Miya Atsumu reached out and put his arm around Hinata's shoulder: "See, all the setters outside are bad people, even Hoshiumi, who can set, is one too."
Hinata nodded earnestly: "Yeah, Atsumu-senpai is a good person."
Miya Osamu's face was written with shock: "Did you give Shoyo some brainwashing soup?"
How did he suddenly become such a good person?
Miya Atsumu pushed Hinata toward Aran, then turned and lunged at Miya Osamu: "Get lost, Osamu! What are you talking about!"
While the players were moving freely on the court, Coach Irihatsu walked over to Coach Kurosu, maintaining a very respectful posture. "Hello. Forgive my intrusion, but I have a few questions I would like to ask."
Coach Kurosu had already guessed what the other man wanted to say: "Please, go ahead."
"It's like this.." Coach Irihatsu briefly explained Aobajohsai's current predicament.
In terms of the scale of the Aobajohsai Volleyball Club, it was indeed a strong school lineup, but Coach Irihatsu himself did not possess the battle-hardened vision and experience that someone like Coach Kurosu had.
For Aobajohsai, their match schedule basically consisted of the Prefectural Tournament at the beginning of the year, the Interhigh preliminaries in the first half of the year, the Haruko preliminaries in the second half of the year.
At most, there were only about ten formal matches, even then, half of them were opponents with absolutely no skill.
Coach Irihatsu's connections are also limited; at most, he can organize training sessions with university teams within the prefecture.
In this situation, with a shortage of players to begin with, wanting to defeat Shiratorizawa was nothing short of a pipe dream.
The 2-0 defeat at this year's Interhigh is the best illustration of that.
After hearing Coach Irihatsu's words, Coach Kurosu was somewhat surprised: "Why do you think that?"
From my perspective, your players all have quite remarkable talent, not just the setters.
Coach Irihatsu was stunned for a moment.
Coach Kurosu said simply, "The difficulty of training a Libero is indeed high, good prospects are hard to come by; let's set that aside for now."
Both of your Middle Blockers are quite good, especially number 12; his potential is extremely high. Additionally, the Ace's execution and power aren't much different from Aran's, that number 3's receiving is also quite solid.
At this point, Coach Kurosu suddenly changed the subject: "You want to beat Shiratorizawa, don't you?"
Coach Irihatsu nodded: "Yes, we want to go to Nationals."
"In that case, I think you could learn a thing or two from Shiratorizawa," Coach Kurosu said.
"Hmm?" Coach Irihatsu couldn't keep up with the other man's pace.
Kurosu explained, "I mean, number 3 can be moved to a defensive position, like Ohira from Shiratorizawa."
And then, the issues with the blocker and the ace..
Taking out his own phone, Coach Kurosu placed a number in front of Coach Irihatsu: "Coach Kusubashi Michiko's number."
When it comes to blocking and improving an Ace's techniques, no one is more professional than her.
If you feel it's too far, Coach Aran from Karasuno can also clear up your doubts; in fact, they've had even more momentum over the past two years.
Coach Irihatsu felt as if he had found a treasure. "Thank you very much!"
The members of Inarizaki left at noon, while the members of Seijo, having experienced a crushing defeat, were very low in morale.
After comforting everyone, Coach Irihatsu quickly got to work contacting Coach Kusubashi.
There are only three months left until the Haruko qualifiers, time is tight; every little bit of progress counts.
Mizoguchi, the team manager, was responsible for the afternoon training sessions, in the evening, everyone was dismissed according to the holiday schedule.
However, even though they were dismissed, some people continued their training in silence.
Standing in the approach position, Oikawa Tooru raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
He had strengthened his serve during today's match, now he needed to strike while the iron was hot to solidify his touch.
Iwaizumi Hajime, who had originally intended to come and call him to leave, stood at the doorway. He watched Oikawa Tooru practicing alone in silence, in the end, he also put his bag back on the ground.
Serving.. I definitely need to practice that more.
Inarizaki's Libero, Akagi Michinari, is slightly stronger than Shiratorizawa's Yamagata Hayato, while Shiratorizawa also has Ohira Shion to secure the receive.
But similarly, Inarizaki is a lineup where everyone participates in defense, except for the Setter.
At this thought, Iwaizumi Hajime frowned.
A lineup like Inarizaki's is what a normal setter-centered team should have.
Even to take it a step further, if the Libero is strong enough, both the Ace and the Setter actually need protection.
And it was obvious that Seijo simply couldn't do it; they even needed Oikawa Tooru to handle the spike reception and counterattack work..
Thinking about it now, the gap is simply absurd.
Shiratorizawa was certainly powerful, but at least they gave them a chance to fight back.
