A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on august 13th, 2021 @ 3:21am

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - UMBRELLA

ATSUSHI SIGHED AS KARASUNO WAS doing the penalty once more. "Go!" Daichi yelled as everyone ran up the hill. "So hot..." Tanaka groaned. "You're telling me..." Atsushi agreed. "Saying "hot" is not allowed!" Sugawara scolded the two.

"We're just stating the obvious, Suga-san." Atsushi whined.

Once they were done with their run they walk to the shade of the trees as Kiyoko and Yachi handed them their water bottles.

"Here." Yachi said as Atsushi smiled.

"Thank you." He told her, drinking down the cool liquid. Once they were done, they headed back into the gymnasium to play their practice match.

It was Asahi's turn to serve as he threw the ball up and did his jump serve, the ball bounced off of Konoha and Karasuno gained a point. "All right!" Karasuno cheered as Atsushi smiled, looking over to the score.

Fukurōdani

21

Karasuno

18

"Not bad... We're doing better than we usually do. That's a good sign." Atsushi thinks to himself, looking back at Asahi who was serving once more.

"Asahi-san one more!" Atsushi encouraged.

"Nice serve." Tsukishima added as he covered the back of his head when the whistle blew.

They continued to play, with Atsushi keeping an eye on the ball as it made it's way to Kageyama, Atsushi watched with a slight frown when he witnessed Kageyama set the ball to Hinata who had jumped up to spike, but the toss was too short, making Fukurōdani get the point.

"Don't worry about it!" Daichi reassured them.

"I'm sorry!" The two of them replied. Atsushi sighed and shook his head.

"Even though they haven't argued throughout the training camp, those two still haven't talked together like they used to." Atsushi thought. It was making him annoyed since he was so used to their antics.

As Atsushi continued to watch the ball, the ball gets served out of bounds, and Atsushi widened his eyes when the ball nearly hit Yachi, who yelped and shook in place.

"Sorry!"

Hinata was quick to run over and receive the ball as he threw it back over the net for Fukurōdani.

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After the Fukurōdani match, Karasuno was now up against Nekoma, everyone was sweating and panting due to the heat. Atsushi felt like he could collapse at any given moment. He kept his eyes on the ball as it goes to Karasuno's side and Atsushi quickly crouched down to save it.

"Center!" Hinata called out as Tanaka rushed over and sent the ball to Hinata.

"Hinata, get the last!" Tanaka called out, as the ball goes towards the orange-haired male, only for it to be close to the net.

"Sorry! That was close to the net!" Tanaka apologized as Hinata tried to get the ball over. Lev and Yamamoto blocked and sent the ball back to Karasuno's side and got the point. Atsushi sighed in annoyance that they lost the point, he then looked towards Hinata and gulped in concern when he saw how irritated his teammate looked.

Atsushi then looked at the scoreboard.

Nekoma

18

Karasuno

15

"Chance ball!"

"Got it!"

Atsushi watched as Nishinoya runs over and gets under the ball as he tossed it up, and it was in good position for a quick attack, which made Hinata run foward as he jumps up and Kageyama tossed to him. Hinata managed to accidently do a feint as Lev tried to block it.

"Nice cover! Nice cover."

"Well done, Hinata."

"Hey!"

Atsushi flinched at the sudden shout, turning to Hinata who was scowling at Kageyama. "You held back, didn't you?" He asked, making the brunette look at the both of them with concern.

"This is the first time they talked since they got into that fight at school." Atsushi thinks to himself.

"Held back? Me? With volleyball?"

Atsushi shivered at the eerie look Kageyama gave to Hinata, the two of them looked pissed. He watched as Kageyama grabbed Hinata by the shirt.

"Say that again." He challenged.

Atsushi gave Daichi a panicked look. "Hey, guys..." Daichi warned. "Excuse me! Can we get a time out?" Takeda called out to the referee, who nodded.

TWEEEET!

"That wasn't the falling toss."

Atsushi raised his eyebrow at him, but widened his eyes as he remembered the scene and realized Hinata was right.

"Holy shit he's right... Hinata was able to tell the difference that quickly?" Atsushi thought as Tanaka and Daichi made the two separate with Tanaka holding back Hinata just in case.

"Calm down already!" Tanaka warned as he tried to drag Hinata away. Keyword, tried to. Atsushi knew Tanaka might need some assistance, so he walked over.

"Don't even think about fighting when there's other schools around to witness it, Hinata." Atsushi warned, his voice going stern that made both Hinata and Tanaka tense a little. He turned to look at Kageyama who had a distressed look as he walked away.

