Was It A Fluke

'This is good.'

Kageyama thought as he felt his body moving like he wanted it to. He kept quiet as he looked at the pass Daichi did, but he noticed that it was coming towards the net long on the left side.

Making quick eye contact with Haruto who was by the net, he quickly understood what he needed to do and started to run his approach early.

Since his current rotation meant that he was in the back row he was unable to just dump the ball over so he had to improvise. He ran to his left to catch the ball and saw how one of the blockers on the other side was about to dump the ball back over.

Not wanting to give them that opportunity, Kageyama ran and jumped up trying to reach the ball in time. With his right hand extended, he gently pushed the ball away from the net and placed it into a spot towards the middle where there were no blockers.

With the ball heading in that direction, Haruto was already up in the air anticipating the set that he knew would come to him and bounced it straight down.

"These guys are really getting into it."

Ukai felt his lips squirm in excitement as he watched how his team was starting to gather a really strong momentum making them smoothly score points despite some errors.

"And here I thought they would need some more time to get warmed up." Takeda said as he also noticed that they were not letting Aoba Johsai bring their momentum from their last game into the current one.

"Since we're somewhat used to how Aoba Johsai plays, we started off strong by picking up the strong serves their captain does and we also have players that are manning the ground when it comes to our offense."

Ukai stated as he continued to watch Haruto finessing his way past the blockers using his quicker arm swing and how Hinata was trying his best to change the course of his spikes using the brief second where the ball floats during the minus tempo. 

"And it looks like the condition of two of our players are currently really good." Ukai mumbled as he continued to watch the game that was happening in front of him

"Get a nice serve Haruto!!"

Mahiru yelled out with an encouraging tone as she wanted Haruto to increase the lead that Karasuno already has. She glanced at the scoreboard and saw that it was [18-16]. 

She continued to watch him as he celebrated with his team before he walked to the service line holding the ball.

Her eyes caught onto his as she noticed how after staring at each other for a brief second, he playfully stuck his tongue out and turned his head away. 

"Focus on your game stupid."

Mahiru mumbled under her breath but the corner of her lips were slightly raised as she was happy that her words were heard by him.

"Hoooh.."

Haruto who was at the service line bounced the ball that was in his hands and let out a huge breath calming himself before the serve.

He did his normal routine, placing the ball near his forehead as he waited for the ref to signal his time to go. After waiting a few seconds he heard the piercing whistle and threw the ball in the air.

'That toss felt really good…'

Haruto thought as he felt how the ball left his fingers and pulled his arm back to generate enough power for his swing. Twisting his upright torso forward, he transferred the power towards his arm and swung at the ball.

The ball that contacted his palm quickly passed by the net and the players who were about to receive it saw that it had a slight curve to the right despite its quick speed.

'Shit...' The libero cursed in his head when he saw the ball coming towards him.

The ball quickly dipped before the libero could properly reach it and only touched the ball with one of his arms.

"Someone help it!!"

Iwaizumi yelled out as he was too far to get the ball and saw how it was flying towards the back even more.

The people who were in the back row ran after the ball but they were too late as it had already touched the ground before they could reach it.

"Ace! Ace! Acee!"

"Oi, Oi, Oi!!"

Still looking at the other side of the net, Haruto heard the voices of Hinata and Nishinoya yelling out loud while they pumped their arms up in the air. 

"We need to do something and stop the momentum they're having right now…"

"Hmm…"

Aoba johsai's assistant coach spoke out as he frowned thinking back to how that serve caused the lead to increase. The head coach crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, thinking about solutions that they could do.

The set continued to play out with each team trying their best to either keep the lead that they currently have or being the ones to overtake the opposing team's gap in points.

Karasuno had gradually started to reach the end point with them in the lead but Aoba Johsai were trying their best to not get left behind.

"Here Kageyama!" Haruto yelled out as he passed a jump serve that was sent by Iwaizumi.

Hinata who saw the opportunity ran across from his position towards the right side and slid through the air opting for a slide attack. Kageyama saw the idea and gave a minus tempo behind him.

The ball quickly made its way to him but he noticed that their middle blocked off the path for a cross.

Using the straight as his only opportunity, Hinata hit down the line and saw Aoba Johsai's libero get in place. He was able to pick up the ball but it went off course as it awkwardly hit the bone in his forearms.

"Sorry about that! Cover!"

"Don't worry. Makki, it's yours!"

"Gotcha."

Oikawa passively replied as he called out to his outside hitter to get the ball. He  watched as the ball went towards him and jumped up to give a quick backset to the middle hitter who was already ready to hit.

The ball went through the gaps of the block and hit the floor right in front of Haruto who was a second late from getting it.

