Additional Practice

"That's it for today, make sure to do some stretches before you leave."

""Yes!""

Ukai looked at the team for a bit before walking out of the gym and letting Takeda supervise while he went to the faculty room to confirm some things for the Spring Tournament.

"Tsukishima! Those glasses are still so cool~!"

"You've been saying that for the past few days already."

"I feel the urge not to wear them anymore after hearing you say that they're cool now."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?!"

Tsukishima took off his glasses after seeing Hinata look at him with a shocked face and Haruto who was just idling beside him while drinking his bottle.

It had been a few days since Haruto's brief encounter and so far there had been no signs of Mahiru's father appearing before them. So the days have been relatively peaceful with them still practicing regularly in preparation for the playoffs.

"I have to go somewhere so I'll be leaving early."

"Alright see you tomorrow."

Zipping up his sweater, Kageyama said his goodbyes to everyone on the team before heading out of the gym to go somewhere.

"Do you think he's having a secret meeting with that girl?" Hinata whispered to Haruto as he watched Kageyama leave through the window.

"Not this time. He told me earlier this morning that he wanted to check out how Aoba Johsai's practice is going so he's going to sneak into their school to watch them for a bit."

"He's pretty bold for that…"

Haruto just nodded his head and agreed but he would have done the same thing with Shiratorizawa if it was just a bit closer.

"Yosh, I won't lose to him in scouting our opponents, so I will definitely go to one of those schools we're going to play against to peek at their practice too!"

"I think you should try and look at yourself first since despite being so small, you have a loud voice that will make you very suspicious." Tsukishima held a blank stare on his face and pushed the top of Hinata's head making him squirm.

"The hell was that for!?"

Hinata quickly got away from him and decided to do his end of practice stretches, not forgetting to send a taunting face at him.

"Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?"

Leaving the two of them alone, Tsukishima asked Haruto a question, making him raise an eyebrow at his words.

"Why do you ask?"

"...Forget it then."

"Just so you know I have a girlfriend alright."

Haruto took a step back and got into a wary stance making Tsukishima feel like he might just pop a blood vessel after seeing the look he was getting..

"I'm kidding, I have nothing in particular planned other than my usual schedule."

Chuckling a bit, Haruto relaxed and told Tsukishima an answer to stop him from scowling even further than he usually does.

"....want to come with me to join my brother's practice with his team?"

"Your brother plays volleyball?"

"Yeah, he plays for a college team called the Kaji Wild Dogs."

Haruto thought for a bit at his unexpected offer and decided to accept it since the adults he's played against so far were from the Neighborhood Association at Karasuno and more practice was always welcomed.

"But why me and not the other two since I know they would gladly accept it if you asked."

"You're the easiest to handle compared to those two."

"Thanks?"

He gave an uncertain reply as he didn't know if Tsukishima was dissing or complimenting him.

'It's also because learning how to block from you will help me a lot.'

Tsukishima silently glanced at Haruto as he remembered the scene of him blocking that giant that was over 200 cm tall.

He told him the location and time of where to go tomorrow and made their way to the middle of the gym to do their finishing stretches before leaving.

***

"Are you sure your friend is coming?"

"I got a message from him a few minutes ago that he's about to arrive so calm down."

"This is the first time other than Yamaguchi that you said was your friend and he's also coming to play with us, so how could I possibly calm down?!"

Hearing his brother speak, Tsukishima felt like he was worrying for no reason and just sat quickly at the benches waiting for the gym to be set up.

"Pardon me."

A while later Haruto, who had a bag slung over his shoulder, entered the gym and scanned the area to find out where Tsukishima was.

"Over here."

"Heyo, who would have thought that we would be in this gym again."

Haruto chuckled as he looked around and saw the familiar scene of Karasuno's General Park Gymnasium where they had their first ever training camp game against Nekoma during golden week.

