The game started. Asahi's jump serve managed to throw Fukurodani's receive a bit off and Akaashi sets it to their ace. Kageyama and Tsukishima were in front to block him but it was a block out, giving the first point to Bokuto's team.

"A block out, huh..." Coach Ukai said.

"So close!" Mr. Takeda stressed out.

"Not bad, Tsukishima-kun..." she noted when she saw him giving instruction to the setter earlier before they did the block.

***

Score: 05 (Karasuno) – 06 (Fukurodani)

"Left, left!!"

Konoha received Asahi's spike and the setter followed up for the toss.

"The receive's off" she observed them closely that her eyes were practically wide as she focused. Akaashi sets it to Onaga, who is their middle blocker, and it surprised her slightly "A quick from there? Usually, a bad pass would make the setter toss it to their left. Akaashi-san's really skilled like Kageyama-kun for pulling of a quick in that condition..."

"As expected from Akaashi-san..." she sighed "A setter of his own caliber, I guess..."

"You know him, right, Ayame?" the coach asked her.

She shook her head "No. Not really. I happen to watch most of Fukurodani's matches and practices last year. Akaashi-san is a skilled setter, although not a genius and prodigy like Kagayama-kun, he's more of a levelheaded type of setter but can pull off aggressive plays from time to time"

He whistled "True that"

"Now, Bokuto-san's up front but...our wall is in its highest in this rotation" she thought as she watched the flow of the game.

"Give me the last one!!" Bokuto yelled and prepared his run up.

"How are you going to get past our blockers, Bokuto-san?"

The longer she focused on the match, the slower everything she sees. She was internally surprised by what she sees. She thought that it was just a trick to her eyes but right now, she realized that she can now see everything in slow motion if she could focus strongly.

Just like Hinata.

Bokuto jumped, and so did Kageyama, Tsukishima and Asahi. She saw the way his arm swing and her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized it.

"That-!"

Before she could warn the players, Fukurodani's ace did a cut shot to spike past the triple block.

Ayame's jaw dropped and her eyes shined in amazement "T-That was an insane cut shot!! Amazing!! It directly hit the attack line!!"

"C-Cut shot?" Yachi asked. The violet eyed girl faced her with excitement written on her face, which surprised the blonde manager.

"It's a tricky spike by hitting at a sharp angle to get past triple blocks! You can't just randomly do that if your shoulders are not flexible!! It'll be hard for the muscles of your shoulders!!" she explained with shining eyes.

"Oh..."

"All right!!" Bokuto cheered and looked at Akaashi for inquiry "Did you see that, Akaashi?! Hey, did you see my awesome cut shot right now?!"

"I did. It was amazing"

"It was pure luck, though!!"

"That "pure luck" was still awesome, though!!" Ayame yelled for him to hear.

"Yeah!! It was super awesome, Bokuto-san!!" Hinata nodded in agreement

The ace turned his attention to his no. 1 fan and no.1 disciple "Hey, hey, hey!! Mizuki-chan!! Hinata!! You saw that?! You saw that, right?! My awesome cut shot!!"

"Yes!! It was amazing!! I expected no less from Bokuto-san!! It was awesome, even if it was just pure luck!!"

"That was insane!! I want to hit something like that, too!!"

"Huh? Who's that girl?" Konoha asked the setter.

"Karasuno's assistant coach and strategist, Mizuki Ayame-san. She's Bokuto-san's no.1 fan right now"

"Eh?! You're kidding. Our airheaded ace has a fan, and a female one?!" Komi wouldn't believe it "Are you sure she's a fan of his? I understand Karasuno's shorty blocker but she's way out of Bokuto's league"

"As crazy as it may sound, but it's the truth" he sighed "She respects him and Fukurodani as well"

"Is that so?" Sarukui glanced at her.

"She's on the same wavelength as him, though...no wonder..." the Fukurodani players thought as they watched the three talking loudly while jumping like hyperactive chipmunks.

