Strengthening Plan

After changing into their sportswear, the other club members arrived as well. Hayato chatted with everyone for a bit, and after learning that he had excellent grades, Ennoshita decisively pulled him into their study group. Honestly, teaching idiots like Nishinoya and Tanaka by himself was exhausting. Now that they had such an honor student, why should he work so hard?

Before long, everyone had changed and headed to the gymnasium together. Hayato spotted a familiar face standing beside Coach Ukai: Takeda Ittetsu, the Volleyball Club's advisor and a modern literature teacher. He seemed to notice Hayato's gaze.

"You're the new club member, Kuroba Hayato, right? I'm Takeda Ittetsu, the Volleyball Club's advisor."

Seeing that the advisor was about as tall as Kiyoko-senpai, Hayato quickly greeted him. Once he straightened up, Teacher Takeda happily looked him over.

"Coach Ukai praised your height and volleyball skills yesterday, Kuroba-kun. Perhaps this is fate. As our flock of crows travels the road to Nationals, a Black Feather peregrine falcon has joined us. In Yanhuang, the peregrine falcon is a fierce bird of prey known as the Sea-Eastern Green. I hope you can fully display your abilities."

After giving Hayato's name such an artistic interpretation, Takeda awkwardly waved his hand.

"Ah, there I go again, falling into my old habit. Was that a little too literary?"

"No, Teacher, you're right. I am the strongest bird of prey, and my companions are not weak either. This year, we will definitely make it to Nationals."

Hayato confidently clenched his fist and pressed his thumb to his chest. Shedding his gentle image, his imposing declaration stunned both Teacher Takeda and Coach Ukai nearby.

Before either of them could react, Hayato bowed, turned around, and went to train with his teammates.

After finally coming back to his senses, Coach Ukai watched Hayato walk away with a complicated expression. Thinking about it, what wing spiker was truly that mild-mannered? Rather, the current Hayato fit the title of ace much better.

"Coach Ukai, what Kuroba-kun just said truly shook my soul. I've got goosebumps."

As he spoke, Teacher Takeda unconsciously rubbed his arm, and his gaze gradually became firm as well.

"We will definitely go to Nationals, right?"

"Of course."

Coach Ukai also pulled himself together and answered seriously.

The more everyone trained with Hayato, the more they realized just how large the gap was. But they were all teenagers, and none of them wanted to lose. So today, they trained harder than ever. Seeing everyone work so diligently, the coach and teacher were both deeply gratified. At this rate, the whole team would surely improve considerably before the training camp.

Asahi had already been training hard since Hinata joined, but his mental issues still could not be resolved. Too timid by nature, he would always unconsciously choose to retreat at certain moments.

For example, now that Hayato had joined, the team could more conveniently split into two sides for practice without too great a difference in strength. Coach Ukai reused yesterday's teams, and the two sides began a practice match.

At match point, Asahi would always choose a safer serve. Hayato, meanwhile, charged ahead without hesitation, insisting on using a Jump Float Serve to decide the outcome even on the final point. Of course, his touch was off today, and the serve went straight out of bounds, giving Asahi's team the win.

Just as Asahi breathed a sigh of relief, he heard Hayato apologizing from the other side.

"Sorry, I got a little impatient. I didn't control the ball properly."

"It's fine, it's fine. We'll win the next set back."

Sugawara, who was once again on Hayato's team, patted him on the back. After yesterday's training, Coach Ukai had decided to temporarily pair Hayato with Sugawara. Hinata and Kageyama's pairing did not need to change for the time being.

"Okay, leave it to me. Set to me plenty in the next set too."

Hayato had not lost confidence over losing a crucial point, and Asahi envied him greatly. That kind of nerve was exactly what he had always lacked.

After silently cheering himself on, the next round of training began.

"Free ball!" "Cover, cover!" "One touch!"

The energetic voices of the boys echoed through the gymnasium, every one of them giving one hundred and twenty percent.

After the final set ended, everyone was panting from exhaustion. Hinata hurriedly asked Hitoka about the results, and she told him it was roughly a six-four split, with Hayato's team taking more wins.

"Damn it, I lost to Kuroba-senpai again today."

"Yeah, Kuroba-senpai alone can suppress us. More importantly, you idiot, Hinata—why hasn't your receiving improved much at all, bastard? Most of our lost points happened because you couldn't receive the ball when you rotated to the back row."

By the end, Kageyama was so angry that he gave Hinata a merciless iron grip, making Hinata yelp in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow! It's only because Kuroba-senpai is too sneaky! He keeps spiking at me!"

"Idiot, how is that sneaky? Isn't targeting the opposing team's weakness only natural?"

Seeing the two start arguing again, Hayato hurried over to break it up. He also felt that Hinata's receiving ability was indeed the team's weakness right now, so he gave Hinata some advice: he should spend more time around volleyballs in everyday life, get used to them, and slowly make them a part of his body. At the very least, he would not panic every time he received a ball like he did now.

Hinata trusted this highly skilled upperclassman completely. Upon hearing Hayato's suggestion, he immediately nodded hard and said he would handle a volleyball every day, even sleep with one.

Hayato hurriedly said that was unnecessary, while inwardly commenting, This isn't Captain Tsubasa. Soccer balls are friends.

At the start of individual practice today, Hayato was immediately surrounded. Everyone wanted to train with him, except Tsukishima. The current Tsukishima was still someone who had little interest in volleyball. Watching him walk off to the side, Hayato began planning how to improve his relationship with Tsukishima.

But for now, he should train with everyone else. Hayato refused no one and forcefully trained with each person one by one, until he was so exhausted he could barely raise his arms. Still, the results were obvious. Hinata, in particular, improved rapidly. Seeing Hinata's progress, Hayato smiled in satisfaction. No matter how strong he himself was, volleyball was still a team sport.

Hayato still had room to improve, but he could not make any major leaps in the short term. That meant the focus should be on his teammates. Hinata's offense was strong, but his defense was far too poor. His scoring and conceding were practically even.

The Karasuno Volleyball Club also had a fatal weakness: too few players. With only one lineup, any problem with even one person would become extremely troublesome. This could be seen from Daichi and Tsukishima's injuries, as well as Hinata's fever. Hayato's arrival could ease that situation, but it was not enough. The other substitutes—Ennoshita, Yamaguchi, even Kinoshita and Narita, who barely got any playtime—needed to continue strengthening themselves.

That way, if unexpected incidents happened again, Karasuno would not be so passive.

Looking at those few, Hayato wondered, Should I suggest that the coach increase their training load? The people who were putting away volleyballs suddenly shivered.

"What was that? I suddenly got chills down my back."

"Me too."

"Same here."

After training ended, everyone went home. After walking Kiyoko home, Hayato told her that he would be tutoring Tanaka and Nishinoya today. After saying goodbye to Kiyoko, Hayato followed the map's directions to Tanaka's house.

When he entered, he found that the second-years had already started studying. Hayato put down his bag and joined them.