Author's Note:

Tournament chapters resume! Which means shorter chapters... Sorry, I'm not good at writing tournament episodes, mainly because I never know what to write haha. (This one got long, but I'll normally still write at least 1000 words!)

I want to do Season 3 and onwards, but I don't know what I'm going to do for TEN episodes of the single Shiratorizawa match...

(I'm open to any suggestions at any time! Including inspiration for past episodes for editing, birthdays, holidays, season 4, etc. ;) )

Reference:

Just a friendly reminder, copied and pasted from (Extra: Team Information). :)

Johzenji High School:

Coach - Anabara Takaaki

Manager - Misaki Hana - 3

Manager - Kurihashi Runa - 1

#1 Terushima Yūji (Captain) - 2 - WS / Outside Hitter

#2 Bobata Kazuma - 2 - MB

#3 Futamata Takeharu - 2 - S

#4 Higashiyama Katsumichi - 2 - WS / Outside Hitter

#7 Numajiri Rintarō - 2 - WS / Opposite Hitter

#9 Īzaka Nobuyoshi - 2 - MB

#11 Tsuchiyu Arata - 2 - Li

(Okudake Seiji - Former Captain)

Please give Johzenji more love and recognition!

The first match had Seijoh on Court B and Shiratorizawa on Court A. Both teams had a first-year in charge of rolling their ball cart out for a quick warm-up. Karasuno was on the far side of the grand stadium.

"Alright! We're gonna play more than anyone else here!" the captain wearing yellow shouted.

The rest of the team cheered; a party team, as people called them.

.

Their opponent chose to receive, so Karasuno would be serving first. Daichi relayed it to the coach and teacher advisor, looking more nervous than usual. It was finally the qualifiers. Potentially, the last tournament for the third-years.

Ai complimented Tsukishima's new sports glasses with Hinata. It'd been a present from his older brother, and it suited their tallest middle blocker well.

She passed the lavender around, talking to each person individually. It was like how Sugawara gauged how everybody was doing by communicating with them, and the aromatherapy had become a tradition now. She gave everyone a dose, including the coach, teacher, and two other managers.

Asahi and Hinata smelled the sleeves of their uniform and sighed contentedly.

"This fragrance brings back memories," Ennoshita smiled softly.

"As it should." She applied the ointment to the starting members first and gave them a quick hug before moving down the line. "Your sense of smell correlates to memory and emotion."

"I'll remember this forever as the scent before a volleyball game," Kinoshita laughed.

They cracked up with him, and Ai finished using the essential oil on everyone. Lavender wasn't a cure-all panacea, but it had many helpful benefits.

Meanwhile, the third-years talked with each other, their Miyagi accents slipping into their speech now and then. She had noticed that the setter probably did it more often than others, but it came out from all three of them when they were together. Personally, she loved hearing it. It reminded her of the location of her new home in the Tōhoku region.

After helping them warm up, she and Yachi retreated to the balcony with Takinoue. Ai noticed Date Tech watching them as well, and the guys in black and orange lined up to face the yellow team.

Johzenji's captain grinned, looking forward to having fun in the match.

.

The opposite team was a semifinalist from the Interhigh preliminaries. They also had a fairly large cheering squad, clapping plastic microphones together in time to a drum. Even as Karasuno had a team meeting with the coach, it was all they could hear in the background.

Coach Anabara was a new coach who had just been assigned at the start of last year, recreating the team from the ground up with his new training ideas for the students. There had been five second-years on the team for Interhigh, and they'd made it up to the top four in the prefecture with that lineup.

Johzenji's female manager, the third-year they'd briefly met at the entrance, sat on the bench with the coach wearing grey tracks.

Asahi had the first serve, being sure to make it a powerful one like Coach Ukai told him to. The strong force crumbled the other team's formation, but Johzenji's libero connected the ball. The second-year captain ran and made a strong hit from the end line right after a quick spin.

After a few minutes, it was apparent their play was just that: play. Something fun and freestyle.

Like Aomine.

Like his and Kagami's street basketball.

It wasn't cookie-cutter, and people couldn't know what they were going to do next. Uncertainties were normal for Johzenji, and that was their weapon.

