Beat You to Being Better

Hiro looked out from his seat beside the window of their classroom. Few more minutes and the class will be over. Today is the last day of their practice before the tournament begins. And in their meeting later, Coach Soma will announce the starting seven of their team.

Hiro is pretty confident and sure that he'll be there. That thought alone keeps him going. The siblings will be there too, along with the captain and their noisy libero. Now, he's thinking about the two remaining positions, to which he had a good theory of who will get those coveted spots in the regular line-up.

"That titan rookie could be there…..and that springy redhead." He doesn't want to discount Toshiro for the WS position in the left, but Hiro's mind has been doing overtime work on how to utilize the disturbance called 'Asuma Genji' in their team. Inspired by what he saw during the last Spring Cup, the little redhead can be used as – 'a fucking decoy.' He smirked, imagining the chaos that the shrimp will give to their future opponents.

'His speed and jump will definitely surprise many – especially those guys from Takano.' He thought.

The guys from Takano High School are their biggest enemies in the prefecture. Like them, their team is seeded for the first round, because last year's representative for Nara in the Inter-High Nationals was them. And Hiro won't allow that to happen for the second time around.

When class was over, their assistant manager, Megumi and him went together in the gym. Yes, they are classmates in the advance class. Hiro noticed that the manager is still awkward around him, but he really couldn't care less, so he did nothing about it.

"Hiro! Megumi-chan!" Kouha greeted them inside the gym. "Ye'r together!"

This prompted Megumi to blush, for she's still not used to being around their intimidating middle blocker. And now, she can't help but embarrass herself in front of that same guy, after being labeled 'together' with him.

"Sup, loser." Hiro only said to him in response. But Kouha didn't react another time, and instead just turned away from the two. From the court, the sound of a spike caught Hiro's attention.

Asuma Genji, again. When he looked, he saw Kouen looking excited after the point that was just scored by the little shrimp. The guy really like to take credit for the points scored by his spikers through his set. Apparently, the one who was trying to block that shot was Kakuzo, who mesirably failed to do it so.

"Hiro, try blocking those, I challenge you, haha!" Kouha again started to rile him up.

"Yeah, yeah, show us what you've got, center ace ~ " Gai joined the live roasting.

Kouen tried to look disinterested, but he's curious too if Hiro can stuff Asuma's spikes, or can Asuma get a blockout off Hiro. 'Now, this is something.'

Normally, Hiro won't yield to such taunts, but just then, Kouha said one of the phrases he hated the most in the world, "Ye aren't scared, are ye?"

Hiro was triggered by those words, so he hurriedly excused himself to change and face the challenge that was presented to him but his troublesome teammates.

By the time he returned, a three-on-three was set up. On one side of the court, Kouha, Kouen and Asuma were playing. On his side, he's allied with Kakuzo and Gai. "Where's Maki-san?" He didn't like his unit.

"He's with Kayo, making a short speech for the pep rally tomorrow. Maybe he'll arrive later. And I know what you're thinking, you lamp post. I'll set this time, deal with it." Gai answered him.

'Sigh.' He'll have to make do with his unit. He positioned himself to receive because Kouen just decided that he'll serve from the other side. Gai raised it no problem, much to Kouen's disappointment. However, it was a challenge for their unit with no proper setter. 'Guess I'll do it, then.'

Hiro positioned himself in the area where the ball will likely drop. 'Carefully, carefully'. He caught the ball with an overhand and tossed it near the net, where a surprised Kakuzo tried to make the spike. It hit the net.

"That was low." He said, owning the mistake of the toss.

"No, sorry, that was on me, I wasn't paying attention to the toss." Kakuzo apologized and bowed a little.

"Next, next, don't mind." Gai clapped his hands and braced himself for Kouen's next serve. But the ball was targeted at Kakuzo, who was kinda blown away by that strong serve. The ball went up in the air.

"Hiro!" Gai got it and made a set for him.

Kouha jumped to block him, but he easily avoided that block by forcing his way to the left. That score irritated Kouha and only amused Hiro. "Can't block? Sorry, bout that." He said to his senpai.

"We'll get you next time."

Now, Hiro made his way to the service line and sent a nasty one over aimed at Kouha. He bumped it rather shakily, and the ball got across to Kouen. "Asuma!"

The little redhead jumped from the left, but Hiro and Kakuzo were there to loom over him. 'This will surely stuff him' both blockers thought. But Asuma managed to wipe off their block by aiming at Kakuzo's fingertips, and Gai wasn't able to catch up to the ball, as a result, it was a point for their unit.

[This is a three-on-three, so regular volleyball rules restricting back court players (Hiro in this case, because he just served) to move in front for the blocks will not apply]

"Yus, nice blockout, Asuma!" Kouha high-fived with him, then shot a look at Kouen, as if he's saying: 'Asuma – 1, Hiro – 0'

Kouha served this time and Hiro got it up. The ball moved towards Gai who tossed to Kakuzo. His spike went above the block of Kouen but Kouha raised it from the back. "Kouen, get the next!"

The setter followed the ball and tossed to Asuma, who spiked it from the left. Hiro was there but the attack was too quick so it sailed from the side of his arms. Luckily, Gai was able to bump it up. "Ryohei!" he called for the tall rookie. But Kakuzo doesn't know how to set, so he just sloppily tossed the ball close to the net.

'Grrrrr.' But Hiro won't allow this point to be scored by Kouen's team, so he quickly scampered from one end of the court to the other, where the net toss by Kakuzo went. And he gave those who were watching a spectacular play. He hit the ball that almost touched the net, straight down.

"WOAH, NICE KILL HIRO-SENPAI! WHATTA STRAIGHT!" The redhead freshman complimented him. Even Kouen's eyes twitched from that one, wondering how Hiro could hit such ugly set and turn it into a vision so wild.

A straight-down spike, almost perpendicular to the floor. "That was almost a 90-degree angle." Kouen thought to himself.

"YOU'RE SO GOOD HIRO-SENPAI!" Asuma again complimented him.

"Shut up, Asuma, you're so loud."

"GOMEN, SENPAI!" he bowed a little, but when he looked up, Hiro can't forget the next thing he said. It sounded so innocent and harmless, yet, to him, it was like an open declaration of a challenge. Everyone else who heard thought of the same.

"YOU'RE SO GOOD ALREADY SENPAI, BUT I'LL BEAT YOU TO BEING BETTER, SO WATCH OUT AND WAIT FOR ME!"