Winner [Haikyu!! x OC] (Completed)

Six Who Are Strong (Oikawa's POV)

I take a deep breath as I step onto the court.

This isn't the Karasuno we played in the Interhigh Preliminary Tournament. They are no longer a group of individual players with a captain trying to hold them all together. They are a strong team of six.

But we are the six who are stronger.

It pisses me off that they took a set from us. Tobio-chan is growing quickly. That much is obvious. But he hasn't caught up to me. Not yet. I'm not going to lose.

Karasuno's guy with the goatee hits his serve out of bounds. He's grown, too. He didn't use jump serves in the last tournament.

Kindaichi passes the ball to me and I spin it between my hands as I walk back to the baseline.

Serving is the only play in which I'm completely on my own. The only person I have to trust is myself. In a way, that makes it dangerous. I know how easy it is for me to want to do everything by myself. Trusting others with my tosses was something I had to learn how to do.

I lift my eyes from the ball to my teammates on the court in front of me. I put my full trust in them when I set the ball. It sounds like a difficult thing to do. It sounds like too much to ask. But knowing these guys as well as I do— their strengths and weaknesses, what motivates them, how badly they want to win— it makes it easy to trust them. Not to mention, I know myself and my tosses. I trust myself to deliver for my teammates in the way they're counting on me. And that's what makes me a better setter than Tobio-chan.

The whistle blows.

The ball rolls off my fingertips as I toss it toward the ceiling.

Looks good.

My feet find their rhythm. My arms feel weightless up until the moment when my hand connects with the ball.

It lands right between Sawamura and Karasuno's libero. Right on target, but slightly long.

The line judge raises his flag to call the serve out.

"Agh!" I groan. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't mind" choruses from all the guys.

I don't deserve the confidence they have in me. But I know they won't let me down, so I won't let them down either.

I drop into my ready position and let out another breath.

Karasuno's serve clips the net, falling in front of the attack line.

Iwa-chan is there, on the ground to dig the ball.

Good work, Iwa-chan.

I run forward, my hands coming up on their own.

I feel Mad Dog running parallel to the net behind me.

He wants to hit his super cut shot. It's a difficult set he asks for. It's a risky play he craves.

My fingers curve around the ball.

An image of Lil-chan sitting tightly on the bench, fingers strangling her clipboard fills my mind. I can almost feel the intensity of her gaze right now. I know she trusts Mad Dog. So I will too. I push the ball up and behind me. "Mad Dog-chan!"

Mad Dog yells and nails his spike into the ground in front of Karasuno before they can even think about his unconventional approach.

Well done, Mad Dog-chan.