If there is an opportunity, will they meet on the same court again?
"Of course," Miya Atsumu replied.
Having received an affirmative answer, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief and bowed slightly toward Miya Atsumu in front of him. "I understand. Thank you, Atsumu-senpai."
Watching Hinata prepare to go next door to pack things with such motivation, Miya Atsumu felt a bit lost: "The Nationals.. is there a problem?"
He rubbed his chin and looked toward Rishia Heisuke, who had just walked nearby. "Do you know?"
Rishia Heisuke was a bit nervous, but he still answered honestly, "Ah, Shoyo mentioned before that when he was in middle school, he made a promise to someone that he would go much further than them. That person seemed to be a setter from a prestigious school."
Help, he really isn't good at dealing with this senior..
Miya Atsumu lightly raised an eyebrow upon hearing that.
—And which setter is this?
Before Hinata moved to Fujisaki, he was in Miyagi, there were only a few famous setters in Miyagi around his age.
One he remembered was Shiratorizawa's current third-year, Yura Shota, the other was..
"Shoyo seems to call them 'King'.." Before Rishia Heisuke could even finish his thought, someone had already jumped in to add to it.
"The 'King of the Court,' right?" Miya Atsumu accurately repeated the title that Rishia couldn't quite recall.
Hinata, who had returned carrying a bucket and a mop, heard this sentence as soon as he entered.
He said with some surprise, 'Do you know him, Atsumu-senpai?'
"I've heard a little about him, but unfortunately, I only know about his middle school days and don't know which high school he went to." Miya Atsumu stared at Hinata's expression.
However, Date Tech and Karasuno have fallen into decline in Miyagi Prefecture lately, while Shiratorizawa has dominated alone in recent years. If he hadn't gone to Shiratorizawa..
His words were truthful yet cruel: "I doubt there's even a chance to make it to Nationals anymore."
Here he goes again..
Aran sighed, muttering softly to Oori beside him, "Atsumu always likes to scare people like this; no wonder Hinata and the others are usually afraid to talk to him."
However, Miya Atsumu was right; Shiratorizawa was an extremely standard powerhouse, just like Inarizaki.
Their method of focusing resources on cultivating new talent would yield results faster than Inarizaki's, this year, a wing spiker who had been a focus of development since junior high is already heading to college.
And for a first-year to get a chance to play among the powerhouse teams..
Aran looked toward Kaifang Haru, who was passing by outside the door.
—It has to be a newcomer of this caliber.
Aran said, "Kageyama is receiving so much attention, he'll probably be specially recruited by Shiratorizawa."
They hadn't had any contact with Shiratorizawa yet for the new school year, so they weren't quite clear on the current composition of the team.
Shiratorizawa recruited Eita Satomi through special recommendation the year before last, so they likely pay attention to newcomers in other positions as well; perhaps the person Hinata mentioned is currently at Shiratorizawa.
Miya Atsumu's expression was somewhat inexplicably displeased. "Who knows.."
While Hinata was lost in thought while mopping the floor, Kita-senpai, who lived next door, reached out and knocked on the open door: "The arrangements over at Shirabu's place are finished; we're getting ready to head to the gymnasium."
New things quickly diverted Hinata's attention; his radar went up, he was filled with excitement.
The legendary three top Wing Spikers in the nation! I can finally see them!
Inubushi Higashi's gymnasium was similar to Inarizaki's; the No. 1 Gymnasium they used was like Inarizaki's No. 3 Gymnasium, equipped with eight courts.
And as the teams played practice matches against each other, they would only use two of them.
Time in the afternoon was also quite limited, so the coaches ultimately only arranged one round of four-set practice matches, allowing each team to get a feel for the others' capabilities.
Watching the player use his lower body strength to stabilize his center of gravity before leaping and forcefully spiking the ball that the setter had sent off-target, Hinata's eyes widened.
He couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "You can even spike a ball like that?"
Coach Omimi nodded, "Kiryu, who can spike even bad balls, is undoubtedly the most outstanding and well-balanced player among the current high school-level wing spikers."
Coach Kurosu added, "Kiryu's ability to adapt his spikes on the fly comes from his solid fundamentals; all his techniques are, ultimately, just variations of those fundamentals."
Hinata nodded. "I understand."
Currently, everything he has been learning step-by-step in the Second String is merely the most basic of basics, Hoshiumi-senpai's fundamentals are considered extremely excellent by both coaches.
He already knew clearly how powerful Inarizaki was, so.. he could not stop moving forward.
Whether it was receiving, serving, spiking, or blocking, he would practice them all with steady determination.
Watching Coach Kurosu patiently say something to a little guy by the sidelines, one of Shirabu's Middle Blockers, Bōwàng, looked toward Aran on the opposite side: "Since when did you guys get a manager?"
He is practically a traitor to the Kansai League.
We promised to stick together as brothers; whoever recruits a manager is a dog!
Aran said solemnly, "No, those are our seedlings in training."
Author's Note:
The strong one was actually me all along (?)
Chapter 18: The Eighteenth Fox
As Hinata was staring intently, Coach Kurosu spoke up and interrupted his thoughts: "Move your gaze away from Kiryu right now."
