56. Goodbye

When Shouyou's position had returned to the front, Izumi whispered to Tobio. Tobio wasn't sure why Izumi had asked him to do such a thing. But he understood a little that Izumi didn't ask for something for no apparent reason.

Izumi's every move always has a purpose. So, when Izumi asked Tobio something, Tobio understood that Izumi asked Tobio to better understand Shouyou's abilities, even though right now he didn't have a way to draw out his best abilities.

When the ball bounced toward Tobio, he saw Shouyou who wasn't running to his usual unguarded position, but he was waiting for Tobio's toss while staring at him.

Tobio sent the ball toward Shouyou, but oddly enough, the ball was sent poorly and was only slightly above the net.

Shouyou slightly twitched his cheek. But he also remembered what Izumi had said. He jumped up and got ready to spike the ball despite the two blockers being ready to block his spike.

When he jumped up, he understood Izumi's words that he had been given 3 choices. And he chose…

The ball bounced back towards Izumi, Izumi gave the ball to Tobio. But Tobio still saw Shouyou who was running.

"Don't give me another terrible toss, stupid Kageyama!" Shouyou exclaimed.

"Who are you calling stupid, you idiot!!?" Tobio snapped back. If Izumi didn't ask, how could Tobio do something like that? But he was surprised by Shouyou who can do a "Rebound" when getting a terrible ball delivery.

Tobio gave the ball to Shouyou, he jumped up and got ready to spike the ball with all his might. But suddenly his movement slowed and he only touched the ball to get past both blockers, then fell to the floor on the opponent's court. What Shouyou did was a feint. A deception technique to trick the opponent's blocker.

"Whoooaaa."

Not only Shouyou, but the others were also surprised and excited by what Shouyou did. When Shouyou ran toward Izumi happily, everyone understood that it was thanks to him that Shouyou was able to do a feint.

"Do you want to go to the next level, Shouyou?"

"Hmmm, what do you mean?" Shouyou was curious about what Izumi was up to again. But, because he got new knowledge from him, he didn't hesitate to listen to what Izumi wanted.

Izumi whispered to Shouyou. But what Izumi said was unbelievable.

"But, isn't it—"

Shouyou's words were interrupted by Izumi who put his index finger to his mouth.

"Shhh. You don't have to think about whether this will work or not. While you're not in the tournament, you can try something new until you can perfect it. Isn't that right?"

The others didn't hear clearly what Izumi said. But after seeing Shouyou's progress, they knew that Izumi was up to something again.

Before the match resumed, Izumi said to Daichi.

"Can you take the first touch and give it to me?"

"Hmmm, you want to toss?"

Izumi nodded. Seeing the progress of his teammates, especially Shouyou thanks to Izumi's contribution, Daichi agreed.

In that round, Daichi didn't get the first touch until the rotation went to a full circle, from Izumi who was in the back position to the front position, to the back again.

The moment Daichi was in the back position again, he received the first touch and was immediately passed to Izumi.

Shouyou, who had made eye contact with Izumi, immediately ran to find an empty space. Suddenly, everyone was shocked, including Tobio. This is because the one who gets the second touch is a setter. And this time, it wasn't Tobio who became a setter, but Izumi.

Izumi calmly waited for the ball. He didn't have Tobio's raw ability to deliver a toss that suddenly stopped in front of a spiker. But he still had Devil Fruit abilities.

If someone says he's cheating, he's indeed cheating. However, what he did was just to show Shouyou and Tobio that the impossible became possible. Furthermore, it also increased his ability to control the wind that he just got after completing the mission.

When Izumi saw Shouyou who had jumped, he immediately gave a quick toss due to the wind he controlled. Shouyou saw the ball coming at a speed higher than Tobio's toss. Suddenly the ball stopped right in front of him. He didn't know what happened. However, Shouyou didn't waste the opportunity after seeing the empty space on the opponent's side.

*Bang*

Everyone was silent. It was so quiet because no one said anything. But, the silence was broken by Izumi who said to Tobio.

"See, Tobio! It was a way of giving a pass to Shouyou. You can still do quick attacks, but Shouyou will also be fighting in the air, either aiming for an empty space, using a feint or a block out. He can spike freely because he doesn't close his eyes."

It was only after Izumi said that, did everyone scream after being speechless.

"What–what the hell is going on? Can someone tell me please?"

