Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty
Author: IseeBlack
Chapter 550: The Group of Death
"Taichi! Oikawa-senpai!"
If Kaedehara Taichi wasn't mistaken, Kageyama Tobio definitely sounded far more excited calling out to Oikawa Tōru than he did to him.
"Long time no see, Tobio-chan~" Oikawa teased, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "You've grown again, huh. Still playing
in Italy?"
"I don't care about those jabs anymore, Oikawa-senpai," Kageyama replied seriously. "This time, I'll defeat you."
"Ara~ Tobio-chan's not nearly as cute as he used to be," Oikawa said with a smirk, his tone as playful as ever.
: 345 cm
: 322 cm.
: 340 cm
: 320 cm.
"Kageyama, why are you still so hung up on winning and losing the moment you see someone?" Taichi interjected lazily. "Even Shōyō isn't that childish anymore."
"You're comparing me to
idiot…?" Kageyama's expression darkened as he glared at Taichi.
"
You're still the same as ever." Taichi chuckled. "Anyway
Come on, show us around a bit."
-----
The ancient city, draped in both holiday cheer and sports fever, had become a colossal stage lit up with celebration. Though cold winds swept through its age-old alleys, they failed to dampen the burning anticipation for the upcoming Men's Club World Championship.
Top club teams from around the globe were arriving one after another.
Today marked the official opening of the tournament—no matches yet, but the group draw ceremony was set to take place. And for every team, there was at least one opponent they were hoping to avoid.
The eight teams participating would be split into Groups A and B, with a round-robin format inside each group. The top two teams from each group would then advance to the semifinals.
"And now, we will draw the first team in Group A."
After a long-winded opening ceremony
the host finally began the group draw.
Players from every club had gathered in their respective hotel rooms, eyes glued to the live stream, anxiously awaiting the results.
"Taichi! Wake up!"
Loser shook Kaedehara Taichi awake from where he'd dozed off on the couch. "The draw's starting!"
The guest drawing lots at the main venue was Wilfredo León, last year's Club World Championship MVP. In front of him were eight silver spheres, each representing a different club, and two glass bowls labelled
and
After mixing the balls a bit, Leon picked one and opened it slowly.
A logo appeared: a stylised yellow "T" entwined with a deep blue "V"
The first team in Group A was Italy's Trentino Club.
"Huh, the host country's team drawn first. What a coincidence."
In Trentino's room, Alexander clapped excitedly. "This is divine prophecy! We're destined to be number one!"
Zaytsev, lounging sideways on the sofa, muttered, "That's a weird interpretation—but hey, optimism's not a bad thing."
Kageyama Tobio, meanwhile, watched the screen with a stern expression.
there were so many people he wanted to face.
After a brief intro about Trentino, Leon proceeded to draw the first team in Group B.
This time, the logo was a black dragon curled into a circle, wrapped in stylised text that read "Ryujin NIPPON."
—it was Japan's Ryujin NIPPON Club.
"Hey! Hey!! Hey!!! That's us!!"
Bokuto Kōtarō threw both arms up with fearless energy.
But in Ryujin's room, Coach Suzaku and the players remained expressionless.
—but any of the remaining teams could be just as dangerous. Drawing themselves first meant nothing.
And sure enough, Leon pulled out the next silver ball: the second team in Group B was—last year's Club World Champions, Poland's LUK Lublin.
Ojiro Aran sucked in a sharp breath.
Even Bokuto, still riding his excitement high, realised something wasn't right. He peeked at his teammates, only to find everyone wearing stone-faced, grim expressions.
"Tsumu?" he called, but Miya Atsumu didn't answer. "Omi-Omi?"
"What?" Sakusa Kiyoomi snapped, his face also tight—but then again, he
looked like that.
"Well…facing Wakatoshi early isn't so bad," Bokuto offered. "We'll have to face them eventually anyway."
The players calmed down a bit. It wasn't like they could dodge all the powerhouses. If they wanted to win it all, they'd have to beat them eventually.
They just
Over in the Poland team's room, there wasn't much of a reaction.
"Ushijima, those were your old teammates, right?" Christensen asked. "I played against some of them before. A few are pretty interesting."
"Yeah," Ushijima Wakatoshi replied calmly.
"But…seems like the guy we're all curious about isn't on
team?"
"Taichi? He's in Argentina."
"Then let's hope Leon draws them into Group B too. It's been a while. I still think about that match from three years ago."
"Mm." Ushijima remained impassive. "But I think you'll be more interested in their setter this time."
"Oh?" Christensen raised an eyebrow. Ushijima wasn't one to bring up players outside of Kaedehara Taichi. "Now I'm even more curious."
-----
Ten minutes later, the official group draw results were announced.
:
:
From the moment the full draw was revealed, everything flipped.
Fans in Japan who had been anxiously watching the broadcast suddenly leapt from despair into delight, exclaiming,
The real
was Group A!
With the exception of San Juan, the other three teams in Group A were all former Club World Champions!
—according to last year's global rankings, these four clubs held the #2 to #5 spots in the world!
Even if only two teams would advance, for most objective and rational viewers, it was nearly impossible to predict who those two would be.
As for Group B, from Ryujin NIPPON's perspective, Al-Rayyan had already been defeated at the Asian Championships, and Mazembe was ranked somewhere beyond #20 globally. The only true threat was LUK Lublin.
—Some fans were already launching heated discussions on forums.
-----
Meanwhile, in the hotel rooms of Trentino Volley and ASAS São Paulo, two players stared unblinking at their opponent's club name on the screen:
Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shōyō.
