However, Miya Atsumu didn't take Shoyo out, so he would just come by to sit for a while every few days, because of this, Xiaoxia's resistance decreased significantly.
But Miya Atsumu actually really wanted to bring Hinata home, however, his room was a bunk bed shared with Miya Osamu, he felt that sleeping with Hinata would feel quite strange.
—After all, there was a third person in the house.
Alright," Hinata's mother said, carrying the groceries into the kitchen. She placed the various ingredients in their respective places before turning back to look, "What does Atsumu want to eat tonight?
"I'll have.." Miya Atsumu answered with a smile, but before he could finish his sentence, he caught sight of Hinata's mother reaching for the cupboard to grab the box of mixed grains.
He hurriedly stood up and walked over, taking the initiative to take out the inner pot of the rice cooker, preparing to scoop out the rice: "Let me help with the rice."
Seeing him like this, Hinata's mother couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my, does Atsumu not like red beans?"
Miya Atsumu averted his gaze. "I don't hate it, but it's a bit too sweet to eat for dinner. When we ate yesterday, it didn't seem like Shoyo and Uncle liked it very much?"
Yesterday was the first time he stayed overnight after he and Hinata had become a couple, so Hinata's mother happily made red bean rice.
The food itself was delicious, but because Hinata said he liked eating fish, Hinata's mother made fried fish and fish soup, which made those two items a bit of a mismatch with the red bean rice..
Hearing Miya Atsumu's words, Hinata turned his head and squinted at Miya Atsumu, staring at him for a while.
Noticing the somewhat resentful gaze from behind him, Miya Atsumu felt a momentary pang of guilt, then quickly changed the subject: "Shoyo, what do you want to eat?"
And Hinata's answer was equally unhesitating: "Egg rice bowl."
Hinata's mother happily agreed, "That's fine. Then let's fry a few more fish, have some soup as well.."
She glanced up at the clock and hurriedly said, "Ah, is it that time already? Can Shoyo and Atsumu-senpai go pick up Xiaoxia?"
Hinata immediately stood up: "Okay!"
Xiaoxia, who had finished today's lesson in Coach Inubata's classroom, said goodbye to the coaches and left the children's club after changing her shoes.
From a distance, she saw a large person and a small person crouching under a streetlamp, flailing their arms and legs as if they were fighting off mosquitoes.
Seeing her come out, Hinata immediately gave up his life-and-death struggle with the mosquitoes and bounded toward Xiaoxia: "Xiaoxia! We've come to pick you up!"
Watching Miya Atsumu slowly following behind, Xiaoxia gave a heavy huff and refused to hold his hand.
Hinata squeezed Xiaoxia's hand. "Xiaoxia, don't be so upset with Atsumu-senpai. If he did something wrong, he can change."
He still didn't understand why Xiaoxia didn't like Atsumu-senpai; perhaps Atsumu-senpai had done something behind her back that made her dislike him?
Seeing her own brother's loyalty shift elsewhere, Xiaoxia became even angrier.
But in the end, she still reached out her hand under Miya Atsumu's gentle gaze.
She reluctantly, perhaps, with some degree of difficulty, accepted Atsumu-senpai, after all..
Don't worry, Xiaoxia, I won't take Shoyo away. On the contrary, I'm here to join this family; you're getting an extra brother.
The feeling of having an extra brother.. actually isn't bad at all.
By the time the two of them brought Xiaoxia home, Hinata's father, who had been working overtime, had also arrived home, the meal was already set on the table.
Hinata's mother clapped her hands: "Wash your hands and come eat."
Okay—
Xiaoxia was also exhausted from the Volleyball Classroom; after eating, showering, watching some anime, she fell into a deep sleep in the living room.
After Hinata settled his sister in, Miya Atsumu also finished his bath and returned to his room.
Staring at Miya Atsumu's back for a while, Hinata's lips curled into a slight smile.
He tiptoed toward Miya Atsumu, then knelt softly on the ground and reached out his hands toward him.
Miya Atsumu was sitting on the ground drying his hair when a pair of hands suddenly reached out from behind him and wrapped around his waist.
A sudden ache radiated through his shoulder, the sensation caused by a chin resting upon it.
Hinata leaned on Miya Atsumu's shoulder, turning his head to look at him. "Atsumu-senpai secretly shifted the blame onto me earlier, didn't he?"
He could eat red bean rice just fine; even though it was clearly Atsumu who struggled with it yesterday, Atsumu actually pinned the blame of being a picky eater on him.
Miya Atsumu's attention was entirely on Hinata's hand, he subconsciously asked back, "Is there?"
Hinata poked the ticklish spot on Miya Atsumu's waist with his fingertip: "Yes, there is."
Miya Atsumu denied it immediately: "No, I don't."
Seeing that Miya Atsumu refused to admit it, Hinata decisively began to tease him: "There definitely is."
Miya Atsumu, who had originally intended to stubbornly deny it, surrendered in a second. He struggled desperately, trying to escape Hinata's grasp: "Stop, stop, stop! I was wrong, I was wrong! I apologize to you!"
Having successfully conquered Miya Atsumu, Hinata sat on him triumphantly, saying, "The picky eater is Atsumu-senpai."
Miya Atsumu raised his hands in surrender: "Yes, it's me, I don't like eating red bean rice."
He propped himself up with his hands, after sitting up, he moved toward the wall while holding Hinata in one arm, then reached out and turned off the light.
Atsumu's voice rang out in the darkness: "I apologize to you."