"It's frustrating...but it that was really amazing!! They scored on us but..." she shivered in excitement and yelled "We're not gonna lose!! Right, Shoyo-kun?!"

"Yeah!!" Hinata jumped happily on the bench players' side.

"Fukurodani's Bokuto-kun is a real puzzle, huh?" Mr. Takeda noted "Even when he's your opponent, you kind of want to cheer for him. Though that might be because I think he's a player on a completely different level"

"True..." the coach nodded and glanced Ayame and the rest of the bench player's direction, whose eyes were shining with determination and admiration "He might just be a player who lifts the spirits of both his teammates and opponents"

The game continued and so does Ayame's observation to both teams. She soon found out that the slow motion movements she could see don't only apply to a single player, but to one whole team on the court. However, it also proved taxing to her brain and to her eyes, since it requires a strong mental fortitude to keep at it but the motivation of the barbecue that they're going to eat soon pushed her to her very best.

Score: 06 (Karasuno) – 09 (Fukurodani)

"Leave it to me!!" Nishinoya received it to Kageyama's position.

"Nice receive!!" Hinata did his run up and jumped. At the same time, Akaashi and Washio jumped to block him however...

Karasuno's no. 10 purposely did a feint over the blockers, which shocked his opponents and even his own teammates.

"Hinata just..." Coach Ukai started, his face full of surprise.

"...did a feint?!" Ayame finished his statement with the same face as him "If I recall correctly, Shoyo-kun never did a feint before, and an on purpose one to trick the other team...Is this..."

"A feint?!?!" Bokuto was even more surprised than Ayame and the others.

"You're the one who taught it to him..." Akaashi said in an almost irritating voice since they're the ones who tried to block the first year.

The ace flinched in realization and guiltily avoided Komi, Konoha and Sarukui's glares.

The violet eyed girl flashed the shorter teen a thumbs up "Good job, Shoyo-kun!"

He grinned in reply "Osus!!"

"So the "super awesome thing" Tsukishima-kun meant earlier is Shoyo-kun's feint. Nice, he's learning new things as well"

The game resumed. Ayame and the others watched the whole rally as they noticed the air around their players.

"Everyone's doing really great today. And it looks like they're having fun as well" she smiled as she watched how lively their players are while playing.

"I wonder it must be because Bokuto-kun's influence" Mr. Takeda said "You also seem less tense than usual, Ayame"

She giggled "You're not wrong there, sensei. Telling them about my past is also one thing, since I felt so relieved and my head has been cleared from that stress"

"That's great to hear" he told her "I'm glad that you're okay now"

Kageyama performed a dump, which caught the opposing team off-guard.

"Oh! A dump! Kageyam-kun's also doing well today" the teacher said "He hasn't missed a jump serve today, either"

"Yes" she smiled as the dump slightly surprised her "He's calm and collected today"

The man nodded "Yeah. He gives you the same uneasy feeling as the calm before a storm"

"He-no, they might pull it off..." she softly noted as she observed his movements.

As the whole game continued, Hinata's timing for his spike was faster than the first tempo, and Ayame noticed that Kageyama was surprised as well, since they agreed not to use the new quick in the match. The setter tossed the ball to him and Ayame's violet eyes watched the ball carefully as it zoomed towards the tiny middle blocker in a fast pace and...stop, directly at Hinata's point of impact.

"This is it..."

He spiked it down the floor and shocked everyone in the gym. The whole court was silent as the new quick flabbergasted them. The weirdo duo stared at the ball on the floor and then looked at each other with a stupefied face.

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"UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" their faces looked like excited children who did awesome things, which in fact, is true.

"You've got to be kidding me!! If you're gonna do that, let me know sooner!!"

"I just felt like we could pull it off!! Didn't you?!"

