99 The Spike

*BOOM

"Urgh! But they were so close!?" 

Yachi felt like pulling her hair out as she saw how Ushijima managed to hit a powerful cross court and hit it off the shoulders of Daichi who was in place for that ball.

Mahiru also felt frustrated when she saw how Shiratorizawa managed to snatch the first set with the score being [24-26].

"Compared to last time, they managed to pick up a lot more of Ushijima's spikes so I guess that they had slowly gotten used to playing with them once again."

A person spoke out from beside Yachi and the two girls saw a familiar looking face.

"Ah, it's the uncle from the neighborhood association."

"U-Uncle huh…"

Makoto Shimada or Yamaguchi's mentor shuttered a bit when he heard Yachi's words and felt like his age is really starting to catch up with him. He suddenly felt a pat on his shoulder and his friend who also came with him, showed an understanding look.

"You bastard, you look more of an uncle than me."

"....."

Ignoring the brief argument that the two adults were having, Mahiru continued to keep her eyes locked onto the court in suspense on what would eventually happen in the next set.

"You guys have done a great job in applying that pressure at the front." Ukai spoke his thoughts as his team were currently replacing their fluids before the next set.

"Keep on doing that but also be sure not to place too much focus on Ushijima as that would leave the middle and left side wide open for picking."

Circling a portion of the whiteboard he was holding, Ukai continued to provide some ideas as he was able to get a wide view of what's happening from the sidelines that can provide a different perspective for his players use.

"Are you going to play aggressively from now on?"

Kageyama went up to Haruto who was silently sipping his water. Hearing his words, Haruto took the mouthpiece from his mouth and swallowed the remaining bit of water he had.

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't know, just a feeling."

Haruto stared at Kageyama for a bit before he let out a chuckle, confusing Kageyama in the process.

"Sorry my bad. Not really aggressive but I will be trying to make my presence on the court a bit stronger than usual."

"Hmm…"

Kageyama hummed a bit to himself when he heard Haruto's words and fell silent for a quick second.

"I think that's a good idea."

"Oh? Is it now~."

"Yeah, if you do that I could open up the front a bit more if they really start to focus on you more."

'Well, there is also me wanting to compete with Ushijima.' Haruto nodded as this was his main reason but opening up the offense was one other reason for him to go through with his plan. 

'Other than creating a strong presence, this would help me bait out the blockers more smoothly and open up more options for our offensive plays.' Kageyama summed up his thoughts and proceeded to wrap up his conversion with Haruto.

*Tweet!

Hearing the signal for the start of the next set, everyone by Karasuno's bench began to quickly do what they needed to do before leaving to fight for the second set.

***

"Touch!"

Haruto yelled out as he pulled his arms back after touching the ball that had come from the right side as Tsutomu was given a set instead of Ushijima as the setter had started to pick off the other sides, like what Ukai said.

Running back after finishing his block, Haruto created space from the net and looked at the front court where Hinata and Daichi were with him.

He looked at Kageyama briefly and saw how he quickly did a hand sign where Hinata and him nodded mentally at the play they would do next. The two guys slowly waited for the ball that was passed by Nishinoya and quickly ran towards Kageyama.

"I wonder who he will give it to~." Tendo who was at the front, sang his words as he narrowed his eyes to see who Kageyama would set.

He saw Haruto and Hinata approach from Kageyama's front and back side and watched how they jumped up in the air, steadily looking at the ball that would come their way.

'Damn, this guy's posture is no joke.'

Tendo thought as he looked at Kageyama who didn't leak a tiny drop of any information in his body posture that would give away where he would set.

Usually players would give him something like a tiny glance at the player or even having their wrist arched so he could deduce and guess where the ball would go.

'It should be their number 13 righ—.'

*BOOM!

Hearing a loud sound, Tendo was too late to choose and failed to block Hinata who aimed at a deep corner in order to compensate for the lack of power he currently had.

Luckily Shiratorizawa was a bit late to react to the spike aimed at the corner and Karasuno was able to score a point of it.

"Tendo! Even if you guess wrong, at least put your arms over the net!!!"

