𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xxiii - nekoma's #1

"You're still tensing up. Your timing is slower than usual," Kageyama repremanded Hinata as they got ready for the next point. He just huffed and made his way over to where he'd need to be.

"Give us a good serve!" Nekoma called as Kenma served the ball. He went straight for Hinata, who couldn't decide whether to use his hands or platform, so he ended up using his chest and barely getting it up.

"Cover!" Tanaka called.

"Got it!" Nishinoya got under the ball, sending it to the cueball who was stationed on the right side for serve receive.

"Asahi-san ain't the only one who can pull his weight in a crunch!" He yelled as he did his approach, then jumped and blasted the ball off of the blockers' hands for the point. After that, he and Noya did their annoying little chant as they fist pumped themselves. It definitely got to some people on Nekoma, though, so Crow wasn't complaining. Suddenly, he noticed something.

"Hinata," He murmured as he passed him, causing the ginger to flinch.

"Hai!"

"You're still tense, didn't Kageyama tell you to try to loosen up?" He questioned with a slight tilt of his head.

"O-oh," He smiled sheepishly. "Right, sorry! I'll be okay, I promise!" He assured him with a grin, so the ravenette shrugged and got ready for the next play. It was Karasuno's serve, so they hit it at Fukunaga, who got it up fairly easily. Kenma set a slide, but Hinata got a hand on it.

"Nice job getting a hand on it!" Nishinoya called.

"Here we go," Crow murmured as he started his approach, being careful not to get in Hinata's way. Kageyama set it to Hinata, and he whiffed it over again and somehow got the point from it. The ravenette just could not stop feeling his heart stop each time the ginger barely got the ball over, it was just too painful and worrying to watch.

"All right!" Hinata cheered before he shared a competitive look with Inuoka. Then, they both turned and walked away at the same time. "One more!"

The next hit was Yamamoto going line, which was shanked. "Right on!" He cheered for himself.

"Inuoka, serve!" Kai called.

"Uh, right!" He had been too busy doing a staring contest with Hinata to have noticed before. However, with that came the Nekoma captain returning to the front row as a middle blocker. Crow and Kageyama shared a look.

"You're more than a match for Inuoka, who stands 20cm taller than you," The rooster head grinned with his hands on his hips. "That's amazing, chibi-chan~"

"You're the chibi, chibi!" Hinata retorted angrily as the other dude smirked at how easily he had riled him up.

"Oi," Kageyama took hold of the back of Hinata's jersey, dragging him farther away from the net for a few words.

"Ack! What're you--" The poor ginger was getting choked for a moment before he was finally freed.

"We're going to do the usual fast attack next," the setter told him lowly.

"Huh?" Hinata's mouth opened. "You mean the hard one, not the soft one?" He reiterated, causing Kageyama to nod.

"Yeah."

"Whaaat?" The ginger pouted, complaining with a scrunch to his face. "But I'm just starting to get used to doing the soft one.."

"No," Kageyama denied. "Not while he's in the front row."

"How come?"

"He's a third year who's played middle for far longer than that," Crow walked past them. "So he'll shut normal quicks down without a thought, just like I used to. At least, that's the vibe he gives off. Plus, he's the captain of Nekoma, so he's gotta be good."

"Ooooh I get it!" Hinata exclaimed, stars in his eyes over the ravenette's explanation. Then, it was time for Inuoka to serve.

"Give us a good serve, Inuoka!" Nekoma called as he tossed the ball up and hit it over the net, which Noya received effortlessly. From there, Kageyama barely moved as he set Hinata a freak quick, which went through untouched and scored the point.

"All right!"

"Yes!" Kageyama fist pumped himself.

"I really do love this sensation!" Hinata squealed as he looked at his hand.

"Sorry guys," The number one raised a hand apologetically. "I didn't see it coming."

"Shake it off, Kuro-san!" Inuoka cheered before switching with their libero.

"Okay, I serve next!" Hinata called with his hand in the air, awaiting the ball.

"Hey," Kageyama growled at him. "Hit it inside the lines this time."

"I know that!"

"Alright then," Crow heard from the other side as their number one stepped up with a smirk on his face. "Let's take it back."

"Hinata, give us a nice serve!"

"Nice receive!" Yamamoto called as the libero got it up, and the team suddenly went for a play with everybody going for something. Takeda flinched.

"Yikes, it's all jumbled somehow.."

Crow went up with the other two, but Kenma set to the backrow. Somehow, Hinata got the ball up with his face, but it ended up going over. "Chance ball!" Their number one passed the ball before going in for the hit. Since it was another jumble, the other two blockers were hesitant, but Crow managed to get a hand on it. Sadly, they scored anyway.

"Okay, I'm serving next!"

"Yamamoto, nice serve!"

This is starting to grill me, Crow's eyes narrowed as Tanaka's receive was off and Noya had to send it to Asahi, who hit it over but Nekoma's libero passed it nicely. Then Kenma set the captain again, this time as a time delayed quick.

Wow, it's like I'm a mind reader, Crow thought belatedly as he blocked the attack singlehandedly. "Nice block Crow!"

"You saved us there," Asahi high fived the second year, who hummed in response.

"What would you guys do without me?"

"Lose," All of the second and third years said in sync, drawing a snort from the ravenette.

"At least you know."

From there, the team went on to just barely lose the second set at 29 to 27 purely because Nekoma had stepped back when Crow would hit, sending one person to soft block as the rest would try to dig it. With each team having one win, to decide the outcome of the first Garbage Can Showdown in years, Nekoma and Karasuno had to go to a third set.