Coach Washijo gave a slight nod of his chin and said to Ushijima Wakatoshi and Goshiki Tsutomu, "Give him your autograph."
Hinata cheered, "Long live Coach Washijo!!"
Handing the notebook and a pen to Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata turned his head toward Coach Washijo. "Then please sign one for me too, Coach!"
"Later," Coach Washijo said, sounding somewhat annoyed.
Watching Ushijima Wakatoshi sign autographs for Hinata so earnestly, a hint of a smile appeared on Coach Washijo's face.
He turned and said, "The last match went quite well; the offense was very decisive."
Hinata scratched his head and said modestly, "After all, Kawanishi-senpai's blocks are still very difficult to deal with, so of course I have to put a lot of effort into my homework."
Coach Washijo glanced at him, his tone shifting abruptly: "But that's the only redeeming quality you have."
“How do you practice your diving? Even if you're in a hurry, you can't just dive blindly. Don't you understand where you're supposed to land? Is your hand welded to the floor? Don't you know how to brace yourself?”
You crossed the line, so get back there immediately. Do you expect your seniors to drag you back?
And the serve reception.
Since you're the Ace, you have to protect yourself. Isn't number 4 already covering for you? Why are you being so lazy and insisting on jumping from the back row? Can't you adjust your positioning?
Having stamina doesn't mean you should waste it like that. Coach Kurosu has truly spoiled you.
And then there's Miya Atsumu; as the Ace, you should be even more willful than him. He exists to serve you.
“Can you be more proactive with your various offenses? Don't just wait for him to set you up.."
Hinata, who had originally thought Coach Washijo was going to praise him, slumped his shoulders in disappointment and nodded his head rapidly like a little chicken pecking at grain, accepting Coach Washijo's criticism.
While the members of Shiratorizawa didn't dare to breathe heavily, they were secretly communicating through hand signals, grateful that Hinata was taking the heat for them.
After all, before Ushijima Wakatoshi arrived, Coach Washijo was reviewing their performance with them, criticizing each person individually and assigning extra training.
Coach Washijo's scolding of Hinata was even harsher than when he scolded the others; usually, only Goshiki Tsutomu received such treatment.
However, Goshiki Tsutomu's performance today was quite commendable, so Coach Washijo went easy on him.
Luckily, Hinata isn't a player for their Shiratorizawa, so he probably won't be punished with extra training or anything..
Kawanishi's thoughts had barely paused when he heard Coach Washijo's voice ring out immediately after.
Once you get back, discipline yourselves by doing three sets of diving drills every single day. Also, get those offensive positioning drills on the schedule immediately, get your coordination with number 4 sorted out as soon as possible.
If you play like this during Haruko, don't bother calling me during the New Year.
Coach Washijo's voice was incredibly stern, making Hinata's head hang almost to his chest.
Outside the door, Miya Atsumu sat a little further away, pressing his hands together in a silent prayer for Hinata.
He made the right choice by not going in; if he had, Coach Washijo would have surely given him a harsh scolding.
However, Hinata hardly ever got scolded when he was at Inarizaki, but here, he was being chewed out relentlessly by Old man Washijo.
Hmm, thinking about it now, it seems Coach Kurosu's ability to scold people was mostly directed at him and Kazuharu.
A moment later, the doors to the Shiratorizawa lounge were flung open, Hinata was hoisted up by the back of his collar and tossed out, along with his notebook and pen.
Hinata landed lightly and turned his head to look at Ushijima Wakatoshi, who was acting on orders.
He wanted to say something more, but Ushijima raised his hand to signal him to stop, finally closed the door.
Miya Atsumu teased, "You got kicked out after getting scolded, how pitiful."
"Coach Washijo praised me!" Hinata retorted.
Because he was too far away to hear clearly, Miya Atsumu instead asked, "So how did you get kicked out?"
At the mention of this, Hinata wailed, "I'm the one getting scolded, so why won't the coach give me an autograph—"
Even though he had already handed over the booklet and even picked out the most reliable black pen for Coach Washijo.
Why didn't he sign it!
Miya Atsumu fell silent after glancing at the two colorful characters on the blank page.
Before meeting Oikawa Tooru, his practice of signing things seemed to have indeed landed on the back of a blank sheet of paper, right here.
Before Hinata looked up, he silently tore away that piece of paper.
Hearing the sound of paper tearing, Hinata looked up at him, but Miya Atsumu had already hidden the evidence of his crime.
Miya Atsumu cleared his throat. "Nothing, there's nothing."
Chapter 428: The 428th Fox
To Hinata's surprise, Kiryu Ya did not show up for today's match; instead, Yunnan and Bōwàng arrived.
By the time they reached Shirabu's cheering area, the match had already proceeded to the Third Set, with Shirabu leading Rakusan 14:13 by just a little bit.
Seeing Hinata approach, Bōwàng took the initiative to greet him: "Hinata?"
Hinata's movements were somewhat stiff as he greeted the two men properly: "Hello, Bōwàng-senpai, hello, Yunnan-senpai."
Among Shirabu's graduated players, the one he was relatively familiar with was Kiryu. Both of these Middle Blocker seniors had relatively strange personalities, he wasn't always able to communicate with them smoothly.
Yunnan didn't say anything, so Bōwàng took over the conversation: "Are you here to find Aba?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, I want to get an autograph from Kiryu-senpai."
Bōwàng explained to Hinata, "It probably won't happen this time. They have a match against Tachibana Red Falcons this weekend. Because the Azure Rockets' recent results haven't been very good, if they lose any more, they might not make it to the Finals, so they are still preparing for the match."
But if Shirabu can advance to Haruko, he will come to Tokyo to watch.
