And having received Hinata's assurance, Oikawa was completely at ease.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, I don't have anything else to do, I just wanted to give you a few words of advice before I leave."
Hinata froze for a moment. "Where is Oikawa-senpai going?"
Why does he say it like it's a final farewell..
Oikawa Tooru leaned back in his chair. "I'm planning to go abroad after I graduate, so you won't see me around anymore."
Hinata's eyes widened: "Going abroad!"
That sounds amazing, as expected of Oikawa-senpai.
Oikawa Tooru stood up, preparing to leave. "If you have time in the next few days, come visit Seijo. Remember to call me, I'll come by to see you."
The next second, his clothes were grabbed.
Oikawa looked down, meeting Hinata's innocent and clear, large eyes.
Those eyes blinked, but that silent gaze made Oikawa Tooru understand instantly what he wanted to say.
—You promised to teach me.
—Are you really not going to teach me?
Oikawa Tooru fell silent.
After forty-nine seconds of internal struggle, Oikawa Tooru gave in.
He and Hinata made a pact: "Let's get one thing straight, I'm only responsible for your problems."
“Second, the two of us are going to treat Xiao Feixiong like he's invisible.”
Oikawa Tooru held up his third finger. "Finally, remember to come play with Kunimi and Kindaichi later."
Hinata agreed decisively, "Okay, Oikawa-senpai! No problem, Oikawa-senpai!"
But why did he feel like Oikawa-senpai wasn't as mature as Atsumu-senpai?
Treating people like they're invisible.. how childish.
By the time they returned to the gym, Kageyama and Enoshita Chikara had already been practicing serves for a while.
The two of them entered and headed straight for the opposite court. Oikawa Tooru didn't bother tossing the ball for Kageyama or Enoshita; instead, he just let Hinata toss the ball to himself and spike it.
What Hinata wanted to study was how to handle technical plays when performing a Strong Attack from Position 4 against a three-person Block.
Against blocking powerhouses like Nekoma, Fukuda General, or Karasuno, he generally wouldn't get the chance to hit a short diagonal or a wipe.
Simple line shots will also be blocked by the back row, using a dump to tool the block isn't always an option either.
A better way to handle it is to use a side spin to brush the ball, allowing it to curve around the block to achieve the effect of bypassing the block and avoiding hitting it straight on.
But among the people he knows, only Sakusa can pull off that kind of shot, even then, it's mostly by relying on extreme wrist flexibility.
Hinata didn't expect himself to actually find a way.
However, in a situation that could only be described as a desperate one, even just a glimmer of hope would be a good thing.
Oikawa Tooru immediately pointed out the problem: "If you're trying to tool the block, the ball speed won't be enough; it'll easily result in a spike out of bounds."
Ninety-nine percent of the situations you're talking about would be blocked dead. Actually, the best choice would be to lighten the force of the spike as much as possible to make it easier for your teammates to handle the receive.
And the most important point of all is—with so many spikers at Inarizaki and Miya Atsumu on the court, the possibility of the Ace being blocked by three players at Position 4 is infinitely close to zero.
Hinata scratched his head. "I know, so it's just a little bit of wishful thinking."
And isn't that the same principle as the side spin during a serve?
Oikawa Tooru decisively changed the training plan. "Then we'll practice serves first. We'll figure out how to control the side spin first."
Kageyama's ears perked up instantly, he cast his gaze toward the other side of the net.
Oikawa turned slightly, shielding his movements completely so that Kageyama couldn't see a thing.
—He said he would only teach Shoyo.
Moreover, Hinata's serve is ugly as hell right now; he must find a way to fix it.
Enoshita's phone, which he had placed by the sidelines, began to vibrate. He walked over and picked it up, finding it was Yamaguchi Tadashi.
He was a bit confused. "What happened?"
Looking at the volleyballs scattered all over the sidelines, Yamaguchi's tone was quite helpless and flustered: "Enoshita-senpai, help me.. Nishinoya-senpai and Inarizaki's setter are getting into a heated rivalry.."
From far away within the phone, Nishinoya Yu's voice could be heard shouting "Again!", making Enoshita Chikara feel like a vein was throbbing in his temple.
He gripped the phone tightly and said as calmly as possible, "Give the phone to Aki."
Nishinoya Yu, who had been stopped, took the phone with the speaker already on from Yamaguchi.
Me? I didn't do anything. I was just practicing my first receive.
The Dual Wield of the high school's strongest Server is quite challenging; I've had to receive several of them.
But where have you been? I haven't seen you all day, Kageyama isn't around either.
Nishinoya Yu and Enoshita Chikara chatted, the originally tense atmosphere relaxed.
