Completely forgetting that there was someone else in the elevator, Hinata was startled. When he turned his head and met Enoshita Chikara's smiling face, he became even more panicked.
He immediately shrank into the corner of the elevator and crouched down with his head in his hands, "I'm sorry, Karasuno's Captain! I didn't mean to say bad things about Kageyama! Please don't kill me!"
Even though he didn't know what kind of person the other was, but.. his smile was terrifying!
Enoshita Chikara didn't know what to say for a moment.
But before he could reach out to pull Hinata, the elevator doors had already closed and begun to rise; he was a step too slow and failed to open the doors.
Enoshita Chikara suddenly felt exhausted: "Ah, I'm doomed."
Turning his head and finding two people missing, Ukai Keishin looked completely bewildered. "Where are they?"
Having witnessed everything, Kageyama raised his hand and pointed toward the elevator. "Those two went upstairs; they probably left something behind."
“Then I'll go ask around to see which nearby gym has an available slot; stay close by and don't wander off.”
Ukai Keishin felt very reassured by Enoshita Chikara; with him there, there shouldn't be any accidents.
After all, he was someone else's child; if anything were to happen to him.. that person from Inarizaki would come here to cause a scene with him.
Ukai Keishin, standing with his hands in his pockets inside the hospital doors looking out, turned his head slightly and gave a small, dry chuckle.
I'm afraid it won't just be the Inarizaki coach; the one likely to come over and cause trouble is Old man Washijo from right next door to Karasuno.
Fortunately, Enoshita Chikara was very reliable and pressed the button for the third floor just in time. After getting off the elevator, the two of them ran back via the stairs.
Kageyama had already dressed and gone outside to trample in the snow, Hinata followed him out excitedly.
He hadn't seen snow piled this high in Amagasaki during these two winters. Now that he had finally made it back, he wanted to get close to the snow.
Before he could even leave the hospital gates, the phone in his pocket started ringing.
He pulled out his phone and saw that the caller was Miya Atsumu.
Ukai Keishin was still making a temporary reservation for the volleyball court, while Kageyama was staring wide-eyed at a calico cat in front of the hospital entrance.
Hinata answered the phone: "Atsumu-senpai?"
Miya Atsumu's aggrieved voice rang out, "Shoyo, you've already returned to Sendai?"
Hinata looked down at the shoes on his feet and used his foot to step in the snow, making a round shape: "Yeah, I've already arrived. Is there something you need, Atsumu-senpai?"
As he looked up, he saw Kageyama, who had been staring intensely at the cat for a long time, reaching out a hand clad in a thick glove to touch it.
In the next second, the cat leaped high into the air, its four legs kicking out as it lunged toward Hinata.
Hinata was knocked straight on, stumbling to the side to avoid it, but he still lost his footing. The hat on his head was even snatched away by the cat and sent flying.
After performing a brief breakdance on the snow-covered marble, Hinata successfully stabilized himself and didn't let his phone fly away.
He didn't have time to worry about Miya Atsumu on the other end of the phone; Hinata immediately spoke up to protest to Kageyama, "Hey! Kageyama, what are you doing!"
Having done something wrong, Kageyama turned his face away. "I didn't know he was going to dive for you.."
Seeing him act like that, Hinata directly grabbed a snowball and threw it at Kageyama: "Apologize to me right now!"
Bending down to dodge Hinata's attack, Kageyama also lowered his head to mold a snowball, then threw it at Hinata: "I said—I'm sorry!!"
Hinata refused to be outdone and quickly molded several more snowballs to throw back in retaliation. "Take this—"
In a short while, the two of them had covered each other in snow.
Enoshita Chikara stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the two of them play together with a wide smile on his face.
—This seemed to be the first time he had seen Kageyama fooling around with someone else.
After all, usually, Kageyama and Tsukishima only ever reached the level of bickering in the club, at most using volleyball to compete with one another.
Just then, a snowball hit him directly in the face.
Enoshita Chikara raised his hand to wipe his face, his smile deepening as he looked at the two of them.
Kageyama and Hinata both froze at the same time.
Suddenly remembering something, Hinata abruptly pulled his phone out of his pocket: "Ah, it hung up."
He just didn't know if he had accidentally pressed something while scrambling for his phone or if Atsumu-senpai had hung up on him himself..
—It should be the former.
Hinata nodded secretly, completely ignoring the option behind him.
Ukai Keishin also walked out of the hospital lobby with the Ukai group: "I've made the reservation. There's an available court at a nearby badminton gym, I'll go get the car."
Hinata shook the snow off his body: "Want to play badminton!"
Coach Kosano taught him two moves!
“No way, idiot.” Kageyama rolled his eyes.
Aside from being used for hosting matches, these kinds of indoor gyms are multipurpose venues; for volleyball, you just look at the volleyball lines.
Hinata, feeling suddenly like an illiterate, snapped in embarrassment, "Do you think you're so great!"
He really had never been to this kind of gymnasium; most of the ones he had visited before were basically just volleyball courts.
Kageyama raised an eyebrow. "Huh? I just know because I used to go here all the time when I was in the third year of middle school."
