𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lxxxii - giant number nine

"Alright, this is how this game is gonna go," Keishin said as his players stood around him. The seven minutes on for each team had already occurred, so all that was left was getting on the court. "They always start their giant on the left side, so for this match, Crow is starting on the left as well. Also," He added with a serious tone. "Only Crow will be asked to block their number nine, everyone else is to back off and get ready for tools and tips, clear?"

"So Crow's commit blocking?" Kageyama asked with a slightly raised hand.

"Not quite," The coach shook his head. "Commit blocking is staying with one person no matter where the set goes, but because our little angry bird is so agile, he can wait so that if any of the other players try and spike, he'll help you guys out."

"Got it," The team nodded.

"I'm an angry bird now?" Crow deadpanned at his cousin, who wiggled his eyebrows at him.

"Aren't you?"

"Alright, let's go!" The team was suddenly getting into a cheer circle, so inevitably the ravenette was dragged into it as well. "Karasuno, fight!"

"Yeah!" They yelled, and then the starters made their way onto the court.

"Get a good serve in, Kageyama," Crow told the setter, who nodded. The starting lineup stood as follows: Kageyama in the serving position, Tanaka in position two, Hinata in three, Crow in four, Asahi in five and Tsukishima in six to be switched out with Noya.

Once that occurred, the referee signalled for the ball to be served, and of course Kageyama didn't disappoint. Right off the bat, he got two aces in a row. His third serve was received very badly, but it still got up in the air. "Hyakuzawa!" Their setter called as he underhand-set to the giant, so just as planned, Karasuno's players all backed off of the net except for Crow, who followed the guy.

Jumping to hit, Hyakuzawa's eyes widened at the imposing hands in front of him. Those had never been there before. And before he could even realize it, the ball he'd hit was slamming back into the ground, having been blocked by those terrifying hands.

What was even more terrifying than those hands was the person they belonged to, in Hyakuzawa's opinion. There's no way that someone with eyes so devoid of purpose was normal. If someone told him that Karasuno's number 8 had killed someone before, he'd believe it. "Oooh, a serve and block!" The audience recognized.

"Someone actually blocked that monster?"

"What do you mean? Of course it wasn't just somebody, it was Crow-sama!"

"Oh, then of course!"

"I'd expect nothing less from Crow-sama!"

"On a serious note," Takeda murmured to the coach as Karasuno celebrated. "I didn't think Crow-kun would be able to reach that high."

"He's pretty good at jumping when he wants to be," Keishin replied with a soft laugh. "The bastard is almost always holding back on us, but now he's finally jumping. You really thought he was jumping as high as he kept bragging about before?" He shook his head. "Nah, I'd bet he'd only been jumping about 345cm. It might not seem like much of a difference, but it really can be when going against someone that can jump those few centimeters higher."

"Ah, I see!" The advisor looked thoughtfully towards the ravenette as Kageyama went back to serve again. Karasuno managed to get to 5 points before the setter accidently blew the serve out.

"Shit!" He growled as the line judge called it out. "Sorry!"

"All good."

"Nice run!"

"Alright, let's get it back!" Everyone got ready for receive, and soon the whistle was blown. The serve came over, and Noya got it up easily.

"I got it!" Kageyama set the ball to Hinata, who found three blockers in front of him. Crow grimaced as the tip he tried to slip over just ended up slapped back down since it didn't go over the giant's hands. The point was called, and Hinata apologized.

"Next time go to one of the sides," Crow told him as he passed by, causing the ginger to perk up.

"Hai!"

The next ball came over, and it went to Tanaka on the left, but the three man block also got it. However, it wasn't a straight down, instead the ball went straight up. "It's right above the net!"

"Crow, all you!" Keishin yelled, trying to remind everyone to let Crow have anything to do with the giant number nine at the net. However, it seemed like he hadn't needed to try and remind his players since they were already starting to move into place. Crow jumped, and Kageyama's eyes widened.

He's going even higher, he thought to himself as the ravenette met the ball before Hyakuzawa could and swiped it to the side, right on the side line in fact. The line judge called it in, and everyone on Karasuno went up in cheers. Crow tapped Hinata on the shoulder, gesturing to the stray ball. "See how I didn't hit the ball straight at him? That's what I'm talking about."

"Yeah! It was awesome!" The ginger nodded excitedly, so reflexively, the ravenette ruffled the boy's hair. Thus it was Tanaka's turn to serve. The ball went over the net, and Hyakuzawa barely got it up. That fumble got Karasuno the point, and then the cueball served again. This time someone covered, and another player hit the ball, only for it to get shut down by Asahi and Hinata.

Crow just hadn't felt like jumping in there, but no one had any complaints as another point was added to their score. The next time, though, the other team got the point with a tip, so Karasuno shifted into defense. Surprisingly, the serve was an ace, right on the endline. "Crap," Noya frowned, being the one to have called it out.

"Don't worry about it!"

"Yeah, get the next one!"

"Now this one I know is out!" Nishinoya yelled as the ball soared past them on the next serve, and sure enough, it was very much out of bounds. That put them at 9 to 4, and so they rotated so that it was Hinata's serve. As he looked on from the serving position, he gulped hard. Maybe if they ended this set with his serves, he could ask Crow to reward him.

No, no, stop thinking about it! He quickly shook his head of the thoughts before he could arouse himself further, instead setting his focus on the other team. They may have one huge player, but he's nothing compared to Crow.

No one's anything compared to Crow.