The Inter High Finals

""THANK YOU FOR THE GAME""

Karasuno bowed their heads while standing by the endline to thank them for the game they had just finished. It was the second match of the second day after they had beaten Aoba Johsai and the team was relatively simple to defeat and they won two straight sets in a row.

Returning to the bench, they brought their stuff and made their way to a small corner of the gymnasium to cool down after the two matches.

"Everyone who played, take some time to stretch since it will help reduce the fatigue and soreness the next day. We have an even bigger match compared to today." Ukai said with a serious face, making the team enter a heavy mood.

All the members thought of the powerhouse school that had a top 3 ace on their team.

"W-Wait, let's not think about that right now! Can I just say that it was incredible just how well you guys played and even won against a top-contending team like Aoba Johsai."

Takeda saw the mood Karasuno entered after the mention of their next match and wanted to brighten it up a bit.

"With each and everyone of you guys who played their own role on the court and how you guys supported each other, I just want to say you guys were amazing!" Takeda said with a smile as it was his honest feelings after seeing what he saw in the matches today.

""Takeda- sensei…""

Everyone was touched by what he said and some even felt like having tears in their eyes. Ukai saw this and felt like he might have said his words at the wrong time and scrunched his face.

"Well.. I do agree you guys did incredible today." Ukai said and felt a bit embarrassed when they all turned to stare at him.

"Is the coach a tsundere?"

"Maybe, but it's kinda weird for a person who looks like a delinquent to act like that."

Hinata whispered to Haruto who was beside him and they continued to talk about their coach. Ukai started to have veins pop out of his forehead as he overheard Hinata and Haruto's words and yelled at them to go start stretching.

As Haruto was finishing up his stretches he heard a gentle voice that he had come to get familiar with call out to him.

"Haruto congrats on winning your games!"

"Mahiru, you never told me that you were coming to watch."

"Well did you like the surprise?"

Mahiru giggled seeing the weary smile that Haruto gave as it was definitely a surprise that he didn't expect. They began to talk and Mahiru introduced Yachi to him as she was kind enough to join her today.

Yachi quickly bowed her head and quickly excused herself to go to the bathroom since she needed to go after standing and watching two whole games the entire time. Plus she felt like if she didn't go she would be stuck as a third wheel.

The two who were left behind began to talk and members of the team began to notice Haruto was talking to a girl, especially one who was pretty well known around the whole school.

"That bastard Haruto… Were the rumors actually true even after he denied them!!"

"Go explode…"

Nishinoya and Tanaka were grinding their teeth and the rest of the team started to slowly approach him. Mahiru noticed the group of people coming and turned her face to them and gave a kind smile and bowed her head slightly.

"Congrats on winning you games today."

"T-Thank you!" Hinata who met her once briefly before during the mixed gym class felt nervous after hearing her congratulations.

"Oh right, this may not compare to the amount you guys had before but here's some honeyed lemon slices." Mahiru brought out a small jar and gave it to the members and they quickly began to devour the slices after giving her their thanks.

"My share.." Haruto raised his arm in defeat as he saw the contents in the jar slowly decreasing.

"Why don't you have this instead then." Mahiru saw Haruto's face and chuckled as she brought out a container. Inside were rolled up oats with various different toppings mixed into it.

"This is good! What did you put inside?"

"I just put a bit of honey in the oats and also added some chocolate chips that you said you liked before." Mahiru answered Haruto as he chomped down the rolled oats.

Mahiru grabbed an energy drink from her bag and also gave it to Haruto to help wash down what he ate. The two of them began to talk and enter their own world without realizing as the smiles on their faces looked like they were not going to disappear anytime soon.

"Why do I feel like the slices suddenly taste kinda bitter now…"

The other members who heard Daichi say this nodded their heads and felt glad that they were not the only ones thinking this.

***

"Hurry up you dumbass."

"Hey at least he didn't vomit on the bus this time."

"Shut up! That won't happen anymore… well I don't think it will."

The next day Haruto and Kageyama walked off the bus and was followed by Hinata who was arguing that he wasn't going to vomit on the bus anymore. As they entered the entrance with the team their expressions became serious and entered the gymnasium.

