章節 6: Hymn for the Weekend

A week have passed ever since the secondary manager was introduced to the team. Megumi admits that she is so far enjoying it. The team is so fun to be with. She noted the characteristics of each player.

The captain, Maki, keeps the team in check, picks up the slack, and treats his teammates like they're his children. He's the team's strict father, who disciplines them and shuts them with his cold logic. For his skillset, he is already excellent in attacking, but moreso in defending. He's a sweeper when it comes to receives.

The Ginoza brothers seem to bicker a lot, but that's just how they show affection for each other, she thinks. One will always be the other's rival, and both of them just keep on pushing each other to their limits. Their skills are on par with each other and their setter-spiker combination attacks in the court are really formidable. They are super setter and ace.

Kouha appears to be the livelier one, who talks more and is really aggressive when he plays on court. Kouen, on the other hand, is the more silent type. No, not really silent, but only less talkative. It's like he's the emo-version of Kouha, with his longer black hair that covers almost half of his face. Still, he's a smart and excellent setter. If one thing is common between the brothers, it's their drive to win in every game they play.

Fukuzawa Toshiro, is also a reliable spiker, with his wicked trajectories and unorthodox plays.

The blockers are also top-class in the middle. Mamoru Shingen is really intimidating as his wide figure looms around the net everytime he jumps for a block. While Arakata Hiroaki, the other one, is a tricky and annoying blocker since he's so good at tooling the other team's blockers because of his incredible intuition and cocky personality. Additionally, he is left-handed, and he has this clever technique of manipulating his entire torso to widen the breadth of his spike range, which, according to coach Soma, gives a terrible headache to their opponents. That, and his sharpness in read blocking. He tends to slack off though, especially when they are in the lead or when he's used as a decoy.

Another top-tier player here is the Libero, Hiyorin Gaito, who was once awarded as best libero when he was still in middle school. He's the little defense guardian of the team, but never let him hear you call him "little", though. He looks nice but he's a demon senpai on court.

Meanwhile, the rookies were also not letting themselves to be left behind. Takumi Ikuya aims well in doing serves, although he needs more work on perfecting his floaters. Rikubami Sai is very nimble to go after balls.

Kakuzo Ryohei is tall and huge for a freshman. And despite that heavy physique, he really has good reflexes and incredible growth according to the coach. He just started playing volleyball, but it already looks natural to him.

And the battery who seems to never run out of stamina, Asuma Genji, is really speedy. Though he hasn't shown anything spectacular yet, Megumi once saw him jumping really high when he was doing his solo training.

The other players show good potential and promise too. The team is indeed strong, in her opinion.

"Can ya tell coach to move the practice match on Sunday? I have a date on Saturday!" Kouha pounded his fist on the table and faked his disappointment over the matter when the team was having lunch in the school's cafeteria.

"But we have a practice match against another school this Saturday, dumbass. Ah – that's tomorrow actually." Kouen prodded at his brother as he stabbed on a piece of his Katsudon for lunch.

"But I already set-up the date!" Kouha continued to ramble, but his teammates seem to pay him no attention.

Asuma Genji, who just arrived with Kakuzo Ryohei, butted in the conversation. "Eh? So, a club from another school is coming here this weekend? Who did coach set us up against with?"

"Ya didn't know?" Kouha asked, incredulously.

"The freshmen were supposed to be informed about it later, when the coach will announce the line-up for the match. But ya already spilled the beans, ya dumbass." Again, Kouen roasted his brother.

"Oh, I see. Which team are we up against, senpai?" Kakuzo repeated Genji's question.

"The Spiders of Kanagawa." Hiro said with spite.

"Hiro hates them. Especially their captain." Kouha grinned and said to no one in particular.

"Spiders? Why, though?" Asuma inquired.

"Well, s'oz of their sticky-sticky blocks. Captain's a lot like him. Troublesome pest who likes to rile up his opponents. Imagine an even bigger trash than him."

Asuma chuckled at that description, which earned him a glare from Hiro, who looked more vexed now because of Kouha's remarks. He tried to make a comeback and said it in the most irksome tone.

"Yep, and you can't even get your spikes cleanly through them. You sure you're the ace?"

A vein popped from Kouha's head and he stood up. "Wanna fight, salty boy?"

"Shall we, boyo?" Hiro also stood up and to make things worse, Kouen interjected.

"Losers."

"Shut up, mophead!" Both of them spat at him.

Maki put down his fork and cleared his throat loudly. The three immediately ceased on their stupid arguments. The rest of the conversation went smoothly after that. Until Genji asked the question all freshmen were secretly wondering.

"Who do you think will make it to the starters?"

Afternoon practice came in a breeze. The players from the volleyball team were busying themselves with their drills when Coach Soma abruptly called for them to gather around the bench. The rookies, especially were now getting anxious – for they were already spoiled of what's about to happen.

"Tomorrow, we will have a practice match against a team from Kanagawa. This will be the line-up for the game." And he then presented to them a piece of paper with handwritten names of seven players. All but three of the players looked at the paper curiously.

Line-Up (Practice Game tomorrow!)

S – Ginoza Kouen (2nd Year)* 183cm

OPP – Ginoza Kouha (3rd Year)* 186cm

OH – Sukiyata Maki (3rd Year, Captain)* 178cm

OH – Fukuzawa Toshiro (2nd Year)* 179cm

MB – Arakata Hiroaki (2nd Year)* 188cm

MB – Kakuzo Ryohei (1st Year)* 191cm

L – Hiyorin Gaito (3rd Year)* 167cm

'Yus!' Kakuzo wanted to shout and throw a slick comment at Genji, but when he looked at the redhead, he stopped himself from doing what he initially planned because disappointment was clear on his face.

'Damn, he's taking it badly.' He thought.

"All right, don't look so down now, this is just for a practice game. Depending on your performance, I might re-evaluate for the arrangements in the upcoming Inter-High." Soma put his hand on his waist as he folded the paper and took it away from the eyes of his players.

"They have a prominent blocking game, though this wasn't enough to get them further last Spring in the National Tournament since we beat them in the Second Round. I scheduled a rematch with them for practice, since their coach mentioned they wanna have at it again. I don't mind, as long as we face someone strong, I know you guys are up to the challenge." The coach said matter-of-factly.

[Note: In the Spring Cup, there are 52 teams participating (Japan has 47 prefectures) – Two from Hokkaido due to its sheer size, Two also from Metropolis Prefectures like Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka, One from each of the other prefectures, and another One more from the Hosting Prefecture. Top four seeds only play in the second round, and these top four teams are from the Summer Inter-High's National Tournament Final Four.

In the canon Haikyu anime/manga, one of the representatives from Kanagawa is Tsubakihara Gakuen, which Karasuno played against with in the First Round. So it makes sense here if I put this 'other' team whom I called 'Spiders of Kanagawa' as the second representative from the prefecture. I��ll reveal them next chapter.

Note also that the three teams from Tokyo were the Top 2 – Itachiyama and Fukurodani, plus Nekoma, the third placer in their prefectural qualifiers, as the Venue Representative for the Hosting Prefecture]

"So yeah, better let loose tomorrow and win again vs their team. I want the others to observe the game closely and take notes on the plays we make, especially that of the Spiders. Hijikata-san, I'm counting on you on determining the other team's stats." The coach finally finished.

"Aye, coach." Their manager replied enthusiastically.

After the short announcement, the players returned to their own devices and continued on their personal and team drills. Hiro was looking forward to that match to wipe the shit out of that blocker he so hates from that team in Kanagawa.