Before he could finish his sentence, Coach Kurosu had already interrupted him: "Manager.. how is it?"
"Eh?" Hinata didn't react for a moment.
Coach Kurosu smiled. "If you don't mind, the manager position is still vacant, so you can watch the match directly from the coaching bench."
Hinata's eyes lit up as he finally realized what the coach meant: "Really? Can I really do that!"
Coach Kurosu nodded. "Of course. It's a waste to leave the position vacant; it's best to put it to use."
Inarizaki High School hasn't recruited a manager for a long time, so logistics are usually handled by those on duty according to the rotation schedule, which also serves as a way to temper everyone's character.
As for Hinata's request, this was essentially a limited-time ticket to enter the court during a match.
Hinata bowed vigorously, "Thank you, Coach! I'll do my best to handle the logistics when the time comes!"
Whether it's moving things or running errands.. he can do it all!
Coach Kurosu could hardly hide the smile in his eyes: "We'll deal with that when the time comes; what's most important is that you actually learn something."
He added, "In addition, several people among the First String substitutes have already spoken to me about retiring. There will be quite a few vacancies once the Interhigh is over, so we'll see how things look then."
Even in a prestigious school like Inarizaki, not every player trained there is guaranteed to follow the path of volleyball.
Many factors, such as the lack of opportunities to play and the heavy pressure of higher education, become reasons for some third-year players to leave.
But for the team as a whole, this choice to "voluntarily step aside" is indeed beneficial for healthy development.
Because of the graduation of the former starters in the third year, many schools lacking depth will enter a certain slump during the Interhigh. Therefore, compared to the massive reshuffling seen in the Spring High, the Interhigh will feature more familiar faces.
So.. continuously nurturing the freshmen is also an important part of their work.
"In other words—" Hinata instantly realized the subtext in the coach's words.
Coach Kurosu laughed heartily and looked down at him: "We'll see how you perform when the time comes, Shoyo."
Hinata's eyes widened.
—He was called by his name!
Author's Note:
Aran: What are you doing?
Suna: Hinata doesn't know how to send image packs, so he asked me for help, so I decided to send a few more.
Atsumu & Osamu??
Happy New Year, everyone! I'll be leaving comments for everyone to collect red envelopes in this chapter!
Chapter 17: The Seventeenth Fox
Under Hinata's eager anticipation, the Golden Week training camp arrived as scheduled.
Regarding Hinata and the others joining the team, the Second String seniors had no objections.
After all, Coach Kurosu's eye for talent was always quite discerning; many of the people he selected were not favored by the majority.
But in the end, the facts proved that his eye for talent was never wrong.
As the most important training phase before the prefectural IH qualifiers, every participating school took it very seriously, according to the original plan, they would all arrive on the morning of the first day to begin intensive training.
Inarizaki was very close and was the first to arrive, aside from the local schools from Kyoto.
Seeing Kita Shinsuke leading the team, Inubushi Higashi's captain, Satomi Hideji, took the initiative to walk over and greet them: "Yo, long time no see!"
"Long time no see." Kita nodded to him, a smile on his face.
Satomi laughed and said, "Last year, the two of us were just support staff for the team, this year, we're actually both captains.."
"Aran-senpai, who is that senior?" Hinata, who was walking at the very back of the team with a bag on his back, looked at Aran beside him.
Compared to Kita-senpai, his height was indeed insufficient; he seemed only slightly taller than Hinata himself.
Aran explained patiently, "Inubushi Higashi's captain, Satomi Hideji, is currently their starting setter."
“Setter!” Hinata's eyes widened.
He had thought it would be a Wing Spiker like Hoshiumi-senpai, or a Libero, but he hadn't expected it to be a Setter.
That makes sense; a Libero cannot be the captain, the Nekoma Setter "Kenma" in his memory was also about this height..
What kind of style would that be?
At the entrance of the school building, a very tall person waved toward them: "Senpai! The tables have been moved!"
Hinata's eyes widened.
So tall—he feels about the same height as Oori-senpai!
Aran, who had already scouted him out in advance, said, "Inubushi Higashi's first-year freshman, a Middle Blocker from a prestigious background."
“By the way, one meter ninety."
Damn, he really wants to be 1.9 meters tall too!
He didn't know if he could grow any taller..
Aran, standing at 1.84 meters, suddenly felt the same inexplicable resentment as Hinata, who stood at 1.63 meters beside him.
Aran reached out and patted Hinata's shoulder: "Hinata, you need to drink more milk and get more calcium. Keep it up, maybe you'll grow thirty centimeters in three years!"