Ai pressed her lips together as she thought of what to say to her team. Her teeth grazed her bottom lip as she recorded what she observed in her notebook.

.

A serve went net-in, but Tanaka dove for it with fast reflexes. Then, Hinata saved the ball and jumped off of the wall like a real-life Spiderman. Nishinoya was quick to return it to the other side, and they scored a point.

Johzenji wasn't the only team that had guys who were incredibly athletic that they had no idea what they'd do next.

Karasuno went on defense, and it wasn't bad. Daichi made steady receives that ticked off the other captain.

After Hinata and Kageyama's new quick attack worked, they had a short moment of celebration downstairs.

She took this chance to let her voice be heard. "If they're like Daiki-kun, be like Shintarō-kun!" she yelled down at them.

Johzenji improvised on the spot like Tōō's ace. Terushima's spike as he hit the ball while turning midair resembled a variation of the Formless Shoot. In order to not get carried away in their energetic atmosphere, Karasuno needed to be as calm and collected as Midorima, and work on offense accordingly.

People in the audience echoed the names, unsure of what she meant.

Heads looked up at her from below, and she could see Hinata checking with Kageyama if the names she said matched the people he was thinking of. Sugawara gave her a thumbs-up, as a sign that he understood her message.

It was hard to predict the opponent's movements, but it wasn't like the ball was going to disappear. They'd stay calm and keep at it.

.

Ai had heard from Momoi that Johzenji High also had a basketball club, but nothing else.

Although she didn't know, Sakunami, Date Tech's first-year libero, had a friend on the Johzenji basketball team, and he'd heard that the volleyball team played nothing but two-on-two games for over half of their practice time. If they had gotten used to that, it would explain how the yellow team had little sense that someone else would do something for them. Therefore, every one of them planned on setting up an attack at all times.

However, that also meant that people would instinctively go for the same ball and bump into each other.

Ai was used to and good at thinking quickly on her feet. As Akashi always did, be quick and decisive. Come to think of it, he was also fast to assess her as a first-string manager and ask her to be his girlfriend...

Something she could ask him about the next time she called him.

Both sports used a ball, on a court, inside of a gymnasium. It felt so different. The feeling was probably accentuated because of her being used to the insane, almost unreal talent of the Generation of Miracles. Not to mention the differences in team dynamics; they hadn't had the teamwork as Karasuno does, back in middle school.

.

11-10, Karasuno's lead.

Johzenji was imprecise in a lot of ways, their freewheeling type of attacks being notable. The blockers jump around and often fell for decoys as well. However, their persistence didn't falter.

Kageyama tossed to Tanaka, and the opposite Number 7, Numajiri Rintarō or "Jiri" as Terushima addressed him, picked up the spike.

"Let me hit one, too!" The Number 3 setter in yellow ran back.

Higashiyama, who was in the back row, tossed for Futamata, and they scored a point.

"Huh?!" Tanaka whipped his head around after the ball had hit the floor behind him.

Tsukishima had followed the volley with his eyes and analyzed, but he hadn't jumped either.

Going all out to play around, and having enough strength to have fun. It was similar to Bokuto's reasoning of not having fun because of sucking at the sport.

.

Karasuno broke the tie to 18-17.

Kageyama looked stubborn, but he was open to using the crazy new quick attack now, if it meant they would get points from it.

19-17.

The raven-haired first-year seemed to have been on a roll as he acted too fast and stopped a setter dump. The crows got the point and went on to the twenties first, but there was a small, unfortunate accident.

"All right!"

"Kageyama-kun, nice block!" Yachi also cheered with the students downstairs.

"Th-that block just now..." Takinoue grimaced, "...hit him square in the face."

Hinata had face-received on multiple occasions, but she didn't think she would see Kageyama do the same. But, here they were, after he'd blocked a ball with his face.

"Time!" Takeda-sensei called, pausing the game at 20-17.

The first-year held his nose to not drip blood everywhere.

"Kageyama, don't die!" she heard Hinata scream with a blue face.

"Don't kill him off," Tanaka retorted.

Daichi pointed his thumb to the back, indicating that they were subbing him out, at least until the bleeding stopped.

