Hinata looked up and met Miya Atsumu's gaze.
He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to pick up a piece of beef and held it to Miya Atsumu's lips.
Miya Atsumu opened his mouth and bit down, taking the food from Hinata's chopsticks and eating it without any hesitation.
He leaned one hand on the table and said in a drawn-out voice, "More."
Hinata glanced at him, then at the single piece of beef left on the plate, silently picked it up, stuffed it into his mouth.
Miya Atsumu was stunned.
In the next second, Hinata picked up a piece of breaded, fried banana and handed it to Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu reluctantly opened his mouth; compared to this sweet dessert, he actually wanted Hinata's beef sandwich much more.
And just as Miya Atsumu had started chewing the banana, Hinata handed him a second piece.
Atsumu felt somewhat helpless. "Eat more bananas; these are what's actually useful."
Hinata pulled back his chopsticks and continued burying his head in his food, deciding not to give anything else to Miya Atsumu.
He wants to protect his sandwich!!
“What does Atsumu-ge want to eat? I can help order,” Hinata suggested proactively.
Regarding Hinata's protective behavior over his food, Miya Atsumu could only express helplessness: "I'm not eating. My digestion isn't as good as yours. I'll just eat when we get back."
Hinata let out a cheer and began to savor the sandwich.
Glancing at the live stream of the match, Miya Atsumu spoke up, "By the way, the Coach told me to tell you that for tomorrow's match, he will send Haseda to play, his grandmother will be coming too."
Hearing this, Hinata's eyes widened.
With his mouth full of food, he raised his hand and gave Miya Atsumu an OK gesture, signaling that he understood.
The gift he prepared for Haseda Katsuya would be given tomorrow, to celebrate his first victory.
As for what to do if he loses the match..
This outcome did not exist in his predictions, he would not accept it.
As the final major tournament of Miya Atsumu's high school career, they needed a perfect ending.
The Third Day of Magic has ended, the four teams that ultimately advanced from the Quarterfinals are the seeded teams: Inarizaki, Itachiyama, Fukurodani, Karasuno.
It wasn't long before the Semifinals were completely occupied by the four seeds, this tournament certainly didn't produce any particularly terrifying dark horses; the overall schedule remained relatively stable.
As for their old friend Itachiyama, the Inarizaki members had already prepared themselves thoroughly more than once.
Compared to the state of combat readiness from the previous day, this time could be a bit more relaxed.
Hinata Natsu arrived in Tokyo with her mother on the morning of the fourth day; her father had been assigned extra work during his annual leave and could not come along.
Coach Himegomiya went to pick up Xiaoxia as soon as she arrived, even attempting to persuade her to sit in the Itachiyama cheering section during the Semifinals.
However, her scheme ultimately failed against Hinata's mother, with the vote at the polling station being Inarizaki 2:1 Itachiyama, resulting in a complete defeat for Coach Himegomiya.
As the Inarizaki members entered the court to warm up, loud cheers from Hinata Natsu erupted from the first row of the stands.
Big brother!! Good luck in the match! Victory!!
Hinata looked back and saw Natsu sandwiched between Shiratori and her mother.
He gave a big thumbs-up toward that direction. "Don't worry!"
Shiratori, who had finally managed to snag a front-row seat in the Semifinals, was deeply moved, being next to Hinata Natsu moved him even more.
Using the Center Court, the cheering from their side was practically right against the court, being quite close to the match.
Hayami's face was full of resentment after being squeezed into the second row while following Arashiyama and the others, but he still shouted along, "Go Hinata!"
Akagi turned his head and said, "You're so popular, Shoyo, unlike Atsumu."
Oori Ren nodded seriously: "Yeah."
Aran's voice came through the headset: "Give the Captain some face and let me do the complaining."
Aran, who had been holding it in for a long time, spoke up loudly: "During this year that Atsumu has been Captain.. I've heard nothing but how Inarizaki's reputation has been severely tarnished even over at Tachibana Red Falcons!"
Kita Shinsuke smiled. "You could also call it a fearsome reputation."
At least no one dares to mess with the Inarizaki members now, right?
The warm-ups on the court proceeded quickly. Once the players had loosened up their joints, the Head Referee signaled for both teams to confirm their rotations.
[Next up is the Semifinals of the Spring High School Volleyball Tournament, a match between Inarizaki High School, representing Hyogo Prefecture, Itachiyama High School, representing Tokyo.]
[The match is about to begin.]
Oh, it's just starting. I'm not late.
Upon hearing this voice, Tokura, who was just about to enter the court, paused. He turned his head and saw Teacher Gojo, wearing a bright golden jacket, sitting down next to the elderly woman in the front row.
As his vision went dark, Masaru Haseda's vision went dark as well.
No! His grandmother!
Chapter 517: The 517th Fox
“Hello, hello! That exceptionally tall one is my child,” Gojo said, turning to strike up a conversation with Haseda's grandmother as soon as he sat down.
