A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to the last chapter of the training camp arc! Enjoy!

edited on august 8th, 2021 @ 8:34am

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - ABOVE

THROUGHOUT THE GAME, Bokuto was different. He didn't do any spikes and always had a blank look on his face. Fukurōdani gained another point.

It went on like this for a few more times, and Fukurōdani gets another point. Takashi sighed and looked at the scoreboard.

Karasuno

22

Fukurōdani

22

"A tie... How frustrating..." Takashi thought.

"M-Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it doesn't seem like Fukurōdani is fazed at all." Takeda pointed out.

"Yeah..." Keishin agreed.

"Almost like they're used to his antics." Takashi chuckled a bit. "I don't know why, but it's somehow amusing to me."

He watched as the ball gets saved and some of the Fukurōdani players get ready to run, making Takashi think what Akaashi might do, Tobio who was going to block was most likely wondering the same thing. However, Takashi widened his eyes when Akaashi didn't toss to anyone and performed a setter dump, gaining a point for his team.

"Oh? A dump? To be quite honest, I probably would've made the same move." Takashi noted. "Damn, Fukurōdani's setter is really amazing. I have to make a mental note to talk with him later."

They continued with the game as Asahi spiked the ball down but the libero receives it, the ball soon goes back up.

The ball gets spiked as it went past Nishinoya and Fukurōdani got another point.

"Damn it. They're at match point now." Takashi thinks to himself.

"Apparently Fukurōdani isn't a team that Bokuto pulls, but is a team where all of the other members pull Bokuto." Ukai mumbled.

The game continued. Takashi smirked when Tobio and Tsukishima blocked the volleyball and they get a point.

"Whoa!" Konoha exclaimed, surprised by the block.

"Totally shut out!" Sugawara, Hinata and Yamaguchi exclaimed from the sidelines. It was now Asahi's turn to serve as Takashi watched him concentrate, the ball goes over the net but got saved as Akaashi praised the receive and got into position to set.

He noticed that Bokuto was getting restless, as he kept giving begging glances to Akaashi, Takashi narrowed his eyes, already knowing who Akaashi was going to set too.

Takashi watched as Akaashi tossed the ball, Tsukishima and Tobio watched it and both widened their eyes in realization as they follow the ball, as Takashi saw Bokuto charging forward, slamming down the volleyball powerfully.

TWEEEET!

Everyone was panting as the game ended with Fukurōdani winning.

Takashi looked back to the opposing team to see Akaashi nod over to his three teammates who nod back and turn to Bokuto with smiles on their faces.

"Whoo! Ace!"

"That was awesome!"

"In the end, it just has to be the ace!"

"Birds of prey!"

"Your hair's like a great horned owl!"

Takashi sweat dropped at the last comment before he heard Bokuto chuckle as it turned into loud laughter with a large grin on his face. "I'm the best after all!" Bokuto announced as he lifted his arms up, his teammates doing the same, as Akaashi just walked away.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Takashi chuckled at the team. "To be honest, I was thinking we might be okay if we were able to stop Bokuto-kun, but I guess that was naïve." Takeda admitted, scratching his cheek.

"The reason he's able to be that free and selfish, and the reason the others are able to ignore that, must be because of how much they trust each other." Ukai explained. "Our team isn't at the point where any of them can be that selfish yet."

Their attention turned to Asahi as he looked at them with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry! That last serve... I chickened out and hit a serve that was just asking them to attack us!" He panicked as everyone blinked at their ace.

Ukai walked over as he stared at Asahi. "If you can figure that out on your own, you're well off." He assured as everyone turned to their coach. "In moments like that, how well you can stay offensive will determine whether or not you come out on top. Nobody wants to end the game on their own mistake." He added as everyone listened.

"He must be talking about you."

"Shut up."

Takashi snickered at his younger brother and Hinata. "But nobody will blame you for hitting a serve that was meant to steal the win." Ukai smirked as Takashi saw Yamaguchi look up in interest.

"Now that it's over, that was definitely our loss, but there's one thing that's for sure... " Takashi began as he looked up at his players while smirking. "Your plays will be effective at a national level of competition."

"Right now, your serves and combinations can't match the other teams'. That is to be expected because you started way after they did. But you shouldn't stop there. You mustn't think that this is the limit of your power. When you mix colors, they become muddled and dirty, right? But once you finish mixing, you get the color black, which won't be overtaken by any other. Please make our team's color black, which fits us crows." Takeda ranted as Takashi saw Tobio and Hinata tilt their heads to the side in confusion.

"W-Was my metaphor too difficult to understand?"

"No! Thank you very much!"

"Thank you very much!"

"All right, our last penalty of the training camp! One lap, flying!"

"Right!"

Takashi walked over to Tobio and Hinata. "Damn it. If our quick was just a little more complete, we might have been able to get a set from Fukurōdani." Tobio was saying while Hinata was drinking his water.

"But now we can fight. Even if they read us or catch up to us... We can fight!" Hinata exclaimed, his hand raised in the air.

"That all depends on my tosses."

"You'll get it eventually, so it'll be fine."

"Don't decide things for me!"

Takashi snickered to himself as he overheard their conversation.

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Once every team was done with their matches, it was finally time for the barbecue.

"All right, meat!"

"I'm starving!"

"Ahem."

Everyone walked over to see the coaches lined up and looking at them. "Thank you for all the hard work in this one-week training camp, folks! The empty stomach is what tasty food smiles at." Nekomata spoke as everyone's stomach was growling, as most were also drooling.

"Let your muscles repair to your heart's content."

Hinata and Tobio were shaking in excitement as they eyed down the meat in front of them, everyone had their plates and forks out.

"Thanks for the food!"

Everyone soon began eating. Takashi looked over saw that Tobio was wolfing down the food before he started to cough and slightly choke on his food, Akaashi who was behind him saw this and tensed up a little before as he quickly handed Tobio some water.

Takashi decided to walk over to Akaashi, tapping him on the shoulder. "Akaashi Keiji right? Fukurōdani's setter?" He asked.

"That's me. You're Kageyama-san. One of the best setters in the country." Akaashi stated.

"Now, now, call me Takashi. Everyone does." Takashi told him. "Your sets were amazing during the match against us."

"Th-Thank you! That means a lot coming from you!"

Takashi was walking around but stopped when he saw the Fukurōdani's managers, who were sitting with Kiyoko, staring at him. He winked once more as the two girls blushed.

"You're as bad as Miura is."

"Huh?"

Takashi looked over to see Matsuda with his arms crossed. "Come on, Takashi. You're an engaged man. Don't go flirting with women." He smacked Takashi upside the head.

"Ouch, Ren! That hurt you bastard!"

"Then don't go cheating on that fiancé of yours!"

Takashi sighed as he rubbed his head. "I guess I'm more touch starved than I thought I was. A week without seeing Ten is torture for me." He mumbled.

"You'll return to him by the end of the day."

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It was now sunset as everyone was chatting with the food gone, apart from some watermelons. Kuroo and Bokuto were crowding Tsukishima as Takashi was talking with Matsuda.

"I think they'll be fine."

"Hmm?"

"Your team." Matsuda began. "It's like I told Kuroo. Karasuno is unpredictable and that makes them dangerous. They'll make it to nationals."

Takashi smirked. "The Battle at the Garbage Dump... it's how we first became friends, huh?" He said.

"It was. I still remember the powerful aura you gave off." Matsuda chuckled. "You really had me paralyzed with your skills. I knew I wanted to get to know you more."

"Who knew we'd be best friends after that."

"Your knee." Matsuda started to say. "Are you going to do the surgery?"

"No." Takashi replied. "With the Olympics coming up, I need to be on the court. I can't afford to be benched. Our team needs me there."

Matsuda scoffed. "That kind of talk will get you pushed into early retirement." He told him.

"That's the risk I'm willing to take."

Once they all helped pack up, it was time for Karasuno to leave Tokyo. Takashi followed his players who each had their bags as they walked to the bus.

"I hate being weak, but..."

"Huh?"

"The fact that there are lots of people up above me... makes me feel so excited!"

The rest of Karasuno stare at Hinata with either blank looks or small smiles. When they made it out to the front or Shinzen High School, the other teams bid them goodbye.

"We'll see ya next time." Kuroo said.

"Yeah, see you next time." Daichi smiled back.

"The summer vacation training training camp away games... are now over."

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When Takashi got home that night, Tenma was in their bedroom with his eyes closed. Takashi smiled as he took off his shirt and kissed him passionately.

"Ten, darling, I'm back."

The bed covers shuffled as Tenma turned around and cuddled closer to his fiancé.

This made Takashi smile a little as he fell asleep with Tenma in his arms.

The next day, everyone was in the gymnasium, Takeda was telling them about the preliminaries that was happening the next day.

"If we win twice in tomorrow's preliminaries, we'll go to the qualifiers in October to decide the representative team. On top of the eight schools that win the first round of preliminaries, eight powerhouse schools will join for October's representative deciding tournament." Takeda explained as he looks back at the team.

"There are only two games in the first prelims?" Hinata asked in confusion.

"We were able to make it into the top sixteen at the Inter-High, so we're exempt from the first games." Sugawara explained to Hinata who gasped in amazement.

"Wow! We're awesome!"

Soon Daichi told them to stretch before his team could practice which they formed a circle and copied his movements.

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Everyone was practicing their serves with Nishinoya, Narita, and Ennoshita receiving them. Takashi watched as Yamaguchi did his serve as he could tell he was trying to aim it at Nishinoya but sadly had the ball had a mind of its own as Nishinoya easily saved it, making Yamaguchi look at little defeated.

"Yamaguchi, nice serve! It was hard to get!"

"Oh, right..."

Takashi sweat dropped at Nishinoya. "But you totally got it, though." He thought, shaking his head.

"Why are you concentrating so hard on, Sensei?" Ukai asked, walking up to Takeda.

"Oh, Ukai-kun." Takeda said, looking up. "Well... our first-years are amazing, but I was just thinking there are so many other amazing first-years..."

"Yeah. That guy, huh?" Ukai said, looking at the photo.

"I think you don't have to worry about a thing, Keishin, Sensei." Takashi spoke up as the two looked at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"Haven't you forgotten?" Takashi asked, gesturing over to Hinata. "Hinata is amazing in his own way. Do you honestly think he'll give up just because of one tall player that's over 200 cm? If Ten had that mindset, he wouldn't have left a huge legacy behind when he stopped playing volleyball."

"I suppose you're right..."

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After practice was over, Takashi headed over to Ukai Sr's place, as he used his spare time to teach some of the kids. He noticed that Hinata had arrived as he also bought Tobio who was surprised to see his older brother, but greeted him.

The two started practicing their own stuff, but they were going at it for a while as Takashi was already done with his teaching. Ukai Sr had to stop them before they got overworked.

"You have a match tomorrow, don't you?" Ukai Sr asked the two as Takashi went to join his old coach's side as he was done teaching for the day.

"You guys should wrap it up soon!" Ukai Sr said as Hinata and Tobio bow.

"One more! Just one more!" Hinata pleaded as Takashi sweat dropped at them.

"We'll finish after this one!" Tobio added.

"Please!"

Eventually Ukai Sr gave in as Takashi watched from the sides. "Here we go!" Yuu exclaimed as he throws the ball up towards Tobio and Hinata. Takashi smirked when the duo showed off their quick attack as everyone, excluding Takashi, stared in surprise.

"Say, Coach..." Takashi began, giving his high school coach a smirk. "They remind you of Ten and I back then, huh?"

"Never thought I would see the day..." Ukai Sr thought. "Where a new Emperor and Little Giant would form."

Meanwhile, Miura watched as Ushijima spiked past three blockers as he clapped.

"What's up, Wakatoshi? You look a little green. Is it because of what that shorty from Karasuno declared?" Miura questioned.

"Miura-san." Ushijima greeted the Shiratorizawa alumni.

"You know, I think you should take Karasuno seriously." Miura hummed. "They're a pretty remarkable team."

Ushijima ignored him as he went back onto the court to practice some more.

Takashi was walking home when his phone rang. "Nagata, what's up?" He asked.

"I got Kobayashi and Uyeda to come to the qualifiers to cheer on Karasuno when they make it." Nagata replied.

"Oh? That's great to hear, Nagata." Takashi said as he said his goodbye and hung up.

"Bring it on, preliminaries. Karasuno is ready!"

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A/N: The training camp arc is finally done! Now we're onto the preliminaries! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 2409 words.