Without the threat of Demon Senior, without having to follow Hinata for a hundred laps around the entire court, this should be what a normal pre-match preparation phase looks like!
Hoshiumi, who was watching the next round of opponents' match from the sidelines, looked up toward the Inarizaki team flag.
Karasuno's cheering section was next to Shiratorizawa, basically separated from Inarizaki by a gymnasium.
He couldn't see very clearly, but in a spot behind that banner.. was that an orange and yellow Tanghulu?
Hoshiumi narrowed his eyes and took a careful look, his expression looking as sour as it could possibly be. "What are you doing, Miya Atsumu? Can you please be more mindful of the occasion.."
Hirugami followed his gaze: "What's wrong?"
Hoshiumi gritted his teeth: "Over there, Miya Atsumu is holding Shoyo. In front of everyone like this, I really should tear him apart."
He didn't believe for a second that Miya Atsumu would just sit there behaving himself! He was definitely getting handsy!
Hirugami analyzed rationally: "Hmm.. could it also be because there are no more positions left?"
Hoshiumi refused to believe it: "Impossible! That guy Miya Atsumu is just looking for any chance to take advantage!"
Make him sit on the floor!
Listening to Hoshiumi's subjective remarks, Hirugami thought seriously for a moment before deciding to take Hoshiumi's side.
But in reality, they truly did do Miya Atsumu wrong.
At this moment, Miya Atsumu was in a state of having the desire but not the courage, limited only to pinching Hinata or rubbing his face against Hinata's hair.
After all.. Kita Shinsuke was sitting right beside him, occasionally pulling him aside to chat about things happening on the court.
Chapter 405: The 405th Fox
Glancing at Hinata, who was watching the match while playing with Miya Atsumu's hands, Kita Shinsuke's lips curled into a slight smile. "Shoyo went to the Junior National Team training camp, right?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah! After we beat Hanae, Coach Unabara and the others gave me permission to go!"
Kitajiro Yuzu looked at Hinata gently: "How did it feel? Was it interesting?"
Mentioning this, Hinata became incredibly excited: "It was super interesting! I tried many different positions, saw many different styles of tactics, met so many—so many amazing people!"
I even played matches against Ushijima-senpai and Aran-senpai and their group, also that Asagami-senpai! He's super amazing too!
Hinata rambled on, "Oh, right! I also made a new friend named Hayami Subaru. His name is just like Subaru's. He's a really amazing Libero."
Kita Shinsuke listened quietly, nodding in response to Hinata, while simultaneously scanning the back with his eyes to catch Miya Atsumu, who looked quite unhappy after hearing certain names.
He recognized the Subaru mentioned by Hinata; it was the freshman Fukami he had seen before, who was said to have begged the coach to let him play Middle Blocker because he admired Suna.
—A very individualistic freshman.
Kita Shinsuke asked at the right moment, "Is he coming to the match? Do you want to watch, Shoyo?"
Hinata nodded. "Of course! Hayami said they are the ten-time champions of their prefecture."
However, if you put it that way, Inarizaki has been the champions of Hyogo for the last seven or eight years, so they should have about fifteen consecutive titles by now.
Kita took the list of National Sports Festival participants from Aran and asked, "Which school is it? I'll take a look for you."
Upon hearing this question, Hinata visibly froze.
Eh? Which school is Hayami from again?
It seemed to be four characters?
Hinata's mind went blank: "Star.. what.. what was it again?"
Because the other party hadn't mentioned his school much during the time they were in contact, he was having a bit of trouble placing it now.
He probably remembered that name, but the words wouldn't come to his lips.
Fortunately, Kita Shinsuke understood what he meant and quickly guessed which school Hinata wanted to talk about, then easily found the school on the tournament schedule.
Kita Shinsuke froze for a moment. "Star First is in the first round, they've already finished playing."
I remember.. it was the court next to Shiratorizawa.
Hearing this, Hinata froze: "Huh?"
Miya Atsumu, who had been holding back his laughter, finally couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hahahaha—Shoyo, you completely forgot about me!"
While on the court just now, he had noticed Hayami on the other side, but Shoyo was so preoccupied with watching Goshiki Tsutomu that he didn't notice Hayami at all.
Of course, he didn't have the heart to remind Hinata.
Hinata's face was blank.
So that school he had selectively ignored from the start because of Shiratorizawa.. was Subaru's team?
Hinata clutched his head and screamed, "Aaaah—I said I was going to watch Hayami's comeback match, but I missed it completely!"
He confused Star First with Hoshikawa First, who played in the afternoon match!
Miya Atsumu was still laughing. "Shoyo, you have moments like this too.."
But this really wasn't Hinata's fault; the teams participating in the National Sports Festival included more than just those two schools, including Nansan First and Honzawa First, so it was understandable to get them mixed up.
