Miya Atsumu waved his hand. "Right away, you go ahead and sleep first."
He still had a few things he needed to confirm, so he couldn't sleep yet.
Hinata nodded. "Goodnight, Atsumu-senpai."
Miya Atsumu turned back and patted Hinata's head in response, then quickly withdrew his gaze to continue watching the video.
He and Coach Kurosu had specifically discussed Wakamura's situation.
In terms of concealing his sets, Wakamura is doing quite well now. Furthermore, because his coordination with his teammates is quite seamless, many of their standard plays can sometimes even feel like a Quick Attack.
If he goes on the court completely without knowing what to expect, he will likely be caught off guard.
Hinata Shoyo still mainly follows their lead when it comes to blocking, so as the one who controls the tempo, he cannot make any mistakes himself.
As the clock's hour and minute hands were about to overlap at the very top, Miya Atsumu raised his hand and turned off the computer.
Creeping over to the bedding, Miya Atsumu sighed again at Hinata Shoyo's wild sleeping posture.
But this is his last night staying at Hinata's place, so.. he'll just be a bit more casual.
“Goodnight, Shoyo.”
Feeling the hot breath against the side of his neck, Hinata reached out and pushed Miya Atsumu's head away.
Crawling out from underneath with great skill, he nudged Miya Atsumu. "Atsumu-senpai, it's time to get up."
Miya Atsumu struggled, not fully awake at all: "I'm sleeping for ten more minutes.."
Staring at Miya Atsumu for a few seconds, Hinata decided to go wash up first.
A few minutes later, Hinata returned and nudged Miya Atsumu: "Senpai, get up."
Miya Atsumu buried himself under the covers: "Five minutes, just five minutes."
Hinata lifted his chin slightly, staring at Atsumu for another moment before turning to head out the door: "Xiaoxia, let's go for a morning run."
Twenty minutes later, Hinata, still carrying the morning chill on his body, stood at the doorway of the room once again.
Ten..
Before Miya Atsumu could even finish his sentence, Hinata pulled the door open with a bang, then flung the curtains wide.
Atsumu-senpai! We're going to be late!!
Intense sunlight suddenly poured down, Miya Atsumu turned his head, attempting to dodge it.
As he slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Hinata, who was leaning over and looking down at him against the backlight.
Hinata had a smile on his face: "Good morning, Atsumu-senpai."
Miya Atsumu was silent.
Alright, it's definitely time to get up this time.
"Good morning." Miya Atsumu yawned.
Hinata has way too much energy this early in the morning..
As sleepy-eyed Hinata Natsu opened the door that Hinata Shoyo had just closed, Miya Atsumu saw him looking up at him, already fully dressed: "Atsumu-senpai, I'm still sleepy."
Miya Atsumu remained silent for two seconds, then silently closed the door again.
Tilting his head slightly, he saw himself reflected alongside Shiratori.
Yeah, I'm completely awake now.
Walking up to that wall, Miya Atsumu once again resisted the urge to take down the extra items.
It didn't matter; there were two of him on this wall—one right in front of him, the other behind Hinata's photo.
Rounding it off.. he won everything!
After packing up his things to make it easy to take them later that evening, Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shoyo, Rishia Heisuke headed out together.
The morning matches proceeded as expected; Inarizaki successfully defeated their opponents 2-0, in the other half of the bracket, Municipal Kobe also advanced to the finals with a 2-0 victory.
Two tickets to the nationals have already been secured; next is the battle for the championship.
Standing on the court once again, Wakamura proactively reached out his hand to Kita Shinsuke: "I look forward to playing with you."
Kita Shinsuke nodded. "Please take care of us."
The two were equally calm, yet they inexplicably exerted a powerful sense of pressure on everyone around them.
After warming up, both sides conducted the coin toss and determined the first serve.
Miya Atsumu served first.
Municipal Kobe also started with a very standard Ace in Position 5, ensuring that the strong Setter for the service rotation was in Position 2, ready to serve first after scoring.
Matou and Libero Hanae swapped positions, while the other Middle Blocker, Tosaka, took his place at Position 4, waiting for the opponent's serve.
Watching Inarizaki's starting formation, Coach Kuchibira nodded by the sidelines.
—Exactly as expected.
It was exactly like the kind that appeared during the National Sports Festival.
Hinata replaced Miya Osamu at the Opposite position, Suna and Oori swapped positions, the taller Oori Ren was responsible for filling the gap in the block on Hinata's side.
