"Hmm.." Hanae feigned a moment of thought.
He drew out his voice, "For example—how about coming to the Azure Rockets after graduating from university?"
“We'll be teammates.”
Aoba Haruka recalled for a moment, "Azure Rockets? Ah, Kiryu-senpai's team."
Hinata looked very surprised: "Hanae, are you going to the Azure Rockets?"
Hanae nodded. "Yeah, Wakamura-senpai invited me, I've also met with the Azure Rockets' coach."
In the domestic scene, only Inunari had produced a Libero like Yaku in all those years, in recent years, almost every team has reached the point where they need to replace their Libero.
With his level of skill, he could be considered a highly sought-after prospect for professional teams.
Although he himself hadn't achieved any particularly impressive results, his strength was widely recognized.
The Azure Rockets' coach offered him terms that were quite good for a newcomer, he could fully accept them.
Hinata's mind went blank as he struggled to process the information he already knew.
Who is on the Azure Rockets?
There's Kiryu-senpai, whom he likes super much, Wakamura-senpai, with whom he gets along quite well, now Hanae is going too.
Moreover, Atsumu-ge said before that the Azure Rockets indeed need a player like him to strengthen their roster.
In summary—
He really wanted to go; the Azure Rockets needed him, there were still people inviting him.
But..
In the end, Hinata still shook his head slightly: "I'm sorry, I promised Atsumu-ge that after graduation, I would prioritize the Black Jackals when considering domestic teams."
Promises are very important.
Although he knew that if he truly had a choice that suited him better, Atsumu would also be happy for him, but.. Atsumu himself would still ultimately feel sad and disappointed.
Hanae closed his eyes and let out another cold snort.
He knew it—you can't get two different kinds of people from the same blanket!
Miya Atsumu was fooling him, Hinata was fooling him too!
Inarizaki doesn't have a single good person!
Chapter 471: The Four Hundred and Seventy-First Fox
The bus departed from the Tokyo Station stop, in less than ten minutes, it arrived at the location where they needed to get off. There were no direct buses from Tokyo Station to the Volleyball Association, so they had to transfer midway.
Standing by the bus stop sign checking the route information, Aoba Haruka said belatedly, "If it's the four of us.. we could actually request a shuttle from Coach Unabara's side."
Although the Volleyball Association doesn't offer this service, Coach Unabara does.
If it were just one or two people, they might have had to wait a bit, but the four of them could actually just call for a pickup.
Only twenty or thirty people are selected for the youth training program each year, the four of them already account for nearly one-sixth!
Hanae was stunned for a moment. "Is that even allowed?"
Kanzaki, who came from the junior national team, looked up and thought for a moment: "That should work. The coaches have quite a lot of acquaintances, the Volleyball Association has been very busy lately, so we might be able to hitch a ride back with them."
Aoba recalled, "Hayami said before that every time he comes, the Coach goes to pick him up."
Hearing his friend's name, Kanzaki said energetically, "Is Hayami coming this time too? I haven't seen him in such a long, long time! But I saw the National Sports Festival matches on TV before, he seemed to be in pretty good form!"
Hinata raised his hand: "He sent me a message saying he has already arrived and is waiting for us in the lobby."
Kanzaki said with heartache, "Why didn't you tell me? Are we not the best teammates and partners!"
Hanae was speechless: "Who told you to ask him if he was still alive last time?"
Although he knew that the blunt Kanzaki didn't mean it that way, some things are just very presumptuous to say!
As the group chatted and laughed, the next bus arrived at the station, following closely after the one they had just ridden.
Because the starting station was Tokyo Station, there were many passengers, so a bus from this route departed almost every five minutes, whereas the intervals for buses running on the outer ring were much longer.
The four people, ranging from short to tall, got off one after another, forming a standard full signal bar.
“.. Hinata?” Seeing the four noisy people, Kageyama froze for a moment.
"Isn't this Hinata? Long time no see! I watched your matches, you were quite impressive! Did you watch our matches?" The first person to get off the train waved at Hinata.
"Shoyo! I can't believe I ran into you here!" Goshiki, who happened to be on the same Shinkansen as the others and bumped into them right at the entrance of Tokyo Station, decisively abandoned the rest of his group.
"Long time no see, Hinata, Hanae, Haruka, and.. uh.." The last one to get off, Bai Ze, didn't recognize Kanzaki, but tried to search his memory for him.
Hinata raised his hands high, warmly welcoming the group: "Nishinoya-senpai! Akari! Bai Ze! And Kageyama, long time no see!"
You guys actually came together!
Eh? Wait, why is Nishinoya-senpai here too?
Kanzaki whispered to Hanae, "It's so chaotic, there are so many people I know.."
Hanae ignored him, instead nodding to Kageyama and Bai Ze.
This is only the beginning; most of the participants in this training camp are First and Second Years, Hinata's popularity likely extends most broadly to the current Third Years.
Those seniors were each more difficult to deal with than the last; in any case, he didn't dare get close to them.
Noticing Hinata's confusion, Nishinoya laughed heartily with his hands on his hips, "I brought Kageyama here, I'm heading over to Central Physical Education University in a bit; Coach Sanjo asked to meet me there."
