"OORAAAA, COME BACK HERE YOU STUPID BIRD!"
Tanaka's screams startled those around him as he dashed after a poor bird that had stolen his sandwich from right under his nose. The loud teen stopped dead in his tracks, however, as he felt the burning gaze of his captain, Daichi, who looked ready to drown his bald kohai.
Taking the hint, Tanaka returned to the group, silently mourning the loss of his precious lunch as he did so.
Ukai, coach of the Karasuno Volleyball team, chuckled at the sight before him.
'This was a good idea,' the man thought.
Lately, he'd noticed that the team had been rather tense while awaiting for the Spring Tournament, hence, following their many practice matches with Date Tech, Ukai decided that some relaxation would do Karasuno some good.
The coach was brought out of his short musing by one Hinata Shouyou.
Said orange-headed teen bounced up to his teammates with sparkles shining in his eyes - how does he do that?' most thought - looking as though he'd played the best game of his life.
"A beach volleyball game is about to start!" Hinata started excitedly. "I've never seen this type of volleyball. Let's go watch!"
No one, not even Kageyama or Tsukishima, could voice a single word of protest as they were practically dragged to see this oh so great match.
The teams on either side of the net consisted of four people, with those on the right serving the ball.
As the main power-servers of Karasuno, Kageyama and Asahi watched the girl serving with slight interest.
She had black hair tied up in a strange bun and two loose locks of hair serving as bangs which cropped her pretty, yet fierce looking face.
"Go, Azula!" the one in a pink bikini cheered.
With an unsettling smirk, the girl - now named Azula - threw the ball into the air… and promptly smashed it over the net with a powerful kick.
The other team, not expecting the attack, barely had time to move as the ball hit the sand.
"Wooaaahhh!" Hinata and Nishinoya yelled simultaneously.
"S-so violent," Asahi whispered while trembling, undoubtedly impressed, but terrified nonetheless.
"I… don't think I've ever seen anyone serve like that… maybe she does some kind of martial art?" Daichi said.
The speculation was met with silence as the team kept their focus on the match which had now garnered their utmost attention.
The game continued with the team on the right completely and utterly demolishing their competition with their superior reflexes and over-the-top methods of scoring.
These people reminded Karasuno of Johzenji High, with their unpredictable movements, yet their rather flashy offense and defense seemed far more polished, and deliberate.
The sole boy of the team - appearing rather broody, even mid-game - kept the ball from touching the ground with his foot as he slid across the sand and kicked the ball up, followed by Azula scoring once again with a backhanded hit.
Nishinoya openly admired how the team received skillfully with mainly their feet, a greedy look adorning his features as he thought of how fun they'd be to play against.
Hinata gushed at almost every play that was made, exclaiming "cool!" at every chance he could.
Kageyama, on the other hand, looked pale as he observed the strange team work like a well oiled machine, despite the obvious lack of a proper setter. He was well aware that beach volleyball worked a bit differently, but the prospect of no setter still made him twitchy.
At one point, the ball had launched itself straight towards Hinata, who caught the ball almost instinctively thanks to his time as ball boy.
One of the girls, the one in the pink bikini, ran up to the tiny middle-blocker to fetch the ball, having used too much strength behind her kick and sending it out of bounds.
"Woops, sorry about that," the girl spoke with a bright and friendly tone.
"No problem!" Hinata responded just as brightly as he returned the ball to her, but not before showering the girl and her teammates with praise, "You and your friends are amazing! The way you were like whoosh and bam! And that scary girl was all like pow and bang! Ne, ne, do you play for your school? Are you a volleyball team? You must be, right? Are you playing at the Spring Tournament? Are you?"
The volleyball-maniac gushed, face far too close to the girl's face for comfort, before he was forcefully pulled back by a rather exasperated Daichi.
Kageyama expressed his annoyance through his ever creative exclamation of, "Boke! Hinata boke!", meanwhile, Tanaka and Nishinoya were scolding the short stack for bothering 'such a beautiful young lady', as they called her.
"Sorry about him," the captain apologised sheepishly, "he's just a bit… enthusiastic."
The cheery grin, however, never left the girl's face.
"Oh I don't mind, and to answer your question," she started, referring to Hinata, "no, we don't play volleyball for our 'school'."
The word 'school' was said with an odd tone, as if referring to something in the past tense, even though there was no way she could have already graduated, given how old she looked.
Admittedly, many of those from Karasuno felt rather disappointed at her answer, thinking it would have been interesting to have a match against whatever school these strange players were from. This chagrin was shown clearly on the orange-head's face, but the look didn't last long as his eyes lit up with excitement.
"Can we play against you after you finish this game?" Hinata asked, delighted at his idea.
"Huh? Oh yeah sure, Azula shouldn't mind," the girl responded with a slight giggle. "Oh by the, my name's-"
"TY LEE!" A loud voice belonging to the ever-cheerful Azula interrupted her sentence. "GET OVER HERE NOW!"
"Oops, looks like I've kept them waiting too long. Gotta go," the now named Ty Lee said with a little salut before cartwheeling away.
Back to the game, the final play ended with the most unorthodox move yet, as Azula used the brooding boy's back as a platform and launched herself high into the air, hitting the ball with a powerful spinning kick. The impact was followed by a large dust cloud and a shockwave strong enough to knock many people over.
Those at Karasuno gazed at the smoking ball which now lay in a small crater with loose jaws, before turning their attention to Azula, in awe of her inhuman strength.
"Yes, we defeated you for all time! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!" the ruthless teen declared rather dramatically with clenched fists.
Coach Ukai, who had been silently observing the game, turned to the team.
"... Are you sure you guys wanna play them next?" he questioned, uncertainty colouring his tone.
The teens exchanged silent glances before smiles broke onto their faces - bar Tsukishima, of course.
"Hell yeah!" they chorused, a select few of them running forth to meet the challenge.
At their response, Ukai ran a hand through his mop of blonde hair, laughing fondly as he did.
'This was definitely a good idea,' the man thought.