Good Players

"Left side, I got seam."

"Got it."

"Watch the line!!"

The sounds of people calling out their movements echoed throughout the large gym as a formation of 4 teams were playing at the same time.

*Booom!

"Touch!"

"Right side open!" 

People began to call out as the attack was picked up successfully and now had a chance to attack.

"Hoh~ not bad. Despite only making these teams, they are cooperating very well with each other.

Coach Hibarida touched his chin with a smile as he looked at the players currently playing against each other in a scrimmage match.

"We have a pretty good bunch this year, don't we?"

"That is something I might have to agree with you on."

Hibarida chuckled as his eyes intently scanned the players that were engaged in an intense rally on the court in front of him.

"Watch middle!"

Komori yelled out from the back as he anticipated the set that came from his opponent's setter. Abit late, the guy with a blonde undercut smile as he gave his middle a fast quick which got him to hit straight down the seam of the blocker.

"Kuh!"

Komori held out his arms and took the power from the spike head on, using his legs to absorb the force behind it and giving Kageyama something he could use.

'His control is good…'

Kageyama's fingers twitched as he saw the perfect pass given to him despite seeing Komori receiving it from a point black range.

Using his fingers to gently push the ball outwards he gave a fast set towards his outside using the middle as a bait.

"...."

Sakusa who was on Kageyama's team, kept silent as he watched the ball given to him and after analyzing the set, he twisted his torso to smash the ball down the line.

However at the last second he saw a pair of arms reach the ball that left his palm and slightly furrowed his eyebrows seeing the person who did.

"Touch."

Haruto who came up for the block yelled out but as his timing was a bit late he had only managed to push the ball back onto Kageyama's side.

"Free ball!"

Komori yelled out and had everyone pull away as he passed the ball towards Kageyama for him to recycle the blocked ball.

"Annoying bastard…"

Kageyama clicked his tongue as he felt the pressure Haruto always gave whenever he was up at the net as he hated facing his blocks. 

"Let's spread the ball out then…"

Kageyama watched as he moved slightly backwards and saw how his middle began to open up his approach for a slide attack.

Calculating his middle's movements he set the ball behind him to match his tempo which he added a bit more speed onto it .

*Booom!

"!!!"

Kageyama widened his eyes when he saw that the player on Haruto's team had managed to react to the fast set he gave.

A guy with spiky white hair kept quiet as he blocked the ball of the giant middle even with his shorter stature.

"NNH! Those blockers are making me work over time!!"

Komori yelled out as he rolled onto the ground to shell his middle's attack and managed to once again save the ball from touching the ground.

"Hoh~ Atsumu's current rotation has some pretty solid defense at the net."

Hibarida exclaimed as he watched how their current front court was able to respond quickly to the attacks coming their way.

"Kiyoomi-san!"

Kageyama pushed the ball outwards towards Sakusa as he noticed the blockers congregated towards the right side which meant Sakusa had few to no blockers marking him.

Once again watching the set, Sakusa pulled his elbow backwards and smashed a hard spike towards a deep right corner.

"Heavy!"

The libero on Haruto's team held his breath as tired his best to absorb Sakusa's spike but eventually failed as he let the ball go far right of where he was facing.

Haruto who was nearby tried running for the ball as wanted to keep the ball alive.

"I got i—"

"Watanabe-kun, 2nd tempo set."

Hearing a voice that was coming right beside him he saw a guy with a blonde undercut watching the ball that was flying in the air.

Leaving him with those brief words, Haruto stopped going after the ball and used his feet to shuffle backwards and waited.

"Humf."

Being off the court, the guy held his breath and jumped upwards, letting his fingers wrapped around the ball to give a set that had a slight arc to it.

The ball precisely landed on the right side of the net on Haruto's side, which made Haruto give out a huge grin.

'This guy's good.'

Seeing that the location of the ball gave him more options on where to hit, Haruto faced his upright torso towards the cross, having the opponents blockers go up for the block.

But just as he was about to hit the cross, Haruto used his shoulder to stretch his arm out and adjust his swing.

Making him hit down the line instead.

"Ohhh! Nice swing!"

Haruto landed on the ground and watched how the ball was able to narrowly go down the line and drop down as only one person was up to receive the potential ball from that path.

The people on his team celebrated and the person who gave Haruto the set had an interested gleam as he recalled his swing.