"Don't stop trying, Kageyama!" Hinata exclaimed as he went back to glaring at Kageyama who paused his walking.

"I said, "gather 'round!" Tanaka told their teammate. Atsushi stuck close in case one of them decided to lash out. He noticed Kageyama turned to fully face Hinata, but he had a much calmer look.

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"Oh? Tsukki, Atsushi, did you bring a friend today?" Bokuto spoke up, making Tsukishima and Atsushi confused.

"Pardon?" Tsukishima questioned as the two looked over to see Hinata at the gym doors.

"What happened to your partner?" Atsushi asked him.

"Kageyama is practicing by himself again. I tried to have Kenma serve me tosses, but he bailed after just five balls!" Hinata replied and Atsushi chuckled.

Kuroo, who overheard, walked over with a grin on his face. "It's already amazing that Kenma stuck around a personal practice for even five balls..." He said as Hinata gulped.

"So..." He began, but got interrupted by Lev running over.

"Please let me practice with you!" The two said in unison.

Hinata widened his eyes as he stared up at Lev. "Lev!" He gasped.

"Oh, Hinata." Lev greeted as Atsushi saw Kuroo furrow his brows.

"Lev, I thought you were practicing receives with Yaku." Kuroo informed making the tall first-year tense up.

"I did really well today, so he let me off early!" Lev said.

"Really? Sure you didn't run away?" Atsushi questioned, having a feeling that Lev was avoiding Yaku.

"No, of course not!" Lev denied, making Kuroo chuckle.

"Well, whatever. Then... since we have the right amount of people, let's play some three-on-three." Kuroo said as Atsushi gave him a confused look.

"Um..." Atsushi began, as he was pretty sure they had an uneven number. Kuroo looked over at him.

"You said you wanted to get better at spiking, right?" Kuroo asked as the brunette nodded. "Well, you can join in and swap everytime a team gets a point."

Atsushi nodded in agreement as he went over and pulled out the scoreboard. He nicknamed the teams. For Bokuto's, it was Owls, and for Kuroo's team it was the Cats. Akaashi stared blankly as Kuroo decided the teams.

"Um... isn't this just a bit unbalanced?" Akaashi asked as Atsushi sweat dropped at the teams. On Kuroo's team it was him, Lev and Tsukishima and on Bokuto's team it was him, Akaashi and Hinata.

"It's fine! Besides, you have Atsushi on your side right now. Let's do something we can't do in the afternoons." Kuroo reassured, making Bokuto and Hinata race off with Akaashi and Atsushi staring at them with an impressed look.

"Whoo-hoo!" Bokuto and Hinata cheered.

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"Lev! I told you to jump after looking at the toss! Read blocking!" Kuroo scolded as Atsushi sighed. They had been playing for some time now, and he was now on Kuroo's side of the court.

"Oh, right!" Lev stated as Atsushi watched Akaashi toss to Bokuto who jumped up and spiked the volleyball down. Atsushi slid down and saved the ball.

"Blockers, try not to jump sideways if at all possible!"

"Wow, he got it!"

"If you can, make sure you stop and jump straight up!"

"Right!"

"Chance ball!"

Atsushi watched as Hinata runs forward as he gets ready to spike with Tsukishima and Lev about to block him, while Kuroo took on Bokuto in case Akasshi was tossing to him. Soon, Hinata spiked the ball down but Tsukishima blocked him and Kuroo's team got a point.

"Damn it! Bring it again!" Hinata growled as he was challenging Tsukishima.

"Um..."

A female voice grabbed their attention as they turned their heads to the gym doors to see the two Fukurōdani managers. "If you don't wrap up soon, the cafeteria will close, and you won't get any dinner." The manager stated which made everyone excluding Akaashi, Tsukishima, and Atsushi to yell in fear at this.

"We can't go into battle on an empty stomach." Kuroo stated.

"Food!" Bokuto cried out as everyone got out of the gym.

"Shorty... we'll continue tomorrow. Got that?" Kuroo informed as Hinata beamed at his comment.

"Right!" He agreed.

Atsushi eventually caught up with Bokuto. "Excuse me, Bokuto-senpai..." He began as Bokuto looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you helping me? You must have better things to do."

Bokuto blinked at him. "You somewhat remind me of myself when I was a first-year." He replied as Atsushi let out a "huh" at him in confusion.

"You want to surpass your brother as a player, right?" Bokuto asked as Atsushi nodded. "You won't do that if you look up to him so much."

