It wasn't a question, but a statement.
Seeing Hinata's reaction, Suna had already guessed the truth of the matter.
Hinata's mind went blank, he was unwilling to face this painful reality: "I only wrote my English homework.."
Suna comforted him, "It's fine. Atsumu definitely didn't do his either, so you two can get scolded together."
Hinata closed his eyes. "But by the time Atsumu-ge gets back, we won't have to hand in the homework anymore."
So.. in the end, he was the only one who would get scolded.
Seeing this pitiful sight, Suna kindly suggested, "You first-years should have the same homework, right? Find Kuniharu to give you some 'tutoring'."
Hinata clutched his head in agony. "But Akuma will definitely lecture me.."
Even if Kumagai would definitely agree to let him "refer to" his homework, being lectured by both Kumagai and Rishia at the same time would be absolutely terrifying.
Suna let out a light chuckle and silently put his eye mask back on, no longer looking at Hinata. "It's a necessary price to pay."
Seeing that Suna had no intention of continuing to help him, Hinata stared at him for a while before finally sending a message to Rishia, albeit reluctantly.
That's right, he doesn't have to copy Kumagai's!
Unabara should have finished as well; after all, Imai and Kumagai are in the same class, so he would definitely have pressured him to finish his homework.
Unabara's reply was also very quick, agreeing to let him copy his homework.
But in a place Hinata couldn't see, Unabara Uta, who was still inside the Inarizaki No. 2 Gymnasium, turned his head to look at Kumagai. "Akuma, Shoyo wants to copy my homework."
Kumagai smiled and looked over. "He's not even writing it himself."
Unabara continued to complain, "It looks like he wrote the foreign language part, but hasn't touched any of the others."
Kumagai remained silent for two seconds before finally resigning himself to fate: "Forget it, let him write the Japanese himself; he can borrow others' work for the other subjects."
If anything, math and such wouldn't be of much use to Hinata, who was already determined to become an athlete; he knew himself that he only needed to study English.
As for Japanese literature.. he didn't want Hinata to start using inexplicable onomatopoeia during interviews, making it look like the Inarizaki Volleyball Club didn't value the academic education of its players..
Unabara gave Kumagai a thumbs up. "I'll let him know."
Upon hearing this news, Hinata's face turned pale, he looked as if he were about to ascend to the heavens.
They chose to travel back to Osaka this time, Coach Kurosu drove to the station to pick them up.
Seeing Hinata's pale face, Coach Kurosu, mistakenly thinking he was sick, was frightened.
“What's wrong? Shoyo, are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Is the food from the Volleyball Association bad? Or are you tired from training? Or is someone bullying you?
Hinata clung to Coach Kurosu's arm and began to play the victim: "Coach—I feel terrible inside—I'm so incredibly sad right now!"
Coach Kurosu looked at him nervously, "What's wrong? Tell me exactly what happened."
Suna let out a sneer from behind.
In the next second, Coach Kurosu heard Hinata say to him, "I don't want to do homework—"
Coach Kurosu's expression instantly went blank as he yanked Hinata off of him. "That's out of the question. I'm hoping your homeroom teacher won't call me in for a third talk before you graduate high school."
Volleyball matters could be put aside for a moment, checking the training results could also be put aside for a moment.
The current priority was to keep an eye on Hinata to make sure he finished all his homework.
In the end, Hinata couldn't even copy a single piece of homework from the First String.
Coach Kurosu prepared a desk and chair for him in the Volleyball Hall and arranged for Ogata to watch him while he did his homework.
Fortunately, their homework wasn't that much overall; Hinata had finished all his Japanese homework between arriving at the Volleyball Club at noon and leaving in the evening.
At this pace, it's possible that he will finish all his homework by tomorrow.
Of course, the kind-hearted Ogata and Kumagai couldn't bear to see Hinata scratching his head in frustration, so they provided him with quite a bit of tutoring.
Coach Kurosu simply turned a blind eye to this; after all.. he couldn't really let Hinata be forced to stand outside as punishment just because he hadn't finished his homework.
Moreover, it might even affect the daily training of their Volleyball Club.
—You still have to give the Ace some face.
Miya Atsumu's participation in the Asian competitions with the U20 team went relatively smoothly; although they ultimately stopped at the top eight, it was still a very impressive achievement for these past few years.
Moreover, the loss itself was not undeserved; their opponents were the long-established powerhouse from Qatar. Given that the U20 team had very little time to build chemistry for this tournament, being able to take a single set was already quite an achievement.
However, this match wasn't particularly important; the main purpose was to let the U20 starters adapt to large-scale tournaments over the next two years, to scout talent for the 2016 Olympic Games and the subsequent World Championships.
The match itself didn't last very long, the day after losing the match, Miya Atsumu and the others returned to their home country.
Moreover, because the matches were held here in Asia, there were no issues like jet lag to deal with. On the third day, Hinata saw Miya Atsumu waiting for him at the entrance of Inarizaki.
Hinata, who was walking to school with Rishia, lunged straight at Miya Atsumu: "Atsumu-ge! Long time no see!"
Yesterday, when Miya Atsumu returned, it was time for them to go to school, so he couldn't take time off just to pick up Miya Atsumu. Since the Miya parents hadn't seen the boy in a long time, they had taken Atsumu and Kazuharu out to eat, so the two of them didn't have a chance to meet.
Rishia Heisuke retreated silently, brushing past Kumagai, who was pushing a bicycle nearby, the two of them scurried into the school, avoiding any eye contact with Miya Atsumu.
Having just lost a match and having not seen Hinata for a long time, Miya Atsumu's mood was likely not very pleasant; they had to avoid being caught in his crosshairs.
But the two were wrong this time; Miya Atsumu was in quite a good mood.
