Fight against Hoshiumi and the others?
Even if Miya Atsumu split into three, it wouldn't be enough.
Miya Atsumu refused to admit it: "Don't talk nonsense, this is just my composure from a position of invincibility."
The first round of warm-ups on the court has all concluded, the process has begun for the introduction of both teams' players and the confirmation of the rotation.
Seeing Goshiki Tsutomu and Coach Washijo high-five before heading onto the court, Hinata shouted from the sidelines, "Goshiki! Good luck!"
Goshiki, standing on a national stage for the first time in high school, was full of confidence, holding his head high as he accepted the gazes from the spectators on both sides.
At the same time, the Shirabu group, who were also watching the Shiratorizawa match, walked up to the sidelines.
Hinata," Michiko Kusubashi patted Hinata's shoulder, "I saw you during the inspection. You have quite a good relationship with old man Washijo.
Hinata turned back to greet the two of them, "Hello, Coach Kyaku-tou, hello, Kiryu-senpai."
He scratched his head. "Coach Washijo took good care of me back when I was at Shiratorizawa, it's just.. he was a bit fierce."
Coach Kusubashi laughed, "Hahaha, I don't think 'a bit' is the right way to put it."
On the court, Shiratorizawa's Goshiki Tsutomu took the first serve.
Hinata put his hands to his mouth like a megaphone: "Goshiki! Serve a good one!"
Goshiki Tsutomu was in excellent form, looking nothing like someone participating in a high school tournament for the first time.
A beautiful opening serve earned Shiratorizawa a point, while also securing the first ace of this tournament.
Nice kill—
Watching Hinata give it his all, Kusubashi handed him a megaphone used by their coach. "Use this, or you'll lose your voice."
"Thank you, Coach Kusubashi." Hinata was pleasantly surprised.
So he worked even harder: "Great serve, Aran-senpai! One! More! Ball!"
Kita Shinsuke noticed that Coach Kurosu's expression toward Hinata's side had grown even darker.
He understood perfectly.
As expected, Shiratorizawa isn't the focus; is Shirabu the key instead?
Author's Note:
I put the acrylic shikishi I shot earlier onto the character card. I waited downstairs for half an hour until the sun came out before taking the photo, hehehe.
Chapter 63: The Sixty-Third Fox
“Shi—ra—to—ri—za—wa!”
The cheers for Shiratorizawa echoed continuously overhead, Hinata also worked hard to cheer for everyone on Shiratorizawa.
He and Shirabu were actually not standing that close to the court; since they were under the Shiratorizawa banner, they wouldn't interfere with the broadcast or the normal match, so the staff didn't bother them.
And Shiratorizawa also quickly secured a victory in the first round of this Interhigh, earning a spot in the second day of the knockout stage.
After finishing a simple stretch, Goshiki Tsutomu also approached Hinata with Coach Washijo's permission: "Shoyo, let's go watch the match together."
Hinata nodded. "I'm planning to go watch Shonan. Rishia just called and said he and Akuma saved a seat for me over in the third-floor stands."
"Alright." Goshiki Tsutomu nodded.
Shonan University High School is also in their division. Although they are on Inarizaki's side, as an established powerhouse with a rich history, they are still worth watching.
Hinata went to the corresponding stands as Rishia suggested, Rishia Heisuke, who had been waiting for him, waved to him immediately: "Shoyo! Over here!"
Seeing that Hinata wasn't alone, Rishia Heisuke was also stunned for a moment. "And this is.."
The moment the question left his mouth, he already remembered.
Isn't this the Shiratorizawa first-year Spiker? The one Hinata called "Akari."
Hinata took the initiative to introduce them: "This is Rishia Heisuke, you've met him before, Akari. The other is Kumagai Kuniharu, a Setter in the same year as me."
Goshiki Tsutomu greeted them politely, "Nice to meet you."
He looked at the two of them with eyes full of vigilance, because.. the future would be his main opponent.
The four of them watched the match in unexpected harmony; after all, their skill levels weren't that different from each other, except perhaps for Hinata having blind spots in certain more technical areas.
Watching the whole match, it felt more like three experienced people tutoring Hinata.
After heading over to watch the Seito High School match, Aran approached as the morning matches were nearing their end, preparing to gather and head to the gymnasium for physical training.
"See you later, Ohira-senpai!" Hinata said as he said goodbye to Goshiki.
"See you this afternoon," Goshiki Tsutomu replied.
By the time the Inarizaki members arrived at the gym, the Fukurodani members were already practicing serves, though they were nearing the end and preparing to go eat lunch.
One good thing was that Fukurodani's match was the last one, so there was no need to change the mealtime to accommodate the time needed for digestion.
Inarizaki's training was just to maintain their touch, so it ended quickly, the coaches also needed to use today's time to watch the matches of all potential opponents.
After all, it had been some time since the preliminary rounds, so there was a high possibility that some teams might undergo a qualitative change during this period and eventually emerge as a Dark Horse.
Before leaving, Hinata bounced around Bokuto-senpai, looking quite reluctant to part: "Good luck, Bokuto-senpai! I'll definitely study the footage over and over when I get back!"
