Hinata pushed off the ground and dove, his hands just barely touching the ball.
Because he was still unpracticed with the diving, his chest hit the ground first, it hurt terribly.
"Nice play!" Miya Atsumu rushed out of bounds to prepare for the dig.
Suna leaped in the middle of the front row, still using the simplest three-man attack, the only downside being that Miya Atsumu's position was a bit far, making the set arrive a little late.
After jumping, Suna twisted his entire upper body and spiked a heavy, spinning straight ball.
His serve speed was equally not to be underestimated, Goshiki Tsutomu nearly fumbled it as it was aimed directly at him.
Shirabu rushed over immediately to make the save.
He set the ball for Tendo to pull it wide, but Akagi received it steadily.
Miya Atsumu stepped forward to set the ball, Suna Rintaro had already begun his approach.
This time, Suna's approach was with a larger stride than before; instead of maintaining a one-footed takeoff on his final step, he brought his right foot forward and jumped with both feet.
With a heavy thud, Suna met Shiratorizawa's block, having jumped higher than he ever had before.
Tendo watched Suna's movements, trying to guess what angle Suna would use to spike.
However, this was a semi-overhand serve; shouldn't he lean back slightly to adjust his contact point?
In the moment Tendo was thinking, a figure leaped from the back row, raising his hands to spike the high ball that Miya Atsumu had tossed just behind Suna Rintaro.
Ohira was also stunned.
A back attack? That little guy actually knows how to play back-row attacks?
Hinata, having already jumped to his highest point, spiked a deep cross-court shot. With Shiratorizawa's defense concentrated on the center to cover Suna, the deep cross-court lines on both sides were the best way to score.
With a loud thud, Hinata scored the point.
Hinata landed on the ground, feeling fortunate that he hadn't stepped on the line during his back-row attack.
Rishia Heisuke, standing by the sidelines, shouted excitedly, "Nice play!"
This was the first time he had seen Hinata perform such a complete pipe attack from the third position.
Meanwhile, Hinata already had eyes full of excitement as he opened his arms toward Suna, signaling for him to come and give him a hug.
Suna-senpai's cover on that last play was just too good!
Seeing Hinata's movement, Suna, who had originally intended to high-five him, froze.
In the end, he still bent down slightly following Hinata's movement and shared a hug with him.
Watching Suna and Hinata hugging, Miya Atsumu's face darkened slightly: "Rintaro, what.. are you doing?"
Suna let go of Hinata and replied seriously, "Celebrating."
Miya Atsumu, having shot himself in the foot, grabbed Hinata by the arm: "Shoyo, you can't just hug anyone, you can only hug.."
His brain worked at high speed for a moment before Miya Atsumu finally blurted out two words: "Setter!"
That's right! You can only set!
Hearing Miya Atsumu's words, Hinata's expression was one of pure shock, unable to comprehend it for a moment.
There are actually so many unwritten rules on the court!
Forget it, he'll just stick to high-fives from now on; a high-five is definitely a safe bet.
Because of the point gap caused by the early-game suppression, even though Inarizaki found a bit of rhythm later on, they ultimately failed to secure a victory, losing the third set with a disappointing score of 21:25.
However, Coach Kurosu was very satisfied with the gains from this match.
He confirmed that Hinata could receive Ushijima's spikes, he had even made preliminary attempts at back-row attacks, which even left the old man Washijo quite shocked..
Very good, very good indeed.
After a whole day of training matches, everyone was quite exhausted, in the end, Inarizaki secured more victories.
As the sun began to set, Coach Kurosu called a halt to the final set that was still in progress.
They needed to hurry back to the guesthouse to pack their things, let everyone take a shower and eat dinner, then head out to catch the Shinkansen.
The tickets Coach Kurosu booked were for the evening; they would sleep for a bit on the train and then return to Hyogo. The schedule was still quite tight, they couldn't afford any more delays.
Watching the retreating figures of the Inarizaki members, Goshiki Tsutomu, who had suffered his first crushing defeat since entering high school, let out a long sigh of relief.
He asked Shirabu, "That little number 17, he's coming tomorrow?"
Shirabu nodded. "Yeah, he just asked Ushijima-senpai for our training schedule, so he'll likely come for early training."
"Fine, I definitely won't lose to him!" Goshiki Tsutomu said, full of energy.
They are all reserves for the Ace, before challenging Ushijima-senpai.. let him use Hinata for practice first!
On the other side, the Inarizaki members had finished resting at the guesthouse.