"They sure know how to move efficiently…" Haruto mumbled as got up from the floor and thought back to how they moved even during an off pass.

Getting their point, Aoba Johsai rotated and Oikawa once again went towards the service line.

'We need to stop this momentum they have from transferring to the next set.'

Oikawa thought as he spun the ball and left it to drop to the floor. He thought of one person who they could substitute in but he felt like it was too risky to put him in right now. 

He looked at the current score of [23-20] and took a deep breath as his eyes sharpened when he focused on the ball in his hands.

'!!!!'

Haruto tensed up slightly when noticed the mood Oikawa was showing when he was at the service line.

*Tweet~

The ref blew the whistle and Oikawa threw the ball up in the air. As it flew, he swung his arm backwards and propelled himself up to get enough airtime. With his elbow loaded, he swung at the ball and placed his entire body behind his swing.

*BOOM!

The ball blasted past the net and landed past Haruto and Nishinoya who were down low to pass the ball.

*Swish

The linesmen on their side raised their flags up in the air and showed the ref that the serve went out.

"Holy shit…" Haruto's eyes widened up as he looked back at the spot where the serve landed.

'The rotation was crazy fast. Did he add more spin to his toss to make that rotation? No, was it the power behind his swing… He might have added his body weight to his arm swing. Adding more twist to his torso to generate more power is also a possibility… Like a spike?'

"Haruto, you're up at the front now."

"Ah… my bad."

Daichi reminded Haruto who didn't seem to budge after they got the point from Oikawa's missed serve. Haruto walked towards the net but his thoughts continued to transfer back to the serve he saw.

'I sure hope that serve wasn't a fluke.'

His eyes continued to glimmer thinking about how he found something very interesting that he couldn't help but want to analyze more.

*Tweet

The ref once again blew the whistle but they noticed that it wasn't for the serve but for a substitution for Aoba Johsai.

"...You place him here now…"

"Kyotani you're over here."

Haruto noticed the awkward look Oikawa had on his face as he looked at the new player coming on the court. 

'I wonder why he has that look on his face.'

Trying to think of reasons to why Oikawa reacted the way he did, Haruto placed his arms behind his head and stood quietly as they tried to take the first set.

***

"AHH I'M SORRRY!!!"

"Don't mind, just get the next one in."

Oikawa screamed out and rubbed his head as he felt frustrated to have his serve missed again. 

'So it wasn't a fluke at all.'

Haruto once again looked at the spot where Oikawa's serve went and noticed that it was getting closer to the line each time he served.

'But I wonder why they haven't used that person yet.'

He thought since the person Aoba Johsai substituted in during the first set they had won, was now starting for the second set.

"Tsukishima nice serve."

After getting the ball, everyone on Haruto's side called out to Tsukishima and got into their positions, ready for the next play. 

Getting his ball over, Aoba Johsai was able to pass the ball perfectly to Oikawa and the blockers at the front were able to notice something unusual with one of the blockers.

"Mad Dog-chan~"

Giving a toss to his right side, he gave a set to the blonde hair person on his team.

He started his approach but the blockers at the front noticed that he was running parallel to the net. Arching his back backwards, he snapped it once again once he contacted the ball and managed to hit a sharp angle that landed on the inner portion of the front court.

"Phew, that was a nasty angle…"

"Is this why they decided to sub him in?"

"Not sure if it's because of this exactly but probably."

Hinata asked Haruto as he was still stunned to see such a different way to hit the ball.

'Let's get you going Mad Dog-chan~' Oikawa stretched his fingers together as he wanted to continue and use the wild card that he has been given.

The second set continued to play on and the amount of times Oikawa had gradually started to give Kyotani more sets and he had managed to hit all of them but there was one thing that Haruto started to notice.

"Mad Dog-chan!"

Getting one more set, Kyotani ran a normal approach rather than one that was parallel to the net.

'Going left.'

Haruto stretched his arms over and guided it to block the pathway for a cross. He saw the ball approaching his arms and he tensed his core to push down and blocked the ball, sending it back over to Aoba Johsai's side.

'He seems to have a lot of power but he doesn't like to use it wisely.' Haruto thought as he gathered around his team.

"Should we have Oikawa set another person…"

"Be patient. Playing it safe with Kyotani is not something we should do."

Aoba Johsai's head coach spoke out with his arms crossed as he continued to watch Oikawa open up a spot for Kyotani to hit from, making him score a point.

He let out a sigh of relief seeing the successful play and clenched his fist, feeling like he should let Oikawa handle Kyotani on his own.

***

I might upload another chapter later but no promises. I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.