Hinata obediently moved his gaze away and looked at Coach Kurosu beside him, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Coach Kurosu found it somewhat amusing and raised a finger to point at Bōwàng, who was currently at the front row for Shirabu: "Don't look at me; look at their blocking."
“Shirabu's 'Twin Towers' block is also one of their strengths; you can observe and summarize it for reference.”
Upon hearing that, Hinata lowered his head in thought, trying his best to summarize what he had happened to notice just now: "The black-haired senior is a bit scary. How should I put it.. it feels like Aran-senpai is somewhat holding back?"
Coach Kurosu, who had originally intended to let Hinata observe how other teams' Middle Blockers played before speaking, was taken aback for a moment. He thought Hinata had only focused on Kiryu, but he hadn't expected him to have actually watched the others.
Coach Kurosu became interested: "Care to elaborate? You can just summarize the phenomena you observed if you can't draw a conclusion."
“Um..” Hinata glanced at the light-haired senior who had just returned to the waiting area, having completely failed to remember the man's name.
He could only say, "When that senior with the spiky hair is in the front row, Coach Aran can spike both straight and cross-court balls."
But after the black-haired senior moved to the front row, Aran-senpai only spiked straight balls, many times the opposing Libero would be waiting in the straight position.
"Sun-kun mentioned this to me once before, but I didn't remember," Hinata said, scratching his head somewhat sheepishly.
The overall progress of the Second String's blocking training is currently very slow, because of his personal reasons, the coach's focus in training him is on how to make effective contact with the ball.
Coach Kurosu nodded in satisfaction. "A very careful observation. This is one of the effective ways to block when facing particularly powerful wing spikers."
Leave a certain gap to induce the opponent's spike trajectory, then place a defensive player there to wait for the opportunity.
Hinata recalled the interhigh matches he had watched during this time. "It seems like Suna-senpai uses this kind of playstyle often too?"
Aran-senpai called it something like.. a mind-controlling block?
Coach Kurosu nodded. "That's right, but fundamentally, there is a slight difference."
"Different?" Hinata was puzzled.
Speaking of which, Coach Kurosu had a wide smile on his face. "Our level of serve reception and setting is far superior to theirs."
"Shirabu's purpose in limiting the blocking is to simplify the process of back-row receiving, aiming for greater stability to give the Ace a chance to counterattack." Coach Kurosu pointed toward Kiryu Ya.
“It's not that they can't exert stronger pressure; they were already aiming for outright blocks when this match first began. However, this kind of blocking can be adapted to, especially since they are facing Aran, whose strength is comparable to their own ace."
“To attempt a reckless shut-down under these circumstances.."
Hinata's eyes lit up: "The number of blocking errors will increase."
He knows how to do that! That's how Hoshiumi played through Inarizaki's block.
When the use of tips and various feints increases and the block can no longer suppress them, it becomes very difficult for Akagi-senpai to move and save the ball.
Coach Kurosu nodded: "That's right. The backcourt reception and the setter will collapse first, directly causing their greatest scoring option to be rendered useless."
The same applies to us; when playing against Itachiyama, Suna and Oori wouldn't easily try to shut down Sakusa's spikes.
"Sakusa?" Hinata heard a name he had never heard before.
Coach Omimi added, "Just like Kiryu, he is one of the current top three Wing Spikers. He is the ace of Tokyo's kings, Itachiyama, he's currently a second-year."
"A second-year! That's amazing!" Hinata said, his face full of shock.
To be at the national top level in just their second year.. that's truly incredible.
"Atsumu is only in his second year," Coach Omimi added.
Hinata said seriously, "Atsumu-senpai is also very amazing."
He turned to propose another point of discovery: "Who are the remaining one of the top three Wing Spikers, the other one of the top five alongside Aran-senpai?"
Omimi said, "The other one of the top three is Ushijima Wakatoshi from Shiratorizawa Academy in Miyagi Prefecture, the one who rivals Aran is Bokuto Kotaro from Fukurodani Academy in Tokyo, but like Aran, his condition is not very stable."
However, rather than being unstable, it would be more accurate to say that Aran is prone to getting overly heated and being influenced too intensely.
Fukurodani's.. is that he tends to become overly negative.
Coach Kurosu brought the topic back. "You're getting distracted. Getting back to blocking, I have a new idea."
Hinata looked back at Coach Kurosu.
"Generally speaking, this kind of induced block is an open strategy, the spiker will also feel a certain degree of pressure," Coach Kurosu proposed his plan.
I have been thinking about how to make this process truly imperceptible, now.. I've thought of it.
Kurosu looked at Hinata beside him and said, "Perhaps we can take advantage of height."
Height..
Hinata suddenly realized what the coach meant: "Coach, are you saying—"
Coach Kurosu made a shushing gesture toward him.
Hinata quickly covered his mouth with his hands, but his eyes looked incredibly expectant.
Seeing him like this, Coach Kurosu lowered his eyes with a smile, then turned his gaze back toward the court.
That's right, it's not just a large physique that can be used as a weapon. As long as it is used effectively, a small stature can be just as capable.