Looking at the red athletic uniform the other was wearing, Hinata, thinking of the volleyball club, felt his eyes light up: "Do you play volleyball too?"
The sports uniforms worn by both of them were a fiery red, though Hinata's set was a darker shade, closer to the color of the torii gates at Inarizaki Shrine, possessing a steady and heavy aura atop its vitality.
The boy averted his gaze from Hinata and looked into the clubroom. "Yeah.. they're practicing."
Hinata followed his gaze and saw only the club's reception desk.
Hinata, completely failing to understand what the other person meant, blinked: what was he looking at?
The boy looked around restlessly, as if struggling to find a place to hide himself. "It's nothing.."
Seeing that the other person didn't want to continue the topic, Hinata crouched down directly beside him. "I'm Hinata Shoyo, from Inarizaki High School!"
What about you? Are you a high school student too?
Kenma glanced at Hinata, who was already right in front of him, responded in a low voice, "Kozume.. Kenma."
Having not heard the surname clearly, Hinata decisively chose to call him by his given name: "Kenma!"
Even though he was crouching, he shouldn't be particularly tall. It felt like.. he was about the same height? In that case, calling him by his name shouldn't be a problem.
“Hmm.. let me think.." Hinata rubbed his chin, staring intently at Kenma.
As Kenma tried to escape, Hinata spoke softly, "You.."
Are you the Setter?
Kenma's attempt to escape faltered for a moment, he looked at Hinata with a hint of surprise. "Why do you think that?"
Intuition?" Hinata, clearly happy that he had guessed correctly, said, "Our team's Setter senior has this same feeling, though perhaps it's even more..
Hinata pressed his hand against his forehead, imitating Miya Atsumu's ambiguous smile: "A feeling like that?"
Kenma lowered his head, his slightly long hair obscuring his faint smile.
Without waiting for his reply, Hinata on the other side had already started finding his own topics of conversation: "But I'm in the Second String now, so I haven't really been spiking any balls set by the Setter."
“Why?” Kenma asked softly.
In a school like Inarizaki, even the Second String should have a Setter, right?
We've been practicing receiving," Hinata said, rubbing his chin, "but I can't quite get the hang of it.
But both the coach and my seniors say receiving is very important, so I've been working hard on it. By the way, I'm currently in training to become the Little Giant! Hoshiumi-senpai's receiving is super amazing!
Little Giant?" Kenma caught the key point. "The one from Karasuno?
"Kenma knows about him!" Hinata became excited after finding common ground.
Kenma lowered his head. "Yeah, for the most part.."
After chatting like this, Kenma, who had been somewhat nervous, finally relaxed. He asked the question he had been curious about from the very beginning: "Is Shoyo from the Aichi area?"
Hinata tilted his head in confusion. "No, my family is from Hyogo. Why do you ask?"
Inarizaki is a school in Kansai, right.." Kenma organized his thoughts, "Your accent sounds more like it's from the Kanto region.. No, actually, it sounds more like a Tohoku accent?
Hinata replied, "Ah, my family used to live in Sendai before we moved! There are just a few mountains between there and the Little Giant's alma mater, Karasuno!"
Just?
A look of shock flashed across Kenma's face for an instant.
Damn it, I originally wanted to go to Karasuno.." Hinata pursed his lips with some resentment, "But everyone at Inarizaki is great too, it's just that I really can't seem to figure out receiving.
Receiving is the lifeline of a team," Kenma repeated softly, echoing words from his memory. "That is what the great receivers in our team say.
Hinata's eyes widened.
Lifeline?
That sounds.. so cool!
"Is Kenma's school a strong school too?" Hinata blinked, his eyes full of anticipation.
Kenma looked at Hinata beside him and gave a smile. "Yeah, but not as strong as a powerhouse like Inarizaki. Although we went through a period of decline before, we've been quite strong lately."
This was the first time Hinata had heard Kenma speak for such a long time, that involuntary sense of trust when he spoke of his team left Hinata momentarily dazed.
Subconsciously, Hinata asked the crucial question: "What is Kenma's team.. called?"
This time, Kenma's answer was no longer hesitant: "Nekoma, the defensive Nekoma."
Just then, Rishia Heisuke's voice called out from behind, "Shoyo—where are you—"
"Ah! Atsumu-senpai's drink!" Hinata jumped up, remembering the important thing he had forgotten.
Sorry, sorry! I have to go now, see you later, Kenma!
Just as Hinata was about to rush in, Kenma's somewhat urgent voice came from behind him: "Ah.. wait a second!"
"What's wrong?" Hinata turned his head toward Kenma, who was taking a long time to get up.
Kenma's eyes showed a hint of hesitation: "My handheld game console.. I left it at the front desk yesterday, my teammates left it there.."
