“That's right, it feels so formal to keep calling you Senpai..”
Chapter 260: The Fox
“The young people today are truly amazing.."
The Black Jackals' current setter, Oda, glanced over at Miya Atsumu and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Anyway, if he were to come, he wouldn't be able to handle many of the balls Miya Atsumu just sent over.
Beside him, Maekawa took a sip of water and tilted his chin toward Oda. "So, what do you think of Miya Atsumu, Oda-senpai? Is he a good fit for our team?"
Oda paused in his motion of wiping sweat. He lowered his eyes to think for a moment, then replied, "How should I put it.."
For an excellent setter like him, it's not a matter of whether he fits the team; a qualified top-tier setter can make any adjustment required by the team.
What we should consider is.. if we recruit Miya Atsumu, whether we can use our existing conditions to allow Miya Atsumu to reach his full potential.
And if they weren't compatible enough.. he actually felt it would be a bit of a waste of that talent.
At this point, Oda smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Fortunately, I think we are quite compatible with Miya Atsumu."
Based on the abilities Miya Atsumu has demonstrated so far, he can be described as being quite well-rounded.
Not only can he coordinate with many tricky quick attacks and extreme technical balls, but he also does an excellent job with court positioning and distribution across all areas.
Relatively speaking, the Black Jackals were a very good fit; they had a sufficient variety of player types and could cover all kinds of high school-level techniques, perfectly satisfying Miya Atsumu's personal preferences.
Hearing their current starting setter say this, the accompanying coach was quite happy and immediately turned to Head Coach Sansou, saying, "Then I'll have the managers make some contact later."
Coach Sansou nodded. "Mm, there are no matches scheduled during the Interhigh, so I'll take some scouts along to take a look as well."
To be honest, he was interested not only in Miya Atsumu, but also in Miya Osamu and Hinata.
Although he knew Miya Osamu had no intention of continuing to play volleyball, he still had to do his job, just in case.. what if the person actually wavered and agreed?
However, Coach Kurosu was indeed a difficult person to deal with; it was said that the contract Tachibana signed with Aran had been significantly more favorable due to Kurosu's oversight.
But that wasn't something they, as the coaching staff, needed to worry about.
As long as the team can become the strongest and seize that championship trophy, what would it matter if the club were given to the players?
Of course, as the coach, he has no authority to give away the club; he was just speaking figuratively.
But that was essentially how it worked; he would leave the headaches regarding interests to the managers, while he was only responsible for calling out the players he wanted.
As for how to get him.. he doesn't care.
Moreover, as for what kind of benefits Miya Atsumu's face and his flamboyant personality could bring to the club, he believed those businessmen had a better idea than he did.
By then, there won't be any need to force Oliver and the others to strike all sorts of poses for merchandise photoshoots; just standing there, Miya Atsumu would be enough to make the merchandise sell like crazy.
Inarizaki failed to win the second set against the Black Jackals.
The difference between adult professional players and high school students isn't just experience; it is more about their physical conditioning itself.
The Black Jackals, in their hot streak, were in even better form during the Second Set. Several of their Wing Spikers had shifted to a completely aggressive style following Oliver's playstyle, leaving Unabara Uta and Rishia rolling around on the floor.
Moreover, because Inarizaki had been struggling just to survive during the First Set, they were under immense mental and physical pressure, they had yet to find a way to break through even into the Second Set.
Listening to the long whistle ringing in his ears, Unabara Uta lay motionless on the floor: "A failed life, a useless life.."
He couldn't receive it; he truly couldn't control it.
Over the course of the two sets, he only managed to clumsily receive Oliver's full-power spikes five or six times; for the rest of the time, he was mostly making receiving errors.
Talking about how he could handle a single ball for an entire year.. he really couldn't do that!
Coach Kurosu had already requested some signed copies from the official tournament organizers in advance and had distributed some to his own players.
After all, there was a signing and meet-and-greet session scheduled for tomorrow, so the supply of signed items was quite substantial.
Hinata rushed up to Oliver, holding his autograph board aloft. "Oliver-senpai! Please sign this for me!"
Oliver took the board and, with the help of Thomas beside him, gave Hinata an autograph.
Returning the autograph board to Hinata, Oliver gave him a thumbs up. "Good luck, you amazing Little One."
I look forward to seeing you active on the professional stage in the future.
Minka Shugo kindly came over to translate for Hinata.
Hinata nodded vigorously, looking as if he was about to burst into tears: "I will!"
Not just the professional court! He's going international!
Even if it's Romero's signature.. he's going to get it in person right there at the court!
After getting an autograph from Minka Shugo as well, he rushed toward Inunari Shion: "Inunari-senpai! Please give me your autograph!"
"Okay." Inunari took the autograph board and seriously wrote the signature she was still practicing, though it was a bit messy.
Looking at Hinata, after running through her plan in her head once more, Inunari said tentatively, "I didn't write it very well. How about you give me your phone number, I'll sign another one for you once I've improved my skills?"
Hinata happily agreed, completely failing to notice that Inunari's behavior was riddled with something off; he simply felt that being able to exchange contact information with a professional player was absolutely wonderful.
