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♚ CHAPTER SIXTEEN ♚
FOLLOWING THE WILD BOAR INCIDENT, their activities resumed as usual. The indoor gym, which turned out to be behind the villa, was becoming increasingly noisy as a result of the noises made by their training.
"Kageyama, you are amazing!! Is it just me, or is your serve becoming more difficult?" Noya screamed and flexed his arm. "I was having trouble receiving it!"
"Ah, thank you Nishinoya-san!"
Hinata stood beside the ball basket, his face expressionless. His gaze was drawn to Kageyama, who had just received praise from Nishinoya. If he's praising like that, then Kageyama's serve really has improved.
ｃｒｅａｋ
The gym door slid open slowly, but it managed to draw everyone's attention to it right away. Behind that door, a tall, slightly skinny, and muscular old man, in comparison to the other geezers, entered with a stern expression.
"O-Old man!!" Everyone's eyes widened in surprise when Coach Ukai yelled.
"Old man... That means that Coach Ukai!!" Hinata shouted.
"What are you here?!" Ukai Keishin yelled as he approached him. "You've only been discharged from the hospital for a week!"
Coach Ukai's expression turned irritated. "What? I can't come here?"
Ukai Keishin simply sighed, decided not to answer, and pointed to the bespectacled teacher who stood beside him. "This is the new head coach."
Takeda-sensei respectfully bowed. "My name is Takeda Ittetsu, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm the club's new coach," he said with a warm smile, which Ukai Ikkei answered with a nod.
Keishin put his hand on his waist. "Really, why are you here, Old man?"
"You're really disrespectful to the elderly," he sneered. "I just want to keep an eye on the team. Yanagi also has returned, right?" His gaze shifted to the tall man who just nodded in greetings.
"Are you going to coach us again?" Noya inquired with enthusiasm. Everyone in the room was waiting for the answer.
"No. Keishin is already here," He responded simply. "Because of my health, I can only train you at this camp."
Everyone cracked a wide grin. And then they return to their positions to practice once more.
"Wait, how are we going to call him?" asked Tanaka.
Noya widened his eyes in realization before nodding. "You're right. Coach Ukai 1, Coach Ukai 2?"
"They are not objects," Suga deadpanned.
"Then, Ukai-jiichan!!" Hinata argued.
"Yes yes!! You're genius, Hinata!!" the trio cheered.
"Oi! You three! Stop talking or you'll have to run 50 laps around the villa!!" Ukai Ikkei threatened, causing the three of them to shudder and close their mouths tightly.
The drill practice turned into a practice match between the new regular team (Daichi-Asahi-Noya-Tanaka-Kageyama-Hinata) against the bench-players team (Yanagi-Suga-Ennoshita-Kinoshita-Tsukishima-Yamaguchi). And Team B is still taking the lead of the match this time.
Hinata gritted his teeth, staring at Yanagi, who always managed to get past his block. Or how he can sometimes easily receive or see the direction of their quick attacks. He landed on the floor, his eyes fixed on Yanagi's figure sharply. His chest feels heavy and his emotions are getting out of control.
The ball that Kageyama tossed was still in the air across from him. Hinata dashed towards the area and jumped high.
ｃｒａｓｈ！
His body collided with Asahi's, causing both of them to widen in surprise and fall to the floor with a loud thud.
"Boke, what are you doing?! That ball is for Azumane-san!!" Kageyama shouted in shock.
"Asahi-san, are you okay?" asked Tanaka who got responded with a slow shake of the head and a small smile from him.
The orange-haired teen remained motionless on the floor, his breath becoming heavier and his eyes wide with shock. Hinata stood up and bowed to Asahi as if he had just come to his senses. "I'm sorry, Asahi-san!"
"It's fine," he reassured. "Let's continue."
Instead of getting better, the match became tenser. Everyone is more alert and cautious. Occasionally glancing at Hinata if something would happen again. But this irritated Hinata even more.
His vision was covered with a fog of emotion. His movements are getting rougher. Making him feel like a doll in the hands of a marionette. Seen from how he slapped the ball very hard and uncontrollably.
Hinata dashed forward on their synchronized attack, but her hand never touched the ball. He looked up, realizing that the ball was given to Tanaka.
He let out another 'tch', despite knowing that the synchronization attack had been granted to players, which was indeed advantageous to Kageyama's point of view and to give the team another score. He turned his body to re-assume his position.
As time passed, Hinata never got the ball. First, it was given to Daichi, then to Asahi, Tanaka, and at the time of the sync attack, Kageyama gave a setter dump.
The fire was getting dangerously close to the bomb. Hinata clenched his fists so tightly that he was certain there would be crescent moon-shaped marks on his palms.
He was running again, and he'd already given Kageyama a glance, so he was confident he'd hit the ball by this point. Even though Tsukishima and Suga were ready to block, he screamed with all his might, his hands ready to spike. However, the ball failed to reach his hand once more.
He landed, turning furiously at Kageyama who was standing still holding the ball to his chest. "Kageyama!! What are you doing?!!"
Kageyama, on the other hand, gave him a flat look. "What are you doing?" he inquired, casually but coldly.
Everything comes to a halt. Their attention is drawn to the two.
Ignoring that, Hinata roared in anger. "Why don't you give the ball to me?!"
"I won't give you the ball until you calm down," Kageyama replied.
Tanaka walked towards them, intending to intervene. "Uh, Kageyama how about you give that toss to Hinata just once?"
Kageyama shifted his gaze to him. "I can't Tanaka-san," he said, returning his gaze to Hinata. "Hinata has been overflowing with emotions and acting rudely and selfishly from the start of the match. I don't care if we win or lose. However, his actions greatly affect the match."
Everyone fell silent as no one is denying it.
Hinata's whole body shook with rage as Kageyama's words enraged him even more. His head felt heavier, and he needed to express his rage.
"Hinata."
He remained silent. Know who called him at this time.
"Let's talk outside."
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