Haikyuu Into The Spider-Verse

Chapter 3

The day of the match finally arrived, both teams were already in the gym, putting on their knee pads and tying up their volleyball shoe laces. Previously to this point the teams were standing outside facing each other lined up shoulder to shoulder, having an all team stare down, sizing up the competition but now they were warming up for the match.

Both teams were ecstatic about the match (at least most of them were). But looking at Karasuno at that very moment you wouldn't think they're a very coordinated team. They're loud, wild, chaotic, always yelling and fighting. At least before the match they were.

Kenma was up to serve first. The whistle sounded, indicating the start of the match. Kenma served the ball over the net which immediately got bumped to Kageyama who immediately set it to Hinata-

...Who in the blink of an eye ran across the court and instinctively spiked the ball onto Nekoma's courtside before they could even react, their new quick attack on full display with quite the power behind it as well, more than you'd expect the ginger to have. It's a shocking sight to see in person to say the least but exciting. Which promised for an eventful match.

Karasuno had their moment, raining down attacks on Nekoma, scoring one point after another. But after a while Nekoma gets the hang of dealing with Karasuno and learns their habits and tactics which results in Nekoma winning the first set.

In the second set Nekoma was getting used to Hinata's speed, which gave them the upper hand because unlike Karasuno, Nekoma has more experience playing together unlike the latter's starting lineup that contained mostly first years. Nekoma was getting closer to match point while Karasuno was lagging behind a bit. To combat that, Hinata seemed to speed up x2, which caused Kuroo to do the same in the heat of the moment. Kenma wanted to tell him to slow down, but it was already too late.

The ball got passed to Kageyama already. He set it to Hinata for a quick attack, but by the time Hinata was already there at the net, jumping up and stretching out his hand, ready to hit the ball, Kuroo was there right in front of him, ready to block his spike. But when they were in midair they made eye contact...

And that's when they felt it. At the same time. Same place. Same moment as if time slowed. A tingly feeling. That tingly feeling. Right on the back of their skulls. Kuroo's eyes widened in surprise as he realized what was happening, while Hinata's widened in horror, fear, and confusion. A million thoughts raced through his head at once, "What's happening?" "Why is it happening?" "Does Kuroo know?"

As Hinata's mind panicked, while Kuroo only thought one thing,

"You're just like me."

As time resumed, both boys landed on the ground, still staring at each other, so Kuroo took it upon himself and acted like nothing happened and they just had some kind of weird and awkward stare down. But Hinata wasn't familiar with faking it or making excuses yet. He was just standing there, frozen in place. Exactly where he'd be if he spiked the ball.

If he spiked the ball. When he spiked the ball. That's when it hit him, he never spiked the ball. Hinata got so nervous that he lost control and instead of hitting the volleyball, it stuck to his hand.

The volleyball was stuck to his hand. He quickly put his other hand on the ball to look like he was just holding it but then that hand got stuck on it too.

"Hinata! Did you just grab the ball?!?" Kageyama spat, frustrated.

All eyes were on him at that point. Kuroo hadn't even noticed the ball until it was pointed out.

Daichi tried to clear the air with words of encouragement. "Hinata, it's fine that you didn't score the point, no need to feel intimidated by Nekoma's sly captain. Don't let them get to you." He said, attempting to reassure the ginger.