Hinata's eyes widened, his face filled with pleasant surprise: "Nishinoya-senpai, have you already decided to come to Central Physical Education University!"
Nishinoya nodded. "Yeah, but it's not completely decided yet. Today is mainly to experience beach volleyball and see if I can adapt to it."
Hinata circled Nishinoya, cheering and throwing confetti. "I think you'll be fine, Nishinoya-senpai! When the time comes, maybe we can play beach volleyball together!"
Hearing this, Nishinoya was stunned for a moment. "Hinata, are you planning to play beach volleyball too?"
He knew that Hinata was the one who had recommended him to Coach Sanjo, but he thought it was simply because Hinata had a good relationship with those two coaches. He had an impression of that female coach; she was one of the coaches from Itachiyama.
Kageyama pricked up his ears, unable to help but frown, "Beach Volleyball?"
Hinata.. is he going to switch to Beach Volleyball?
But it was true that the suggestion for Nishinoya to try beach volleyball was originally brought up by Hinata to him. Thinking about it now.. beach volleyball doesn't seem like something Hinata would normally take an interest in. He isn't actually planning to switch sports, is he..
“Yeah, I'll give it a try when I'm preparing for university.”
Hearing such an answer, Kageyama's eyes widened slightly, but in the end, he merely lowered his gaze and said nothing more.
Before Hinata could even voice his confusion, he felt someone grab his legs.
No! Hinata, you can't go! Our hard spike can't lose you—
Aoba Haruka quite pathetically squatted on the ground, clutching Hinata's legs and faking a crying fit.
If Hinata were to leave, Miya Atsumu's resentment would likely devastate the entire Japanese volleyball world!
As the culprit behind the previous rumors, he felt as though he wouldn't see the sun rise tomorrow.
Goshiki Tsutomu also approached him: "Shoyo, you told Coach Washijo before that you were going to be the best at hard spikes. If you leave just like this, the Coach will be heartbroken."
Of course, he was too.
Bai Ze scratched his head, seriously contemplating the possibility of him playing Beach Volleyball.
Kanzaki failed to keep up with the group's pace, while Hanae, who had already figured out what was going on, stood to the side with an even more resentful expression on his face.
After all, it was only because Hinata was planning to study beach volleyball that Miya Atsumu wanted to pick out some teammates for him who could coordinate effectively through sheer skill, even without frequent practice.
At this rate, Hanae felt that Central Physical Education University's future lineup would be invincible.
But.. Miya Atsumu and Hinata won't let him play!
Hinata waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no, I just want to play some Beach Volleyball to improve my skills, I'm not switching disciplines."
Kageyama let out a subtle sigh of relief.
The bus heading to the Volleyball Association pulled into the station, the group boarded one after another, occupying all the remaining seats in the back.
Goshiki Tsutomu, who had successfully snatched the seat next to Hinata, said, "Going for further studies is also great; university is a very good opportunity."
Ushijima-senpai only went to university to further his studies; otherwise, Shwaiden Adler could have directly signed him to play as a starter.
Hinata rubbed his chin: "I was saying, Atsumu-ge and I saw Ushijima-senpai at Shwaiden Adler a while ago, he is very familiar with the coaches and staff there."
Aoba Haruka turned his head and asked, "What kind of training is Ushijima-senpai looking to do? Is a professional team not good enough?"
Relatively speaking, the resources of a top-tier team like Shwaiden Adler would be better than Juntendo's. If the goal was simply to become stronger, Shwaiden Adler would actually be the better choice.
Goshiki Tsutomu replied, "I heard it's because they want to completely change their spiking form and habits, just like changing from a three-step approach to a four-step one."
It was a very risky and high-stakes decision.
If not handled properly, it could even disrupt one's original habits, leading to failure at the final hurdle and potentially affecting one's entire physical condition.
Hanae's expression was solemn.
If it was this kind of adjustment, he could understand why Ushijima chose Juntendo.
Juntendo has the country's top sports science laboratories, as far as he knows, they don't force Ushijima to participate in school club activities there. It is clear that the National Team is relying on Juntendo's hardware resources to create the best growth environment for Ushijima Wakatoshi.
This is something that is absolutely impossible to achieve in a professional team.
Because professional players need to consider the win or loss of every single match and individual performance, it is impossible to allow players to undergo such attempts that could affect their results or even cause the entire team to suffer a loss.
Similarly, players like Hinata who need to undergo training and adjustments are in the same situation.
Shiratori-senpai needs time to establish his own setting style, while Bokuto-senpai needs to adapt to high-pressure environments so that his performance fluctuations are not as significant.
I am not very clear about Komori-senpai's motives, but considering that Komori, a Wing Spiker turned Libero, doesn't have the same highly stable First Receive ability as Nishinoya, the opponent might be using this time to further stabilize his own skills.
By contrast, he didn't actually have any reason to break away from the commercial economic environment, it's possible that Miya Atsumu saw through this and stood him up.. probably.
As expected of the top players in the country, every single move they make is so profound..
Hanae looked on in amazement.
In reality, Bokuto, who had signed the recommendation consent form in a complete daze, let out a sneeze in the dormitory.