Chapter 13: Chapter 13 : Neighbourhood Association Team
It has been several days since Nishinoya returned to the gymnasium after his suspension. During this time, there have been some significant changes at Karasuno High. One of these changes is the appointment of a new coach, Keishin Ukai, who happens to be the son of the previous coach.
[A/N: I know Keishin is Ikkei's grandson, but I'd prefer if he were his son for a more emotional and complex relationship.]
He was happy to join Karasuno High and started training with everyone with enthusiasm.
As of now, the team has gained new members, including third-year Asahi and second-year Nishinoya.
Izumi heard that Hinata and Kageyama convinced Asahi to continue playing volleyball. It wasn't working at first, but after dragging him to the court and making him talk with Noya and Suga, he now wants to play.
Upon starting at the Gymnasium, he was ordered by Daichi and Coach Ukai to run around the gymnasium, unless instructed otherwise as that was his punishment for skipping.
Asahi was in the middle of his warm-up when Ukai interrupted him with different plans for the day. Ukai invited his former teammates, who were known as the "Neighbourhood Association Team", to join them. They were expected to arrive at 6 pm, which gave them an hour to prepare.
Hinata and Kageyama wanted to practice their quick warm-up, but unfortunately, they couldn't do so because the court was already occupied by Noya. Noya had asked Izumi to serve him, and while practicing with Noya, Izumi's jump serves were improving significantly. Noya was an expert at receiving and was able to receive almost all of Izumi's serves.
Coach Ukai and Kiyoko were the happiest to see Izumi play. Ukai was thrilled to have been invited to be a coach for Karasuno as he had been looking forward to witnessing Izumi's plays after such a long time. He was excited to see how much Izumi had improved, and even though he had wanted to talk to him, Ukai remained focused on his job as a coach until he left the gymnasium.
"Alright, everyone, let's get warmed up. They will be here soon."
Following Ukai's instructions, everyone began warming up, but Asahi was still scared as he had been doing it all along.
"Man it's been forever"
Four men, who appeared to be the same age as the coach, entered the gymnasium as the warm-up began.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Guys"
"Don't mention it, its fun for us as well"
"Alright everyone get on the court"
Ukai put some players on the Association team
Neighbourhood Association Team and Others Starting Order
-Makoto Shimada/ Wing Spiker 5'10"
-Yukinari Mori/ Middle Blocker 6'0"
-Hidenori Uchizawa/ Wing Spiker 5'9"
-Yusuke Takinoue/ Middle Blocker 6'1"
-Asahi Azumane/ Wing Spiker 3rd Year 6'0"
-Yu Nishinoya/ Libero 2nd Year 5'3"
-Koshi Sugawara/ Setter 3rd Year 5'9"
Karasuno Starting Order
-Sawamura Daichi/ Wing Spiker 3rd Year 5'9"
-Ryunosuke Tanaka/ Wing Spiker 2nd Year 5'10"
-Kei Tsukishima/ Middle Blocker 1st Year 6'2"
-Izumi Saburo/ Wing Spiker 1st Year 5'11"
-Tobio Kageyama/ Setter 1st Year 5'11"
-Shoyo Hinata/ Middle Blocker 1st Year 5'4"
Izumi was standing on the back and was a little excited to play against this experienced player, the Ace of the Karasuno and the Guardian Deity of Karasuno
"Alright start the game"
Ukai declared from the side-lines
Hidenori Uchizawa served the ball, which was received by Izumi. The ball went perfectly in the middle where Kageyama was standing. By now, Kageyama was already used to getting balls from Izumi. Daichi and Noya were great at receiving and digging up the balls, However, Izumi was exceptional not just because he received the ball accurately, but also because he positioned the ball in a way that Kageyama could set it perfectly.
Kageyama with swift moments set the ball towards Tanaka who does a line shot from the right
"Yeah!"
"Nice shot Tanaka-San"
The game set off for a while and Hinata who thought of his role of Decoy lame got a lecture from Kageyama in an interesting way
Also, Noya, Suga, and Asahi got their situations sorted while playing the match
Ukai had organized this play to evaluate the team's skills. He was pleased with their performance, but he was also curious about Izumi's abilities. Despite having only heard about Izumi's skills from his father, Ukai was eager to see them for himself. So far, Izumi has demonstrated exceptional receiving ability and ball control. He was even able to receive all of Shimida's jump floaters, which was impressive considering Shimida's expertise in that area. Although Izumi didn't contribute much to the team's attacks, this was mainly carried out by Daichi, Tanaka, Shoyo, and Kageyama.
Izumi felt out of touch with the court and wanted to improve his understanding of it. He wanted to play the way he used to, but he chose to watch and work on his game sense instead.
Both teams were neck to neck with an 18-18 score, and as the game progressed, they planned to stop the game after this set. That's when Izumi got the ball to serve. Unlike his previous serves, he took steps away from the backline.
Izumi prepared to execute a Jump Serve. Across the net, Noya eagerly awaited the serve, ready to receive it. Izumi hit the ball with great force, sending it towards Shimida. Although Shimida was shocked by the speed, he was still prepared to receive it. However, he suddenly dodged the ball as it came dangerously close to his face. The ball hit the ground with a loud noise.
"Huh . . . ?"
"I-Its Out!"
Enoshita said from the side-lines which made everyone gasp at it
"Sorry"
Izumi missed his intended target and spoke to everyone present.
"I-It alright, that was a nice serve"
"Don't Mind"
Everyone was amazed by the power and speed of the serve. Although they were curious to ask Izumi about it, no one did. Instead, they handed the ball back to him, eager to see him succeed with his next serve.
"Hooo..."
Izumi took a deep breath and met Noya's pleading gaze, silently begging him to send it his way.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone