Ideas

"Be sure to cover the cross when he goes up!"

Misaki called out as their front court got ready to block the upcoming ball that Sugawara will set. He reminded the blockers of Haruto's cross as he was abusing that angle to score points.

They prepared to open up the line so one of their receivers could get it and not to let the ball drop since Karasuno was at match point.

Haruto jumped up and elevated to reach the set that was given to him. The blockers closed off the cross, making his only path to hit a line.

Haruto contacted the ball and twisted his body and his shoulder to hit the line and go around the block, it contacted the hands of one of the blockers that reached over trying to cover the line.

The ball went slightly off course and hit the shoulder of one of the receivers who tried to get the ball and bounced out.

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The ref called for a touch out for Ubugawa and gave a point towards Karasuno. They all stopped and the ref called for the end of the game where Karasuno won both of the sets with each score being [25-21], [25-23] respectively.

"Geh, so we're the first people to do penalties today.."

Misaki grumbled and gathered his team to start the penalties. Haruto and the rest of the guys who were on the court returned to their bench to get a drink. Haruto sat down and reflected back on the last point he got.

'They still slightly touched the ball even when I used my shoulder to maneuver around it..'

Haruto thought back to his strong point of using his flexible shoulder to maneuver around blocks. During Inter Highs he used this trait to score points and fool his blockers to block places where he wouldn't hit into.

'Using only this is not enough...'

Thinking back to the Inter High finals, he went into deeper thought as he tried to find a way he could improve his hitting technique. After a while he gave a breath out as he thought of some ideas but couldn't decide which one would be best for him.

"Haruto, here's some water. You forgot to take a bottle."

Haruto felt a water bottle tap his shoulder and saw Mahiru who smiled as she offered some water to him.

"Thanks, it totally slipped my mind."

"No problem, you went silent right after the game ended. Were you thinking of something?"

Mahiru gave the bottle and sat down beside him as she looked at Haruto's side profile. After taking a few sips he told Mahiru about his thoughts and she just stared at him.

"What.."

"Volleyball really is something that you love to play huh."

Mahiru grinned as she saw Haruto awkwardly scratch his neck after hearing her sentence.

"Well I'm not an expert so I can't give any advice but I say that it's good that there's these good teams that you could play against here."

"Yeah, playing against them can definitely even help me improve."

Haruto smiled as he looked back to the first match, he had gotten some ideas that could help improve his serves since Ubugawa was a team that focused on their serves.

"You don't have to rush since you have a lot of time to improve before the Spring Tournament. So take your time to learn and enjoy playing like you always do."

Haruto saw Mahiru's face and saw how her eyes were steady as she tried to give the best advice she could. Haruto smiled at her actions and ruffled her hair, getting a glare directed at him by Mahiru.

"Let's go, coach is about to lead us to our next match now."

Haruto felt his mind calm down a bit after hearing Mahiru's words and got up to meet Ukai who was calling to gather up.

Mahiru watched Haruto's back and a small pout formed on her lips as she brushed her hair back to normal.

Haruto quickly moved away from the pouting Mahiru who quickly followed right behind him. He caught up to Ukai who brought them to their next match for the day.

"Ehh we get to play against you guys this fast."

Bokuto smiled as he crossed his arms and looked across the net seeing Karasuno getting into their positions. Haruto greeted him back and got ready to see what he could learn from playing against a top ace just like Ushijima.

***

"Bokuto-san!"

Akashi gave a high toss towards his outside, using the middle as a fake. The decoy from the middle didn't work as three blockers at the net jumped up to try and block Bokuto.

'How about here then!'

Bokuto smiled as he curved his shoulder and hit a cut shot that bounced on the inner attack line on his right side.

"Hell Yeahhh!!"

He celebrated and Haruto gave an amazed look towards Bokuto at the sharp cut shot that he made.

"That's some amazing control on his swing to hit that kind of ball."

Daichi said out loud as he was there to get the receive, but it came too fast at an angle that he missed the time to get it.

Haruto and the rest of them agreed to his words but Haruto began to focus specifically on one word that Daichi said.

"Control.."

Haruto muttered and went to his position to receive the upcoming serve. He looked at the score and it was [12-16] with Fukurodani leading in points.

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The whistle blew and a guy from Fukurodani threw the ball up and did a topspin serve towards the space between position 1 and 6.

"Leave it!"

It was curved going towards Sugawara who was in the back row but Nishinoya called out as he didn't want him to get the first touch. He moved his feet and got under the ball towards the space Sugawara was headed to.

Haruto, Daichi and Yamaguchi pulled away and moved back, getting ready to hit a potential ball. Sugawara moved up from the back and set the ball towards the left side to Daichi and he hit the line.

A receiver was already in place and deflected the ball upwards, digging Daichi's line shot.

"Alright!!"

"Use the ball!"

They yelled out and transitioned smoothly from receiving to attacking, wanting to hit the ball as fast as they could.

Haruto watched Akaashi as he jumped up to set and tried to read his subtle movements to see where he would set the ball.

'His fingers and wrist are tilted more behind him…he's doing a back set.'

Haruto thought as he peeled away from the net and got ready to receive. He was correct in his reading as Akaashi set behind him giving it to his opposite hitter. Their opposite smashed a hard cross where Haruto got in place to pass the spike.

"Here!"

Haruto called for the ball and he got given a set where he swung and got caught up in their front court's blocks.

"Touch!"

Fukurodani called out and they used the ball to give a quick back set to Bokuto where he smashed it through their blocks and bounced inside Karasuno's side.

"I'll get the ball!"

Yachi called out as she ran after the ball that flew far away from their court. With a short pause in their match, Haruto kept on thinking back to the word 'control' that always popped back into his head.

He glanced at Bokuto and thought how he was able to control the ball and hit those crazy sharp angles when he got up.

'How should I improve my control…do I have unnecessary movements..'

Haruto's looked at his arm swing and saw how he used a whip-like motion to torque his body forward to add power in his hits.

His eyes suddenly opened at the realization that he never really focused on improving his arm swing, but instead always tried to focus on how to adjust the blockers to accommodate his current hitting form.

'I need to watch a video of how I hit in full detail later.'

After the day was over, Haruto made the decision to watch a video of himself to fully reflect in detail on how he hits.

Yachi arrived with the ball and the previously paused match between the two schools resumed with Fukurodani serving once again. They continued to play and Haruto watched Bokuto intently, trying to find out more about the flamboyant ace.

***

"See Haruto, as long as you play against me, Ushijima will be a walk in the park during the Spring Tournament!"

Bokuto laughed as they shook hands after finishing the match between the two of them. Fukurodani won both sets as Bokuto was in top shape today and he kept on hitting sharp cut shots and narrow lines to score points.

Haruto smiled wyrly at his excited attitude and did have to agree by playing with Bokuto, Haruto found out and learned many things that could greatly help him improve.

"Alright let's do 2 laps of dives around the court!"

Daichi gathered the team and led the way to begin the penalties that they needed to do after losing the match. Taking a few minutes to complete the penalty they returned to the bench and looked at Ukai to see their next course of action.

*Creak~

The gym doors creaked open and they looked at who came in. Kageyama and Hinata, who were breathing heavily, scanned around the gym and saw Haruto waving at them.

"What took you guys so long?"

Haruto smiled as the duo were rushing towards him and began to ask rapidly if there was still time for them to play.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.