Of course, this was also a training session that Hinata could officially participate in, rather than just watching from the sidelines like during a practice match.
For Hinata, whose fundamentals were relatively weak, these single but detailed training drills were actually what he needed most.
On the last day of Golden Week, after the morning matches concluded, the various schools began to head back one after another. Especially Shirabu, who was far away in Oita, left without even having lunch.
"Goodbye, Shoyo!" Kai stood at the entrance of Inubushi Higashi, waving to Hinata as he was about to board the Inarizaki bus.
Goodbye, to him not being the little one who gets scolded the most during receiving drills.
He will miss him.
“See you! Kiyoharu! See you in summer!” Hinata also waved to him.
In the second half of this month, the Interhigh preliminaries in Hyogo Prefecture will gradually begin.
By the time summer vacation arrives, each school will organize one last training camp before the Interhigh tournament begins.
By then.. he will definitely become even stronger than he is now!
As Hinata Shoyo sat on the bus heading back to school after the training camp, feeling drowsy, he received an email from Kozume Kenma.
The content of the email was a video of a match, seemingly recorded by someone on the coaching bench with a mobile phone; the footage was quite shaky.
Watching Hinata open a video, Rishia Heisuke, who was beside him, also perked up: "What? Match footage?"
The video began with a sweep of the camera operator's own team, Rishia Heisuke recognized the Nekoma High School members at a glance.
Rishia commented, "So their uniforms look like this, they're so red."
Hinata didn't have the sound on, so he could only see Kenma say something to the camera, after which the camera shook up and down as if in affirmation.
Miya Atsumu poked his head out: "What video? Let me see too. Which school is that across from us? It's just a sea of black.."
Seeing Miya Atsumu crowding closer and closer in the front row, Kumagai, who was sitting in the aisle seat, decisively stood up to make room for him. "Atsumu-senpai, sit here."
Atsumu gave a small chuckle and sat down next to Hinata.
Thinking back to what Hinata and Kenma had discussed that day, Atsumu also realized, "So this is that Karasuno?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, Kenma had Shibayama film it."
He thought Kenma would only give him a brief summary, but he didn't expect him to have actually obtained the footage.
Both sides were confirming the rotation. While Hinata hadn't noticed anything yet, Miya Atsumu was already frowning slightly: "Is Karasuno.. running a counterattack rotation?"
"What?" Hinata was stunned for a moment.
The camera had just swept over the person at Karasuno's Position 1; although he couldn't see clearly, he.. felt strangely familiar.
Miya Atsumu voiced his confusion: "No, that guy with the small ponytail—based on his momentum and physique, he should be the Ace. Why is he rotating from Position 2?"
Generally, the Ace starts at Position 4, or if the Setter starts, they might be placed in Position 5. Why is Karasuno's player in this position?
Miya Atsumu reached out and turned up the volume on Hinata's phone by two notches.
Hinata's phone screen wasn't large, the resolution was low, so the entire image looked very blurry.
A voice from Shibayama came through the phone, asking Coach Nekota, "Is Karasuno's number 9 starting? Their Setter is number 2, right?"
Regarding this point, Miya Atsumu's judgment was the same as Coach Nekota's.
—The number 9 player's serve must be exceptional.
At this moment, the camera focused on the area behind the middle of the Karasuno court where the serve would be made, as the boy wearing the number 9 jersey had already walked to the starting position of his approach with the ball in hand.
Hinata's hand gave an inexplicable twitch.
Miya Atsumu simply thought he hadn't held it firmly and didn't pay it any mind.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Rishia Heisuke immediately noticed Hinata's expression, which looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Before Rishia could even ask, a whistle sounded from Hinata's phone.
The next second, accompanied by a heavy thud of impact, the volleyball was sent toward Nekoma's side with intense spin.
Miya Atsumu was slightly surprised. "Whoa, that was a great jump serve."
To be honest, his only impression of Karasuno was the "Little Giant"; everything else had been forgotten along with the team's long decline. As for Miyagi Prefecture, the only school he could still name was Shiratorizawa.
Does Karasuno, which has been absent from the national stage for many years, actually have a player with such powerful serves?
Free ball!
This kind of powerful serve can easily achieve an effect similar to a first-sight kill; Nekoma's side failed to receive it steadily, it flew straight back toward Karasuno's side.
Just as Miya Atsumu was about to see how good that Position 2 Setter was, he suddenly discovered that the player in Position 2 had already moved to the center to switch places with Position 1 for a cross attack.
Wait.. who tossed the ball?
The number 9 who just served had already moved to the attack line, raising his hand to set the ball to the number 5 jumping in the back row while everyone was focused on the front row.
—Karasuno scored with a back-row attack.
Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin. "Is this.. a 4-2?"
Watching the phone in Hinata's hands shake more and more, Miya Atsumu frowned. "Hold it steady, don't shake it, let me take another look."
