Hakuma blinked, his tone still relaxed: "Haven't we already completed our full combat preparations against Inarizaki? Although Hinata's quick attack is both high and fast, under one-on-one block conditions, I can actually completely suppress it."
Hearing this, Hoshiumi looked up at Hakuma in shock, his mouth opening slightly, but he hesitated to speak.
Ultimately, he could only let out a helpless, exasperated laugh.
Hoshiumi Hikari withdrew his gaze and continued browsing the drink cooler for a beverage he liked. "You really only listen to half of what people say."
He irritably relayed the contents of the previous meeting: "Coach's exact words were that although you can manage a one-on-one block using your height advantage, you should try your best to avoid one-on-one situations with Shoyo."
Shoyo is not just the visible core of Inarizaki's offense, but he is also the most useful piece in Miya Atsumu's hands.
After a moment of hesitation, Hoshiumi grabbed a bottle of soda: "If you remember last year's match between Inarizaki and Itachiyama, you should know what happens when you try a one-on-one block against Shoyo."
Hakuma reflected seriously for a moment. "Hmm.. is that so?"
Hoshiumi looked up and glared at him, "Of course."
Just as he was about to say something more, a very familiar voice suddenly came from the entrance of the convenience store.
"Take a pen of every color, I'll take an extra notebook for you to sign, one signature per page." This was spoken in a rather playful Kansai dialect.
A proper Kansai accent followed immediately: "I told you, that's not the point."
Hoshiumi Hikari had already turned away, but he turned back after hearing that voice from behind.
Hinata had sharp eyes and instantly caught sight of the person behind the shelf: "Ah, Hikari-kun!"
Actually, he didn't see Hoshiumi; he only saw Hakuma Mebuki, who was a bit taller than the convenience store shelves, a small tuft of white hair peeking out from the other side.
Miya Atsumu grabbed one of every color of felt-tip pen on the shelves at his fastest speed in his entire life, rushed to the counter to pay, finally stood outside the door, saying to Hinata, "Hurry, hurry, they're all sold out."
Hinata froze. "They're all sold out?"
His eyes lit up as he leaned forward to look at the two people in front of the freezer. "That's perfect! Hikari-kun, Hakuma-senpai, please give me your autographs too!"
"An autograph?" Hoshiumi Hikari was stunned for a moment.
After hearing Hinata explain the whole situation, Hoshiumi gave a scoff and took Hinata's notebook, flipping through it a few times.
He pointed to the blank space below Miya Atsumu's signature. "Can I sign here?"
Hinata happily agreed, "Of course!"
It was Miya Atsumu who had flipped the page directly; he had originally intended to have Iizuna sign here.
Hoshiumi Hikari gave a mischievous smirk, then pointed toward Miya Atsumu outside.
I want a red pen.
Chapter 426: The Four Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Fox
Hinata turned his head, grabbed the red pen, handed it to Hoshiumi Hikari.
Hoshiumi assessed the size of the paper, his first stroke landed in the upper left of the blank area.
Under Hinata Shoyo's bewildered gaze, Hoshiumi Hikari used a red pen to draw a small flower.
He reached out for a pen again. "Give me the blue one too."
Hinata handed the dark blue pen to Hoshiumi Hikari, watching him use it to write a massive character for "star."
The star drawn on the paper was very round, looking very much like a volleyball.
Hoshiumi pondered for two seconds, finished writing the remaining characters, then reached out toward Hinata: "Do you have yellow?"
"Yes." Hinata simply took all the colored markers from Miya Atsumu's hands, picked out the yellow ones, handed them to Hoshiumi Hikari.
Hoshiumi stared at his own signature for a long time, using blue and yellow pens to draw blue and yellow patterns on top of the signature.
Hinata's eyes lit up: "Ohhh—it's volleyball!"
He pointed at the notebook and said to Miya Atsumu, "Atsumu-ge! I want this one too!"
Glancing at Hoshiumi Hikari, who was using a black pen to draw seagulls next to the signature, Miya Atsumu curled his lip. "Ugly."
Glancing up at Miya Atsumu with a glare, Hoshiumi Hikari felt a surge of playfulness.
After drawing several little seagulls, he even added one right next to Miya Atsumu's signature, as if he were teasing him.
His signature was massive, filling up the rest of the paper.
Moreover, the entire signature was incredibly flashy; he had used almost every color in the pens Hinata held, leaving nothing but a self-portrait to be added.
Looking at that signature, which was three or four times larger than his own, Miya Atsumu's expression was incredibly twisted.
That damn Hoshiumi!
The empty space left below was the spot where he wanted Hinata to sign!!
Hinata clapped to cheer for Hoshiumi: "It's so beautiful!"
He held up the notebook, admiring Hoshiumi Hikari's autograph, "Hikari-kun, you're too amazing, you can even draw!"
Hoshiumi Hikari stood with his hands on his hips and tilted his chin up slightly. "Of course."
Hinata looked at Hoshiumi, looking eager and ready: "When are you going to give me an autograph, Hikari-kun?"
Hoshiumi replied very simply, "Anytime is fine. Just come find me with a clipboard when the time comes."
