90 Annoying

With Karasuno beating Johzenji, both teams went back to their side and met each other in the middle to shake hands and say some final words.

"I was just starting to finally get into it, boss man."

"I was able to see that."

Haruto smiled when he held hands with Terushima and noticed the slight frustration in his voice.

"Good luck in your next matches. I'll introduce you to some nice ladies if you lose later on to cheer you up."

"Sorry, but I have a girlfriend."

"Ehh so you're one of those lucky bastards."

Haruto had an awkward expression as he didn't know how to react to Terushima who clicked his tongue in further displeasure.

After their final words, he went towards their bench and grabbed their stuff to move spots since the next team would need their court soon.

As he was walking In the hallway, Haruto noticed silky blonde hair appear from the corner of his eyes and opened his body up knowing what was going to happen next.

"Congrats on winning today!"

"Thanks, your cheers helped a lot."

Mahiru smiled brightly as hugged Haruto's arms and said her thoughts about the match she had just watched.

"Their athletic ability was pretty amazing since it looked like they were just whatever they wanted when they were playing against you guys."

"Yeah they were pretty unpredictable but I learned a few things from them."

Haruto thought back to the trick play he did when he was in the back row and realized that he should be more innovative in his techniques since it can open more opportunities to help him score.

"Yeah! I remember seeing you do that back row set to Kageyama. The people around me kept on talking about that."

Mahiru exclaimed as she pushed onto Haruto's back to help him do his post match stretches. Haruto who was reaching over, heard the slight smug tone in her voice and wondered why she was feeling so smug.

*Tweet!

"The match on court B is over!" Hinata raised his voice when he heard the loud whistle and stood up quickly to see who won.

"They should be our next opponent for the quarter finals…"

Kageyama also stood up when he heard Hinata's voice and Haruto followed shortly behind them.

"According to the board, it should be either Senshou High or…"

"YEAHHH, WAY TO GO TAKERU!!!"

"WOAHH!!"

Haruto's mumbling was cut off when he heard the loud cheering squad that came from the stands and realized who would be their next opponents.

"As expected it was going to be Wakutani."

"That family cheering together is insane…"

"Well it's nice that someone from his family came to support him."

Tsukishima who walked next to Haruto, scrunched his eyebrows when he saw a mother and her baby wave around cones cheering to one of the guys on Wakutani.

"How about I ask Akiteru if he could come watch us play tomorrow?"

"I would rather not have that happen."

Haruto chuckled when he saw the increasing black lines appear on Tskuishima's forehead and decided to just leave him be.

"I should ask Mother if she's free…."

Mahiru who overheard Haruto's conversation with Tsukishima, mumbled to herself and decided that she should call Yui to see if she was busy.

After figuring out who was going to be their next opponents, the guys at Karasuno went to finish up their stretches and gathered around Takeda in an empty hallway, who called them to finish up their thoughts for the day.

"Good job for your first day at the playoffs! If we win the game tomorrow, we will play another one right after so try not to over exert yourselves."

With a warm smile on his face, Takeda said his thoughts on the match and quickly briefed them for the plan tomorrow. He then looked at Ukai to let him add any words he wanted to say.

"As you have seen, our next opponents will be Wakutani. They have a pretty strong defense that is similar to Nekoma's style so don't get impatient if you don't get your hits in."

The team nodded when they saw how Johzenji acted when they didn't get their hits in and wanted to remind themselves not to follow in their steps.

"Let's do our best tomorrow."

Dachi pulled everyone together after Ukai's post match meeting and said some final words of his own before letting everyone go on their way.

***

"TAKERUUU!!!"

"The people from yesterday are still loud as ever…"

Haruto who was folding his arms to stretch, heard the loud voices from the stands and noticed the same cheering squad from yesterday and it even seemed like they grew.

"Haruto, come pepper with me and help me warm up."

"Alright let me get my jersey first."

Kageyama called out to Haruto who was near the stands while he bounced the ball on the court and waited for Haruto to arrive.

"Mahiru, are you looking for someone? You keep on turning your head around." Yachi who was by the stands looked towards Mahiru who kept on glancing around her.

"Well a family member said that they would be coming so I wanted to see if they arrived yet."

"A family member?"