Hinata's plan to use his phone to record Miya Atsumu's apology completely fell through. He climbed down from Miya Atsumu, turned around, grabbed his quilt, crawled inside. "Goodnight!"
“Shoyo, Shoyo,” Miya Atsumu reached out and poked him, “Did you forget something?”
Hinata looked back blankly, in the next second, Miya Atsumu leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his lips.
Miya Atsumu lay down beside Hinata with a sense of satisfaction, pulling both the blanket and Hinata himself into his arms.
Alright, goodnight.
Chapter 306: The 306th Fox
With about a week left until final exams, the Third Year students, who were already under pressure from school applications, were collectively kept behind after school on Friday for a brief meeting.
Because the notice was given at noon, Miya Atsumu had already told Hinata during lunch that he didn't need to come find him to go to the club together today, that he should just walk with Rishia and the others.
Listening to the teacher's incessant rambling about grades, graduation intentions, college counseling, Miya Atsumu, sitting by the window, looked outside with a hint of boredom.
The First and Second Year students had already started their club activities; from a distance, the shouts of the track and field team's training drills could be heard coming from the athletic field.
Fortunately, since Miya Atsumu and Suna had entered their Third Year, they were already in the sports department. Most people in this class were preparing for future athletic recruitment, so the homeroom teacher didn't waste too much breath, only repeatedly emphasizing that they must, must pass their final exams.
As soon as school was dismissed, Miya Atsumu grabbed his already-packed schoolbag and rushed out of the classroom.
The girl in the row in front of Miya Atsumu was dumbfounded: "That was fast."
Another person chimed in, "So this is the taste of love—it was just like this back when I was in love."
Why are you talking about 'back in the day'? You two were still having lunch together yesterday.
So noisy! We broke up this morning! We'll talk about it tomorrow!
While the two were bickering, the poor boyfriend, who had been kicked this morning, appeared at the door: "Nana, I'm here to pick you up—"
Traitor," the person to Suna's right couldn't help but laugh, turning his head to look at Suna. "Has Atsumu-senpai been being annoying in the club lately too?
Suna stood up while holding his bag. "No, it's the same as before."
That's right, nothing had changed.
Because these two had always been so clingy even before they started dating, he was already used to it.
After a bit of a commotion, everyone proceeded with a simple self-directed training session, Coach Kurosu returned shortly after carrying a folder.
He called everyone over and gave Miya Atsumu a sharp glare.
Miya Atsumu shrank his neck back somewhat guiltily, his gaze sweeping across Hinata's chest beside him.
Noticing his gaze, Hinata also gave him a fierce glare.
Atsumu smiled and reached out to hook his hand.
Hinata playfully dodged, but in the end, he let Hinata catch his hand in his.
Coach Kurosu glared at Miya Atsumu again.
But he only gave them a glare. Once everyone had sat down, he began speaking first: "The final exams will end relatively early this time. We will set off for Oita Prefecture on the morning of July 3rd."
So, no one is allowed to fail this final exam, do you understand?
If they fail, they might be kept behind for remedial classes, they would have to take the Shinkansen and then transfer back on their own.
Funding was a minor issue; the main problem was that they couldn't let the students travel alone. As long as anyone was left behind for remedial classes, Coach Omimi would have to stay behind as well, which would disrupt part of the subsequent arrangements.
The expressions of everyone present instantly turned solemn: "Understood!"
Coach Kurosu nodded silently.
Actually, he wasn't particularly worried about everyone's grades. Previously, the only subject Hinata was prone to failing was Japanese, but since Hinata transferred to Physical Education and the passing grade was lowered, Hinata hasn't had any issues with failing since.
As for the first-year players, during the previous midterms, it seemed like only Fukami's homeroom teacher had come to look for him, asking if Fukami was too exhausted from club activities and had fallen asleep during the exam, resulting in a blank paper.
This is the first final exam since the first-year students entered high school, so there shouldn't be any major problems.. right?
Coach Kurosu decided to stop thinking about this problem and continued, "The venue for this IH will be held in Oita. After discussing it with Coach Kusubashi and others, we finally decided to hold the training camp at Shirabu High School, after the training camp ends, we will go to take a look at the venue where it will be held."
“The journey this time is quite long, so we will travel together with Kaifang Academy from Osaka. We'll take a bus, so those who get motion sickness should prepare medicine in advance.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Hinata.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand in response: "No problem."
Coach Kurosu didn't even look at Miya Atsumu, merely continuing, "This training camp will be the last large-scale practical training before IH. Try to use this opportunity to test out as many new things as possible."
In addition, Shoyo and Unabara, the two of you will have other arrangements later; the rest of you will not be returning to Amagasaki with us.
Miya Atsumu froze for a moment. "Huh? What kind of arrangements?"
Don't worry about that. I've arranged specialized defensive training for those two, which should take about two weeks. During that time, Masahito will take over Shoyo's position in the starting lineup, Hiiragi Tadashi will play Libero for Unabara Uta.
“Wait, wait, wait, did I miss some important information?”
Miya Atsumu glanced at the bewildered Unabara Uta, then at the slightly guilty-looking Hinata, instantly realized that Hinata and the Coach shared a secret that hadn't been told to him.
Seeing that Coach Kurosu was about to jump to the next topic, Miya Atsumu hurriedly reached out and grabbed Hinata: "Shoyo!"
"Ahem, sit down properly, I haven't finished speaking yet." Coach Kurosu's face grew even darker.
Miya Osamu leaned his head on his hand and looked at Miya Atsumu sideways. "At least try to act like a Captain."
Hinata chimed in, "Exactly, exactly."