A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! So, Ushijima is kinda a bastard in this chapter, but it's only for Tadahiro's flashback. Enjoy!

edited on january 17th, 2021 @ 5:47pm

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN - EVOLUTION

TADAHIRO WATCHED WITH HIS TEAM as Kageyama jogs back onto the court after getting swapped back in and replacing Sugawara for the game. Tadahiro noticed Kageyama looked as if he was having trouble saying something, which made Tadahiro raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Kageyama gave the team a version of his smile. Hinata was the first to react as he backs away with fear. "What are you thinking?! You won't get your way!" Hinata stated as he was getting far.

"Hinata, you're running too far away!" Tanaka exclaimed.

"Shoyo, I don't think that's a scheming face... I think he's actually smiling, maybe..." Nishinoya added. Tadahiro rolled his eyes.

"Don't say 'maybe' Nishinoya!" Asahi panicked as well as scolded his friend as Kageyama looked irked at Hinata.

"Hinata, I'll kill you!"

Tadahiro glanced at Daichi who looked as though he was a proud father, making Tadahiro deadpan at him. "Is this seriously my team?" He thought, unsure of what to think of his teammates right now.

Soon, Kageyama gets the volleyball to serve for the game. Tadahiro noticed Hinata walk over to him and started having a conversation, but he couldn't hear what they were discussing about.

Tadahiro saw Kageyama raise a fist to Hinata, but he knew that fist meant something else, knowing it was actually a hand signal that Sugawara gave to the first years to learn.

On the sidelines, Sugawara and the others watch as the game is about to begin, with Aoba Johsai's cheering squad from the stands was all that was heard so far. Sugawara then sighs tiredly, gaining the others attention.

"Don't look so amazed. I was pretty nervous." Sugawara smiled at Yamaguchi, who was the one who had a look of surprise at Sugawara letting out a sigh of relief.

"Really?"

"Of course, there were third years that played at last year's Inter-High, so I wasn't able to play in a lot of official matches."

Sugawara smiled. "I hate to say it, but it's likely that Kageyama's had his feet on the court more than I have." He said. The others didn't reply right away.

"Despite that, Kageyama was freaking out quite a bit." Tsukishima informed, making Sugawara and Yamaguchi look over at the tall blonde. "Speaking of, the King's going right into a serve. Do you think he'll be alright?"

They all followed his line of vision to see Kageyama holding a volleyball, as he was about to serve, but Kageyama was smiling as he held the volleyball.

"Kageyama looks pretty happy." Sugawara noted.

"Yeah." Yamaguchi agreed as they stare at the first year setter on the court.

"It sort of puts me at ease." Sugawara smiled.

"What does?" Yamaguchi asked in confusion.

"Apparently every player feels the same pride about the fact that they're going to be on the court. No matter if they're some genius or just a regular guy." Sugawara explained.

They focus back onto the court, and Sugawara couldn't help but frown when he noticed Tadahiro. "If anything, I'm more worried about Tadahiro." He spoke as the others were taken aback as they glanced at the red head, who looked high on alert.

"He looks stressed ever since we started playing. I don't blame him since he most likely has a lot on his mind, but still..." Sugawara mumbled as he soften his eyes as he saw his fellow third year wiping away the sweat from his forehead.

"I don't know if it's just me, but I noticed that Kagami-senpai has been more focused on this game more than anything." Tsukishima spoke up making Yamaguchi blink.

"Well, he is one of the top three spikers in Japan." He reminded him.

"Sure, he's one of the top three spikers. But there's gotta be something more to that. It's like..." Tsukishima spoke as he pauses to look at his senpai's figure.

"...It's like he aiming for something higher than that. This game means a lot to him somehow."

Sugawara, Yamaguchi, Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita all share looks of nerves as they realized what Tsukishima meant.

"Yeah, now that you mention it." Kinoshita mumbled as they all stare at Tadahiro who was preoccupied by darting his red eyes at each Seijoh member.

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"Kageyama, just relax!" Takeda calls out at Kageyama nods, Tadahiro looked over and watched him take a deep breath and opened his eyes. Tadahiro could tell he was focused which made him grin as he saw Oikawa gulp and shiver at the intensity Kageyama gave off.

The whistle blew as Kageyama did a jump serve, Aoba Johsai's libero tried to save it but failed as Karasuno got a point. "Yes! Now we're tied with them!" Tadahiro thought.

"Yeah!" Tanaka announced as Tadahiro saw him have his hands held up to Kageyama who tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah!" Tanaka repeated as Tadahiro rolled his eyes as Kageyama had a confused look, as to what Tanaka was doing. Tadahiro shook his head.

"He's asking for a high five, you idiot!"