"My nose isn't bleeding!" he tried to protest.

"It is," the captain stated a matter-of-factly, like he was telling him the sun was a star. "Why would you lie about that?"

Kiyoko gave him tissues, asking if his eyes were okay, and the coach told him to go get checked out at the infirmary. He might as well, if he was going to be benched either way to cool his head and wait for the nosebleed to stop. Yamaguchi pushed him to the doors since Kageyama was still reluctant to leave.

Sugawara went in and encouraged the others, while the blond first-year dribbled the ball a couple of times. "Tsukishima, nice serve!"

Ai let Yachi go and take care of Kageyama. She supplied her with two packets of pocket tissues and sent her off to pass them on to him.

"Tell Tobio to make sure the bleeding stops before he goes back onto the court, okay?" she emphasized.

Soon, Hinata went out for Narita, to try some new things and for the height advantage.

She smiled down at them. "Make your mark, Kazuhito." For the past few months, her classmate had spent a long time practicing combination plays with Sugawara setting. Additionally, the orange-haired first-year could use some experience watching his upperclassmen play from outside the court for a bit.

Hinata wanted to be in the game, and he wanted to practice, too. He had so much to do.

.

Narita spiked cleanly through, bumping the score to 21-17. Ennoshita and Kinoshita breathed a sigh of relief, but Ai only grinned at his accomplishment.

The opposite captain served next, earning a service ace.

"That guy acts like he just scored three points! It pisses me off!" Tanaka growled. However, he wasn't one to say since he was often like that, too.

"Don't get swept up in their excitement! We're gonna rush them and grab the first set!" their captain urged them to focus.

The younger female returned shortly after, telling them that the setter was okay.

"Kageyama-kun was all right," Yachi said, jogging up to her and the alumnus.

"Yeah, seems like it. Good job." Takinoue complimented.

"Thanks, Hitoka-chan." Ai patted the blonde's back.

"But I guess they're not going to change members yet," Takinoue said, watching the duo stand in the warmup zone.

.

Ai beamed when Sugawara and Narita scored another setup together. "Sugawara-senpai, Kazuhito, nice kill."

23-21.

"Chance ball!" Narita called and bumped the ball up in a soft parabola.

And the four players started running; a Synchronized Attack, Sugawara Version.

Ultimately, Daichi hit it from the right, and it was now Karasuno's set point.

"That thing where everyone starts moving all at once looks awesome!" Terushima exclaimed. He gathered his teammates to huddle up for a plan.

Misaki had a bad feeling, which turned out to be true.

Narita served, and the libero wearing white received.

Yachi gasped while the electrics store owner commented, "Johzenji is also doing a synchronized attack?"

However, the toss went too high and the captain attempting a back attack couldn't reach it. The ball dropped and bounced away, ending the first set.

As they switched sides of the court, Tanaka recalled how they used to do that a lot, and how they still did from time to time.

The team of all second-years had probably copied what they saw Karasuno doing on the fly, but it was still scary how reckless they were.

.

Karasuno would be playing under Johzenji's yellow banner for this set. While it was reasonable for her team to play on Karasuno's side with their backs toward her, she liked that she could see some of their facial expressions when the guys played on the opposite end.

Until recently, the team was just like their banner: "Simplicity and Fortitude". But now, at least with this generation of players, Johzenji was more like "Free and Wild".

Kageyama and Hinata happily went in again, after being subbed out by Sugawara and Narita until the end of the first set.

"Hinata, Kageyama, stay calm!" Sugawara shouted from the side, but the two screamed with energetic enthusiasm.

"Shut up, jeez," even Tanaka said.

Hinata exchanged a few words with "Mr. Crop-head", and the Number 5 made a face at the opponents again.

"Higashi, nice serve!"

"Nishinoya!" Daichi yelled.

"Got it!"

The freakish combo was overly excited to be back in the match, and they missed in their first quick attack.

"I warned you guys!" Sugawara wailed.

But, Daichi was there to pick up loose ends.

"Wow, those are some amazing reflexes!" Yachi awed.

"Actually, I think he was expecting that," the adult upstairs observed.

"Daichi-san, nice ass-wiping!"

"I told you not to say it like that!"

