𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xxxix - brutal shots

It was 16 Karasuno to 17 Aoba Johsai as the two teams returned to the court to continue the match. The players of Seijoh looked surprised to see that Kageyama was in the serve receive formation, and that Crow was standing at the net in the setter's spot. "Just to get out of this funk, we'll have Crow set for this rotation," Keishin had told the team right before they had gone out.

So there they were. Soon, the referee blew the whistle and signalled for the serve, so the ball came flying over the net. Kageyama got it right to Crow, who jump set it to Tsukishima. It got the kill, so the bench went up in cheers as Crow offered the beanpole a nod. "Nice kill."

"Thanks," He replied, then mumbled under his breath, "Nice set."

"Nice serve Crow!" The bench called as the ravenette headed back to the endline. Once the whistle was blown, he decided to take up all of his eight seconds before serving. It was incredibly effective seeing as Iwaizumi shanked it.

"Ack, sorry!"

"Shake it off!"

"PUSH TWO!"

The next time that the serve was called, Crow didn't wait even a second to hit the ball over in his just float. This time, Seijoh's ace took it with his hands and managed to make it a good pass that got over to Oikawa. Hanamaki got the set and the point, so the two teams were tied again at 18s.

With that, Oikawa returned to the front row, so both setters were now in the front and could openly attack. It was Kunimi's serve, which went to Tanaka, who got it up fairly well. Kageyama sent the ball to Asahi on the outside, but he got blocked. Luckily, Nishinoya was there to get it back up with his signature move.

"Rolling thunder!" He yelled, popping the ball up.

"Nice cover!"

"Crow-san!" Kageyama shouted as he set him. Instead of hitting it, the ravenette shoved the ball towards the back of their opponent's court.

"I GOT IT!" Seijoh's libero dove and barely got the ball up. Kunimi sort of half-heartedly tried to help, which ended up meaning that the point went to Karasuno.

"You pick brutal spots man!" Tanaka laughed as he attempted to hit Crow's back, but the person in question dodged.

"I try." Karasuno rotated, making it Asahi's serve. It went into the net, so the ace apologized and everyone on the team got into the serve receive formation. Having gone full circle, it was Hanamaki's serve. He hit it towards Asahi, but it was in the seam so Crow was able to get it.

"Nice receive!" Kageyama yelled, positioning himself under the ball. "Tanaka-san!"

"HELL YEAH!" The cueball grinned as he went for a straight shot, only for Aoba Johsai's libero to save it at the last second.

"I'm under it!" Oikawa called, readying his hands. Sending it to Matsukawa, they were both surprised to find him shut down by Tsukishima. The stands went wild.

"What a block!"

"Haha shut down!"

"SUCK ON THAT SEIJOH, LET'S GO KARASUNO!"

"IT'S OKAY BOYS, GET IT BACK!"

"Nice block," Crow complimented as he held a thumbs up to the person responsible for it. He nodded in turn before the team rotated so that they were also back to the way they had been at the beginning of the match with the salt machine serving.

"ALRIGHT!" Hinata yelled as he jogged onto the court after switching with Noya. This time, when Oikawa set Matsukawa, it was a kill since the ginger's block timing was late. Bringing them to a tie once again, the middle that had just taken the point went back to serve. He aimed short, so Crow was taken out of the play as he ended up on the ground.

However, the ball had gotten up high enough that Kageyama wouldn't have any trouble setting to anyone. Only, the way he was approaching the ball did not look like a setter getting ready to set. He jumped to hit the ball, causing Iwaizumi and Kindaichi to jump with him.

Of course, the dude was baiting them. Using one hand, he pushed the ball into the air high enough for Hinata to hit it over. "OUT!"

"Shit!" The setter huffed.

"You scared me Kageyama!" Hinata exclaimed, causing the person to question to glance at him.

"...Sorry."

"No, it was a good idea," Crow came up to them. "It would have been better to use both hands to set, since one handed sets are usually reserved for emergencies."

"Right," Kageyama nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," The ravenette returned the gesture before heading back to his position to get ready for the next serve. It came and got Asahi on the ground that time, and even worse, the ball was heading over the net. Thus, Crow did the only thing he could think of and used his fist to get it over the net and out of reach of the blockers or anybody that might have wanted to hit it back at them.

"THAT'S OUT!" Makki called, only for the line judge to slap his flag down, signalling that the ball had landed in the court. The referee, in turn, whistled and assigned the point to Karasuno.

"Ha," Keishin snickered from the bench. "Looks like manbun gets an assist."

"Seems so," Kiyoko agreed as she marked down just that.

Matsukawa switched out with the libero and Kageyama was given the ball to serve. Once the referee signalled for him to go ahead, the setter threw the ball up and did his approach. It was an ace. "YEAH!" The bench cheered as Kageyama fist pumped himself. However, the ace was overlooked when the next serve hit the net.

"I'm sorry!"

"All good."

"Oh no," A few people grimaced in anticipation as Oikawa headed back to serve, and they were right to. Seijoh's setter ended the game by getting ace after ace, so the final scores for the first set were Aoba Johsai at 25 to Karasuno at 22.

"We're right with them," Keishin reminded his players once they had switched sides. "Don't lose hope, keep fighting and we'll take them to three and win this thing!" He said, and everyone on the team agreed.

"Remember," Takeda piped up. "Confident, not cocky."

"Yessir!"