I knew something was distracting Hinata the moment I saw him start shaking his head on the court with his eyes closed. He didn't even react to Sawamura-Kun's instructions. My eyes widened as I saw Asahi jump and quickly took into account the straight he was going to do. Tsukishima and Kageyama were too positioned towards the left and Hinata didn't even have his arms out and ready.

The ball smashed into Hinata's face, throwing him backwards with a wince inducing and echo emitting slam that mixed in with his cry of pain. My notebook fell to the ground as I hurried out of my seat and rushed over to him. Dad, Asahi, Nishinoya and Suga were also now surrounding him, each one shocked at how he had taken a straight spike to the face.

Hinata laid out on the floor with his hands at his forehead, holding back tears as his skin grew redder. I frowned and gently placed the wrapped ice pack in his hands.

"You're a tough one, huh?" Dad mused aloud as Asahi raised his shaking hands, unsure of what to do but obviously anxious to do something. Nishinoya was only curious, crouched down as he looked Hinata over.

"Oh, he's alive," Nishinoya announced, impressed.

I bit my lower lip. "How badly does it hurt, Hinata?"

He only gave a small whine in response.

"It's his fault, no matter how you look at it," Tsukishima said, arms at his hips as he watched from the net. I glanced up at him and narrowed my eyes. "for being an airhead."

"I'll take that's your way of saying your sorry?" I asked, now standing up from the floor. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and refused to respond. Behind us, Takeda Sensei was stuttering out the question of whether or not we should call an ambulance but Ukai shot that idea down instantly.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Hinata mumbled, sitting up with the ice-pack still on his forehead, "but I'm fine, really."

Sawamura-Kun's eyes widened. "R-Really? Don't you think it'd be b-best if you--"

"I-I'm really fine!" Hinata protested, cutting the captain off, "I was just too slow to dodge it, I swear I'm okay! I'm used to getting hit in the face with the ball!"

Suga and I blinked.

"That's not something you should be used to," Sugawara said softly. I nodded my head in agreement and was about to add another word when a hand grabbed my shoulder and moved me backwards, away from Hinata. I stumbled into place beside my dad, who was scratching his chin in thought. As I tried figuring out why Kageyama had suddenly moved me, I caught a glimpse of Tsukishima's growing smirk and at that moment, instantly sensed why Megane-Kun was enjoying himself so much.

Kageyama, who was in front of me now after taking my spot, was silently emitting such a furious aura that it reminded me of the time Hinata had sent a serve straight to his head.

He was absolutely pissed.

"Why were you distracted in the middle of the match?" Kageyama asked him with deadly seriousness, unnerving even our senpai's with how quietly he had spoken.
Kageyama's question seemed to remove any trace of the searing pain Hinata had just been through since he hurried to stand up, quickly creating some space between him and Kageyama.

The usual smirk my dad had was gone and now replaced with a firm line as I stood rooted to my spot, practically waiting for a fight to start.

Hinata avoided looking into Kageyama's eyes. He looked close to throwing up his breakfast.

"I know why."

My knees started to shake.

"The ace is cool. But your number one use it as a decoy, which is humble and uncool. You're thinking you could be the ace too, if you had the height and power Asahi-San has."

Hinata took a step back, stricken. Why was Kageyama so confrontational? None of this was directed towards me but I felt so anxious already.

"I-I wasn't thinking that!" Hinata denied, clenching his fists before glaring down to the ground, "...well... maybe... sort of..."

"Once you found out there was an ace, not only did you yearn to see him, not only were you curious about him, but you were envious of him, weren't you?"

A collective, silent sharp intake of breath went through the team and I stepped forward, eyes wide at Kageyama's harsh words. "Hey, K-Kageyama d-d-don't--"

Dad grabbed my arm and held me back.

"Don't think unnecessary things in the middle of a match," Kageyama continued, hand on his hip. Hinata's shoulders dropped. I bit my lower lip and just when I thought both of them where done, Hinata spoke up, voice unwavering.

"So I envy him. What's wrong with that?"

Hinata's fists clenched at his sides. "You're tall, you'd never understand."

Kageyama scowled and finally Sawamura-Kun intervened, stepping forward in between them both. I sighed in relief and stepped back again.

"Hey--"

"Hey, volleyball club!"

One of the school supervisors slid open the door, unaware of the situation he'd just walked into. I was glad, for the most part, that it had even interrupted. I didn't know if Hinata was closer to tears or closer to swinging his fist and Kageyama seemed to be closer to the verge of exploding in anger than anything else.

"Morning practices are over now, put everything away."

The team member's faces dropped at the sound of having to stop playing in the middle of the second match and Takeda Sensei wasted no time stepping in to intervene.

"I'm sorry, but we still need to finish the match," he explained.

"But it's late..."

"I'll take responsibility for closing up," Takeda Sensei assured. I glanced at Kageyama once the game was given the permission to continue and Sawamura thanked Mr. Takeda along with Tanaka, pleased to move on from the interruption.

"Alright, let's continue," the captain called out. Everyone nodded and turned to go back to their positions. Everyone except for Hinata, who kept his eyes on the ground. I didn't have time to walk up to him and ask if he was alright since the game continued almost immediately, so I made sure to keep an eye on him. If he got distracted again, it would be another ball to the face.

