Miya Atsumu, who had been completely ignored by Hinata during the previous match:?
Chapter 26: The Twenty-Sixth Fox
That's true," Rishia nodded, "so the priority is still to get stronger bit by bit.
When we get back, do you want to practice that approach jump we didn't finish? Shoyo, try setting for me.
"Of course! I'll work hard to set it to the right position!" Hinata nodded repeatedly.
He had already studied some basics of setting with Kumagai, this time he definitely wouldn't set the ball into the river!
Noticing that Shoyo had looked a bit off since getting off the bus, Rishia asked, "Shoyo, are you.. feeling unwell?"
If he hadn't mentioned it, it would have been fine, but as soon as Rishia finished asking that question, Hinata was instantly overcome by a wave of nausea.
He already suffered from motion sickness, after looking at his phone for a long time in the car, he now.. really wanted to vomit.
Immediately after, a scream from Rishia echoed from the street: "Shoyo!! Don't die—"
Watching Hinata lie peacefully on the tatami mats, looking as if his soul had left his body, Rishia decisively sent Hinata Natsu, whom he had been wanting to play with for a long time, away.
He felt that Hinata needed to rest for a while, even though just a second ago, this guy was saying he wanted to go out and play ball with him..
Actually, there's no rush right now, really.
Rishia lowered his eyes, preparing to check again whether he or Hinata had any unfinished homework.
During this period, Kumagai was the only one working hard on his homework every day outside of training. They didn't notice at all that many of the questions he didn't know were just being glossed over.
Anyway.. as long as it's written, it's fine.
As he was getting ready to rummage through his schoolbag, Rishia suddenly noticed Hinata smiling foolishly for no apparent reason.
What are you laughing at?
Hinata looked at the ceiling of the room and said very seriously, "Suddenly, I feel extremely happy."
Back in junior high, I used to wonder every day what it would be like if the volleyball club had a lot of people, but unfortunately, by the time I graduated, I had only managed to recruit three people.
Training with everyone, even going on training camps.. I was so happy every single day!
Rishia also started laughing: "True, it would be even better if we had the chance to play in official matches; I didn't get to play many matches back in junior high."
But.. it would also be terrible if I went up and made a serve error.
"A mistake? You mean something like hitting Atsumu-senpai in the back of the head?" Hinata wondered.
The notebook in Rishia's hands nearly flew out of his grasp: "How is that possible! Then I'd be dead! It was just a normal error, like hitting the net or going out of bounds."
As long as it's not hitting a senior in the back of the head, it shouldn't matter, right?" Hinata thought seriously. "Didn't Atsumu-senpai make mistakes too? I think the one who should truly be worried about this is me..
"I've already hit Akuma." Hinata recalled his own dark history.
He was only glad that he hadn't spiked it toward Miya Atsumu.
Thinking about that scene, Rishia instantly felt his nervousness vanish.
True, a routine error won't kill you, but hitting someone would be a real disaster.
Thinking this, Rishia flipped through Hinata's notebook.
The room was silent for a few seconds before Rishia's trembling voice rang out: "Shoyo, you.."
"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, his eyes full of confusion as he continued to dream of a bright future.
Rishia broke down: "You haven't even touched your literature homework!"
Hinata sat up abruptly, his expression equally terrified.
Forget playing volleyball, finishing homework is a matter of life and death!
A service error won't kill you, but not touching a single bit of holiday homework really will!
The workload for the ten days of Japanese homework was quite massive, but fortunately, after rushing through it, I managed to finish. I spent the next day in peace.
With daily training continuing to progress, the Interhigh preliminaries in Hyogo Prefecture have also begun.
As a prefecture that, like Tokyo, Aichi, Kanagawa, receives two qualifying spots, Hyogo has many participating teams, the competition can be described as quite intense.
As the winners of the previous year, Inarizaki was directly seeded into the top sixteen for the Hyogo preliminaries, meaning they did not have to participate in the first two rounds.
The Hyogo preliminaries took up two weekends in total; the first week consisted of group stages, where only the first-place finisher of each group could advance to the top sixteen in the prefecture.
For Tokyo, this method of using group stages to shorten the overall length of the tournament was already considered quite fast.
The entire preliminary round in Tokyo would take nearly two months to determine the final two winners from over five hundred high schools.
However, even if they didn't need to participate in matches during the first week, Inarizaki still had to be present for registration on the first day.
Not to mention that every year, a few schools actually rise to prominence, there might even be an unexpected Dark Horse among them.
And.. experiencing the atmosphere of a major tournament is actually a very important thing.
When getting off the bus, Kita Shinsuke handed the name tag to Hinata: "Shoyo, this is the manager's tag; you need to wear it when entering the venue."
Hinata took the badge and spun around in place with excitement: "Oh! This feels so official!"
