Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty-Chapter 494: I’ve Been Waiting for You

—"Kujō Reiji has been on the court for less than a minute and already helped DH secure set point!"

"What a beautiful spike!"

"Nice!"

"Ah, um…thanks..." Kujō Reiji mumbled, a little flustered by the sudden kindness from his teammates.

After all, ever since he stopped being a starting player, he had felt completely alone.

-----

"I'm sorry!" Washio Tatsuki bowed his head deeply.

Just now, he had run toward the right in an attempt to cover, and ended up completely missing Kujō Reiji.

"Focus up, next ball!" Kitō Yūkan shouted loudly, trying to comfort his teammate. But his own expression was grim—dropping that point had put EJP in a very passive position.

The serve rotated. DH now had the serve.

Tom Wilde unleashed a powerful jump serve, and Evan Klauss received it cleanly.

Sengoku Chisato stepped in to set, and Akutsu Ao jumped in the middle for a quick spike.

"Double block!" Nitta Asahiro and Kujō Reiji leapt at the same time.

BOOM!!

The ball bounced off Kujō Reiji's arm and dropped between him and the net.

Off the block and under the net.

Akutsu Ao scored.

[DH 24 - 23 EJP]

"Although the point of putting Kujō in was to strengthen the block, failing to stop Akutsu was within expectations..."

Coach Nick rested his plump chin in one hand, lost in thought. "Still, we only need one more point. Our offence should be able to get more creative too."

Serve rotated again. EJP now had the serve.

Washio Tatsuki fired a strong but fairly standard jump serve.

Kaedehara Taichi received the ball steadily, perfect first touch.

Iizuna Tsukasa jumped in the front row for the set. Nitta Asahiro and Kujō Reiji both launched their attacks from the left and right wings respectively.

To EJP, Kujō Reiji was a completely unfamiliar player. In fact, this was his first appearance of the entire season. But judging by that explosive spike earlier, Kujō clearly had strong attacking capabilities. Combine that with his 2-meter height, and EJP's front row blockers were suddenly on edge.

Iizuna Tsukasa glanced at the net. Kitō Yūkan was already watching him, so a setter dump was likely to get shut down. Akutsu Ao was on Nitta Asahiro's side. The remaining offensive option was the right side—Kujō Reiji.

If he set to the back row, Kaedehara Taichi would probably respond in time, but the tempo would slow, and EJP might manage a full coverage defence.

Fwish—!

"I already decided I wouldn't put all the offensive burden on Taichi…"

Iizuna Tsukasa set the ball to the right. Kujō Reiji launched himself up to spike!

Suna Rintarō jumped for a solo block. His timing was good, but the height difference was too much—he could only barely restrict the angle.

BOOM!!

High spike!

EJP's back row was Washio Tatsuki, Sengoku Chisato, and Evan Klauss from left to right. Kujō Reiji, without hesitation, slammed the ball toward the left corner.

Smack!

"—?!" Kujō's pupils contracted. He got that?!

Kitō Yūkan, with his back to the net, dove full length and miraculously popped the ball up!

"Chisato! Cover!"

"Got it!"

Sengoku Chisato rushed in and set the ball high to the left wing.

"Crap!" Kujō sprinted toward the left.

—"Matches aren't the same as training." Kujō remembered what Coach Nick had told him.

Over the past four years, what he'd fallen behind on the most was reading the court in real-time.

BOOM!!—

He jumped at a diagonal angle but was still one large step too late. The ball sailed just above his fingertips.

Smack!

"Tsukasa!!!" Kubo Wataru was knocked backwards by the impact of the spike.

The ball ricocheted toward the front row.

But Iizuna Tsukasa couldn't get to it—his path was blocked by Kujō Reiji!

"Damn it, what the hell am I doing?!" Kujō stood frozen, mind blank. The transition between offence and defence is way too fast—there's no time to think about the next move.

So this...this is what a championship-level V1 team feels like?!

He had scored right after coming in, and for a moment, he'd felt secretly pleased. But now…

The gap in level is just too huge…

"I've got it!"

Even though his position had been blocked, Kujō Reiji should have immediately stepped in to make the set in Iizuna's place. But for some reason, he froze in place. With no other choice, Kaedehara Taichi gave up on a back-row attack and moved up to receive the ball.

