He took a deep breath, his heart racing with uncontrollable excitement: "It's the smell of painkillers!"
The gymnasium was huge; when he had been here last time, the match had just begun, the scent wasn't as strong as it was now.
The moment he stood here, Hinata suddenly remembered that match during the Interhigh Junior High.
Thinking about it now.. it was already a long time ago.
Miya Atsumu looked at Hinata: "It's the scent of a match, isn't it?"
"Exactly!" Hinata nodded.
Shinsuke Kita, wearing a jacket, walked past the two of them: "Just smell it; it's best if you never have a reason to use it."
"Yes!" Everyone stood up and responded.
Watching Kita Shinsuke's back, Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu: "Um, Atsumu-senpai, won't the Kita Team members drop their jackets if they wear them like that?"
Miya Atsumu commented on this, "The shoulders of the Kita Team are quite reliable."
Hinata's eyes sparkled. "Ooh! That's amazing! I want muscles like that too!"
The muscles on his body were still quite thin; if he wore a jacket like that, it would definitely slip off.
Aran gave Hinata a thumbs up. "Eat more meat and do more strength training; one day, you'll be able to do it too."
Hinata nodded. "Yes! I'll add a few more sets of upper body training when I get back!"
Akagi's voice drifted from afar: "Leg training! Hinata, focus on leg training—you need to train your whole body!"
Spiking in volleyball doesn't rely solely on arm strength, but on the entire body; training arm strength alone is useless.
Seeing Hinata so motivated by everything, Aran said softly to him, "One more thing, the reason Shinsuke wears a jacket is because he thinks it's too hot, but if he takes it off, he feels a bit cold.."
Hinata's eyes widened.
As expected of Kita Team! There really is a legitimate reason; it's not just that Atsumu-senpai is only pursuing looking cool!
Aran beckoned to Hinata again, whispering in his ear, "In a moment, you.."
Kita Shinsuke clapped his hands, interrupting the others who were talking about his behavior behind his back: "Alright, let's get ready to go on court for warm-ups."
Inarizaki's opponent in the round of 16 was also Yamakita Boys High School, just as Coach Kurosu had predicted.
Yamakita's lineup was overall offensive-oriented, their Captain was the team's Ace.
—He's bald.
“So you've arrived, Inarizaki.” The bald Ace watched the pack of black foxes emerging from the opposite corridor and managed a somewhat strained smile.
Hinata followed at the very back of the team, with the seniors fully armed in their uniforms walking ahead of him, accompanied by the sound of majestic music.
Wait.. music?
As they stepped out from the players' tunnel, melodies composed of trumpets, trombones, snare drums cascaded down from the stands like a waterfall.
An overwhelming surge of emotion rushed through his heart. Hinata turned around, what met his eyes was a banner that read, "No need to reminisce about yesterday."
Go, go! Inarizaki is the strongest!
At the same time, Kita Shinsuke, walking at the very front, raised his hand, grabbed his team jacket, tossed it aside.
Like an unshakable king, he exerted a powerful pressure that the members of Yamakita could not help but feel.
Remembering what Aran-senpai had instructed him, Hinata took two quick steps forward and caught it before the jacket could hit the ground.
Clutching the jacket to his chest, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief.
Great, it didn't fall on the ground!
However..
Hinata turned his gaze toward the Inarizaki cheering section once again.
His lips trembled slightly, he was overcome with excitement: "This is.. just too incredible!"
Although I had always heard the seniors say that the cheering was incredible, is this what real-life cheering is actually like?
Too strong!
Seeing that Hinata was taking too long to recover, Coach Omimi called out to him, "Shoyo—towel—"
Hinata snapped back to reality: "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
During the warm-up, Hinata glanced sideways at Municipal Kobe, who were playing on the adjacent court, finally spoke up, "Um.. Coach Kurosu."
“What is it?” Coach Kurosu asked, looking at Hinata beside him.
Hinata carefully weighed his words: "I ran into Wakamura-senpai from Kobe last week, he said that you don't like players who are short?"
Coach Kurosu, who had been smiling, clearly froze for a moment. "Hmm?"
Who? Him?
After hearing the whole story, Coach Kurosu felt a bit of a headache: "Ah.. so it actually caused this kind of misunderstanding?"
Recalling the events of three years ago, Coach Kurosu said slowly, "Wakamura is indeed a capable player; in many respects, he is much stronger than Nagumo."
The reason I chose Nagumo back then.. was because I had already set my sights on the Miya Twins.
