Disclaimer: Haikyuu is not mine. It is property of Haruichi Furudate, Weekly Shonen Jump and Shueisha.


Chapter 53: The Tie-Breaker.

"YAMAGUCHIIIIII!" the boys all hustled around Yamaguchi-kun upon his latest Service Ace, thrilled that thanks to the first year Pinch Server they had finally caught up with Seijoh.

Tanaka-senpai, Asahi-senpai and Daichi-senpai all scrubbed his head roughly, jostling it back and forth and he was helpless to stop until his senpai felt they'd done enough.

"Wow, that Let Serve thing happened with Wakunan as well! Tadashi sure is one lucky guy!" Saeko-san whistled, impressed.

Shimada-san shook his head, "No, that serve and this one are completely different beasts. During the Wakunan game, Tadashi was probably worried about whether or not his serve would be 'in'. Now, the only thing on his mind is where he wants to put it. It's that little bit of aggression that gave him his Let Serve." He explained.

Down on the court, Oikawa-san was rallying his team-mates, probably to make sure none of their feathers were ruffled by Yamaguchi-kun's Serving streak.

"That's my team for you! So level-headed they leave their poor captain feeling redundant!" I heard him say loudly, so I'm guessing that those feathers weren't ruffled in the least

'I kinda wish they were a little ruffled though', I thought with a pout.

But never mind. Now, it was time for Yamaguchi-kun's next serve. He threw the ball up, and did a run up to his jump, and spiked the ball.

This time, the ball was bounced back up by Iwaizumi-san, who sent it Oikawa-san, who sent it to Hanamaki-san to spike.

Tsukishima-san jumped in just in time to stop the spike's momentum, and the ball flew backwards and up.

"Yes! Nice one!" Yamaguchi-kun cheered for his friend, as Tanaka-senpai dove to send the ball back up again.

It wasn't in the best position to toss, so Kageyama-kun bumped it up again sending it up for Asahi-senpai, calling out his name as he did so.

Asahi-senpai jumped to spike, but Seijoh had a three-man block waiting for him. The ball bounced back to Karasuno's side from their wall of blockers, but unluckily for them, it backfired, and the ball landed out of bounds, giving the point to Karasuno instead.

"YEAAAAHHH!" Asahi-senpai clenched his fist and cheered.

Hitoka-san and I were doing a bit of cheering of our own, as were Takinoue-san, Shimada-san and Saeko-san.

Thanks to that play, Karasuno had the Match Point! If they could get just one more point in the next play, they would win the whole match!

"YAMAGUCHI, ONE MORE!" I heard Shoyo-kun and Noya-senpai yell out from the reserves area.

"Come on, Yamaguchi-kun...!" I said under my breath, clasping my hands together in a silent prayer, watching as Yamaguchi-kun threw the ball and did his run up.

The ball flew over the net, moving to fall close to the net, but Seijoh's Libero was there, catching it and sending it back up into play.

I bit my lip, watching as the ball went from the Libero, to Oikawa-san, and then to their Ace, Iwaizumi-san.

Yamaguchi-kun did his best to save it, but it bounced off in an unfortunate direction, and Seijoh got the point, thus tying up the points again and also ending Yamaguchi-kun's Service Ace streak.

That meant he had to be switched back out, trading positions with Shoyo-kun.

That was followed immediately by Noya-senpai switching in with Shoyo-kun, and the two shared a high-five as they passed, as if to pass the torch. Like Shoyo-kun was saying 'It's up to you now'.

With our Guardian Deity on the court alongside the captain, our defenses would significantly approve. Hopefully this'd be enough to win the second set.

Hanamaki-san was the next one up to serve, and Daichi-senpai successfully sent the ball back up from his forearms. From there, Kageyama-kun tossed the ball to Asahi-senpai, who successfully spiked the ball.

We'd reached the 25 point marker! But we had to grab another point in a row to create a two-point gap in order to win the set, since Aoba Johsai were only a point behind.

"YEAAAAH, DO IT!" the boys in reserve cheered, as the senpai on the court celebrated the point momentarily before continuing on.

