Hoshiumi leaned forward slightly, positioning the camera on his chest to face Miya Atsumu, who was looking up at the sky and contemplating life.
Atsumu spoke weakly, "Don't talk.."
He realized that while Hinata could still say a few words in his defense when facing Oikawa Tooru, if the opponent was Hoshiumi.. Hinata's rate of defection was simply absurd.
As expected, his lifelong rival should be Hoshiumi—
However, Miya Atsumu soon went to find the ski resort's coach to vindicate his status as High School's Best Setter.
Without Hoshiumi's interference and Hinata's abstract teaching, he quickly mastered the basic skiing techniques.
Well, at the very least, he can brake now.
And Hoshiumi's plan to watch the spectacle was completely foiled, because Miya Atsumu's frequency of acting cool had far surpassed his frequency of making a fool of himself.
With his confidence greatly bolstered, Miya Atsumu even went to one side to find a photographer to take some tourist photos of himself.
Hinata and Hoshiumi returned indoors to eat lunch and rest, watching Miya Atsumu strike poses under the photographer's direction through the glass.
Watching Hinata across from him eat his curry rice with such devotion, Hoshiumi-senpai rested his chin in his hand.
He looked at Hinata, then looked at Miya Atsumu outside, finally spoke softly, asking, "What do you think of Miya Atsumu?"
"Hmm?" Hearing this familiar question, Hinata, who was still immersed in the delicious curry, looked up in confusion and gazed at Hoshiumi across from him.
Hoshiumi-senpai.. did you and Oikawa-senpai conspire together?
In a place where Hinata couldn't see, Hoshiumi gave a light click of his tongue and shot a glare at Miya Atsumu, who was walking over after finishing taking photos.
Hoshiumi-senpai spoke earnestly, "He's a bad person, stay away from him. He's out there flirting with every girl he sees every single day; who knows how many messes he's left behind."
Hinata shook his head, refusing to accept the rumors from Hoshiumi-senpai: "No, Atsumu-senpai is with me every day. Hoshiumi-senpai, you must have been deceived by someone."
Hoshiumi's expression twisted even further.
Looking at Miya Atsumu, who had already walked in, he quickly added, "I don't care, I hate that guy Miya Atsumu."
Hinata tried to salvage Miya Atsumu's image in Hoshiumi's heart: "Atsumu-senpai is actually a good person, I like him very much, so Hoshiumi-senpai, please don't be deceived by rumors."
Hmm? So Shoyo likes me.
Miya Atsumu's voice followed immediately after, the look of smugness on his face as he looked down gave Hoshiumi a feeling of disgust, as if he had swallowed a fly.
Hoshiumi crossed his arms over his chest, scanning Miya Atsumu with a look of pure contempt, directly interrupting Hinata's attempt to nod. "Him? He isn't even worth a single strand of my hair."
Then how about compared to me? Who is better?
Hinata followed up, "I like Hoshiumi-senpai too."
Miya Atsumu also sat down, looking at Hoshiumi with a face full of provocation: "Shoyo definitely likes me more."
Hinata decisively played it safe: "I like both."
Hoshiumi's expression soured even further: "Tsk."
He scrutinized Miya Atsumu with a searching gaze, looking him up and down.
His face was decent enough, his volleyball skills were quite good, his intelligence was just barely passable.
The important thing is that this guy's personality is a complete mess!
Our Hinata is such a good kid, how did he end up getting stuck with this nuisance?
Seeing Miya Atsumu naturally raise his hand to try and put it around Hinata's shoulder, Hoshiumi-senpai bared his teeth in an instant to threaten him, "Take your hand off him!"
Under the surge of anger, his hair was practically standing on end.
Handsy! How improper!
Under Hoshiumi-senpai's intimidation, Miya Atsumu finally behaved himself.
Forget it, forget it. There's no point in bickering with Hoshiumi; it's only for today, soon Hoshiumi will have disappeared from their world.
Hoshiumi, who had originally planned to play with Hirugami and the others in the afternoon, decisively changed his plans and began keeping a strict watch over Hinata to guard him against Miya Atsumu.
Whenever Miya Atsumu tried to get close, Hoshiumi-senpai would immediately act intimidating, successfully ensuring that Miya Atsumu never had a single chance to touch Hinata.
If it weren't for the Hinata family needing to go to the guesthouse, Hoshiumi might have even followed them directly until the next day.
Standing at the main gate of Karasuno, the five of them—Hoshiumi-senpai, Hirugami, Hakuma, Hinata, Miya Atsumu—looked at each other blankly.
In the end, Hoshiumi pulled Hinata inside and reached back to shut the school's card-access gate, leaving Oikawa Tooru completely shut out.
Feeling exhausted, Hoshiumi-senpai reached out to steady Shoyo's shoulders and said earnestly, "Shoyo, I'm serious.. why don't you come to Karasuno? You could live at my house."
Even if you were my younger brother! Seriously!
A string of question marks appeared over Miya Atsumu's head outside the door: "This is your real motive, isn't it! You bastard, Hoshiumi!"
I'm going to report you to the Coach right now!
