After confirming the upcoming schedule, Miya Atsumu stood up, preparing to leave. "In that case, I'll go back and look for Tomomichi Chita's previous match recordings."
"I'll leave it to you." Coach Kurosu watched Miya Atsumu leave his office.
He turned to glance at the computer screen on his desk, where the wallpaper was the group photo taken not long ago after they had won the championship.
To put it bluntly, the most important purpose of the Golden Week training camp is to face off against Shirabu and the others, but if they are to play a practice match against Shirabu next month.. could they use the extra time during Golden Week to do something else? Like how they did against Nekoma before?
For example.. arranging matches against opponents they would have originally planned to face only after a period of further team cohesion?
Thinking of this, Coach Kurosu enthusiastically began to look through the statistics he had compiled on various teams, attempting to select a suitable whetstone.
On the other side, Miya Atsumu walked slowly toward the direction of the gym; the third gym had already been dismissed, only the second gym still had its lights on.
Looking from this side, the shadows of volleyballs could be seen occasionally flying behind the glass high above.
First of all, Suna probably won't come for self-training, Osamu might be practicing, but Rishia Heisuke and Unabara Uta might just be slacking off.
However.. Hinata must still be doing extra practice; he could definitely help.
Thinking of this, Miya Atsumu's pace became even lighter.
He quickly changed his shoes in the locker room, then took off his jacket and changed into short sleeves and shorts for easier movement.
Walking past the display wall that was still under renovation, Miya Atsumu pushed open the doors to the gym.
What came into view were Suna, Tokura Ginjima, who was practicing blocking, as well as Rishia Heisuke and Miya Osamu, who were responsible for the attack.
Meanwhile, Hinata was sitting by the sidelines talking to a large, unfamiliar man, even raising his hands to gesture as he spoke.
Hmm?
For a moment, Miya Atsumu felt as if he hadn't woken up from his sleep.
Why was someone who shouldn't be here appearing on the court, while the person who should be here most was standing on the sidelines?
Hinata noticed Miya Atsumu entering immediately and hurriedly waved to signal him to come over.
“Atsumu-senpai! Over here!!”
His brain automatically filtered out the large stranger next to Hinata, as Captain Miya Atsumu walked over to Hinata's side and found a comfortable position to sit down as well.
Before Hinata could even speak, Miya Atsumu spoke up first and asked, "Why isn't Shoyo playing?"
Upon hearing this question, Hinata felt a strange sense of guilt for a second.
Immediately after, he replied without even a hint of a blush or a tremor in his voice, "Because I can't play anymore."
“Hmm?”
Looking at Hinata, then looking at Suna on the court, Miya Atsumu raised his hand and pinched his own leg.
He pinched himself so hard that Miya Atsumu hissed in pain, "Ah—"
Mm, confirmed, he wasn't dreaming.
That's not right!
Why is Suna doing extra training, while Hinata actually says he "can't move anymore"!
Arima Shuji walked over holding a water bottle and said to Miya Atsumu, "These two beside you were insisting on seeing who could serve better just now; they hit over three hundred jump serves in a row over there, they only stopped when Haseda Katsuya collapsed."
By the end, both of those two had such distorted serves; they were purely competing in terms of physical stamina, when it comes to that, no high schooler could be stronger than Hinata.
Hinata stood tall, chest puffed out: "So, I won."
He was completely and utterly dominant today! He won every single event they competed in!
Haseda expressed his disagreement: "You're wrong, Senpai, I should be the winner. Because the winner is whoever serves better, not whoever lasts longer."
In terms of error rate and bottle-hitting accuracy, he was slightly better than Hinata.
Hinata turned his head to protest, "But Haseda Katsuya, I'm clearly the one who stays on the court the longest."
Arima Shuji, who had already listened to the two of them arguing several times, finally couldn't help but interject, "There's no need for you two to argue about this. Shoyo, you're actually the worst at serving among us."
At that moment, Masaru Haseda suddenly expressed his disagreement: "Shoyo-senpai is very amazing."
Arima Shuji felt mentally exhausted: "No, no, no, he is indeed very amazing, but his serve.."
What is with this kid? He's actually helping him out!
Listening to the two of them calling out each other's names, Miya Atsumu felt like his brain was struggling to keep up: "Wait, wait, wait, you two only met today, how are you already so close?"
Hinata blinked. "Because Katsuya is very kind and very amazing."
Masaru Haseda also had a look of dead seriousness on his face: "Shoyo-senpai is the best and most amazing senpai."
Miya Atsumu covered his eyes with his hands, wanting to collapse on the spot.
He knew he should have kept Hinata by his side! How could he have let another idiot get provoked in just a moment of absence!
On the court, Suna glanced at the pale-faced Miya Atsumu and shot a meaningful look toward Masaru Haseda.
But Haseda was still arguing with Hinata about who had won, completely failing to notice Suna's movement.
Suna couldn't help but let out a soft click of his tongue, frowning in displeasure.
He actually just wanted to bring his junior along to experience it firsthand, so that Masaru Haseda could act as the photographer on the spot.
But unexpectedly, he was grabbed by Ginjima as he walked downstairs, who insisted on bringing him to the Volleyball Hall no matter what.
Moreover, Tokura happened to be there as well, stubbornly holding onto him and refusing to let him leave, insisting that he practice blocking with them for a while.