This time, no energetic response came from Hinata's side for a long time.
He turned his head in surprise and saw Rishia looking at Hinata in a panic, while Hinata's face was deathly pale, as if he had seen something that shouldn't exist.
Miya Atsumu asked, confused, "What's wrong?"
Shouldn't he be asking what a 4-2 was at a time like this? Miya Atsumu was already prepared to explain it to Hinata.
"King.. King.." Hinata's voice was very soft; if you weren't listening closely, you might miss it.
Huh?" Miya Atsumu blinked, "King?
This shout seemed to flip a switch in Hinata, who, still caught in a state of panic, suddenly yelled, "How can the King be at Karasuno?!"
That shout even startled Suna, who had been sleeping in the front row, awake.
When everyone from Inarizaki turned to look, Hinata hurriedly covered his mouth and ducked behind the back of the front row's chair.
Rishia Heisuke, sitting beside him, quickly waved his hand to signal that it was fine, then lowered his head to huddle behind the back of the chair with Hinata to continue watching the video.
But the chair back could block Hinata, though it couldn't hide the larger Rishia.
Watching the two of them acting like thieves, Miya Atsumu was speechless: "You two should actually sit up and watch.."
The Inarizaki bus stopped at the school gate, the group soon dispersed to head home.
But after greeting Miya Osamu, Miya Atsumu went to the coach's side. "Coach, I think we should arrange a practice match with Karasuno."
"Karasuno? Why would we play them?" Coach Kurosu was taken aback.
Miyagi Prefecture is too far; they certainly won't take the initiative to go there.
Moreover, setting aside whether Karasuno has the budget or not, Karasuno's performance in recent years hasn't been good enough to warrant them requesting a practice match.
Miya Atsumu explained, "I think we should let Shoyo go all out and crush that court king once."
Based on what he just saw Hinata say, Miya Atsumu believed that Hinata needed to win once to find his own confidence.
“Hmm?” Coach Kurosu was taken aback.
Although he didn't know what had happened, he didn't think Hinata would be that discouraged, but since Atsumu said so, it probably wasn't without reason.
He thought seriously about Miya Atsumu's suggestion. "Let's look back later. If Shiratorizawa is free.. maybe we could stop by on the way?"
If we were to invite Shiratorizawa, we could certainly treat Karasuno as an appetizer.
However, Shiratorizawa is closed and very busy, so they probably won't have the time.
And besides.. he wasn't very good at getting along with that Coach Washijo from Shiratorizawa.
At the same time, Rishia, who was traveling with Hinata, also looked at him: "What's the deal between you and that King? Do you think he doesn't look good in black?"
Rishia knew that Hinata wouldn't possibly be afraid of an opponent just because he had lost a match to them.
Even if he appears to be acting out of fear, there must be another reason.
After all.. Hinata had also sworn that he would go further than anyone else.
"How could it be such an absurd reason!" Hinata's eyes widened.
Rishia was even more confused: "Then why? It couldn't be because he thinks it doesn't match the holy land in your mind, could it?"
Hinata fell silent.
This time it was Rishia's turn to be shocked: "Are you serious? Is that really the reason?"
Without even realizing it, he had already traveled quite a distance down the same path of sarcasm that Aran had taken.
It was just that Aran's complaints were directed at the twins, while his were directed at Hinata.
Hinata's expression twisted slightly. "It's just that I suddenly realized, if I hadn't come to Hyogo and had gone to Karasuno instead, wouldn't it mean.."
On the same team as that King?!
Rishia blinked: "Didn't Atsumu-senpai say that the King's level as a Setter is also quite passable? Being on the same team as a high-level Setter is what Shoyo expects, right?"
To receive such an evaluation from Miya Atsumu was already quite impressive; after all, even Kumagai had only received evaluations from Miya Atsumu stating that he wasn't particularly good at anything.
Besides, he felt that Hinata was not the kind of person to refuse to cooperate just because of a little conflict and shadow.
No, no, no, that's not the point.." Hinata tried to organize his words, eventually remembering something a certain senior had said, "That Ace has a really terrible personality!
Under Rishia Heisuke's "how bad could it really be" expression, Hinata used his hands to trace a large circle in the air.
“Just as bad as Atsumu-senpai! And super—scary!”
Rishia Heisuke remained silent for a long time before nodding. "I can imagine."
After venting the words he had been suppressing for a long time, Hinata's expression became extremely serious.
He said with utmost seriousness, "Besides.. if I were on his team, there would be no way to defeat him."
Author's Note:
The three of them finished watching the Karasuno footage.
Miya Atsumu: This King.. is at least somewhat decent.
Hinata: Yeah, he's amazing. (Actually, he didn't quite understand it, but because he had been beaten so badly before, he instinctively felt he was amazing)
Rishia.. (Seeing through everything)