A/N: Hello, readers! We're finally at the preliminaries! Enjoy!

edited on september 10th, 2021 @ 4:05am

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

HIDEAKI WAS WITH HIS TEAM in the building where the other schools were also in since it was preliminaries. He wasn't nervous, more like excited. He was leaning against the wall when his phone buzzed in his volleyball jacket. He took it out, smiling when he saw that it was only his younger brother.

Shun 🏀:
> Good luck at your preliminaries today, Nii-san.

Hideaki:
Thanks, Shun. <

Shun 🏀:
> Let me know when you reach the finals. Hyuga and the coach already said the team and I can travel to Miyagi to cheer you on.

Hideaki:
Will do. <

Hideaki then saw a notification from the group chat he was in with Oikawa and Iwaizumi.

Tōru 💙:
> Good luck at the preliminaries today, Aki-chan!

Iwaizumi:
> Don't get eliminated.

Aki-chan:
Thanks, you two. We'll win and head to the qualifiers. Tōru, you better slow down on your extra practices. You dare injure your knee any more I'm kicking your ass. <

Tōru 💙:
> Iwa-chan, you traitor! You told him!

Iwaizumi:
> Shut up, Shittykawa! He's right you know!

Hideaki chuckled as he turned his phone off and sighed. He looked up and saw Hinata. "You all right, Hinata?" He asked his junior, noticing how pale he was looking.

"H-Hinata, are you okay?" Yachi asked in concern. Hideaki then saw Yamaguchi shaking as well, making him worried for him.

"Yep. I'm fine. I puked on the way here, and that relieved me a bit."

"Of course, you'd feel sick after eating all those pork bowls for breakfast."

"It's normal to eat pork cutlets on game days!"

"And by "normal", you mean..."

Suddenly Kageyama went over and started yelling at the orange-haired male. "You moron! Hinata, you stupid moron!" He exclaimed as Hideaki snorted.

"Is moron the only word you know?" Hideaki teased as Kageyama blushed in embarrassment.

"I-I'll do my best to expand my vocabulary!" He announced as Hideaki snickered.

"Relax, Tobio. I was just teasing you." Hideaki smirked as his other teammates were talking amongst themselves, like how Asahi and Yamaguchi were getting nervous.

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Once Karasuno was dressed in their own uniforms, with Hideaki proudly wearing the number zero in bold white lettering. Daichi looked over to them. "The game before us is over. Let's go!" He informed, as his team nodded and followed their captain into the gymnasium.

"Yeah!"

TWEEEET!

Everyone was doing their warmups with Kageyama doing their sets as they each took a turn spiking the ball. "Your shaved head is seriously lame. Seriously, like seriously, seriously..." Hideaki heard a guy from the opposing team call out to Tanaka who overheard.

Tanaka then had a praying face. "I will go forth. Let us play a good game." He said as Hideaki smirked when he ran up and spiked the ball that Kageyama sets to him. "Take this, damn it!" He yelled as the other two players from the opposing team flinch at the power that Tanaka had.

"Thank you for that opportunity." Tanaka prayed and slightly bowed to Kageyama who just looked confused but bowed back. Soon, it was Hideaki's turn to go, as he popped his neck and stretched his arms and legs.

"Tobio." Hideaki announced, making his junior look at him, as he flinched at his stare.

"Toss me a good one, yeah?"

Kageyama gulped but does so as Hideaki charged forward. He kept his eyes concentrated on the ball as Kageyama sets the volleyball to him. He jumped high and powerfully smacked the volleyball down as the ball hit the court, echoing throughout the gym.

Hideaki then landed on the ground. "S-So scary..." A guy from the other team shivered in fear, making Hideaki slightly smirk.

TWEEEET!

It was soon the start of the game. Ohgiminami High against Karasuno. They all lined up, facing their opponents as they waited for the referee to blow the whistle. Hideaki noticed some of the guys at the other side of the net glancing at him, and some had red faces.

Soon, the whistle blew as both teams bowed.

"Let's play!"