Plus, he wanted to watch the commotion over by Hinata.. which ultimately resulted in him not being able to leave and being forced into extra practice.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he wouldn't have agreed no matter what Tokura said. Miya Atsumu's expression right now should be captured as a meme on his phone!
Thinking of this, Suna's mood worsened even more. He accurately targeted the gap in Rishia's defense and forcefully slammed the ball down.
Rishia Heisuke, who had been blocked by Suna countless times, collapsed completely onto the floor.
Chapter 267: The Two Hundred and Sixty-Seventh Fox
Standing at the entrance of the Volleyball Hall, Hinata jumped up and waved goodbye to Masaru Haseda, who was leaving with Suna: "Katsuya! See you tomorrow!"
Actually, there was no need for the freshmen to participate in club training at this time; after all, the club entrance tests hadn't been conducted yet, Coach Kurosu needed to adjust the focus of the training programs based on everyone's actual situation.
Reo Mizuta and Fukami have already gone home; the main reason Masaru Haseda is still at the club is because he lives at the school.
Watching his junior leave, Miya Atsumu lowered his head and looked seriously at Shoyo beside him: "Shoyo, will you promise me one thing?"
Hinata blinked and asked, "What's wrong?"
Miya Atsumu reached out and pressed his hand against Hinata's shoulder, his face clearly reading, "Stay away from those other two freshmen."
Forget about that big guy, but those other two are definitely up to no good!
On the other side, Miya Osamu, who was putting on his shoes, let out a sneer, having more or less guessed exactly how Miya Atsumu's mind worked.
Anyway.. every other setter except him is a bad person, right?
Hinata, who had only spoken a few words to Reo Mizuta, thought seriously about it; that freshman indeed gave him a vague sense of danger.
If I had to describe it, it's a bit like.. Kenma or Usui-senpai?
Holding onto the belief that Atsumu-senpai would never harm him, Hinata found Miya Atsumu's words to be entirely convincing.
He nodded and replied with a serious expression, "I'll be extremely careful, don't worry, Atsumu-senpai!"
However, those who could be scouted by Coach Kurosu shouldn't be bad people; at most, they just have difficult personalities.
Having received Hinata's assurance, Miya Atsumu set off for home alongside Miya Osamu, feeling quite satisfied.
Although there were no more buses at this time, the distance wasn't particularly far, since they weren't in a hurry, everyone walked back together.
On the way home, Hinata once again asked Rishia Heisuke, "That Reo Mizuta, what do you think of him, Heisuke?"
Rishia Heisuke gave a candid assessment: "A bit.. dangerous."
Talking to him feels so high-pressure; I always feel like I'm being interrogated.
Considering the intelligence levels of him and Hinata.. it's probably best not to have too much contact.
Receiving the same answer as Miya Atsumu's suggestion, Hinata's expression turned solemn: "I understand, I'll be careful."
So that freshman he hasn't met yet must be a terrifying person as well, or maybe it's Haseda Katsuya.
After the class reshuffling for the new semester, Hinata was placed into the sports department by Coach Kurosu since his path toward Central Physical Education University had already been determined, putting him in the same class as Rishia Heisuke, who also entered the sports department.
Unabara stayed in the general course of his own volition, as did Tokura, while Kumagai remained in the advanced academic track thanks to his exceptionally outstanding grades.
For Hinata and Rishia, this was certainly a good thing.
After all, the passing grade for general subjects in the sports department is lower than that of the regular departments; the difference mainly depends on things like their extracurricular activities and match results.
Coach Utsunomiya also sent over Portuguese and English textbooks early on, so that Hinata could self-study whenever he had time.
After all, the most important part of wanting to study abroad is the language proficiency exams; if one cannot pass the language exams, they won't be able to understand the lectures even if they make it abroad.
After Wednesday morning's class ended, Hinata and Rishia packed up their things and rushed to the Volleyball Hall as quickly as possible.
The prepared banners, parasols, flyers, various small gifts had already been placed next to the entrance in the lobby.
Ginjima and Arima were carrying their team flag and banners out, while Miya Osamu was handing out headbands to everyone.
An enthusiastic Hinata rushed up to Miya Osamu. "Osamu-senpai! What is our task for today!"
Miya Osamu was the first to look at Rishia: "Heisuke, move the drinks and water over to our booth, along with the disposable paper cups and straws."
Also, if anyone comes by to ask questions in a little while, I'll have to trouble you, Kuniharu, Unabara to give them an explanation.
Having finished speaking, he looked again at Tokura Yukihito, who was walking out while carrying a chair: "Tokura Yukihito! Just take that loudspeaker over there by wearing it around your neck!"
Having received their tasks, Rishia Heisuke and the others left one after another, leaving only Hinata, who looked at Miya Osamu expectantly. "Osamu-senpai, what about me?"
Just then, Hinata felt something furry pat him on the shoulder, at the same time, his entire being was enveloped in a massive shadow cast from behind.
He subconsciously looked back and met the face of a red fox.
"Eh?" Hinata was a bit dazed.
In the next second, the giant fox suddenly lunged, baring its teeth and claws as it pounced toward Hinata: "Awoo—"
Hinata was startled, but he reacted in the next second: "Atsumu-senpai?!"