Just thinking about a stronger, more mature Hinata made him tremble with excitement.
Playing against a Hinata who can toy with the opponent's block would surely be an incredible rush.
Seeing the look of suppressed excitement on Miya Atsumu's face, Hinata finally felt at ease.
Following his instincts, he took Miya Atsumu's hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a devout kiss upon those slightly protruding knuckles.
Look forward to it, Atsumu-ge.
Hinata looked up slightly. "Atsumu-ge needs to become even stronger too, so don't let me catch up and surpass you."
"Shoyo! Get ready, we're leaving!" Unabara Uta's voice rang out from outside, sounding somewhat cheerful.
Glancing up at the time, Hinata let out a soft gasp.
He quickly stood on his tiptoes to give Miya Atsumu a quick kiss, then turned to leave, "Then I'll be going—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt himself being pulled toward something.
Miya Atsumu's breath pressed down from above immediately after, followed by a kiss that was somewhat urgent, even slightly rough, landing on his lips.
“Mm.. Atsumu-ge.."
In the corner, Rishia Heisuke silently covered his eyes; Ginjima, watching the scene for the first time, was dumbfounded; Arima Shuji laughed heartily; Miya Osamu remained expressionless; and Suna silently pulled out his phone and began recording.
Feeling Hinata begin to struggle slightly, Miya Atsumu, realizing he seemed to be acting a bit too rushed, gave his lips a small, placating lick: "Sorry, but there won't be another chance after this.."
“Mm.” Also feeling a bit reluctant, Hinata wrapped his arms around Miya Atsumu's neck, preparing to give him one last kiss.
Seeing that Hinata was taking so long to come out, Coach Kurosu pushed open the door. Just as he was about to call out to him, he saw the two of them huddled together, locked in a kiss.
With a pitch-black expression, Coach Kurosu cleared his throat twice, after the two separated in a panic, he grabbed Hinata by the back of his collar and hauled him out of the classroom: "Let's go."
As he spoke, Coach Kurosu gave Miya Atsumu a glare.
Miya Atsumu leaned against the classroom windowsill, watching Hinata walk outside with the coach below.
As if having noticed his gaze, Hinata turned his head, blew him a kiss, then jumped up and waved.
Miya Atsumu also waved at him and made a heart shape above his head with both hands.
Only after Hinata got into Coach Kusubashi's car outside the school gates and his figure completely disappeared did he let out a sigh, leaning against the windowsill with a pout.
As expected, he still felt a sense of reluctance.
But.. he had to adapt to such days.
After all, once he graduates, he won't be with Hinata every single day. In the future, Hinata might not even be in the same club as him, or he might even go directly to a club abroad, just like Yaku..
He knew that his lover was a little fox who couldn't be trapped by anything.
—Even for him, it was the same.
Author's Note:
Rishia Heisuke, who was being fed a massive dose of public displays of affection, had nothing to say..
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kumagai: "Unabara! You can't go! You can't leave me here all alone!"
Unabara: "Stay alive."
Chapter 309: The Three Hundred and Ninth Fox
After reporting that he was safe to Miya Atsumu via his phone, Hinata followed Unabara Uta out of the Tokyo Shinkansen station.
Although Hinata had not visited this station much, Unabara Uta was very familiar with the place and quickly led Hinata to the correct exit.
Their original plan was to take the subway directly to Central Physical Education University, but Coach Utsunomiya said there were no vacancies in the Central Physical Education University dormitories for the time being, so he arranged other accommodations for them.
However, it wasn't clear yet exactly who would be coming to pick them up, but.. it should be someone they know.
The two of them moved very quickly, in a short while, they had left the crowd behind.
Hinata was the first to burst out of the station: "First! Place!!"
Unabara Uta, who wasn't actually competing with him, fell silent for a moment and could only echo, "Second, second."
The two had just come to a halt at the entrance when they saw Coach Himegomiya standing not far away by the roadside with her hands in her pockets, saying something to someone slightly shorter than her; she then pulled her hands out to brush back her hair and leaned down to take a bite of the crepe in the other person's hands.
Hinata's voice was not small, Coach Himegomiya looked up immediately.
She swallowed what was in her mouth and waved vigorously at the two of them, "Over here, over here! I'm coming to pick you up!"
Seeing her, Hinata was quite surprised: "Coach Himegomiya!!"
Because of Xiaoxia, he was quite familiar with Coach Himegomiya now, he had spent a lot of time watching matches alongside Coach Himegomiya during Haruko.
Hinata bounced over to Coach Himegomiya and raised his hand toward her.
Coach Himegomiya understood his meaning and raised her hand to give him a high five. "We meet again. You've grown quite a bit stronger."
Praised, Hinata puffed out his chest and held his head high: "Hehe, I've been taking good care of my physical condition."
Unabara Uta also followed over and bowed to Coach Himegomiya: "Hello, Coach, I am Unabara Uta."
