𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lxvii - fighting at the peak

Keishin's hands dropped to his sides. His eyes were wide. Crow knew for a fact that this revelation should not have been a revelation, and yet here they were, watching the dumbfounded idiot relearn the basic of being a setter even though he was a setter.

Crow wanted to throw him. But he held back so the man could keep whatever scrap of dignity he had left. He muttered something, then his voice suddenly shot out like a bullet as he ran off. "Hinata, practice here for a bit!" He yelled.

"S-sure," The ginger also seemed confused.

"What a weirdo," One of the kids remarked.

"Oh, that reminds me," Crow stepped over to where Ukai and Hinata were standing. "We can show you the freak quick, if you want. Might be helpful to go forward. It might be a fluke, but I can set it," The ravenette's eyes moved from his guardian to Hinata. "Only if you're comfortable with it, Hinata. I know you didn't want to hit them anymore."

"No, that's not it at all!" The ginger waved his hands in front of him in denial as he shook his head frantically. "I never said I didn't want to hit the freak quick! I'd be more than happy to hit anything!"

"Ha, okay then," Ukai chuckled. Thus, Crow had the kids head over to the side line to watch, just to make sure they didn't get hit since it was gonna be a pretty damn good spike with how low the net was. "Let's see it," The old man smirked, his arms crossed as the audience watched as Hinata stood a few paces away from Crow with a ball. Nodding, Hinata threw the ball to Crow and started his approach.

He was already in the air, his eyes closed, as Crow shot the ball straight to his hand, and boom. Specks of dirt flew from where the ball had impacted the ground, and all of the witnesses had their mouths open in shock. Crow felt his lips curve into a smirk at the pure joy of hitting appeared on Hinata's face. The colors of the sky as the sun went down made the scene all the more poetic, and the second year couldn't help but admit that it was really pretty.

"That sure was something," Ukai finally spoke up as he walked over. "I don't think I've ever seen a first tempo that fast, so I think..." He trailed off for a moment. "Minus tempo would suit it much better, considering you're already in the air by the time the ball is set."

"Sounds good," Crow concurred. Then, the two watched as Hinata went to fetch the ball, muttering to himself about tempos until his voice rose.

"But that's not enough," He turned to them with the ball in his hands. "Until now, the only thing I decided on my own was to jump to the peak."

"But in the future," Ukai finished his thought. "You also want to fight at the peak," The two held each other's gaze until finally, the old man put his hand on his hip. "In order for that to happen, your partner's gonna need some improvement as well. We can work with Crow for now, he'll pick it up in a jiffy. This Kageyama fellow though.." He sighed, glancing out into the sunsetting sky. "We'll have to wait and see."

"Quit sounding so melodramatic, it's creeping me out."

"Yeah, that creeped me out a bit too," Ukai and Crow snickered at each other.

"Kageyama's really amazing," Hinata murmured, pressing the ball in his grasp closer. "So I'm sure he'll make it work. I don't want to be left behind, so please," He made eye contact once again with the old coach. "Teach me how to fight at the peak."

"Shrimp," Coach Ukai addressed as he took the ball from the boy. "If you're gonna fight at the peak on your own, you're gonna have to start with the fundamentals. So, from now on," He told him. "You'll keep making fast attacks. You need to earnestly make up for the practice you lack."

"Heyo!"

"Hello!" A few female voices rang out.

"There you are," Ukai greeted in return as Hinata and Crow turned to see who was there.

"Hi!" the ginger bowed politely. Crow didn't do anything other than nod.

"Your task for the foreseeable future," Ukai challenged the first year, "Is to be able to do first-tempo spikes with any setter."

"Got it!" Hinata agreed instantly.

"Your setter prodigy isn't here to set you, so it's not gonna be easy. I'd usually have Crow mix in with the other setters, but I can see he's getting jittery, so we'll let you two switch off each time. Maybe you can learn something from watching him," The coach patted Hinata on the back, then shoved the ball into his hands. "Also, in order to get used to the ball, you need to always be touching it. Always," He stressed.

"Yes sir," Hinata nodded weakly, like it was a weird concept but he didn't want to not take the old man's advice.

"I don't care if you use your hand or foot," Ukai went on. "Volleyball is a sport where you can't hold the ball. You're only allowed to touch the ball for a few seconds. You need to control that moment as though the ball were a part of your body," He directly sternly. "Because you're small, you need to make up for it with everything else."

"Right!" Hinata grinned. Ukai nodded to him before waving the newcomers over to get started.

"He's really good at explaining things, isn't he?" Crow murmured to Hinata, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! It made so much sense, both seeing and hearing how tempo worked was amazing!" He beamed at him. "I'm really glad you're here too! It feels like I can do anything!"

"That's because you can," Crow ruffled the ginger's hair with a fond expression. "Use those legs of yours and learn to control your wings. Then, and only then, can you truly soar as an unrivaled crow."