A step late. And once you're late, you're late for everything.

By the time it was Kujō Reiji's turn to launch the attack, he was still a beat too slow. Kaedehara Taichi set the ball to the left wing, and Nitta Asahiro jumped to spike.

"Double block!" Akutsu Ao and Suna Rintarō leapt together.

BOOM!!—

Nitta Asahiro slammed the ball diagonally.

—Smack!!

Suna Rintarō caught the timing perfectly and blocked the ball straight down!

Smack!

Rushing up from the back row to cover Nitta Asahiro, Yoshii Hiyu stretched out a foot and kicked the ball back into the air.

"Kujō, don't get in the way! Move to the right!"

Iizuna stepped in just behind the three-meter line to pass. Upon hearing the command, Kujō Reiji finally started moving like normal again.

Thud!

Kaedehara Taichi jumped from the back row—his form flawless.

"It's nothing like what I saw from the bench…" thought Kujō Reiji. Time seemed to stop, and his thoughts suddenly became crystal clear. "A reassuring offence. A real ace is someone who always inspires their teammates—even with just their back."

BOOM!!!—

Kaedehara Taichi's spike pierced through the block and flew out beyond EJP's endline.

"That guy—" Kitō Yūkan, now rotated to the back row, scowled.

Touch out.

Kaedehara Taichi scored with a spike.

[DH 25 – 23 EJP]

"Keep practising, Rintarō~" Kaedehara shouted teasingly.

"You really have no manners," Suna Rintarō grumbled.

"Beeep—!"

A long whistle echoed across the court.

End of Set 1.

Winner: DESEO Hornets.

-----

"Phew—" Coach Nick let out a long sigh of relief on the sidelines. He'd thought the first set might turn into a tug-of-war. Being able to take it smoothly was a relief—it would open up more room to adjust tactics later on.

At this point, he realised putting Kujō Reiji up against EJP had been unrealistic. He had been too impatient. He should've eased the boy in against a weaker team first.

"Nitta-senpai, that last shot of yours was really clever," Kaedehara Taichi said with a wink.

"Oh~ So you noticed?" Nitta Asahiro grinned. "Getting analysed so thoroughly by your own teammate…tsk tsk."

That's right—the ball that had been blocked by Suna Rintarō had been intentional. Nitta had even reduced his power on purpose.

"After all, asking Kubo-senpai to dig up another one of Akutsu's spikes would've been too harsh. And a deflection probably wouldn't have fooled Akutsu either, so this was the only option."

"Why didn't you just score and end the match, huh?!" Kubo Wataru appeared behind him out of nowhere, gripping Nitta's head and shaking it.

"That'd be too hard for meeee—quit shaking me already!"

"Smart, yes, but definitely risky," Yoshii Hiyu remarked calmly. "If you hadn't signalled ahead of time, I never would've made that receive."

"That was impressive, Yoshii-senpai," Iizuna Tsukasa said with a warm smile.

Yoshii rolled his eyes. If anyone else had said that, he would've taken it as sarcasm.

Just then, Kitajima Kippei approached with Kujō Reiji in tow.

"You should tell them yourself," Kitajima gave him a little push.

The rest of the team turned to Kujō Reiji. They had heard of this antisocial backup player, but very few had actually played alongside him. Only Yoshii Hyō, who had been at DH the longest, knew him to any real degree.

"I—I'm sorry!" Kujō Reiji bowed at a full ninety degrees. "Everyone trusted me with the final strike, and I failed. I nearly dragged the team into a tie at such a crucial moment."

"Uh—" The team exchanged awkward glances. That was way too formal…

"Anyone would struggle in their first match against a strong team," Yoshii said evenly. "We didn't send you in at that moment just to make you the scapegoat. If anyone was useless, it'd be Kitajima for getting subbed out during crunch time."

"Who are you calling useless?!" Kitajima had been nodding along at first, but blew up the moment the sentence finished.

"No, that's not it!" Kujō stared straight at Yoshii, speaking earnestly. "Yoshii-senpai—I still want to fight alongside all of you. I'll overcome my weaknesses as soon as I can!"

"…Yeah." Yoshii's eyes softened slightly.

"DH has already been waiting for you for a long time."

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