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●Chapter Three●

"So, do you know who we play first?" Noya asked. 

"I think we're against Shinzen first today." Asahi said. 

"They're good." I spoke with some food in my mouth. 

"They are, but we got this, right guys!" Daichi tried to hype us up. I went along with it to get the rest of the team going. Even if I was miserable, the rest of them shouldn't be. 

After I ate, I went to the bathroom just to throw it all back up again. I wonder how long it'll take to kill me by doing this?

When I finally headed back out, the rest of the table was talking strategies. Asahi had brought up synchronized attacks, he saw the other teams doing them. 

"That's gonna take a lot of practice." Daichi said. 

"Imagine, Kageyama and Hinata, setting a synchronized attack up to that weapon." Noya beamed. Gotta admit, it'd be cool. 

"Well, we're not gonna try that at camp, or in a game, until we practice it." Daichi said. Fair enough. 

"Ready to head to the court?" I asked. They all nodded. We got the team gathered together and we walked over. 

*~*

Our first game was against Shinzen. We had Kageyama start the first game, since I started yesterday. 

I sat on the bench and watched. It was going great up until they used their special quick attack. Well, I wouldn't say great...We were behind but...Shinzen can predict and block those quicks. While the next few plays were going, Coach called me over to talk. 

"What's up?" I asked. 

"Let me in on what Daichi and the others have been thinking quick."

"Me and Tsukki teaming up like Kageyama and Hinata. Daichi wants us to get another weapon out of it. Asahi wants to do a synchronized attack, but Daichi doesn't think it's a good idea until we practice it."

"Alright, not bad. Ignore all of that for now. We're gonna do something to throw them off. Can you spike?" 

"I...I'm a setter I -"

"And? Can you hit a spike?" 

"Yes, I can hit a spike." I replied. Daichi was gonna do this too. 

"We're subbing you in for Tsukki. We're going to make them think we're running a double setter play. Kageyama can spike too, use Hinata as the decoy." 

"Got it." I took the number flag with Tsukki's number on it, and had the ref blow the whistle before the next play. Tsukki grabbed it and walked off. I could already see the confusion in their faces. I quickly got the team around to tell them the plan, then we put it in action. 

It was Shinzen's serve. I kept my eyes on the ball the whole time. It went back to Daichi, who received it perfectly. He sent it to me, Hinata and Kageyama both jumped. I noticed their blockers on Kageyama, they predicted what we were supposed to do. So...I sent it to Hinata. He spiked it down with the same force he uses with Kageyama's hits. We got the point. I looked back to Coach, who gave me a thumbs up. Guess I did what I was supposed to in reading their players. 

It was Hinata's serve, meaning he's now in the back row. I'm not sure he's tall enough for a back row attack, but we'll use it if it comes down to it. 

He sent the ball over and didn't hit Kageyama in the head, thank God. Unfortunately, the ball went perfectly to their best receiver. The ball was up, to the setter, and they were using a synchronized attack. I tried to read their players. I couldn't. I watched the setter to see if I could find any signs. And I did. Instead of jumping, I stayed on the ground, I saw he was going to do a setter dump. I received the ball and sent it to Kageyama. He set it up for me to spike, but Asahi ran too. I used what strength I could and got us another point, earning cheers from my team and annoyed looks from the other.