"I'm not quite sure I get what you're trying to say, senpai." Atsushi admitted.

"From the short amount of time I got to know you, I know you admire your older brother as if he was your hero in volleyball. Which resulted in you becoming like him."

"Which in the end, allowed others to compare me to Toshi-nii." Atsushi finished as Bokuto nodded in agreement.

"To be honest, I'm helping you because I don't want you to be in that shadow. You're a great player with amazing talents, Atsushi. I want to help you realize that, and perhaps find someone new who you admire." He said.

Atsushi didn't know what to respond to that as Bokuto ruffled his hair. "Now come on or else the food will get cold." He informed, walking by the brunette.

"Admire someone else, huh?" Atsushi thinks to himself before following Bokuto.

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"It's morning!" Atsushi heard Nishinoya announce, making the brunette groan.

"Let me sleep a little longer..." Atsushi heard Asahi mumble. He heard what sounded like the curtains being open as he heard Sugawara and Asahi yelp at the sudden sunlight.

Atsushi moved his blanket over his head to block out the sunlight as he snored away. He could hear his teammates waking up and getting ready for another day of training.

"Should we wake him up?" Atsushi heard Daichi whisper.

"Oh! I know the perfect way to wake him up! Shoyo, you and I can jump on him, or Tsukishima can pour cold water on him!" Nishinoya suggested.

"Oh, hell no." Atsushi thought as he heard movement coming closer to him. He guessed that it was Nishinoya and Hinata who were going to jump on his sleeping figure.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Thre—"

Before Nishinoya could finish his sentence, Atsushi opened his eyes and glared at him. "If you or anyone else jumps or pours water on me, someone is going to get put in the hosptial." He threatened as everyone gulped.

Once Atsushi was ready, he followed his team into the cafeteria where they were served some breakfast. Atsushi was still half asleep, dozing off from time to time.

"Thank you for the food!" Everyone in the cafeteria spoke as they began eating in peace, with some people chatting amongst themselves.

"So... tired..." Atsushi thinks to himself as his head landed on someone's shoulder. "Aww! Atsushi!" He heard Bokuto say loudly in his ear as he hugged him, making the brunette tense a little before he found himself in a comfortable position.

"Let me sleep." Atsushi yawned as he drifted off to sleep in Bokuto's arms.

"Okay!"

"Bokuto-san, he can't sleep here. He needs to eat."

"But Akaashi!"

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Atsushi panted as Karasuno was currently going against Ubugawa. He turned his head to look at the score.

Ubugawa

24

Karasuno

23

They were all doing well, but Ubugawa was at match point. Atsushi watched as Daichi saved the ball. "Atsushi, free!" Daichi shouted.

"All right!" He exclaimed as he jumped up and quickly spiked down the ball.

However, it was an out. "Sorry! I overcompensated!" Atsushi apologized. The match ended with Ubugawa winning, as everyone headed to the sidelines.

"Thank you very much!"

"Let's go, penalty run!" Daichi informed as everyone followed him outside.

"Right!"

"Curse this school and it's penalty!" Atsushi shouted in annoyance, not wanting to run first thing in the morning.

"Tanaka, Atsushi, that's double." Daichi scolded them.

"That's not fair!" Tanaka whined as Atsushi gave Daichi a small glare.

"You may be the captain, but even I have a limit on how far I should listen to someone." Atsushi stated.

Once they were outside, they lined up as Daichi clapped his hands. "Go!" He shouted as all of them ran up the grassy hill.

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Once practice was over, Atsushi headed to the gymnasium with Hinata and Tsukishima as they met up with Lev, Kuroo, and Bokuto. They were practicing like last time with Atsushi switching from libero to wing spiker on each team.

They soon took a break. "Oh, by the way, when you're going one-on-one against a spiker, you generally don't stand in front of their body. Center yourself with their dominant arm instead." Kuroo told them as Lev was the first one to react.

"Oh!" He gasped in amazement.

"Um... We are technically opponents as soon as we're in a match, right? Why are you giving us advice?" Tsukishima asked in confusion as they stared at Kuroo for an answer.

"I've always been a nice person."

Tsukishima, Hinata, and Atsushi stand and stare at Kuroo with questioning and judging expressions.

"You don't have to look at me like that." Kuroo huffed at them then he sighs and hesitantly looked away with a sheepish look.

"I want to make sure the Dumpster Showdown happens again. It's what our coach wants more than anything." Kuroo informed as Atsushi smiled a little.