Nishinoya needed a new way to phrase that.

After Terushima's insane attack, Daichi received again and connected the ball. It might seem dull, but it was players like him who kept the game going. She knew that for certain after working with Nekoma.

Kageyama and Hinata succeeded in their quick attack this time, and got the first point of the second set.

No matter how much they told the two to calm down, Daichi had had a feeling that they would still screw up the first shot, because they were too wound up and trying too hard. He acknowledged about himself that he wasn't good at super-flashy moves, but at the least, he could create a foundation for the team. So that they could play to their heart's content.

Johzenji and Karasuno both had a sort of free and wild playstyle, but they had Sawamura Daichi as their foundation.

.

The start of the second set was rocky, but they developed a good rhythm and the flow was on their side.

Second set, Johzenji to Karasuno, 9-13, the scoreboard enunciated. When it changed to 11-17, the other team took a time-out.

"It's good to be on the offensive, but Johzenji is rushing themselves," Takinoue commented.

The second-year boys met together and hyped up without any real plan, until the third-year manager stepped in to talk to them. They were relying on just their spirit and enthusiasm too much. She told them how there would be a time that is "not fun", quoting the former captain.

And at those words, Terushima remembered his initial resolution to have fun even during those times.

'To play, you first need a playground,' former captain Okudake had said.

"Bear with the times that are 'not fun,' and properly play around until the very end." Misaki smiled.

"What's wrong?" Kiyoko asked Hinata, who was interested in the other team's meeting.

"Kiyoko-san..." Tanaka lined up with his buddy.

"Hm?"

"I'm not sure why I'm asking, but would you scold us, too?" the libero asked.

"If possible as if you're looking down upon us—"

"I will not."

The two of them turned around. "Then..."

"I will not be smacking your butts, either." The third-year walked away without giving them so much as a second glance.

It didn't matter. "We just got a 'butts' uttered from Kiyoko-san's lips!" the lovestruck boys delighted.

"If you wanted someone to scold you, you should've asked Ai," Ennoshita smirked.

"But, she's way over there," Nishinoya complained and pointed toward the balcony which had their black banner.

"And, it's not the same with Ai," Tanaka also reasoned.

"Really? I'd bet she could make your hearts flutter just as much," Kinoshita joked.

"That's not the point, Hisashi!" Nishinoya remarked.

The team in yellow came back out onto the court again. It was halfway through the second set, but Johzenji returned with a new fiery atmosphere. This was where Round Two begins.

Reference:

Numajiri Rintarō 沼尻 凛太郎 (Johzenji) and Suna Rintarō 角名 倫太郎 (Inarizaki) have the same first name, but different kanji characters.

Fun Fact:

Hosoya Yoshimasa, Asahi and Hyūga's voice actor, is from Hiroshima prefecture in the Kinki region, which means they use a variation of the Kansai dialect. (Kinki region = Kansai region) (Like Captain Imayoshi Shōichi from Tōō and the Inarizaki guys from Hyōgo!)

There might be some differences depending on the prefecture, but people in the Kinki region generally speak some form of the Kansai dialect.

It's also a notoriously difficult dialect to master if you didn't grow up with it, no offense to Suna because his character's originally from Aichi prefecture, but I think Miyano Mamoru, Atsumu's VA, does a great job with the accent. They said on the Haikyuu Radio that there was a Kansai dialect coach to instruct the VAs behind the mic when recording.

Nakai Kazuya, who plays Imayoshi, is actually from Kōbe (Hyōgo Prefecture), so I assume his voice acting is similar to his regular speech. (Imayoshi's character might be from Osaka...)

Kyōto is also a part of the Kansai region and uses the dialect, but I don't think any of the guys from Rakuzan speak it; they all probably left their hometowns to go there with sports scholarships, like Akashi from Tokyo.

(Half of my family's from Kyoto, so I speak the dialect. I like it, and I think it's a fun accent.)

And if I go even further to mention Suna's VA, Shimazaki Nobunaga was born in Miyagi, but I don't think he talks with a Miyagi accent.

(Refer to the map at the end of chapter 1.2 Karasuno High School Volleyball Club.)

Total Word Count: 3194