This inspires Kageyama to finally toss to Hinata and despite being at his limits, Hinata spikes it happily. The other members agree and Hinata adds that it doesn’t matter what kind of reputation is associated with Kageyama. Before Karasuno's first practice match against Hinata gets overwhelmed when he watches the Small Giant play.In his third year, three first-years joined the volleyball club. He notices that this is the first time he was a ball boy; other sports teams always allowed him to join in on their practices. Hinata can’t block the opponents completely and Nishinoya has trouble receiving Ushijima’s spikes. Hinata gets back into the game but gets a new idea. She asks him why he's playing volleyball and before he can finish his sentence, Saeko interrupts and asks if it's because he saw the Small Giant. However, as soon as he says that, Kageyama and Hinata finally pull it off, surprising Ukai and everyone else near the court.

The duo messes up, but Daichi manages to save the ball.Karasuno soon has a five-point advantage over Johzenji. However, Aobajohsai easily catches up but due to problems with Kyōtani, Coach Irihata switches him out. They start practicing but can’t seem to sync at all and soon end up fighting. On the back of his jersey is his position number 10 (coincidentally, the same number that was worn by the Small Giant) and his school's name written in kanji. He approaches Kageyama and tells him he’s going to stop closing his eyes during the quick strikes, shocking his teammates. With their new technique of leaving Hinata unguarded so that the libero can receive the spike, Hinata and Kageyama are finally stopped. As Hyakuzawa goes back into practice, Hinata yells at him from the side to calm down, helping the former take better control of his playing. Takeru goes to spike against Hinata and Kageyama and Hinata moves his hand in an attempt to stop the ball. Kiyoko replies that the third years won’t be here anymore after the Spring High ends, so she needs to prepare for her retirement by finding a replacement for herself as soon as possible. Kindaichi spikes it, but Hinata touches the ball and can send it to Kageyama for another quick.

Nishinoya asks coldly if Hinata thinks that because he’s short, and Hinata replies that he only thinks that way because Nishinoya is good at receives. Hinata then asks Nishinoya about Asahi and states determinedly that he wants to become an ace because he's inspired by the Small Giant. Hinata thinks to himself that he isn’t anybody in this camp, but he can’t just go with his tasks like a robot. Both teams are keeping up by now, but Hinata can see Kageyama getting distressed over his and Oikawa’s differences in setting style. Hinata had always moved purely on raw instinct but suddenly, he could shape that instinct into intuition.After graduation, Hinata switched to beach volleyball for training purposes and because of the unpredictable and unforgiving conditions of the outdoors and sand, he learned how to jump higher and faster, leading him to hang in mid-air longer. Hinata quickly turned to Yachi nervously and she reassured him that it would be fine, though she did invite Hinata and Kageyama to study at her house the next morning. As Hinata's entering the court, he nearly bumps into Aone, whose immense size terrifies him. Two more games are played but even though Karasuno loses all of them, Hinata continues asking for more matches. They perform their quick-strike which flies past Date Tech, to everyone’s shock. When he takes it, he’s surprised by the player’s resemblance to Benkei. Hinata replies that Kageyama is fine, but is confused as to why Kindaichi’s asking. As they're talking, Hinata reveals to Sugawara that during junior high, he didn’t have a setter and had to ask his friends to toss to him. "We really see how far Hinata has come as an athlete here. The middle blocker sits down on the bench and Hinata tells him that he and Yamaguchi bought him time. To his dismay, both Kageyama and Tsukishima seem to be moving forward as better volleyball players. Nishinoya swipes the ball over the net back to Johzenji’s side, demonstrating that Karasuno can be just as unpredictable. The ball bounces off Lev’s finger and goes out, scoring a point for the Owls. Yamaguchi comments on how amazing Oikawa’s serve is and Hinata assures him that his jump float is just as great. The next day, Hinata and Kageyama go to the third year hallway to look for Asahi. Hinata and Kageyama bring out their infamous quick for the first time in this match, shocking everyone in the stadium.

He notes that he should eat the proper food for his muscles and strength, but he’s never thought of what to eat.