Haikyuu: Zero To Almighty

Chapter 133: Clear Skies

[July 4th—the day of the National IH Tournament Finals]

Kaedehara Taichi's eyelids trembled slightly before he slowly opened his eyes. He lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, but he made no move to get up. Instead, he closed his eyes again.

After a while, he repeated the process: opening his eyes, dazing out, and then closing them again.

Open, close, open, close, open...close.

It's reality, after all...

It had been a full day and night since the match against Inarizaki. Coach Irihata had given the team a day off, and the players, worn out from playing three consecutive days of matches, had accepted it without a second thought.

After returning home, all Taichi wanted to do was sleep, and he ended up sleeping the entire day. Not that it mattered; after all, he had no idea what else to do when awake...

Gurgle, gurgle...

The sound of his stomach reminded him that he should eat. Slowly, he crawled out from under the covers, his movements stiff. As he sat up, his joints made soft cracking noises from the lack of activity.@@@@

"Right, food," he muttered.

Taichi grabbed a random piece of clothing to throw on.

The room remained dim, with dumbbells, hand-grip trainers, and volleyballs scattered haphazardly across the floor.

A sliver of sunlight seeped through the gap in the curtains and landed on his face, its brightness deepening the furrow between his brows.

The fridge held some bread and rice balls. He vaguely remembered Kindaichi stuffing them into his hands after the match, crying as he did so.

"Honestly, it's not like you're the team's manager or anything," Taichi muttered under his breath as he ate the cold breakfast.

His expression remained unchanged, neither liking nor disliking the food. He ate mechanically, as though it were a chore.

"Oh, right. I have school today," he remembered abruptly.

He went to brush his teeth and wash his face. The cold water splashing on his skin seemed to jolt his groggy mind awake. And with that clarity came the realization of what had felt off since earlier—Aoba Johsai's journey in the Nationals was over.

As his mind cleared, scenes from the match began replaying in vivid detail. The final moments of the last set flashed before his eyes, the offence and defence exchanged like a reel on repeat...

On the afternoon of the third day of the National Tournament, Aoba Johsai battled Inarizaki through three gruelling sets.

In the end, they lost, 1-2.

"Yeah. As expected, there are no weak teams left," Oikawa said firmly. "I can't wait to start training again. At Spring High, no matter who we face, I'm not losing again."

"Spring High, huh..."

Though no one explicitly mentioned it, it was clear that all four third-years were planning to stay on.

"By the way, shouldn't someone check on Taichi?" Iwaizumi asked Oikawa.

Yesterday, while club activities were cancelled, school was still in session.

Taichi had skipped entirely, prompting Kindaichi to immediately seek out Iwaizumi to explain the situation.

"Why is Kindaichi coming to you? I'm the captain, you know!" Oikawa had been too absorbed in his post-match gloom at the time to care. Now, remembering it again, he felt irritated. After all, his and Iwaizumi's classrooms were right next to each other.

Seeing Iwaizumi's expression darken, Oikawa quickly got to the point.

"Let him be for a day. The kid's never faced a setback like this before—not like us," Oikawa said nonchalantly. "If he hasn't snapped out of it by today, I'll go straighten him out myself."

"A first-year making it to the national quarterfinals, and he's acting like he's hit rock bottom. That kid's thought process is so bizarre," Matsukawa commented, shaking his head. "We're third-years about to retire, and we're not even that dramatic."

"Maybe it's because he's been shouting about conquering the Nationals since the prefectural finals. I think he's even more serious than Oikawa," Hanamaki added with a laugh.

"Hanamaki!"

"Hahaha..."

"Let's gather the team this afternoon to watch footage of the finals. One of those teams might be our opponent next time, so we should start preparing early," Matsukawa suggested.

"Yeah, after a day off, it's time to get back to training. And we've got the training camp from hell coming up," Oikawa said, grinning ominously.

"Iwa-chan, you're smiling like a villain..."

Having experienced enough defeats, the third-years understood the value of their current opportunities. Rather than dwelling on regret, loss, or self-reproach, they knew this was their last chance to give it their all. There was still so much left to do.

-----

[T/N] - No, you guys are not missing a chapter...They got OFF-SCREENED! The DISRESPECT! lol

And, if you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you can support me on my Patreon. Trust me, it's awesome! [We are already at the Spring-High Arc over there]

Link - /Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]