But that's a story for another time. As long as you two had a productive trip this time, that's all that matters.
Hinata nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"
After seeing the two off on the bus home, Coach Kurosu turned to head toward another bus that could take him near Inarizaki High School.
The two of them were resting, but Inarizaki's training had to continue, for now, only Omimi was leading them in the club.
After getting off the bus, they walked through a residential area filled with single-family homes, with Hinata chatting and laughing with Rishia Heisuke all the way.
“By the way, Heisuke, Hoshiumi-senpai sent me a video yesterday. It was a recording of Miya Atsumu-senpai and the others arm wrestling. Miya Atsumu-senpai actually beat Gen-senpai and Kami-senpai. It was amazing!” Hinata relayed the frontline report from Hoshiumi Hikari.
But it's such a shame, they ended up losing to Oikawa-senpai in the end; Oikawa-senpai is even more amazing.
Rishia Heisuke nodded. "Oikawa-senpai's serve really does have a lot of power; I can imagine."
Compared to Miya Atsumu's Dual Wield, Oikawa-senpai wins through sheer strength most of the time.
“True..”
But before Hinata could even reach his own house, he keenly sensed that something was wrong.
“Heisuke, did you hear that??”
Before Hinata could even finish his sentence, Rishia Heisuke, who had arrived home a step ahead, rushed through the door with the speed of an express messenger, not giving Hinata a single glance throughout the entire process.
Hinata blinked, but Rishia Heisuke, who was not even half a step ahead of him, blocked his view, he also saw the person who shouldn't have been in his yard at this time.
Good, Xiaoxia, that was a great receive. One more.
Golden hair shimmered in the sunlight as the boy lowered his head and took the volleyball from the little girl with a gentle tone.
Hinata Natsu looked at Miya Atsumu, but her peripheral vision caught a figure on the street in the distance.
Without even a moment's hesitation, she replied, "Not coming."
Then, the little one stood on tiptoe to open the garden gate and sprinted toward her brother, shouting, "Brother!"
Miya Atsumu also looked back and saw Hinata Shoyo reaching out to catch Xiaoxia.
He stood there with one hand on his hip, a somewhat ambiguous smile on his face.
While comforting his sister, Hinata's peripheral vision kept glancing toward Miya Atsumu.
What's going on? Why is Miya Atsumu-senpai at his house?
Is there no practice at school today? Why is Miya Atsumu-senpai playing with Xiaoxia?
Opening the door to welcome the two of them inside, Miya Atsumu said with a smile, "Welcome back, Shoyo."
Hinata glanced at Rishia Heisuke, who was observing them through the crack in the door, the man slammed the door shut the moment Miya Atsumu looked his way.
Following Miya Atsumu through the door, Hinata Shoyo only then realized something was wrong.
Wait..
—This is his house, isn't it!
Hinata's parents were both not at home, after taking Xiaoxia to watch cartoons, Miya Atsumu and Hinata sat cross-legged facing each other in the room.
Directly opposite Miya Atsumu were posters of him, Hinata, Hoshiumi, Shiratori.
His smile deepened, Miya Atsumu asked as soon as he spoke, "Did you have fun at Shiratorizawa?"
Hinata nodded. "I.. I had fun."
Although he felt like he hadn't done anything wrong, for some reason.. he felt a bit guilty.
Miya Atsumu gave a wry smile. "Made a lot of new friends? Like Karasuno's setter? And Date Tech's setter?"
Under Miya Atsumu's gaze, Hinata raised his hand: "And the setter from Shiratorizawa Junior High."
However, he felt that none of them were bad people; Kageyama.. well, right now, he's about 0.8 of a bad person!
Miya Atsumu chuckled twice. "They're all very impressive?"
Hinata recalled seriously and finally nodded. "Koganezawa is tall, Yura's back set is very fast. Kageyama is quite amazing, though; he can basically set any ball.."
Miya Atsumu crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at Hinata, who was counting the setters on his fingers.
The smile had already vanished from his face, replaced by a chill like the biting wind that was about to arrive.
As for Hinata, he paused slightly at this moment: "But speaking of which, Miya Atsumu-senpai is indeed more amazing."
Miya Atsumu-senpai would have mastered that long ago, he could do it even better.
When Hinata looked up, he heard only a sigh filled with helplessness.
Miya Atsumu's composure broke almost instantly, that combative momentum he had possessed vanished without a trace.
In the end, he could only say softly, "Shoyo.. all the setters outside are bad people.."
Exactly, whether it's Kageyama, Oikawa, Iizuna, Shirabu, or the setters from Date Tech and Shiratorizawa Junior High.. they are all bad people!
Having seen through Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shoyo retorted, "Atsumu-senpai, you're the one who complains about me every single time."
If you really want to put it that way, Atsumu-senpai isn't exactly in the "good person" category either!
People like Kenma and Iizuna-senpai are the real good ones.
