Nekoma walked off the court confidently having just won the first set. They listened to their coaches as advise and tactics were given. Soon the two minutes were up and the starters walked onto the court, Hinata being included in that.
The first few rallies had gone well for Nekoma with Hinata acting as an effective decoy. Once again Kozume was preparing to toss the ball. All of Fukurodani noticed something different this time, Hinata was running at a regular quick speed. Although the initial surprise slowed down Fukurodani's front row's reaction, it did allow them to have a better idea of where the toss was going and jumped to block Hinata, only getting their a couple of seconds later. Hinata, with his eyes open, scanned the area and where the ball was, I reckon that I can do this, Hinata thought as he got his hand in the final position, it's not quite a feint but Hisagawa said that it would be cool and throw off my opponents. Hinata hit the ball with his fingertips, getting it to fall just behind the blockers. Just like he had been told, it threw Fukurodani off. They had been previously used to Hinata only doing the freak quick; now he had showed off a different speed and some ball control.
Akaashi studied Hinata, it had become clear to him why he was played more than Haiba, Hinata had improved more. He had gone from being a rookie to a competent player who had a few special moves to use. Whilst Hinata still made some rookie slip ups, it was clear that he was no longer a rookie. However Akaashi had found it puzzling that Hinata never mentioned to him that he was working on some regular speeds attacks; if he had told Akaashi, Akaashi would have helped him out, "He couldn't do that when we last played him!" Bokuto whined, bringing Akaashi out of his thoughts.
"It has been three months Bokuto," Akaashi pointed out.
The second set continued on fairly normally with Fukurodani taking a slight lead. Eventually Hinata got subbed off for Haiba, "Four versus ten," Hinata said as the swapped.
"You've had more time on," Haiba replied. The second set inevitably went to Fukurodani putting the game into the third set, however Kuroo did get to show off his jump serve which Hinata spent half the between set time praising.
The third set started and Hinata was on instead of Haiba. Hinata's first burst was ordinary, soon he swapped with Yaku and went to the sidelines, "Hinata?" Haiba asked, "Don't you do that weird blocking thing sometimes?"
"Read blocking? Well yeah," Hinata answered.
"Why aren't you using it?"
"Because it's hard and I haven't mastered it yet,"
"But can you do it?"
"Yes but badly,"
"But if you want to use it for nationals you're going to need to improve it,"
"Yeah,"
"So why not try and use it now?
"I don't want to be the reason the team loses,"
"So do it,"
"Ugh! Fine!"
Soon Hinata was back on the court again this time using his read blocking, following where Akaashi was setting and jumping to the correct spiker, although he hadn't noticed it, this had put pressure on Fukurodani's spikers. Soon the score went to 21:19 (to Fukurodani) and Hinata went off for Yaku whilst Kuroo had returned to the front row.
Kuroo looked at Kozume who nodded in reply, the owl with frosted tips and his team are a bit too confident that they'll win, especially considering how close we are to winning too. Kuroo pulled off the delayed attack scoring Nekoma a point. A few points later from either team and the match was drawing to a close.
Fukurodani were on the set point and match point with Nekoma close behind only one point away. Akaashi served the ball, aiming at Yamamoto. Yamamoto received the ball and Kozume tossed it for Kai. Komi received the spike and Akaashi tossed the ball for Bokuto who ran for a straight spike. Kuroo jumped up to block him as Bokuto began to hit the ball...