Karasuno's Queen of the School [Kageyama Tobio]

[36] A Ball To The Face Means Criticism From The King Himself!

I knew something was distracting Hinata the moment I saw him start shaking his head on the court with his eyes closed. He didn't even react to Sawamura-Kun's instructions. My eyes widened as I saw Asahi jump and quickly took into account the straight he was going to do. Tsukishima and Kageyama were too positioned towards the left and Hinata didn't even have his arms out and ready.

The ball smashed into Hinata's face, throwing him backwards with a wince inducing and echo emitting slam that mixed in with his cry of pain. My notebook fell to the ground as I hurried out of my seat and rushed over to him. Dad, Asahi, Nishinoya and Suga were also now surrounding him, each one shocked at how he had taken a straight spike to the face.

Hinata laid out on the floor with his hands at his forehead, holding back tears as his skin grew redder. I frowned and gently placed the wrapped ice pack in his hands.

"You're a tough one, huh?" Dad mused aloud as Asahi raised his shaking hands, unsure of what to do but obviously anxious to do something. Nishinoya was only curious, crouched down as he looked Hinata over.

"Oh, he's alive," Nishinoya announced, impressed.

I bit my lower lip. "How badly does it hurt, Hinata?"

He only gave a small whine in response.

"It's his fault, no matter how you look at it," Tsukishima said, arms at his hips as he watched from the net. I glanced up at him and narrowed my eyes. "for being an airhead."

"I'll take that's your way of saying your sorry?" I asked, now standing up from the floor. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and refused to respond. Behind us, Takeda Sensei was stuttering out the question of whether or not we should call an ambulance but Ukai shot that idea down instantly.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Hinata mumbled, sitting up with the ice-pack still on his forehead, "but I'm fine, really."

Sawamura-Kun's eyes widened. "R-Really? Don't you think it'd be b-best if you--"

"I-I'm really fine!" Hinata protested, cutting the captain off, "I was just too slow to dodge it, I swear I'm okay! I'm used to getting hit in the face with the ball!"

Suga and I blinked.

"That's not something you should be used to," Sugawara said softly. I nodded my head in agreement and was about to add another word when a hand grabbed my shoulder and moved me backwards, away from Hinata. I stumbled into place beside my dad, who was scratching his chin in thought. As I tried figuring out why Kageyama had suddenly moved me, I caught a glimpse of Tsukishima's growing smirk and at that moment, instantly sensed why Megane-Kun was enjoying himself so much.

Kageyama, who was in front of me now after taking my spot, was silently emitting such a furious aura that it reminded me of the time Hinata had sent a serve straight to his head.

He was absolutely pissed.

"Why were you distracted in the middle of the match?" Kageyama asked him with deadly seriousness, unnerving even our senpai's with how quietly he had spoken.
Kageyama's question seemed to remove any trace of the searing pain Hinata had just been through since he hurried to stand up, quickly creating some space between him and Kageyama.

The usual smirk my dad had was gone and now replaced with a firm line as I stood rooted to my spot, practically waiting for a fight to start.

Hinata avoided looking into Kageyama's eyes. He looked close to throwing up his breakfast.

"I know why."

My knees started to shake.

"The ace is cool. But your number one use it as a decoy, which is humble and uncool. You're thinking you could be the ace too, if you had the height and power Asahi-San has."