Hello," Coach Himegomiya nodded in response, then pulled the person beside him over. "This is my partner, Sanjo Reo, he will also be your head coach for the next two weeks, Shoyo.
Sanjo raised his hand and waved at the two of them. "Nice to meet you. I am the person in charge of the men's Beach Volleyball team at Central Physical Education University."
Hinata and Unabara's expressions turned solemn instantly as they bowed together, "Hello, Coach Sanjo!!"
Coach Sanjo smiled, his eyes curving into crescents, as he patted both of them on the shoulders, one with each hand. "Don't be so formal; we'll be spending every moment together for the next two weeks."
Catching the key information, Hinata tilted his head. "Spending time together day and night?"
Coach Himegomiya nodded. "Mhm, there is only one spot left in the freshman male dormitory at Central Physical Education University, so the two of you won't fit. You can stay in the guest room at my house; it isn't far."
If it were just Hinata alone, it would be fine, but for Bokuto and Shimizu's dormitory, two people would be too many.
After all, the dormitory single beds were only 1.2 meters wide; squeezing two physical education students onto one was a bit too much of a stretch.
Hinata stood up straight, his whole body becoming tense: "Is it—is it really okay!"
He has never even been to Coach Kurosu's home!
"Of course, the bed in the guest room is still very large." Coach Himegomiya nodded readily.
We're family now, so there's no need for such formalities.
She and Sanjo worked on different projects, their competition schedules were also different, so they often faced issues with asynchronous routines due to the need to organize materials.
So most of the time they sleep in separate rooms. Now, they can just leave Sanjo's room empty for Hinata and the others to stay in.
In the future, when Xiaoxia comes to her place, she would also like to bring Xiaoxia to live at her home if possible.
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Coach.." Hinata scratched his head somewhat sheepishly, but his face showed clear excitement and exhilaration.
These are all coaches from prestigious schools; their homes must have plenty of trophies and medals and such, right?
But the truth is..
No.
There were quite a few photos hanging on the walls of Coach Himegomiya's home, most of the people in them were wearing similar uniforms; they were likely students from Itachiyama or Central Physical Education University.
He easily caught sight of Iizuna and Sakusa and the others in there; they must have been taken after Itachiyama won the championship at last year's Interhigh.
In the corner, there was a group photo of Coach Himegomiya in her youth, wearing that Firebird national team uniform; but unlike the other photos where the players were covered in honors, they held nothing in their hands.
Noticing his gaze, Coach Himegomiya smiled slightly. "My performance during my time on the national team was quite mediocre, I retired early due to an injury. Hmm.. I probably didn't win a single medal."
She looked at the photo with a gentle smile. "This photo was taken in Atlanta; it was the first and also the last Olympics I participated in."
Hinata was stunned for a moment. "The last one?"
But Coach Himegomiya in the photo seemed quite young; he should have been around twenty during the Atlanta Olympics, right?
At that age, it shouldn't have been her last tournament..
Coach Himegomiya laughed heartily. "Yeah, because we failed to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, I decided to retire shortly after that."
It couldn't be helped; the opponents back then were all too terrifying. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were at the peak of their glory.
Reaching out to rub Hinata's head, Coach Himegomiya said softly, "But it doesn't matter, my students are all excellent."
Hinata nodded: "Yeah, Kami-senpai and the others are all very amazing."
His gaze fell upon a corner on the other side, where he saw the young Coach Sanjo.
The other person was holding the Haruko championship trophy, which he was very familiar with, behind him were the tournament victory flags, though there weren't as many as there were now.
He froze for a moment. "Did Coach Sanjo used to play hard volleyball too?"
Coach Himegomiya nodded, silently giving a thumbs up. "Yeah, but he switched to beach volleyball in university, has been ever since."
So if you want to explore the relationship between indoor volleyball and beach volleyball, he is your best choice.
Hinata's expression turned serious: "That's incredible."
Unabara, who had gone into the guest room first to organize things, poked her head out. "Shoyo, I've put all your clothes in the third drawer of the wardrobe."
Having saved himself a large portion of the work, Hinata cheered, "Long live Unabara!"
Unabara Uta nodded silently.
Yeah, exactly! It would be even better if Hinata could say a few more good things about him to Atsumu-senpai when he gets back!
After sitting in a car all afternoon, Hinata slept soundly through the night, but before five in the morning the next day, Coach Sanjo arrived to wake them both up.
Looking at the two people sitting up with dazed expressions, Coach Sparta showed his fierce side for the first time.
Get up, it's time for morning practice.
Unabara Uta was completely half-asleep: "Huh?"
Hinata stretched and replied full of energy, "I'm ready!"
Coach Himegomiya had already left; the Tokyo preliminaries were underway, she needed to head to the school gate early to organize the team.
The sky was just beginning to brighten as Hinata stepped into the unfamiliar gymnasium before him with a relaxed stride.
Unabara was still yawning, clearly still sleepwalking.