Chapter 80: Another Maniac

"This is bad..."

Keishin muttered under his breath.

Takeda who was sitting beside him, nodded nervously. The advisor's face mirrored Keishin's worry as he asked, "U-Ukai-kun, what should we do?"

Their spikes had been consistently blocked, and Kageyama's reactions to Tsuna had completely thrown their strategy out the window.

The plan had been to use both Hinata and Tsuna's intense pressure as a distraction to throw off Date Tech's blockers.

But now, everything was falling apart!

"This is bad because I really don't know what to do..."

Keishin sighed, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at the scoreboard, where Karasuno's lead was slowly slipping away. "If this were a practice game, I'd let them go crazy. But this is a tournament. I'm not sure if I should just let them do as they wish..."

But at the same time...

"...Fuck."

Keishin's eyes landed on Tsuna, and he felt a headache coming on. Tsuna's expression was intense he couldn't help but groaned inwardly. 'I can't call a timeout now. He's totally immersed in this...'

This guy was about to evolve again!

'Am I... enjoying this?'

Back in the court, Tsuna's thoughts were a whirlwind.

He was smiling, but the emotions swirling in his chest were overwhelming, almost suffocating. Tsuna totally didn't understand why he felt this way, but he couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face.

"Daichi!"

A loud shout snapped Tsuna back to reality.

He turned just in time to see the ball flying across the net toward Karasuno's side. Daichi lunged forward sharply to where the ball was landing and with a loud plop, he received the ball, sending it toward the front side of the court.

"Sorry, cover!"

Daichi bit his lip as he was feeling frustrated with the slightly off trajectory of his receive.

Date Tech's jump serves were consistently strong, and he realized he should've been more focused.

"Nice receive!"

Kageyama shouted, his voice steady as he followed the ball with his sharp eyes.

'Ah... that's right, I think Blacky said something about this...'

The scene reminded Tsuna of their practice game against Nekoma. Kuroo had mentioned something about him being in crazy mode, a term Tsuna hadn't fully understood at the time.

'I'm certainly frustrated my spikes keep getting blocked...'

Tsuna's legs moved lightly, his expression twisting further. He didn't care what he was feeling anymore.

All that mattered was breaking through Date Tech's wall!

His thoughts were clear as his vision seemed to have narrowed down to just the whole court as he couldn't help but think, 'I might be crazy. No, even if I'm not I'm definitely going crazy!'

'I'm going crazy with ecstasy!'

Tsuna's slow step forward might have seemed normal, but to everyone on the court, it felt like a wave of pressure crashing down.

His twisted expression grew more intense and alerted Date Tech players immediately!

"...!"

Futakuchi felt something crawl under his skin as he saw Tsuna's intense expression. He exchanged a quick glance with Aone, and both of them tensed up.

'It's definitely him again!'

As Tsuna ran toward the net and leaped into the air, Futakuchi and Aone moved in sync, jumping to block him.

But to their surprise...

"Huh?"

Not just Futakuchi and Aone, even Tsuna was confused. He swung his arm, only to find nothing there.

He turned his head and saw the ball flying to the other side of the court.

Hinata seemed to be equally surprised before leaping up as he swung arm and sent the ball crashing down onto Date Tech's court with a loud thud.

"...Fuck! He totally baited us."

Futakuchi cursed out loud while looking at the ball lifelessly bouncing off the court. Not a single one of them expected this sudden turn of events at all.

However...

"Hey..."

Tsuna turned to Kageyama, who had bitten his lip, clearly trying to stay composed.

The setter had resisted the urge to toss the ball to Tsuna, instead choosing the smarter play—passing to Hinata, when all Date Tech look at was Tsuna.

Tsuna then slowly walked up to Kageyama, "...you're ruining my fucking mood, Kageyama."

"Ah..."

Kageyama turned to Tsuna with apologetic expression, "Sorry, I should've told yo—!"

Smack!

A loud smacking sound echoed through the gym as everything suddenly froze.

"...!"

Kageyama's vision blurred as he fell to the ground with a plop, a searing pain spreading across his face. He turned his head, disbelief in his eyes, as he looked up at Tsuna, who had just punched him.

The referee's whistle blew sharply, and everyone rushed toward them, the court erupting into chaos.

"..."

The crowd sat in stunned silence, their mouths hanging open. No one could believe what they had just seen.

"I don't give a fuck what they call you..."

As Daichi and Asahi tried to hold him back, Tsuna kept talking.

He stared straight into Kageyama's eyes, his twisted expression now icy. "They might call you the King of the Court, but in this team, when I tell you to toss it over to me, you be a good boy and do what you're told."

"Hey, Tsuna! Calm down!"

