Touching Grass

Golden week had finally ended and everything went back to its usual pace. We returned back to school and had our regular classes which were still as boring as before.

"Haruto! Want to go to the corridor again to play some volleyball just like last time." Hinata energetically asked to which I nodded since it was a good idea since it was lunch time and we had free time.

Kageyama followed along while drinking some strawberry milk that he had bought from the nearby vending machine. We quickly bought some food from the cafeteria and thankfully enough it wasn't as crowded as before.

"How do you think we will do in the preliminaries, Haruto?" Hinata asked as he began to think of the upcoming inter high while munching on his sandwich.

We found a spot near the corridor and Hinata sat down while Kageyama and I began to pepper.

"Well I think we can do well. We just need to watch out for Date Tech as I believe it was the team with really strong blockers. Not to mention Aoba Johsai in our bracket." I answered as I hit the ball towards Kageyama.

"Also don't forget about Shiratorizawa. When we beat Aoba Johsai we would have to face them to qualify for nationals." Kageyama said as he was determined to beat Oikawa in our bracket.

"Shiratorizawa… Oh right! Would you guys like to join a tournament near that school since I was told by my friend that their school was hosting one." I remembered the message I received from Tsutomu and both of them quickly nodded their heads.

"Your friend goes to Shiratorizawa? The school Kageyama got rejected from." Hinata said, which caused Kageyama to receive damage.

"Yeah you probably don't remember him but he was the guy with the bowl cut that was on my team during Junior High." I said to Hinata while getting my phone to look at the message I was sent.

'Hmm? Free 10 pulls for their 1.5 anniversary and rate up… probably going to get garbage anyways. Rate up is a lie.' I ignored the notification I got from a game and went to my messages.

[Haruto! The tournament is in 2 days and well… They changed the teams to groups of 4 soo I will appreciate it if you find some other players if you can. Dw I will try to find others too. See ya! (Ｔ▽Ｔ)]

Seeing his message I frowned and rubbed my eyebrows.

'This asshole is always leaving stuff to the last minute.' I sighed and asked the two guys with me if they wanted to be on my team and they said yes.

Hinata was excited and so was Kageyama as he was curious if other players from Shiratorizawa would also play in the tournament.

***

Two days came by and Hinata, Kageyama and I met up at Sendai station so we could take a bus to the school. As we got off we arrived at a school with big buildings with modern architecture.

"Wheew never knew the school Bowl head and Akane go to was this huge." I whistled as I was only able to see pictures online but the real thing was very different.

"Come on, let's meet my friend. He'll show us around." I said and we went to the place Tsutomu told me to meet up. We reached a plaza that had a fountain and saw a tall guy with a bowl cut looking at his phone.

"Tsutomu!" I yelled out which caught his attention

"Haruto! Long time no see. Was it fun losing to Nekoma?" He said while giving me a hug which earned him a hit to his sides.

"Tsutomu here is Kageyama who we faced during that tournament in Junior High and Hinata who surprisingly also attended the same one." I introduced the two of them and Tsutomu gave a surprised face saying what a coincidence we attended the same High School.

Tsutomu led us to a big field and numerous volleyball nets were set up with people already using them to warm up.

"On the paper it says we will go play our first game in 30 minutes so we should go to our area and start warming up." Tsutomu said while holding a piece of paper.

"Do you know who we are going to play against?"

"Well they seem to be highschoolers that go to a school called Senseki High but I never heard of that school before."

"Hmm.. well let's win anyways. Oh yeah, what is the first place prize for winning?" I asked as I didn't know the prizes yet.

"The tournament was hosted just to have highschoolers play a bit longer before the inter high coming up so the prizes are not great but…"

Tsutomu stopped his sentence dramatically which had the three of us waiting for what he was going to say next.

"The first place is a real good one. It is an ultra deluxe A5 wagyu yakiniku set!"

The three of us heard the prize and began to drool.

"""LET'S WINNN OHHHH!""" The four of us yelled out which attracted looks towards us. We began to warm up ready to win the yakiniku at all costs.

***

30 minutes had gone by and their first game was about to start. They had won the coin toss and they received first serve. Haruto grabbed the ball that was given and stood behind the line.

The rotations are different from usual rules as you are able to stay in the same court positions the entire game but you just need to rotate serves for each person.

Haruto was placed in the outside position, Tsutomu in the middle and Hinata on the right side. Kageyama was near the net as he was playing as their setter.

'For the yakiniku set…' Haruto said in his mind as he bounced the ball and spinned it against his palm. He took a few steps back and waited for the whistle.

*Tweet

Hearing the sound Hauro threw the ball up with two hands and began his approach for his jump serve.

It was a quick and explosive run up which generated momentum for his jump. Jumping in the air he pulled his elbow back and twisted his body creating his usual whip like arm swing.

At the highest point Haruto made contact and generated a strong top spin on the ball causing it to dip as it quickly passed through the net and landing on the opponent's side near the line.

"Nice ace!! Your serves are still as strong as ever. " Tsutomu laughed and gave Haruto a high five. The opponents on the opposite side started to become rigid after seeing the serve but still tried to get in position to get it next time.

Haruto got the ball again and did his serve. This time the opponents were able to touch it but it was passed back over to Haruto's side.

"Free ball!" Tsutomu yelled out and passed it to Kageyama. The three guys began to get ready to approach to prepare for the set.

Kageyama saw the two blockers near the net by Haruto and the other two getting ready to receive.

'He should be the best bet..' Kageyama gave a meter set to the middle, having Tsutomu jump up. He approached the set horizontally and hit a strong cross getting by the blockers.

Getting another point Haruto returned to the line and went on to get 2 more points before finally hitting the net and missing.

"Coach will have you serve 100 times after practice for that."

"Shut up. Should I remind you who had the most missed serves in our season between the two of us."

Haruto and Tsutomu argued and got ready to receive the ball. The opponents served the ball towards Hinata who luckily got the pass up but not directly to Kageyama.

"Idiot, pass the ball better!!" Kageyama scowled while running under the ball. He gave a high toss to Haruto to have him hit the ball.

'Sheesh, his out of system sets are still as good as ever' Haruto thought as he approached the ball.

Haruto was quick in his approach and used that momentum to jump up. As his torso was upright in the air he noticed the blockers peak was not that high and was able to hit above it.

*POP

The sound of the ball hitting the grass was heard and earned Haruto's team another point making the score [5-1]

The opponent saw what just happened and looked towards the other side of the net. The looks the four guys gave them were like a hungry beast ready to eat them alive.

'Mom pick me up I'm scared..'

***

Near the area where Haruto was playing, a few people were watching them.

"Oh it seems like Tsutomu got some people to play with him" A guy with ash blonde hair with gray tips and sharp brown eyes said to the person next to him.

"Oya how rude of him. Is he scared to ask us to join his team?" A tall guy with spiky red hair and dark red eyes smiled as he looked towards Tsutomu.

"I would be surprised if he wasn't since you always scare him with your weird songs when we play scrimmage during practice."

The two guys continued to talk while a few feet away from them a tall guy with light hair and missing eyebrows was staring at Haruto watching him play.

***

Wanted to use this mini tournament to practice writing volleyball matches so I can write the interhigh matches in better detail in the future. I hope you enjoy it. Peacu.