"Oho? He's similar to Suna…"

On the opposite side Sakusa narrowed his eyes when he saw the last attack Haruto did and stared at him intently.

"That hustle and set up from Atsumu's team was an amazing way to end that long rally."

"It sure was."

Hibarida smiled as he felt intrigued by the skill level and synergy these players showed during that last point. 

This had brought him to think deeply on how he could develop these players and make them reach a higher level than what they currently are.

***

"Even if it was only scrimmages, that training was really fun."

"I know. Playing with them really made me stay on my toes the entire time."

Holding a large tray with various kinds of dishes, Haruto and Kageyama began to talk about their first day as it was now time for dinner.

The area they were in was large containing lots of spots to where people can eat. 

"This braised chicken looks good…"

Haruto looked at the food on his tray and began to drool as he expected the food in this facility to be good and he was not disappointed.

"You're going to eat the whole plate at this point if you keep looking at your food like that."

"I just might, you know."

"Just hold off until we find a seat first…"

Finally finding themselves a seat, the two of them began to eat their food with gusto as they enjoyed the taste of warm food after a hard training session.

"Umm do you mind if I sit with you guys."

"Hmm?"

Haruto looked behind him and noticed that a tall guy with bushy hair was looking at them with a faint smile.

"You look kinda familiar…"

Haruto welcomed him as it didn't hurt knowing more people at the camp and he quickly scanned over his memory to see where he had seen him before.

"I went to the summer training camp with you guys in Tokyo. I play as a middle blocker for Shinzen."

"Ah! That's Daiki's team isn't it."

Slamming his fist onto his hand Haruto now remembered him and began to open up a conversation such as how they did during the Spring Highs or what he thought of the first day so far.

"We didn't quite make the cut for the Nationals…"

The person who introduced himself as Chigaya had a regretful look on his face as he told the two about their team's results when it came to the Spring High.

"Here's an apple to cheer you up."

"Thank you?"

Chigaya chuckled as he saw Haruto give him a piece of his apple that was on his tray in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Haruto! So you were here?" Conversing with Chigaya, Haruto heard a loud voice and saw how Komori alongside Sakusa walked towards him.

"Ah Komori, come sit with us."

"Don't mind if I do~ Sakusa, come sit!"

"...."

Sitting down in his seat Komori gestured to Sakusa to sit beside him but instead he just looked at Haruto with a steady gaze.

"I didn't watch the replay yet but I heard that Shiratorizawa lost. What did you guys do? I would have never imagined Ushijima who was leading them to lose."

"You're talking about that? Well we managed to stop him and we came out on top."

Haruto who drank his soup, thought back to the Final's match and just gave Sakusa a general description of it. 

"How..?"

"Well we picked up his spikes and I also managed to block him multiple times so that was—"

"Wait, you blocked Ushijima? How did you do that? Were there any special circumstances where you had to follow to do that? Did he…"

Haruto was briefly startled when he saw Sakusa suddenly blurt out some questions while looking at him with an intense stare.

"Haruto, you can ignore this guy."

"Can I really?"

"Yeah, let's just say… he has a cautious personality."

Komori whispered to Haruto who nodded his head after hearing his words. 

Feeling like his stare won't go down after hearing that he blocked Ushijima, Haruto thought for a while before an idea came to his head.

"You said that you want to know how I blocked Ushijima right?"

"...."

Sakusa didn't say anything but his stare managed to convey his thoughts on his question.

"I will do it only if you show me more of your skills befitting of a top 3 ace."

Haruto gave him a faint smile as he looked at Sakusa.

"I played against Ushijima and his immense power is something I had a challenge with. So I want to know how another top ace plays, seeing that you seem to be holding back right?"

The two of them quietly stared at each other as the atmosphere turned heavy. 

Chigaya felt cold sweat dripping down his face while Kageyama continued to eat his food seeing how Haruto was acting like his usual self whenever he saw a strong player. 

"...I'm going to take a bath."

After staring intently for a few seconds longer, Sakusa turned around with his hands in his pocket, saying that he will be taking an early bath.

"You seemed to have fired him up."

"Really? It didn't look like it."

Komori laughed out loud hearing Haruto's response and watched the departing back of Sakusa who walked out of the cafeteria.

***

The recent Archon Quest on genshin was really damn good. I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.