Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty-Chapter 530: Ninja Shōyō

"Great King! Taichi!!"

A bright, energetic voice rang out.

After greeting the players on court, Hinata Shōyō dashed over in a few quick strides, stopping in front of Kaedehara Taichi and Oikawa Tōru.

"Still as hyper as ever…" Oikawa muttered under his breath, feeling like the sun had gotten a little hotter just from Hinata's presence.

"After I confirmed the time with Taichi last night, I couldn't sleep at all! So I just came here early to wait for you guys!" Hinata scratched his head sheepishly, eyes gleaming with excitement—anyone could see just how much he had been looking forward to this reunion.

Kaedehara Taichi studied him for a moment. It had already been two years since they last saw each other.

Appearance-wise, Hinata hadn't changed much—still the same orange hair and baby face—but after a full year of beach volleyball, his skin had tanned into a healthy bronze. The white T-shirt on his back billowed in the sea breeze, revealing faint outlines of toned, defined muscles underneath.

And—

"Shōyō, you've gotten a lot taller!" Taichi remarked with surprise.

"Hehe, I'm 170 cm now!" Hinata said proudly. "What about you, Taichi? You're even taller than the Great King now!"

"197 cm," Taichi said casually.

"Hssst—!" Hinata flinched like he'd been electrocuted. He hadn't expected the height gap between them to grow even more.

"What's so great about height," Oikawa scoffed. "Skill is what really matters!"

"And in that area, I'm still better," Taichi replied without missing a beat.

"Shōyō! Let me see how much you've grown!" Oikawa pretended not to hear Taichi at all.

"Oooh! I get to play volleyball with Oikawa-senpai?!" Hinata leapt with joy.

Oikawa smirked at Taichi, smug as ever. "That's the proper reaction when you meet your senpai."

Taichi: "…"

"Taichi! Come join us!"

"Nah, I'll pass." Taichi waved his hand. "You two team up. I've got something to take care of."

"Oooh, okay then!"

Hinata looked slightly disappointed, but with beach volleyball being a two-person game, he was also genuinely eager to team up with Oikawa.

The beach volleyball scene in Brazil was incredibly lively. Outside nearly every seaside club, matches ran from early morning all the way into the night.

And since it only took two players per team, it was always easy to find partners and start a game. Before long, Hinata and Oikawa had found their opponents.

"Look, it's the 'Japanese Ninja!'"

"Who's that next to him? Looks pretty strong too!"

In an instant, Hinata's match attracted a growing crowd of spectators.

"Oho~ looks like Shōyō's kind of a big deal around here." Taichi raised an eyebrow with interest. Just imagining what was about to happen made him chuckle.

"You know the 'Japanese Ninja'?" Someone in the crowd noticed that Taichi had been talking to Hinata earlier.

"You don't know? Shōyō's the miracle boy of this beach!"

"They say he started from scratch—with no beach volleyball experience at all—and in just one year, climbed from the bottom of the club rankings all the way to the top!"

"They call him 'Ninja Shōyō'! And whenever he's free, he'll team up with anyone!"

"Wow, that's pretty amazing," Taichi said with a smile. He couldn't help but recall his own matches with Nakamori Daiki on the beach.

As for himself…if he really tried, he figured he'd need about a month to hit the top of the leaderboard.

Pedro, who was standing nearby, noticed Taichi's nonchalant tone and curled his lip. "You probably don't get how insanely hard that is."

"Hahaha, I do." Taichi laughed. "By the way, don't tell me you're one of Shōyō's fans?"

"Of course I am!" Pedro said proudly. "Not just me—most people on this beach are!"

"Then you might wanna go prep some blood pressure meds," Taichi said kindly.

"???" Pedro looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Taichi pointed toward the court. "Because that guy he's teaming up with? He's a total beach volleyball newbie."

-----

"Pffft—!"

Oikawa Tōru landed face-first in the sand with a dramatic thud.

"Oh! Beautiful!" Taichi immediately whipped out his phone and snapped a series of perfectly timed shots.

That's right—this was the reason Taichi had turned down Hinata's invitation earlier. The "something he had to do" was simply this: capturing Oikawa's glorious fall from grace.

"What the hell! There's no way to explode into a sprint on this kind of surface!" Oikawa shouted in frustration.

Laughter erupted from the spectators around them, while—

"Why do I suddenly feel a massive sense of superiority?" Hinata scratched his head, looking genuinely confused. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!" Oikawa yelled at him, utterly betrayed.

Taichi nodded in satisfaction. He recalled how, when he first started beach volleyball, he hadn't even touched a ball for an entire morning. All his time had gone into repeating drills: quick footwork in sand, jumping, diving, and rolling.

Beach volleyball techniques aren't that simple, he thought, eagerly ready to snap more photos of the upcoming mess.

-----

The first set ended quickly, with Hinata and Oikawa losing almost without resistance.

If Hinata handled the first receive and managed to pass the ball accurately, then Oikawa didn't need to move much to set it up, and they could still hold their own for a few rallies. But once the opponents started targeting their serves toward Oikawa, their formation completely collapsed. They couldn't even string together a proper offensive play.

"Oikawa-senpai, maybe it's time for you to admit defeat and let me sub in?" Taichi called out loudly from the sidelines. He had taken more than enough photos by now.

"In your dreams!" Oikawa snapped back, shooting a deadly glare his way. "It's just sand—I'll conquer it in no time!"

The second set began swiftly.

Though Oikawa had acted all casual earlier and dismissed the challenge of the sand, the first set had clearly given him time to reflect. Now, he was starting to figure things out.

BOOM!

The opponents served powerfully.

"Don't go for explosive steps right off the bat. Stay balanced—plant every step solidly..."

Oikawa's reaction speed was clearly superior to his opponents'. As long as he could predict where the ball was headed, there was no need for that explosive first step. Receiving was totally within his capability.

Smack!

The volleyball flew up cleanly and accurately.

"Nice receive!!!" Hinata shouted, even more thrilled than Oikawa himself.

"Hah," Oikawa chuckled.

He sprinted up to the net, and Hinata quickly shifted into position for the set.

Damn!

As Oikawa jumped, he noticed he wasn't getting his usual height off the sand!

Fwooosh!—

But the ball still came sailing perfectly to meet him.

"Chibi-chan…" Oikawa's eyes widened in disbelief. "That was a gorgeous set!"

—Boom!!!

The ball zipped past the block and slammed into the sand.

"We did it!"

"YEAH—!"

The two of them high-fived, elated. That attack had gone off flawlessly.

"Next up—it's our turn to strike back!"

_________

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