"SHI-RA-TORI-ZAWA!! SHI-RA-TORI-ZAWA!!"

"KARASUNO FIGHT FIGHT"

The sound of cheers from both schools filled the gym, making the atmosphere worthy of an Inter-High finals game. As Karasuno went to their side of the court another team entered the gym. They had white uniforms with purple accents and leading them was a tall guy with a stoic look on his face.

"Haruto! I knew you would make it to the finals." Tsutomu quickly came over to Haruto's side to greet him.

"Yeah, also it looks like this will be the first game where we play against each other in an official match huh." Haruto looked at Tsutomu and smiled to which he returned back to him.

Tsutomu then greeted Kageyama and Hinata before going back to his side as he didn't want to get yelled at by his demon coach.

"Captains from both teams please come to the court to do the toss." The ref called out and Daichi went over for the coin toss.

"I'm going to go to fill my water quickly." Haruto said and made his way to the hallway to reach a fountain.

"Haruto, did we come just in time?" When he was finished filling his bottle he heard Mahiru behind him with Yachi also with her.

"Yeah, just in time. I almost thought you were lying about coming to cheer again tomorrow." Haruto said in a sad voice and pretended to wipe off his imaginary tears while Mahiru gave a blank look towards him.

"Anyways I should hurry back now." Haruto said and quickly said bye. As he turned around he felt his hand being grabbed and saw Mahiru holding his palm.

"Good luck" Mahiru lightly squeezed Haruto's hand while giving an encouraging smile. Haruto smiled back at her and gently squeezed her hand back.

"I will do my best."

***

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The ref blew the whistle and both teams made their way into their positions. Haruto who was at the front court looked at the other side of the net and saw Ushijima who was right in front of him. The two of them stared at each other before turning away to focus on the game

Asahi went to the service line as Karasuno won the coin toss so they will be serving first. He bounced the ball and waited for the ref.

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Asahi did his overhand serve and it went over to the other side. The receiver was able to give a pass to their setter and he gave a toss to Ushijima who was on the opposite side.

"Get ready." Haruto said to Tsukishima and Kageyama who were in place to do a triple block. As Ushijima jumped up the three of them timed their jump and went for a block. Seeing a gap through the line he smashed the ball through the path and Nishinoya quickly went to the spot.

As he was placing his forearms under to receive the ball he touched it but the force and rotation from the ball made him unable to pass it making it go out.

"A lefty…" Nishinoya stared at Ushijima and went back to his position. Having scored a point on them, Karasuno were now on the receiving end. Shiratorizawa served the ball and Daichi got a pass in to Kageyama.

'He should be the person to start us off..' Kageyama thought in his head and gave a tempo set to the antenna. Haruto with relaxed shoulders, approached from the outside of the court and jumped up. He swung his arm across his body and swung down the line.

The ball went close to the line leaving Tsutomu who was in place ready to receive it and got it up but not towards the setter.

"Damn it, of course you would go hit line." Tsutomu cursed as he knew some of Haruto's actions from playing with him his whole life but was still unable to fully react to it.

The ball that was still in the air, had players from their team begin to scramble around and give a high toss to Ushijima.

The three blockers jumped up again to block him but his contact point was a bit higher than their fingertips allowing him to smash the ball down creating a thunderous boom as it landed on the floor.

"Jeez he got it over the block." Haruto narrowed his eyes and looked at Ushijima who was walking back into place. They served the ball again and Kageyama gave another set to Haruto who was ready to hit.

Haruto who was in the air saw the blockers and swung hard at the opening between the blockers and got the ball to go down giving them a point. Kageyama who was next to serve did his topspin serve and Shiratorizawa got the ball up but slightly off course.

"Ushijima-san!" The setter called out and gave another back set to him. Ushijima went up and smashed it down again but this time Nishinoya was able to get into position under it.

Just like last time, the force and rotation behind the ball made him unable to receive it and gave Shiratorizawa a point.

"One more…Just one more." Nishinoya said plainly to them and went back into position and quietly waited for the next ball. This made the team fired up and the mood became focused waiting for the next serve.

'Let's keep on playing..' Haruto took a deep breath out and held his gaze towards the other side of the court.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu