During that time, Miya Atsumu also finished signing for Unai and took the opportunity to design a few initial drafts for Hinata's autograph.
In terms of the calligraphy of the signature alone, there was basically no difference from Miya Atsumu's.
The brushstrokes were sharp, fluid, rounded, even thoughtfully curving inward at the very bottom to form a little tail.
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu's simple signature, then at the few designs Miya Atsumu had made for him, wrinkled his nose slightly.
He reached out and pointed to the second half of that signature. "It feels like.. um.. what character is that?"
Miya Atsumu let out a helpless laugh. "That's the 'feather' radical from Shoyo's name and the 'ear' radical from Yo."
But hearing Shoyo say that, he probably understood where the problem lay.
Unlike his name, Hinata's name consists of four characters, including some rather complex ones, making it messy and difficult to recognize when written in a single, flowing cursive stroke.
Shoyo is another surname that is used frequently, it also appears frequently as a given name, making it quite unsuitable for a star player's signature.
When considering future occasions that require on-site autographs, such as handshake events and fan appreciation days, the two complex characters in Shoyo's name make it even more unsuitable to be used as a signature.
After all, he couldn't have signed three while Hinata hadn't even finished one.
Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin, silently crumpling the blank sheet of A4 paper and tossing it into the trash can. "Then I'll think about it some more."
Anyway, there was no rush; he had plenty of time to think about what to say to Hinata.
Hinata nodded, "Okay!"
He clutched the notebook of Unai in his arms, looking at Miya Atsumu with an excited face: "Then let's go over to Itachiyama now!"
Miya Atsumu fell silent.
If only I had known.. I should have thought about it more.
By the time the two reached the Itachiyama cheering area, the match between Shirabu and Rakusan had already reached the midpoint of the Second Set, with Shirabu currently leading this set.
By relying on the advantage of the initial service turn and strong pressure at the net with blocks, Shirabu had managed to stabilize his advantage for the time being.
"Usui.. has grown a lot," Iizuna remarked with sincere emotion.
Amatori let out a sneer. "He has to grow, otherwise how can he compete? Shirabu, the new Ace, doesn't have a temperament as good as Kiryu's."
Chapter 425: The 425th Fox
“This is the kind of situation a Setter should normally have to face, isn't it?”
Hearing that voice and tone, Amatori shrank his neck, Rentou didn't look back from beginning to end.
He slightly turned his head toward Iizuna beside him, secretly pointing at the person walking up from behind, before making a throat-slitting gesture toward Iizuna.
Iizuna smiled, paying no mind to Amatori.
He turned his head to look at the approaching Miya Atsumu, then shifted his gaze to Hinata, who was holding a notebook and looking at him with eyes full of anticipation.
Iizuna-senpai spoke up proactively, "What brings you here all of a sudden? Are you looking for me?"
Hinata nodded vigorously, holding out the notebook in his hands toward Iizuna. "Yes, yes, yes! I want an autograph from Iizuna-senpai! And also from Kami-senpai and Gen-senpai!"
“My autograph?” Iizuna-senpai was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, completely failing to understand what Hinata meant. "What do you want my autograph for?"
He hasn't gone professional yet, this year's University Championship hasn't even started, so his popularity is nowhere near as high as that of professional players who specifically focus on building their own fanbases.
However, he does indeed have a completed autograph design; after all, as a player being trained for the National Team, he himself frequently travels to participate in Asian and international competitions.
If you had to say.. he actually has some fans who have been following him since he was a child.
Hinata imperceptibly slid the notebook toward Iizuna again. "Giant-senpai wants to collect professional players' autographs, I'm here to help!"
Catching Hinata's subtle, playful, somewhat bratty movement, Iizuna couldn't help but chuckle. "No problem."
—Even though he wasn't quite sure exactly who that "Giant-senpai" Hinata mentioned was.
Taking the notebook and pen, Iizuna Sho quickly signed his name: "Is this enough? Is there anything else you need to sign?"
After a chuckle, Hinata took the notebook back: "That's perfect, long live Iizuna-senpai!"
Then Hinata looked at Komori in the row in front of him and passed the notebook from behind: "Gen-senpai! An autograph!"
Because the notebook was turned upside down when it was handed over, Komori keenly noticed the ink stains from the previous page bleeding through to the back.
He slightly lifted the previous page and looked up at Shoyo; seeing that Shoyo had no reaction, he then turned the page.
The previous page contained signatures from Miya Atsumu and Aran, but there was still some space left at the bottom.
Flipping back a bit further, there were autographs from some Black Jackals players.
But none of that actually mattered; what Komori truly noticed was..
Only Miya Atsumu's signature was gold.
Komori blinked, looking up at Hinata. "Can I sign in gold too?"
Hinata agreed without a second thought; he turned his head, reached into Miya Atsumu's pocket to grab the golden pen, handed it to Komori.
Komori glanced at Miya Atsumu's face, which had instantly changed color, then lowered his head to leave his signature.
Miya Atsumu's face was filled with shock, once he snapped out of it, he lowered his head to look at Hinata, drawing out his voice as he protested, "Shoyo—that was mine!"
Hinata froze for a moment, then asked very seriously, "Is that so?"
Miya Atsumu took a small step toward Hinata, reaching out to tug on the end of Hinata's hair in protest: "That's right!"
Hinata's expression faltered for a second before a sudden flash of inspiration struck him: "Um.. let's go buy a few more colors in a bit, then Atsumu-ge can sign more!"
Hearing this, Miya Atsumu's expression became even more shocked: "Is that the point!"
Is that even the point!
Why is this little guy siding with the other side!
Shoyo said righteously, "That's right!"
Iizuna raised a hand to cover his face, chuckling softly in a good mood.
He knew why Hinata's behavior seemed so familiar; it was because, in his memory, Miya Atsumu also used such willful, spoiled, unreasonable methods to get what he wanted from Hinata.
Sakusa took the pen, which had been wiped with a tissue, from Iizuna's hand behind him, left his name in black ink beneath the signatures of Komori and Iizuna.
Unlike the signatures of Iizuna and Komori, Sakusa's signature was incredibly precise and orderly, as meticulous as he was.
He wrote very seriously, as if he were performing an incredibly solemn task.
After finishing, Sakusa capped the pen, placed it against the spiral binding of the notebook, handed it to Hinata.
After looking over the three signatures from top to bottom, Hinata cheered, "Nice! First task complete!"
Seeing Hinata about to leave after greeting everyone, Amatori grabbed him and pointed to herself, "What about me?"
Hinata paused for a moment. "Ah, Amatori-senpai."
Miya Atsumu stood with one hand on his hip, his tone rising slightly. "Don't bother signing, Senpai. I remember you only received an invitation from a V2 team earlier this year, right?"
Hearing his incredibly cheeky remark, the veins on Amatori's forehead bulged: "Hey! At least show me some respect! So what if it's V2? V2 is still a professional team!"
And I'm only a freshman! By the time I graduate, I might have already made a name for myself!
Atsumu looked Amatori up and down, pursed his lips, said nothing.
Amatori felt offended: "Show some respect to your senior!"
Fortunately, Hinata, having realized this, had already handed over the magazine to offer Amatori some comfort.
Actually, Hinata didn't ignore Amatori on purpose; he just didn't recognize him.
Amatori was wearing sunglasses, his hairstyle wasn't exactly the same as it had been in high school. Combined with the eye-catching Iizuna beside him, he subconsciously overlooked him.
Amatori signed a rather flashy name with great resentment, then whispered to Hinata, "You'd better stay away from this guy; one of these days, he's going to ruin your reputation."
Hinata, you're a good kid, you can't let him lead you astray!
The moment Hinata received that magazine, Miya Atsumu snatched it away and pushed Hinata toward the Players' Tunnel by his back.
Goodbye, goodbye! Goodbye, seniors! We're in a hurry to head over to Shiratorizawa.
Amatori waved his hand as if shooing away flies: "Go on, get going."
Hinata struggled to turn his head to say goodbye to the Itachiyama group: "Goodbye—Goodbye, seniors—"
Watching the two of them disappear into the Players' Tunnel, Amatori sighed with regret, "What a wonderful kid, how did he end up stuck with a clingy pest like Miya Atsumu.."
Iizuna retracted his gaze: "However, for Hinata, Miya Atsumu is indeed a very good choice."
“At the very least, Miya Atsumu gave more than half of his tenderness to him.”
Amatori expressed doubt: "Then what about the other half? Why haven't I felt it?"
Inamura turned back and chimed in, "Because the other half was given to volleyball."
Thinking of how stern Miya Atsumu had been toward his twin brother, Amatori felt it was quite reasonable: "Yeah, I think that's probably it."
"But Hinata—" Amatori's face was written with agony.
“Sigh..”
"What are you sighing about?" Hakuma Mebuki looked at Hoshiumi Hikari beside him.
Hoshiumi picked a bread from the shelf as a temporary snack to stave off hunger: "I'm thinking about tomorrow's match."
Fortune changes, now it's our turn to face a hellish schedule.
Hakuma Mebuki replied, "But it makes no difference; I will win."
Hoshiumi Hikari looked up and glanced at him: "It's us."
Judging from Inarizaki's performance in these few matches, both their offense and defense have made significant progress.
Moreover, the most obvious point is that number 11's coordination with the team has improved.
During the previous Interhigh, number 11 was part of the team as a substitute, but was later brought into the starting lineup because his blocking height was simply insufficient.
Compared to before, number 11's blocking skills have improved significantly. Furthermore, he has developed a certain level of independent thinking and no longer relies entirely on the instructions from the players on both sides, which means Inarizaki's blocking response speed will be even faster than before.
Moreover, considering the schedule of the entire tournament, it is likely that Inarizaki will be in even better condition by the time the Finals arrive.
With this fluctuation in momentum, their match will likely be difficult to play; any slight lapse in concentration could allow those opportunists from Inarizaki to exploit their weaknesses.