aiming for the deep corner where Miya was positioned.
Black Jackals didn't pull Bokuto from Position 2 to the back row to cover for Miya. Instead, they had Inunaki Shion, positioned on the left, cover the area in front of him. At the same time, Meian Shūgo shifted over from Position 3 to fill the now-vacant Position 6 in the back row.
The advantage of this setup was that it maximised Bokuto Kōtarō's presence at the net while still retaining the option of a middle attack from Meian.
Inunaki Shion received the ball cleanly.
Miya quickly circled to the front and jumped to set. Black Jackals launched a four-point simultaneous attack!
From the left side, Oliver Barnes swung hard and scored over the block.
Black Jackals easily reclaimed the serve.
"Focus! Next ball!" Kitajima Kippei shouted loudly.
Black Jackals' entire rhythm had shifted drastically. The change wasn't just because of talented players like Miya Atsumu and Sakusa Kiyoomi—it came from the unified coordination of the whole team.
Even after Oliver Barnes scored, the players of Black Jackals showed no excessive celebration. Everyone calmly rotated and instantly entered attack mode for the next play.
In just two months, Inunaki Shion, Miya Atsumu, and Sakusa Kiyoomi had completely blended into the pack. As captain, Meian Shūgo's leadership was evident.
Bokuto Kōtarō's powerful sidespin serve shot straight toward Iizuna Tsukasa's chest.
Iizuna barely managed to get the ball up. Yoshii Hiyu quickly stepped in and set it high for a middle attack. Kaedehara Taichi leapt to spike.
"Triple block!" Sakusa Kiyoomi, Oliver Barnes, and Meian Shūgo all jumped up together.
DH's offence was still too predictable—Black Jackals focused their entire defence on Kaedehara Taichi.
The ball passed just over Sakusa's fingertips and slammed down hard into the deep left corner of Black Jackals' court.
Inunaki Shion had accurately predicted the trajectory. The ball struck his arm but deflected far out of bounds.
Kaedehara Taichi scored.
"Sorry!"
"Good reaction—next one!" Meian Shūgo encouraged Inunaki Shion.
"That was a bit forced," Coach Nick murmured.
"You mean Shion almost catching Taichi's spike?" the team manager asked. "Not many liberos can perform like this from the start. Still, stopping Taichi for real is a tall order."
"I meant Taichi's spike," Coach Nick shot him a glare. "The point didn't come easy…"
"Bring it on!" Meian Shūgo opened his arms, ready to defend.
"Let's see how far your limits go tonight, Kaedehara Taichi."
Time ticked on, and the score steadily climbed on both sides.
One side
each scored with clean spikes.
The other side
kept answering back.
It was an exciting match, no doubt. But somehow, it didn't match the image the audience had in mind before it began.
Everyone had expected a fierce, evenly matched showdown between two titans.
They
get the titans—but there was no real back-and-forth.
The flow of the match had remained firmly in Black Jackals' control. DH seemed completely crushed by their sheer momentum.
No—
wasn't the right word.
The point difference had never once shrunk below two.
Tom Wilde unleashed another heavy spike
The ball slammed back down into DH's side.
Meian scored with the block.
"Damn it!!" Tom Wilde shouted in frustration.
After a long strategy talk with Kaedehara Taichi, Tom had started to specialise in straight-line attacks from the wing. Over the past two months, his efficiency had steadily improved, and his coordination with Iizuna and Taichi had become increasingly fluid…
DH never expected that Black Jackals would assign Meian to mark Tom Wilde one-on-one. Even knowing the chances of blocking Kaedehara were slim, Black Jackals chose to eliminate the rest of DH's offensive options.
It was the most classic strategy
And it clearly worked. While steadily wearing down Kaedehara Taichi, Black Jackals had already reached set point.
"Should I switch back to my old approach?" Tom Wilde wondered. "Even if the threat level drops, at least I won't get blocked outright…"
He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The muscles in his face twitched slightly, full of hesitation and frustration.
These past months, the whole DH team had worked in perfect sync, training hard and going all-out in every match. They could clearly feel each other growing, and they had believed, naturally, that their collective strength had reached a new level—enough to face any strong team head-on.
But for some reason, the gap between them and Black Jackals…the one they thought had narrowed—
"Keep going. We play it this way," Kaedehara Taichi said, his breathing heavy but his eyes unwavering.
From tonight's performance, it was clear: whether it was a spike that didn't score
or one that was blocked outright—it didn't make a difference.
DH simply couldn't defend against Black Jackals' full-powered offence.
Tom Wilde slapped both hands hard against his cheeks—
"…Got it."
Kaedehara Taichi nodded slightly, shifting his focus back to the court.
"Until the final whistle blows, I will never fall."
---
Service change, Black Jackals to serve
Meian Shūgo stepped up to the service line, his deep eyes sharp and cold. He drew in a deep breath, his chest subtly rising and falling. Then, his right hand launched the volleyball high into the air.
The ball traced a perfect arc through the sky. The moment it reached its apex, Meian surged forward beneath it and sprang into the air like a coiled spring. His powerful arms swung with full force, and he brought his hand down mercilessly.
His palm struck the ball with a deafening crack.
The ball shot forward like a cannonball, cutting through the air with a roar, speeding toward DH's back row with thunderous force.