Enoshita Chikara didn't know what to say for a moment. "I feel like their combined IQ doesn't even reach seven.."
Is this still that cold-faced Karasuno setter and the terrifying Little Giant of Inarizaki?
Fortunately, Ukai Keishin drove the car over before the situation could get any worse.
Everyone got into the car one by one. Enoshita Chikara was very thoughtful and sat between two people to prevent them from continuing to argue over strange reasons.
They arrived at the volleyball gym before noon, but the court they had reserved wouldn't be free until one in the afternoon, so Ukai Keishin treated everyone to a simple convenience store lunch.
While munching on the bread in his hand, Kageyama pulled out his notebook.
"It's just that, Karasuno's only strong attacker right now is Tanaka-senpai, if we play a conventional wing spiker style, we're actually lacking a left wing." Kageyama pointed toward Ukai Keishin.
But if we use an Opposite playstyle, Tanaka-senpai isn't very skilled at attacking from the back row, so Coach and I have been researching a way to support the Opposite lately.
Kageyama explained simply, "The current idea is to have Enoshita-senpai play as the Opposite to bolster the offensive strength of the Left Wing, while the Wing Spiker on the Right Wing and the Middle Blocker take on a portion of the offensive responsibilities."
However, I've noticed that the most widely used style in high school is the Stronger Opposite playstyle, like at Shiratorizawa, Fukuda General, Ichibayashi, Inarizaki.
Hinata rubbed his chin as he recalled, then raised his hand to ask a question: "Most of the time, our Inarizaki's Opposite is an all-around player, not someone who only focuses on attacking like Ushijima-senpai and Hoshinoya-senpai."
So, rather than being a Stronger Opposite, Miya Osamu is more of a defensive Opposite.
Kageyama shook his head. "No, I'm talking about your Opposite."
His brain stalled for two seconds, Hinata's eyes widened.
So, was Kageyama comparing him to Ushijima-senpai and the others?
He crossed his arms over his chest and finally turned his head. "Even.. even if you were praising me, I wouldn't be happy about it."
Kageyama said expressionlessly, "No, I'm not praising you."
—He was simply stating the facts.
"I think I understand." Ukai Keishin nodded.
He then looked at Hinata: "What about you? Do you have any questions?"
Hinata quickly sat up straight and looked at Ukai Keishin with an extremely serious expression: "I want to be able to fight for air superiority even better."
Meeting those eyes, Ukai Keishin felt a momentary daze.
He nodded. "I understand. In that case, let's first deal with Kageyama's problem."
After saying that, he looked at Hinata: "Tactics themselves are also one of the weapons used to fight for air superiority. You have to understand what your opponent is thinking to better receive the ball and carry out subsequent attacks."
Hinata nodded heavily. "I understand."
Ukai Keishin continued asking, "I remember Karasuno has a pretty tall Middle Blocker; he'll have no problem playing offense. Have you decided on the Right Wing?"
Ukai Keishin nodded. "For now, it's tentatively Yamaguchi, the one who does the Jump Float Serve, but we still need to see how the new students perform."
Yeah, a Right Wing with a powerful serve is indeed a good choice; it can ensure that we can take the advantage in the tournament.
Ukai Keishin didn't say much; after all, Karasuno's bench was indeed not deep enough right now.
After a brief discussion with them, Ukai Keishin quickly provided guidance: "When the setter has sufficient offensive capability, Enoshita Chikara can go back and practice his setting more."
It's not a 4-2 rotation; it's just to provide support when offensive conditions aren't ideal. You should have seen the Inarizaki twins' playstyle.
Your Libero is very impressive; you basically don't have to worry about the First Receive..
By the time the theoretical explanation was finished, the court happened to be empty.
Having listened to a headful of Karasuno's future secrets for no apparent reason, Hinata felt like his brain capacity was a bit insufficient, he failed to remember many things.
—Even though it probably wouldn't have been useful for him to remember all that anyway.
Seeing Kageyama's profile, Hinata instantly perked up.
No, it's useful.
If they happen to face Karasuno later, this will be the weapon he uses to defeat Kageyama!
“Hinata, come here. Let me see your spike. Kageyama, toss a few balls to him.”
Alright—
Ukai Keishin stood with his arms crossed, quietly watching Hinata demonstrate various spikes.
In terms of technique, he actually had nothing left to teach Hinata.
Whether it was his vertical jump or his spiking technique itself, Hinata's skills had been visibly polished to a high level.
Inarizaki's coaching staff and resources are undeniably excellent; on that basis, he doesn't need his guidance at all.
Therefore, the only thing he could pass on to this little guy entrusted to him by Nekota.. was perhaps the experience of those who had come before on this path.
Enoshita Chikara and Ukai Keishin will block. Hinata, pay attention to the opponent's wrist position when you spike.
He raised his hand to demonstrate to Hinata: "If they are in a relaxed state, you have to be careful that it's not a tooling the block or a dump.."
Ukai Keishin's teaching didn't take much time; it was mostly for demonstrating to Hinata.
Whether it was out of personal interest or out of a desire to look after the child of an old friend, he was willing to impart some knowledge.
Hours had passed without anyone noticing.