Haikyu Story

Chapter 12

It was the day of the tournament which was exciting. Throughout the week everyone in the school gave us encouragement to do our best. The tournament was after school so that made it nice a little bit. 

As we headed toward the place it was held at I was thinking about how it would go.

'I wonder how the other team is going to play' I thought looking out the window. It turns out the other team was someone we haven't ever played against so this match will be exciting and new for both teams. Even though we talked about their previous plays it will be different playing them for us. When we got to where it was held we all got out and started practicing in the gym for us. As we walked inside I could tell that people were watching us 

'Well I shouldn't be surprised but they seem to be staring for a different reason' looking around at the different eyes on us.

"Did Karasuno get another gir?" 

"Is she new?"

"Who's the babe?"

'Oh great their whispering about me' 

"Alright get everyone stretch and practice! Mika, go easy while practicing" 

"Yes, coach," I said as we all got stretched and started running some drills. We were alone in the gym so no one was staring at us while we practiced.

Before we left for the school Ukai talked with us and told us what the plan was. For the first match, it would be all the boys as they would usually have done but for the second and/or third match, I would be replacing Hinata for a while until we rotated twice where we would both be in the court.

As we practiced everyone seemed to relax and weren't as stiff as before. I didn't use much force when bouncing so I wouldn't pull something. Soon it was time for us to go and play. I rehearsed the notes that Ukai had given us even if they weren't much.

'It seemed like this team uses their star player's height as their weapon. Look for weaknesses' this player apparently is tall and lanky and slow in reaction time which doesn't make them a good player in skill but their height is huge as their head is a foot above the net while their arms towered even higher 'I wonder what this dude looks like?' as we walked out onto the court to line up we saw the other team.

'Oh shit. He's tall' I thought looking at a guy who was easily 7 feet tall. His arms hung down, his body was skinny but not sickly, his hair was blonde. He towered over all his teammates and was easy to spot. 

"Thank you for the game" we all yelled before getting into position for the game. There seemed to be a surprise reaction when I walked over to the others offside and not on the bench like the coaches. Hushed whispered went around only I couldn't hear then as they were too far but I already knew they were about me

'Do these people have anything else to talk about' I thought giving a side-eye at the seats behind us

"Don't let them bother you" Suga told me 

"They're not even worst my time anyways" I grumbled as I watched the game,

As the game went on, they really did use their teammate's height a lot. For strikes and blocks mostly everyone else their team did while he just stood there. 

'He really doesn't have any skills' I thought just as the ball came over to our side Kagayama and Hinata both did their quick attack and scored throwing the other team off guard not being able to register that attack. I chuckled a little at their reaction

'Never gets old' referring to people's reactions to their quick attack. As time progressed it seemed that the quick attack kept throwing the team off making their attempts at receiving it sloppy and unplanned 

'So wait, are they weak at quickness?' I had noticed their star player although lanky and tall was sluggish in their moves. I thought it was due to their lack of volleyball skills. Looking more intensely it seemed that if they didn't expect or plan a move to come it threw off not just one person but the whole team. They knew our moves yet they didn't expect them to be so quick so they were trying to fix how they received on the fly. Which hurt more than helped. We were about to take the match for the win when I could tell that the frustration was getting to them. It was obvious that they were being snappy, sloppy, and panicking. We soon took the first match by a landslide. All the guys celebrated as we got a break before the next match.

"We won the first set that's great but they can still take it back so be on your toes team. Mika give it all you got" Coach encouraged 

"Got it, sir! Oh I noticed something while watching the other team" 

"What's that?" Dachi asked 

"They don't do good at quick attacks. By that, I mean that I guess they weren't expecting them to be like ours as I would assume every team they've faced has quick attacks but ours for some reason has been throwing them off. By the end, they were sloppy and desperate to try and receive them but couldn't do it" I explained noticing it wasn't very obvious to everyone else

"Now that you mention it they were getting more irritated at each other every time we scored" Hinata pointed out

"That's great. Mika's attack will only throw them off more" Tanaka added the bell went off signaling the state of the second set. Taking one last sip, we all walked out onto the court. There was a visual surprise as I walked out with the boys. It was our turn to serve so as soon as we served they seem to immediately zone in on the ball like their left depended on it

'Desperate' I thought as they passed the ball twice before it was coming to their star 'No you don't' I thought as he struck it down only for me to slide in and receive it and give it to Kagayama who set it to Asashi who made it a point

"Yes!" we all yelled as the other team grumbled and yelled at each other getting the refs attention giving them a card for misconduct

'Damm this should be an easy game for us' I thought as we served a few more points until they had to serve. It was getting close to halfway through the game 'Come on none of these balls are good enough to hit' I thought as a ball from one of the back players of the other team was hit really high up in the air and slow

'Perfect' I sprinted immediately 

"Kagayama!" I yelled he bent down as I climbed on his back and jumped up into the air and with his momentum too that let me go high and hit the ball really hard before coming down. The ball I hit went straight in between two players as it hit the ground without anyone going for it. When I landed it got really silent and still in the gym.