83 First Preliminaries Done

'How am I supposed to follow the ball?!'

Hyakuzawa frowned as he tried to reach his hands and block the ball that was next to him but was unsuccessful since he paid too much attention watching Hinata from the back row.

Haruto who jumped right in front of Kageyama from the left side, went for a minus tempo and smashed the ball down hitting a cut shot.

"Yeah! Yeah! Keep it going!"

"We're in top form aren't we!?"

"Uooouu!"

Hinata jumped up in the air and celebrated alongside Haruto who was smiling brightly after getting a point. With their bright energy palpitating, it started to affect Kageyama who tried his best to keep calm.

Nishinoya also joined them since their transition in their plays were ones that he loved taking part in.

"You guys are too loud. Calm down a bit."

Daichi had to eventually intervene since Nishinoya and Hinata were getting a bit too loud and he started to feel cold sweat drip down his cheek, noticing the ref glancing in their direction.

"I'll get that point back." Hyakuzawa said as he looked steady at the opposite side of the net and went back to his position on the court.

"I understand."

His setter gave a surprised tone since this was the first time he's heard him say something with such seriousness.

However as the setter, he gave a similar response back to help him with the goal in helping him fight against those players on the other side.

A few points began to go by with Hyakuzawa doing what he said he would do but it was still not enough to take the lead that Karasuno had.

'I still haven't managed to get an ace so far…'

Kageyama who was bouncing the ball glanced at Haruto who placed his hands behind his head trying to create a cover so that Kakugawa would have a harder time seeing where Kageyama would serve.

He remembered the serves that Haruto did during the first set and decided that he should also try to rake up points with his jump serve.

Kageyama recalled the score to be [16-10] when he walked to the service line and the lead hey had so far was due to finally getting their rhythm in with the minus tempo.

'When we get back, we should see if we could polish the double bait and maybe add some more things to it…'

He continued to contemplate how he could improve the set when he finally heard the whistle from the ref.

Looking on the opposite side of the net, Kageyama looked where to serve and saw how they tried to push Hyakuzawa to the side in an attempt to prevent him from receiving.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes and wondered if he could aim it towards him and after a while, he decided what to do.

With a flick of his fingers he threw the ball in the air and carefully watched it go up and fall down right in front of him.

Kakugawa's receivers tensed up a bit, getting ready to pass the ball but suddenly froze when they saw Kageyama lightly tap the ball towards their left side where Hyakuzawa was.

"This guy really knows how to mess up their formation…"

Haruto watched the serve and mumbled under his breath when he saw Kakugawa's setter get the first touch since they didn't want their ace hitter to get the ball first.

"Asamushii get the second ball!"

The setter who passed the first ball called out to his opposite hitter since out of all the players on the court, he had the best hands to set the ball.

Hearing the call, Asamushii got closer to the ball given to him and gave a high toss to their left side.

"Let me lead the block for this one."

Not letting his eyes leave the ball, Haruto told this to Tsukishima and Daichi who were tight beside him. They acknowledged his words feeling like there was something about to happen for this block they were about to set up.

'Right as he's about to bring his arm down…'

Haruto thought in his head and slowly planted his feet to his right side. Watching how Hyakuzawa's arm was about to swing down, Haruto led the two to jump up.

'So on our side the block reaches the peak of our jump.'

Still watching the ball go in his direction for a cross, Haruto placed all his force into his fingers and arms to slam the ball towards the ground on their side, getting in a kill block.

"He managed to block that giant?!?"

"Did you see how the ball bounced back onto their side!!"

"Let's go Haruto~!!"

The spectators stood agape when they saw how Hyakuzawa who always managed to hit the ball above the blockers, was finally stopped by Haruto and the other two.

"How did you stop him?"

"Hmm?"

After celebrating the point and trying his best to calm Hinata down, Haruto heard Tsukishima voice call out to him and saw the serious look in his eyes.

"I learned it from Kuroo."

"From him?"

"If you have good timing on a block, you can create an opportunity for your arms to have more time to fully extend themselves to make a stronger block."

Hearing his words, Tsukishima took in what he said but gave a slight frown when he noticed Haruto's smirk.

"You know the next time you meet Kuroo, just ask him and he would teach you~"

"...I'm not sure if I want to do that after seeing your face."

"Ehh~, why not? He would love the idea of getting someone to teach, you know."

'These two are annoying…' Tskushima thought in his head and turned around going back to his position.

Haruto chuckled seeing the look he had on his face and decided not to bother him anymore.

After getting the block, the point difference started to gradually increase allowing for Karasuno to gradually reach the end of the game.

"Hahh…Hah…"

Taking in deep breaths Hyakuzawa tried to catch his breath as he looked at the scoreboard and saw how it said {25-16].

He recalled the last few points where Hinata managed to purposely hit the hands of his block to Haruto making it impossible for them to know where he would hit.

As they were lining up to shake hands with each other, Hyakuzawa saw Haruto near the end of the line and shook hands with him.

"Are you a first year?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm a first year." Haruto felt a bit confused when he heard him suddenly speak up to him but still answered.

"I see… next year I will pay you back for that block you did earlier."

Seeing that Haruto acknowledged his words, Hyakuzawa said some things before going towards his team.

"Did you manage to get yet another person to challenge you…"

"First it was Date Tech, Ushijima and now a super tall guy…"

"Ushijima didn't challenge him remember, it was Haruto who did it."

Kageyama and Hinata, who heard their conversation from afar, started to whisper to each other noticing that people seemed to love challenging Haruto in future games.

"I don't know why they do that but I will welcome them with open arms. Especially that guy, since I know he will be a monster once he gets some techniques down."

Haruto looked back towards Hyakuzawa and began to imagine him using his height in addition to some high leveled skills, he would become a top player for sure.

"Good job everyone, we managed to move on towards the representative playoffs." Ukai smiled brightly, feeling the energy everyone gave off.

"All I need to say is to keep doing what we need to do and…."

Ukai continued to give a quick post match talk while everyone listened intently to what he needed to say.

"You did amazing."

"Thanks."

Mahiru made her way beside Haruto and whispered while he just smiled and gently ruffled through her soft hair.

"We still have a month or so to prepare for the playoffs so we managed to get some time to go to Tokyo again for some practices, so prepare for that."

"Once again, you guys did good but prepare yourselves since the upcoming games will be a bit more challenging compared to today."

Letting his words settle in, Takeda smiled and told them to gather their stuff since they were finished and could finally head home now.

"Hey Haruto, do you want to get some ramen before we head back?" Hinata asked him and he turned to look at Mahiru.

"Wanna come? We could have a lighter dinner later if we're still hungry and it would be a bit easier for you to prepare it if we need to."

Haruto asked Mahiru and after a while of deliberation she accepted the offer since his stories of going to get ramen after matches has been something she's been curious about.

"Just recommend me something good since I haven't been to a ramen shop before."

"Don't worry, you're looking at a ramen connoisseur here."

Haruto patted his chest with a confident look, making Mahiru roll her eyes and smile at his positive attitude.

Leaving the gym they felt happy with the win they had today but the feeling of the playoffs approaching, gave them a mixed feeling of excitement and slight nervousness.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.