Capítulo 94: Playing Them Again
*Squeak
*Squeak~
*Boom!
With multiple eyes watching the game between Aoba Johsai and Date Tech, the long match between the two teams has gradually started to reach its end with one side being the ones to finish it.
"How annoying…."
"...."
Haruto who was watching from the stands scrunched his face when he saw how Oikawa decided to do a setters dump right before reaching the match point.
His aggressive decision had brought the set towards a [24-21] point difference and Aoba Johsai wanted to end the game strong.
Kageyama who was near Haruto, crossed his arms looking at the way Oikawa played and kept quiet since he wanted to see more as they were most likely to be their next opponent.
"Will you be going straight onto the court once they finish?"
Mahiru turned to Haruto and asked since they have been off for just a few minutes and would need to be careful since Aoba Johsai could possibly bring in the momentum from their last game and go aggressive from the start.
"Pretty much. The only reason we're resting right now is that we finished our game earlier than them so we have some leeway."
Haruto would have also liked to play right after their previous match since they would have already been warmed up but getting some sort of nutrition before the game is also a good option.
"Have you met your sister here yet since I also want to send her some pouches that she could have during her breaks."
"...I actually forgot she would be here…"
Yui voiced her question to Haruto who totally forgot about his lazy sister being a part of the volleyball team. He reached over to his bag to get his phone to see if she had sent him any message and if not, he would tell her about Yui being here.
[Hey! What court will you be playing on?]
[We're playing near the morning so I might be able to see you when I'm free.]
[I heard we're playing against a strong team so wish me luck…]
[If I lose I want my kind brother to get me some more funds for my games to cheer me up…]
[Just joking haha.]
[Unless…?]
Haruto read the stream of messages he had gotten from Akane and felt the urge to shut his phone off and place it back into his bag. He also started to hear Mahiru giggling to herself after she had caught a glimpse of what messages Akane sent him.
There were more messages that were sent through intervals and he figured that it was during the time she had finished her matches or was on break.
[Mom is here. Text her where you are when you're free.]
Haruto sent a quick message to her and placed the phone on his lap. Just a couple seconds later he felt his phone vibrate and was surprised to see that she had responded back.
[So you finally decided to check your phone tsk tsk.]
[I had a match so don't blame me.]
[Beh so are you finished now?]
[Still got one more.]
[Heh I just finished all my matches and we won.]
Akane who was by her team, had a big smug look on her face since she knew that her brother would be pretty surprised.
[So what are your stats looking like sitting on the bench?]
[You bastard, I also played in my matches.]
[Oh my bad, I thought otherwise.] Seeing Haruto's message, Akane felt a vein pop up and continued to text him.
"Who are you texting?" One of Akane's teammates noticed her being really invested in her phone and was typing really fast, so she was curious to who she was contacting.
"My brother."
"Ehh!? The one we saw at the beach??"
"Is he here??"
"What court is he playing at? I want to see him play~."
Akane answered absently but her head snapped upwards when she heard the commotion that was starting to form around her.
"My b-brother is off limits! I already have a beautiful sister in law and I don't want you homewreckers to start approaching!!"
Her teammates pouted when they saw Akane's face as if she was protecting something from them. They had already known about Haruto being taken from Akane but remembering his image at the beach was something hard to forget.
"We just wanted to cheer him on, that's all..."
"Yeah and we're not homewreckers!"
"Yeah!, Yeah!".
'Don't worry Mahiru I will keep these hussies away!' Akane's teammates started to crowd her finding their 'reason' for knowing where Haruto was playing and Akane had started to fight each of them off from getting any closer to her.
"Hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
Yui noticed the confused sound Haruto gave out and wanted to know if something happened.
"No it's just that she read my messages but hasn't responded for a few minutes."
"Maybe she's having a meeting with her team."
Haruto nodded at Mahiru's words since she said that she finished all her matches and might be attending a post game meeting.
*Tweet~
After turning off his phone, Haruto heard the loud whistle and saw that the game between Aoba Johsai and Date Tech had finished.
"Let's go down now."
Daichi said as he stood up and saw that the score between the two teams was [25-22], with Aoba Johsai winning both sets.
***
"Be sure to watch out for Oikawa's serve as they are still warmed up from their previous game and we still need some time to get our rhythm."
Ukai gathered the team to remind them of their situation and they listened intently to his words.
"Just like in the Inter Highs, I want the three of you to cover the back and receive." He looked towards Haruto, Daichi and Nishinoya who nodded their heads as they remembered.
After a few more words, Ukai sent them off and they started to gather towards their positions with some of them stretching or jumping in place to get their bodies warmed up.
Oikawa slowly walked towards the service line and was tossed a ball since Aoba Johsai won the coin toss to decide who would get the serve first.
'I wonder if his serves got even better.'
Haruto relaxed his body and got down low while his eyes were drawn to Oikawa who was bouncing the ball and spinning it against his palm.
*Tweet
Oikawa stopped spinning the ball before throwing it up in the air to serve. He held his breath as he ran his approach and tensed his core to support his swing that quickly contacted the ball.
His serve came by fast and ripped through the air, having a slight curve to it. Haruto noticed that it was coming to the space between him and the sidelines.
'As expected it's heavy..'
Haruto let out a breath as he tried his best to absorb the impact that came from the ball. He leaned his upper torso slightly back to brace himself before finally giving a pass to Kageyama.
'He got it but he's out of system now.'
Kageyama thought as he saw how Haruto was starting to move his body forward to be part of the offense but he would at most be getting a 3rd tempo set which would give the blockers and receivers enough time to prepare for his spike.
'They're also on guard against him… did Oikawa purposely serve him to have him out of formation too…'
Looking at the blockers grouping more towards the left side, Kageyama frowned when he noticed that they were marking Haruto right away and hated the feeling of having his hitters chipped off like that.
'He should be able to handle them… but let me get a grasp of the rhythm they have right now..'
Kageyama then gave a quick set to his middle and Tsukishima swung his arm to hit around the blockers.
"Got it!"
"Nice Hanamaki-chan!"
Smoothly transitioning from the back row, Oikawa went up to the front to use the ball that was picked up from the back for his team to use.
The three people at the front were down low and watching how each of the players were starting to approach, aiming to hit the ball that was coming with the combination attack they were doing.
Oikawa jumped up and arched the ball softly towards the middle where Kindaichi was up in the air to hit.
Kindaichi was watching the ball and decided to hit a cross when he suddenly saw a tall block in front of him, where Haruto and Tsukishima timed it to have a greater height over the net.
Knowing that he would get roofed if he went forward with his decision, he twisted his body and power tipped it in the other direction.
"Kugh." Kageyama grunted when he saw the ball quickly going his way and used one of his arms as he wasn't able to form a proper platform.
With the ball in the air Haruto was inching towards the ball to help out if needed but stopped when he saw someone else going for the ball.
Shifting his feet back to get some distance, Haruto watched how Nishinoya jumped past the attack line and gave a shorter length set towards the front as he was unable to fully volley the ball to the left side.
Haruto saw the opportunity and quickly ran up and used his fast arm swing to hit the ball at an angle before any of the blockers or receivers were able to set up their defenses.
"They were able to cut off their captain's serve."
Ukai clenched his fist when he saw how they were able to stop Oikawa from serving any more. He placed his fist under his chin to support his head as he continued to watch how the game would unfold.
"...."
Near Aoba Johsai's bench, a player with blonde hair and a buzz cut kept quiet as he continued to watch the game with his thoughts known only to him.
***
I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.
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