It wasn't going to be that easy though. Of course it couldn't be.

Matsukawa-san returned the favour, scoring Seijoh's 25 point in response, followed by Tsukishima-san scoring a point in the following play. And then, Kindaichi-san scored the next point.

But this back and forth would probably come to an end, because now he was stepping up as the next to serve the ball.

Oikawa-san...!

The score was 26 – 26. There was no room for a mistake here. Any mistake could mean the end of the second set coming with Seijoh's win, and then, we'd have to go to a third set.

Oikawa-san threw the ball up and ran up to perform his serve, and spiked it with great force.

Noya-senpai leapt in to action, managing to catch the ball. But it ended up flying up into the audience, obviously out of bounds.

Oikawa-san let out a roar of a cheer as Seijoh's points moved up to 27.

"Don't mind, Noya-senpai!" I called out, though my hands were clenched. With that play, things got more dangerous.

I saw Noya-senpai tsk, rubbing the sweat away from his forehead, and nodding in acknowledgement, though he kept his attention on the game at hand, running back in.

Asahi-senpai was also joining the serve-receive formation, as the positions rotated.

Oikawa-san stepped up again to serve, and sent the ball flying.

Daichi-senpai dove forward quickly to receive, successfully catching the ball and sending it back up.

Kindaichi-san was there, and tried dunking the ball down on Karasuno's side, but Tanaka-senpai caught it with his wrist, sending it up again for Kageyama-kun.

"Kageyama!" Asahi-senpai called out for the toss and the dark haired Setter sent it his way. He spiked the ball, and it hit the forearms of Hanamaki-san with considerable force, causing him to grunt out in pain, but ultimately get the ball back up.

Kyotani-san and Kindaichi-san both ran up to the net to jump and spike, and our team marked them accordingly.

Oikawa-san however caught the boys off-guard when he sent it back to Iwaizumi-san, who spiked and...

...scored Seijoh's set winning 28th point.


"Uwaaah, oh no...!" Hitoka-san cried quietly, putting her hands on her head.

I let out a sigh. It was disappointing that the win couldn't be an easy one, but really, who was I kidding.

This was Aoba Johsai, after all - 4th best in the prefecture. There was no way it would be that easy to beat them.

"It's not over yet!" I said, patting Hitoka-san encouragingly on the shoulder. She looked at me uncertainly, but nodded, adopting a slightly more confident expression.

Shimada-san nodded, "Right. Now's the time for the tie-breaking third set. They'll take it back here." He said.

"I mean, at this point they have to," Takinoue-san agreed.

"Daaammn, I never thought volleyball matches were this intense." I heard Saeko-san say as I felt someone tap my back with their finger.

I turned around and jumped in surprise to see it was Hatsumi-senpai who had tapped my shoulder, with Kaori-senpai at her side. They both had their bags on their shoulder and looked ready to go.

I'd totally forgotten they were even here!

"I-I'm sorry...!" I tried to apologise for accidentally snubbing them, but Hatsumi-senpai just grinned and shook her head, denying my apologies.

"No need to apologise for being so invested in your boyfriend's team, Moeka-chan~!" she said with a teasing tone. I flushed bright pink.

"Sh-Shoyo-kun's not my boyf-friend...!" I stuttered, embarrassed.

"Yet," Hatsumi-senpai interjected, with a wink. I just flapped my mouth open and shut, unable to make a comeback.

Kaori-senpai sighed out, "Ignore her. You go at your own pace. But whatever happens, with this match and otherwise, keep us up-to-date, okay? Call more often." She told me, and I nodded wordlessly.

"Um... are you guys going?" I asked them.

They both nodded, "We got a text from Kaname-kun a while back. He said that if we didn't get back to school soon, sensei said he was going to call our parents, and that'd be a nightmare!" Hatsumi-senpai explained.

"It'd be problematic." Kaori-senpai hummed in agreement.

"So we've gotta get going. Let us know how the match goes, and about everything else!" Hatsumi-senpai said and I nodded, blushing still.

We bid them farewell and turned back to the match, just in time for both teams coming back onto the court for the third and final set. How this set went determined who would be going to the final round, and who would likely be facing off against Shiratorizawa Academy.