It is a formal match, after all..
Nagumo, a third-year substitute Setter, patted Hinata on the back: "There will be a lot of people these few days, remember to stay close and don't get lost."
Another substitute senior also laughed heartily: "It's fine, if you get lost, just go under our banner and call out for us."
Even though there are no matches today, our team flag is on-site, there are quite a few members of the brass band here.
Yes!" Hinata raised his hand. "But Kita-senpai, what is our team flag?
Miya Atsumu, coming from behind, reached out and threw an arm around Hinata Shoyo's shoulder, wagging a finger at him. "I'll take you to see it in a bit."
Hinata was exceptionally excited today: "Yes!"
Miya Atsumu suppressed his smile: "Alright, now show me your full spirit. Get ready to get off the bus."
Seeing the atmosphere turn serious, Hinata's original excitement and eagerness instantly subsided.
What are they going to do? Why has the atmosphere suddenly become so tense?
Miya Osamu directly undermined him: "Don't listen to his nonsense; just take it easy."
The members of Inarizaki got off the bus one after another, preparing to enter the venue to sign in.
Under Kita's signal, Hinata walked beside the coach, carrying a bag with towels and water bottles, followed by the regular members of Inarizaki.
The Municipal Kobe gymnasium was quite large, many times larger than the venue where Hinata had previously played against Kitagawa Daiichi.
A massive bulletin board stood in the center of the gymnasium hall, with the full match schedules for both the men's and women's volleyball teams posted on its left and right sides.
I heard Municipal Kobe is very strong this year; it seems last year's best Spiker from the Interhigh Junior High was from there.
Weren't their Libero also very amazing? I think they made it to the top sixteen at Nationals last year.
“But Inarizaki is still the strongest after all; they haven't fallen out of the top four in the nation for a long time, have they?”
That's true. Besides the Ace, Miya Atsumu has also been selected for the Junior National Team. His future is limitless..
The boys who had been gathered in front of the bulletin board discussing something suddenly fell silent, as everyone simultaneously turned their gaze toward a group of people walking toward the main gate.
The team uniforms, the same color as the shrine's torii gate, were steady and heavy, clearly exuding the aura of the strong.
Combined with the height and physique of the entire team, the moment they entered, they blocked the light from the door, making the hall slightly darker.
The boy who first mentioned Inarizaki said in a low voice, "Ah.. they're here."
The favored of the gods, the strongest challenger—Inarizaki.
The atmosphere in the hall, which had been quite lively, cooled down a bit as people began to whisper among themselves, their gazes constantly drifting toward Inarizaki.
Looking at it this way, that Owari Aran is indeed quite intimidating.
The twins are as overwhelming as ever..
The handsome and energetic twins are certainly popular with girls, ladies, gentlemen alike, but the crowd currently gathering in the hall to sign in for the tournament..
The light-haired boy, who had been standing by the vending machine, also heard the commotion and turned around, frowning the moment he saw the Inarizaki group.
Yukimaru, am I seeing things?
The black-haired boy wearing glasses beside him froze for a moment. "What?"
The light-haired boy squinted his eyes and made a circle with his fingers in front of his eyes: "Why is there such a little brat in the Inarizaki team?"
Bouncing around and looking everywhere, he looked.. a bit silly.
Really?" Seeing Hinata, Matou Yukimaru also froze for a moment, but in the next second, he noticed the key point. "No, Wakamura, he's wearing a badge; he's the manager.
"I told you.." After a soft click of his tongue, the light-haired boy turned his head and reached out to press the button on the vending machine firmly.
Inarizaki doesn't look down on short players.
—Just like how they didn't choose him and chose Nagumo instead.
Taking water from the dispensing slot below, Wakamura Souya unscrewed the cap and shook it toward the Matou beside him: "As it turns out, I was the one who won in the end."
Even if you make it into Inarizaki, Nagumo, you'll only be a substitute, you might even be pushed out by a junior.
—How embarrassing.
Matou sighed, "Miya is indeed excellent."
The smile completely vanished from Wakamura Souya's face. After letting out a long sigh, he said in a heavy voice, "This time, I will defeat them."
The two turned around, revealing the school name on their uniforms.
—Municipal Kobe.
The first round of the group stage in the arena had already begun, Miya Atsumu, just as he had said at the beginning, stood stationed under the Inarizaki flag with several first-years.
There were many matches today, so Inarizaki, who wasn't playing, only occupied a spot for their team flag, there weren't many people there.
Hinata slowly read the words written on it: "No need to reminisce about yesterday?"
He turned back to look at Unabara Uta, whose grades were slightly better: "What does this mean?"
Unabara Uta, whose results were only slightly better than Hinata Shoyo's: "Hmm.. I don't know."