74.. No, at most 72!
Unfortunately, most of the time back at Shiratorizawa, Hinata was acting as a referee, so he didn't have the chance to observe exactly how well Hinata could play.
Coach Kurosu's nostrils flared with pride as he raised his hand and gave a thumbs-up to the two members of Itachiyama Academy.
Utsunomiya felt his fists clench.
Himegomiya Shizuki rolled her eyes at Kurosu: "How old are you? Can you act a bit more mature?"
Coach Kurosu replied seriously, "No, I don't think you'll be able to stay composed by then either."
Facing the old fox's smug provocation, Coach Utsunomiya unleashed his finishing move: "It doesn't matter, we are the champions."
The two rows at the entrance went quiet.
Coach Himegomiya applauded inwardly.
Nice, a one-hit kill.
Inside the bus behind the coach, before Rishia Heisuke or Kumagai Kuniharu could greet Hinata, Komori on the other side raised his hand: "Come over here."
Gen-senpai!" Hinata sat down next to Komori without hesitation. "How did Atsumu-senpai receive that jump float serve yesterday?
The two of them immediately began discussing yesterday's match, the speed at which they got into the zone left everyone speechless.
Amatori, who was behind them, had intended to say something, but his gaze had already swept over Sakusa and Miya Atsumu, who had already boarded, he ultimately swallowed his words.
Watching Hinata take his seat, a question mark slowly appeared over Sakusa's head.
In the end, he still chose to sit in the only remaining window seat in the double row on the other side.
There were players and some logistics staff on the Itachiyama bus, so there were no extra seats at all.
As for Miya Atsumu, who was the last to board the bus, he fell into silence as he looked at the only empty seat next to Sakusa.
Chapter 75: The Seventy-Fifth Fox
The IH Tournament was physically draining, so the physical fitness test for Inarizaki wasn't scheduled for the next day; instead, they were to stay in dormitories at Itachiyama to recuperate before beginning.
Looking at the grand gates of Itachiyama Academy, Hinata's mouth hung open.
The main teaching building was ten stories high, it even featured a football field with stands on all four sides and a blue synthetic running track.
The large gymnasium, which was comparable in height to the one in Kobe, was fully equipped with volleyball courts, basketball courts, badminton courts, even featured a separate swimming pool and an ice rink.
Foreign faces could be seen everywhere on campus, there were as many as three cafeterias.
Even as they reached the dormitory building where they would be staying for a short time, Hinata still felt like he was dreaming.
Compared to the scale of Itachiyama Academy.. Shiratorizawa is simply incomparable!
Is he really visiting a high school, or is he strolling through something like Olympic Park?
Miya Atsumu curled his lip. "Those damn city folk.."
But there was nothing to be done; Itachiyama Academy was undoubtedly the best private high school in all of Japan, even possessing dedicated channels for international exchange, with connections and an educational environment comparable to prestigious universities.
Similarly, the passing scores and tuition fees are both outrageously high.
Even if one wanted to enter through special recommendation, they would have to be someone like Komori Motoya or Sakusa, who had won individual awards at the Interhigh Junior High.
It felt like the only one that could even compare.. was some private school in Kyoto that was the sole exception to their league.
Fortunately, the interior of the dormitory was similar to Shiratorizawa, so Hinata wasn't further shocked.
—After all, Shiratorizawa's living conditions are already famous nationwide.
There were no specific training sessions scheduled for Inarizaki over these two days, as the main focus was on rest and recovery.
The projects they were about to test required the players to adjust their individual conditions to the best possible state, so Coach Kurosu even borrowed a coach responsible for massages from Coach Utsunomiya.
Crouching at the doorway, Hinata trembled as he listened to the pig-like screams coming from inside.
How terrifying, he won't have to experience this kind of torture in the future too, will he?
Kita Shinsuke said expressionlessly, "You need to get a good massage to let your muscles relax properly. If you rest for another day, you'll have basically recovered."
And the real hell.. is still to come.
This time, Hinata successfully got to stay in the same dormitory as Rishia Heisuke.
Early on the morning of the scheduled test day, Hinata woke up feeling quite energetic: "Good morning, Heisuke!"
Rishia Heisuke sat up. "Good morning."
In the Itachiyama Academy cafeteria, the four first-year students were eating with considerable energy, while at the next table, the second and third-year students looked as if they were about to step into an execution chamber.
Miya Atsumu felt like even the food prepared by Itachiyama's famous chefs didn't smell good anymore: "Is this what they call blissful ignorance?"
Suna Rintaro looked at him: "I can't believe you'd use that word."
Miya Atsumu felt insulted: "Hey! I passed Japanese this time! I passed!"
That's right! Hinata was the only one who failed!
Having heard the whole thing, Hinata felt as if he had been stabbed in the back.
—That hurts.
Under the leadership of Coach Kurosu, the first-year students took turns undergoing assessments for items such as body fat percentage and predicted future height.