They would face each other in an official match.
If Kaedehara Taichi wasn't mistaken, Kageyama Tobio definitely sounded far more excited calling out to Oikawa Tōru than he did to him.
"Long time no see, Tobio-chan~" Oikawa teased, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "You've grown again, huh. Still playing
in Italy?"
"I don't care about those jabs anymore, Oikawa-senpai," Kageyama replied seriously. "This time, I'll defeat you."
"Ara~ Tobio-chan's not nearly as cute as he used to be," Oikawa said with a smirk, his tone as playful as ever.
: 345 cm
: 322 cm.
: 340 cm
: 320 cm.
"Kageyama, why are you still so hung up on winning and losing the moment you see someone?" Taichi interjected lazily. "Even Shōyō isn't that childish anymore."
"You're comparing me to
idiot…?" Kageyama's expression darkened as he glared at Taichi.
"
You're still the same as ever." Taichi chuckled. "Anyway
Come on, show us around a bit."
-----
The ancient city, draped in both holiday cheer and sports fever, had become a colossal stage lit up with celebration. Though cold winds swept through its age-old alleys, they failed to dampen the burning anticipation for the upcoming Men's Club World Championship.
Top club teams from around the globe were arriving one after another.
Today marked the official opening of the tournament—no matches yet, but the group draw ceremony was set to take place. And for every team, there was at least one opponent they were hoping to avoid.
The eight teams participating would be split into Groups A and B, with a round-robin format inside each group. The top two teams from each group would then advance to the semifinals.
"And now, we will draw the first team in Group A."
After a long-winded opening ceremony
the host finally began the group draw.
Players from every club had gathered in their respective hotel rooms, eyes glued to the live stream, anxiously awaiting the results.
"Taichi! Wake up!"
Loser shook Kaedehara Taichi awake from where he'd dozed off on the couch. "The draw's starting!"
The guest drawing lots at the main venue was Wilfredo León, last year's Club World Championship MVP. In front of him were eight silver spheres, each representing a different club, and two glass bowls labelled
and
After mixing the balls a bit, Leon picked one and opened it slowly.
A logo appeared: a stylised yellow "T" entwined with a deep blue "V"
The first team in Group A was Italy's Trentino Club.
"Huh, the host country's team drawn first. What a coincidence."
In Trentino's room, Alexander clapped excitedly. "This is divine prophecy! We're destined to be number one!"
Zaytsev, lounging sideways on the sofa, muttered, "That's a weird interpretation—but hey, optimism's not a bad thing."
Kageyama Tobio, meanwhile, watched the screen with a stern expression.
there were so many people he wanted to face.
After a brief intro about Trentino, Leon proceeded to draw the first team in Group B.
This time, the logo was a black dragon curled into a circle, wrapped in stylised text that read "Ryujin NIPPON."
—it was Japan's Ryujin NIPPON Club.
"Hey! Hey!! Hey!!! That's us!!"
Bokuto Kōtarō threw both arms up with fearless energy.
But in Ryujin's room, Coach Suzaku and the players remained expressionless.
—but any of the remaining teams could be just as dangerous. Drawing themselves first meant nothing.
And sure enough, Leon pulled out the next silver ball: the second team in Group B was—last year's Club World Champions, Poland's LUK Lublin.
Ojiro Aran sucked in a sharp breath.
Even Bokuto, still riding his excitement high, realised something wasn't right. He peeked at his teammates, only to find everyone wearing stone-faced, grim expressions.
"Tsumu?" he called, but Miya Atsumu didn't answer. "Omi-Omi?"
"What?" Sakusa Kiyoomi snapped, his face also tight—but then again, he
looked like that.
"Well…facing Wakatoshi early isn't so bad," Bokuto offered. "We'll have to face them eventually anyway."
The players calmed down a bit. It wasn't like they could dodge all the powerhouses. If they wanted to win it all, they'd have to beat them eventually.
They just
Over in the Poland team's room, there wasn't much of a reaction.
"Ushijima, those were your old teammates, right?" Christensen asked. "I played against some of them before. A few are pretty interesting."
"Yeah," Ushijima Wakatoshi replied calmly.
"But…seems like the guy we're all curious about isn't on
team?"
"Taichi? He's in Argentina."
"Then let's hope Leon draws them into Group B too. It's been a while. I still think about that match from three years ago."
"Mm." Ushijima remained impassive. "But I think you'll be more interested in their setter this time."
"Oh?" Christensen raised an eyebrow. Ushijima wasn't one to bring up players outside of Kaedehara Taichi. "Now I'm even more curious."
-----
Ten minutes later, the official group draw results were announced.
:
:
From the moment the full draw was revealed, everything flipped.
Fans in Japan who had been anxiously watching the broadcast suddenly leapt from despair into delight, exclaiming,
The real
was Group A!
With the exception of San Juan, the other three teams in Group A were all former Club World Champions!
—according to last year's global rankings, these four clubs held the #2 to #5 spots in the world!
Even if only two teams would advance, for most objective and rational viewers, it was nearly impossible to predict who those two would be.
As for Group B, from Ryujin NIPPON's perspective, Al-Rayyan had already been defeated at the Asian Championships, and Mazembe was ranked somewhere beyond #20 globally. The only true threat was LUK Lublin.
—Some fans were already launching heated discussions on forums.
-----
Meanwhile, in the hotel rooms of Trentino Volley and ASAS São Paulo, two players stared unblinking at their opponent's club name on the screen:
Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shōyō.
They would face each other in an official match.