*Tweet

Yachi was about to ask more but she stopped when she heard the whistle blow from the court where Karasuno was playing.

""Let's have a good game!!""

Both teams bowed their heads and went back to their benches to make some last minute preparations.

"GO GO TAKERU!" The loud shouts from the people near Mahiru and Yachi were very prominent, making the two girls at the spectator stands not want to lose to them.

"Do we have any papers that we could use?"

"I have the pamphlets that they gave out at the front but these should do for now."

Yachi took the paper that Mahiru gave her and rolled it up into a cone that was similar to what they did during the Inter Highs to help them cheer.

*Tweet~

With the whistle being blown by the ref, he gestured for the people on both sides to walk onto the court and go into their positions so they could start the match. The ball was then passed towards a player on Wakutani's team since they had won the coin toss and chose to serve first.

Taking a while to get his hands used to the ball, he waited to hear the refs whistle once again and did an overhand serve once he got the signal.

"I got it."

"Asahi nice pass!"

Noticing the ball going into his position, Asahi pulled his arms together in order to pass the ball towards Kageyama so he could use it for the first point.

Kageyama who now got a ball to use, decided to give his outside a quicker tempo set so that he could start them off.

"Remember the line!"

"Got it! You get the cross Takeru."

The person on Wakutani's side who was named Takeru called out to his team once they saw Haruto begin his approach from the left side.

Haruto jumped up and once he was in the air, he noticed the block seemed to completely shift towards his right side, completely sealing off the line.

But the cross was still open so he torqued his body to add additional power into his hit and smashed the ball down cross. The ball quickly moved downward and hit the shoulder of Takeru who seemed to be in place but it flew outwards going out.

'So this is what they're trying to do huh…'

Haruto who landed on the floor, noticed how they positioned the block and how it seemed like they anticipated where he would hit.

"Alright let's go and get that next point now!"

"Gotcha."

"Yeah!"

Takeru had a smile on his face and turned to his team and raised his finger up trying to cheer them on after the point.

"It looks like they made a plan against you."

"I guess they did."

Tsukishima who alongside Haruto raised his arms to block their opponents view when their team serves, felt the need to tell him what he noticed. Haruto nodded his head as he noticed it too but he still needed to confirm if they were consistent with their plan.

Kageyama who rotated to the back row, spun the ball in his hands and threw it up in the air as he started his usual approach for his jump serve.

The ball arced as it passed close to the tape of the net and Takeru who was covering a lot of the court got down low and passed the ball that came his way.

'He has a really strong serve…'

Takeru felt a sweat drop down his face when he felt the impact of the ball reach his arms and moved backwards to help absorb the force that came alongside the serve.

"Nice up captain!"

Wakutani's setter yelled out as he saw the ball go up after the intense serve Kageyama did and everyone on the team started to move together to start their combination attack.

Tsukishima shifted early towards Haruto's side since he saw how Takeru was unable to join the play and started to focus on the players at the middle and on the right side.

Watching for a while Haruto started his footwork to block the person on his left side since he saw the setter tilt his head back to set the person behind him.

Trying to close off the block, Haruto and Tsukishima quickly set up a block and prevented it from going onto their side and it flew into Wakutani's back row.

"Help! It went back onto our side."

The setter called out as the people on his team scrambled to get the ball and they dove in an attempt to keep it alive.

"Takeru get the last ball!"

"The ball is going to their number 1."

Haruto called out as they gave a high toss to Takeru so that he could use it to hit the last ball. Takeru saw the ball come his way and jumped up but he saw the huge wall that covered his view.

Takeru swung his hardest and angled his spike to hit Tsukishima's block on the side and the ball flew out, getting a block out.

"Nice hit captain!!"

Wakutani's team surrounded him and celebrated the point while Tsukishima had an annoyed expression on his face.

"Don't mind."

"I hate it when they use my block on purpose."

Haruto patted Tsukishima on the shoulder as he sympathized with him.

"Remember to continue watching for his habits so we can adapt to how he hits."

"Got it."

The two of them had a serious expression on their faces when they started talking and Dachi who was next to them felt bad for Takeru since it looked like he had gotten the full attention of two of their scariest blockers.

***

Sorry for no chaps for the past few days. College classes are coming up and I had to attend orientations and see if I needed anything else for the upcoming school year. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.