Could you.. help me get it?
Hinata blinked: "Kenma, you can come inside with me."
“..”
After an eerie silence, Kenma's low voice came from the corner: "My foot is numb."
After buying drinks for Miya Atsumu and picking up Kenma's game console from the front desk, Hinata went out and happened to see Kenma shifting stiffly from side to side like a log, seemingly trying to get the feeling back into his feet.
Hinata handed the game console to Kenma: "Kenma! The game console!"
Thanks.
The moment Kenma took the game console, Hinata felt a strange sense of relief, as if the other had found something absolutely vital.
A call came from the other end of the road: "Kenma—don't tell me you haven't finished it yet."
Hinata looked up and saw a black-haired high school student who looked quite fierce.
He's wearing the same athletic uniform as Kenma; he must be a teammate?
Kenma turned his head to look at Hinata. "I'm heading off now. See you later; it was interesting talking to you."
Having said that, Kenma waved to Hinata and walked toward those fierce high schoolers on the other side, his legs still feeling somewhat unsteady.
Hinata waved vigorously, "Bye, Kenma!"
The sound of two people conversing drifted from afar.
What's wrong with your legs?
“My legs are numb from crouching..”
“That guy is something else, too. It's one thing to cause trouble during a practice match and leave Yaku fuming, but he actually went and lost your handheld console.. I'll have Yaku make him do ten diving drills later.”
Twenty times, then.
Rishia, who had come out to find Hinata, turned his head and asked, "Who is it?"
Hinata replied, "A new friend I just met. He's a Setter from some place called Nekoma."
Rishia searched his memory earnestly. "Nekoma? I don't know. But I think that club is called Nekoma."
Currently, his knowledge was limited only to Hyogo, he had no idea what other schools existed in other places.
"Is that so?" Hinata blinked, having no reaction at all.
By the time Hinata returned with the towel from Aran and the drink Miya Atsumu had asked for, the second set was about to begin.
This time, Hinata did not run over to Karasuno's side; instead, he sat beside the two coaches and observed Hoshiumi Hikari's approach from behind Inarizaki's block.
No matter how many times I see it, I can't help but feel..
"So tall," Hinata couldn't help but marvel.
Even though he wasn't much taller than him, his hitting point was higher, even capable of going over Inarizaki's block.
If he were to do it.. he probably couldn't.
Coach Kurosu gestured for Hinata to lower his gaze: "Don't just focus on after the jump; watch his legs and feet."
“What needs to be noted after jumping is the entire spiking motion, as well as the speed at the moment of the arm swing; what determines the overall jump height is that specific moment after the approach.”
“I will give you special training on technical balls later, but what you need to focus on learning right now is how to make yourself jump higher.”
Hinata nodded, shifting his gaze from the air back down to the floor.
Miya Osamu tapped the bottom of the volleyball with his hand, sending a tip over the block and crashing into the court of Karasuno.
Meanwhile, Kamibayashi, who had been backing up to defend against a cross-court spike, reacted instantly, performing a magnificent diving save toward the front and lifting the ball steadily back into play.
Great save!!
Give me the ball!
Captain Suwa quickly moved into position to set the ball, while on the other side, Hoshiumi had already moved to the left wing and was preparing to jump.
At this moment, Hinata's attention was strangely not fully on Hoshiumi, but was instead fixed on Kamibayashi.
When he finally cast his gaze down to the ground, he suddenly remembered what Kenma had said.
—Receiving is the lifeline of a team.
At that moment, Coach Kurosu spoke up to remind Hinata, "Watch closely."
Upon hearing that, Hinata snapped back to his senses and fixed his gaze on Hoshiumi's legs.
A standard three-step approach—if there was any difference from his, it was likely that he didn't jump directly on the final step, but instead moved his right leg forward and jumped with both feet the moment he came to a halt.
Is it because of this? The difference between a single-foot and a two-foot takeoff?
But he had tried using both feet before, it didn't feel like it provided this kind of effect for jumping high.
"It seems Hoshiumi-senpai uses a two-foot jump?" Hinata turned back to look at Coach Kurosu, stating his deduction.
That's right." Coach Kurosu nodded. "The process of Hoshiumi coming to a stop by planting his feet is what is generally called 'braking'.
If it's a single-foot jump, the direction of the entire body's force will be affected by the direction of the takeoff, meaning the overall direction of the force is actually on a diagonal. The advantage is that it's fast enough.
Coach Kurosu pointed to Miya Osamu, who was using a quick attack as a decoy in the middle of the court: "Osamu's move there is a standard one-footed jump; it's even more effective when used for a quick attack."
"For a slower, two-footed approach, you can look at Aran." Coach Kurosu gestured toward Owari Aran, who was performing a real attack on the left wing, signaling Hinata to watch him.