This time, it was finally Rishia Heisuke's turn to chime in with a complaint: "No, that's just too ridiculous.."
Even if he pulled himself up by his neck, Hinata could never grow to 190 centimeters!
Hinata lost his luster: "That's true.."
Compared to some super-fast speed or super-strong jumping ability.. a height of 1.9 meters is indeed more attractive after all.
Everyone left their spare clothes and vacation homework in the classroom, which had been cleared of its desks, they would sleep on the floor here at night.
During the break, the teams from Osaka had already arrived at the school building.
And now, the only thing remaining until all the teams for this training camp have finished assembling is..
A black, blue, orange bus pulled up to the entrance of Inubushi Higashi, the boys in tracksuits began to disembark one after another, led by a coach with his hair tied in a ponytail.
Leaning against the window, Miya Atsumu narrowed his eyes slightly. "They're here."
Hinata, who was helping others put away their bags, also poked his head out to look out the window upon hearing that; at this moment, he was full of curiosity about everything.
Hinata counted on his fingers, tallying the schools that had already arrived. Excluding those who were already here, the remaining ones were..
So this is that seed team, Shirabu!" Having snapped out of it, Hinata stole a glance at the buzz-cut boy following behind that coach. "They look so incredibly strong..
It was as if there were lightning bolts above his head; he exuded the aura of a powerhouse.
He remembered Rishia saying that Shirabu seemed to be among the top four in the nation, that their ace was one of the legendary three great Wing Spikers.
Miya Atsumu looked at Hinata, who had suddenly become timid, felt it was somewhat amusing for no particular reason.
He called out to Hinata, signaling him not to look at others but to look at him: "Shoyo-kun."
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu with some confusion.
Miya Atsumu, who was already showing signs of becoming the "strongest setter," raised a finger and pointed out the window: "Hey, perennial fourth."
Hinata exclaimed in admiration, "Fourth! That's amazing!"
This was something he hadn't even dared to imagine; after his crushing defeat at the hands of Kitagawa Daiichi back then, he never expected to hear the news that Kitagawa Daiichi failed to make it to the nationals.
This kind of competition is truly intense and cruel..
Seeing him in this state, the very unhappy Miya Atsumu pointed a finger at himself: "This is the perennial third."
Although they were both teams that hadn't made it to the finals much in the last two years, Inarizaki was stronger than Yako.
"Eh?" Hinata's brain stalled for a moment.
Seeing him like this, Miya Atsumu couldn't help but laugh: "Shoyo-kun, you've been in the volleyball club for so long, you can't possibly still have no concept of everyone's abilities, can you?"
He tapped the empty table beside him, drawing all of Hinata Shoyo's attention to himself, then spoke softly—
“Since its founding, we have participated in over a hundred major tournaments. With an ace ranked in the top five nationally, a top-tier setter, led by the renowned 'Kurosu,' we are an absolute powerhouse, the strongest challenger.."
The blond setter lowered his eyes slightly, looking down at the Wing Spiker who stood beneath his shadow like a fledgling bird.
Miya Atsumu leaned down toward Hinata, stopping not far from him.
He curled his lips into a bit of a wicked smirk: "It's your Inarizaki High School."
Hinata tried hard to process what he had just heard.
Wait, wait, wait—so their school is actually this strong!
Although he had always known that Inarizaki was the best high school in Hyogo Prefecture and possessed great strength, Hinata had never encountered anything on a national level.
He saw the kind of powerhouse he had only imagined, a team many levels above even Kitagawa Daiichi, the furthest he had ever encountered.
But Atsumu-senpai, who had been by his side all along, told him..
We are stronger.
Hinata swallowed his saliva, staring tensely at Miya Atsumu, who was right in front of him.
This feeling..
"Are you startled?" Miya Atsumu observed the little brat's reaction with interest, seemingly looking forward to seeing the sight of a weak young animal being frightened.
But unfortunately, the scene he had anticipated did not occur.
Hinata met Miya Atsumu's gaze without flinching: "No, I just feel.. it's so great that I managed to get into Inarizaki."
The boy before him had eyes burning with intensity, just as dazzling as when they first met, but now they contained a certain "ambition" he had never seen before.
Miya Atsumu's smile held a hint of something unreadable. He lowered his gaze slightly, concealing the inexplicable racing of his heart.
Ah..
That's truly wonderful.
Hinata raised a question that had been weighing on his mind: "Atsumu-senpai, we're going to Nationals, right?"
The Nationals.. that person said he would go.