"Yes sir…."

Tendo felt his eyes twitch when he heard his coach yell at him for not jumping and reluctantly responded back as he also thought that he was a bit slow in guessing where the ball would go.

"Hooh."

Scoring the point, Karasuno shifted their rotation and Haruto was placed into the back row to serve. He felt the ball in his hands and looked at the score that showed that it was [15-16] with them trailing right behind.

He looked at Shiratorizawa's side and looked at each of the players who he noticed were a bit weak in receiving compared to the rest of the team. One of them was standing near the left corner and Haruto felt a smile grow.

"Perfect, I should try and get some points." Haruto mumbled as he paid his full attention to the ball and net in front of him.

*Tweet

Hearing the whistle, Haruto took a few breaths before throwing the ball into the air. Creating a side spin and guiding it with his left hand, the ball left his fingertips and he proceeded to pull his elbow back.

Twisting his body and snapping his body forward, Haruto leaned into his serve a bit and followed through with his arm swing aiming for the deep left corner.

The player that was situated by that corner squared his body to the ball and aimed to let it bounce off his arms like a usual topspin serve but he suddenly adjusted himself when he noticed how it began to curve intensely just when it crossed the net.

"Damn!"

Trying to change his platform at the last minute had caused it to become unstable and allowed the ball to quickly whiff off his arms going out.

"The scary serve made its appearance once again!!"

"Nice serve."

Hinata ran up to Haruto and jumped up in the air to celebrate while Kageyama passed him the ball in a calm manner which showed a stark contrast between the two.

Getting the ball once again, Haruto did his jump serve but this time the ball touched the top of the net causing it to slow down and made it easier for Shitatorizawa to pass.

"Ushijima-san!"

The setter gave a high toss behind him and Ushijima wanted to use this chance to completely smash the ball.

*BOOOM!

"Urgh!?"

Nishinoya who was by the line felt his arms sting when he managed to place his arms under the ball but the sheer power behind it made the pass unstable by having it fly out behind him.

"Can't he spare a bit of his power?!"

Haruto yelled out as he followed the ball that Nishinoya managed to pop upwards and dove towards it, bringing it back into play.

"I got it! I got it!!"

"Free ball!"

As Haruto was trying to soften his landing by using his arms, Daichi managed to pass the third ball over and Shiratorizawa had gotten the opportunity to use the ball once again.

'Let's give it to the middle since their back row is currently empty.' The setter thought since he saw Haruto running his fastest to try and cover the back row he left behind.

Following with his decision, the setter gave a quick set to the middle and watched how he managed to hit it towards Kageyama who noticed what the setter was planning.

With him getting the first touch Kageyama popped the ball up in the air so that someone could possibly use it.

"Leave it!"

Nishinoya was about to pass it towards the left side when he suddenly heard a voice call out behind him and saw how Haruto was already doing his approach towards the ball.

"Block the middle!"

The blockers at the front quickly grouped together when they noticed Haruto jumping past the attack line to hit the second ball that made the current Karasuno out of system.

"Got you."

Haruto smiled brightly when he quickly switched his hitting form into one where he had his hands right above his head. Seeing how three of the blockers were right in front of him, he gently placed his fingers on the ball and precisely threw a set to his left side where Asahi was.

Asahi saw the open net with no blockers and swung his arm forward, bouncing the ball high up and getting a point for them.

"Urgh! These guys never change despite changing their coaches."

The head coach on Shiratorizawa's bench ruffled his hair in annoyance when he saw Haruto's play that ended in their loss.

By using that play, Karasuno managed to create a rhythm for them to ride on and the intense battle between the two teams continued.

"Ushijima-san!"

*BOOM!

"Damn this guy sure doesn't stop."

Haruto spoke as he watched his team run after the ball that bounced off his and Tsukishima's block. Nishinoya dove for the ball but it was too late since Daichi, who was the nearest, failed to get the second touch as it was too far from him.

The set managed to land at the score of [24-23] with Karasuno managing to reach game point due to the momentum of the points they had gotten.

Haruto who remembered the feeling of his block, rubbed his fingers together and moved backwards to pass the ball that was about to be served.