Kageyama jumped at Hinata's voice but he got the message and he and Tanaka do a double high five, Kageyama was still shocked as to what he did. Tadahiro noticed that Kindaichi and Kunimi stare at their ex-teammate in surprise.

Soon Kageyama jump serves again, Iwaizumi saves it but it was a bit bad as the libero also saves the ball but it was once again a bit off. "They broke it! It's coming back!" Tadahiro heard Sugawara say in determination.

"Chance ball!" Nishinoya announced as he received the ball and Kageyama gets into position, the two blockers were probably waiting for Hinata to announce the words for the type of toss, but they were surprised when the duo didn't say anything and Hinata had jumped up and spiked down the ball and got Karasuno a point.

Tadahiro saw Kageyama grumble before clearing his throat. "Hey, Hinata." He spoke as Hinata turns to him. "Well done." Kageyama complimented but Hinata shuts him down.

"Are you my boss?" Hinata questioned.

"Dumbass, he was complimenting you." Tadahiro thought as he turned away from the two and focused on the game.

The game continues on and Kageyama did his usual jump serve, as Iwaizumi saves it and Daichi and Hinata get ready to block the incoming ball. Oikawa tosses it to his teammate who spiked it down and got a point for Aoba Johsai, making Tadahiro's hand twitch in annoyance.

"I could've saved that..." Tadahiro thought, scolding himself for not reacting sooner.

Kageyama was apologizing to the others who reassured him it was okay.

Tadahiro's eyes locked over to Kageyama who gets into position and gae another hand signal to Hinata who nods. Kunimi serves the ball and it goes up, Tadahiro rushed in and saved it. "Nice receive!" Sugawara announced at him.

Tadahiro watched as Kageyama sets the ball to Hinata who jumped at a weird angle, but Karasuno scored a point.

Tadahiro saw that they were nearing the end of the match with Karasuno at 20 points and 19 points for Aoba Johsai. He noticed Hinata had raised his hands up for a double high five with Kageyama, when Kageyama returned the double high five, but with a bit of force that made Hinata yelp.

"That hurt, you idiot!"

"I'm driving some spirit into you!"

Soon Tsukishima was called onto the court, however, Tsukishima and Kageyama were side by side. "Why did it turn into Tsukishima versus Kageyama?!" Tanaka exclaims, no one replies as they watched Hinata serve the ball, the ball rolls off the net, as a player from the opposing team saves it by diving down.

"Chance ball!"

"Mattsun, nice cover!"

"Kageyama!"

Kageyama jumps up and tosses the ball over to Asahi who spikes it down and the ball touches the hand of an Aoba Johsai player, and goes out of the court, but Karasuno still got a point since the ball made contact with the opposing side's hand.

"All right!" Karasuno cheered.

Tadahiro looked at the score.

Karasuno

21

Aoba Johsai

19

TWEEEET!

Aoba Johsai calls for a time-out as the team gets off the court. Tadahiro sighed and walked over to get his drink that Kiyoko gave him. "Thanks." He said as he gulped down the liquid. Tadahiro looked over at Oikawa who was conversing with his team as he scowled.

"My path to destroying Ushiwaka is getting closer... So why do I feel like it's fading away from me?" Tadahiro thought to himself annoyingly. He turns his attention to see Oikawa eyeing down Tsukishima.

Tadahiro sees Tsukishima look over at Kageyama. "What?" He hissed. Kageyama didn't respond and only kept glancing up at Tsukishima with a bitter look, the whistle blows and everyone returns to court, but Sugawara came over to Kageyama beforehand, and Tadahiro overhead what he said.

"Kageyama. First, you need to have a conversation. Talk. Especially with Tsukishima, communication is key." Sugawara informed the black haired male in front. Kageyama stares before nodding.

"Right..." He says as he walks onto the court.

Tadahiro gets into his position, as he gave a quick glance to Oikawa who also gave him a glance as the two of them stare each other down, Tadahiro was the first to turn away as he focused on the game.

The game continues on as Tadahiro watched Aoba Johsai score a point, on the next game Daichi receives the ball and Kageyama tosses the volleyball over to Tsukishima who slams down the ball, however, Aoba Johsai saves it and a counter happens.

Tadahiro noticed something however at Tsukishima. "He's not hitting it with all he's got."  Tadahiro thought as he narrowed his eyes in concentration as Iwaizumi spikes down the ball, Tadahiro tried to save the ball by diving down, but it was too late as Iwaizumi gets a point for his team. Tadahiro looked over to see Takeda call for a timeout to discuss with Karasuno.

Karasuno jogged over to Ukai. "Come on, your faces! They're all tense!" Ukai announced as Tadahiro watched Ukai grab Tanaka's face. "Calm down and go! Your moves are great!" Ukai added.