Seeing through the fact that Miya Atsumu hadn't helped him at all, Hinata reached out and pinched Miya Atsumu's legs, then hurriedly jumped down from him: "I'm going to find him right now to apologize!"
Watching Hinata's hurried figure as he said goodbye to them and rushed off, Nishizawa frowned slightly where Kita Shinsuke couldn't see.
“Hayami? Who?”
Hinata sent a message to Hayami in a panic, the reply from the other side was unexpectedly fast.
After the Star First match ended, they were still doing light stretching; Hayami did not play the entire match either, only playing one set to get a feel for the game, as he was meant to appear as a secret weapon in the final set.
When Hinata sent a message to Hayami, Hayami happened to be packing up his things.
Hearing the sound of the phone ringing, Sasaki poked his head over to look. "Who is it?"
Seeing the interface displayed on the phone, Hayami smiled. "It's Hinata."
"Ah, that one from Inarizaki." Sasaki lost interest.
He wasn't curious about his private relationship with Hayami, compared to the captain of Inarizaki, the Ace Hinata was famous for having a very easygoing temperament, so he felt quite relieved about Hayami and Hinata interacting.
After asking him, he went back to continue stretching, while the Captain, Arashiyama, also tilted his head slightly to keep an eye on them.
Seeing Hayami adjust his posture and sit down after he had been crouching to send messages, he finally withdrew his gaze.
Sasaki patted Arashiyama's shoulder: "Don't worry about it, he's even able to squat now."
No, I'm more curious about his social life.
Unlike Sasaki, Arashiyama was very worried about Hayami's social life; after all, Hayami had been shut away for an entire year before this.
At that time, only one Middle Blocker in his same grade was in the First String, so he was only somewhat familiar with seniors like them and Hayami.
It's truly wonderful that Hayami can make new friends now.
Watching Hayami put on his thermal knee pads, long johns, sweatpants in preparation to leave, Arashiyama proactively stood up and walked over: "I'm planning to check out the short sleeves this time, let's go together."
Yota, take charge of the team for me—
Vice-Captain Sasaki clenched his fists. "Hey! You haven't even done anything yet! You're the Captain, at least go confirm the match results before you leave!!"
Having made plans to meet Hayami in front of a stall nearby, Hinata, not knowing what to do while waiting, began to stroke the back of Miya Atsumu's hand.
Hinata bit his lip: "I'm so jealous."
Miya Atsumu's attention was entirely on his own hands, for a moment, he didn't realize what Hinata was saying.
What?
"Atsumu-ge's hands are so big." Hinata grabbed Miya Atsumu's hands with both of his own and lifted them up, gently placing them on top of his own head.
You can do it like this.. by grabbing the volleyball with one hand.
Miya Atsumu ran his hands through his messy hair. "It might be difficult for Shoyo to grow as tall as me, but being able to grab a volleyball with one hand should be possible in a few years."
Once Shoyo grows a bit taller, gets a bit stronger, develops some calluses on his hands.. then it will be fine.
Feeling the wonderful sensation under his hands, Miya Atsumu suggested, "Your hair seems a bit long. Do you want me to tie it into two little buns for you? Like Hayami's."
Hinata froze for a moment. "Can't Atsumu-ge do it? And.. my hair isn't even long enough to need to be tied up, is it?"
You just want to tie my hair into a sprout ponytail.
Having seen through Miya Atsumu's intentions, Hinata put his hands on his hips, a hint of smugness on his face.
Miya Atsumu's expression turned serious: "Yes, I want to see."
Hinata spread his arms toward Miya Atsumu. "Then do it!"
"Don't worry, Shoyo, I won't ruin it." Miya Atsumu's expression was serious.
My fingers are very flexible.
Thinking of certain things he shouldn't have been thinking about, Hinata gritted his teeth and pushed Miya Atsumu's hand away, a slight flush of shame and anger appearing on his face.
Atsumu-ge, you really are too bad.
Just then, a call rang out.
Hinata—
Hearing that voice, Hinata turned his head to look: "Hayami!"
Even though the area was crowded with people, it didn't stop him from recognizing Hayami's voice.
The boy squeezed through the crowd and jogged all the way up to his side.
Seeing the person running over, Hinata widened his eyes and subconsciously turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu, wanting to confirm something with him.
Seeing Hinata's reaction, Hayami laughed heartily. "What's the matter? Don't you recognize me anymore?"
Hinata rubbed his chin, looking Hayami up and down. "No, it's just.. you seem different."
There was nothing else different, the main thing was that Hayami had changed his hairstyle.
He had cut off that previous hair that was a bit long and messy; the straight ends reached just below his ears, the top half was tied into a small ponytail, his bangs had vanished, revealing a full forehead.
For Hinata, who relied on hairstyles to recognize people about a third of the time, this was a complete and total transformation.
He knew why he hadn't noticed Hayami over on the court just now.