The person at the line began to bounce the ball a couple of times before throwing it up into the air.

'A float?'

Haruto thought when he saw the different toss the person did and lowered his body to get under the ball. The ball shifted in the air and went towards Haruto who got under the ball to use his fingers to pass.

Volleying the ball to Kageyama, he watched the ball come his way and looked to see Tsukishima running for a quick. 

Noticing that the blockers were not budging, Kageyama gave a quick set that was a bit further off the net so that Tsukishima could use that space and get around the block.

Tsukishima saw the kind of set that was given to him and decided that he should use the block that appeared in front of him.

Looking at the person's left hand, Tsukishima pushed the ball towards his fingers with enough force that it could land in the empty space beside them.

"Touch! Help, Help!"

The blocker called out as he felt the tip go off his finger and watched how it was falling towards the side lines. Luckily Tsutomu who was in place noticed the placement and stretched his right arm to keep the ball alive.

"Here! I got the last touch!"

A person in their back row called out when he saw that he needed to get the last touch after it had made contact with Tsutomu and one other person.

"Free ball!"

Nishinoya yelled out when he saw the topspin that came his way.

"Give it a bit higher than usual."

"Huh?"

Peeling off the net Haruto quickly moved backwards after saying a brief sentence to Kageyama who felt a bit confused by his words. Quickly digesting the words, he felt like he knew what Haruto wanted and decided to follow along.

Getting a free ball, Kageyama gave Haruto an outside set but he added a bit more height to it than he usually did.

Feeling happy that Kageyama managed to understand what he wanted, Haruto approached the ball at a slow speed before speeding up and using that force to jump up.

'Place all that power into the top portion of my feet.'

Reminding himself on what to do, his body subconsciously moved all the power he built up and swung his arms upwards to gain a bit of explosive power into his jump. Haruto watched the ball above him and suddenly imagined that it was a familiar looking ledge that was lodged onto a familiar climbing wall.

This brought him to contact the ball just a bit above the block and he managed to smash the ball at a higher contact point compared to his usual spikes. 

"What the hell is with this guy?" Tsutomu frowned when he watched how Haruto was able to hit just above their blockers.

The ball bounced off the arms of the libero but Tsutomu had managed to quickly get a fast touch on the second ball.

"Oh? I could hit this~"

Tendo suddenly exclaimed when he saw the ball floating just a few spaces behind the net and jumped up to hit it.

"Touch!"

Tsukishima yelled out when he had gotten a hand on the ball but frowned when he saw that he was unable to kill it fully causing it to fall back onto Shiratorizawa's side.

"Recycle it!"

The setter called out as he got into place after seeing the libero pass the ball towards him. He gave a quick set towards the left side where Tsutomu was ready to hit the ball as their formation was a bit out of system.

"Touch!"

"Dammit!"

Kageyama yelled out as he had watched the line and got a touch off of his spike. The ball slowly rolled down but Tsutomu wanted to make it up and was quick to pop the ball upwards with a fast strike from his fist.

"Ushijima-san!"

The setter felt a bit grateful as the ball was at a good height for him to chase at and he looked to Ushijima's side to set. He volleyed the ball high up and gave a high toss for him to use.

Ushijima quietly watched the ball and swung his arms back and used that force to jump up. Twisting his torso, he brought his left arm forward and placed his power into killing the ball downwards.

*BOOOM

*POOF

Ushijima's eyes turned wide when he suddenly saw the ball he spiked down come back right beside him and land back onto their court.

"I finally got you, you damn monster."

Haruto had a vicious smile on his face as he landed right in front of Ushijima. 

'Next time…I will shut you down.' 

Ushijima vividly remembered the words Haruto had said to him last time and continued to replay the scene that had just happened back in his head countless times.

"I see." Despite his short response, a maniac smile appeared on Ushijima's face as he replied to Haruto who was right in front of him.

The current score was now [1-1] sets won for each team and they now need a total of two more sets to win.

***

The next chapter will probably be a long one and will most likely be the final chapter of the Spring High Arc. I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.