"Right." Tanaka grunted as Ukai lets him go.

"Hey." Kageyama spoke, making Tadahiro look at him to see he was talking to Tsukishima, as the tall male and Yamaguchi look over at Kageyama. "How was that toss, damn it?" Kageyama asked as Tadahiro just sighed at his wording.

"Why are you talking like Tanaka?" Tsukishima mumbles in question.

"What was that, damn it?" Tanaka growls from behind.

Sugawara and Tadahiro walk over in case they needed to interfere. "It's like you're saying, 'Shut up and hit the toss, you commoner,' and it pisses me off." Tsukishima bluntly informed as Kageyama gets irritated by this.

"What?" Kageyama yelled as Tadahiro rolled his eyes at the two fighting.

Tadahiro then saw Sugawara walk towards the two to break up the potential fight. "What do you mean by that?" Kageyama asked in curiosity.

"I have my own way of doing things, so I'd rather you keep your tosses consistent." Tsukishima replied and Kageyama seems to take that information in.

"You're not the only one thinking. The shape of the opponent's defense. The best attacks I've been doing today. We're all thinking about that. Even Hinata started thinking enough to use normal quicks now, right? Though just barely." Tsukishima ranted on as Hinata hissed.

"What'd you mean by that?! What do you mean, 'just barely?!'" Hinata growls at the tall male, Tadahiro pulled his junior back, to stop him from trying to fight Tsukishima.

"Don't make a scene, Hina-chan." Tadahiro ordered at Hinata who glares up at Tsukishima.

"All right."

Everyone jumped and stared in shock at Kageyama who agrees with Tsukishima with no trouble. "You're rather agreeable today. You feeling okay?" Tsukishima asked in surprise.

"We're just going to have to try and find out." Kageyama responded as he walked onto the court when the whistle blew, as everyone watched with confusion.

The game starts as Tadahiro kept his eyes on the ball as Kageyama gets ready to set it, he tosses the ball to Tsukishima, not as powerfully this time which gave Tsukishima time to think as Tadahiro watched him perform a feint hit, over the two blockers as he got Karasuno a point.

"Yeah! He got over the block!"

"He totally did it!"

"Smart idea. Doing that is gonna throw Aoba Johsai off a bit." Tadahiro thinks to himself.

Tadahiro focused back on the game as the ball goes up, and Tanaka saves it, the ball goes to Kageyama who sets it up and Tsukishima did another feint, however the libero saves it in time, but it was a chance ball for Karasuno.

Tadahiro jumped up and got Karasuno a point. "All right!" Tadahiro's teammates cheered as Daichi pats Tadahiro on the shoulder, praising him.

"Nice! Good going, Hiro!" Daichi grins at him.

"Yeah... No problem." Tadahiro mumbled as everyone got back into position and the game continues and Aoba Johsai gets a point, as Nishinoya failed to get the ball in time.

"They're taking back one point after another." Tadahiro gulped as he glanced at the score.

Karasuno

23

Aoba Johsai

22

Tadahiro watched as Tsukishima did another feint as the libero runs over and saves the ball that was about to hit the court. Kageyama and Tsukishima get ready to block as they jump up and Kindaichi jumps as well, the spike gets passed the duo, but Tanaka was there to save it in time. Tadahiro's eyes dart forward to keep his eyes on the volleyball.

Kageyama gets into setting position as he passes the ball softly to Tsukishima who looked a bit surprised by this but recovered as he spiked down the ball powerfully instead of doing a feint, which made the libero on the other side shocked and Tsukishima gets the point.

"All right!" Nishinoya yelled as he literally bounces over.

"You piss me off, you know that?" Tanaka added, as the two come up to Tsukishima with smiles as Tsukishima just looked as though he was questioning his very existence. Kageyama walks up to Tsukishima with an unsure look on how to say anything.

"Kn-Knife... nuff.. nice."

Tsukishima gave a confused look to Kageyama as Tanaka came over and did a karate chop to Kageyama's head. "Don't mess up that line, Kageyama!" Tanaka exclaimed, as Tadahiro sighed loudly at his team.

Daichi watched with amusement as he kept his eyes on Kageyama. "Kageyama is definitely changing as well." He thought at Tanaka laughs. "How much do you suck at compliments?" Tanaka laughs as Kageyama had a flustered expression.

Daichi looks to Tadahiro who held an emotionless look, as he was more focused on Aoba Johsai, which made Daichi frown at his boyfriend. "I can see him tense up whenever the ball goes up in the air... I'm worried about him. I'm scared he'll become another Asahi and take the blame on himself if we lose. Everyone's saying our chance of winning is 50/50 since we have one of the top three spikers on our team." He thought.

