So.. there are actually this many different kinds of volleyball!!
This is the stock in this warehouse. Hinata, you can pick whichever ones you like; just pick about twenty-two or twenty-three.
Coach Suzaku reached out and pointed toward this wall. "Don't worry about whether they are one-of-a-kind; we kept one of every single model in the warehouse at our club's headquarters."
Hinata wiped away the drool that had almost escaped, after confirming none had leaked out, he turned to look at Coach Suzaku. "Can I really just pick any one of them?"
He couldn't bear to play it; once the players signed it, he was going to put it on his own shelf!
Coach Suzaku froze for a moment, then explained, "Hmm? Not one, but at least twenty-two. There are twenty-two active players on Team One, though many of them don't appear in matches very often."
You can also pick one or two more to take back and play with yourself.
Hinata froze.
Hinata stopped thinking.
It took ten seconds for his brain to process Coach Suzaku's words, Hinata cried out in shock, "How many?!"
He was a bit panicked: "No, no, no, that's way too much, I only want one.."
Miya Atsumu was also a bit stunned behind him; he never expected that the extra prize Coach Suzaku had casually promised would turn out to be such a massive gift.
Even based on the most basic pricing for Mikasa volleyball, twenty-plus volleyballs would cost over a hundred thousand yen, not to mention that many of them are rare limited editions that are hard to find.
Coach Suzaku realized he had made a mistake at this moment. He gave a helpless smile and spread his hands, saying, "What we promised you before, our Shwaiden Adler will not go back on."
Hinata stared at that wall of volleyballs, his gaze focusing on a sky-blue Mikasa volleyball in the center.
On the surface of the Mikasa volleyball, there was a golden number 3, with three white stripes printed with the same golden crown pattern, an Adler logo.
The volleyballs they usually play with are lake blue, but the color scheme of this volleyball is very light, as if.. it could float above the clouds.
Noticing his gaze, Coach Suzaku reached out and picked up that volleyball: "Beautiful, isn't it? This was custom-made for Adler's twentieth anniversary, the year we achieved our first three-year consecutive championship."
If you like it, it's yours.
As he spoke, Coach Suzaku handed the volleyball into Hinata's hands.
The surface of the ball was covered in an unopened plastic wrap, so Hinata couldn't feel the texture of the ball, but he could feel its heavy weight.
He was a bit at a loss for words: "This is too precious.."
A bit overwhelmed, he looked back at Miya Atsumu. Miya Atsumu stood behind him with one hand on his hip, letting out a soft laugh when he looked over.
Atsumu took a step forward proactively and said, "Coach Suzaku, this is indeed too precious, Shoyo's family doesn't actually have the space to keep it."
If possible.. could you sign all the autographs on a single volleyball? For the rest, Coach, you could provide some standard training models, so Shoyo can use them without feeling too guilty.
At this moment, Miya Atsumu's figure appeared exceptionally imposing in Hinata's eyes.
He nodded vigorously in agreement: "Yeah, yeah, yeah! It would be a shame if such a beautiful volleyball got damaged.."
Moreover, even if he didn't have space at home, he could just store them in the Inarizaki warehouse as official property, Coach Kurosu would later convert them into school funding for his further studies.
Coach Suzaku laughed quite happily: "Then let's do that."
He looked down at Hinata, the smile on the corners of his mouth impossible to hide. "Which signed Mikasa volleyball do you want? This one in my hand?"
Hinata nodded vigorously, terrified that Coach Suzaku would change his mind and insist on forcing so many rare and expensive volleyballs upon him: "Yes! This one is fine!"
Coach Suzaku reached out and patted Hinata's head: "Alright, I'll mail them all to Inarizaki later."
Hinata cheered, "Long live Coach Suzaku!"
Meanwhile, in the away gymnasium in the neighboring prefecture, Coach Sansou, who was managing the team during their pre-match training, received an email.
