Fluidity on the Court [A Haikyuu]

The Sum of Their Parts

Even though you all were covered in sweat, you still looked good in your new jackets. Hinata was the most excited as it meant he was a part of a real volleyball team. "As the captain of the Karasuno Volleyball Team, let me be the first to say -- Welcome Aboard!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Sawamura breathed out a sigh of relief after letting the newcomers go do whatever. He called out for Sugawara. "Hey Suga? You and Tanaka, you did some stuff behind the scenes to help out, right?"

"Huh!? N-not really, No!"

"Then it was Hayashi, right?" Sawamura looked at you who was smiling at Tanaka showing Hinata how to show off his jacket properly. "Anyway, I'm glad it all worked out in the end. Thanks."

Suga smiled at his captain, "Good work." Sawamura became flustered at his praise with Shimuzu trying to hide a smile.

Everyone's fun was interrupted when the doors slid open and a sweaty Takeda came running in yelling about a practice game. "It's against one of the top four teams in the prefecture! Aoba Johsai High School!"

Everyone celebrated but you could only frown.

"Oh! You must be the two problem children, Hinata and Kageyama! I'm Ittetsu Takeda, the club adviser. I don't have any experience with volleyball, so I can't give you any technical instruction but I'll do my best to help out in any other way I can. Good to meet you!"

Takeda went on to apologise to Sawamura and Sugawara for not being around due to being busy with meetings and asking around for practice matches.

"Takeda~sensei, how on earth did you get a team like Seijou to agree?"

"Don't tell me you had to beg?!"

"Oh No! Though I am good at begging, I didn't need to do it this time. They only had one condition... Kageyama has to be the setter for the entire game." Tanaka was the first to react.

"What the heck, man?! They tryin' to say they don't care about us none, and they just wanna scout Kageyama?! Are we getting disses? Sure sounds to me like we're gettin' dissed."

"No No No! They didn't mean any disrespect, I'm sure! They just, well.." Sugawara stopped them, "I think it's fine actually. We don't get this kind of chance very often."

"How can you be okay with it, Suga?! Karasuno's starting setter is you, bro! Not him!"

"I want to watch Hinata and Kageyama use their attack in a real game and I want to see how far it can get us against one of the best teams in the prefecture." Tanaka still disapproved but Sawamura looked content.

"Takeda~sensei, could you give us the details, please?"

"Okay. They scheduled it for next Tuesday, after school. Their weekends are already full of other practice games. They couldn't spare much time, so we only get one game. We'll borrow one of the school's buses to get there."

≔≕

"Hey Yashi! Aren't you coming with us? Sawamura said he'll pay for the meat buns if that's what you're worried about." You wave off Kinoshita.

"Nah, money is the least of my worries. My brother is picking me up after his practice ends and I gotta pack. You can have my bun. I'll see you later!" Kinoshita stared at him before going back inside the gym.

Oikawa was parked in front of the school leaning on the hood of his car playing on his phone. You dig around in your bag and pull out one of your gym shoes before launching it at your brother. "Hey! I didn't even do anything!"

"Why did you request Kageyama as the only setter for our practice match? And don't try to deny it. I know when you are lying."

"Come on! I just wanna see how well little Tobio has gotten in the past year! Is that too much to ask for?" Hayashi rolled his eyes and climbed into the convertible. "Yes. Now take me home."

≔≕

"As for our positions and starting lineup for the game. I'm thinking we'll go with this." Sawamura showed the team his board. In the front was Tanaka WS, Hinata MB, and Sawamura WS. and in the back was Kageyama S, Tsukishima MB, and Ennoshita WS. You weren't surprised to see your name in the libero position.

"This way we can use Kageyama and Hinata as a pair. And Tsukishima is one of the only tall players we have. I want to see how well you stack up against Seijou." Tsukishima seemed to be the only one content with his placement as Hinata and Kageyama glared at each other and Yamaguchi, the only first year on the bench, sulked.

"WAIT A SEC!!! Middle blocker is the one position where size really matters... And you're sticking Hinata there?" Tanaka pointed out the flaw with Sawamura's plan. "Huh? I'm in the same position as Tsukishima the Beanpole?!"

"Hold on -- Can I take a moment to go over the positions?" Takeda stopped them and pulled out his book, "Volleyball for Dummies", to read about the positions.

Setter (S), The team's on-court leader. They organise offensive attacks and set the ball for the hitters to spike. Wing Spiker (WS), All-arounders who are good at both offence and defence. They are the team's core offensive hitters.

Middle Blockers (MB), they focus primarily on blocking the opponent's attacks, on offence, they generally score their points as hitters in quick sets. They can also be used as decoys to lure the opponents' blockers away from the real attack.

"Does that sound right?" Takeda looks at Sawamura with wide eyes, "There are other positions, like the defence centric Libero, Hayashi will play that position for the practice game." He nodded at you.

Kageyama, however, got the team's attention. "Listen, Hinata. You are going to be "The Greatest Decoy"!!" Hinata reacted brightly at first but then realised what Kageyama was saying. "Decoy...? That sounds kinda lame..."

"It'll be your job to rack up points using the quick set and to draw the attention of the opponents' blockers. Once you've hooked them, our other hitters will get easier shots." Kageyama explained.

"Just think about it, three big, dumb blockers... just like Tsukishima... mindlessly jumping after you like idiots, every single time. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Yeah!! That would be cool!"

"You aren't secretly calling Tsukki an idiot, are you?!" Yamaguchi accused Hinata and Kageyama. You rest your hand on his wrist pushing it back down, "Calm down Yamaguchi. They weren't insulting Tsukki, Kageyama was just stating that sometimes Middle Blockers jump before thinking. Right, Tobio?"

Kageyama nodded, "but on the other hand... if you aren't operating at full speed our entire offensive plan completely falls apart." Hinata was mumbling while Sawamura scolded Kageyama. "HEY, Whoa! No putting pressure on him!"

"But what about the blocking? That's a middle blocker's biggest job. Yeah, he can jump really high, but compared to somebody who's actually tall..." Tanaka grimaced, "it'll take him longer to reach the apex of his jump. That means he'll be much slower getting up into a blocking position."

"Right. For Hinata, the important thing about blocking is not going to be trying to know the spike down and out but deflecting it up. We'll take advantage of his stupidly fast reflexes to at least get a hand up there and take some of velocity off the ball so that we can retrieve it and counterattack."

Most of the team was sceptical that Hinata would be able to figure out the plan off the bat, which was extremely valid. "There's no proof any of this will work. We could spend the whole game with Seijou making fun of us. But, as long as we try, then I'm sure we'll come out of it having learned something."

"Welcome spoke, Captain." Sawamura felt relieved at your words. At least one of you was okay with the plan.

"Anyways, the only ones we have who can keep up with you in the air, Hinata are Kageyama and Tsukishima. So take it easy and have some confidence in yourself." Sawamura realised his bad when Hinata started freaking out showing just how much pressure he felt.

Kinoshita, Kazuhito, Ennoshita, and you laugh in the corner as Sawamura tried to calm down the ginger-haired decoy.