Before they actually started, they surrounded Ukai. "Listen up. All of their third-years are already gone, but their power has always been with their second-years. They won the first round of this tournament in straight sets as well. Don't let your guard down! Be especially careful of Number 1 on their left side!" Ukai informed as everyone nodded at him.

"Right!"

Takeda then spoke up. "From the end of the Inter-High prelims until now, you've taken on unfamiliar challenges, and you haven't been in sync. On top of that, you've lost about seventy practice games against the powerhouse schools from Kanto." He stated bluntly.

"What a way to sugarcoat it, Sensei."  Hideaki thought with a deadpan look. "But your new weapons, which were nothing but failures at first, are now starting to take shape. Please get a win that makes up for all the frustration you felt." Takeda smirked at them.

"Right!"

"All right!"

Soon they huddled together. "Karasuno, fight!" Daichi yelled. "Yeah!" His team shouted back in unison as everyone headed onto the court.

Hideaki was serving first as he bounced the ball. "Hideaki-san, nice serve!" Nishinoya praised their ace. The whistle blew as Hideaki did his jump serve, it must've surprised Ohgiminami considering they didn't move to save the ball as Karasuno gained a point.

"All right!"

Karasuno celebrated as Hideaki grinned a little. The game went on as he kept his eyes on the ball. He watched as Tanaka spiked down the volleyball and Karasuno got another point. Hideaki looked at the score.

Ohgiminami

11

Karasuno

16

Hideaki turned back to see Number 4 on the other team jump up to spike, but Hideaki noticed he was going to do a feint, Daichi also noticed as Hideaki watched his friend move forward and save the ball in time, as the ball goes into the air.

Hideaki spikes it over the net, a player from Ohgiminami managed to get it up. Hideaki watched as the setter from the opposing team tossed to their teammate but Kageyama and Tsukishima jump up to block.

Kageyama throws up the volleyball once he was ready and performed his jump serve as he had managed to get a service ace.

Hideaki looked over to the scores and smirked when he saw that Karasuno was already at match point. The ball goes back up as the game continues on, as Hideaki watched his teammates block another spike attack, Hinata races to the end of the court as him and Kageyama did their special quick attack which resulted in them getting a point, declaring Karasuno the winners of the first set.

TWEEEET!

"Hey, punks! Don't get all quiet!" A loud voice suddenly shouted, making Hideaki and his teammates look over at the opposing team to see a guy with weird looking hair talking from above to the team.

"C-Captain Akki!"

"Why is it that you guys can pick fights, but chicken out when it comes to volleyball?"

"Ch-Chicken out?"

Their former captain flinched at their glares before smirking. "N-No matter how much you glare at me, I'm up on the second floor so I'm not afraid of you!" The guy announced, laughing a little. Hideaki silently watched the interaction along with his team.

"When the opponent pushes forward just a little bit, you give up. That's what I mean by chickening out. This is your match, so what you do is up to you. But let me just say this: Being serious, being desparate, and doing one's best... none of that's lame!"

Hideaki saw the team widen their eyes at this, as everyone else looked at the scene. He then saw the current captain laugh about something making his teammates confused and a little on edge.

The current captain, Number 1, was talking but from where Hideaki was standing, he couldn't hear what he was saying.

Hideaki watched as the guy turned away. "We're gonna defeat Karasuno, qualify through the first preliminaries, and defeat Shiratorizawa!" He declared.

Hideaki blinked at his announcement before smirking. "We're seriously going to win, you guys!" The captain announced.

"Come at us with everything you've got." Hideaki challenged.

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Hinata spiked down the ball gaining Karasuno a point as they were 22 points with Ohgiminami having 13. Daichi was praising them as Hideaki smiled at him. They get back into position as the ball made it's way over and saves it.

"Daichi, nice receive!"

Kageyama sets to Hideaki for a back attack which ended successfully and Karasuno got the point. "All right, let's keep this up to the end!" Daichi encouraged.

"Yeah!"

Soon Kageyama was serving as Hideaki looked back to his junior. "One more, Tobio!" He smiled at him as Kageyama seemed flustered, nodding at the hawk-eyed male. He soon did his jump serve in which the captain from the other side tried to save but failed as Karasuno got a point.

