Sakusa greeted several people through the door, then shifted his gaze to the two Karasuno members following behind.
Unfamiliar faces; neither of these two existed in his memory.
But Coach Unabara's eye for talent was incredibly sharp; anyone he selected was bound to be no ordinary person, Bai Ze's height already said it all.
As for the shorter one.. he looked a little bit familiar, but I didn't have any clear impression of him; he probably hasn't achieved much.
Hinata greeted the two of them enthusiastically: "Gen-senpai! Kiyoomi-senpai!"
After greeting the Inarizaki members, Komori's gaze fell upon the two people behind them: "And these are??"
Kageyama greeted him honestly: "Hello, Senpai, I am Karasuno's Second Year Setter, Kageyama Tobio."
Bai Ze also gave a slight bow to Komori. "I am Bai Ze Kumao, a Second Year Wing Spiker from Kadokawa High School."
Komori greeted the two of them very friendly, "Hello, hello! I am Komori Motoya, a third year Libero from Itachiyama. This is my teammate, Sakusa Kiyoomi, who is also in his third year."
Upon hearing the illustrious reputation of Itachiyama, Kageyama's eyes instantly lit up.
He had seen these two seniors in past Inarizaki match footage; he remembered they were the strongest libero in high school and one of the Three Major Spikers famous alongside Ushijima.
Everyone looked toward Hoshiumi Hikari, who had remained silent the entire time.
Hinata reached out and pointed at Hoshiumi Hikari: "This is my master! Hikari-kun!"
Hearing this introduction, Hoshiumi gave in.
He shouldn't have had any expectations for Hinata; it would be better if he did it himself.
Hoshiumi nodded to the two of them. "I am Hoshiumi Hikari, a third year Wing Spiker from Karasuno. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Just then, a voice came from inside the door again: "Hinata, you're here."
It was Hanae from Municipal Kobe, not far behind, others like Aoba from Rakusan were walking over as well.
Hinata bounced into the building first, enthusiastically greeting every person who approached.
Bai Ze watched Hinata's retreating back, pursed his lips, then followed him into the Volleyball Association building.
Seeing Hinata in this state, Miya Atsumu fell silent behind him.
Why did he get the feeling that Hinata got along with everyone? They were fighting to the death just a moment ago, now he's already starting to make peace and shake hands?
Suna let out a sneer. "This is what real bonding and socializing looks like, Captain."
Unlike Hinata, who has friends everywhere, Miya Atsumu only makes enemies for Inarizaki.
"Shut up!" Miya Atsumu walked into the lobby aggressively, then ignored Hinata, who was greeting everyone, headed toward the front desk.
He smiled and said to the receptionist, "Hello, the Inarizaki players are here to check in."
See, this is what a Captain should do!
Even if he has more enemies, he still has Hinata; as long as Hinata is well-liked, that's enough!
The dormitories provided by the Volleyball Association were still the usual double rooms. Miya Atsumu was very decisive, arranging for himself and Hinata to share a room, while kicking Suna out to stay with Bai Ze.
After everyone had finished signing in and getting settled, the announcement system rang out, notifying everyone that Coach Unabara wanted them to gather.
The venue used for the youth training was the same one they had always used before, as someone who had been here before, Miya Atsumu did a great job of leading the way.
By the time they arrived, many people had already gathered in the gymnasium, but only about half of them were people they had seen on the court before.
The remaining portion was likely selected by the Junior National Team coaches after scouting the various prefectural qualifiers, they had no records of national-level matches.
For example, Kageyama, for example, Bai Ze.
The group had no chance to exchange pleasantries, as Coach Unabara arrived quickly and swiftly organized them into lines.
He held the roster of everyone's names and stood in front of them all.
“Hello, everyone. I am Unabara Uta, the current head of the Junior National Team, I will be responsible for your training in the coming days.”
Unabara's gaze swept across everyone present, he spoke with a smile, "Without further ado, the main purpose of this training camp is to tap into your individual talents, so we will be arranging practice matches where you will switch positions."
Basic skills and physical training will proceed as usual and will be scheduled for the morning. Those who need extra training can head to the third-floor gym on their own.
There isn't much on today's schedule. It's mainly basic physical tests, including height and weight, to keep on file. After that, just follow the staff members in red in the order I call your names.
The tests will be conducted individually, the results will also be kept confidential, so don't worry.
Listening to Coach Unabara start calling out names, Miya Atsumu whispered to Hinata, "I knew it was this."
Hinata froze for a moment. "What?"
Miya Atsumu explained simply, "It's just that physical fitness test from Itachiyama, the one we did before."
Hinata understood; it was those basic items, along with things like future height predictions.
And just as Hinata expected, the Volleyball Association arranged for basic physical tests, including VO2 Max, but added several small items that Hinata hadn't encountered before.
However, the Volleyball Association clearly wasn't as wealthy as a private elite school like Itachiyama; they were still using the same equipment that had previously caused him injury, so he could only grit his teeth and rely entirely on mouth breathing.
But the experienced Hinata did not get injured this time, stepping down from the treadmill very steadily.
He had a concept of his own VO2 Max, after realizing the data would no longer increase, he waved his hand to signal the coach in charge of monitoring to stop.
The stunned coach hurriedly helped him down and began recording the readings.
Looking at the final report, Coach Unabara, who had actually somewhat expected this, gasped in shock. "Good heavens.."