"Wha...wha..." she shakily said, after they saw the new quick "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" she yelled, her voice echoed inside the gymnasium. Everyone didn't know if they are going to stare at the oddball duo or at Ayame who suddenly yelled.

"I feel like...I'm getting a weird sense of déjà vu..." the Karasuno bench players thought.

"I've heard her say that before..." then a memory suddenly sparked inside Yamaguchi head "Oh yeah, I remember now. She made that same face and words during the first time Hinata and Kageyama did the quick in the three-on-three match..."

"Amaaazing!! Good job for pulling it off, you two!!" she yelled and grinned at them "Kageyama-kun, great job for making that toss go shoop! then making it stop like pam! and for Shoyo-kun to hit it like wham! and go past the players like whoosh!!"

"Osus!!"

"They could understand that?!" Fukurodani's players looked at them in disbelief "Furthermore, she could follow that one hell of a quick?!"

"It's definitely like the three-on-three back then..." Tsukishima thought.

"They're the same species all right...these guys have their own language to understand that gibberish..." Tanaka sweat dropped.

"Umm...Ayame, Ukai-kun, to be honest, at first glance, I can't tell the difference between the previous quick and the current one..." Mr. Takeda asked for explanation to the two.

"Hai!! Let me explain, sensei!!" her violet eyes shined with excitement and the coach placed a hand on her head to tone her down.

"Tone down the excitement and drop the gibberish, okay? Explain it easily"

She mellowed down and pushed up her imaginary glasses "In the previous quick, Kageyama-kun's toss pass Shoyo-kun's point of impact at lightning speed"

She made a quick sketch to show what she meant and the teacher slowly nodded "However, in this new quick, Kageyama gave him the same toss but, instead of passing through his point of impact, it would directly stop at his point of impact. Once the ball's momentum reaches zero, Shoyo-kun can have more options while in mid-air than just spike it directly. Basically, the only difference in both quicks is that one moment"

"Oh, I get it"

Coach Ukai suddenly grinned evilly while giving off a dark aura "I need to make sure I need to bring that geezer to the spring tournament. I'm gonna show him the quick in person"

***

"The new quick was awesome but..." Ayame sweat dropped when Kageyama did the falling toss again, only to find out that it was a short one "It's not polished perfectly yet..."

"Oh dear..." Mr. Takeda said "Did he lose his incredible concentration from earlier?"

"Not really..." she replied "But I think he's thinking too much on killing the ball's momentum like his previous practices..."

The black haired setter was so pissed that an assurance from Hinata pissed him off even more that the shorter teen shrank from him in fear.

"Kageyama-kun, don't mind it!! You can get that point next time!!" she clapped her hands to catch his attention. He stopped and nodded.

"Osu"

Hinata sighed in relief as he turned away "Thank you for saving me, Ayame..."

Score: 10 (Karasuno) – 12 (Fukurodani)

"One blocker!!"

"One touch!!"

Kageyama received it and Nishinoya reacted first after he received it.

"Got it!!"

Fukurodani players were surprised that the libero made a follow up.

"As I was saying, your libero's toss, don't you think you're jumping too early?"

"You mean, when I make that toss?"

"Yes, your timing's too fast for you to toss it properly so, I suggest you slow down your timing a bit. Why don't you slow down in one step before you jump?"

He glanced down to time his running as he ran for the ball "Slow down in one step...one step..."

He followed it and jumped to make his libero toss that made Komi, Fukurodani's libero, stare at him surprise.

"Wha?! Their libero set the ball?!"

Ayame slightly cringed when she heard it "It made a weird noise. Luckily, Yuu-senpai's not called out for dribbling so it should be fine!!"

"From a libero's toss..." Sugawara grinned "...to the ace's back row attack!!"

Asahi spiked the ball past the blockers but it was sadly an out.

"Agh!! It was an out!! So close, though!!" she tapped her pencil to her sketchpad frustratingly.