"I also realized that he hasn't been in the Zone throughout the whole game. Which also concerns me." Daichi concluded his thoughts.

Tadahiro looked over at the score and saw that they were at set point. "Just one more point!" Tadahiro heard Hinata announce.

"One more point!" Yamaguchi repeated. Tadahiro gulped as the whistle blew and the game continued.

Iwaizumi jumped up to spike the ball, Tadahiro tried to block him, but was unsuccessful, making him scowl at the ground. "We won't let you have it!" Iwaizumi exclaimed. Tadahiro gave him a narrowed look, making him tense up.

"There's one person on this planet who irritates me the most and that's Ushiwaka." Tadahiro began as Iwaizumi looked at him. "Your captain is coming close to top second."

Tadahiro walked away as Iwaizumi looked at his retreating back. "He also hates Ushiwaka? I wonder what his past with him is like..." Iwaizumi thought. "Well, they are both equally matched in terms of power. Perhaps that's why."

"It's fine. Just one more point. If we can get this one point, like we usually do, this set will be ours!" Takeda announced but suddenly the ball bounces and Tadahiro looked over to see it was Oikawa serving. Tadahiro remembered a memory from a few months ago at U-19 practice.

Tadahiro winced in pain as he received another one of Ushijima's spikes. "You really are pathetic, Kagami... Why bother trying to beat me when you can barely receive my spikes?" Ushijima questioned.

The red head breathed heavily. "I don't expect you to understand, Ushiwaka. As far as I know, you're an only child." Tadahiro panted. "I'd do anything to make Taiga proud of me. So come at me again!"

The rest of their U-19 teammates could only look at the two rivals in shock.

"H-Hey, Kagami... I think you've had enough."

"Yeah, if you take any more of Ushijima's hits, you'll injure yourself."

"Seriously, man. Even I know where my limit is."

The U-19 setter tossed the ball for Ushijima as he jumped up and spiked the volleyball, sending it towards Tadahiro.

Tadahiro managed to receive it with the last bit of energy he had. He sat down on the court and tried to catch his breath.

Ushijima could only watch the red head as he smiled.

Perhaps he finally had a rival after all, and it wasn't Oikawa Tōru.

It was Kagami Tadahiro.

"Hey, Kagami." Ushijima said, getting the red head's attention. "You better make it to the finals for the Inter-High. I want to face you head on."

Tadahiro smirked. "Damn right my team and I will, Ushiwaka. I'll be the one to beat you." He claimed.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Tadahiro had to admit, he was anxious when Oikawa was serving this time. "Bring it!" Daichi announced.

"Nice serve!" Someone from Aoba Johsai announced.

"The second your opponent you want to show who's boss is right in front of you..." Iwaizumi told Oikawa, making Kageyama look at them.

"You can give it all you've got." Iwaizumi added, as Tadahiro narrowed his eyes.

"I know." Oikawa replied with a dark look on his face.

Tadahiro watched as Oikawa throws the ball up and spikes it forward. He aimed at an opening spot. "Nishinoya!" Daichi yelled out as Tadahiro saw Nishinoya run to the open space that the ball was coming in and he saves it.

However, the ball goes back to Aoba Johsai's side, as Tadahiro saw Oikawa get ready to toss the ball. At first he thought Oikawa was sending the volleyball to Kindaichi, but then he saw Iwaizumi on the far right side as he squinted his eyes.

Tadahiro could tell Tsukishima was gonna jump up, but before he could, Kageyama had stopped him and pulled him near them, as Oikawa actually sets the ball to Iwaizumi and not Kindaichi.

Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Tadahiro all blocked the ball as Karasuno finally got the point. Which made them cheer. "All right!" They yelled.

TWEEEET!

Tadahiro sighed in slight relief when Karasuno won the second set and was gonna start the third and final set. Nishinoya suddenly bounces over and starts ruffling Kageyama's and Tsukishima's heads.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Nishinoya continued to chant, praising the two for working together. He turns to Tadahiro and jumps on his shoulders as Tanaka ruffled his red hair.

"Nicely done!" He praised.

Once Tadahiro was released, Karasuno was conversing. Tadahiro mainly just drank his water, to refresh himself. "Just one more set to win... We can do this... We won't lose." Tadahiro tried to reassure himself.

He suddenly got a chill up his spine when he heard Oikawa laugh as we all turn to see him, to see him have a slight crazed but excited look in his eye.

"Hurry! Let's hurry up and finish the final set!" Oikawa announced as he walked onto the court, his team following him, as Tadahiro narrowed his eyes a little at him.

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A/N: Another chapter is done! Please let me know if there's any mistakes. Hope you enjoyed!

Word Count: 3408 words.