Karasuno

"I am really envious of these players." Hinata said, "All of them are so tall and did you look at Lev? I want to steal his height."

"It doesn't work like that Shoyo" Kageyama replied.

Hinata clearly didn't hear Kageyama as he kept ranting, "And look at that guy from Fukurodani. He seems even taller than Lev. Let me go talk to him."

Hinata ran of splitting from the team. Kageyama ran behind him trying to stop him. "Hey tall guy"

Murasakibara turns around, "What?"

"Eek. Y-you are very big. I l-look forward to playing against you."

"Sure" Saying so he turned around. Kageyama reached them and started apologizing to Atsushi but he simply waved it off and went back to his snacks.

"Why are you not with your team?" Hinata asked.

"Cause they don't like me."

"Why?" Hinata asked.

"Because I do stuff on my own and they believe they don't need my defense." Kageyama sympathized with him but stayed quiet. He had no experience with dealing with such things so he simply tried to pat his back. His jerky motion in patting only increased the awkwardness.

Daichi arrives at that time along with Tsukishima and notices Kageyama patting Atsushi.

Tsukishima immediately taunts him, "Would you look at that. The king has feelings. And here I though that only lower mortals like us had it."

Kageyama tried to pounce on Tsukki but Daichi stopped them "It's not Tsukki's fault. I just wanted to check. We were surprised to see you expressing.... such an emotion."

Kageyama's mood did not improve but he gave a short explanation about Atsushi's plight.

"So let me get this straight, his team is good but nobody could come close to his level of defense so he tried to block by himself. He ended up self-destructing so they put him on the bench. That story seemed oddly familiar." Daichi said.

He left them and went in the direction where Atsushi left. They could see him talking with Murasakibara. Atsushi even placed his hand on Daichi's head but removed it later and left.

Daichi came back to see everyone waiting. "What was that?" Kageyama asked.

Daichi simply smiled, "I had a talk with him and helped him see his problems. I told him to simply trust his teammates and they will help him reach new heights he never dreamt of."

"How did that take so much time?"

"Oh it took some time to explain it to him. He also wanted to crush me because I reminded me of someone. He called me Iron Heart and left."

Hinata jumped ahead, "That's so cool, I want a nickname as well."

Tanaka replied, "How about little giant?"

Hinata pouted, "That's already taken."

"Atleast we don't have to worry about Tsukki." Tanaka said, "He has Four Eyes." Tsukki glared at Tanaka at the remark.

Daichi replied, "That's not wrong. He is a good blocker. Almost like he kept an eyeon the three spikers and the setter."

Nishinoya arrived in time and jumped in, "I want a cool nickname. It should match with rolling thunder!"

Hinata replied, "I thought yours was Guardian Angel."

"Yes, I got it! From now on call me Holy Thunder Guardian Angel!!!"

"Nishinoya, have you been reading too much wuxia?" Daichi asked.

"I might have but it doesn't matter. Now it it Tanaka's turn."

Just then Bokuto arrived to meet Tsukishima, "Hey Tsukki you didn't call me. I want a super awesome ace nickname."

Kuroo trailed behind him, "Who started this anyway?"

Kageyam replied, "Murasakibara called Daichi-san Iron Heart. Hinata heard that so they started giving each other nickname."

Kuroo simply frowned, "That guy huh. He has some problems. His blocking is better than mine and he may be able to beat even Hirugami. But in a match he will lose because he tends to do everything himself."

Just then Hinata came running to Kageyama, "Hey King give me a cool nickname." Tsukishima laughed in the background.

The coach arrived and soon everyone went back to practice sets. Karasuno continued their extremely bad streak but they seemed to be improving every set. They started trying out new things and continuously experimented with their playstyle.

They couldn't win consistently but they remained the most annoying team as they were unpredictable in their moves. Though some said that they lost their points due to being unable to pull off their ultimate moves.

Some players knew that they were undergoing an evolution and will drastically improve when the pieces click properly.

***

This was the sixth or seventh set of Karasuno against Fukurodani. As usual they had difficulty against the top team. Now that they finally got into the flow after the loss against Nekoma, they were in the top place at camp.

Bokuto was scoring tons of points and Tsukki seemed to be having troubles with keeping up. The rest of the team were having slight troubles with the defense but they easily broke through through Karasuno's defense.

Murasakibara was performing just as usual. Karasuno had tried a synchronized attack and finally succeeded. Daichi ended up scoring on top of Murasakibara. That's when Atsushi got slightly angry. It was just like last time. Teppei giving it all even though he knew he would lose.

He became more focused on the match. His team simply glanced at each other. When Kageyama tried the freak quick for the first time in camp he let lose a bit of bloodlust.

Hinata sailed through the air before Kageyama even got the ball. Atsushi's eyes fixed on the ball and seeing its direction he let loose. Every bit of his speed and reaction helped him move into position. His long arms covering the spikers view. Hinata's eyes dilated as it saw his hand blocking his way. He tried to go around it but it was already too late.

For the first time, the freak quick was stopped by someone who had never seen it before on their first try.

Karasuno stood shocked as Murasakibara gave a rare smile to the team showing just how much he loved the moment.

He understood the feeling. No matter how much he tried to hide it he knew that he did not love the sport itself but the challenge of going against the toughest of opponents and WINNING no matter the odds.