Daichi shouted, his voice firm but panicked. Asahi grabbed Tsuna's arm, trying to pull him away, "T-Tsuna, please don't make a fuss..."

"Uwawawa..."

Hinata knelt beside Kageyama, his face pale in panic as he called, "K-Kageyama!"

Tsukishima adjusted his glasses, "...The fuck?"

Things escalated rather so suddenly and everyone was caught off guard.

However...

"Hey! Karasuno #9 and #11!"

The referee's voice cut through the chaos. Everyone in Karasuno tensed as Tanaka scratched his bald head nervously, muttering, "Ahhh, fuck! Why did he have to punch Kageyama like that!?"

"That crazy motherfucker..."

Even Suga had to curse under his breath.

"..."

At the bench, Keishin was cringing so hard he looked like he wanted to disappear. Takeda, their advisor, had already passed out on the bench.

"Do you even realize what you've done?"

The referee was speechless.

In his entire career, he had never seen such misconduct. And to make it worse, Tsuna had assaulted his own teammate, not an opponent.

'What in the world is he thinking?'

"..."

"Violence is not allowed on the court. I'm sorry, but I can't let this unsportsmanlike conduct go unpunished—"

"My apologies, referee-san!"

"Hmm?"

The referee turned to Kageyama, who had suddenly bowed deeply in apology.

"Aren't you the one who got assaulted?"

"I was being rude to my senior and was disciplined accordingly," Kageyama said, his voice steady despite the pain. "I understand it might be unsightly that this happened on the court, but could you please let this slide just this once? I'll make sure it never happens again."

"...!"

Everyone stared at Kageyama in shock. Known for his pride and stubbornness, this was completely surprising to them.

Even Tsuna raised an eyebrow, his anger dissipating slightly.

"..."

After a long pause, the referee sighed. "Fine. I'll let it slide this time. But if anything like this happens again, you'll be ejected from the game."

He gave Tsuna a stern warning before allowing the game to continue.

As the game continued, Date Tech finally had a chance to set up an attack after receiving Karasuno's serve.

However...

"..."

Tsuna moved quickly, receiving the ball with a sharp plop.

It floated toward Kageyama, who stepped forward to set it. The momentum Tsuna had unconsciously built up earlier had crumbled after Kageyama's toss earlier.

But Tsuna's desire to feel that bubbling craziness again was stronger than ever.

'I still want to feel it again!' he thought.

His intensity caught Date Tech's blockers off guard. Aone's eyes lingered on him before shifting to the ball.

'That short guy is moving too...'

Futakuchi thought, noticing Hinata darting across the court.

Although surprising, he felt a sense of relief. The earlier incident had made Date Tech realize they had been too focused on Tsuna, forgetting about the rest of Karasuno's players. 'We have to stick with read blocking this time!' 

As Karasuno's spikers moved closer to the net, Date Tech's blockers tensed up, ready to follow their movements.

They all watched closely as Kageyama leaped into the air, his hands poised to set the ball.

'Who is it this time?'

Futakuchi wondered, his eyes darting between Tsuna and Hinata.

However...

...as they waited for the toss...

"Huh?"

Kageyama suddenly dumped the ball over the net. The ball floated lazily, catching everyone off guard.

Date Tech's frontline players froze, their eyes wide as they watched the ball bounce softly on their side of the court.

Futakuchi felt his mind racing in disbelief at the sight as he couldn't help but mumble,"...He dumped it over after getting punched like that?"

On the other side...

"This motherfucker..."

Tsuna's anger flared again. He glared at Kageyama, who turned to him with a calm expression as the setter suddenly asked, "Why? You wanna get blocked again?"

"What... did you say?"

"You kept getting blocked over and over again. It's frustrating. You might not care, but I do. And so does everyone else on the team because we all want to win..." Kageyama's gaze was calm, almost peaceful, despite his sharp words.

The rest of Karasuno could only gulp, watching the exchange nervously.

Kageyama raised his hand—the same hand he had just used to score. He tilted his head slightly as his eyes seemed colder, "Since you're so useless..."

"...!"

The intensity in his gaze made Hinata shiver, sending a chill down his spine. It felt eerily familiar, and he unconsciously shrank behind Tsukishima.

"I decided to do it myself."

His words were sharp, and something clicked inside Tsuna.

Tsuna's expression shifted, the anger fading as a dark chuckle escaped his lips, "Ho...?"

"What is this...?"

Tsuna's face relaxed for a moment before twisting back into that intense, almost manic expression.

The bubbling feeling in his chest returned, stronger than ever.

His chest tightened, and he couldn't help but laughed out loud, "I thought you were a boring guy, but you seem quite fun too, Kageyama!"

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