At the same time, Miya Osamu also clapped his hands: "Good play."
Across the net, Oikawa Tooru spoke without mercy to fan the flames: "It really was a good play, hit with perfect precision."
Hinata, having caused trouble, was trembling all over, before Miya Atsumu could say anything, he had already collapsed to the floor with a thud.
I'm sorry, Atsumu-senpai! I deserve death! I'll perform seppuku to atone for my sins right now!
Since he's going to die either way, he might as well do it himself to get it over with.
I'm sorry, Heisuke, he won't be able to see the day when they all stand together on the national stage, waaaah..
Forced to swallow a harsh remark, Miya Atsumu crouched on the ground, feeling momentarily caught between wanting to act and staying put.
First of all, although it was a jump serve, Hinata's power itself was quite small, so he didn't feel much pain; at most, he was a bit dazed for a moment when he was hit.
—It was more a sense of confusion from being struck when he was completely unprepared.
Secondly.. if it were that pig, he would have started cursing, but this person is actually Hinata Shoyo.
How was he supposed to even speak!
He had finally managed to salvage a tiny bit of his reputation!
Miya Osamu, who had seen right through what he was thinking, rolled his eyes: "Wake up. If it were me, you'd be in an ambulance by now."
If you get hit in the back of the head by a truly powerful serve, it's not a mistake—it's murder.
Unable to hear Miya Atsumu's voice for a long time, Hinata grew even more panicked: "I'm so sorry! Atsumu-senpai!"
Under the urging gaze of Kita Shinsuke from off the court, Miya Atsumu stood up and walked toward Hinata.
Feeling someone approaching, Hinata, who hadn't looked up, began to tremble even more violently.
Miya Atsumu put on a smile. "It's okay, you did great just by daring to try. Keep working hard on the next ball."
On the other side, Miya Osamu couldn't help but laugh.
This guy is acting so fake and perfunctory; whenever someone played poorly before, he would just start cursing them out directly, yet now he can actually force himself to comfort others.
But it was true; so far, the matches where Hinata and Atsumu collaborated had never encountered any major problems with spiking, Hinata had executed all of Miya Atsumu's instructions perfectly.
The headaches were all caused by things like serves, receives, blocking, which truly had nothing to do with the Setter.
But seeing Hinata scared like this perfectly illustrated exactly what kind of image Miya Atsumu held in Hinata's heart.
—The kind that gets eaten, I suppose.
Hearing Miya Osamu's laughter, Miya Atsumu glared back instantly: "It's all your fault!"
Miya Osamu was displeased: "What does that have to do with me!"
The moment he turned back to look at Hinata, Miya Atsumu's expression changed instantly. "Shoyo-kun, get up quickly. It's not like being hit by a gorilla like Osamu matters; when I first started practicing jump serves, I hit Osamu too."
"Hey, do you really want me to hit you?" Miya Osamu had a terrible expression.
Hinata looked up tremblingly, the first thing he saw was Miya Atsumu's smiling face.
His panic subsided just a little, Hinata asked tentatively, "Are.. are you really okay?"
"Of course, so get up." Miya Atsumu reached out a hand to Hinata.
Miya Osamu turned his head, no longer looking at that peacock spreading its feathers: "It's so disgusting I want to vomit."
Across the net, Oikawa Tooru expressed his deep agreement: "Indeed, just looking at him is disgusting."
At this moment, Miya Osamu reached an inexplicable emotional consensus with Oikawa Tooru.
Hinata exhaled softly as if he had been pardoned, then he grabbed Miya Atsumu's hand.
A broad hand, capable of delivering such impeccable serves.
The warmth from the palm made Hinata unconsciously relax a little, his original panic was completely soothed away.
He looked into Miya Atsumu's eyes, where his own figure was reflected.
It's decided.
From now on, Atsumu-senpai is no longer the demon senpai to him, he is an angel!
Watching Hinata come bouncing back, Rishia Heisuke didn't know what to say for a moment.
In the end, he gave Hinata a thumbs-up. "That was amazing."
He felt that Hinata owed Kumagai an apology for his head; he had been hit so many times and still hadn't learned his lesson.
Kita Shinsuke spoke up, "Next time, serve it higher; it's okay if it goes out of bounds."
A serve going out is better than accidentally hitting a teammate.
If Hinata's strength training keeps up in the future, he'll probably be able to knock Miya Atsumu unconscious with a single hit.
Hinata Shoyo stood up straight: "Yes!"
In Hinata's peripheral vision, for some reason, Suna, who was crouching on the ground, also gave him a thumbs-up.
Help, please, don't let the seniors mock him anymore—
Outside the window, Ushijima looked at Tendo, who was crouching beside him, asked earnestly, "Why aren't we going to the second floor to watch?"