Miya Atsumu suddenly sprang up and lunged forward: "Don't you dare accuse your senior!"
Tickled by him, Hinata rolled on the floor laughing, "I was wrong, I was wrong! I'm sorry, Senpai!"
With a bang, the door behind him was pulled open, the long-awaited Rishia Heisuke finally gathered the courage to bring Hinata Shoyo his fallen bag.
He had thought that if Xiaoxia came to open the door for him, he might be able to escape Miya Atsumu's wrath if he moved a little faster, but..
Watching the two people rolling around on the floor together, Rishia Heisuke's brain stalled for a moment.
Wait, what are they doing?
In an instant, he recalled Kunimi's words—"Do normal upperclassmen and underclassmen spend so much time chatting on the phone?"
But what does a normal senior-junior relationship look like? Is it like this?
On the other side, Xiaoxia rushed over huffing, "Atsumu-senpai, you're not allowed to bully Osamu-senpai!"
Miya Atsumu, who had been suppressing a bellyful of anger, had his rare moment of joy interrupted again, his gaze turned sharp the moment it locked onto Rishia Heisuke.
Pushed aside by Hinata Natsu, he sat down facing Rishia: "Come, come, come, you too, let's have a chat."
Xiaoxia huffed and pulled Shoyo out of the room.
She wants her brother to play volleyball with her; she doesn't want Miya Atsumu-kun!
Every time Atsumu-senpai comes over, he pushes her out just so he can monopolize her brother; Atsumu-senpai is a bad person.
Watching the retreating figures of the Hinata siblings, Rishia Heisuke didn't even dare to breathe loudly, forced to act like a turtle hiding in its shell under Miya Atsumu's death stare.
Help, Shoyo promised to save him!
Why did he leave!
The final days of December drew to a close amidst daily training, followed immediately by the New Year.
Leading Xiaoxia to the foot of the mountain where Inari Shrine is located, Hinata waved to the several people waiting for them, "Happy New Year, Kita-senpai, Aran-senpai, Atsumu-senpai, Osamu-senpai!"
Xiaoxia also greeted them obediently, "Hello, big brothers!"
Seeing Xiaoxia for the first time, Aran felt as if his heart were melting: "Is she my little sister? I am Owari Aran, just call me Aran-senpai."
Xiaoxia, seeing someone so dark for the first time, was also full of curiosity: "Hello, Aran-哥哥!"
She remembered this dark-skinned older brother; he was super amazing at playing volleyball.
Hinata pointed toward Kita: "This is Kita Shinsuke, you can call him Shinsuke-senpai."
Shinsuke Kita leaned down to shake Xiaoxia's hand: "Hello, Xiaoxia."
Looking at everyone, Miya Atsumu had a face full of smiles.
Rishia, Ginjima, the others have other plans today, while Suna is simply being too lazy to move in the dormitory.
Anyway, they are planning to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine tomorrow, so it doesn't matter if they don't come today.
Unfortunately, it was too early and it was still snowing a bit today, so no one was wearing a kimono.
On the way up the mountain, Aran patted Miya Atsumu on his back: "You have an important mission today, so make sure you don't forget it."
Miya Atsumu also nodded. "Don't worry, the offering money is already prepared."
That's right, he came here today for one and only one purpose.
——To fulfill a vow to the Inari God.
Chapter 160: The One Hundred and Sixtieth Fox
The Inari Shrine in Amagasaki City was not located at the top of the mountain, but halfway up, so even though it required climbing stairs, it was nowhere near that long.
Passing through the torii gate, Hinata finally saw the Inari Shrine that the seniors had always been talking about.
Inarizaki was right at the foot of the mountain; standing here, one could even see the gymnasium where they trained every day.
As the largest shrine in Amagasaki City, a continuous stream of people came to pay their respects on New Year's Day.
The twins went first to ring the bell, Miya Atsumu also threw all of his saved pocket money into the box. Aran made his wishes after them, then followed the two of them to draw fortune slips.
After making a simple wish for everything to go smoothly next year, Hinata also took Xiaoxia to prepare to draw a fortune.
As the two walked over, they saw Miya Atsumu showing his fortune slip to Aran and Miya Osamu: "As expected, the Inari God loves me the most!"
Seeing the two large characters above, Hinata was also surprised: "Ohhh, it's Great Blessing!"
Miya Osamu showed everyone his good luck fortune, while Aran, who drew last, got medium luck.
Hinata didn't understand some of the obscure fortune texts, but he did notice the one sentence that appeared most frequently on everyone's fortunes.
——Your efforts will be rewarded.
Miya Atsumu's fortune slip was very long; among the words was a sentence stating that when one reaches the end of their journey, they will surely gain new strength through everything from their past.
By comparison, Miya Osamu's was very simple, just a single sentence: "Your wish will be granted."
Hinata excitedly took Xiaoxia to draw lottery sticks, they soon brought back two Omikuji.