The final set would start off with Karasuno's serve, and Asahi-senpai stepped up to do so.

The referee blew the whistle, and Asahi-senpai served the ball.

Kyotani-san caught Asahi-senpai's serve and sent it back up and Oikawa-san sent the ball their Ace.

Iwaizumi-san's spike was caught on the forearm of Daichi-senpai and unfortunately wasn't caught by anyone else. The first point inevitably went to Seijoh.

Now it was Oikawa-san's turn to serve again.

I'd hoped that Karasuno could cut off his streak before it began when Asahi-senpai caught Oikawa-san's serve and sent it back up but the ball ended up going back over the net instead, and Kyotani-san got in a lucky spike, scoring their second consecutive point.

Following that Tanaka-senpai returned the favour, his spike bouncing off Kyotani-san's block and then landing out of bounds, scoring Karasuno's point.

"WOOOOOOOOAAAA!" Tanaka-senpai yelled, adrenaline pumping, as the others congratulated him on a great Kill.

Kyotani-san seemed to take offense to that, and did the exact same thing in response in the following rally. Aoba Johsai were still two points ahead of Karasuno.

The game would continue to be tight for the next 5 to 10 minutes, both teams trading points, until the score came up to 7 – 6, in Seijoh's favour.

Of course, Asahi-senpai, who was next up to Serve, wasn't going to let it stay that way.

"Go get 'em Asahi!" Suga-senpai called to the team's Ace from the reserves wing, and Asahi-senpai nodded, his expression stoic and focused.

He threw the ball up and ran up to spike the ball, sending it soaring.

By the looks of it, since Seijoh's players didn't move to catch it, they had been anticipating an out of bounds landing, but Asahi-senpai managed to get the ball to land inside the line, tying up the points.

"Nice, Asahi-senpai!" I called, and Hitoka-san echoed my 'Nice!' as we both watched the boys yelling at each other like they always did. I think it's a guy thing.

The tie didn't last for long though, as Kindaichi-san scored a point in the next play.

And now it was Oikawa-san up to serve again. Was it just me or did the rotations really go this fast. It felt like Oikawa-san was always up to serve...this wasn't good for Hitoka-san's and my hearts...!

Luckily, Oikawa-san's serve skimmed the top of the net as it flew, slowing down its momentum slightly.

Tsukishima-san tapped the ball back over, hoping to catch them off guard, but Iwaizumi-san caught it, sending it to the right position for Kyotani-san to spike.

Tsukishima-san and Tanaka-senpai pulled together for a two-man wall, and managed to stop the spike in its tracks.

"They roofed it!" Takinoue-san and I cried in unison.

"Woah but did you see that?! Tsukishima and Tanaka switched places at the last second...! Did they read a line shot coming that time?!" Shimada-san commented.

If Tsukishima-san did that, that's impressive. I knew he was smart, but he seemed so calm it didn't feel like he was that into the matches that he'd noticed it. Maybe there's more to Tsukishima-san than I'd thought...

"Tsukishima, server up!"

The blonde Middle-Blocker went back to the edge of the court to perform his serve. Seijoh caught it, and Oikawa-san sent the ball to Kyotani-san.

But Kyotani-san not only avoided Karasuno's blockers but also the court altogether. With the ball landing out-of-bounds without having been touched by anyone else, the point was Karasuno's.

Not only that, but also, the lead was theirs.

"Yes...!" I gasped out happily.

Shimada-san gave a little laugh, "Looks like Tanaka has really gotten under that Number 16's skin," he said with a smirk, pointing out Seijoh's coach.

As we looked over to where Seijoh's coach was, we heard the referee blow his whistle. Seijoh's coach had called for a time-out.


"Kyotani!" Seijoh's Libero tossed to Kyotani-san, who jumped to spike the ball. But Shoyo-kun was able to block the ball, sending it back down to the ground and scoring Karasuno a second consecutive point.