Even though there were spectator areas, Tendo insisted on bringing him to observe secretly from a corner.
Tendo was momentarily speechless by Ushijima's bluntness.
He propped his chin on one hand, turning his head to look at Ushijima, who was shrinking into the corner of the stairs looking aggrieved. "I'm telling you, Wakatoshi-kun.. you really have no idea, do you?"
Even though I'd love to see someone's expression shatter into pieces, it's clearly not the time, is it?
Ushijima frowned and said with absolute certainty, "You should have obtained permission from Inarizaki."
Then it wouldn't count as peeping without permission if they went in to watch.
Tendo glanced toward the gymnasium: "It has nothing to do with the fox."
It's just that you, Wakatoshi-kun.. you'll get kicked out.
"Why?" Ushijima blinked.
After two seconds of silence, Tendo reached out and gently patted Ushijima's shoulder: "Wakatoshi-kun, you really have no self-awareness."
It's completely hopeless.
The service passed to Miya Osamu, while Miya Atsumu, who usually didn't bother with service cover, raised his hands—protecting the back of his own head.
He wondered why Oori Ren would specifically choose that movement; normally, Oori would only place his hands on either side of his head.
Thinking about it now, the serves he gave Hinata to practice were mostly into empty space, before that, Hinata's Second String practices likely involved many intra-squad scrimmages, where the third-years like Oori and Akagi most frequently acted as referees.
Looking at Oori's practiced movements.. I bet Hinata caused plenty of trouble in the Second String.
It's fine, he isn't angry.
It's just a smash; it's not even as painful as one of Miya Osamu's punches.
Thinking this way, Miya Atsumu, who ultimately still could not make peace with himself, turned his aggression toward the Seijo group opposite him.
Being stared at, Kunimi slowly raised a question mark.
No, why is he suddenly glaring at him?
As it turned out, with Miya Osamu's level of serving, it was impossible for him to hit a teammate in the back of the head.
The heavy Jump Serve crashed down between the two players in Seijo's back row, Watari, being the quickest to react, shouted loudly, "I've got it!"
Bam!
"What a great receive!" Oikawa Tooru quickly followed up.
Currently, Inarizaki's front row consists of Ginjima and Miya Atsumu; within Inarizaki's overall lineup, they are a group with relatively weak blocking.
Of course, that's assuming the middle blocker on the other side is Suna instead of Hinata.
Miya Atsumu's blocking level is much lower compared to his setting and serving, while Ginjima's problem is a lack of sharpness; the difference in experience also causes him to be slightly out of sync with Inarizaki's back-row receiving formation.
However, this level of flaw wasn't very noticeable when being blocked by the more solid Oori Ren.
Even so, there were still openings on both sides that Seijo could exploit.
Matsukawa quickly swapped positions with Kawarai near position 3 and 5, with Kawarai initiating the attack from the wing, while Matsukawa jumped half a step behind the Setter in the middle to prepare for a back quick.
Oikawa's hand movements had a barely perceptible inclination, as if he were preparing for a back set.
Inarizaki's block quickly split into a 2+1 formation, with Ginjima and Oori moving to the center, jumping in front of Matsukawa to prepare for a block against the Quick Attack.
This kind of back set with only a half-step distance basically leaves no time for the blockers to react. Even if it's a gamble, they have to chase it.
In the next instant, the volleyball flew past Matsukawa and went straight to Kunimi Akira, who was already spread out in Position 2.
Oikawa's peripheral vision remained fixed on Kunimi, his eyes filled with an undeniable dominance and ambition.
Aobajohsai allowed Kunimi to slack off when he wasn't needed, but when it truly came time for Kunimi to step up.. he wouldn't hold back.
Kunimi Akira leaped next to the antenna, with Miya Atsumu chasing after him from the opposite side.
His expression was incredibly calm, his gaze sweeping directly toward the gap between Miya Atsumu and the antenna.
A line shot that hit the line.
Miya Atsumu, who made a judgment instantly, immediately adjusted his blocking direction.
But just as he blocked the ball on his left side, Kunimi raised his hand and spiked the ball toward the middle of Inarizaki.
With a loud thud, the volleyball slammed into the floor, Aobajohsai scored.
Miya Atsumu, having landed on the ground, let out a soft click of his tongue: "I was played.."
Kunimi Akira's serve did not score, as it was immediately interrupted by Ginjima's spike.
The service advantage for the next rotation passed into Kawarai's hands.
With the calibration from the others, Kawarai's serve landed in an even more difficult position.
Akagi decisively gave up on a forearm pass and instead chose the safer option of a diving save.
But even so, Akagi still failed to receive the ball.
He shouted Miya Atsumu's name, "Atsumu!"
Miya Atsumu rushed out a step faster than his shout, setting the ball in mid-air after leaping past the coaching bench.