After signing, everyone left the court one after another.
Imai had circled around to the end of the Players' Tunnel at some unknown time, the moment he saw Unabara Uta, he opened his arms toward him: "You were super cool today!"
Unabara Uta threw himself forward while crying, "Maho—"
Watching the sweet little couple comfort each other so sweetly, Miya Atsumu couldn't help but purse his lips.
Passing by, Miya Osamu silently patted his back: "Good luck."
Just then, Hoshiumi's figure also appeared over there, accompanied by Hakuma Mebuki; for some reason, Hirugami Fuku did not follow them.
At the end of the Players' Tunnel, Hoshiumi Hikari waved to the Inarizaki members who had finished their match: "Shoyo, over here, over here—"
Hinata turned his head toward Coach Kurosu, who was nearby. "Coach, I'm going to go find Hoshiumi-senpai!"
Coach Kurosu nodded in agreement, "Go ahead. We are still at the place where we left our things earlier. If you really can't find us, you can go straight back to the hotel or just give us a call."
Listening to Coach Kurosu's earnest advice, Omimi also gave a helpless smile.
Hinata is very reliable most of the time, even more mature than Miya Atsumu and the others. However, his inability to read directions and his tendency to run into trouble is still quite a headache.
"Yeah!" Hinata nodded vigorously, then dashed toward Hoshiumi with light, brisk steps.
Miya Atsumu had just intended to catch up with Hinata's pace when he heard a call from behind.
Miya Atsumu, please wait!
He turned his head and found it was the young coach who had been sitting beside the Black Jackals' Head Coach on the court earlier.
Because of that quick turn, by the time he looked back toward Hinata, Hinata and the rest of the Karasuno members had already laughed and disappeared.
The young coach, who had jogged over, handed a business card to Miya Atsumu: "Hello, Miya Atsumu. I am a coach from the Black Jackals' data team, my surname is Eguchi."
He had a smile on his face, but as he looked up, he noticed that Miya Atsumu's expression looked as if the sky were falling.
Hmm? What's wrong?
Eguchi's smile froze for a moment, completely unaware of what he had done wrong or how he had offended Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu took a deep breath, waving his hands repeatedly at Eguchi, before accepting the other man's business card with both hands. "It's nothing, it's nothing. Hello, Coach Eguchi."
After leaving the team in Omimi's hands, Coach Kurosu also walked over.
Although the Black Jackals club had no prior record of misconduct, it couldn't be ruled out that some people might try to trick his students into agreeing to unfair terms, so he had to watch over them personally.
"It's like this.." Coach Eguchi began to relay the Black Jackals' thoughts to Miya Atsumu.
On the other side, Hinata followed Hoshiumi and the others to the seating area.
Having arrived a step ahead, Hirugami Fuku had already ordered snacks for several people and Kuniharu. Seeing them enter, he hurriedly waved his hand, "Over here, over here!"
Hinata greeted Hirugami Fuku with excitement: "Hirugami-senpai!"
As expected, no matter how many times you see a star player like this, it never fails to get your heart racing!
Hirugami Fuku was in an incredibly good mood: "You guys played well in today's match, you helped us scout out a lot of our old rivals' details, so I've decided to treat everyone."
Hinata cheered, "Long live Hirugami-senpai!"
After playing a match, you really do need some food that can quickly replenish your physical strength.
Hakuma, who had been following at the very end acting as a bodyguard, sat down, upon Hoshiumi's hint, sat down beside Hinata.
Hakuma, who was certainly large in stature, sat down there first, making Hinata look even smaller by comparison.
However, Hinata's appetite was enormous; under Hakuma's shocked gaze, he devoured the juice in his hands and the food in front of him at an incredible speed.
Hoshiumi silently pushed his own toward Hinata, watching as Hinata stuffed his cheeks until they bulged.
And only after Hinata had devoured two servings with voracious speed, Hakuma Mebuki—who had been wondering exactly what he had done to offend Hoshiumi—had managed to take two bites, did he finally stop thinking.
Hinata looked up at Hakuma, seemingly asking with his eyes if he was still eating.
Hakuma didn't react in time and nodded subconsciously.
The next second, Hinata reached out and snatched the food in front of Hakuma as well.
This time Hakuma was even more stunned. He was still eating!
Hoshiumi couldn't help but burst out laughing, looking quite happy to see Hakuma being so embarrassed.
Hinata had clearly just asked, "Can I eat this?", Hakuma nodded in agreement.
As expected, this guy's brain is as useless as ever.
And Hakuma simply put down his chopsticks, asking with a dead serious expression, "You're not even that big, how do you eat so much?"
He was curious, he was truly curious!
He felt that his appetite was already huge, but how much did Hinata weigh?
Hinata raised his head from his food and showed off his muscles to Hakuma.
After this period of training, the muscles on his arms have already begun to take shape.
Hoshiumi propped his chin up with one hand: "What he means is, he's still gaining muscle and height."
At the same time, Hirugami Fuku raised his hand and ordered another table of food from the waiter.