71 Gears Connecting

"Shit! Akaashi my bad!"

"Their formation is out of order, watch it!"

A guy on the opposite side of Karasuno picked up the hard spike that got through their blocks from Haruto and yelled out after seeing the ball fly off.

Daichi called out as he got in place behind Haruto who was watching the ball after seeing that Fukurodani's formation was in disarray from the off pass they did.

Akaashi went silent as he saw the ball go off course and ran his way towards the ball that was passed towards the attack line. He saw his middle blocker from the corner of his eye and gave a back set to the middle of the court..

The ball quickly floated in front of the middle blocker and he slammed the ball down getting a point for them.

"That ball was a pretty hard one to set…"

"He was pretty confident in going for that quick despite the risky pass from his team, Fukurodani's setter has some serious guts."

On sidelines, Takeda and Ukai felt amazed by the play Akaashi formed from his team's off pass. Instead of going for a safer route, he aimed for a more risky one that had a higher chance of messing up if he was off but still managed to pull it off.

"But our team has changed a lot from when they first started, so that won't startle them."

Takeda smiled brightly as he watched Karasuno continue to play steadily with the new skills they had improved during their time at the camp.

"Nice pass!"

Kageyama yelled out as Nishinoya gave a high pass that had no rotation towards him and watched how everyone on the court started to move at the same time.

'A quick set here would be good.'

He thought in head and felt his fingers twitch as he used Tsukishima as bait and gave a back set to Daichi who was part of the combination attack they started.

The blockers at the front realized their mistake as they jumped up to block Tsukishima and tried to go up again to block Daichi. Unfortunately they were unable to raise their arms back up and the ball quickly landed on their side.

'The first gear.."

Takeda felt his fist clench seeing the successful usage of their combination attack and intently continued to watch the rest of the set.

Asahi bounced the ball in his hands and took a deep breath as he threw the ball up and with a quick step, he followed through the ball making it curve downwards.

Fukurodani's team saw the ball curve and were quick to respond to the serve. They passed the ball but the pass was a bit too far from the setter's position and was about to go back over.

Akaashi jumped and reached his hand over to give a back row set to position one since it was the best he could make from the situation.

"Match with me."

Haruto watched the ball and said to Tsukishima who was by his side and he nodded to his words. The two of them set their sights and used the momentum from their arms to swing upwards and applied pressure to their fingertips.

The back row set was hit and was met with a strong block that killed whatever momentum the ball had and fell straight down to the floor.

'The second gear..'

Takeda felt his palm sweat seeing how their serve and blockers quickly formed together to make a serve and block scenario. He looked at the score and saw that it was [8-12] with Karasuno slowly catching up to Fukurodani.

They continued to play with Nishinoya adding to their attack by setting the ball for their combination attacks, adding to their series of usable skills they could do.

Fukurodani still continued to lead in points due to Bokuto and their other strong players with the match increasing in intensity.

However the skill Kageyama has been trying his best to achieve finally made its appearance making it worth it.

"My bad I should have gotten that."

"It's fine, it floated in my direction so it was my job to pick it up."

Haruto spoke as he bent his legs forward to grab the serve that was dropping in front of him. The ball flew upwards to Kageyama who felt his fingers twitch once more.

'I feel like I could use it..'

His eyes carefully looked at each of the members that was on the court before it finally landed on Hinata. His eyes widened when he saw that he was already in the air and felt like this was the time to use it.

He placed all his fingers on the ball and carefully controlled it, aiming it quickly to Hinata's peak.

Hinata watched the ball and as it reached his apex, it paused for a brief second which opened up his options on where to hit to a considerable amount. He chose to hit straight down and a point was earned due to the speed of the set.

The ball bounced and the two of them looked at each other for a while without saying anything.

"Holy shit that was the new set wasn't it!! Give one to me too~"

They felt their necks get drawn as Haruto was smiling to the brim after seeing how they scored a point. They heard his excited words and smiled brilliantly after feeling the progress they finally made.

"That's only if you give me a good pass."

"Eh a good pass is all it takes? Pretty easy."

Haruto smiled arrogantly to which Kageyama just scoffed at his words.

"They finally managed to do it. That makes all of the gears we've formed finally connect!"

Takeda raised his voice in excitement after seeing the new and improved minus tempo finally succeed.

"Nope there's still one more."

"There is?"

"Yes, it's the one that helps keep the team, follow a steady flow while also bringing in a powerful force force that can break through tough situations."

Ukai said as he watched Haruto who was on the court doing an excellent job filling in the gaps of their defense to create opportunities and racking points for them with his powerful hits.

Bokuto on the other side felt his excitement for the game increase as he looked at the score and saw that they were on the edge with Karasuno having a match point at [27-26].

He bounced the ball at the service line and matched eyes with Haruto who was staring at him with an equally happy grin.

'Ahh I wish Haruto came to a school in Tokyo. It's fun to play against him, just as it is with Sakusa and Kiryu.'

Bokuto palmed the ball in his hands and threw it up, with the steady spin on it he swung his serving arm with a fluid motion and added a strong curve on it.

The ball arced and it made a strong turn towards Haruto who was ready for the ball. He took a step forward and lowered himself to adjust his center of gravity to match the ball.

He tilted his platform upwards to account for the strong curve it had and controlled his arms to absorb the power it had behind it.

"You really did say it was easy…"

Kageyama mumbled to himself as he watched the ball go towards him. He saw how Haruto quickly got off the floor and transitioned into a position for him to hit.

Seeing this Kageyama gave a minus tempo set towards the outside but frowned when he saw the ball go shorter than he expected.

'I guess it's still not at 100% yet.'

Haruto thought as he saw the shorter set that was given to him. He watched the ball that was headed towards him and decided what he needed to adjust to.

Haruto started his approach but on his third step he used it to quickly cover the distance that was missing from the set.

Jumping up in the air, he tilted his shoulder higher so he could hit the ball at a sharp angle. His palm contacted the ball solidly and it rocketed down at a cross hitting the upper forearms of Akaashi who saw the angle.

He lowered his hands as he saw the ball go back over towards Karasuno's side and waited for their next attack.

"Free ball!"

"Give me another one!!"

Haruto yelled out as he moved backwards to get some distance for his next potential run up. Kageyama waited for Nishinoya to pass the ball and saw how Fukurodani's blockers were ready to set up a three man block for Haruto.

'I could give it to my opposite since they would have a lesser chance of getting blocked but…'

He thought in his head but he felt the heavy and intense stare Haruto was giving him.

'Let me just give it to him.'

Kageyama gave the set Haruto prefers as he didn't want to make the same mistake he did with the minus tempo previously.

Haruto did his approach with relaxed shoulders and placed a lot of power behind his last final steps in his run up. Transferring the power from his feet, he loaded his arm backwards and saw the approaching wall coming his way.

Shifting himself mid air, he rocoiled his elbow and torso forward bringing in a strong and swift swing that contacted the ball above the blockers.

*BAAM

The ball blasted downwards and landed on the ground earning a point for Karasuno, winning the set against Fukurodani for the first time since the beginning of the training camp.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.