"I see.." Hinata said, feeling a little disappointed.
Seeing him like this, Bōwàng fell silent for a moment before taking the initiative to ask, "By the way.. are you going to watch? A professional match?"
Bōwàng replied, "They've booked the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium for Saturday's match. If you want to watch, I can ask Aba for tickets."
Yunnan looked at Bōwàng, then looked at Hinata and Miya Atsumu, who was not far behind him.
He reached out and poked Bōwàng, pointed at Atsumu, then pointed toward the location of the Inarizaki banner on the opposite side, before making an OK gesture.
They, Inarizaki, have tickets.
Bōwàng raised a hand to scratch his head. "Ah, Aran is at Tachibana, right? I almost forgot."
Hinata nodded. "Mm-hmm, I haven't decided whether I'm going or not yet, because the National Sports Festival closing ceremony ends on Thursday, so I'll be staying here for one more day."
Although money wasn't an issue, the hotels around here weren't too expensive since it wasn't peak tourist season.
He kept all of the prize money from the matches for himself, his daily expenses weren't much either; most of the costs for his regular supplies and equipment were covered by Coach Kurosu using his own personal funding.
As of now, he hasn't even finished using the prize money he received from last year's National Sports Festival. Following Kenma's suggestion, he has handed over the prize money from the subsequent Haruko and the Interhigh to him to try out financial management and stock trading.
So far, it seems Kenma has been doing quite well in this regard, giving him reports every month. Although there are occasional losses, he is still making a profit overall.
For the sake of Miya Atsumu's wallet, he had also wanted to have Kenma help manage Miya Atsumu's private fund, but he was sternly rejected by Kenma.
Sensing Hinata's mood, Miya Atsumu changed the subject: "It's fine if you want to go. This Saturday is the Shwaiden Adler Fan Appreciation Day, right? You could go participate in their activities, shake hands with professional players, things like that."
Anyway, there aren't many classes at school this week, Thursday and Friday are for the School Festival, right?
Hinata's eyes lit up: "Then let's go! We can ask Great Hirugami-senpai for an autograph!"
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Alright then, I'll leave everything regarding the School Festival on Thursday and Friday entirely to Osamu."
In previous years, the National Sports Festival was held during the October holidays, but this time the delay caused it to clash with the School Festival.
Moreover, Inarizaki has plenty of strong competitive sports programs, since the National Sports Festival covers almost every event, the school was nearly empty. Consequently, the school decided to take advantage of this time to hold campus open days and the School Festival.
Last year's School Festival, the Volleyball Club set up a barbecue stall. Miya Osamu's cooking received widespread acclaim, while Kita Shinsuke and Aran set up a photo booth with Suna, complete with a bunch of funny and hilarious props.
The Volleyball Club had finished their preparations for this year's School Festival long ago. The crepe stall was a decision made by Coach Kurosu to save trouble, the head chef was Miya Osamu.
Originally, he and Hinata were scheduled to wear mascot costumes to attract customers, but since that job wasn't something only the two of them had to do, they could just take some time off.
—Anyway, the School Festival awards are usually swept up by the drama club, the dance club, things like that, so they're just going there to have fun.
After saying goodbye to the two from Shirabu, Hinata and Miya Atsumu prepared to head to the third-floor stands to find Ushijima and the others from Shiratorizawa.
As they were heading upstairs, Hinata suddenly remembered something and turned his head to ask, "Will you come to next year's School Festival, Atsumu-ge?"
Miya Atsumu replied with a smile, "If you want me to, I'll come."
Hinata rubbed his chin, thinking seriously about what else they could do. "Hmm.. Osamu-senpai is graduating next year, so I wonder if Heisuke and the others will set up a snack stall. Haseda Katsuya seems to know how to cook home-style meals, so maybe they could just open a small restaurant.."
Miya Atsumu crossed his arms behind his head and couldn't help but complain, "Doing snack stalls every single year is a bit unoriginal, don't you think?"
Hinata protested, "But wasn't it you who finalized this year's project, Atsumu-ge?"
Miya Atsumu quickly shifted the blame: "That's because that glutton Osamu insisted on it! If it were up to me, I would definitely organize some much cooler events!"
Hinata tilted his head: "For example?"
Miya Atsumu faltered: "For example.."
Hinata clapped his hands lightly and suggested, "An Atsumu-ge handshake event?"
Miya Atsumu agreed readily, "That's good, let's do that."
After locking eyes with Miya Atsumu for a few seconds, Hinata was the first to laugh: "You'll probably be wanted by the Dean of Students."
Miya Atsumu walked forward with his hands in his pockets, without even looking back. "Who cares? I'll have graduated by then."
Hinata caught up to him: "Atsumu-ge, think about me for once."
Atsumu offered a reasonable proposal: "By this time next year, you'll be close to graduation too, so just leave this mess to Haseda Katsuya, Nishizawa Hokuto, the others."
“You're so mean, Atsumu-ge.”
Hearing the familiar voices, Shiratori suddenly looked up. He was the first to turn around, his eyes sparkling: "Shoyo, Atsu-kun, what are you two doing here?"
Bokuto, who was still working hard on chewing his beef jerky, also looked over and waved his hands frantically at the two of them: "Mmm! Mmm!"
Hinata held the notebook high: "I'm going to get autographs from Natsume-senpai and Bokuto-senpai!"
The Shiratorizawa group chose seats in the Inarizaki cheering area, but they were closer to the side, near the corner.
Because the seating area wasn't too far from the Inarizaki stands, there were quite a few casual Inarizaki fans in this area as well.
Seeing the two of them approaching in those eye-catching Inarizaki uniforms, a young girl sitting nearby mustered her courage and called out to Miya Atsumu.