After a few seconds of silence, Miya Atsumu said without hesitation, "I'm obviously on the Setter's path!"
Miya Osamu raised his hand and gave his twin brother a big thumbs up. "I'm rooting for you."
One could say that Miya Atsumu had essentially chosen the most difficult path for himself.
After all, a Spiker who catches the eye of a tricky Setter like Miya Atsumu.. inherently possesses a natural attraction for all Setters.
Glancing back at the Inarizaki members who had already left, Miya Atsumu turned and walked toward Hinata.
Facing Miya Atsumu directly, Hoshiumi Hikari narrowed his eyes slightly, still holding onto Hinata Shoyo without letting go, instead shot Miya Atsumu a provocative look.
Under Hoshiumi Hikari's gaze, Miya Atsumu reached out and grabbed Hinata Shoyo by the back of his collar, lifting him off Hoshiumi, "Alright, time to go stretch. If you don't go soon, watch out, or you'll get a lecture from the Kita Team."
Hinata wanted to struggle a bit more.
He wiped his nose and reached out to Hoshiumi: "Hoshiumi-senpai! I will definitely come to watch the match this afternoon!"
Watching the two from Inarizaki walk away, Hoshiumi silently turned back to look at Hirugami Yukio: "Did some snot get on my shoulder?"
Hirugami took a look. "Don't worry, nothing touched it."
Seeing Hoshiumi clearly look relieved, he thought of the other set of uniforms that was already in the laundry yesterday because Hikari-kun had spilled cola on them.
If this one gets dirty too.. they'll have to change to another color.
He looked down at Hoshiumi: "But.. Hikari, you seem surprisingly concerned about Shoyo."
Hoshiumi pouted, his face clearly showing his dissatisfaction: "I'm afraid he'll be corrupted by Miya Atsumu."
While it's also partly because Shoyo isn't strong enough yet, I hope he can take the initiative away from Miya Atsumu himself.
——In every sense.
"You're looking forward to it." Hirugami stated the fact.
"Of course." Hoshiumi said without reservation.
It wasn't just about looking forward to finding a peer of the same level, or a competitor to clash with.
He looked forward even more to them being able to stand on a higher stage together, making those big oafs face reality.
In the player tunnel on the other side, Hinata repeatedly looked up at the quiet Miya Atsumu, his brain already beginning to automatically process all of his own mistakes from the match just now.
I feel like Atsumu-senpai is really angry. Why? Is it because my serves were super terrible?
Feeling Hinata's tension beside him, Miya Atsumu tried his best to soften his tone: "You played well in today's match, your receives were great too."
You need to practice your serves more, because the Haruko preliminaries are at the end of the month.
That's right, everything was Hoshiumi's fault, he wouldn't get angry with Hinata.
Hearing the words "played well," Hinata instantly threw Miya Atsumu's intimidation on the court to the back of his mind: "Yes! I will definitely practice hard!"
He ran a few steps to catch up to Miya Atsumu, starting to chatter about what had just happened: "Atsumu-senpai! Hoshiumi-senpai just said.."
Miya Atsumu's breath hitched.
He said nothing more, only relentlessly increasing his own speed.
That's right, he isn't angry.
Chapter 82: The Eighty-Second Fox
Watching Miya Atsumu squatting beside Hinata Shoyo with a wronged expression while eating his bento, Ginjima's face was filled with confusion: "What's wrong with that guy now?"
—Hinata also wanted to know.
After returning from the court, he noticed that Miya Atsumu would stare at him from time to time.
Originally, he had planned to take his lunch box to find Hoshiumi-senpai in the stands to eat while watching the match, but he was stopped by Miya Atsumu. In the end, it inexplicably turned into a situation where he and Miya Atsumu were crouching by the wall eating together.
Regarding this, Miya Osamu, who respected food, expressed his disdain for being associated with them and simply took his own bento and left.
After quickly finishing his last bite, Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu: "Um.. Atsumu-senpai, are you angry?"
That can't be right. He already apologized, Atsumu-senpai has already forgiven him for his terrible play on the court!
"No, I'm not angry." Miya Atsumu stared at Hinata while stuffing a mouthful of rice into his mouth.
Suna, who was tired of taking photos, reached out and picked up his bag. "There are no matches this afternoon, so I'll let Coach know I'm heading back first."
Ginjima tried to persuade Suna to stay; after all, if Suna left, he would be the only second-year left here. "No, aren't you going to do something about those two?"
Suna still looked listless: "There's nothing to manage, Atsumu just insists on watching people eat."
No, rather than saying it was to make the food more appetizing, it would be more accurate to say he was trying to vent his frustration.
Pausing his steps as he prepared to leave, Suna walked up to the two people crouching on the ground, pulled a stack of photos from his bag, handed them to Miya Atsumu. "Happy birthday, for what it's worth. This is your birthday present."
Miya Atsumu handed his lunch box to Hinata, then reluctantly took the stack of photos from Suna Rintaro's hands, while simultaneously turning slightly to block Hinata's view.
Last year, Suna gave him and Miya Osamu one stack each. When opened, they were both collections of ugly photos taken this year. This time, it won't be the same, will it..
As expected, the first photo to catch their eyes was a shot of him fighting with Miya Osamu around this time last year.
Both of them had ferocious expressions, as if they were ready to fight to the death.
Pressing his hand down on Hinata, who was staring with a curious gaze, Miya Atsumu quickly flipped through the stack of photos, trying to find even a single one that wasn't part of his dark history.
But to his surprise, starting from the halfway point, none of them were his ugly photos anymore.
