22 Nekoma High

"Everyone gather up! I will now tell you the lineup for the practice game tomorrow." Ukai yelled out and we gathered around him.

The names that he called out were Daichi, Asahi, Nishinoya, Tsukishima, Hinata, Kageyama and Haruto. Nishinoya would switch in and out for the middle blockers. The players on the front first would be Daichi, Hinata and Asahi respectively and Haruto, Tsukishima and Kageyama in the back with Kageyama being the first to serve.

When I heard the lineup I looked towards Tanaka and he just gave a small smile and shook his head. Ukai saw this and said,

"This may be the regular lineup for now but anyone on the team if they put in the hard work they can take a spot in the starting lineup. I believe that each of you have the potential to be on the starting lineup so the current regulars you better keep up the effort or else your spot will be taken by someone who wants it more than you."

The other members who heard this had a fire lit up in their eyes and began to tell themselves they will work harder than ever.

I looked towards Tanaka and gave a gaze that said 'I won't back down' and he gave the same look. We smiled and began to laugh while I began to think I would need to work even harder to not get caught up.

As the team was talking about the lineup Kiyoko, who was carrying a box tapped Ukai on the shoulder and he saw what she brought.

"It looks like they got cleaned.. Alright guys! I will call you up and grab your uniforms." Ukai called each one of us up and we were excited to finally get uniforms. I was given the number 13.

"I heard that 13 was an unlucky number.. Should we stay away from Haruto.." Hinata whispered to Kageyama and they both backed away slowly.

I deadpanned at their actions and just ignored them and thought about the match tomorrow.

***

Walking with the team in the morning we arrived at the Karasuno Sougou Sports Park where the practice match will be held. As we reached the entrance Daichi told us to line up.

We were faced with people in red jerseys and greeted them to have a good game. Hinata seemed to have already known someone on the opposite team.

I looked around and saw Tanaka facing off with another person who looked similar to him with the face he was making.

'Are they brothers?..' I thought and just went past them with Kageyama and entered the gym. The court was clean with the sun slightly beaming through the windows of the gym.

We began to do our stretches and warmed up until it was finally time to start. We huddled up and gave some last words before we played.

"We may have only just made the team but we will use this match to find our faults and polish ourselves to overcome the opponents that we may face in the future." Dachi gave some words which fired up the team.

We got into our positions and waited for the other team to serve since they won the coin toss.

*Tweet

The ref blew the whistle and the serve came over. It was a regular overhand but it went to a deep corner on my side. I quickly shuffled my feet and got under the ball in time to give a pass to Kageyama.

"Nice pass!"

With a pass in play the other team was looking towards who he will set. They had their eyes set on Asahi but I grinned since they were in for a surprise.

*BANG

Before they could react the ball was hit and Hinata landed showing a happy expression.

"What the hell was that!?" "That quick…"

The surrounding people began to murmur and I chuckled since I couldn't help myself since it was always so funny seeing the reactions of people when seeing the quick for the first time.

With a point gotten we rotated and I was now at the front. Asahi did an overhand and the opponents libero gave a perfect pass. The pass was given and was set towards the opponents outside hitter.

I moved back to prepare for a possible spike to come my way but the ball was hit towards the gap of our block. Nishinoya quickly came behind the ball to give another good pass to Kageyama.

Hinata ran up to do another quick which caught the blockers trying to stop him but it was given to me instead. I did my approach and saw it was only one blocker so I smashed the ball straight which landed on the line.

"It looks like we need to watch out for that number 13.." Nekoma's coach whispered.

"You really caught them." I laughed towards Hinata and gave Kageyama a high five

The match continued with us racking up points. We also lost some due to our blunders of not communicating or just simple mistakes such as missing serves or hitting out. I stared at their setter since it may look like he was the weakest player but some weird feeling kept coming to me as if he was something way more than he showed.

The score was [15-10] with 15 being us. Nekoma's coach saw the score and called for a time out.

"We need to adjust to our opponents more. Their setter is a monster being able to use all passes he was given whether it was a bad one or good one and turn it set. Especially that fast one given to their short middle." The head coach said.

"They also have that hitter who other than his heavy hits is able to maneuver around the blocks as he was able to get past our blocks by seeing the opening and hitting through them."

The team was quiet until their setter spoke up.

"We just need to limit their middle's range of motion since we can't let him run freely on the court. For that hitter we need to force him to hit in a direction where Yaku can be there to receive it. He also has strong fire power so at least touch his hit so we can receive it easier." After he spoke he looked towards a tall guy with narrow hazel eyes and bed hair that was shaped like a rooster head.

He saw the stare and mischievously grinned. "Don't worry I will make sure to catch that crow."

The time out ended and the game resumed. I was now in the back and was following up on receiving and covering our hitters in case they got blocked.

"Touch!"

Our opponents started to react faster and I noticed the formation they started to try to limit Hinata's movements.

'A dedicated shift…' I thought this would be a challenge for Hinata to overcome.

Luckily we were able to get the point but the speed at which we gained started to decrease and Nekoma started to slowly reach us. I was at the front with Tsukishima and Kageyama when I felt a gaze on me. I saw a guy grinning at me and turned away which made me wary.

The serve came and Daichi was able to pass it perfectly. I was given a normal set and when I jumped I saw the court open up. I noticed the cross open up so I hit towards it but then hands quickly entered my vision.

"Touch!" The middle blocker touched the ball but it went far off the court so they weren't able to follow up.

"Wheew you sure have some fire power. Almost broke my hand off." I heard him talk to me.

"My bad I will try and control it the next time I hit." I grinned back.

After a few more hits I noticed that he was able to notice where I would hit and kept on touching my hits making it easier for their team to pass.

"You know that you're pretty annoying." I said to him, He heard me and grinned back.

"Oh? It seems like my job is going as planned." I felt a vein start to rise but I began to grin happily as anticipation began to rise seeing that I was faced with a skilled blocker. The obstacle that I was given will be a fun challenge to take on and I began to brainstorm what I could do to get past him and grow.

I was unfortunately not up for long since I needed to go back to the back row due to rotations. I noticed that the blocker marking Hinata began to closely get faster and faster to react to his hits until it finally happened.

*Boom

"I finally got you!" He was able to block Hinata's quick attack. I looked at Hinata and had a thought that someone else on our side may finally have the chance to evolve their game.

***

Describing a volleyball game is pretty hard lol. Peacu