"Understood." Hinata nodded.
Under the gaze of everyone present, Hinata stood before Coach Washijo.
Coach Washijo lowered his eyes and did not look up at Hinata; no one knew what he was thinking.
Compared to Coach Kurosu, Coach Washijo's build was much thinner.
From the angle Hinata was standing at, he had no way of looking Coach Washijo in the eye, let alone having Coach Washijo look at him.
Under the wary gazes of the Shiratorizawa members, Hinata steeled himself. Adopting the mindset of "since I'm already here, I'll just be thick-skinned and ask," he dropped into a one-legged squat in front of Coach Washijo.
The orange little thing had just burst into Coach Washijo's field of vision like that.
Without giving Washijo any chance to refuse, Hinata, who had inherited the true essence of Kurosu, said, "Coach Washijo, I'll be in your care for a while."
On the other side, Coach Saito pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
This is some kind of forced sale..
Washijo Tanji looked quietly at Hinata in front of him, his gaze as sharp and deep as an eagle's: "Your coach wants you to stay at Shiratorizawa to study, so.. what do you want for yourself?"
Hearing Washijo's question, Hinata lowered his eyes and thought seriously for a moment, not answering immediately.
And Washijo just waited quietly, as if expecting a "wrong" answer.
In his view, there was no doubt that Kurosu wanted Hinata to learn aerial combat techniques from Ushijima. However.. Shiratorizawa's aerial combat techniques were not suitable for Hinata, making them of very low reference value.
After a long silence, Hinata said softly, "I want to.. use this opportunity to strengthen my receiving skills."
Based on this last set, his defensive skills are completely dragging down Inarizaki. Especially against Ushijima's kind of spike, he simply can't hold his ground.
In volleyball, a super Ace might not determine a team's ceiling, but a player with obvious flaws can easily pull down a team's floor.
Washijo's expression didn't change at all, but the hands folded across his chest relaxed a little.
His gaze moved from the top of Hinata's head to his eyes.
At this moment, Hinata suddenly realized that he was truly making eye contact with Coach Washijo.
His heart pounded violently, Hinata clenched his fists nervously.
Washijo Tanji felt somewhat overbearing: "Based on your performance so far, it's already enough. The fact is, you won. Is there any point in continuing to pursue a field you're not good at?"
The aura of an old-school powerhouse coach pressed down on Hinata, attempting to make him recoil and leave on his own.
Hinata tilted his head up slightly, meeting Coach Washijo's gaze.
Even though he kept his posture low, his eyes held absolute confidence and an unyielding stubbornness.
He spoke softly, "I am a lucky person."
When I knew nothing about volleyball, I was fortunate enough to meet my coach and my best friend.
From the very beginning, he, who knew nothing, was taken under Rishia Heisuke's wing.
He was no longer the volleyball novice who knew nothing, so he understood very clearly what it truly meant to have met Coach Kurosu, who was willing to mentor him back then.
It was a kind of luck, as if blessed by the gods.
And that was precisely why he could never.. stop here.
Hinata's voice rang out again: "Hoshiumi-senpai said that not having enough height isn't a reason for someone to be unable to play volleyball well."
I know very well that height is the greatest advantage in volleyball, but it should never be a barrier standing in my way.
Be a little greedier, just a little greedier.
Like a sponge that could never be fully saturated, constantly absorbing all kinds of knowledge.
In the world of sports, there is no shortage of geniuses.
The ones chosen will never be those who lack height but possess great technique; instead, they will be those who possess both sufficient height and great technique.
So..
Whether it's offense or defense, I must arm myself to the teeth.
“Only by doing better than anyone else in what I can do, can I have the chance to compete on the same stage as others.”
Hinata gave Washijo Tanji an unmistakably clear answer to that initial question.
—His pursuit was meaningful.
His goal was far more than just reaching the summit of the high school volleyball world; he wanted to go even further.
To even stand side by side with Ushijima Wakatoshi.. no, to surpass him.
The boy's eyes reflected the figure of Washijo Tanji, the reflected sunlight made his eyes incredibly brilliant.
Washijo's vision blurred for a moment; in a daze, he saw his younger self reflected in Hinata's eyes.
Hinata used the pronoun "I," but it was as if Washijo heard "we."
The entire gymnasium gradually fell silent.
Coach Kurosu raised his head slightly, squinting his eyes at the chandelier on the ceiling.