Komi asked the question that Bokuto also really wanted to ask: "Why not come and watch in person?"
Inarizaki doesn't have a match scheduled, does it? Ah, wait, he remembered Miya Atsumu mentioning something yesterday about wanting to watch the Little Giant from Karasuno's match?
Just as Miya Atsumu was about to speak, Akaashi interrupted immediately from beside him, "It's fine, we Fukurodani have a special compilation of Bokuto-senpai's brilliant performances; I'll forward it to you when the time comes. Let's exchange contact info."
As he spoke, Akaashi handed his phone to Hinata.
"Wait for me, Senpai." Hinata jogged over to Suna to get his phone back, when he handed it to Akaashi, the screen happened to be on his chat history with Hoshiumi.
A notification sound rang out, showing that "Current Hot News 40" had been sent.
Akaashi was stunned for a moment, but since he subconsciously assumed it was just the latest news from the volleyball world, he didn't pay it much mind; instead, he used Hinata's phone to add his own contact information.
Hinata looked at Bokuto excitedly, "Bokuto-senpai's highlights! I can't wait!"
It must be incredibly cool! They should all be scoring scenes from jump serves and spikes.
Akaashi said at the right moment, "I still have some from before, do you want to see them? They are all brilliant performances from official tournaments."
"I want to see it, I want to see it!" Hinata nodded hurriedly, for fear that Akaashi would not give it to him.
Watching Hinata open the first video, Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin.
Shouldn't he have something like a highlight reel too?
Bokuto approached with great interest.
As soon as the video started playing, Hinata's cheers erupted: "Oh! That line spike is so cool! So extreme!"
Bokuto chimed in, "Right? Right? I also think it was super cool!"
Hinata's eyes sparkled: "A short diagonal! He scored even with a three-man block!"
Bokuto nodded in agreement: "His form is incredible, but I feel like he won't be able to pull that off today."
Whoa, whoa, whoa—this serve is incredible too!
Exactly! So cool!
Watching the video progress bar reach the end, Hinata felt a sense of lingering regret: "Ah, it's over."
Bokuto reached out and dragged the progress bar back: "Let's do it again!"
Akaashi fell silent for two seconds before he couldn't help but say, "Bokuto-senpai, you've already watched it twenty times."
Setting aside the question of whether watching his own videos would be embarrassing, even after more than twenty times.. he still hasn't had enough?
Miya Atsumu walked up to Suna Rintaro's side, lowered his head, asked him, "By the way, Rintaro, have you seen my highlight reel?"
He still has a lot of fans; someone should have made a highlight reel of him.
Sitting by the wall, Suna scrolled through a video website before finally handing his tablet to Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu clicked on the only video on the search interface, immediately saw footage from last year where he was called for a foul for stepping over the center line while playing the ball.
Question marks popped up in his head. Having vaguely guessed something, he retreated to the video's description interface, only to see that the uploader's profile picture was a Tibetan Sand Fox.
Miya Atsumu's hands began to tremble as he looked at Suna Rintaro, who was looking up at him with an expressionless face, his face filled with despair.
His vision went dark: "Delete it quickly! My glorious reputation—"
Suna reached out a hand to Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu's expression twisted, he finally said through gritted teeth, "Once we get back, I'll give you all my snacks."
Satisfied, Suna Rintaro deleted the video in front of Miya Atsumu and cleared the backup.
Miya Atsumu breathed a sigh of relief, having completely failed to notice that Suna Rintaro had enabled filters on the search results interface he had shown him.
Great, his reputation is safe!
With Bokuto-senpai seeing them off with even more reluctance than Hinata, the Inarizaki members left the gymnasium first, leaving only the Fukurodani members behind to conduct their final pre-match warm-ups.
Being somewhat worried about Hinata, Miya Atsumu ultimately followed him to move around the gymnasium under Kita's instructions.
From a great distance away, Hinata saw the exceptionally eye-catching and vibrant team uniforms.
That color scheme, which was even more striking than Itachiyama's, instantly made Hinata recall the events from two months ago.
In the end, Hinata still called out to Wakamura-senpai, who had been walking past him without a glance: "Wakamura-senpai."
Looking back and seeing it was Hinata, Wakamura raised his chin slightly. "Ah, long time no see."
It had been two months since the Interhigh preliminaries ended, but he still had a very deep impression of Hinata Shoyo.
Having not had the chance to speak before, Hinata, who had finally encountered Wakamura-senpai again, instinctively started to speak: "Um! Nagumo-senpai and the others—"
"I know what you mean, but I didn't come here to dwell on who is right or wrong." Wakamura spoke, interrupting Hinata with a very stern tone.
Hinata instinctively took a step back, bumping into Miya Atsumu behind him.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to steady Hinata's shoulder, meeting Wakamura's gaze in a protective stance.
Completely ignoring Miya Atsumu, Wakamura looked at Hinata, who seemed to have a look as if he had been startled by him, finally softened his tone: "I have no intention of blaming you for anything, nor do I want to take my anger out on you because of some old matters—"