"Alright, bring it!" Tanaka declared, rolling his shoulders back.

I rolled the volleyball over to my dad's side as I bite into one of the extra pancakes I had snatched from the nearby table, eyes flitting over to Kageyama as he spoke up with his finger pointing at Hinata.

"Um... I'm tossing to this guy next," he announced loudly to the front liners, "so please block him with everything you've got."

Hinata and I stood, dumbfounded. What was he thinking? Why would he give away their next move?

Dad's brows furrowed and he glared down at Kageyama, practically leaning into the net. "You calling us out?"

"Yes, I'm calling you out," Kageyama responded without skipping a beat, much to our surprise, "Please forgive my cocky attitude."

He bowed and I heard my dad laugh.

"You're a pretty bold guy," he said, crossing his arms. "Alright, you can call me out."

I sighed. My dad never backed down from a challenge, which was what led to him getting into so many fights, but that was besides the point.

"Thanks."

"He just revealed the plan, how is Shrimpy going to take them on now?" Ukai asked with a hand at his chin. Shimizu shrugged and I stayed silent, trying to decipher that out for myself.

What was going on through his head?

"Right now, you may be quick and can jump high, but you're lousy overall," Kageyama told Hinata, "like that, you'll never be an ace."

Shimizu and I exchanged worried looks. He was attacking Hinata again?

"Hey..." Tanaka began, arm extended.

Asahi frowned from his side of the net. "That's going a little..."

"But!"

Kageyama stopped them both and spun around, staring directly at Hinata, who seemed absolutely crushed.

"As long as I'm here, you're invincible!"

That baka. This whole time, all he'd been trying to do was convince Hinata that he was just as good as the ace, despite the harsh criticisms he lashed out. Part of me wasn't that surprised, actually: he was so bad with words, after all.

I smiled brightly as Hinata looked at Kageyama in shock.

He continued. "Azumane-San's spike has awesome power. He can slam past three blockers."

Asahi-San began to rub the back of his neck, face falling. "Well, not every time..."

"Don't get so rattled!" Nishinoya scolded. The whistle blew and I hurried to scribble some important things down, unaware of Shimizu as she glanced over my shoulder.

Power Pairs:
Hinata and Kageyama - Quick Attack
Asahi and Nishinoya - Offense and Defense
Sawamura and Suga - Parents

Shimizu snorted softly and I glanced up, eyebrow raised.

"Parents?" she asked, pointing to my notebook. I heated up and hurried to explain, stuttering through my words as I held my notes to my chest, embarrassed.

"B-Because they're the s-support! Y-You k-know, Suga acts l-like a m-mom would, all supportive-like... and Sawamura is the s-strong defensive d-dad...?"

Much to my relief, she nodded with a smile.

"I see it," she agreed, looking back towards the game. Kageyama was about to set the ball.

"Dodge them! What else can you do, airhead?" Kageyama yelled at Hinata, who was frozen in his spot. He still seemed skeptical of the promise that had been made to him, eyes reflecting hesitance. Somehow though, when he realized the ball would be coming to him, Hinata flipped a switch and ran.

He sprinted to the left side of the court, bringing the line of front blockers with him just in time to fake them out, changing direction mid course speeding quickly to the other side of the net. Dad noticed too late and Hinata spiked it, scoring an untouchable point.

Shimada's eyes widened.

"You're no ace," Kageyama said, turning to face Hinata, "but with your speed and jump with my toss, you can face any blocker."

Of course, he would still mention his pin-point tossing.

"A point scored by an ace's power or your dodging are all the same point either way."

Kageyama turned to look at me on the bench, arms crossed. "Right?"

I froze up as he directed his attention towards me and quickly nodded in agreement. "H-Hai!"

"Y-Yeah that's right, you being a decoy makes a huge difference to our success rate," Tanaka stuttered out after me.

"Do you still think your position is uncool?" Kageyama demanded.

Hinata looked at his hand, clenching it tightly. It shook a bit under the amount of pressure he was putting into it, but he still held it closed shut.

In a surprisingly clear voice, he answered. "...I don't."

"Good."

Suga, Shimada and Nishinoya stood in amazement, which was satisfying to see since no one would have expected words like those to come out of Kageyama's mouth. Even less expected was when both Hinata and Kageyama ran up to Sawamura-Kun and apologized with a bow for interrupting the match.

The score was now 20-18, in favor of Karasuno.

"These high schoolers are pretty good," Takinoue said with a grin, "They make us old guys play for real."

Dad smirked and slapped him and Shimada both on the back without mercy, oblivious to the stinging echo he had caused. Both men winced, eyes shutting as they hissed in pain and Uchizawa stepped out of my dad's reach.

Dad's grin widened and I raised a brow. "Hit 'em with the old float serve, Shimada."

-
THIS WAS SO HARD TO WRITE I FEEL LIKE ITS SO BAD BUT I GOTTA MOVE ON OR ILL BE STUCK HERE FOR WEEKS. I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED AND THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL
HOPEFULLY INVOLVE TOMO'A DAD AND KAGEYAMA MORE

I LOVE ALL YOUR COMMENTS PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING
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...If you want to be the last one standing, become strong...