This time, it was Hinata's turn to be stunned: "Eh?"
Coach Kurosu nodded: "Given the talent the twins were already displaying at the time, there was no doubt they would become regulars for Inarizaki early on, so regarding the excessive setter role, I chose the more stable Nagumo."
“In addition, since the head coach of Municipal Kobe had explicitly told me that he wanted Wakamura, I simply let him go.”
Kobe is also a strong school, since Hyogo has more than one slot, there is more than one way to stand out, he directly yielded the player to Coach Kuchibira of Municipal Kobe.
Hinata's eyes widened.
So, it wasn't because of a lack of ability or height, but because Wakamura-senpai was good enough that Coach Kurosu didn't want to let his talent go to waste?
This kind of thing, this kind of thing..
Coach Kurosu sighed, his voice filled with self-reproach: "It's my fault for not being clear enough at the time. I didn't expect it would become such a thorn in that kid's side."
But still.. to lead the team to the top sixteen in the nation, you've done a truly remarkable job, Wakamura-senpai.
In the middle of the Kobe court, Matou nudged Wakamura: "That kid is looking at you."
Wakamura looked back, saw it was Hinata, gave a friendly wave.
The moment his eyes met Miya Atsumu's, he turned his head away with a sour expression, then prepared to serve.
After the warm-up ended, Inarizaki's Miya Atsumu served first.
The Yamakita Libero whispered, "Strong serve, get back and stay alert."
Under Hinata's gaze, Miya Atsumu, who had already taken his approach position, raised his hand, then..
Suddenly, his fist tightened.
At the same time, the music behind them came to an abrupt halt, as if Miya Atsumu were a conductor drawing a rest in a musical score.
Hinata suppressed the urge to shout, looking at Miya Atsumu with eyes full of longing.
So cool! That was way too cool!!
Miya Atsumu tossed the ball up, took three large steps, leaped in front of the baseline.
His hand struck the center of the volleyball, sending it flying toward Yamakita without any spin.
Everyone at Yamakita felt their heads buzz.
—A jump float serve.
Having done their homework, they knew Miya Atsumu's serve was a powerful serve, so their receiving formation was positioned quite far back; they never expected that what would come at them finally would be a jump float serve.
Unable to adjust their formation in time, the members of Yamakita could only watch helplessly as the ball slammed into their court.
Miya Atsumu scored an ace.
The cheering section for Inarizaki erupted into a thunderous roar: "Nice serve, Atsumu! One more!"
The Yamakita Libero was filled with panic: "This guy.. has he already switched to Dual Wielding?!"
Miya Atsumu's service game eventually ended with a four-point streak, only being interrupted on the fifth ball when he committed an error and sent the ball into the net; the opposing side didn't even have a chance to touch his serve.
Sitting beside Coach Kurosu, Hinata's clenched hands were already dripping with sweat.
The sounds of cheering behind him were incessant.
Hinata couldn't help but wonder if one day, he could also stand on the court like this, receiving cheers from the entire crowd.
That feeling.. just thinking about it is intoxicating.
As if sensing what Hinata was thinking, Coach Kurosu laughed heartily: "Inarizaki's cheers are never stingy when it comes to praising true champions."
“So.. work hard and grow, Shoyo.”
Just like diligent farmers who plant in the spring and harvest in the autumn, all effort is for that moment when everything blooms and bears fruit.
As long as they know that moment will arrive, all their watering and waiting will not have been in vain.
And Coach Kurosu considered himself a qualified sower; regarding the results of this seeding.. he never once doubted them.
Hinata nodded heavily: "Yeah!"
The final result of this match was without suspense, with the scores for the two sets being 25:19 and 25:17.
As the Inarizaki players' form and morale surged, the score gap widened.
Inarizaki's next match was the last one of the afternoon. After packing up his things, Hinata prepared to follow everyone to rest.
After having a simple lunch, Hinata, who still wanted to experience the atmosphere of the arena, decided to go for another stroll around the court.
As soon as he reached the second floor, he ran straight into Wakamura, who was buying water.
Seeing Hinata, Wakamura-senpai greeted him proactively: "Oh, we meet again, Little Orange."
Having already understood the whole situation, Hinata took a step toward Wakamura, no longer as panicked as last time: "Hello, Wakamura-senpai! That last match was so exciting!"
That final combination play was incredible!
Wakamura froze for a moment, then placed his hands on his hips and gave a smug smile: "Of course, you have to see who I am."
“By the way..”
Just as Wakamura was about to say something else to Hinata, a lazy voice interrupted him.