112 That's How You Do It

"Is everyone done warming up?"

""Yes!""

"Good. I will now assign you to a court and I will have the coach who's in charge to start the drill for today."

Following one of the coaches instructions, Haruto made his way to court one where he was separated from Kageyama.

He lightly stretched his arms as he looked at the players who were with him and noticed that the setter he was with yesterday was in his group.

"Atsumu, it looks like we're in the same group again."

"It sure does make me happy to have a slippery hitter with me."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just reminding me of a certain middle on my team."

Haruto looked at Atsumu with a confused stare which made him snicker as he remembered Haruto's swing from yesterday.

'I wonder how Suna would react once he finds out that there is another person who's as irritating as him.'

As Atsumu was thinking of this, in a school gym there was a guy with narrow yellow eyes and black parted hair suddenly sneezed, scaring the people around him.

"I feel like someone is talking about me."

"Maybe it's my dumbass brother who's skipping practice for that camp."

"....."

"Yeah, maybe not. He's probably enjoying the time of his life at the camp. "

Suna looked at the guy with gray hair and a disgusted expression appeared as he saw him pick something out his nose and flicked it off his finger.

"He better get me some of those cookies I told him to get or I'm going to beat his ass…"

The guy grumbled to himself as he thought about his brother who was away.

"Achoo!"

"Damn that was a big sneeze."

"..I wonder if someone is thinking about me."

Back at the camp Atsumu gave out a huge sneeze that made Haruto flinch as it came out of nowhere.

'It looks like he's also with us.'

Haruto thought as he saw Sakusa standing near the back and felt lucky that he was in his group.

He waved at Sakusa but all he got was a cold shoulder which he found strangely funny.

"Alright this should be everyone."

The coach who was in charge of Haruto's group clapped as he looked at the people who were with him.

"We usually open up the session with some simple drills such as hitting lines or service practice but after seeing yesterday, we felt like playing in actual formation will bring more benefits."

The coach noticed that silence but it actually confirmed that what he said was true as he saw some people nodding their heads.

"I will have five people on one side while on the other side will have three receivers and one setter." The coach began to assign numbers and people started to move to their desired locations.

Looking at the three receivers which had Sakusa as one of them, the coach continued to speak out about the drill.

"On my side I will have two people who will serve towards you guys and the setter will use that ball to choose whoever he wants to set. But be sure to watch out as blockers will try to stop your movements."

'Since there's less people, it will be harder to fool the blockers since fakes will be harder to pull off while also having the chance of having someone out of system when they receive.'

Haruto thought inwardly as he realized that this drill will help both the blockers and attackers with reading situations, teaching them to adapt quickly.

"Damn I wanted to be on the receiving side though.."

He let out a regretful tone as he held a ball in his hands since he was assigned to serve. 

"I guess I can get some reps in and get some more practice in my serves."

Looking on the bright side of things, Haruto quietly listened as he waited for the coach to begin their drill.

***

"Right Right!" 

The blockers on Haruto's side called out as they noticed Sakusa approaching the ball.

*Booom!

"Touch!"

"Nice touch. But make sure to plant your feet first before you jump up."

The coach gave some advice when he saw the movements of each player who went up to block Sakusa's spike.

"Yes!"

"Alright, the next two will be the last ones until the switch."

Haruto saw the glance the coach gave signaling that it was his turn, to which he began to bounce the ball.

'Hmm… I did my usual top spin serves to warm up but I should've done my other serve if I knew that we were going to switch this soon…'

He felt a bit of regret but noting that it was his last serve, Haruto thought of switching his serve.

Feeling the texture of the ball in his hand, Haruto sunk his fingers into the material and brought it close to his forehead as he did his in-game routine.

"He's going to rip this one."

"..."

Atsumo's eyes gleamed as he saw the change in atmosphere Haruto gave off and started to feel his fingers scrunch up.

Sakusa who was waiting for the switch, felt his body relax when he saw the ball get tossed and kept his eyes straight at Haruto 

*BOOOM!

A loud sound erupted when Haruto's hand contacted the ball and he allowed his body to twist forwards so he could add the spin.

Sakusa's eyes watched as the ball began to dip away from his position and he adjusted himself to receive the ball 

But his eyes shook when he saw the sharp horizontal curve it had when it passed by the net.

Having to adjust it at the last minute, Sakusa lowered his center of gravity but it was a bit late and all he was able to do was at least keep it up.

"Help!"

Atsumo yelled as he watched the ball go out.