"Gaaaah!!" Nishinoya kneeled down and messed his hair in frustration "Sorry, my toss was a bit low!! Damn it!!"

"I-It was fine" Asahi tried to assure him "I actually think it was my mistake"

"You need to be honest when I mess up, Asahi-san!!"

"Oh, okay..."

"Who's the senpai here again?"

"Ayame-chan!!" the libero faced her, which made the said girl flinch in surprise "That was low, right?! My toss was low, right?! Even when I did what you told me about my timing, I still messed up!!"

She thought for a few seconds before replying "Yuu-senpai, yes, your toss was a bit low. I'm pretty sure Asahi-san would appreciate it if you would toss the ball up a bit higher next time. Good job for the timing, by the way"

"Osu!!"

"You have my thanks, Ayame-chan" the ace nodded gratefully to her and she smiled back to him.

"That's it!! Keep it up!!" Coach Ukai told them.

Score: 12 (Karasuno) – 15 (Fukurodani)

"Got it!!" Nishinoya received and Kageyama was in position to set the ball.

"Now!" Daichi yelled. Four spikers were in position and started to make their run up.

"Four spikers in all direction...a shuffled block on Fukurodani's side..." she smirked "First tempo synchronized attack"

The setter tossed it to Tanaka and he spiked their blockers who were late in trying to block him.

"All right!!" the second year cheered before looking at his hands with tears on his eyes "It feels so awesome when a spike goes through..."

Nishinoya grabbed his shoulder and jumped up and down as he cheered for his buddy.

"He's crying..." the megane noted.

"He's babbling..." Asahi nodded.

"Well, it's been a long time since I made a spike this awesome..."

"Thank goodness!! The synchronized attack went smoothly!!"

"Ryu-senpai, nice kill!!" Ayame cheered, which struck the baldy's heart. His knees gave in and he was looking up while making a praying gesture.

"Heavens...thank you for giving me our angel's blessing..." he sighed before making a mocking and intimidating face to Yamamoto "In your face, ya bastard~"

The other second year was struck with thunder when Tanaka mocked him and took revenge from the time she was the temporary manager of Nekoma (when she cheered for Yamamoto yesterday).

"Yamamoto, don't mind" Kuroo patted his back, but his face has a shit-eating grin on it as he tried to reassure a crying Yamamoto.

"Kuro, if you're going to make him feel better, stop grinning" Kenma told him, thinking that it's like he's making fun of the second year's state.

"Ano...Coach, can I ask you something?" Lev approached the old director of Nekoma.

"Hmm? What is it, Lev?"

"I've been wondering for a while but...Ayame-san is no player, right? She never played volleyball, right?"

Two other first years, Inouka and Shibayama, were curious as well and approached them.

"Yes, that's correct. Ayame's not a volleyball player and she never played volleyball" Nekomata-sensei nodded "Why do you ask?"

"Then...how could she understand and formulate plays when she didn't even play volleyball before? She even knew how the team would feel when they're on court or even how the bench players feel. I really don't understand..."

"I...I never even thought about that" Inouka looked at the first year libero as they recalled the Golden Week match.

"Me too..."

The old man laughed and glanced at the calm and composed Ayame "You've changed, Ayame. Not only your whole team changed, but so are you. Not so nervous anymore and she's more confident in her plays than before. She's not panicking like before when the opponent's in the lead. A very good improvement, if I say so myself"

"Listen, Lev. And also, Inouka and Shibayama" he started "Ayame is what you would call a special case. Normally, coaches are usually former players since they understand the feelings of players who play. To construct a game play, a good starting line-up, and sharp reading of opponents, experience of a player is what you need. However, in Ayame's case, she's no player and has no experience in coaching and playing. She never played volleyball but she would fiddle with the ball from time to time. But! Despite that, she managed to counter us with her strategies and her line-up was well thought up. And you know why that is? She was born a volleyball genius"

The three first years' eyes sparkled in amazement "T-That's a cool title!!"