Hearing that there wasn't actually a real conflict, Enoshita Chikara also breathed a sigh of relief: "I was at a gym in the city; Kageyama and Inarizaki's number 17 were there too. We just came from Coach Ukai."
Oh, Oikawa-senpai from Seijo is teaching Hinata how to serve right now.
As soon as Enoshita finished speaking, a sudden, violent coughing sound erupted from the other end of the phone, as if someone had been choked.
Cough, cough, cough, cough—
Who? With whom? With whom??
Chapter 241: The 241st Fox
Miya Atsumu's mind went blank, he was a bit slow to react to what he had just heard.
He couldn't find anyone at the Hinata family house this morning, driven by the desire to read the latest magazines with Hinata as soon as possible, he decisively purchased tickets for the most recent Shinkansen from Amagasaki to Sendai.
But he wasn't quite sure where the Hinata family lived, so he gave Hinata a call when the Shinkansen reached Nagano.
Then.. he heard Hinata and Kageyama playing around.
He didn't actually know what kind of mood he was in when he hung up that phone; he just found himself driven by instinct to take a bus to Karasuno immediately after getting off the Shinkansen.
But he didn't see Hinata here, nor did he see that obnoxious Kageyama Tobio.
As a result, he's now hungry because he skipped lunch, he's even being pestered here by Karasuno's Libero to act as a practice partner..
How did he remember that he came here to challenge the establishment?!
Nishinoya Yu put his phone back by the sidelines and returned to the court with excitement, rubbing his hands together again: "Enoshita and the others will be back in a bit. Miya Atsumu, let's keep going!"
As he spoke, he beckoned to Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu lifted his chin, but his original refusal failed to leave his lips for a long time.
He came here to challenge them, so how could he just admit defeat and call it quits?
He could serve another hundred more! He would definitely pin that arrogant Libero to the ground!
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima crouched side by side by the sidelines, watching the two people facing off on the court once again.
Seeing Miya Atsumu preparing to perform another Jump Float Serve, Yamaguchi showed a profound sense of envy and longing: "Miya-senpai's Jump Float Serve is truly amazing."
Tsukishima also watched Miya Atsumu's movement closely: "After all, he is the strongest Server right now."
He has already started practicing Jump Float Serves together with Yamaguchi; in fact, a large part of the match footage he watches regularly features Miya Atsumu.
Yamaguchi couldn't help but nod. "Nishinoya-senpai is also amazing; he has already mostly adapted to it.."
Although Miya Atsumu didn't showcase his Dual Wield here, the variation in his Jump Float Serve and the richness of his ball trajectories were truly terrifying.
Moreover, it felt as if Miya Atsumu was repeatedly adjusting his serve, specifically targeting Nishinoya's powerful ability to Receive Serve.
On the other side, Enoshita Chikara hung up the phone and looked up at Hinata and Oikawa, hesitating for a moment over whether or not to tell Hinata about Miya Atsumu.
As far as he knew, Hinata was here on vacation, so what was Miya Atsumu doing here?
Those two shouldn't be together, right..
After thinking it over repeatedly, Enoshita Chikara ultimately decided not to speak.
Oikawa is still discussing serving with Hinata, so it's best not to disturb them for the time being.
The main thing is to focus on the contact point, just like when you do your usual side spin spikes.
Oikawa Tooru raised his hand to simulate the motion: "But if you want to add more arc, you have to pay attention to the wrist snap at the moment of impact, like this, applying force at an angle.. like this."
Hinata followed along, imitating him. "Like this?"
More or less," Oikawa Tooru adjusted his body again and shot Kageyama Tobio a glare, "Xiao Feixiong, you're not allowed to watch.
After watching a few points, Hinata excitedly tried it himself, then..
The ball grazed Kageyama's head as it flew past, finally hitting the wall with a loud thud.
Kageyama, who had nearly been assassinated, froze completely.
After coming to his senses, he felt his scalp go numb.
Although Hinata's strength isn't that great, the ball speed generated by his arm swing speed alone can reach over 90km/h.
If he got hit by that.. he felt like he wouldn't need to report to the Volleyball Club tomorrow.
Hinata shrugged his shoulders and hid behind the pole, attempting to make himself disappear from Kageyama's sight.
Facing Kageyama's scowl, Hinata tried his best to muster some courage: "Why are you being so mean? It's not like.. it's not like I missed!"
Akuma and Atsumu-senpai, whom he had spiked at, were both kind to him and even comforted him.
He didn't even hit Kageyama, yet Kageyama actually had the audacity to threaten him!
And this guy was standing so close to the court!
That's his own problem!
Kageyama fell silent, clicked his tongue, walked away.