Fun Times Ending

"Everyone, nice job on that first set."

Ukai said as he looked at the board in his hands where he kept tally of the score so he didn't need to constantly look over towards the table where the scoreboard was.

The score was [25-19] where Karasuno had won the first set and were now taking a small break before they moved on to the next one.

"Do you mind not staring at me so blatantly..?"

"I'm just curious about something okay!"

Tsukishima frowned when he saw Hinata's facial expressions and felt the need to ignore him so he doesn't get a potential headache from talking with him.

"I just noticed that you and Haruto move more in sync now."

"...Maybe it's because we've played next to each other for a while now?"

"No! There's something else to it and I know it."

Hinata held his chin in deep thought, trying to figure out what that something was. Haruto who was oblivious to this felt a stare bore into him and noticed Tsukishima's blank eyes signaling towards Hinata.

'What do you even want me to do..?'

Haruto felt his mouth crinkle when he caught on to what he wanted him to do.

"Hey you know for the next set we should add more variety in our shots."

"More variety?"

Haruto began to whisper some things of adding some feints into his hits since Johzenji would not anticipate him to do that and adding some new variety would help them out.

After he finished whispering to Hinata, he saw him rush towards Kageyama to tell about some things he thought up.

"Thanks."

"Why don't you just tell him that we're practicing volleyball with your brother?"

"...I know if I do that he will definitely beg to come join and don't forget about the other volleyball maniac that would also want to come. Too much of a headache."

Tsukishima tried to imagine the scenario and felt a headache coming, but Haruto knew that wasn't the only reason.

"You just don't want to bother your brother too much right?"

"...."

Haruto laughed when he noticed the silence that came off of Tsukishima after he heard his words.

"I feel like he would get emotional and cry tears of joy if you actually decided to bring Kageyama and Hinata with us."

Tskushima kept his silence but he thought about some things before taking the towel that hung around his neck and wiped his forehead.

"...I'll see the next time I meet him…"

"I guess I should bring a tissue box the next time we practice."

He ignored Haruto and walked back to Ukai who signaled them to gather around since the small break was about to end.

"Just continue to do what you're doing. But one thing I want you guys to do is when you see the other team do their last hit in a difficult situation, rather than blocking them I want you guys to just back off the net and receive the ball."

Ukai waved the pen that was in his hands and told them about the countermeasure he figured out after he watched Johzenji play in the first set.

"Even if they slam the ball down in that situation, it will have considerably less power compared to their regular hits."

""Ossu!""

Hearing their voices, Ukai nodded and told them to get whatever they needed before leaving the benches.

*Tweet

Everyone quickly finished up what they were currently doing as they heard the ref blow his whistle, signaling the start of the second set.

***

"Shit man, could you have hit the ball any softer?!"

Terushima spoke out loud as he felt a hard sting on his forearms when he managed to put his arms out to get the ball that Haruto managed to hit.

Johzenji scrambled to get the ball that flew off Terushima and Karasuno watched how they moved around on the other side.

"Everyone back up!"

Daichi who remembered Ukai's words, called out to the people at the front as he noticed that a player on Johzenji's side was about to hit the last ball over from the back row.

Hearing his call the guys at the front rolled off the net as they saw how the ball came at them with a weaker force, just like what Ukai told them. Ukai who was watching how the team was transitioning, clenched his fist when he saw how they passed the ball easily.

Kageyama got into place and saw how only in this rotation, Haruto and Hinata were at the front together and he wanted to use them. He quickly signaled Hinata to run a slide while he let Haruto stay still for a bit.

'Should we try and commit to their number 10 or stay still to try and block their number 13…'

Johzenji's blockers thought for a while since they would either have to choose from blocking the minus tempo from Hinata or slow the momentum of Haruto's powerful.and slippery spike.

'A bit too slow.'

Kageyama thought as he noticed the hesitation in their steps and he gave a minus tempo set to Hinata, which he managed to hit down the line.

"Damn, we hesitated too much." Terushima frowned when he noticed that they were too late to place any sort of block to stop Hinata who went for a slide.

"Don't mind guys! Try to focus on the next point." Johzenji's manager called out when she noticed how they seemed to be a bit flustered on that last point.

"Don't miss the next serve."

"Sure."

Haruto replied to Kageyama as he rotated away from the front court and went to the service line where it was his time to serve.

He bounced the ball a few times, before he waited for the ref to signal. Once he heard the sound that came from his whistle, Haruto did his routine of placing the ball near his forehead and taking in a deep breath.

Holding the ball with two hands, he looked at where he should serve the ball and noted to aim it at the space between the players at positions 5 and 6.

Haruto rolled the ball off his fingertips and started his approach for his jump serve.

"I got it!"

"I got it."