Kyotani-san had seem really pent up before that, but he seemed to get even more irritated at that. He knocked away the Libero's arms when he tried to comfort him, resulting in Oikawa-san scolding him,

It didn't seem to work though, and Kyotani-san was quickly switched out for Kunimi-san, to let him cool off, I assumed.

I tried to return my attention to the match straight away, but something in Seijoh's reserves area caught my eye.

Kyotani-san and another of the players seemed to be arguing. Well, it was more like the other player was telling Kyotani-san off.

Suddenly, the guy slammed Kyotani-san into the wall with a thud and I raised my eyebrows. Judging from Kyotani-san's face as the other boy held him by the fabric of his jersey shirt; it was a surprisingly intimidating scolding.

Then, the other player abruptly let go of Kyotani-san and turned his back on him. He looked pretty frustrated.

I decided to turn back to the match, and saw that Kageyama-kun had just touched the ball after Oikawa-san tipped it over the net.

Noya-senpai took Kageyama-kun's place, tossing the ball for Tanaka-senpai, who made a great kill.

"YEAH! NICE KILL!"

I heard his teammates cheering for him, and glanced at the scoreboards to see how things were going so far. Karasuno had taken the lead, with 12 points to Seijoh's 10.

"Hm?" I heard Shimada-san hum in surprise, and glanced to him, "Looks like they're putting Number 16. That was quick! Seijoh probably decided to gamble on him again." He said, and I watched as indeed, Kyotani-san switched back in and Kunimi-san left the court.

The referee blew the whistle, and the next played with Tanaka-senpai's serve. He hit the ball and it flew over the net.

Oikawa-san caught it, tossing the ball to Kyotani-san, who spiked the ball with an intense expression and it ricocheted off of Daichi-senpai's forearm and flew out of bounds.

Seijoh gained a point, closing the gap in points to a one-point difference.

"YEAH, YEAH! KENTARO! DO THAT AGAIN, KENTARO!" Seijoh's supporters cheered out.

The next play followed immediately after, and Kyotani-san was up to serve.

Tanaka-senpai managed to catch it with a nice dig, sending the ball back up into play.

Shoyo-kun quickly ran up to the net and jump, as Kageyama-kun tossed the ball his way, and Shoyo-kun spiked.

But Seijoh's Libero caught it, and Oikawa-san proceeded to send the ball to Hanamaki-san, who easily scored a point.

Seijoh were all caught up in points, and each team had 12 points each.

"Server up, again, Kyotani!"

Kyotani-san made his second serve, which Noya-senpai saved. Kageyama-kun again sent the ball to Shoyo-kun, who spiked the ball but Iwaizumi-san caught the spike with a diving receive.

The ball flew back over onto Karasuno's side, and to Asahi-senpai's palm, as Daichi-senpai called out; "Smash it, Asahi!"

The ball smashed off of Seijoh's Libero's arms, and flew out of bounds, scoring Karasuno a point and letting them pull into the lead again.

It was then that the Referee called for the two teams to switch sides of the court, and everyone proceeded to rotate their things to the opposite sides of the court quickly. The others were congratulating Asahi-senpai on a nice kill as they did so, seeming quite cheerful, which was always a good thing.


Minutes later, the scores were tied up once again with a score of 15 -15, and it was Oikawa-san's turn to serve after Seijoh won the prior fifteenth point.

"Geh!" Saeko-san audibly winced in realisation of what this meant.

"It feels like I lose a year off my life every time Oikawa-kun comes up to serve." Shimada-san commented with furrowed brows.

"I think the same goes for the whole Karasuno team," Takinoue-san input.

I was busy trying to soothe Hitoka-chan, who was practically vibrating with nervous energy. I gently rubbed circles into her upper-back, keeping an eye on Oikawa-san as he prepared to serve.

I flicked my eyes over to where Shoyo-kun was waiting in the reserves, having been rotated out for Tsukishima-san on the previous turn. He seemed to be in the same state as Hitoka-chan, but rather than nervous fear, he must've been full of anxious energy, eager to get back on the court as soon as possible.

But alas he couldn't refuse to follow the rules of rotation present in Volleyball.

