14 Aoba Johsai 1

The day of the practice match against Aoba Johsai arrived. Waking up as usual Haruto didn't do his full morning routine but instead did a light run and some stretches as he didn't want to overstain himself in the morning as he was going to play lots afterschool.

Getting ready for school he quickly grabbed a protein bar as his breakfast and quickly walked his way to his school. He entered the gymnasium as the team wanted to quickly go over what the starting lineup would be for the match.

Seeing that everyone gathered, Dachi grabbed his board and began to show off the lineup we decided on. Tanaka and I would be opposite from one another with me being in the front first. Hinata and Tsukishima are opposite and the other side of Kageyama is Daichi.

It was surprising to make Hinata middle as middles are usually the tallest person on the court but Kageyama said that his insane reflexes will help him survive as a middle and become the 'ultimate decoy'. When Hinata learned about his role as decoy he started to get all jittery which made me worry if he was going to be fine during the match.

After our little meeting we started to go to our morning class. Kageyama and I went ahead since Hinata said that he needed to go do his bathroom adventures which I have zero clue what he meant.

"Do you think that Oikawa will be playing in the practice match today?" I turned to Kageyama and he slightly faltered.

"If nothing goes wrong he will be most likely play"

"I wonder if his serves got even better compared to junior high. I only remember playing against him once but I always vividly remember how his serves were." His serves were powerful and not only that he was able to control where that power went which was the most scary part.

"His serves will definitely be more powerful if he's still the same person I knew when I was on his team." I nodded at his answer and anticipation grew as I couldn't wait until the school day was over.

***

The day went by quickly, Daichi said to come over to the locker room so that we can get changed before we leave for Aoba Johsai. As I was packing up and trying to catch up to Kageyama and Hinata a voice called out to me.

"Watanabe" It was a voice that I started to hear more frequently the past few days. I saw Mahiru walk up to me with a slight jog while holding a container.

"Shiina what's up? You don't usually call me out at school." Even if we interacted a lot out of school we hardly did so during school time as I was from a different class from her and I feel like it would cause me a huge headache if I were to suddenly start interacting with her out of nowhere considering her status as the "Angel" in the school.

"Are you going to your game right now?" I nodded my head. Seeing my response she handed me the container she was holding.

"Here take this. It's a grilled chicken wrap that I made since you wouldn't be able to get your dinner at the usual time. I thought I should just give it to you early." I looked at her stunned by her actions. I tried to speak but she cut me off.

"Yeah I know that you're going to say "But I can't accept this". Just take it and you can think of it as getting your dinner earlier than usual." She said coolly. After she said her bit, she turned around and walked away without letting me speak a single word.

I looked at the container in my hand and saw her retreating back. I opened it and the delicious smell invaded my nose. I made a promise to myself that I will finish the game fast so that I can eat this wrap as soon as possible.

***

Arriving at the school I and many of my other teammates quickly got out of the bus to escape the smell that lingered inside. During our ride Hinata who still seemed nervous about his role and his first match vomited all over Tanaka.

"I'm so sorry Tanaka-san!" Hinata bowed repeatedly, apologizing for what happened on the bus.Tanaka just laughed it off and asked him if he was alright.

"Is he going to be okay for the game?" I asked Kageyama besides me as I looked at Hinata who seemed to get even more nervous when Tanaka tried to encourage him even further to do his best in the match.

"Hmm I'm not sure.. I heard from my grandpa that if you hit something hard enough it will eventually get fixed" He began to roll up his sleeves and approach Hinata with a raised fist.

"Stoppp stoop! Are you crazy, what is your grandpa teaching you? Plus I don't think you can fix an empty head so you would have nothing to work on." Kageyama heard my words and stopped agreeing to what I said.

"The hell are you saying Haruto!" Hinata seemed to hear my words and I just turned my head. The three of us began to argue and that looked like it helped him ease his nerves a bit. Walking up to the school, Tanaka and Tsukishima encounter two students from Aoba Johsai. As usual Tanaka does his intimidation but I have seen this face so much that I can't be bothered to stop it and just let Daichi handle it.

