Before going to line up for the greetings, Miya Atsumu reached out and patted Hinata Shoyo's shoulder: "Remember today's match well; next time, it will be you who tears through their defense."
The part that Miya Osamu lacks is exactly what Hinata Shoyo excels at; the task of grinding down the Itachiyama blockers.. it would likely only be something Hinata could achieve.
So, grow up quickly, their Golden Fledgling.
Hinata nodded earnestly, "I will."
The players from both sides lined up on their respective sides of the court and bowed to each other.
Thank you for the guidance!!
Chapter 74: The Seventy-Fourth Fox
The hotel was exceptionally quiet at night; teams like Fukurodani and Karasuno on the same floor had already left, leaving only the Inarizaki members remaining.
After washing and drying everyone's team uniforms with Kita Shinsuke, Hinata walked into the room carrying his team uniform with the number 7 on it.
Because of the farce on the first day, Kita Shinsuke had already requested an extra room card for their room, so when Hinata returned to open the door, Miya Atsumu was lying flat on the bed, seemingly contemplating life.
Hinata folded the uniforms and put them into Miya Atsumu's bag: "The clothes have been washed, I've put them in Atsumu-senpai's bag."
Inarizaki also has two sets, totaling four uniforms, but they rarely get the chance to wear the other white set.
Considering how much everyone sweated during the matches, the hotel's dryers are truly lifesavers.
The awards for the nation's best Setter and server were placed next to Miya Atsumu's backpack, alongside a small silver medal.
Today, Miya Atsumu has truly solidified his reputation as High School's Best Setter.
His serve score rate and average assists per game were both far ahead, leaving the runner-up miles behind.
But unfortunately, Inarizaki did not receive any other individual awards.
This time, the MVP was awarded to Komori Motoya; after all, his contribution to defense was truly in a league of its own.
After not hearing a response for a long time, Hinata walked to Miya Atsumu's side, looking somewhat lost. "Atsumu-senpai?"
Although they lost the match, everyone's condition was still quite good; while eating just now, they even focused on discussing points for improvement for the future.
Hinata poked his head over to take a look at Atsumu and found him with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
After a brief moment of daze, Hinata reached out and nudged Miya Atsumu, attempting to wake him so he would sleep under the blanket.
But Miya Atsumu was sleeping very soundly, not waking up at all.
Standing there in silence for two seconds, Hinata took off his jacket and began to pull at the blanket pressing down on Miya Atsumu with all his might.
But clearly, he had somewhat underestimated Miya Atsumu's weight.
It wasn't until Miya Atsumu, who weighs nearly 150 pounds, had been working hard on eating and strength training to build muscle that he could barely manage to budge Hinata Shoyo, who weighs nearly 110 pounds.
After struggling for a long time, he finally managed to make Miya Atsumu turn around.
Just as Hinata was wondering whether to call Kita Shinsuke over for help, Miya Atsumu finally woke up.
"What's wrong?" a drawn-out Kansai accent sounded in Hinata's ears.
Hinata repeated what Kita Shinsuke had said during a previous training camp with a dead serious expression: "Atsumu-senpai, even if you've already showered, you can still easily catch a cold if you sleep without a blanket."
Miya Atsumu raised his hand and grabbed the blanket that Hinata had just pulled away, revealing one eye to look at him: "It's August; you'll get heatstroke if you sleep under a blanket."
Hinata had an epiphany: "That's true, Hoshiumi-senpai suffered from heatstroke before."
When Kita Shinsuke said those words to him, it was during the Golden Week in May, the temperature is vastly different from now.
He stood at attention as if he had done something wrong: "I'm sorry, please continue sleeping, Senpai. I'll go pack the luggage."
Hinata was just about to leave when someone grabbed the hem of his shirt, causing him to lose his balance and fall directly onto Miya Atsumu's bed.
Blinking in confusion, he softly called out, "Atsumu-senpai?"
Miya Atsumu reached out his hand toward Hinata: "Give me your hand."
His middle finger was wrapped in a bandage, an injury sustained during this afternoon's match.
Hinata obediently placed his hand there, while Miya Atsumu adjusted his lying position, turning over and over to look at Hinata's hand.
A slightly uncomfortable Hinata said in a low voice, "I still can't pick up a volleyball with one hand.."
Yes, that was also his biggest frustration right now.
When performing a jump serve, one needs to toss the ball with one hand; occasionally, he might drop the ball because he cannot grip it properly.
Atsumu felt the warmth in his palm and said softly, "It's okay, it'll be fine once Shoyo grows a bit more."
He looked up at Hinata: "Did you keep today's match in mind?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, Kita Team already went over the review with me once while I was doing laundry."
Clearly looking quite listless, Miya Atsumu muttered, "What did he say? Tell me about it."
"It's mainly about the opponent's blocking. Kita Team said I could try to shake them off by making lateral changes in direction, just like Osamu did at the beginning." Speaking of which, Hinata began to talk incessantly.
I thought about it, if it were me, I should be able to extend the distance of my lateral movement to the maximum. Also, regarding Agatsuma-senpai's habits when blocking, I think I could use a time difference; his vertical jump is actually a bit weak..