Walking toward the school building with Hinata, Miya Atsumu felt a sense of joy like never before as he listened to Hinata's incessant chattering by his side.
Although there were many familiar faces in the U20 team, not many could actually hold a conversation with him; only Aran and a few others could communicate with him normally.
That guy—he couldn't even be bothered to talk to the difficult owl or the silent cannon; when it came to interviews, he was the only one who could interact with the reporters. The two of them stood to the side: one with a wooden expression, saying nothing, the other strictly forbidden by the coach from speaking nonsense.
Behind them, the photographer asked them to smile, but Ushijima's smile was barely better than no smile at all.
More importantly, during this trip for the competition, the Coach casually pointed and had him stay together with Bokuto; after these past few days, he felt like his head was about to explode.
During the day, he would study opponents with Iizuna and the coaches, at night, he had to act as a mentor for Bokuto..
On that most devastating day, he gave Shiratori a call, asking Shiratori to deal with Bokuto.
As a result, Shiratori fell silent for a while, then asked Shimizu for a phone and called Akaashi.
In the end, Akaashi managed to coax Bokuto—who had been targeted by opponents and had performed quite poorly during the day—back to his senses through two different phones.
Miya Atsumu had a bellyful of complaints he wanted to vent, but he didn't dare speak a word. He could only send text messages to Shiratori after Akaashi's psychological counseling session ended, the two of them went on a frantic rant about Bokuto, interspersed with admiration for Akaashi.
Even though they were both the high-energy type, Hinata never made anyone feel irritated.
In the end, it's still Bokuto's fault!
“How did you feel about this match, Atsumu-ge?”
Miya Atsumu, who was still reminiscing about the painful times, did not react immediately; it wasn't until Hinata tugged at his clothes that he snapped out of it. "What?"
Hinata blinked, his gaze toward Miya Atsumu filled with anticipation: "I mean, did you have any special feelings during this tournament, Atsumu-ge?"
A special feeling?" Miya Atsumu replied after thinking seriously for a moment, "Not really, it's just.. the world is truly vast.
“Different opponents bring different types of strength. That difference is far greater than the opponents in high school matches, of course, playing against them is much more difficult.”
That is precisely why he looks forward to even higher-level matches, hoping to encounter even stronger opponents.
Of course, it would have been even better if Hinata had been by his side at that time.
Hinata was itching to move: "Are there any techniques we can use at this stage?"
He also knew very well that the stage of Asia, even the world, was still a bit too far out of reach for him.
If he wanted to walk onto that stage alongside Miya Atsumu, the first thing he had to do was to hone himself to become even stronger; otherwise, it would all be nothing more than his own wishful thinking.
Miya Atsumu's answer was ambiguous: "Yes, but also no."
Hinata was a bit confused. "Huh?"
Technically speaking, there's nothing much to it. Most of them are playstyles derived from fundamental skills, which you've basically already mastered, Shoyo. You just need to further improve your proficiency.
Atsumu explained simply, "In terms of overall strategy, I saw many different tactical approaches from various countries, as well as the playstyles of some European and American volleyball powerhouses, but we have no way of replicating them."
Every country's youth team brings together the top players from the entire nation. Although there are still obvious gaps in strengths and weaknesses compared to teams at the same level, they are still seamless enough for them.
For example, if Inarizaki cannot guarantee the absolute strength of their block, they have no way to ensure that the preset block can guarantee a touch or provide sufficient cover.
Therefore.. it can only serve as a simple reference; most of the reference comes from the tactical deployment and choices made on the fly during a match, which enhances the team's flexibility and ability to adapt to changing situations.
And this point only becomes truly effective when he, as the setter, coordinates with the Libero.
Miya Atsumu turned to ask Hinata, "How has Nishizawa Hokuto's training been lately? Can he play half a court against Unabara?"
Hinata rubbed his chin. "Not really. Although Hinata's reaction speed is very fast and his receiving and digging skills are impressive, his stamina isn't that great."
To tell the truth, Nishizawa Hokuto was the only "genius" he had encountered who he had seen grow from a low level.
He was like a fish in water in the Libero position, through this period of training, his performance in terms of first receive stability had even surpassed Unabara Uta's.
However, the problem of the freshmen's poor physical conditioning still exists. Nishizawa is not yet able to fully keep up with the First String's training, but he is very proactive in his own physical training, with time, he will surely see sufficient improvement.
Moreover, Nishizawa's performance regarding the stability of his First Receive had already earned Coach Kurosu's high praise; he could serve as a key player, entering the court when necessary to defend against the opponent's Strong Attack.
Listening to Hinata's description of the club's recent situation, Miya Atsumu already had a general idea in his mind.
The two parted ways at the school building and regrouped at the Volleyball Club after finishing their day's coursework.
Watching Hinata change into his athletic pants, Miya Atsumu keenly noticed that something was wrong.
Shoyo.. what's on your leg?
As he spoke, Miya Atsumu reached out to touch Hinata's calf, but instead of the expected sensation of skin, he felt something rough, something like fabric.
No.. rather than fabric, it felt more like medical tape?
Miya Atsumu's eyes widened. "Are you injured?"
He pulled Hinata into his arms and carefully checked Hinata's condition.
Hinata hurriedly pressed down on his hand. "No, no, it's not an injury."
Didn't you already know, Atsumu-ge? That secret weapon Coach Omimi went and got before.. a surprise!
Hearing this, Miya Atsumu remembered.
He touched the skin-colored tape stretched from the soles of Hinata's feet up to his calf muscles. "Ah, so it's this?"
The kinesiology tape was applied according to the shape and direction of the muscles, spreading up both sides of Hinata's calf muscles and creating a rather beautiful shape.