A smile that he could not wipe away played on his lips, with a slight tilt of his head, he shared a smile with the Inarizaki members.
Coach Washijo averted his gaze, no longer making eye contact with Hinata.
He seemed to be thinking about something, while Hinata watched Coach Washijo tensely, looking forward to an affirmative answer.
After a long time, Coach Washijo's voice rang out.
“You are not allowed to interfere with Shiratorizawa's regular training, you are not allowed to arrive late or leave early. As for training times, ask Wakatoshi; I don't care about anything else.”
Crouching on the ground, Hinata's eyes widened, he began to bounce with excitement, bowing three times in rapid succession to Coach Washijo. "Thank you, Coach Washijo! Long live Coach!"
Coach Washijo gave a cold huff and waved his hand at Hinata. "Get going, get back to your Inarizaki."
"Yes!" Hinata, who was fully allowed to stay and continue learning, bounced away.
Coach Kurosu also patted his hands, feeling in high spirits: "Shoyo, play one more set. Heisuke, you take a rest and use the time to stretch your legs. Also, there won't be any more chances after lunch, so Shoyo, grab the opportunity and try out everything you want to try."
"Understood!" Hinata was full of energy.
Author's Note:
I'm writing like crazy!
Chapter 48: The Forty-Eighth Fox
In the third set, Inarizaki changed their rotation; Hinata returned to the main Wing Spiker position next to Miya Atsumu, while the rotation placed Miya Atsumu as the first server in the back row.
With the experience from the previous set, Shiratorizawa easily locked onto Hinata.
Not to mention that his current position is right next to the Setter; he not only needs to receive the ball himself but also has to set for the Setter.
Under Coach Washijo's signal, Ushijima's spike precisely locked onto Hinata.
BANG!!
The volleyball slammed into the wall, making a heavy sound.
Sorry!
As he scrambled up from the ground for the third time, Hinata apologized while simultaneously locking his gaze onto Ushijima Wakatoshi.
He had been stared at like that in the last set, now.. he had more or less gotten used to it.
Ushijima, who was just about to turn back, froze for a moment the instant his eyes met Hinata's.
Admiration, longing, vigilance, fear.. none of that mattered.
At this moment, Ushijima saw only one emotion in Hinata.
“Ambition.”
The boy, who he couldn't even see at eye level, had "bring it on" written all over his face.
Ushijima looked down at him, finally turned to walk away.
—As you wish.
The spike came crashing down once again, this time a standard chest-level spike.
Although he was still knocked down, the ball didn't fly too far.
Miya Atsumu rushed under the ball without a word and raised his hands to set it to Aran.
Aran scored a point with a spike that hit the line, temporarily easing the pressure of the match.
On the second-floor stands, some teammates were already grimacing in sympathy: "Whoa, his mental state is just too good."
"Don't worry about it, keep trying." Aran said, clapping his hands to comfort Hinata.
It's perfectly normal not to be able to receive a spike like that; after all, it's just a practice match, the practice itself is what's most important.
Hinata looked up at Aran. "Aran-senpai, is there any way I can stabilize my lower body?"
I can judge my position for the most part now, but I'm always being knocked over by the ball, I can't seem to shift my center of gravity forward smoothly.
The only thing he could think of was using his knees to touch the floor to gain leverage, but before that, both Kita-senpai and Akagi-senpai had emphasized to him that even with knee pads, it was best not to make contact with the floor, so he dismissed the idea.
Kneeling down suddenly could indeed cause injuries, it wouldn't be worth it if it caused him to miss training.
Aran pondered for a moment upon hearing that, but before he could come up with an answer, Akagi on the other side had already begun to demonstrate.
If you can't support yourself on the balls of your feet before shifting your center of gravity forward, you can lower one leg closer to the ground like this—just a half-squat—to press your entire center of gravity down.
Imagine it feels like there's a stone tied to your lower body. That's it.
Hinata imitated him: "Like this?"
Akagi gave a thumbs up: "Exactly, just make sure you make contact with the ball on the front."
Miya Osamu looked at the people in the lesson and used his peripheral vision to observe Miya Atsumu, who had barely said anything.
In fact, there was no need to ask; he knew exactly what Miya Atsumu was thinking.
He had also been targeted by an opponent once before, combined with his mediocre condition, he was frequently diving to receive the ball.
After the match, the two of them immediately started fighting each other..