"Didn't he just copy Kageyama's toss?"

"But I saw the ball stop right in front of Hinata."

"That's right. In addition, the speed of his tossing was too fast."

Everyone commented on how Izumi made a nonsensical toss to Shouyou.

Only Tobio pondered what Izumi said. Although he was irritated that Izumi gave a much better toss than him. Izumi explained how the ball that was sent to Shouyou spun and made the ball's spin stop right in front of Shouyou so that the ball seemed to fall.

Of course, he controlled the ball using his Devil Fruit ability. Otherwise, how could he possibly be able to do that?

Then he advised Tobio to practice such a toss because it could fully draw Shouyou's abilities to the limit. That's if Tobio doesn't have too high a self-esteem. If Tobio's pride is too high to imitate Izumi's toss, then the Karasuno team will collapse. But Izumi was sure Tobio wasn't that stupid.

The match continued. However, because Tobio wanted to imitate Izumi's toss and missed, his team lost a lot of points and ended up losing. He understood the concept that Izumi explained. But putting it into practice was incredibly difficult.

After the match was over, Daichi asked Izumi to talk somewhere else. After making sure no one would eavesdrop, Daichi started asking.

"Miyamura, why do you look like you're helping Hinata and Kageyama? From the start, you weren't like their friend, rather you wanted to awaken their potential. I wonder why?"

Izumi glanced at Daichi. Then he leaned his back against the wall behind him while crossing his arms. He started talking while closing his eyes.

"Apparently someone noticed. I thought you were all too dense. It turns out that there is also a sensitive one. Let me guess. It must be Kiyoko, right?"

"Uh… How did you know?"

"So, it's her. I'm just guessing. Usually, a woman has an unreasonable intuition. After all, I also talked quite a bit to you today. But at the start of the match, I didn't feel you suspected anything of me. And after I saw you talking to that girl. You changed. Right, the new coach. You better not hide. I know you overheard our conversation. It doesn't matter if you join here."

Izumi opened his eyes and glanced in a certain direction. Keishin suddenly appeared from behind the tree.

"How did you know I was here?" He asked.

"Know it or not, does it matter?"

"Not really." Keishin shook his head.

Meanwhile, Izumi glanced at Daichi.

"The reason why I helped Shouyou and Tobio, huh? If I could put it in one word, it would be "interesting"."

Daichi frowned. He couldn't accept Izumi's statement at all.

Keishin opened his mouth to ask.

"From what I hear, you're from the school next door. Why are you playing here? Don't you have a team at your school? And what's even weirder is that you're actually giving our players advice."

However, Izumi tilted his head after Keishin said that.

"What's weird if I give them advice on techniques that can make them play better?"

Daichi shook his head.

"No. It just…how should I put it…doesn't your school have a volleyball team? You yourself know that our school is far superior in volleyball, but you teach us instead."

Daichi felt Izumi's arrogance because he realized that his team lacks a lot. But he also thought about the volleyball team at Izumi's school. He felt that Izumi was quite sure that the team at his school could compete with Karasuno's volleyball team. However, Izumi never had any contact with the volleyball team members at his school, let alone joined.

Izumi replied to him calmly.

"I said I'm interested in Shouyou and Tobio… when it comes to the volleyball team at my school… Who cares? I have no intention of participating in a national sports competition after all."

Daichi and Keishin frowned. Izumi didn't seem to care about volleyball at his school at all as if he wasn't a member of that team.

"It seems you're looking down on them. Aren't you a member of the volleyball team?"

"Looking down on them, huh? That's inevitable. After all, they're normal people. If I'm serious, nothing can stop me. That's why I only chose to play practice matches, not official matches. The only merit is that I can train to control my strength better." Izumi said inwardly. Then, he said to them.

"I'm more interested in writing novels and developing technology than playing volleyball."

"Novels?"

"Technology?"

Daichi and Keishin didn't expect that Izumi would be interested in anything other than volleyball even though they saw how well he played.

Izumi just thought in his head.

"Submitting my novel is just a welcome door. And I'm pretty sure my novel will be adapted into anime. When my novel is officially adapted into anime, I can get various kinds of connections. And that's when I'm going all out."

Then, he looked at the two of them.

"Well then, I won't be here again if you don't want it. Anyway, goodbye."

Without waiting for a response from Daichi and Keishin. Izumi rushed to leave.