Kubo Wataru managed to receive the ball, but the sheer impact sent him tumbling backwards in a roll.
"Cover!!"
Iizuna Tsukasa darted to the net and leapt for a one-handed set.
The ball dropped straight back onto Black Jackals' side.
"Save it!"
But as luck would have it
Black Jackals hadn't been ready for a net tip, and they missed a perfect opportunity for a quick putaway.
Sakusa Kiyoomi, at position 3, stepped back behind the three-meter line and scooped the ball up one-handed.
"I got it!" Miya Atsumu slid beneath the ball.
The pass flew cleanly into the air above the right side. Oliver Barnes charged up the sideline and leapt into a spike.
"Double block!" Kaedehara Taichi and Tom Wilde leapt together to intercept.
Barnes' arm swung through nothing.
Back-row attack!!
As the blockers fell back down, Meian Shūgo soared over the net and spiked cleanly past the defence!
-----
-Kaedehara Taichi:
—total 17 points
-Nitta Asahiro:
-Tom Wilde:
-Bokuto Kōtarō:
-Meian Shūgo:
-Sakusa Kiyoomi:
-Oliver Barnes:
-Miya Atsumu:
-----
In the stands, DH's fans were stunned into silence. Kaedehara Taichi had already pushed himself to the limit, and the rest…they'd tried hard enough.
"We have to believe in them!" a fan shouted. "How can we give up before the players do?!"
"Exactly! Didn't Black Jackals come back from 0–1 to beat Tachibana Red Falcons 3–1? We can do the same!"
Roused by that voice, the crowd began to rally again, gripping their fan gear tightly as they chanted in unison:
Their voices were still overwhelmed by Black Jackals' cheering fans for now—but the sheer will behind their chants refused to be drowned out.
Only a few fans remained quiet. Yes, Black Jackals
come back against Tachibana Red Falcons
-----
After a short intermission, both teams switched sides.
Perhaps it was the fans' chants that reignited DH's flame—because the second set was far more intense than anyone had expected.
In response to their earlier loss, Coach Nick made a bold adjustment:
His reasoning had two parts.
DH's standard defence had already proven inadequate against Black Jackals. Rather than sit back and take the hits, it was better to go on the offensive and disrupt their rhythm.
That's right—Coach Nick never thought DH could overpower Black Jackals' attack.
And from what he'd seen in Set 1, Kaedehara Taichi was still undoubtedly their most dangerous weapon.
It was also a matter of conserving Taichi's stamina.
It sounded counterintuitive, but by involving everyone in the offence and disrupting Black Jackals' coordination, Taichi could save his energy for the key points.
After all, both Kitajima Kippei and Kubo Wataru were in their 30s now—dragging the match out would only hurt them more.
But things didn't go as Coach Nick had expected.
Set 2 ran long.
Both sides fell into a gruelling deadlock that lasted forty full minutes.
Kaedehara Taichi had opened with a 3-point lead through his serves. Then it became a full-on slugfest—an intense rally with every point fiercely contested, the score climbing evenly on both sides.
And yet, Black Jackals never lost composure.
They kept their formations tight and tactics clean, executing with quiet efficiency.
On paper, DH appeared to hold a consistent lead, much like Black Jackals had in Set 1.
But in truth, Black Jackals controlled the rhythm from start to finish.
They kept the gap at one or two points
like shadows stalking just behind.
Even the audience could tell.
And as the set neared its conclusion, Black Jackals suddenly accelerated their pace.
The lead DH had clung to the entire set vanished.
Still, they'd come too far to give up now.
Kaedehara Taichi once again took control of the offence, and the two teams clashed relentlessly around set point.
Coach Samson's approach
was a high-risk gamble. One mistake could've cost Black Jackals the set.
But thinking long-term, he was willing to bet against Coach Nick—because he trusted in Black Jackals' identity as the
offensive team in the league!
As if echoing the epic preseason showdown, Black Jackals and DH had just produced an even more spectacular scoreline in this regular-season match.
DH's home court fell into momentary silence.
Their six-game winning streak
was now shattered.
And they were down
to Black Jackals.
-----
-Kaedehara Taichi:
total 23 points
-Nitta Asahiro:
-Tom Wilde:
-Iizuna Tsukasa:
—3 points
-Bokuto Kōtarō:
-Meian Shūgo:
-Sakusa Kiyoomi:
-Oliver Barnes:
-Adriah Thomas:
-Miya Atsumu:
-----
Kaedehara Taichi had once again broken the league's record—and DH and Black Jackals also entered the top 5 for single-set scoring in V1 League history.
But right now, he had no interest in records.
At that moment, a few boos rang out from the crowd. Many fans wore despairing expressions.
Comebacks from such a deficit were extremely rare.
They usually came from teams either equal or stronger than their opponent.
DH, in its current state…wasn't looking like either.
Kaedehara Taichi stood at the sideline, taking a long moment to steady his breath. His eyes drifted toward the scoreboard—growing colder by the second.
—this was a first for him.
In DH's bench area, the players had come to terms with the gap in strength. Their frustration was palpable, but in the end, they could only sigh.
This was becoming…all too familiar.
"Does anyone still believe in miracles?"
A voice rang out behind them
Kaedehara Taichi.