He happened to take out his phone to take a look during the break.
It wasn't much to see at first, but once he looked, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.
The sender was Suzaku, the content was nothing but a single photograph.
In the photo, Miya Atsumu and Hinata were standing beside Suzaku. Hinata was wearing an Adler mascot plushie on his head and holding some kind of card, as the three of them posed for a commemorative photo in front of the Shwaiden Adler honor wall.
The smile on his face almost failed to hold, he turned to confirm Adler's schedule for the day with his assistant before finally letting out a secret sigh of relief.
If only they had known the Black Jackals should have held an event today as well; it's a shame that their own boy, after winning the championship, ended up having to go to his old rivals' place..
Thinking of this, Coach Sansou turned his head and instructed, "In the future, prepare a ticket for Atsumu-senpai for all our matches and events.. no, two tickets."
The assistant replied, "Understood."
Adler's activities had all concluded by nearly three in the afternoon. As Hinata and Miya Atsumu were leaving the Adler home gymnasium, Coach Suzaku, who had been busy the whole time, even came out to see them off: "Come back and play again when you have the chance."
Hinata nodded in response, "I will!"
Watching the two leave, Coach Suzaku raised a hand to stroke the stubble on his chin.
Although he had no intention of recruiting Hinata, Miya Atsumu had no interest in Shwaiden Adler, it didn't stop him from wanting to watch Hinata.
After all.. a kid with so much energy is just a joy to watch.
As he headed toward the indoors, Coach Suzaku's thoughts had already drifted away.
After ruling out Dai Nippon Railway and eliminating several mid-to-lower tier teams for the same reason, Hinata's actual professional career choices were reduced to just a few.
Tachibana Red Falcons, EJP Gods, Izumo Hornets are all great choices.
As for the Black Jackals.. of course, they were the first to be ruled out.
There was no rational thinking involved, only pure personal emotion.
Hinata patted his chest: "That really scared me.. I didn't expect Coach Kurosu to send me a whole truckload of volleyballs. I remember the one Heisuke gave me before was only about six or seven thousand; twenty of them would be terrifying!"
His prize money from a single previous match was only twenty thousand, although the school and the prefecture would provide national team championships and individual honors that eventually added up to sixty or seventy thousand, he still couldn't afford that many Mikasa volleyballs.
Miya Atsumu shrugged his shoulders. "As expected of a powerhouse, your way of thinking is different from us country folk."
But at least you'll have enough to use for the next few years.
Competition-grade Mikasa volleyballs are quite expensive, Inarizaki's current stock is actually limited to just these. Furthermore, under high-intensity use, the rate of wear and tear is not low; friction and corrosion from sweat can cause the balls to deteriorate more quickly.
Plus, Hinata sometimes uses volleyballs outdoors at his own home, so it was indeed necessary to keep some spares.
Hinata blinked. "That's true.."
Miya Atsumu reached out and put an arm around his shoulder, leaning down to say to him, "This is the result of your hard work, Shoyo, both the cause and the effect."
At the mention of this, Hinata silently puffed out his chest and leaned forward, looking very proud: "Of course! I'm pretty amazing too!"
Atsumu reached out and tapped his head. "But your receiving accuracy still needs work. You wouldn't want your Atsumu-ge to run himself ragged on the court, would you?"
Hinata patted his own chest. "I'll keep working hard! I'll strive to become just as lazy as Kenma!"
Miya Atsumu chuckled, "That might not work; that would be too lazy."
Moreover, compared to urging Hinata, urging Unabara Uta is the most important thing.
At this moment, Unabara Uta, who was browsing manga shops in Akihabara with Imai, sneezed again.
He took the tissue Imai handed him, wiped his nose, said fiercely, "Damn it, who was just talking about me!"
Miya Atsumu asked Hinata, "Where are we going next?"
Glancing at the bus stop sign nearby, Hinata reached out and pointed to one of the locations. "Let's go read some manga!"