"We're at match point!"

Kageyama was serving once more. "One more, Kageyama! Nice serve!" Daichi praised the first-year. Hideaki watched as the volleyball goes to the opposing team and it goes up. Hideaki noticed that Ohgiminami looked like they were about to give up.

It made the black haired male frown. "They're already giving up? The ball hasn't touched the court. They haven't lost yet." Hideaki thought. He then flinched as the captain from the other team chases the ball as he watched him run out of the court and collide into the bench, making the water bottles and other things crash to the ground.

"Connect and finish it!"

Hideaki watched as his teammates do what they were told and kept the ball connected and in play, making him smirk. The ball rolls over the net and Nishinoya dived down to save it, Hinata came over and received the ball.

"Tanaka!" Hinata announced, as Tanaka jumps up to hit the ball, but the guy from the other side who last touched the ball saves it.

"It's not over yet!"

"Give me the last one!"

The ball gets spiked as Hideaki saved it in time, neither team was giving up. Hideaki watched as Hinata raced to the end of the court as he jumped and did the monster quick attack, as the volleyball hit the court.

TWEEEET!

"All right!"

Hideaki cheered with his team, happy that they had won the match. They soon lined up as each team bowed.

"Thank you very much!" Both teams said in unison.

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Once it was break, Hideaki and his teammates decided to peek into the gym to see who their next opponents would be. Only to gulp when he realized that one of the guys was huge.

They watched as he did a dump on the opposing team, Hinata and Yachi both flinch at this. "He's so nasty!" Tanaka stated, biting into his banana.

"A weapon... the height itself is a weapon." Asahi added, also looking nervous.

The match ended with Kakugawa winning. "Thank you very much!" Both of the teams said in unison, as they soon cleared out. Karasuno followed Daichi to the scoreboard that was presented to them as they looked at their school name.

"If we win the next match, we get past the first round of the preliminaries and advance to the decider tournament in October. We're gonna get through no matter what!" Daichi stated as everyone nodded.

"Yeah!"

Hideaki glanced to see the guy they were up against walking by. Hinata and Yachi both looked freaked out as Hinata grabbed onto Hideaki's sleeve and arm and hid behind him, making the hawk-eyed male sigh at him.

"6' 7" is super huge!" Hinata shakes on the spot, gripping Hideaki's arm tighter.

"6' 7" versus 5' 3", huh?" Yamaguchi noted making Hinata look at him in a slight irked look.

"I'm 5' 4" if you round up!" Hinata hissed as Tsukishima then walked over.

"6' 7" versus 5' 3"? That's a 16-inch difference." He mumbled as Hinata tried to defend himself.

"Listen!"

Yachi came over and tried to defuse the situation. "S-Sixteen inches, that's like the same size as Hello Kitty! That's not that big!" She informed as Hideaki sweat dropped at her.

"Was that an attempt to cheer him up?" He asked her.

"Tekachu is 16 inches tall too, I think."

"So is the blackberry lantern."

"Bl-Blackberry lantern?"

Hideaki saw Hinata walk away from Tsukishima, Yachi, Yamaguchi, and Hideaki followed. "I want to combine myself with a blackberry lantern." Hinata mumbled as Kageyama who was nearby turned to him.

"What?" He questioned.

"If I combine myself with a blackbelly lantern, I'll be 6' 7" Hinata said as Hideaki rolled his eyes at him, but was still amused.

"Hey, what are you talking about? Are you really scared?"

Hinata and Hideaki look at Kageyama but before any words were spoken, the whistle blew.

"Let's go!"

"All right!"

They followd Daichi into the gymnasium, ready to win the next match. They huddled together with Hinata grabbing the volleyball. Hideaki noticed that Hinata was staring at the opposing team, more specifically, the tall male.

"Hurry up, Hinata." Tanaka called out.

"R-Right!" Hinata replied, racing over to his team.

Daichi smiled at his team. Tanaka was out on the sides this time.

"Let's go!"

"Right!"

They all broke apart and stared at Kakugawa, everyone having determined looks on their faces.

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A/N: Two updates within a day of each other? Yes sir. Thanks for reading.