The Queen of the Crows {Haikyuu!!}

36

That middle blocker emerges from the shadows during the second set when Hinata comes onto the court. He blocks out 3 in a row before Coach Ukai calls a time-out. I feel my brows furrow together as I watch him trot off the court.

"What you just witnessed was called guess blocking. When a person blocks based on intuition without hesitation. Naturally if your instinct is wrong, you screwed up and there's no coming back from it. Keep his movements as an irregularity in mind. Don't overthink and get stuck," Ukai looks to me.

"You basically said it all, keep an eye on his movements and find patterns. Defense is going to be a huge part in today's game. So Nishinoya, Daichi, and Tsukishima," I make eye contact with each of them as I say their names. "Keeping that ball from touching our court is your only concern. Keep judgments quick and don't hesitate,"

I address the entire team, "I know you can do this. Show them you can too," I cross my arms with a smirk. The players look around at each other with like-mined grins and smirks, "OSU!!"

The whistle blows but I yank Tsukishima back for a moment. "Oi," he looks back and down my hand wrapped around the crook of his elbow. I look him dead in the eyes, "Remember training camp and give it your all," he scoffs and turns without a word.

Kageyama immediately starts reading Tendou and tuning his tosses. Asahi gets a couple of nice kills before subbing Tsukishima in for Hinata. He steps onto the court and that Guess monster latches on to his prey.

"Oh~! The ordinary one!" he taunts. I see the blond's eye twitch in annoyance. "Hey, don't get riled up," Daichi reminds. The middle blocker doesn't respond with words. Instead he blocks out Tendou's spike. 

"Hey, I'm the ordinary one," 

"HELL YEAH!" yelled the team

No, rile him up. He'll only get better. I think with a cocky smirk. "Your one-man time differential might fool our wild card," he glares down at the crimson-haired blocker. "But it won't work on me, so go right ahead," Tendou's vein pops out on his forehead.

"Y'know I knew the Karasuno first years were a pain in the ass but you really take the cake!" he grumbles. Our blond megane puts on a blinding smile and replies with a sinister "Thank you," 

~~~

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! YOU HAVE PLENTY OF CHANGES TO LOOK AT GIRLS WHEN YOU ARE DATING!" I nearly jump out of my seat when Shiratorizowa's coach bellows at the mushroom. The first-year, clearly not knowing what was going on, replied, "Yes!"

"He's appeared, the demon coach," Ukai buries his face in his hands. "Why are there so many old monsters around us?" I blink a few times, still taking in what happened. I think back to former Coach Ukai and Nekomata.

"Those geezers have been doing this since the dinosaurs. I mean come on," I shoot back as I lean into the bench. Takeda-sensei sputters out a laugh. I can't help but smirk.

~~~

He's a different person that court. He's ruling it side by side with the rest of the team. In fact, he win the second set with his final block outs. Of Ushijima at that. Tsukishima is one of the only people who has blocked one of the ace's spikes. 

I can feel the frustration radiating off of Nishinoya when Ushijima's spike launched right off his arms. "Chihiro, you've played with Ushijima, right?" Ukai turns to me and I nod. "What was it like for you?"

I slide across the polished wood trying to save that damn ball. I takes all my willpower to not storm right off the court and leave my team behind. This practice match is borderline torture to me. I hate these back and forth games because I can't tell if I'll win or not. I pick myself off the ground as sweat plagues my face. I could feel every muscle in my body screaming for me to stop.