The two people at positions 5 and 6 called out for the ball but they stopped for a bit when he heard the person beside them call for the ball.

"My bad!"

One of the guys backed off and let the guy in position 5 to get the ball but this one interaction caused their formation to break. The ball flew up and slowly made its way towards the attack line.

"You damn idiots!" The setter yelled out as he saw the ball fly towards the net and he decided to jump up and hit it so he could make some use out of the bad pass on the second touch.

"Out!!"

"...Crap."

His cheeks twitched when he heard Haruto's voice and he looked towards the linemen and saw that they pointed the flags in their hand upwards, signaling that it was out.

*Tweet~

The ref blew the whistle when he saw how Johzenji's coach gestured for a timeout and both teams went back to their benches.

"They're getting impatient."

"Yeah they seem to be trying their hardest to get any attack in, even if it meant rushing."

Haruto replied to Kageyama as he wiped the sweat that accumulated on his face. He also took a sip of water and listened to Ukai's short words before they made their way back onto the court.

'They look more relaxed now.'

Haruto noticed when he saw the serious look on their faces and he looked at the score near the scoring table. It was [18-14] as Johzenji had been gradually making more mistakes due to them rushing their attacks.

*Tweet

He listened to the whistle that reached his ears and did another jump serve and the same occurrence as the last point happened where the ball flew back onto Karasuno's side.

'He's jumping up to hit again.'

Seeing that the same attack might happen once again, Daichi who was right by the net, jumped up in an attempt to block the ball.

But he suddenly noticed how the person didn't swing his arm but power tipped into his block and got a block out.

"My bad, I thought he would hit the ball again like last time."

"Don't mind."

Daichi apologized but everyone said not to mind and decided to carefully watch out for any of their future plays since it looks like they're not rushing to attack anymore.

The set continued and the points on Johzenji's side started to accumulate, but Karasuno didn't want to give them the opportunity to get into their rhythm.

"It's in the air now! Someone get the last hit!"

Terushima yelled out as he punched the ball in an attempt to set the ball to someone and someone on his team jumped up to hit.

*Boom

"!!!"

"He knocked it down!" Takeda on the bench called out in surprise when he saw Haruto block the last hit rather than peeling off the net and letting it pass.

"You knocked it down so I have no complaints…"

Ukai noticed that Haruto glanced at him from the court but he just waved his hands as he didn't mind since he got the point.

"Hooh… boys let's prevent this last ball from falling on the ground alright."

"Yes sir!"

"Gotcha."

Terushima relaxed his tense body as he saw who was coming up to serve. A silly smile appeared on his lips as he saw Haruto bouncing the ball at the service line when the points were [24-21] in Karasuno's favor.

*Tweet

He heard the ref's whistle and waited for Haruto to finish his routine so he could serve the ball. After a while he moved his body where he anticipated Haruto's serve would come in and tried his best to receive the ball.

"Shit, how heavy can this guy actually serve."

"Ohh nice captain!"

Terushima smiled brightly as his receive might not have been perfect but it was just enough for them to use for a play.

Johzenji's setter quickly got the ball and gave a quick set behind him which made his right side get in a sharp line where Nishinoya got up as he saw the direction where the ball was going.

"Give it to mee!"

Hinata ran across the whole net as he wanted the set and jumped sideways from one leg to attempt a slide attack. Kageyama answered his wishes and gave him a minus tempo set but noticed something strange from the blockers on the other side.

"They're not marking him at all."

"They're really gambling on their receives right now…"

Ukai mumbled and agreed to Takeda's words when he saw Johzenji's front row not go up for a block but instead peeled off the net to get more room to receive Hinata's hit straight on.

'The little guy doesn't have that much power compared to boss guy over there.'

Terushima thought as he licked his lips when he saw his teammate pop the ball upwards and he rushed to get his feet under the ball to kick it up and get another touch on it.

"Watch it, they're going to hit it over."

Daichi called out and jumped up as he tried to block the middle from hitting that abnormal set but unfortunately the ball skimmed his right side and flew over to Kageyama's spot.

'What kind of luck is this?'

He frowned when he saw the ball coming his way and got the ball high up in the air so his team could somehow use it for something.

Haruto who was at the back saw this as an opportunity and quickly ran up from the back row.

"Watch the side! He's going to do it agi—"

*BAAAM

One of the players on the opposite side noticed Haruto's movements and remembered the place he did in the previous set and warned the people at the front.

But he suddenly stopped when he heard a loud sound enter his ears and watched how the ball was hit, landing near the left corner of their side.

*Tweeeet

The ref looked at the linemen and signaled a point for Karasuno as the ball Haruto hit was inside. The people on Johzenji breathed heavily as they felt exhaustion rush to their bodies and saw how the score was now [25-21].

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu