After an order from Ukai-san, Asahi-san will play at the neighbourhood association. Sugawara-san volunteered to play as the setter for the other team and Yuu-senpai will play as libero with them. The other team seems well rounded and full of experience. Can our team really do this?

"Ayame" Ukai-san said "I'm going to put you in charge of the high school team. I want to test you"

"Eh?" Test me? Oh! He wants me to show him what I can do! "I-I'll do my best!"

"All right. I will be watching with sensei so I could see how you guys could do well against a grown-up team"

"Yes!"

My legs nearly gave up in so much nervousness and excitement. How the heck am I supposed to do against an experienced team?! I understand Aoba Johsai but these guys are all grown-ups! Will they go easy on us? I doubt that would happen.

"Ayame, do your best!" Tadashi-kun said. I relaxed a little and thanked him for the encouragement.

"Yeah, do your best!"

"We will do what you're going to tell us as our coach!"

"Give 'em hell!"

"Thank you! Do your best, guys!" I told them. Kinoshita-san whistled, gesturing that the match is about to stop. I checked our first six and they went to their positions.

Front: Tsukishima Kageyama Hinata

Back: Tanaka Ennoshita Daichi

It's not a bit of a good rotation but I want to see the other team's abilities, skills, and stats first. Yuu-senpai is a great libero. Suga-san's weapon is his dependability, I could tell. Ryu-senpai said that Asahi-san's spike is powerful, so I want to see its strength. The game starts. The other team served and Daichi-nii received it and Kagayema-kun prepared his toss and...

BAM!

"All right!!"

"Nice kill!!"

The players, including Ukai-san, who haven't seen the freak quick, were surprised and wide eyed. Takeda-sensei couldn't stop grinning while Ukai-san was trying to figure how the quick works. I, too, couldn't help but grin. Tadashi-kun changed the score to 1. After our serve (which silently made me nervous since Shoyo-kun is not quite good in serves), it was a net in and no. 6 managed to get it and their no. 5 covered it, sending the last ball to Asahi-san. He's in doubt, I could tell. He jumped to spike the ball and Kageyama-kun, Tsukishima-kun and Ryu-senpai blocked him but...

Yuu-senpai saved it using a pancake receive.

"Nicely done" I whispered. Sugawara-san seemed to be having trouble to who he will set it to. However, Kageyama-kun told him that he must set it to Asahi-san till he scores. His words helped him and Asahi-san tear off our blockers with his ace spike with a KABLAAM!! That impact's scary... but the scarier part is that both Suga-san and Asahi-san are revived, and I know we're in deep trouble.

***

Score: 11-15

They are in the lead now and they already took the first set. I asked for a timeout and they gathered around me. The information I needed is almost complete. All we need is to counter them with a plan and I quickly told them what to do.

*Tweet*

If we scored this one, it will be Kageyama-kun's turn to serve next. They received it and tossed it to Tanaka-san, earning a point. Now, phase one...

Aim your jump serve to Sugawara-sam

Sugawara-san is not much of a good receiver on heavy hits (Suga-san, please forgive me). The chances of the ball being received will either end up as a chance ball or service ace. Our setter aimed it to Suga-san and the receive was long and Ennoshita-san received it and our setter tossed it to Shoyo-kun.

"Nice kill!" Ryu-senpai said, clapping their backs. Suga-san looked a little irritated that the receive was long and he gritted his teeth. Sorry, Suga-san!!

"Don't mind, Suga-san!" Yuu-senpai said, clapping his hand "We'll get it next time!"

"Yeah!"

Shimizu-san flipped the score board to the score: 13-15. I looked at the score and smiled. Tadashi-kun gave me a thumbs up and grinned at me.

Drop it on front

The other team is wary of his serve so the front is a bit open. Suga-san seemed to be more alert after he was aimed at and I'm pretty sure he will get it this time. His serve dropped and Yuu-senpai managed to save it but it went above the net.

"Tanaka! Free!" Daichi-nii said.

"Yeah!" and he spiked it down, giving us one more point. Yuu-senpai looked really pissed and excited at the same time and I couldn't tell which.

"OH, YEAAAAH!! NICE KILL, RYU!! DAMN IT, I'LL GET IT NEXT TIME BUT THAT WAS DAMN AWESOME!!" he jumped and we tilted our heads in confusion.

"NOYA-SAN, OSUS!!" Ryu-senpai said, grinning widely.

"NICE KILL, TANAKA-SAN!!" Shoyo-kun jumped happily, flattering him.

"The flatterers and the flattered...what a bunch of idiots..." Tsukishima-kun said.

"WHAT THE HEEELL?!"

"CALM DOWN, IDIOTS!!" Daichi-nii yelled, making them shut their mouths.

"Kageyama, nice serve!"

He rolled the ball on his hand and did the jump serve again. Sadly, his serve ended up as an out. So close! That was a really good line!

"D-don't mind, Kageyama-kun! D-don't mind-" Shoyo-kun tried to cheer him up but he nearly kicked him (again). Tadashi-kun flipped the score: 14-16. Here he goes. Their jump float serve guy. It's frustrating. His jump float serve is amazing yet I also feel a little frustrating when he's using it against us.

Watch the ball carefully. Use an overhand receive to catch it.

He aimed at Shoyo-kun, our weak receiver. However, Daichi-nii switched places with him and he received it and Kageyama-kun set it to Tsukishima-kun, who scored with one blocker on him. I was about to tell them nice kill when they started throwing snarky remarks (again).

"Hey, can you toss it normally? That kind of toss was hard to hit and the accuracy is creeping me out" Tsukishima-kun said.

"Hah?! At least it went in! Quit complaining, already!" Kageyama-kun replied.

"Tsukishima-kun, Kageyama-kun! Focus!" I told them with a dark aura behind me.

They shut up and focused. When I checked the score, I saw Tadashi-kun staring at the jump float serve guy with amazement. His expression clearly says what he wanted to do and I smiled.

"I want to learn that serve"

Daichi-nii served it and the libero received it and Suga-san tossed it to Asahi-san. I already know it's almost impossible to block the ace since he teared our three man block with his spike.

Find a course for the ball to break through.

We have to narrow the course. It's our only option. Tsukishima-kun and Tanaka-san blocked the cross side, leaving a straight course. He spike there and nii-chan picked it up. Our setter tossed it to Tanaka-san and we scored.

Score: 16-16

Nice! We caught up to them! Just a little more and we can do it!

*After two sets*

Set 1: 19-25

Set 2: 22-25

We didn't get a single set. However, the important thing is they all had fun and learned a lot from the experience. Asahi-san agreed to return to the club, along with Yuu-senpai. Suga-san looked like he's been "revived" and we are all happy for it. Shoyo-kun seemed to realize his role as the decoy, thanks to Kageyama-kun's explanation (and after he got hit on the head by Asahi-san's spike). Despite our loss, I'm really glad that we did our best.

"Great job, Ayame!" Ukai-san said, patting my head.

"That was amazing!" Takeda-sensei told me. I smiled sheepishly and rubbed my neck.

"Thank you. But I think these guys deserved to be congratulated since they all did their best. That two set game was exciting" I said "However, I now know the areas of improvement these team needs. We couldn't just relax now that the practice match against Nekoma will start, right?"

"Damn straight there, kid"