Daichi-senpai dived quickly to receive Oikawa-san's serve, successfully sending it back into the air; however, it was floating over to Seijoh's side again and their Libero was already in position and ready to bump the ball back up.

Both Kyotani-san and Kindaichi-san ran up to the net as the ball back up and moments later, Kindaichi-san was the one to score Seijoh's 16th point, allowing them to pull ahead of Karasuno.

"Oikawa, Server Up again!"

Oikawa-san made his second serve, and Noya-san dived and successfully intercepted it, and the ball came above Tsukishima-san.

Tsukishima-san jumped to the air and attempted to dump the ball and Kindaichi-san tried to stop him. There was a momentary battle between the two players' palms, before Tsukishima-san was able to slip the ball by Kindaichi-san and scored Karasuno's 16th point, ending Oikawa-san's serving streak early, thankfully.

"WHOO! THANKS TSUKISHIMA!" Noya-san loudly crowed, slapping Tsukishima-san hard on the back, and Tsukishima-san audibly grunted.

I chuckled a little under my breath, watching as Noya-san cheerily left the court and Shoyo-kun returned in his place. He joined Kageyama-kun's side, and it seemed like they were exchanging encouraging words, at least for a bit, before they returned to their usual casual banter.

It's hard to believe that it's only been half a year, and those two had gone from 'sworn enemies' to such close friends, though they probably wouldn't admit to that title. They turned out having more in common than they'd originally thought; mainly their shared passion for Volleyball, and it had really helped to forge their friendship and build their teamwork.

I could still remember when they got banned from the gym on the first day because they refused to get along, and had to face off against Tsukishima-san, Yamaguchi-kun and Daichi-senpai, alongside Tanaka-senpai. From there, not just the two of them, but all four of them have come along. Even Tsukishima-san had calmed down, though he didn't let up on his teasing; at this point, I figured that was just his personality.

It was all so promising. I knew that even next year they'd only get closer and closer, and I honestly couldn't wait to see it!

I shook my head to snap myself out of my sentimental thoughts, and refocused on the match.

Right now, what was most important was that they made it past Seijoh and on to the finals of these qualifying matches. This year was senpai's last chance for taking on Nationals, after all.

I hummed thoughtfully, briefly remembering Kindaichi-san's words; of course, Seijoh was in the same position when it came to that.


Kyotani-san spiked the ball, attempting to score a point, but his spike was caught by Tanaka-senpai who tipped the ball up and stopped its momentum, allowing for Karasuno to potentially steal the point.

"DEFLECTEEEEED!" Saeko-san enthusiastically cheered for her brother, pulling my left hand and Hitoka-san's right hand with a jerk and we both squeaked at the sudden movement and sound.

"Bring it heeeeeerre!" Shoyo-kun yelled out, running up to jump, as Saeko-san was lowering our hands. I breathed out in determination, through my nose, and thrust my hand still in Saeko's up again.

"SMACK IT DOWN!" I yelled out, surprising those around me, and coincidentally yelling the same words as Kageyama-kun as he tossed the ball to Shoyo-kun.

With swift movements, Shoyo-kun dashed to a spot with no people marking him and jumped; the ball hit his palm and he slammed it down to the ground with a loud bang, scoring the point.

I let out another cheer, my heart racing with excitement, and Saeko-san laughed at me, but not unkindly.

She grinned to me, nudging my shoulder playfully, and as I blushed at the teasing nudge she turned back to the match.

"That was incredible!" she said, though what she thought was incredible could be more than one thing.

I knew I shouldn't be embarrassed for supporting Shoyo-kun, but this stupid blush was persistent. I shook my head back and forth rapidly, trying to will my complexion to turn back to normal, and let out a breath, patting my chest lightly.

A smile spread across my face as I watched Tanaka-senpai scrub Shoyo-kun's head in a congratulatory manner.

The score stood at 17 – 16 in Karasuno's favour. This match was going into its last stages. The following minutes would shape the future of both teams for this year's Volleyball circuit. And many other things as well.


Onigiriri: Hope you liked the chapter! Next chapter will be the end of the Seijoh match and it'll be time for you-know-what! I hope you're all excited for it.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!