Haseda's grandmother smiled very kindly and said in response to Gojo, "I've watched previous matches; he is very impressive."
Gojo leaned one hand on the back of the chair behind him and asked enthusiastically, "Right? Right? Grandma, who are you here to watch play?"
Haseda's grandmother raised her hand and pointed toward Haseda Katsuya in the waiting area. "It's number 15."
"Ohhh—" Gojo was about to agree that they were very strong, but he realized he couldn't find any trace of them in his memory.
In the end, he turned and said, "I think he will be very impressive too."
Listening to Haseda's grandmother laugh, Gojo quickly changed the subject: "Peonies suit a beauty; your hat is very beautiful, Grandmother."
Haseda's grandmother laughed even more happily: "My grandson bought it for me, I like it very much."
Sitting several seats away, Shiratori looked at the two people chatting happily and, for a moment, didn't know what to say.
Wait, isn't calling her "Grandmother" a bit disrespectful to the generational hierarchy?
Watching Gojo wearing that little grandmotherly decorative hat, Haseda, who was in the waiting area, looked at Tokura tremblingly: "Um, Tokura-senpai.."
His grandmother's health wasn't particularly robust either; was it really okay for him to make such a scene!
Tokura, who had just swapped positions with Nishizawa Hokuto, also wanted to find a hole to crawl into. "Don't yell at me. I also want to know why he came here. Didn't they say he was going to Takarazuka for an exchange program during this period?"
Who on earth called him over! He didn't even get tickets for his family!
Uh, um.. even though Teacher Gojo is quite boisterous, he still knows when to stop.. right?
Under Masaru Haseda's gaze, Tokura's voice grew weaker and weaker.
The two of them fell silent one after another, feeling despair at today's match.
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu, having stepped onto the court, was still looking at his own hands, his expression filled with shock and disbelief.
It wasn't for anything else; it was mainly because he had actually been selected as a starter this time.
He didn't think it was just his own good luck; he felt that most of it was thanks to..
Before taking the court, he went out of his way to shake hands with Kita Shinsuke, even gave him a hug.
See, I just got lucky!
Miya Atsumu stood tall, feeling extremely satisfied with his brilliant and heroic decision.
Great, he's going to follow this routine tomorrow before taking the court!
Meanwhile, Komori, Ogihara, the others were staring at Inamura, who had just gone to draw lots. Even Miya Atsumu couldn't draw a good one.. Their luck over the past two years really did have something to say about it.
Inamura didn't dare speak.
He felt that perhaps his habit of studying so perfunctorily and still managing to pass his exams had used up all of his luck.
Komori reassured the others, "It's no big deal, it's no big deal. Just play the way we discussed before."
There was nothing much to say when facing an old rival. It was still the same old saying: score as many points as possible while minimizing unforced errors; that is the only secret to victory.
Standing at the service position, Miya Atsumu felt that even the air today tasted exceptionally sweet.
With such a good teammate by his side, it would be a sin not to take this opening point.
Komori was rubbing his hands together, waiting for the Head Referee to blow the whistle.
The second serve only proved that their luck was temporarily bad; as long as they could break Miya Atsumu's Service Turn, it would essentially mean that Itachiyama had the upper hand.
—He must score, no matter what!
Miya Atsumu's eyes were filled with fighting spirit the moment he locked eyes with Komori.
The whistle sounded in his ears, Hinata placed both hands behind his head, calmly analyzing the current situation.
Itachiyama's positioning is actually not fixed; they adjust their opening rotations based on the different habits of their opponents.
With Inarizaki starting first, Itachiyama utilized a formation with Sakusa in Position 1, which meant that for the next three rotations, Sakusa would be in the back row.
Correspondingly, Ishikawa is in Position 4.
Hinata's thoughts were a bit tangled, because this wasn't actually a strong opening from Itachiyama; it even felt a bit like they were playing entirely from the back row.
Hmm.. looking at it from another perspective, if you take the premise that the opponent is playing from the back row into account, then their objective is understandable.
Sakusa and Komori's defensive formation was indeed dominant enough; even though Inarizaki is currently in a strong three-attacker phase at the front row, they actually find it difficult to launch an offensive.
A sharp sound rang out behind him, Hinata realized that Miya Atsumu had delivered a Jump Float Serve.
Komori's overhead receiving is not currently part of his main training regimen; at present, Komori still primarily uses an underhand technique to handle jump float serves.
Given Itachiyama's current positioning, Miya Atsumu decisively sent the ball to the midcourt area behind the Itachiyama three-meter line.
The three members of Itachiyama performed a receiving movement; this position is the one most likely to cause chaos in the opponent's receiving movement.
The Itachiyama members were not surprised by this.
And due to their absolute trust in Komori, Inamura and Sakusa didn't even look at the ball, completely handing the initiative over to Komori, who was responsible for defending half the court.