Walking into the gym you can hear the squeaks and balls being hit. The atmosphere just shows how much of a powerhouse Aoba Johsai really is. I began to warm up with Kageyama and the rest of the team while waiting for Hinata to come back from the bathroom.

"I don't see Oikawa anywhere.. Do you think he's not playing?" I asked Kageyama across from me in a depressed tone.

"I guess not.." I sighed at Kageyama's answer. I finally had a chance to play against him since the last time I was in junior high, which made me have mixed feelings. But the good thing was Iwaizumi was here and I said a quick hello to him before our warmups as he was a pretty nice guy and I got acquainted with him back then when I played against Kitagawa Daiichi.

The match was about to start and we lost the first serve during the coin toss before the game. Hinata was still jittery and I was really considering letting Kageyama hit him a few times to see if his grandpa's advice really worked. We got on the court and began the match.

*Tweet

The ref whistled letting the other team know to serve. The serve came over and was just a regular overhand. Daichi was about to get the ball but Hinata got in the way and messed up the receive. Ok I'm definitely going to smack him later. Trying to reach the pass Kageyama gave me a set outside from the back but it was a bit far from the net.

Watching the ball 'Hmm a bit far but I can make do with it.' I began my approach to adjust to the set given to me and saw a triple block in front. Trying to test out my new mobility on my shoulder I swung and the ball hit their blocks going out of the court in the process.

"Nice hit!" "Nice adjusting to the set"

We got together and celebrated the point. I started to stare at Hinata and give him a 'friendly' smile. "Relax, who knows if you don't stop getting nervous someone's precious math notes may magically disappear and only have Kageyama as the sole person who can look at it."

Kageyama who heard my threa- ahem I mean advice shivered and gave a pitying look towards Hinata. I was able to see him seriously nodding his head saying that he won't do it again, scared of the consequences of my 'advice'.

The match continued and Hinata started to lessen the amount of mistakes he made. Was losing the chance to look at my math notes that big of a deal for him? I guess I can't underestimate the fear math brings to people. With Hinata doing less mistakes we had more chances in getting our passes in and started using our offense more.

I was able to get my hits in with some being off their blocks and others with me finding an opening to allow me to get around them and bouncing them off the floor racking up points.

*Bang

"Touch!" I softened the hit from Iwaizumi and made it easier for us to receive it. Damn his hits got way stronger. I started to smile and began getting ready to hit to show that I was also not the same person from back then that lost to them. [24-23] was the score with 24 being us. Tanaka got the receive in and gave a pass to Kageyama. I gave him a look and he saw my gaze remembering the time we did the 3 vs 3. His eyes showing his approval making my smile even wider, I began to approach very fast from outside off the court. I jumped up.

*Woosh

The shoot set came very fast towards the apex of my arm swing. I saw the opposite court enter my view and saw the line open its way. I rotated my torso using the momentum from my jump and transferred it to my shoulder and arm torquing it.

*BANG

The opposite side couldn't see what happened but they heard the ball bounce off the floor, reaching the spectators railing.

"Wahhh did you see that!?" "Noo how was he able to hit that?!" "Kyahhh"

I landed and grinned very wide. I looked towards Kageyama and approached him to give him a high five. We all celebrated and I saw Hinata with a jealous look on his face as he approached me. I started to laugh and told him to ask Kageyama if he can do it the next set. He did approach him but they began to bicker.

"Damn he really lives up to his name Rising Ace. His hits have gotten harder compared to before and now he has Kageyama setting him that weird fast one too."

"Yea he might actually start approaching the power of the top 5 aces if he continues to get more power in his hits."

Aoba Johsai returned to their bench and started to talk about Haruto and that last set he hit

"Oh dear! So you guys lost the first set to them~" A frivolous voice appeared from behind them and a guy with brown hair sweeped outwards and matching brown eyes appeared. Walking up to his team he looked towards the opposite bench and stared at both Kageyama and Haruto.

***

Yay the great king approaches! I will attach a picture similar to the mc appearance in this paragraph since I never really posted one and have only described him through words. Peacu!