Chapter 6

After the second set which I did not play, everyone looked at me differently, with a level of respect I have never felt before. It definitely felt great, but I knew deep down I had many spots I could improve upon.

We got our new Karasuno volleyball jacket, and we were all thrilled as the black jacket was indeed quite aesthetic. Also, I noticed Kiyoko looked at me for an extra second longer with a blush on her face. In a sense, I felt like "the man", but felt as if I had fucked everything up. Did I just destroy the Haikyuu storyline, I hope not.

We soon got the notification from the teacher that we would be playing Aoba Johsai, one of the best teams in the prefecture, which also got me excited. Soon, we had lunch together and broke for class. We had a practice in the evening, and I hit some bombs during spiking practice, which did not surprise anyone at this point. I also broke the blocker which is used for spike practice.

Tanaka: "Damn! What the hell do you eat?!"

Me: "Meat, rice and vegetables."

Yamaguchi: "How is your serve so powerful?"

Me: "By working out a lot."

Like this I was bombarded by questions post practice. Kiyoko also offered me a water bottle, which I graciously accepted. Damn, I really have changed the dynamic of this storyline.

Kageyama walked up to me. He looked a bit shy and awkwardly asked.

Kageyama: "Do you mind if I can set for you?"

Me: "Sure, I can give you 10, gotta go and do homework soon, me and Hinata can alternate."

The reason I wanted Hinata to be present was because I wanted their relationship to be strong and not be messed up by me.

Kageyama nodded and asked my preference of serve. They were great sets, we did 7 regular sets and 3 quicks which felt amazing to hit. He really is a genius setter.

Me: Great sets Kageyama! And Hinata great job at trusting your setter and hitting with confidence!

I wanted to give them some confidence, since their pairing would be instrumental to our success. Plus I wanted to be friends with them. The two boys became shy from the praise, even Kageyama, which I did not expect.

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The next few days we strategized for the Aoba Johsai practice game and I continued to set the tone in practice. I continued to work extremely hard, I ate well, ramped up my gym workouts setting personal highs, and played extremely well in scrimmages. I also went regularly to the Neighbourhood Association practice which also helped sharpen my new and developing skills.

On the day of the practice match, Hinata was extremely nervous, which calmed down my own anxiety. We reached the Aoba Johsai's gym and it was incredible, as there was intense practice going on. Great players were abound, and it would not be an easy feat to be them. We would need great coordination and teamwork.

I tried to ease into the atmosphere by taking deep breaths. Despite not being underconfident, I still felt nerves, and the adrenaline rush which soon followed. I was not truly calm and composed, which resulted in me not trying to help Hinata to calm down.

Our strategy was to limit my game for the first half of the match. I would be solely receiving, and the only offense that I would generate would be my serving. This was because we did not want to expose too many of our secrets, since we would probably play them in the prefectural tournament.

I was fine with the decision, although I wanted to crush the opposition, it would be more fun to do so, with their ace setter in. Now that would be excellent. Although this was an arrogant thing to do, Aoba Johsai was also arrogant, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

The game did not start off well, and we made too many mistakes, including myself. I made a bad dig, and a dumb serve into the net. Well, mistakes happen I guess.

The first set started and we were down 17-8.

I served in a few strong serves, but it was too little too late. We lost the first set pretty badly 25-15. After my 3 service aces, they picked up the next one, and never looked back.

We took a break, but no one seemed too demotivated and Hinata came out of his mental block. We all knew that I hadn't taken a single spike yet, so we could improve in the second set.

I started serving in the second set, and tried out my new jump floater serve. I served 4 service aces before hitting it into the net, it was truly a tough serve to counter. Soon, our receiving became better and we led the set 20-8, and Aoba Johsai took a timeout. We were also much more assertive, going for quicks and better decoy plays with Hinata and Tanaka. I had still not taken a single spike yet.

I got back my serve at 22-14, and just to test my power, I hit 3 straight jump spike serves with enormous torque and power, which closed out the set. It was now 1-1 in sets. The opposing team was befuddled by my power and variety of serves I possessed. Although they lost the set, we knew that their star player had not arrived yet.

As if on cue, Oikawa arrived and his fandom of girls screamed for him. I was quite excited for this matchup despite it being a simple practice match. This time I would definitely spike, as I wanted to send a message. Message being, there is a new king in the prefecture, and he's not from Aoba Johsai or Shiratorizawa.