The first normal photo is his current phone wallpaper, followed by a candid shot of Suna sitting by the side of the court during training, finally, the one from that time at the hotel in Niigata..
Suna looked down at Miya Atsumu, not at all surprised by the way his eyes were shining.
After a long time, Miya Atsumu released Hinata's hand and quickly stuffed that stack of photos into his own pocket before Hinata could lean over to look.
Afterward, High School's Strongest Setter looked up at Suna: "Suna-master! I'm counting on you from now on, too!"
After a two-second silence, Suna gave him a look as if he were looking at scum.
Miya Atsumu felt as if he had been stabbed in the head: "Rintaro! You took the photo, so why did you make me look like scum!"
Suna shot back, "Would I even be able to take the photo if you weren't doing that?"
This time, it was Miya Atsumu's turn to choke up.
After a long time, he grabbed Suna-master's pant leg to stop him from leaving: "Suna-master.. this is a once-in-a-lifetime request from me.."
Aran, who had pulled Miya Osamu back to grab chopsticks and a spoon, interjected a timely remark: "You've had way too many of those 'once-in-a-lifetime' moments."
Miya Atsumu protested, "Aran! Don't start making comments at a time like this!"
Hinata silently shuffled backward, shrinking into the corner to keep his distance from Miya Atsumu and Suna Rintaro, hoping to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
After staring at each other stiffly for ten seconds, Suna Rintaro spoke only after taking a glance at Hinata Shoyo: "Sure. Once you become famous in the professional leagues, I can make a compilation video to sell to your fans."
Miya Atsumu, who had already climbed onto the head of the person on the floor, felt alarms ringing in his head. He struggled to look up, "Wait, wait, wait, this isn't right, this isn't right!"
Under Suna Rintaro's half-threatening, half-tempting gaze, Miya Atsumu steeled his resolve: "Buyout! I can do a buyout!"
Suna added, "The pudding from before is gone."
I'll give you all of mine!" After an eerie pause of a few seconds, Miya Atsumu added, "I'll go and snatch all of Osamu's for you too! I'll even give you all of his rice balls! You can have as many as you want!
Suna was satisfied, while Miya Osamu's expression twisted.
Miya Osamu reached out and grabbed Miya Atsumu by the back of his collar, lifting him straight up. "What the hell are you trying to do to my precious pudding and rice balls!"
Miya Atsumu refused to back down and immediately lunged back, the two of them began scuffling together.
Ginjima quickly looked up and glanced out from the small corridor, only after realizing that no one was passing by did he cry out in despair, "Stop it! You'll get suspended if you're caught!"
Suna pulled out his phone and took another set of photos of the Miya Twins from different angles.
Aran raised his hand to cover his face: "Stop, Shinsuke will be back in a moment.."
What is this? On the first day of being a year older, am I supposed to let Suna record it for them?
The pitiful Hinata Shoyo shrank into the corner once again, dodging the fist Miya Atsumu swung at him from just a short distance away.
Help me.. how is he going to get out of here?
Fortunately, Kita Shinsuke and the coaches returned just in time, immediately stopping the Miya Twins' bickering and preventing Inarizaki from being swept out of the National Sports Festival.
Looking at the Inarizaki second-years kneeling in a row before the coaches, Wase, who was passing through the alley, slightly raised his eyes. "What are you doing? Are you from Inarizaki?"
Adhering to the philosophy that out of sight means out of mind, Shirabu turned his head away, pretending not to have seen them.
As if by fate, the sharp-eyed Hinata caught sight of the two of them: "Wase-senpai, Shirabu-senpai! Are you going to watch the match!"
Shirabu tried to stop Wase and Hinata from striking up a conversation in this situation, but it was already too late.
Wase didn't even need to say anything; Hinata had already rushed over: "Can I come too!"
Hinata's eyes were filled with anticipation, he really wanted to find a proper reason to escape this space right now.
So, Shiratorizawa-senpai, help me—
Things had come to this; the moment he locked eyes with the Inarizaki members over there, Wase reached out to grab Hinata's sleeve and quickly led him away from the area.
Hinata was taken away by the two Shiratorizawa Setters, even Coach Kurosu, who was still training the players, stopped.
He asked Omimi beside him, a bit dazed, "Did Old man Washijo send him to kidnap children?"
Miya Atsumu, who had been kneeling obediently, scrambled up from the ground and rushed out at an incredible speed, so fast that Kita Shinsuke couldn't even catch him: "Sorry! I'll be right back!"
"Heh." Kita Shinsuke, who had previously maintained a serious expression, let out a sudden, inexplicable chuckle.
Watching Miya Atsumu's retreating figure, Aran's initial amusement gradually turned into heartfelt admiration and.. a one-second moment of silence for the future Miya Atsumu.
Look, even Shinsuke is so angry he's laughing; Miya Atsumu is probably finished for.
But Kita Shinsuke only cast a downward glance at Miya Osamu, who was still kneeling on the ground, before turning his head to look at Coach Kurosu: "Coach, today is their birthday, so let it be."
The coach had no objection: "Just this once. If you two cause trouble again, I'll have Shoyo and Kuniharu play in tomorrow's match."
Ginjima, who had been caught up in the mess, breathed a sigh of relief, while the true culprit, Suna, was let off completely.
Miya Osamu's expression was quite unsightly after having his snacks snatched by Miya Atsumu for no reason and being scolded by the coach because of it.
On the other side, Kumagai Kuniharu, who was completely unaware that he had missed a chance to take the court, was still watching the match by the sidelines with Rishia Heisuke.
The match currently underway on the court is between Rakusan and Oga High School, as they are both favorites for the championship, many people are watching this match as well.