"You must be Watanabe right? Nice to meet you, I'm Kei's older brother Akiteru." A man who was a bit shorter than Tsukishima, greeted Haruto cheerfully as he was waiting patiently behind them.

"Just call me Haruto, it's nice to meet you too."

Akiteru smiled brightly and shook his hand after doing their greetings. He told the both of them that they can start changing and practice will begin shortly.

"Is he really your brother?"

"Why?

"He gives off more happy vibes compared to you who's very blunt."

"I get that a lot."

Not saying anything further they quickly got ready and warmed up, getting into teams so they could play scrimmage with the adults on Akiteru's team.

"Do you know hand signs?"

"Yeah, so you can run some plays if you want."

"Any preferences for your sets?"

"Ones that are close to the antenna are fine with me."

"Gotcha."

Near the left side of the net, Haruto was talking with the setter on his team about certain things before they played.

"Get a good serve in so we can show Akiteru's brother and his friend how we play alright."

A muscular guy on the other team yelled out loud and smiled towards Haruto and Tsukishima who just got in place so they could play.

"Alright."

The guy on his team raised the ball in the air and waited for a few seconds before throwing the ball in front of him. The setter on Haruto's team signaled for a backrow attack from the right side and he nodded mentally to his decision.

Watching what toss he was making, Haruto adjusted himself backwards and anticipated the topspin serve that might come his way.

"Yeah, I got it!"

Haruto called out as he was approaching a person that was near to him and he signaled towards him that he will pass the ball.

Stretching out his forearms, Haruto passed the ball up while he leaned forward near the ground.

"Nice pass man!"

The setter smiled a bit seeing the high pass towards him and jumped up to back set towards the outside hitter who was in the back row.

The play went fast and the ball hurled past the blockers, hitting their arms that went high above the net.

"Touch! It's going towards the back."

Akiteru called out as he was the one who touched the ball and saw his opposite hitter from the back, volley it near the net.

The setter moved to the attack line since the ball was too short and Haruto alongside Tsukishima who were on the same team watched where the ball would go.

"To our left." His eyes still glued to the setter, Haruto spoke quietly with Tsukishima also nodding his head since he also predicted the ball would go to their left side.

'They transition quickly.' Haruto thought as he noticed the faster set on an off ball compared to people who would rather give a high toss when the ball is off.

They moved their feet quickly and stopped in place when they saw their opponent's right side go up for the ball.

Trying to sync together, Haruto and Tsukishima went up for a block which was successful but the ball slammed into their block and flew off.

"Adults definitely have a lot of power."

Haruto mumbled under his breath as he felt a sting on his forearms after he landed and moved away from the front, looking to see if the people behind him got the ball that flew off their block.

Luckily someone moved back from position six so they can get stray balls that flew off the blocks they set up.

"Open on the left!"

Haruto called for the ball and the setter gave him a quicker tempo ball that had a lower arc making for a quicker attack.

While in the air, Haruto adjusted himself trying to get the most out of the set while he saw a block getting formed quickly in front of him.

Noticing a small gap between the blockers, he accurately aimed for the small spot and in the process it hit the middle's arms on the side making it blast out.

"Kid, you sure have some power."

"I will say the same for you too."

The guy on the other side of the net laughed out loud when he saw Haruto shaking his arm in an exaggerated way and he went to get the ball that was near him.

"How did his spike feel? I noticed that you were the one who got the most out of the block."

"It was strong but that's what you'll expect from an adult."

Tsukishima asked Haruto and they started to discuss a bit since it was a good learning experience and practice when facing players who carry powerful spiking power such as Ushijima.

'I didn't think I'd see the day where Kei would be so social with other people…'

Akiteru tried his best to prevent tears from coming out after seeing his brother talk normally with a person his age.

With the ball being given to their side, they rotated and Haruto, who was in the middle, talked a bit to the person who rotated to the front row.

Discussing where to switch he held his arms on his head to cover the net and waited for the ball to get served over, letting this opportunity to help him prepare even further for the playoffs.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.