Everyone looked toward the entrance of the guesthouse from the road, where Coach Omimi was standing, refusing to let go of Hinata's hand.
"We're leaving. You must do your best at Shiratorizawa, listen to Coach Washijo," Coach Omimi said, patting Hinata's hand and offering his earnest advice.
Ushijima is a good boy. If anyone else bullies you, you can ask him for help.
"However, if the people from Shiratorizawa bully you.." Omimi's originally kind expression suddenly turned sinister and terrifying.
Come back and tell us, we'll get your revenge for you when the Interhigh comes.
"Understood!" Hinata responded loudly.
Early the next morning, Hinata arrived at the gates of Shiratorizawa on his bicycle.
As agreed from the beginning, he waited at the school gate for Ushijima Wakatoshi, who was out for a morning run.
Hinata summoned his courage and greeted the other, "Good morning, Ushijima-senpai!"
Although Ushijima-senpai is terrifying on the court, still..
No, there is no "but." Even off the court, he possesses an air of majesty.
"Good morning." Ushijima nodded to him.
His gaze swept over Hinata's Inarizaki uniform, Ushijima led him into the Shiratorizawa Volleyball Gym.
Shiratorizawa's daily training regimen was not much different from Inarizaki's, with Coach Washijo's permission, Hinata also joined the First String to conduct basic drills together.
Receiving, spiking—these are all things that require day-after-day of accumulation to have the chance to reach the next level.
It was tedious, but Hinata enjoyed it.
But the training didn't last long; the morning wasn't even over before the Second String started wrapping up.
While Hinata was still in a daze, a light-haired boy wearing a yellow-green uniform stepped into the Shiratorizawa Volleyball Gym.
His gaze swept over Hinata's exceptionally eye-catching red jersey, the boy took a sudden step back to look at the sign outside the door, which read Shiratorizawa.
He looked at the masked boy following beside him. "This is Shiratorizawa, not Inarizaki, right?"
The other replied, "Probably.."
Author's Note:
Passionately created a character card [Pigeon]
Stop blocking my words with this ridiculous censorship..
Chapter 49: The Forty-Ninth Fox
Who?
Hinata tilted his head slightly and saw two people peeking inside through the door.
That uniform was truly eye-catching; Hinata confirmed that no such thing had ever appeared in his memory.
As it happened, the person who had entered first was also looking at him with a confused and puzzled expression.
Hinata, being stared at, tilted his head.
Is it a Shiratorizawa senior? But it doesn't quite feel like it.
Moreover, with those eyebrows and that curly hair in the back, it would be impossible not to have an impression of him if I had seen him before.
The person who had entered first averted their gaze, scanned the gymnasium, seeing that everyone from Shiratorizawa was busy, tentatively beckoned to Hinata with a wave of their hand: "Come here for a moment?"
Seeing the greeting from the unfamiliar senior, Hinata walked over. "Hello, senpai? Is something the matter?"
On the other side, Wase Eita, who had been packing his things, looked over. Upon seeing the two from Itachiyama at the entrance, he immediately put his things down and reached out to grab Ushijima Wakatoshi.
Ushijima looked at him, his eyes conveying a sense of confusion.
Wase reached out and pointed toward Hinata, who was already standing face-to-face with Komori Motoya at the entrance.
Although they had only played a single match against Hinata, after all, the Inarizaki team was staying here.
If any problems were to arise, they wouldn't be able to explain themselves.
Ushijima Wakatoshi nodded and was the first to approach the door.
At the same time, the high school's top Libero looked down at the little fox who had somehow mixed into Shiratorizawa and asked, "Um, where did you get that uniform?"
Hinata was stunned by the question: "Eh? It's our uniform.."
—It really is the Inarizaki uniform.
Komori had even more question marks above his head: "Then why are you at.. Shiratorizawa?"
In his memory, there was no such person in Inarizaki. Was he a freshman?
No, no, no, the point is, why is there a little brat from Inarizaki standing here so brazenly in the Shiratorizawa Volleyball Gym!
"Coach told me to be here," Hinata replied honestly, still not quite processing the situation.
Seeing that Hinata was completely out of it, Komori didn't know what to say for a moment: "Um.."
Hinata asked proactively, "Are you seniors here to look for someone?"
Noticing Ushijima and Wase walking over, Komori nodded in acknowledgment and said to Hinata, "No, we're here for a training camp."
Training Camp!" Hinata's eyes widened. "With Shiratorizawa! That's amazing—