Just give me one of your signatures as well.
Hinata felt a bit of regret. "I haven't designed a signature yet, my handwriting is ugly."
While handing the notebook to Hakuma Mebuki, Hinata replied, "Once I've designed my autograph, I'll have you sign it, Hikari-kun!"
Hoshiumi said, "It's a deal then."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Hinata nodded vigorously.
The two people from Karasuno left one after another after leaving their signatures, leaving only Miya Atsumu standing there in a state of confusion.
His purpose in buying gold pens was to make his signature stand out from the rest, but starting with Komori, things had spiraled out of control like a runaway horse.
“No! This won't do!”
Miya Atsumu began to throw a tantrum.
I want to sign it again! I want to sign a seven-colored one!!
Hinata glanced at how many pages were left in the notebook and happily agreed, "Sure, sure! Let's sign a rainbow!"
I'll draw a little fox too, Hikari-kun's seagull looks so beautiful.
Oikawa and Kito, who had come for work, arrived in Tokyo not long ago.
After exiting Tokyo Station and transferring to the subway, Oikawa Tooru and Kito arrived at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in no time.
Because the hotel they were staying at was not on the way, they decided to go to the gymnasium first to meet with the event organizer to discuss the arrangements for the day after tomorrow.
The matches they were responsible for commentating on were only the Men's Volleyball Finals; they were not responsible for the morning's Third-place match or the Women's Volleyball Finals.
Before that, they needed to finalize their attire, collect the scripts they would be using, gather the data for each team from this National Sports Festival.
The venue for the Men's Volleyball matches wasn't too far away, since the matches were still in progress, there were hardly any people in the first-floor lobby or the corridors.
But considering the issue of their own influence, to avoid causing a commotion, he and Kito both used previously prepared gear like scarves, hats, sunglasses to cover their appearances.
After confirming their destination on the first-floor map, Oikawa Tooru quickly determined the route for their trip.
First, what they needed to do was.. avoid running into too many acquaintances.
Oikawa Tooru, walking around the other side of the gymnasium, headed toward the corridor he had to pass through, but just as he was about to step out of this east-west corridor, Oikawa suddenly saw something that made his vision go dark.
The moment a tuft of orange hair appeared in his field of vision, his footsteps faltered slightly.
Even though there was no speech or sound from over there, Oikawa Tooru had already recognized him because his hair color and the degree of its curl were so distinctive.
It was Hinata Shoyo.
Oikawa liked Hinata very much, communicating with Hinata was indeed a pleasant experience for both mind and body, but he no longer felt like greeting or chatting with Hinata.
It had nothing to do with Hinata himself; it was just that a certain annoying guy was practically glued to Hinata's side now.
Unless it had been confirmed beforehand that Hinata was acting alone, that annoying blondie would definitely show up in the very next second.
After hesitating for two seconds, Oikawa Tooru slowly moved toward the corner in front of him under Kito's bewildered gaze, before peeking out with a third of his head.
Hinata Shoyo was holding two pens, Miya Atsumu was right across from him, stroking his chin as he examined the two pens.
Oikawa Tooru pulled his head back almost instantly and silently pulled his scarf up, fearing that Hinata would notice.
Only after noticing there was no sound beside him did Oikawa Tooru breathe a sigh of relief.
Good, I wasn't discovered.
I'll just leave quietly like this, take a detour through the stairwell on the other side, then head back up..
Kito felt it was somewhat amusing. He turned to glance at Oikawa Tooru, who was wrapping himself even more tightly, before his gaze shifted slightly to scan the other side of the wall.
I knew it.." Oikawa Tooru looked at Kito through his sunglasses, his voice low but urgent, "Senpai, let's both get out of here quickly, far away from this terrible place.
Kito withdrew his gaze and asked tentatively, "I remember you and Hinata get along pretty well? Aren't you going to say hello?"
Oikawa Tooru waved his hands repeatedly and prepared to leave, "No, no, we have real business to attend to. Besides, I have no reason why I must greet him."
It's getting late; the organizing committee members will be getting anxious soon..
He was in a pretty good mood today and didn't want this sudden incident to disrupt the rhythm of his entire day.
After receiving the sudden work assignment yesterday, he was quite excited and went to bed very late, causing him to oversleep today. On top of that, he had to rush to catch his transport, he hadn't even had a chance to fix his hair or tidy up his appearance.
Anyway, even as V1 frontline star players, they had to take personal precautions and try to hide their whereabouts, but he hadn't considered that aspect yet.
—There was no part of his plan for today that required him to interact with Miya Atsumu.
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice rang out from extremely close to his side.
“Aren't you really going to not say hello to me?”
Oikawa Tooru shuddered, the sudden voice leaving him completely dazed. He turned his head stiffly and saw Hinata, who was already standing just a step away from him.
His scarf was thick and heavy, his sunglasses made his vision less clear, so he didn't realize at all that Hinata had already walked over.
Facing Hinata's pitiful face, Oikawa Tooru's mind raced as he searched for a suitable excuse: ".. I'll come find you tomorrow. We still have to meet with the organizers in a bit to confirm things like the dress code and arrival times.."