Haikyuu - I Am A Different Hinata!

"Tsk!" Asahi grunted on Karasuno's bench while the rest of the team drank water to refresh themselves.

"Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself... it was a great duel between you and that freshman, I don't even think he had the upper hand!" Sugawara said.

"But when it really mattered, I couldn't score the point..." Asahi said.

"Now is not the time to be a coward! Next time you'll spike again and you'll score! Have confidence!" Nishinoya said.

"It's no secret that Nekoma's team has been playing together for quite a while, and because of that, they have much more chemistry between their players than you do, so what I said before hasn't changed... we should keep attacking with everything we've got!" Ukai said.

"Yes!" Everyone shouted in unison.

The third set started with Kenma's serve, which was easily received by Daichi who directed the pass to Kageyama.

"Nice receive!" Kageyama said while observing that Inuoka still seemed to be focused only on Asahi.

"Who's it going to be?" thought Kuroo, who was convinced it would be either Asahi, Hinata, or Tanaka who were in the attack zone, but he ended up seeing Kageyama setting to Daichi who was in the back of the court. Daichi jumped and managed to spike the ball onto Nekoma's court floor.

1-0 Karasuno

In the next attack, Tanaka served and Yaku made the receive.

"Nice receive!" Kuroo said while positioning himself to possibly receive a set from Kenma, who again tried to fake by looking at Yamamoto but this time copying Kageyama's movement and setting to Kai who was at the back of the court and jumped before the middle line and managed to hit the ball off Tanaka's fingertips, making the ball fly to the back of the court.

"These guys are good!" Takinoue said to Shimada who were watching the game.

"Yes, it's incredible that Karasuno's team, who just started training with this formation, is managing to play as equals with Nekoma. It seems like the garbage dump battle has returned to its golden days," Shimada said smiling.

In the next attack, Yamamoto served and Tanaka received it with a good reception.

"Tanaka, nice receive!" said Kageyama, who this time decided to set to Hinata with a quick in the middle of the net. The ball traveled rapidly and hit Hinata's hand towards the floor, however, Yaku tried to jump to stop the ball which only hit his hand and went out.

"Tsk! I reacted too late!" thought Kuroo, who delayed a bit and saw the ball pass beside his arms.

After the point was scored by Hinata, Karasuno's team switched Nishinoya for Tsukishima, and then Kageyama served with all his strength, but Kai positioned himself and managed to receive it.

"Tsk! Everyone receives well in this team!" thought Kageyama, who thought this time he would manage to score an ace against Nekoma's defense.

After Kai's reception, the ball went towards Kenma who, after analyzing Karasuno's block, decided to set to Inuoka who faced a double block from Hinata and Asahi, and subsequently managed to spike the ball off the side of Asahi's hands and score a point for Nekoma's team.

"Nice!" said Inuoka while clenching his fists in front of his face in celebration.

"Nice point," Kuroo praised.

Now it was Kuroo's turn to serve, and it went towards Tanaka who again managed to receive it and passed to Kageyama who decided to set to Asahi who again faced Inuoka's block. Inuoka had to run from the other side of the net to try to reach Asahi's spike in time but couldn't make it.

"Nice spike!" shouted Sugawara from the bench. "Thanks," Asahi thanked him, waving.

After Karasuno's point, Kuroo left the court and gave way to Yaku who was on the bench, and then Hinata went to the serving position.

"Let's do this!" thought Hinata while using his quick serve aiming at Inuoka who was now in the defense zone and ended up not making a good reception, sending the ball back to Karasuno's court.

"Sorry!" said Inuoka while watching the ball returning to Karasuno.

"Free Ball!" shouted Nishinoya while directing the ball to Kageyama who decided to do a quick to Tsukishima who received a double block from Fukunaga and Yamamoto and tapped the ball over the block, making it fall on Nekoma's court floor.

"Nice point!" said Tanaka while patting Tsukishima's back, who didn't seem to care much.

"This other first-year is also good, he's very intelligent. He might not have as much power in his attacks as Hinata but he's just as good at reading blocks and attacks intelligently," Nekomata observed.

Hinata served again, aiming at Inuoka who this time managed to receive and put the ball in play towards Kenma who set to Yamamoto who received a double block from Daichi and Tsukishima but skillfully managed to hit the ball off the side of Daichi's hands and score the point.

"I'm counting on you!" said Hinata while leaving the court for Nishinoya to enter.

After Hinata left the court, the game continued evenly but with a slight advantage for Nekoma's team who, with their solid reception, managed to stop some of Karasuno's spikes.

However, Kuroo had returned to the court before Hinata, and it was at this moment that Nekoma's team opened their largest lead when Hinata wasn't on the court and Kuroo was being a big problem in blocks until finally it was time for Hinata to return to the court with the score showing 13-7 for Nekoma.

"Hey, Kageyama! Send all the balls to me!" said Hinata with an extremely confident look. "Alright," said Kageyama who also thought betting their chips on Hinata would be their best chance of winning.

"Looks like we're back to our little duel..." Kuroo provoked.

"It would be a duel if you faced me alone and not with a double block always... but no problem, you won't be able to stop me in the next few minutes!" Hinata provoked with a confident look that sent chills down Kuroo's spine.

The game resumed with Kageyama serving and being well received by Yaku who directed the pass to Kenma who set to Kuroo in the middle of the net. Kuroo tried to delay his timing, but this time he was read by Hinata, Asahi, and Tanaka who jumped and managed to soften Kuroo's spike that hit Asahi's hands.

"Free Ball!" shouted Daichi while passing to Kageyama who, as promised, set to Hinata who faced Kuroo and Yamamoto's block and with a powerful cross-court spike that exploded off Kai's arms and flew out.

After that point, Hinata started running around the court as a decoy, making Kuroo and the rest of Nekoma's blockers constantly follow his runs, making it easier for the rest of the team to score. And when the ball came to him in normal attacks and quicks, most were ending in points for Karasuno, who managed to get back in the game until the moment Hinata had to return to the bench, and the story of the game repeated itself until the score was showing 31-30 for Nekoma.

"Let's get this one!" shouted Daichi!

"YES!" everyone shouted in unison.

"We're not going to lose, right?" Kuroo asked towards Nekoma's team.

"NO!" everyone responded.

The game resumed with a powerful serve from Hinata.

"It's mine!" said Yaku receiving the serve and falling backwards, and then the ball went to Kenma who after a fake with his eyes made a dump shot. "You're not doing that again!" said Nishinoya who this time managed to stop the ball with his foot which went towards Kageyama who made an underhand set to Hinata at the back of the court who jumped before the line and hit the ball towards the middle of Nekoma's court, however, Inuoka put his body in front and ended up taking the ball to the face and then the ball returned to Karasuno's court.

"Free Ball!" shouted Daichi while passing to Kageyama who this time set to Asahi who faced a double block again, but managed to spike the ball between the blockers' arms towards Nekoma's court floor but saw Yaku diving and making the reception again and going towards Kenma who faked looking at Kuroo but when the ball was coming his way... he surprised everyone on the court by jumping and pushing the ball into the middle of Karasuno's court with both hands.

32-30 Nekoma.

Note: Hey readers, I'd like to ask if you miss the listing of how many points each player scored in the match, would you like me to bring that back? Thanks for reading.