Meanwhile, the second and third-year students, looking pained, had already followed Itachiyama's Coach Utsunomiya to the adjacent testing center to undergo VO2 Max testing.
Looking at Rishia Heisuke's ideal height of 1.88m, Hinata's eyes were filled with envy.
Glancing at the message on his phone, Coach Kurosu said to Hinata, who had already finished his measurements, "The second years have finished. Shoyo, you head over there first; it's right across from the exit."
I'll head over once those three are finished with their body fat percentage tests, then I'll just do as the coach says.
Hinata nodded, "Okay!"
The testing center was easy to find, especially since there was a massive sign right at the entrance. Besides, it was just a straight walk down the path, so even Hinata wouldn't get lost.
Pushing open the door and walking into the room filled with fitness equipment, the first thing Hinata noticed was a row of seniors lying on the floor.
He tilted his head in confusion. "What.. happened here?"
Komori and the other person were sitting on chairs on the other side, clearly Komori was dragging Sakusa to watch the excitement.
Meanwhile, Iizuna was waving a mask of unknown purpose at him: "Over here, over here. Hinata, have you warmed up yet?"
Hinata shook his head. "Not yet. I just had my height, weight, measurements, body fat percentage measured, I had a physical exam and things like that."
Rishia and the others were still being measured; he had come over first.
Miya Atsumu, who had been lying there, asked with a look of confusion, "Why do we need to measure our body measurements?"
How did he not remember that this was part of the physical exam?
Hinata replied while doing some simple warm-ups, "Coach said he's going to order a team uniform for me, it will be ready once we get back."
He was still very curious about why everyone was giving up: "So, what happened to you seniors?"
Seeing that Miya Atsumu had stopped talking, Iizuna put down the mask and walked over to Hinata's side, preparing to help him with his ankle exercises: "The testing is just a bit brutal."
Kita Shinsuke asked, "How tall is Shoyo now?"
At the mention of this, Hinata raised his hands excitedly: "163.7 cm! I've grown a whole centimeter!"
When he first arrived at Inarizaki, he was not even 163.7cm; this was truly epic progress!
Kita remembered the most important thing: "He has indeed grown a lot. Did the doctor say what his ideal height should be?"
Hinata raised his hand: "They say it's around 173.5cm, but it's normal to be off by a centimeter either way."
Kita Shinsuke nodded and said with a smile, "Yeah, go back and continue training hard according to the coach's arrangements, you'll grow taller."
Hinata nodded heavily: "Yeah! I'll strive to grow to 1.75m!"
Coach Utsunomiya sat cross-legged next to the treadmill, flipping through the report he had just printed with a somewhat smug expression: "Aside from Aran, Inarizaki's average is 0.7 lower than ours."
Aran's mind went blank, he kept his mouth tightly shut.
He really wanted to say that if you included him, it would be Inarizaki High.
But the other party is the coach from Itachiyama Academy, not some twin, so it's probably better if he doesn't complain..
Coach Hinata was in high spirits, Iizuna clapped his hands: "Alright, that's enough, come on, come on, come on."
Miya Atsumu, who had been sitting there contemplating the meaning of life, sat up. As he turned his head, he realized that everyone else had sat up as well.
It's nothing, I was just curious.
After helping Hinata stand still on the stationary treadmill, Iizuna handed over the mask from earlier: "Open your mouth, bite down on this, then don't move."
Komori looked at Sakusa beside him: "How much do you think it can be?"
He had discovered back when they were training at Shiratorizawa that Hinata had unexpected stamina; he could even cycle home for a long time after finishing practice.
Sakusa lowered his gaze and thought seriously for a moment: "He's taller than me."
Komori was silent for a few seconds before finally replying, "Yeah, he's definitely taller than you."
Coach Himegomiya and Iizuna put the mask on Hinata together, finally inserting the tube.
Having finished fitting the equipment on Hinata, Himegomiya, forgetting an important step, looked down at Hinata: "Do you know what your maximum heart rate is?"
Hinata shook his head.
She immediately turned back to look at Kita Shinsuke on the ground on the other side, attempting to get important data from him.
But Kita Shinsuke also shook his head. "I haven't measured it."
Scratching her freshly dyed hair, Himegomiya Shizuki gave a light click of her tongue. "If you feel like you can't do it later, just give me a sign—a simple wave of your hand will do."
Hinata, having no idea what he was supposed to do, nodded obediently.
Okay, once the treadmill starts, just run at the speed it's set to. The speed will increase bit by bit throughout the process, until the eight-minute mark.
Himegomiya then raised a hand and made a cross sign: "The incline will start to increase at around the ten-minute mark. It's quite simple, just keep running along with it."
Finally, Himegomiya emphasized once more, "You must, must remember to give me a sign when you feel your heart rate is getting too high to continue."
In this regard, Inarizaki certainly had a prior record.