𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lxii - start of evolution

The next day, more games were held. Currently, Karasuno and Ubugawa were playing with Ubugawa trailing at 4 to 10 as the freak duo scored on a freak quick, which brought them up to 11. A time out was called a few moments later, so Keishin took some time to break down how he was seeing things.

"All right! Our opponents still aren't able to counter your deviant fast attack, so keep on using it!" He instructed to the two first years, who nodded.

"Hai!"

"Uh, hai."

"And Crow," The coach whipped to face him, then pointed at him with narrowed eyes. "No."

"I haven't even hit yet, what the fuck?" The ravenette deadpanned back at him. "Better yet, I'm not even sweating."

"Then work harder! You definitely could've covered more!" The two started bickering as the rest of the team sweatdropped. It seemed that Keishin was taking out his lack of a good sleep on the ravenette, which Crow did not seem too keen on taking lying down. Suddenly, Crow's hand was in Keishin's face, which made it incredibly hard for the fake blonde to talk and for everyone around them not to start snickering.

Finally, play restarted and Karasuno ended up winning with a score of 25 to 18. Their next game was against Nekoma. "We're facing off against Nekoma for the tie breaker today," Keishin told the team as he stood with Takeda and the managers on either side of him. "How did we do yesterday?" He directed the question to Kiyoko, who in turn flipped through her notes.

"This will be our third set overall with Nekoma," She informed them. "Yesterday, we played them twice, losing the first at 25-20 and winning the second at 26 to 24."

"Welp," Keishin cut them off, going on to give his thoughts. "That just means we can think of this as that third set to finally see who the better team is. The tie breaker, as I said before. If we keep calm and go out there in full force, they should be opponents we can fight on equal footing. Now all that's left is to win this thing!" He grinned at them, gaining cheers of agreement in return.

With that, the two teams set up their formations on the court. Nekoma was as follows: Fukunaga in serving position, Kenma in position two, Lev in three, Yamamoto in four, Kai in five and Kuroo in six to be switched out with Yaku.

Karasuno's lineup was as follows: Kageyama in serving position, Tanaka in position two, Hinata in three, Crow in four as the floor captain, Asahi in five and Tsukishima in six to be switched out with Nishinoya. "Okay, we're good to go," The down ref said once he had confirmed everyone was where they were supposed to be.

"Fukunaga, nice serve!" Yaku called as said person bounced the ball. During that process, Lev and Hinata were staring at each other. It was starting to unnerve Crow because those vibes were not pleasant. Then, the ginger lowered himself.

"Bring it on!"

Thus, the game began. The points went back and forth, and it was incredibly annoying that Nekoma's newbie was able to keep up with the first year duo's freak quick. However, the ball didn't go straight down, so most of the time, the people around the ginger would be able to cover it if they reacted quickly.

And then, Keishin had given the signal that it was okay to use Crow in freak quick attacks. So, the next rally, as Lev tracked with Hinata as he went for a C quick, a shadow was suddenly cast over him that made him feel small for some reason. Even as he was jumping with Hinata, his eyes flowed over to the source of the shadow.

Crow slammed a freak quick on the line, Yaku missing it by a good foot or more. "HELL YEAH!" Tanaka shouted as Kageyama fist pumped himself.

"Holy crap," Lev blinked, then stepped over to where the ravenette was. "Hey, what's your vertical?" He asked, causing the second year to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Why are you talking informally to me? I normally don't care, but that's blatant disrespect for your elders, Number 11," Crow's eyes were as sharp as his face was dark, which immediately sent shivers down the newbie's spine.

"O-oh, I just thought you were also a first year.." He looked around at his closest teammates for help, so Kai stepped in.

"I'm sorry about that Crow-sama, but rest assured that he'll do better from now on," The man smiled.

"If you say so," Crow sighed, taking a second to wipe his neck. "As for your question, Haiba, the last time I checked it was 354cm."

"WHA--SERIOUSLY?!" He gaped, his chest tightening a bit from the fact that the guy he was looking down at could jump higher than him. His height should be superior, so why wasn't it?!

Again and again, Crow and Hinata went up, and the poor Russian was too conflicted to go after one or the other, so they both ended up free and managed to score point after point. At the end of the match, it appeared that Lev's inferiority complex coupled with indecisiveness had caused their downfall.

But then, right after the game, Hinata approached Kageyama. "Oi, Kageyama," he addressed, looking him straight in the eye. "For the fast attack that goes whoosh, I'll stop closing my eyes."

"Sounds good," Crow yawned as he walked past them, right before the setter could go off on the poor ginger. "It'll be easier to score once you stop relying on him so much."

"I was thinking the same thing," he agreed, only for Kageyama to suddenly grab his collar and jerk him so they were almost nose to nose.

"What the fuck makes you think you can do that?! HUH?! This attack works--"

"It isn't working!" Hinata yelled back at him, grabbing the setter's collar as well to match his intensity. "We need a fast attack where I decide how to hit the ball! You might be able to see most of the court, but it changes every second! I need to be able to fight on my own, otherwise it'll be Seijoh all over again!" He practically screamed. "I couldn't see the damn wall! I still can't see the other side because my eyes are CLOSED! If my eyes were open--" He took a second to calm his harsh breathing, then allowed his eyes to shape into a sharp glare that almost mimicked one of Crow's. "I'm certain I would have been able to score even if the wall was there."