Just wait, he admits his current weakness, admits that they are still a long way from the throne.
But next time..
Only after Kageyama walked into the Karasuno crowd, the King's figure was surrounded and lost among his teammates, did Miya Atsumu, who had been observing from the side the entire time, finally call out to Hinata.
“Shoyo.”
Hinata turned his head to look at him, his eyes appearing somewhat dazed and blank, yet the corners of his eyes still held a trace of the sharpness from his recent bravado toward Kageyama.
Miya Atsumu curled his lips into a slight smirk and waved his hand at him. "You're just like a savior, Ace."
Hinata's eyes widened unconsciously, after snapping out of it, he raised both hands and lunged toward Miya Atsumu: "Of course! Today's matches ended smoothly too!"
Just as planned, none of their matches were dragged into a third set.
Although the physical exhaustion was just as immense, it was still much better compared to a situation where matches went to a full three sets.
As he pulled Hinata into the lineup, Miya Atsumu whispered, "Alright, now we can make fun of the King."
Hinata shook his fingers, his expression twisting as he tried to laugh while attempting to maintain a serious and solemn look: "Forget it for today. Although Kageyama didn't play as well as I did, he worked very hard, so I'll give him a little credit."
Miya Atsumu couldn't help but laugh. "Alright."
The players from both sides lined up at the baseline and bowed deeply to each other.
Thank you for the match!!
Chapter 514: The Five Hundred and Fourteenth Fox
The first match in his memory was exciting, but playing more matches was indeed bitter.
How he had shaken hands with the Kitagawa Daiichi members back then.. he actually couldn't remember anymore.
Just as Coach Kurosu always taught them, there is no need to constantly dwell on a painful past; the match at hand and the victory at hand are what matter most.
He thought.. Kageyama thought so too.
Hinata reached out his hand toward the person across the net, Kageyama shook his hand without any hesitation.
He squeezed firmly, then let go.
Walking beside Miya Atsumu toward the Coach's bench, Hinata found it difficult to suppress the excitement in his heart.
The crowd in the stands cheered loudly, welcoming back the players from their great victory.
Great job!
What a brilliant match!
Keep working hard tomorrow! Everyone is looking forward to it!
Hinata slapped his chest with force: "Of course! Leave it to us!"
He met Hayami's gaze and gave her a big thumbs up.
He had promised to win, taking Hayami along with him, whether it was for this match or for the matches tomorrow and the day after.
Hayami also gave him a thumbs-up, causing Sasaki, who was behind them, to click his tongue in a very bad mood.
Why is he constantly siding with others?
However.. it really has nothing to do with him anymore; theoretically, they Third Years are already in retirement status.
Sasaki crossed his arms over his chest, just then, a soft, slow laugh rang in his ear.
How wonderful, such spirited young men.
Sasaki looked toward the sound and saw that white back of a head, as well as a black-and-white back of a head right next to it.
He pursed his lips. Fine, he suddenly felt a sense of psychological balance now.
According to some rumors, he felt that it was already good enough that Hayami had not defected to the enemy on the court and had instead honestly admitted her mistake.
Sasaki spent a second making excuses for Hayami in his mind, but then shook his head vigorously, casting the thought out of his mind.
No, no, no! Aside from caring about Hinata, Shiratori-senpai has committed no acts of betrayal!
Some little brat has been leaking his own secrets to his best friend since before the match!
Feeling that burning gaze, Shiratori, who had just finished waving to Hinata, turned his head slightly and met Sasaki's eyes, which were full of curiosity.
For some reason, Shiratori always felt that the other person's gaze was ill-intentioned.
—It was probably just an illusion.
After finishing their greetings to the spectator stands, the Inarizaki members returned to the Coach's bench to pack their things and prepare to leave.
The Women's Volleyball matches were not over yet, the Itachiyama members for the next match were already waiting in the Players' Tunnel to warm up.
Hinata walked toward the Players' Tunnel with light steps, jumping up to high-five Komori.
Miya Atsumu stood with one hand on his hip watching them, making no move to go over; he merely gave a slight nod to Captain Inamura.
Setting aside tomorrow's match, he was willing to give Komori some respect; after all, he was the most outstanding Libero of the last ten years, they would definitely have opportunities to work together in the future.
After saying goodbye to the Itachiyama players, Hinata returned to Miya Atsumu's side once again.
Noticing the small burst of excitement from the person beside him, Miya Atsumu turned his head to look at him. "What's wrong?"
From the middle of this match, he had noticed Hinata's uncontrollable excitement.
What, was a match against Kageyama enough to make Hinata this happy?
Hinata worked hard to suppress the corners of his mouth that were about to curl up: "I just feel like.. I can play a great game tomorrow."
With his final obsession and the feeling of being surpassed, he felt.. that nothing could hold back his steps forward.
He would do everything in his power to leave Kageyama behind and become a stronger person.
Catching the determination in Hinata's words, Miya Atsumu let out a laugh. "Of course."
He reached out and patted Hinata's hair, which was matted into damp clumps by sweat and felt a little prickly: "Get some good rest after this. The appetizer is over; the real battle begins now."
Hinata nodded seriously, "Okay."
In the Women's Volleyball match, the first Seed, Shinzan Girls, emerged victorious. Their Libero's form wasn't quite on point today, but they managed to pull through without any real danger, winning the match with a score of 2-0 after a 32:30 battle in the Second Set.
The Itachiyama members also entered the court under the guidance of Coach Himegomiya and Coach Utsunomiya.
The Players' Tunnel they entered was located directly below the Inarizaki cheering area, which Shiratori and Bokuto noticed immediately.
Seeing Coach Utsunomiya, Shiratori called out to him, "Coach!"
Utsunomiya turned around upon hearing the call, not surprised to see Shiratori and Bokuto appearing in the Inarizaki team.
He signaled Coach Himegomiya to continue leading the team onto the court, while he walked toward the banner, looked up, asked, "What's up?"
Shiratori replied, "Bokuto said that Coach Anromi wants to meet with you after today's match ends."
Coach Utsunomiya nodded. "Understood."
Hayami, her face full of curiosity, leaned in: "Hmm? What is it?"
After immersing himself in watching a match, he was already able to hold a long conversation with Shiratori.
Shiratori replied, "Coach Anromi intends to introduce some players to Coach Utsunomiya."
Hearing this, Arashiyama, who was sitting behind, thought about it for a moment.
At this time, the ones being recommended should be the current Third Years of Fukurodani. They have many Third Year players, but in reality, there aren't many suitable candidates.
Akaashi's qualities are quite good, he is a great match for Bokuto, but since Shiratori has not graduated yet, they won't consider bringing in another Setter while he is there.
After all, no matter how great the benefits brought by the combination of Akaashi and Bokuto, they are still not as strong as someone who is nearly 1.95m tall, possesses exceptionally solid fundamentals, has almost no weaknesses.
The remaining one.. will most likely be a Middle Blocker.
Arashiyama asked tentatively, "Honma Masaaki?"
Bokuto was shocked, his face full of disbelief. "How did you guess that!"
Shiratori pressed Bokuto down and said helplessly, "Don't make such a big deal out of it; it's very simple."
If it were possible, he could actually accept switching to Middle Blocker or Wing Spiker and letting Akaashi come over to play Setter. However, Akaashi already had other plans and had clearly rejected him.
Arashiyama expressed his disagreement regarding this: "But.. will it work?"
As the winners of this year's University Championship, he had certainly watched the match footage between Central Physical Education University and Waseda.
Considering Central Physical Education University's current roster and overall quality, he felt that Honma Masaaki was not a very good fit.
Central Physical Education University lacks Middle Blockers, but among the players in this year's selection, the only outstanding Middle Blockers are Suna, Hirugami, Koldorf.
If they were to choose, it would be one of those three; they wouldn't consider this Fukurodani Vice-Captain, would they?
Facing the equally curious gazes of Kita Shinsuke and the others, Shiratori summarized in concise terms: "He wants to get a degree so he can return to Fukurodani to be a physical education teacher. We have already secured our players for the current Second Year, there is one senior in his final year next year who can still play for one more year, so he only needs to cover for one year; after that, he can move to the substitute bench."
Arashiyama nodded. "I understand."
Shiratori paused, then turned to look at Arashiyama. "Are you interested in coming? I think you would be a very good Middle Blocker."
Arashiyama smiled and waved his hand in refusal. "Thank you for your kindness, Senpai, but I have already decided to go to Nippon Sport Science University."
Hearing this, Shiratori frowned: "Why is it Nippon Sport Science University again.."
Bokuto didn't understand why Shiratori suddenly became unhappy: "What's wrong with Nippon Sport Science University?"
The semifinals they played against Nippon Sport Science University—he remembered Shiratori was quite happy back then, wasn't he? At that time, his friend who played soccer for Nippon Sport Science University even came to the venue to cheer for them.
Shiratori explained, "Coach Raphael wanted Karasuno's Hakuma to play Middle Blocker, but he signed with Nippon Sport Science University."
Bokuto's eyes widened: "Ah! The 2m player is gone!"
That was indeed frustrating, but fortunately, he remembered Shiratori telling him that the coach had found another 2m player, though he was in the same year as Hinata.
Shiratori added, "Coach has been talking with Chongtian lately, but since the other party has good academic grades to guarantee him, he might not consider Central Physical Education University and will instead look for other opportunities."
At this point, Shiratori rested his chin in his hands and let out a soft sigh.
So.. where are all the Middle Blockers? You can't seriously expect him to do all the blocking, can you?
Can Miya Atsumu put in some effort? There's still a good piece of grass left in the fox den!
So..