"And also back row attacks.. Atsumu-senpai?" After muttering for over ten minutes, Hinata, who hadn't looked back, suddenly realized that the breathing he had been hearing seemed to have become steady.
Ah.. how come after he said all that, Miya Atsumu didn't hear a single word?
—Feeling a bit sad.
After sitting there looking pitiful for a while, Hinata gently withdrew his hand.
Goodnight, Atsumu-senpai.
Early the next morning, the Inarizaki members had finished packing their things and were preparing to leave the hotel.
But.. it wasn't a return to Inarizaki.
Tachibana Shinji, who was also heading downstairs, glanced at the yellow-green bus, then at the red jackets the people boarding were wearing, finally looked toward Usui Mitsuru, who had followed him out, with a look of confusion.
"What is going on?" Tachibana Shinji felt that this world was a bit absurd.
They were fighting tooth and nail yesterday, today they're holding hands and going to Itachiyama together all sweet and lovely?
Usui Mitsuru glanced at Miya Atsumu and Sakusa, who were staring each other down beside the bus, finally said, "Those two look like they're about to start fighting; where is the sweetness in that?"
Tachibana Shinji, who was about to say that the two of them had a decent relationship during the Junior National Team, recalled what happened yesterday: "This is a grudge involving severed hands.."
He eventually steered the conversation back: "So, why did the people from Inarizaki get on the Itachiyama bus?"
Kiryu Ya, who had already spoken with Kita Shinsuke, said in a low voice, "Because of the training equipment."
"Huh?" Usui Mitsuru was stunned for a moment.
I heard they're doing a full set of physical tests for the first-years, mainly for that VO2 Max equipment," Kiryu Ya explained. "Itachiyama has upgraded to new equipment again this year; apparently, it was bought from abroad, it's definitely advanced and precise.
Recalling the disastrous situation during the Junior National Team, Tachibana Shinji shuddered, then he looked at Kiryu Ya-senpai. "My last measurement was 64.2. How about you, Kiryu-senpai?"
Kiryu Ya replied shyly, "69.2."
Tachibana Shinji was full of shock, saying such incredible data with a bit of shyness!
Usui Mitsuru, who had never encountered this kind of project before, asked, "What level is this?"
It sounds like it's quite impressive.
Tachibana Shinji replied, "He's basically at a level that's touching the threshold of the Olympics."
The Shirabu members looked at Kiryu Ya in surprise: "Oh—that's amazing."
Kiryu Ya scratched his head. "It's alright. The Miya twins' data is basically the same, I remember Aran has already reached over 70."
But speaking of which, Hoshiumi and Ushijima's are relatively higher.
Tachibana Shinji's face was as wrinkled as a bitter melon: "Those two are practically monsters; it feels like they never get tired."
Usui Mitsuru became even more curious: "How much, how much?"
Tachibana Shinji shrugged his hands. "Ushijima is 75, Hoshiumi.. 76."
It was on a completely different level from the others, possessing the full standard of a national team player.
"What about Inarizaki?" he asked next.
Coach Himegomiya on the bus also asked the same question at this time.
When Inarizaki came for their second visit last year, she was away on a business trip. For the sake of management, Itachiyama had not left any paper records behind, so she wasn't quite sure about Inarizaki's specific skill level.
Coach Utsunomiya replied, "Last year, during the second testing, most results were in the range of 67 to 71."
Inarizaki's physical training model is basically fixed. Given that all players start from a similar baseline, the final results of their training won't differ much.
Even Suna, whose physical fitness was relatively weak at the beginning, was brought up to the average during the second winter test, which was enough to demonstrate the effectiveness of Inarizaki's training model.
Coach Utsunomiya speculated, "The average for the first test of this batch of freshmen at Inarizaki will likely be around 65."
It's the median among athletes, after all, since they haven't undergone full systematic training yet.
But this initial data is largely influenced by innate conditions; even with training, improvements are only expected to be between 10% and 30%. In Kurosu's view, it was estimated that this batch of freshmen would be at a similar level to previous ones.
"Ahem." Coach Kurosu cleared his throat lightly, drawing the attention of the two from Itachiyama.
He wagged a finger. "Hard to say, hard to say."
Coach Omimi had an awkward yet polite smile on his face.
As the saying goes, when you are under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head, so Coach Kurosu.. should probably restrain himself a little.
Coach Utsunomiya's face darkened slightly as he turned to scan the Inarizaki members, unable to figure out what on earth Kurosu was so proud of.
Just then, Hinata and Shoyo, who had been waiting below to say goodbye to Miya Atsumu and Kiryu Ya and the others, rushed onto the bus.
He immediately bowed to the two from Itachiyama: "Hello, Coach Utsunomiya! Hello, Coach Himegomiya!"
Utsunomiya suddenly realized.
It's this little guy, right? It must be Hinata, right?
After all, Hoshiumi's physical ability is famously strong; since he is of the same type as Hoshiumi, he probably won't be weak either.
But just how strong could he possibly be?
Judging by the muscle definition on Hinata's body, which only shows the slightest trace of training, it is clearly not much different from his initial state.