Chapter 18 -New Members Match (PART 1)

A few days had passed, and Saturday, the day of the practice match between the Karasuno volleyball club members, had arrived.

Hinata followed his normal routine, waking up around 7 AM and starting his stretching and physical exercise session with push-ups and squats. After finishing, he put on his white Karasuno shirt and headed to school.

Upon arriving, he ran into Kageyama, who had gotten there at the same time.

"Hey, looks like we both got here early," said Hinata.

"Yeah, do you want to... no, never mind," said Kageyama as he went ahead and entered the gym to start his stretching session.

"You were going to ask if we could try that super quick attack a few more times, weren't you?" said Hinata, smiling.

"How did you know?" asked Kageyama, surprised.

"Well, it was written all over your face... we can try some sets, but nothing more than about ten minutes, so we don't wear ourselves out before the game," Hinata observed.

"Really? Then let's do it!" said Kageyama, who upon hearing Hinata's response, immediately got up from the floor and prepared to set.

"Alright, get ready!" said Kageyama as he waited for the ball to touch his fingers at the exact moment to make the set that flew toward Hinata, who tried his best to anticipate and arrive in time to execute the super quick, but once again, the ball passed by him milliseconds before he could hit it with his hand.

"Damn, it's always so close to working, but in the end, it doesn't," Kageyama sighed.

"Well, at least if it's close, it means the chance of it working at some point is higher. Let's try a few more," said Hinata.

The rookie duo spent ten minutes repeating the same movement, but all attempts ended unsuccessfully until they heard the gym door opening.

"Looks like these two got here early and were trying that crazy attack again," Tanaka said to Sugawara, who was also there with most of the other club members.

"Yeah," he said.

"You still haven't gotten it right, huh," Sugawara observed.

"No," said Kageyama, slightly irritated.

"But anyway, I'm really impressed by your agility, Hinata. Even though you're the tallest player on the team, you might even be the most agile," Sugawara continued.

"I've always had that advantage. I was even more agile a year and a half ago before my growth spurt, and I jumped higher, although I needed more momentum to attack and defend. Still, I can reach higher points now than before," said Hinata.

"I'm not sure I understood what you meant, what do you mean you had more momentum before?" said Tanaka with a confused face.

"Well, up until a year and a half ago, I wasn't even 170cm tall, and from then until now, I had a growth spurt until I reached the height I am today," said Hinata, hiding the fact that it all happened in one night.

"WHAT?" said everyone present who was listening to the conversation.

"You grew more than 20cm in a year?" asked Sugawara.

"Yes," Hinata confirmed.

"WHY DON'T THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO ME!" complained Tanaka.

"Come to think of it now, that explains why I never saw you before and you appeared out of nowhere," said Kageyama.

"Alright, everyone, let's begin!... I'll play for Tsukishima's team along with Yamaguchi while Tanaka will join Hinata and Kageyama to form the other team."

"Hey, Captain, I don't think we'll even need to worry about jumping for blocks, we'll just need the King to keep trying his egocentric sets that will always result in points for us," Tsukishima provoked, which made Kageyama slightly irritated after hearing the comment.

"Oh, well, we'll have to jump to stop baldy, but I don't think it'll be a big deal," he continued.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE SHIT! WE'RE GOING TO DESTROY YOU TO SHOW YOU WHO'S NO BIG DEAL!" Tanaka said furiously while looking at Tsukishima.

"HINATA, SHOW HIM THAT CRAZY SERVE OF YOURS," said Tanaka.

"I agree, let's start with impact," Kageyama added.

Then the game begins with Hinata's team serving, and the boy took the ball and went to the serving position, performed his pre-serve ritual, tossed the ball up, and made a powerful jump, hitting the ball with all his strength. It flew to the back of the court, giving no chance to Daichi, who was eager to try to receive Hinata's infamous serve that had gained a reputation throughout Miyagi prefecture, but he wasn't even able to keep up with it.

1-0 Hinata's Team

"Take that, four-eyes!" Tanaka celebrated.

"WOW, I'd never seen Hinata serve, it's really incredible!" said Kinoshita, who was keeping score.

"That's insane!" added Ennoshita, who was also watching.

"His serve is still powerful! Even last year before entering high school, it was unstoppable," said Sugawara.

After scoring the first point, Hinata prepared to continue the sequence, so he concentrated and continued making his powerful serves that kept going in.

"Look how absurd! That's the sixth in a row!" said Kinoshita.

But the seventh serve was stopped by Daichi, who managed to adapt in time and make the reception.

6-0 Hinata's Team

"I wasn't going to keep taking aces after aces without recovering!" said Daichi, who had confidence in his receives.

The pass went to Tsukishima, who set to Yamaguchi, who spiked towards Kageyama, who couldn't make the reception.

6-1 Hinata's Team

"Tsk! As expected of Daichi, he only needed six attempts to adapt to Hinata's serves!" said Tanaka.

"Hey, King, you like ordering your vassals around but can't make a simple reception," Tsukishima provoked.

"Tsk!" Kageyama grunted, clenching his fists.

"Forget him, we're winning," said Hinata, pointing to the scoreboard and somewhat calming Kageyama down.

After the point, it was Tsukishima's turn to serve, and the ball went toward Tanaka, who managed to receive it, and then both Hinata and Tanaka prepared to attack.

However, Kageyama decided to set to Hinata, who faced a block from Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, but he easily overcame the block by hitting the ball off the side of Tsukishima's hands and out, securing another point.

7-1 Hinata's Team

The next serve was performed by Kageyama and was received by Yamaguchi, then Tsukishima set to Daichi, who saw a block from Hinata and Kageyama in front of him. He tried to hit the ball off Hinata's fingertips, making the ball fly to the back of the court, but Tanaka managed to prevent it from touching the ground with a dive. The ball went toward Kageyama, who saw Hinata beside him preparing to jump and Tanaka in the back, and to try to surprise the opposing team, he chose to set to Tanaka in the back of the court, but Tsukishima read the play and managed to block Tanaka's attack.

7-2 Hinata's Team

"This guy talks a lot of trash but has a strong block," Tanaka admitted.

This time Daichi served, and it was easily received by Hinata, who along with Tanaka prepared to jump and attack, which again went to Tanaka, who this time managed to spike between Tsukishima's head and arms to score the point.

8-2 Hinata's Team

"TAKE THAT! YOU HAVE TO RESPECT ME!" said Tanaka, taking off his shirt and waving it with his hands in celebration.

"Provoking rookies is too easy!!" shouted Kinoshita.

"Don't you have any shame?" shouted Sugawara.

The first set continued with dominance from Hinata and Tanaka, who together made a strong pair of wing spikers, and along with Kageyama in the blocks, caused an imbalance between the two teams, where just Tsukishima's blocking and Daichi's receives weren't enough for a competitive game, with the first set ending with a score of 25-10.