"But who knows how much longer... our coach is going... to continue coaching? So, because of that... we need you guys to keep winning, too. Well, this ends up being practice for me, so don't worry about the details too much. Come on, practice, practice." Kuroo explained as Tsukishima, Hinata, and Atsushi stare at him.

They get back to playing with Atsushi on Bokuto's team as the libero. He watched as Hinata saved the ball and he falls over. "Akaashi-san, cover!" Atsushi called out as he watched Akaashi set the ball to Bokuto.

"Sorry, it's a bit short!" He informed as Kuroo looked at the ball.

"Surround him! Spready out the block!" Kuroo ordered Tsukishima and Lev who jump up in front of Bokuto.

"Dammit, you're huge again today, and you're just a first-year!"

Atsushi was confused to see Bokuto spike the ball as he noticed he hit the block on purpose. "One more time!" Bokuto announced as he got under the ball and tossed to Akaashi. "Akaashi, give me a good toss!" Bokuto added as Atsushi watched the second-year get ready to set the ball over.

Bokuto ran forward and spiked down the ball, getting the point.

"Yeah! Hey, hey, hey!"

Hinata ran forward and stared at Bokuto "Th-That just now... was it on purpose? When you lightly tapped it against the blocker's hand?" He asked as Bokuto blinked at the orange-haired male.

"Yup! It's a rebound!" Bokuto stated as Atsushi widened his eyes a little.

"Oh, that makes so much more sense." He chuckled to himself.

"A rebound? That's so cool!" Hinata beamed at this.

"Is it? It is, isn't it?"

"Like if you balance is off, and you feel like you're sure to be blocked if you took this shot now... you hit the ball against the blockers on purpose, and have it rebound back so you can set it up once more." Bokuto explained as Hinata stared in interest.

"Though, it often fails, and the ball ends up being slammed down a bit, too."

"That happens to you a lot, Bokuto-san."

"Akaashi, that was your cue to say, "That hasn't happened as much lately!"

Atsushi snorted at this. "Spiking isn't all about slamming it onto the floor. If you stay calm, you'll see the way to fight!" Bokuto stated and both Hinata and Atsushi looked taken aback by this as Akaashi walked over.

"Oh, that hasn't happened as much lately, Bokuto-san!" He said which made Bokuto whine.

"You're late, Akaashi! Atsushi, Akaashi is being mean to me!" Bokuto complained as Atsushi sweat dropped.

"How exactly is he being mean, senpai?" He mumbled.

Soon, they all went back to playing, with Atsushi now being on Kuroo's side. "All right!" Lev announced as he spiked down the ball. Akaashi quickly dived to the side to send it back up.

"Akaashi, nice one!" Bokuto praised as he sends the ball up high. "Shorty, I'm counting on you for the last hit!"

"Right!" Hinata responded as Atsushi saw Kuroo smirk.

"Ah! Hey! Crowding like that is so cruel!"

Atsushi saw that Lev, Tsukishima, and Kuroo were blocking Hinata, making him sigh at them.

"This can no longer be called a wall. It's more like an umbrella. There isn't a place to make a shot." Atsushi thought as he watched Hinata jump up as he was about to spike down the ball to get himself blocked by the tall players.

Atsushi watched as Hinata actually managed to hit it up. Everyone was shocked by this, Hinata fell down to his back as Atsushi chased after the ball, it was too far for him to save so he tried using his foot, only to be a second too late as the ball touched the ground.

"Ow..." Hinata hissed. Atsushi turned to his teammate and walked over.

"Did you actually aim for that? That was an amazing wipe!" Atsushi asked with amazement. Hinata blushed at his teammate's praise.

"It's true that I aimed at the tip of Lev's hand..." Hinata admitted making the half-Russian get taken aback.

"What?" Lev exclaimed as Hinata stood up and rubbed his hair sheepishly.

"But it was just a coincidence that it hit him. I can't hit that accurately—"

Hinata stopped when Bokuto ruffled his orange hair. "That was a triple block of 6' 3" blockers, you know? Not to mention that terrible toss! Well done! I'm moved!" Bokuto announced as Hinata beamed at the praise.

"To the little fighter going up against the 6' 7" wall, I—"

"Talk about over-exaggerating..."

"Somehow 190cm turned into two meters."

Atsushi chuckled at Akaashi and Kuroo as he turned his attention back to Bokuto who grins down at Hinata.

"I shall give you a new special attack." He promised, making Hinata ecstatic.

"A special attack?" Hinata repeated with interest.

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The next day, it was the last day of the training camp. Karasuno was currently