In his shock, he even started speaking in his hometown dialect.
The unsettled coach turned his head and whispered to his colleague, "That last one was scary enough, but how can there be another one even more heaven-defying? This will probably be the second one this time.."
But Hinata did not miss those words; he blinked at his report showing a VO2 Max of 78.5, feeling somewhat curious about what the coaches were saying.
The last one, who is number one?
As he went out, Miya Atsumu, who was in another room measuring his final body fat percentage, also came out.
Miya Atsumu grabbed Hinata and said quite uneasily, "Coach Unabara told me and Komori Motoya to go to the first floor. I'll be back in a bit, so stay safe on your own."
Hinata didn't quite understand why, but seeing that Miya Atsumu seemed to be in a hurry, he didn't say much more: "Don't worry! I'll be perfectly fine!"
After all.. there probably isn't anyone inside the Volleyball Association building who would want to bury him.
After finishing all the subsequent testing items, Hinata, who was now allowed to train on his own, returned to that gymnasium.
He originally wanted to ask Suna to come along, but he was sternly refused by Suna.
Seeing Kageyama using a cotton swab to wipe blood from his mouth on the court, Hinata leaned in close to him and asked in a low voice, "Kageyama, what's your VO2 Max?"
Kageyama blinked, after realizing what Hinata was asking, he replied, "76.2."
The moment he heard that number, Hinata pumped his fist and cheered, "We won!"
Kageyama froze for a moment, then quickly followed up, "What about you?"
The overjoyed Hinata still remembered to keep it a secret: "Taller than you!"
Meeting Kageyama's inquisitive eyes, he clumsily changed the subject: "I wonder who's number one.."
That being said, he actually already had his suspicions.
He considered his own physical fitness to be quite good; if he had to say who was stronger than him.. it would most likely be Hoshiumi Hikari.
Taking a glance at the others practicing on their own in the gym, Hinata proactively extended an olive branch to Kageyama: "Want to play volleyball?"
After confirming that the area in his mouth damaged by the instrument was no longer bleeding, Kageyama nodded without hesitation. "Okay."
Hinata happily pulled Kageyama toward the court, grabbing a volleyball and preparing to start practicing spikes.
Miya Atsumu was not there, so of the setters present, he was familiar with Kageyama, since Kageyama's technique was decent, he had no problem coordinating with him.
However, the previous testing had been very taxing on their physical stamina, after playing for only a short time, the two of them returned to the edge of the court to rest.
While stretching, Hinata looked up at Kageyama, who was also stretching his legs on the other side, asked, "By the way.. was it only you who came from Karasuno?"
Kageyama's movements paused for a moment, as if he were contemplating the intent behind Hinata's question, but in the end, he simply nodded. "Yeah, just me."
After saying that, he added another sentence: "Only Miya Atsumu and Bai Ze came from Miyagi this time."
Hinata was a little disappointed; he had thought that at least Goshiki Tsutomu would be coming along as well.
But then again, it made sense; Shiratorizawa hadn't performed well in the preliminaries of this Interhigh. Although Goshiki Tsutomu's performance was bright enough in his opinion, it still wasn't quite enough for the coaches.
Immediately after, he asked the person he truly wanted to ask, "What about Nishinoya-senpai?"
Nishinoya Yu had been named the Best Libero of Miyagi Prefecture during the preliminary rounds of this IH, his performance had been remarkable, yet his presence was surprisingly absent from this Junior National Team training camp.
Kageyama shook his head. "He's still at Karasuno."
Hinata sighed. "Alright, I guess the coach must have his own considerations."
Hearing Hinata say that, Kageyama suddenly recalled something. "Before.. a professional team from V2 offered Nishinoya-senpai a chance, but he refused."
"Eh? Why?" As soon as he asked, Hinata came up with an answer on his own.
Ah, the treatment in V2 might indeed not be particularly good. I think Nishinoya-senpai deserves a better team.
Just as he refused Dai Nippon Railway, with Nishinoya-senpai's skill level, seeking better treatment wouldn't be a problem at all.
Kageyama shook his head. "No, although Nishinoya-senpai loves volleyball, he wants to travel the world after graduation even more."
They had discussed this matter before, Nishinoya had spoken very decisively at the time, as if it were a conclusion reached after serious thought.
Playing professional volleyball means being confined to one place for training and matches for long periods; aside from a few world tournaments, it is actually quite difficult to get the freedom to travel to distant places.
Hinata looked shocked. "Huh? You're not playing volleyball anymore?!"
If it were anyone else, he could completely understand; after all, everyone has things they care about, like Hirugami and Miya Osamu, who both chose different futures because they didn't love the sport.
But Nishinoya was different.
Hinata had played volleyball against his opponent, he not only admired his strength as a Libero, but he could also clearly feel that Nishinoya loved volleyball, yet was not obsessed with it the same way he was.
Because of this, he was somewhat surprised by the decision.
While it wasn't that he couldn't accept it, but..
Hinata sighed, "That's such a shame. I was hoping to try being teammates with Nishinoya-senpai one day in the future."
"Yeah, me too," Kageyama nodded.
Nishinoya-senpai was the only well-known genius at Karasuno before him, his ability and talent had been recognized by the public since his junior high days.
He was equally disappointed that the other person did not intend to play volleyball.