Very good, everything is proceeding smoothly according to plan.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to halt the incredibly intense cheering from Inarizaki, standing quietly as he waited for the referee's whistle.
Before the whistle blew, Hanae quickly adjusted his position.
Miya Atsumu's approach distance was a sign of a power serve; although it could also be a float serve, shifting the defensive position back wouldn't be a mistake.
—Really?
Miya Atsumu raised his hand and tossed the ball up; the moment he jumped, he precisely struck the ball against the top of the net.
With a soft thud, the volleyball cleared the net and dropped toward the opposite side.
Tosaka reached out instinctively, but unfortunately, she still couldn't touch the ball.
The whistle blew, Miya Atsumu scored with a serve.
Picking up the volleyball that had rolled back, a suppressed smile spread across Atsumu's face.
Wakamura gave a light click of his tongue.
I knew it, foxes can never be well-behaved.
Chapter 135: The One Hundred and Thirty-Fifth Fox
Wakamura clapped his hands, calming everyone's emotions: "Don't worry about it. Murata and Tosaka, just be more vigilant later."
The two nodded: "Understood."
This kind of power serve aimed at the net can only be used for a surprise attack; after all, it is a waste of a strong serve.
As long as they know the opponent might play this way, they won't fail to receive the ball most of the time.
Miya Atsumu prepared to serve the second ball.
Spinning the ball between his hands, Miya Atsumu's gaze swept over Wakamura with a hint of regret.
Unfortunately, the opponent's setter is currently in the front row, so targeting them with serves isn't easy, if they continue to play net touches.. it would be a bit of a waste.
Of course, he watched Municipal Kobe's match this morning, but unfortunately, the opponent's strength was quite limited, nothing much could be seen from it.
So, the immediate priority right now is still to test their Libero, to see if there have been any major changes over the past two months, so that Aran or Hinata doesn't drop the ball in a moment.
The whistle blew, Miya Atsumu didn't linger; after adjusting his state, he simply raised his hand and tossed the ball up.
Hanae's eyes widened as he instantly felt himself being targeted, staring intently at the volleyball that had soared over the net toward him in an instant.
It was a very, very standard chest-high spike, but even if he had moved out of the way, it would have landed just inside the lines.
—This level of ball control is absolutely ridiculous!
Instantly stepping half a step back toward the diagonal rear to create as much distance from the ball as possible, Hanae shrugged and used his forearms to bump the ball.
Watching the ball fly up accurately, Wakamura shouted immediately, "Great receive!"
Hinata pursed his lips; he could say he was quite familiar with Hanae's movements. It was the exact same movement Coach Inubata had demonstrated when he had personally taught him, it was flawless in its precision.
But.. now he can do it too.
Before he could even savor his triumph for half a second, Hinata, who had been staring at Wakamura anticipating his setting motion, rushed toward Oori Ren's side.
The opponent's Ace is currently in the back row at Position 5; following this tactical rhythm, he should ultimately be playing in Position 1.
Hinata recalled the common tactical plays Coach Kurosu had explained to them, while simultaneously keeping an eye on Kanzaki, who was already running a half-court approach.
Just as Coach Kurosu said, move your gaze away from the Setter. Then.. focus on the ball, use your speed to chase the ball itself.
BANG!!
The heavy sound echoed among the crowd, in the next second, the volleyball had fallen straight back onto Municipal Kobe's court, right in front of Kanzaki.
He didn't save it in time himself, while the others wanted to step in, there was nothing they could do.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scored another point.
Hinata suddenly looked up at Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu locked eyes with Hinata, seeing the "praise me" expression on his face, silently gave him a thumbs up: "Nice block."
Exactly as they had discussed last night, they worked together with Oori Ren to shut down the opponent's spike lines.
One could even say that it was only because Hinata reached the ball first that Oori Ren had the chance to cover.
Oori Ren raised his hand toward Hinata, Hinata also gave a small jump to high-five him.
"Tsk." Wakamura let out a light click of his tongue.
How should I put it? It feels like the current Inarizaki is somewhere between being honest and being dishonest.
During the National Sports Festival, Inarizaki's playstyle was basically completely unrestrained.
It was fine with Miya Osamu on the court, but when he wasn't there, most of the time they had a Captain responsible for covering the back row, then they'd let the several cannons just rain fire down..