The Newbie ~ Tsukishima Kei

Chapter 7 ~ Made No Difference

Signature Sentence: "Yosh!"

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"Tsukki, nice serve!" Yamaguchi shouted. "Yeah!" I said, not facing him. I looked at Kageyama, who's back was facing the net. I saw his right arm move a small bit.

Was he pointing where he was going to toss? In that case, then it's the left side.

"He's going to toss to the left." I whispered in Yamaguchi's ear. "Hai." He whispered back.

Tsukishima served underhand and Hinata received. The ball shot towards Kageyama and Hinata ran to the left, as expected. Kageyama tossed and... Hinata was too late. He couldn't even touch the ball Kageyama tossed.

"Hey what are you doing?!" Kageyama asked, turning to him. "You have to be faster –" He suddenly stopped.

"And there it is, the King's toss." Tsukishima teased.

I slapped Tsukishima's back, making him look at me. With an intimidating smile, I said, "Remember what I said? It doesn't just apply to Hinata."

Tsukishima groaned but went back to the serving area.

Hinata and Kageyama did the same thing for two times until Hinata was able to touch it with his fingertips. "All right. Got it!" But then, Hinata got stuck in the net. Fishing?

"What is this, net fishing?" Tanaka asked, pissed off. I laughed like a maniac then.

"Oi! That's technically bullying!" Tanaka shouted at me. I covered and mouth and said, "Hmm? But the girls that bullied me didn't laugh without something actually humorous." Yamaguchi turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder in concern. "A story for another time."

Yamaguchi nodded before getting into position. The Kageyama-Hinata team discussed their current problems while my team, well, just sat back and looked.

"Kageyama. You're repeating what you did in Junior High." Suddenly, Sugawara stepped in and talked.

The teams looked at Suga, who seemed embarrassed at the sudden attention. "Um..." Kageyama pointed a finger at Hinata. "Hinata has the reflexes, speed, and the springing power. If he gets used to it, he can do fast attacks." Sugawara then turned serious. "But Hinata's weapon, which is speed, your toss is killing it. Don't you think?"

Kageyama thought for a moment, letting Sugawara continue. "Hinata has no technique and no experience."

Hinata flinched. "Sugawara San..."

"He's not an outstanding player who can match your ability. But his potential tops." Hinata took it as a major complement. "Don't call me a genius or anything. That's an exaggeration."

"He never said that." Tanaka said to Hinata.

"If you can do it, you need to sink Hinata's style, or his talent, or... Umm..." Tanaka encouraged him, "Suga san, fight!"

"You know, use them to your advantage." Sugawara finally said. "I'm a setter like you. I watched you in last year's match, and I was intimidated. By your extraordinary talent, your ball control. And most of all, by your ability to calmly detect your opponents movements, and your power to make quick decisions. I don't have any of those things."

"That's not true, Suga san!" Tanka said with a fist. "Tanaka, listen to what he has to say." Daichi interrupted Tanaka. Tanaka hesitantly faltered.

"You have technique. You have overwhelming drive to win, and you have extraordinary awareness of your surroundings. So there's no way you can't see what your teammate is doing." Sugawara threw the ball he had in his hands at Kageyama, who caught it. It's like a fuse went of Kageyama's head. His face was completely weird, undescribable.