Haikyuu - I Am A Different Hinata!

The Karasuno players were stretching before the first game of the round-robin tournament began.

"Does anyone know who we're playing first?" asked Hinata as he stretched.

"Daichi's talking with the captains to decide that!" said Sugawara, watching Daichi chat with Kuroo, a silver-haired player from Fukurodani, a nervous-looking guy with a short ponytail from Ubugawa, and a guy with curly, puffy hair from Shinzen. After a little over a minute, Daichi walked back toward the Karasuno players, who had just finished stretching.

"It's been decided that our first match will be against Fukurodani," said Daichi as he approached.

"Fukurodani, huh… I'll get to see up close how good a top 4 ace really is!" thought Hinata, his eyes landing on Bokuto, who was laughing and chatting with Sarukui.

"Alright! Before we start, I just want to remind everyone that we're here to learn and test our skills, so there's no need to be nervous. After all, these matches don't count for anything!" said Ukai.

"Well… go out there and have fun!" said Takeda.

"Yes!" everyone shouted in unison, taking their positions on the court.

The game began with Fukurodani serving, Sarukui holding the ball.

"Sarukui, nice serve!" cheered the Fukurodani players as Sarukui served, sending the ball toward Nishinoya, who received it and directed the pass to Kageyama.

"Nice receive!" said Kageyama, positioning himself under the ball and thinking about the next play.

"Here!" shouted Hinata, waving his arms at the back of the court.

"He already wants to start with something like this…" sighed Kageyama as he set the ball toward the back of the court for Hinata, who managed to jump before the center line, launching himself into a powerful leap. As he soared through the air, he noticed a triple block from Bokuto, Washio, and Akaashi, who watched as Hinata spiked the ball past the block, slamming it violently onto their side of the court.

1-0 Karasuno.

"Wow! This guy's good! So the rumors about Karasuno being different this year are true!" said Bokuto, staring at Hinata.

"Of course. They wouldn't have made it to the finals of their prefectural qualifiers if they weren't stronger," observed Akaashi.

After Karasuno's point, it was Kageyama's turn to serve. After executing the serve, he watched the ball head toward Konoha, who skillfully received it.

"Nice receive, Konoha-san," said Akaashi, preparing to set the ball.

"TO ME!" shouted Bokuto excitedly.

"Alright, go for it," said Akaashi, setting the ball to Bokuto in the number four position. Bokuto jumped, only to face a triple block from Daichi, Tanaka, and Tsukishima. He responded with a cross shot that slipped past Tsukishima and landed on Karasuno's side of the court.

1-1 Tie.

"LET'S GO! WHAT A WAY TO START!" cheered Bokuto.

"No need to make such a big deal out of it…" sighed Akaashi as he picked up the ball and headed to the serving position. He served toward Hinata, who received it calmly.

"Nice receive!" said Kageyama.

"SEND IT TO ME! MY TURN!" said Tanaka, looking pumped for his first attack.

"Tanaka-san!" called Kageyama, setting the ball to Tanaka, who jumped energetically with a smile on his face. However, he also faced a triple block from Fukurodani. He tried to go for a cross shot.

"LET'S SCORE THE FIRST ONE!" thought Tanaka as he slammed the ball with determination.

Thud! After hitting the ball, Tanaka saw Washio appear like a wall, quickly moving his arms to block the spike and redirecting Tanaka's attack back into Karasuno's court, giving Fukurodani another point.

2-1 Fukurodani.

"DAMN IT! IT'S NOT FUN GETTING BLOCKED ON YOUR FIRST ATTACK!" complained Tanaka.

"Forget about it, Tanaka. Let's focus on the next one!" said Daichi, patting Tanaka on the back.

"We can already see how good they are," observed Takeda.

"Yeah… their setter seems skilled, and their ace looks very confident in his abilities… This is going to be a tough opponent!" said Ukai.

"Wow, there are so many tall people here! If I'm not careful, I might get crushed!" said Yachi with a scared look on her face.

"No one's going to crush you… Just stick close to me, and you'll be fine," said Kiyoko, laughing at Yachi's comment.

Akaashi served again toward Hinata, who received the ball and directed the pass to Kageyama.

"Tsukishima!" called Kageyama, setting up a quick attack with Tsukishima, who noticed the triple block and decided to feint, lightly tapping the ball over the block. The ball was about to land on Fukurodani's side, but their libero, Komi, dove to receive it.

"Nice!" said Akaashi, watching the ball Komi sent up come his way. He noticed Bokuto already running, clearly wanting the attack, so he set the ball to him.

"TAKE THIS!" exclaimed Bokuto, going for another cross shot that slipped past the block. This time, however, Nishinoya read the trajectory and positioned himself to receive the ball, sending it high toward Kageyama, who decided to jump and skillfully execute an over-the-line attack that landed on Fukurodani's side.

2-2 Tie.

"NICE!" cheered Kageyama, clenching his fists as his spike succeeded.

"Looks like you're trying to master that attack!" observed Hinata.

"Yeah! I need to become a more complete player," said Kageyama.

"See, Lev? How many of those receives Hinata just made do you think you could pull off?" asked Yaku in an authoritative tone.

"Wait… what?" asked Lev in a sleepy voice.

"DON'T FALL ASLEEP! PAY ATTENTION TO THE GAME!" scolded Yaku, kicking Lev in the ribs, which made Kuroo laugh. Yaku shot him an accusatory look.

"THIS IS WHY HE DOESN'T IMPROVE! YOU'RE TOO SOFT ON HIM!" complained Yaku.

"Alright, alright," said Kuroo, shrugging.