To Sakusa's last adjustments he was able to pass it upwards but it sadly didn't make it to the setter's position since the second touch went out of bounds.

"That was a good serve there."

The coach whistled as he complimented Haruto seeing how his serve did that sharp curve that last second.

"....." 

As if to remember the feeling of Haruto's serve, Sakusa clenched his fist a few times and opened them back up.

The last serve came and seeing how it proceeded like normal, the coach assigned new positions for the people on his court.

Haruto showed a faint smile as he was placed on the receiving end just like he wanted.

"Kiyoomi-san, you may start us off."

Sakusa nodded his head and bounced the ball a few times as he locked his eyes on Haruto for a brief second.

'I feel like a big serve is coming.'

Haruto licked his lips as he noticed the glance and lowered his body to pass the ball.

Sakusa threw the ball in the air and Haruto intently watched at how the ball moved as it contacted his palm.

"Heavy dip..."

The ball approached his position and he saw how the ball dipped as it passed the tape.

'I got it—!?'

Seeing how he got into positions quickly, Haruto was about to tense his body in order to absorb the impact but his thoughts stopped when he felt something was wrong.

As the ball contacted his forearms, Haruto felt the ball bounce off his intended course and what happened was him shanking the ball out.

'I swear I had the exact spot too….'

Haruto looked at the other side and noticed the message Sakusa was sending which made a vein pop out his forehead.

[This is how you do a serve.]

"This bastard is finally showing what he can do huh."

Although curses came out of his mouth, Haruto had a huge grin as he couldn't wait for the next time Sakusa would serve.

***

At the dawn of night in a long apartment quite far away from Haruto's training camp, a blonde haired girl was humming to herself as she wiped the remaining moisture off her hair.

"Hmm~ Hmm~"

Mahiru with a towel in her hand, looked at herself in the mirror but her attention seemed to drift off as she subtly glanced at her phone that was on her bed.

Thinking about the past few days where Haruto was absent, a small blush appeared on her face as she remembered some of the blunders she had made subconsciously.

Things such as bringing an extra portion of food for lunch that she would give Haruto or waiting by the benches whenever it was time to go home.

"Ahh! Dummy."

Mahiru began to punch her pillow to relieve her embarrassed thoughts remembering her prior actions.

Laying down on the bed, she lifted the pillow and began to tightly hug it aftering she had stared at it for a bit.

"It's different…"

Remembering his warmth the day he left, Mahiru grumbled to herself as the feeling of hugging her pillow was vastly different.

*Ring~

A sound came from her phone and Mahiru quickly got up and grabbed her phone and wondered if it was the person she was thinking of.

Carefully reading the name on her screen, a beautiful smile bloomed from her face as she quickly answered the phone.

[Hello, is this pizza delivery?]

"I think you may have the wrong address sir."

[Damn that's a bummer. I wanted to order some pizza from the beautiful lady I saw by the counter.]

"Should I redirect the call? She is right beside me if you want to talk to her."

[Ahh! Yes please!]

Hearing his voice and how they seamlessly began to talk like nothing was out of the ordinary, Mahiru gave out a gentle giggle hearing his exaggerated voice.

"How was the training today?"

[It was pretty fun this time. Remember that guy I told you about? I finally had the chance to see his skills and he had some nasty spins on his serves.]

Laying down and hugging her pillow close, Mahiru quietly listened to Haruto's voice that started to happily explain his time at the training camp so far.

[How was your day so far?]

"It was like the usual. Class and attending the practices to help the team out."

[It sounds pretty eventful.]

Mahiru rolled her eyes haering his sarcastic tone.

[Anyways, are you going to bed right now?]

"Not really I was just finishing my nighttime routine first."

[Hmm… then that means we can talk for a bit more right?]

"That's fine with me but don't you need to do some things.]

[I finished it all earlier. I wanted to free up some time so I can talk with you a bit longer since I missed you.]

Mahiru's lips squirmed when she heard his words and her wish of hugging him once again grew even stronger.

"I..miss you too.."

[....]

After whispering those few words, silence erupted from the other side before a Mahiru heard a huge sigh.

[I think I can take the train overnight if I leave right now…]

"Are you crazy?"

Mahiru retorted after hearing his words but smiled regardless.

"Just enjoy your time there and once you've come back I will prepare a big dinner for you."

[If you say so.]

Mahiru gave off a gentle expression as she rolled over and hugged her pillow.

Quietly listening to his voice as she thought of what she would cook and do once Haruto comes back.

***

Sorry for the lack of chapters. Exams and assignments made me want to rip all the hair off my head. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu