Chapter 1: A Meteorite that No One Could Stop

Karasuno was already seven points ahead and the second set seemed to be coming to a close. A third set wouldn't even be necessary if the guys could just keep up this rhythm and quickly score a few more points. If all went well, this would be the first time that Karasuno had beaten Inarizaki so quickly, and Kageyama couldn't keep himself from allowing a wide grin to spread across his face as he locked eyes with the boys on the other side of the net.

Some seemed relatively composed given the situation they were in, but there were some on the team who were definitely letting their disappointment and frustration show clearly on their faces. Miya Atsumu, especially, let a dark curtain of anger strain the movements of his body and conceal the expression on his face as he moved through his rotation and took up the position of server.

Kageyama scoffed. It was lucky for them that they somehow managed to block Hinata's last weirdo quick and secure a serve for themselves, but he would make sure they didn't get another chance like that. He turned his head back and let his eyes dart quickly to the side, locking onto Hinata's position a few paces away from him. Hinata nodded, a smile stretching across his face as he seemed to understand Kageyama's wordless message.

Another quick, next chance we get.

Kageyama whipped his head back to attention as the music of Inarizaki's fan band went silent, Atsumu's hand raised in a fist to usher in complete focus. The frustration on his face was clear as day now, a darkness clouding his eyes in a way Kageyama had never seen before. He gritted his teeth before he threw the ball into the air and moved forward to slam it across the net.

Every chance Atsumu had gotten to serve thus far during the second set, he had targeted Karasuno's libero, Nishinoya Yuu. It was something Kageyama and other Karasuno players had come to predict in the few games they had played against Inarizaki, and they had even drilled over and over again in practice to try to combat it. But Atsumu's serves were amazing, and Nishinoya only managed to touch the ball a handful of times in every game. Now, Kageyama reflexively felt himself moving backwards, trying to cover any open space around Nishinoya to give Atsumu a smaller attack area.

Reflex wasn't everything in volleyball, and Kageyama groaned internally as he saw the ball shoot across the net in the complete opposite direction. This was not one of Atsumu's usual serves, not only due to its direction, but also its speed and power. All of the rage that had been building up inside Atsumu during the set seemed to be flying out of him now, propelling the ball forward with a ferocious tenacity. There was no way Nishinoya would be able to receive this monster ball, so the guys on the other side of the court would have to try.

But there was no time to try, no time to even think, as, like Kageyama, the others hadn't been on their guard for the unexpected change. The ball sailed over head after head, almost supplying Kageyama with the hope that it would go out of bounds, until it finally started arcing downward. Amazingly, the ball lost no speed as it went, shooting down almost like a meteorite that no one could stop. Until-

WHUMP!

Kageyama willed every muscle in his body to move, but he felt himself stuck frozen to the court as he watched the volleyball sail straight into Hinata's face with a horrendous cracking sound. The ball had been impossible to receive or even see coming for Hinata, as other team members had been scrambling around in front of him, trying to get to it. The impossible force behind the ball was enough to send Hinata's tiny body flying backwards, crash landing into Captain Sawamura behind him. Kageyama's mouth fell open as the back of Hinata's head slammed into Daichi's chest and then made hard contact with the ground as Daichi toppled over. The ball bounced three times next to his shoulder, then rolled back towards the net and Kageyama's feet. The whole gym was silent.

"Hinata!" Kageyama felt the composure seep slowly back into his mind as he screamed and ran across the court. Daichi was sitting up slowly, but Hinata was motionless, draped like a rag over one of Daichi's legs with blood pooling from his nose onto the gymnasium floor. A large purple bruise was already blooming around his left eye. "Oi! Hinata!"

As he and the other Karasuno players reached the jumbled mess of bodies on the floor, Kageyama let his own body collapse beneath him and slid on his knees to Hinata's side. He carefully placed one hand under Hinata's back and the other under his head, lifting him up slowly while Daichi scooted out from under him and kneeled across from Kageyama. Hinata's eyes were still closed as Kageyama rested his head carefully back down on the ground.

"Emergency time out!" the referee shouted as Coach Ukai raced onto the court without waiting for permission.

He was followed by both team managers, Shimizu Kiyoko and Yachi Hitoka, carrying bundles of towels in their hands. Yachi carefully folded a towel and slipped it under Hinata's head while Shimizu sat down next to Kageyama and held another over Hinata's nose, careful to make sure his mouth was open to keep his breathing steady.

"Sawamura, are you hurt at all?" Ukai placed a hand gingerly on Daichi's shoulder.

"No," he shook his head slowly as he rubbed at it. "I might have a small bump, but I'm fine. We need to focus on Hinata."

"There's an infirmary just down the hall," Ukai spoke again as he picked up Hinata's wrist and placed two fingers against it. He paused for a moment, glancing down at his watch. He was checking Hinata's pulse, Kageyama realized. Then he nodded. "I think they can attend to him there. Sawamura, you go, too. Just to be safe."

Kageyama had been quiet this whole time, balling his fists in the fabric of his shorts as he watched the color draining out of Hinata's face. Their conversation had been flowing in one ear and out the other, but when he heard Ukai's plan, he sprung into action. Kageyama reached forward and scooped Hinata's body carefully into his arms, careful to support his head, then stood and started rushing towards the door of the gym.

"Kageyama!" Ukai's harsh voice reverberated down his spine. "We're still in the middle of a game here, and you're a starting player. We can't just abandon it."

Kageyama turned reluctantly and tightened his grip around Hinata's torso, rising and falling only slightly with the effort of his breathing. "We don't have time for this!" he growled back.

Ukai's eyes widened slightly at the response, but he stepped closer and placed a hand on Kageyama's shoulder. "Hand him over to Sugawara, he's on the bench right now and he'll take care of him." Kageyama turned to see Sugawara jogging over from the bench, and he reluctantly outstretched his arms as Sugawara scooped up Hinata's weight. As he carried Hinata out of the gym with Daichi walking cautiously at his side, Ukai raised a hand towards the bench again. "Ennoshita, you're in for Sawamura. Tsukishima for Hinata."

As the two players jogged onto the court and Coach Ukai and the managers stepped off, Kageyama breathed deeply. He hadn't noticed, but he had been holding his breath ever since he lost sight of Hinata as he was carried away. Now, he surveyed the faces of the players around him. Everyone was sweating and visibly shaken, even the two who had just joined the current players. Azumane was pulling at the loose hair in his bun, his eyes on the floor where Shimizu had mopped up Hinata's blood. Tanaka was absentmindedly unrolling and rerolling the tape on his fingers, his eyes seeming almost clouded over. Nishinoya was still kneeling on the floor a few feet away from the ball, now flecked with drops of blood, staring at it.

As Yachi ran back onto the court with a clean ball, handed it to the ref, and scooped up the bloodied one with a towel before racing off again, Kageyama returned to his position near the net and trained his eyes on the Inarizaki team. They had been standing around nonchalantly, some talking quietly, others stretching, none coming over to check on the injured players. Miya Atsumu stood quietly in his position at the back of the court, waiting for his chance to serve again and picking dirt out from beneath his fingernails with a bored expression plastered across his face.

A sudden burst of rage boiled over inside Kageyama as he stared at the server, his hands balling into fists again. "Oi, Miya!" The other twin, Osamu, looked over from the other side of the court, his eyes widening, but Atsumu just raised his eyes to meet Kageyama's without any other noticeable change.

"Hmm?" Atsumu mumbled.

"You didn't even check to see if he was okay?! You just made a huge mistake! You just lost this game for yourself. We're going to crush you for that."

"Oh! Have fun trying!" A sudden indication of emotion finally crossed over his face as he began chuckling, then breaking into full-force laughter. "You think any of you can receive a ball like that one again? By my guest!"

After the ball passed from the referee, along through the other members of Inarizaki, and finally reached Atsumu, he slammed it forcefully into the ground four times before the whistle blew and he raised it into the air again.

Kageyama didn't care if he was a setter, if others on the team were better suited to passing it onto him. He was going to receive Miya Atsumu's meteorite ball, and damn the consequences.

As the ball sailed over the net again, Kageyama locked his eyes onto it and willed his feet to move faster than he thought he was capable of. But he wasn't the only Karasuno player who had found a new determination from what had just unfolded. As the ball began its fiery descent onto the court, Kageyama watched as Nishinoya leapt into the air and sailed across the court, landing hard on his stomach but getting a touch on the ball, changing its trajectory and sending it straight to him. Kageyama scanned his teammates rapidly, wishing more than ever that he could take a long look at the shock that was probably on Atsumu's face at Nishinoya's dramatically successful receive, but he shook his head and selected an open player.

Just as the ball made contact with the tips of his fingers, Kageyama applied a small amount of force and sent it careening towards Azumane Asahi, who was dashing towards the net. He jumped up and slammed it into the ground on the other side, just behind Miya Osamu and Rintaro Suna as their block failed.

"Yes!" Kageyama screamed, slapping Asahi's outstretched hand as he passed by, then offering a hand to Nishinoya as he was returning to his feet. They were now only two points away from taking the game, and it was Karasuno's serve.

"You've got this!" Nishinoya said as he brushed off his clothes and moved over to his position on the court.

"For Hinata and Dai-san!" Tanaka yelled from his location near the net as Kageyama took a deep breath and began walking to the corner of the court where he would throw the ball up.

"Mmm!" Kageyama nodded, catching the ball as the referee passed it to him. He looked over to the bench for any note of confidence that Ukai could offer nonverbally, then noticed that Sugawara was standing with the other players, back from dropping off Hinata in the infirmary. He scanned the bench, and saw that Daichi, too, was back. He sat next to Takeda-sensei and pressed a small bag of ice against the back of his head. No sign of Hinata yet.

Kageyama's blood began to boil, so he spun the ball a few times in his hands to regain a sense of focus, then locked eyes with Atsumu on the other side of the net. This is the end, he mouthed, hoping Atsumu was able to read his lips and hoping he himself had enough talent and focus left to actually make his words a reality. Just two more points…

Atsumu's sudden smile, locking his eyes onto Kageyama's, was proof enough that he had figured out Kageyama's words and was betting against him. Atsumu crouched low, hands at the ready, and the others on his side of the court followed suit. A sudden blast from the ref's whistle ripped Kageyama away from watching and recentered his vision on the ball, and on the little specks of blood just before his feet that had been missed in the cleanup earlier.

Time for me to knock that smile right off your face, idiot, Kageyama sneered as he thought to himself, raising the ball and releasing it into the air, then rushing forward and pushing all his strength into his legs to lift off of the ground. He brought his arm forward and let his hand smash into the ball, causing it to soar far above the net. This approach was risky, but he needed to do it for Hinata. He prayed that it would work as the ball began traveling towards the ground and…

"Hell yeah!" Kageyama jumped into the air as the ball slammed straight into the ground just feet in front of Atsumu, who couldn't help a small state of shock from emerging in his expression. A perfect service ace.

"Nice serve, Kageyama! One more, Kageyama!" Both the Karasuno fans in the stands and the players around him cheered.

One more, and Karasuno would win. Miya Atsumu would get what was coming to him.

Come on Tobio, Kageyama tried to hype himself up internally. Hinata deserved to take Atsumu down with our quick, so win this for him!