After saying that, as the group from Karasuno kidnapped Hinata, Miya Atsumu decisively pulled out his phone to call Coach Kurosu, describing Hoshiumi and the others' heinous crimes in vivid detail.
Coach Kurosu also quickly reported the matter to Coach Aran, saying that the Karasuno players had kidnapped their player and were bullying him.
Looking at the crowd in front of him enjoying the snacks, Coach Aran gave a chuckle.
What do you mean? That's not true.
Xiaoxia went with her parents to the National Observatory, while Hinata was playing in the Karasuno gym, leaving only Miya Atsumu abandoned at the entrance of Karasuno in the middle of the freezing winter.
As luck would have it, Karasuno was built on a mountain, he searched all around but couldn't find a single wall he could climb.
As the time for the return journey approached, Hinata finally left Karasuno, looking back with lingering reluctance.
Squatting by the entrance, Miya Atsumu rested his chin in his hands and turned his head to look at Hinata. "You finally decided to come out?"
Hinata approached Miya Atsumu with a hint of guilt, crouching down close to him. "Why didn't you find a place to wait for me, Atsumu-senpai?"
Atsumu-senpai's clothes felt so cold; he must have been waiting for a long time.
Actually, Miya Atsumu, who had been sitting in the rice ball shop at the foot of the mountain all morning, spoke without a hint of blushing or a racing heart: "Because I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me."
Miya Atsumu made another mental note regarding Hoshiumi: "It's all Hoshiumi's fault."
Looking at Miya Atsumu's slightly red, frozen nose, Hinata blinked.
Just a moment ago in the Karasuno Gymnasium, he had been playing volleyball with Hoshiumi-senpai and the others.
Even though there were many people and it was very lively, when he subconsciously turned his head back wanting to share the joy, Atsumu-senpai was not behind him.
—He felt a bit empty inside.
Lowering his head, Hinata used his finger to poke a circle in the snow, remaining silent as he hid his face in his scarf.
This feeling was a bit strange, so Hinata decisively gave up on thinking and let his mind go blank as he stared at the snow pile in front of him.
Watching Hinata take so long to get up, Miya Atsumu was a bit puzzled. "What's wrong?"
Hearing the voice, Hinata suddenly looked up and stared blankly at Miya Atsumu: "Atsumu-senpai, can you give me a hug?"
Miya Atsumu happily agreed, "Of course you can."
After speaking, he proactively leaned down and pulled Hinata into his arms: "Is this okay?"
A satisfied Hinata nodded, "Yeah."
Mm, so that's what was missing!
He is truly smart!
Chapter 251: The Two Hundred and Fifty-First Fox
Opening the door after a long time, the first thing that appeared in Miya Atsumu's field of vision was that face, which was identical to his own.
Miya Osamu stood near the entrance with his arms crossed over his chest, watching him expressionlessly. "So the big shot finally decided to come home?"
Miya Atsumu froze for a moment.
He stopped taking off his shoes and looked at Miya Osamu with some experience. "Osamu.. you've lost weight."
Veins popped on Miya Osamu's forehead: "Sometimes I really want to ask Mom why she gave you a mouth."
Atsumu was living the high life with the Hinata family, while he was the only one left miserably gnawing on boiled broccoli..
Glancing at Miya Atsumu's stomach, Osamu let out a sneer. "You won't escape it either."
Miya Atsumu is going to have to pay back every bit of weight he's gained these past few days.
Stepping aside to make way for Miya Atsumu to enter, Osamu added, "Also.. your skiing skills are truly terrible."
Miya Atsumu stumbled, looking back with a face full of shock. "What? Does this thing spread that fast? That only happened yesterday!"
That damn Hoshiumi, hateful Hoshiumi, wicked Hoshiumi!
He decided to list Hoshiumi as the most, most hated person in his entire life! No one else!
Osamu shrugged. "It's your popularity, after all."
After throwing his bag back into the room, Miya Atsumu came running back again, thumping his feet, pulled out his phone to hold it in front of Miya Osamu's face. "Who said my skiing isn't good? Come on, come on, look! Am I not handsome!"
Atsumu played the cool photos taken by the ski resort photographer on a loop; with a face like his, there was hardly any need for post-processing.
Osamu mercilessly debunked him: "Even if he is handsome, that's all thanks to Mom."
This kind of obvious staged photo could only show off a face just like his.
Glancing sideways at Miya Atsumu, who was still admiring his own beautiful photos, Osamu asked tentatively, "Since you've already joined their family trip, has there been any substantial progress?"
Miya Atsumu didn't even blink. "Shoyo said he likes me."
Miya Osamu mercilessly undermined him: "Hoshiumi-senpai said Shoyo likes him."
Atsumu was silent for a few seconds, mentally stabbing Hoshiumi with countless needles, before finally letting out a heavy click of his tongue.
"You're so spineless." Osamu was also shocked; he had thought Miya Atsumu would just be blunt about it and then have a grand, passionate romance while at Inarizaki.
Miya Atsumu returned to the room he shared with Miya Osamu and stood before the wall where certificates were hanging.
He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated to speak.
Under Osamu's gaze, Atsumu paced back and forth in the room, looking somewhat frustrated.
He threw his hands up. "That's how I thought! That's how I was thinking, that's what I was going to do!"