Hikari-kun said before that he wanted me to go to his house to read some basketball manga, but I haven't finished the Naruto manga I borrowed from Heisuke yet. However, I'm really interested in the One Piece recommended at the end of that manga volume!
He said with animated gestures, "I heard there's a super powerful character in there who uses the Triple Wield! Just like Atsumu-ge!"
Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin. "But if it's manga.. you can actually read them on a tablet. I subscribe to their weekly magazine."
The place Hinata pointed to was quite a distance from here; it would probably take thirty to forty minutes by bus.
He suggested, "If you want to go sightseeing, we can check out of the hotel tomorrow before we go; we have to change hotels anyway."
Hinata raised both hands in agreement, "Sure, I'll leave everything up to Atsumu-ge!"
He lowered his hands and asked Miya Atsumu, "So, what are we doing now?"
Miya Atsumu thought seriously for two seconds, then heard Hinata's stomach growling.
Scanning the nearby shops, Miya Atsumu pulled out his phone to search for a highly-rated place nearby: "Let's go eat ramen. There's a place around here with super high ratings, we don't need a reservation."
Hearing this, Hinata became excited again: "Okay!"
Setting down the Silver □ manga in her hands, Unabara Uta reached back to touch her own back. "I don't really have a fever, do I.."
Imai froze for a moment, then proactively asked, "Do you want to take your temperature?"
Unabara Uta reached out to check the temperature of Imai's forehead, then checked her own: "Not hot, then it must have been an illusion."
After letting out a sigh of relief, he complained to Imai, "I don't know why, but I've had this feeling all day that someone has been secretly muttering about me, just now, I suddenly felt like I'd narrowly escaped death.."
“Hmm.. It's probably that feeling of being chased by the Grim Reaper.”
Imai thought seriously, raising a finger. "Is it possible that Miya Atsumu-senpai just passed by the shop entrance but didn't notice the two of us—"
Unabara Uta covered Imai's mouth with one hand, nearly dropping to her knees: "Don't tell horror stories like that—"
Hehe.
After a hearty meal, Miya Atsumu and Hinata returned to the hotel. Since they had a significant amount of physical activity today, neither of them had the interest to continue wandering outside, so they prepared to return to the hotel to thoroughly study the footage of the Tachibana Red Falcons from the previous round of V1 matches.
Looking at the Tachibana Red Falcons' starting lineup, Hinata felt a slight sense of regret. "Oikawa-senpai is on the bench."
But that was true; this season was originally meant to be a period for Kito-senpai's comeback and reintegration, so it was quite normal for Oikawa to play as a substitute.
Miya Atsumu explained, "It should be a rotation. After Kito-senpai's rehabilitation period, his physical condition and form haven't fully returned, his back itself won't support him playing through five high-intensity sets."
I expect Oikawa-senpai will be subbed in after two sets; for now, the core of the team is still centered around Oikawa-senpai's setting.
Once Oikawa-senpai leaves next year, the core of the Tachibana Red Falcons will switch back to Kito-senpai.
At the mention of this, Miya Atsumu's movement paused slightly.
He spoke softly, sounding almost as if he were sighing, "To be honest, I still don't know what the Tachibana Red Falcons will be like in the future.."
Hinata didn't understand what Miya Atsumu meant: "What?"
Atsumu explained, "It's not just Oikawa-senpai who will be leaving at the beginning of next year, but also Coach Blanco, who has led the Tachibana Red Falcons for several years.
“For professional teams, the impact of changing a head coach is no less significant than replacing all of a team's core players.”
There are teams whose performance plummets and who end up relegated to V2 after a change in head coach, so as long as performance remains stable, few teams will proactively change coaches.
But Tachibana was powerless to do anything about it; Blanco had chosen to leave of his own accord. The leadership over there had tried every possible way to persuade him to stay, but Blanco was already determined to return to his own country to nurture the next generation of young players.