The hope of victory was like bait on a hook, luring them step by step toward the abyss.
After that Interhigh match, his mind would often wander, wondering if a different way of playing a certain ball could have scored a point, if the outcome would have been different.
But after today's match against Inarizaki ended.. he didn't have those thoughts at all.
Especially after that little guy left the court and Inarizaki brought on Suna Rintaro, the sudden increase in pressure meant they didn't even have the slightest thought of a so-called "comeback."
To be lured into a trap by Suna Rintaro, to be blocked so completely during a spike.. it was truly despairing.
——Even if it happened all over again, the result would be the same.
Iwaizumi sighed, preparing to join Oikawa for extra practice.
At the same time, with a loud thud, the volleyball hit by Oikawa Tooru slammed against the floor and then hit the wall.
Tsk, it went out.
Kageyama looked at the ball he had just served and let out a dissatisfied click of his tongue.
Kageyama, aren't you going back yet?
Tanaka knocked on the iron door of the gymnasium, attempting to get Kageyama Tobio's attention.
Kageyama's expression instantly returned to normal as he said honestly, "I still have thirty serves left. I'll clean up and lock the door before I leave."
Tanaka spoke earnestly, "Don't stay too late; there's an important practice match tomorrow."
"Yes!" Kageyama nodded heavily.
It was precisely because of such an important training match that he was so excited he couldn't calm down at all.
The number one and number two setters in high school.. I'm so looking forward to it.
Author's Note:
Hoshiumi: Hahahahahahahahaha—Hikari-kun, come look!
[Video: Hinata's serve crushes Miya Atsumu]
Hirugami: That's brutal.
Hoshiumi: Hahahahahahahahahahaha—I want to watch this a hundred times! Next time we meet, I'm going to use this to mock him!
Hirugami Yukio: You could make it into a GIF meme.
Hoshiumi: That's a great idea!
Chapter 39: The Thirty-Ninth Fox
A new day, Hinata went out for a morning run with Rishia Heisuke as usual.
Encountering Kita Shinsuke again at the door while heading out to buy breakfast, Hinata raised his hand to greet him: "Good morning, Kita-senpai!"
Rishia Heisuke still hadn't woken up: "Good morning, Kita-senpai."
Kita Shinsuke nodded to the two of them: "Morning. I bought some curry-flavored buns; I'll put them in the microwave in a bit, so remember to help yourselves when you get back."
If left out, there's a high chance it would end up in one of the Miya Twins' stomachs; he had specifically bought it for Hinata, who was injured yesterday.
"Yes!" Hinata got excited.
Curry buns! I love them!
"By the way, does your finger still hurt?" Kita Shinsuke put the convenience store bag into the bicycle basket and reached out his hand toward Hinata.
Hinata handed his hand over: "It's completely fine now. Once the swelling went down, I could move it just like usual."
After the examination, Kita nodded: "Alright, go for your run, be careful not to get lost."
See you later, Kita Team!
Twenty minutes later, at the entrance of the familiar izakaya and the familiar crossroads, Hinata's voice rang out once again: "Heisuke, I think I'm lost again."
This time, Rishia was completely awake.
.." After two seconds of silence, Rishia reached out and grabbed Hinata, who was about to run off in a random direction, "Wait a moment, I'm checking the map.
At the same time, a rare scene occurred at Shiratorizawa, where morning practice had just begun.
—The captain and absolute Ace, Ushijima Wakatoshi, was scolded by the coach and then punished with fifty laps.
Wase Eita looked at Tendo Makoto and Ushijima Wakatoshi with a head full of question marks. "What were you two doing yesterday that you're being punished with laps here?"
Tendo wouldn't be curious about being punished, but the fact that Ushijima was being punished was what he cared about.
Tendo, who was in a good mood even after being punished with running, replied, "I went to see those guys from Seijo make fools of themselves~"
They got absolutely crushed by the foxes, their hearts were shattered into pieces too. It was so tragic.
As Ushijima's gaze turned toward him, Tendo reached out and patted his buddy on the back. "Don't worry, Wakatoshi-kun, I won't tell anyone about how you were blasted out of the court by the Seijo players yesterday."
Ushijima remained silent for two seconds before finally saying seriously, "I appreciate it."
On the other side, Yamagata Hayato, who was listening, could no longer keep his composure: "Didn't he already say it?!"
“Wakatoshi, you should be reacting to this, reacting!”
And besides, what were you two doing at Seijo! Being kicked out by Oikawa was inevitable!
Why?" Ushijima asked, puzzled. "We were asked to leave because they were about to hold a self-reflection meeting.
The third-year members of Shiratorizawa were at a loss for words for a moment.