Unpolished Gems

Chapter 20

"We will now commence the practice game between Nekoma High and Karasuno High!"

And with that, all starting players quickly got into their respective positions for the game. Nekoma's starting players were Kuroo, Kenma, Yamamoto, Inuoka, Fukunaga, Kai, and Yaku as their libero while Karasuno's starting players were the same ones they had previously discussed at the start of the training week.

"Woah! You're tiny!" Inuoka was quick to exclaim once he took notice of Hinata's short stature at the front. Hearing this though, Hinata was quick to flinch as he glared up at the taller first-year.

"D-don't you mock me!"

"I'm not mocking you in the slightest!" Inuoka was quick to form a bright smile allowing the ginger to immediately relax from his once tense posture. "Really?" Hinata's voice was one of disbelief as he eyed the other with a hopeful expression.

"Yeah!"

Over at the back, a pretty loud tsk was heard causing their lighthearted atmosphere to quickly turn sour. Turning to look behind them, there they noticed that the negativity actually came from Kageyama himself.

'He could at least let his guard down.'

"Shoyo..." The sudden call of his name had Hinata turning away from the scary setter and onto Kenma. "I know I said that I think we have a pretty good team, but it isn't because I'm good."

Turning his head, Kenma met Hinata's eyes with a smile on his face. "It's because we all are."

Blinking at the setter, Hinata could only tilt his head in a confused manner before having to go into position. A loud whistle echoed throughout the gym signaling the start of the match.

"Kenma, nice serve!" Kuroo cheered.

Tossing the ball up, Kenma gave a simple overhand serve to the team in black.

"Asahi!"

The ace was quick to maneuver himself in the direction of the ball before bumping it up as well as he could. "I'm sorry, it was too short!"

"It's your fault for skipping a whole month!" Nishinoya was quick to berate the ace even though they were in the middle of the match.

"I'm sorry!"

"Kageyama, cover it!" Daichi yelled at the setter who was already on the move.

"Right!"

As he waited for the ball to descend onto where he stood, Hinata was quick to jump and leap over on the opposite side of where the blockers were standing. Setting as fast as he could, Hinata and Kageyama did their freak quick attack allowing Karasuno to score the very first point of the match.

Shock and surprise were evident on the faces of the people from Nekoma seeing as how they couldn't even process the ball being set, let alone it being spiked onto their side of the court.

Over on the bench, a small yet proud smile made its way onto [Name]'s face as he kept playing his game. Although he wasn't actively looking and paying attention to the match, just the sound of the other team's sharp gasps said enough for him to know what happened.

On the other hand, Isagi on Nekoma's side of the bench didn't share the same sentiment as the genius seeing as how he was still processing the insane attack. His wide eyes slowly lingered over to the white-haired teen sitting across from him before letting a grin break out on his face.

'You seem to have found yourself an interesting team, [Name]!'

Another short whistle was blown signaling the next round, with Karasuno serving this time.