It was a bit frightening, but.. it was mostly excitement.
Coach Kurosu rubbed his chin: "As expected of Kosano, the national team's physical trainer. After more than a week of training, it has unexpectedly yielded results."
Even a two or three centimeter difference is a major breakthrough; there is a decisive gap between the nature of a semi-super hand and a super hand.
Just like that last play, if it had touched the opponent's block, the final trajectory of the ball would likely have changed, the outcome would have been unpredictable.
"Shoyo, what a great spike!" the members of Inarizaki cheered for Hinata.
Even though Miya Atsumu was currently in the back row, he still raised his hand to block the ball from hitting the back of his head.
After all.. the last time, he was smashed while in the back row.
Hinata tossed the ball into the air with full confidence after hearing the whistle; his serve had been practiced alongside Ushijima-senpai and the others!
The success rate has already increased from fifty percent to fifty-five percent!
It might be because Hinata's straight shot just now was too stunning, Inubushi Higashi's side has also increased their vigilance against Hinata's serves by two hundred percent.
But..
With a loud thud, the volleyball grazed the side of Suna's head and slammed straight into the net.
—Hinata's serve hit the net.
Suna, who had almost been murdered, showed a look of terror for a split second, but he quickly calmed down.
Luckily, he was only almost hit.
Otherwise.. he would have become the next meme.
Hinata hunched his shoulders and hurriedly apologized to Suna under Kita Shinsuke's deathly stare.
Oh no, after spending those few days at Shiratorizawa serving alongside Ushijima-senpai and the others, I've gotten used to their serving habits and completely forgot what the Kita Team said about trying to serve high to avoid accidentally hitting teammates.
He knew he was wrong, he hoped the Kita Team would stop staring at him like that..
Kurosu sighed, as expected, serving was what required the most long-term practice.
From the start until now, they have served a total of three balls and made two errors; it's a bit embarrassing.
Kai has not yet practiced the jump serve, as he is a Middle Blocker, he is occasionally outplayed by key servers.
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu smoothly organized the attack, sending a set to Aran under Suna's cover, which the Ace then spiked to score.
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu and Aran high-fiving, then whispered to Suna beside him, "Suna-senpai, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it feels like Atsumu-senpai didn't want to set to Osamu-senpai from the very beginning?"
Suna's expression remained unchanged: "Ah, maybe he's just a bit sick of setting too much lately."
Hinata, who had no idea what was going on, was a bit confused: "Huh?"
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu looked over quietly: "Rintaro, I heard that."
And besides.. this is Osamu's fault!
Suna turned his head to serve, not giving Miya Atsumu even a single glance.
As soon as the whistle blew, he tossed the ball up.
His serve was as tricky as ever, landing just in front of the libero, Inubushi Higashi, in the back row.
I've got it!
Murakami reacted quickly, immediately reaching out to bump the ball up, while simultaneously stepping back to leave space for the Setter to move forward.
Hinata, who had been watching secretly, felt his eyes light up.
This retreat speed is so fast, it's almost as fast as Komori-senpai.
He can even continue running around the court to prepare for an attack; he's incredible!
He remembered Komori-senpai telling him before that movement after receiving the ball needs to take into account the subsequent movements of all teammates; one couldn't just run around aimlessly.
I'll have to find an opportunity to go over all the back-row movement patterns with Atsumu-senpai.
While Hinata was staring at the volleyball that had already reached Satomi's hands, his peripheral vision caught Miya Atsumu making two consecutive hand signals.
His brain rapidly processed the information sent by the opponent, before Hinata could even react, the spike from the other side had already smashed down in front of him.
Hinata instinctively crouched and turned his body to receive the ball.
“Nice receive!”
Having finally realized Miya Atsumu's intention, Hinata Shoyo stepped back and then immediately took a step forward, leaping up on one foot.
Under the cover of Aran's silhouette in the front row, no one noticed him as he had just been receiving the ball.
Before Matsudai and the others could move toward Aran's position, the sound of a hit rang out in their ears.
In the next second, the volleyball had already cleared the net and dropped toward the sideline of the back row.
A massive sense of confusion filled Ishikawa's mind.
Wait? What happened? When did the ball come over?
He thought it might be the Ace covering Hinata for a tiered attack, but instead, it was letting Hinata perform a Quick Attack before anything had even started?
Usui Mitsuru's eyes widened: "Oh—the back-row attacking version of that Quick Attack?"
On the other side, the referee and Hinata were staring each other down.
It seemed like he carefully recalled the scene just now, ultimately, the referee did not call Hinata for a foot fault.
Kurosu nodded; he really was just a hair's breadth away from stepping on the line.
In short.. more training is needed.
Aran looked at Miya Atsumu, signaling to him with his eyes.
Give me some cover! Let me spike! I'm going to spike it over the net! Spike it at the three-meter line!
Miya Atsumu made an OK gesture and instead gave the ball to Oori Ren on the other side.
Aran, who had been completely deceived and used as bait, was almost in tears: "Atsumu—"
But in the end, Miya Atsumu still satisfied Aran's request, moving Hinata and Miya Osamu simultaneously to allow Aran to satisfy himself with a spike over an empty net.
And Aran had only just finished one spike before he was forced to rotate to the serving position.
Watching Aran's blank expression, Miya Atsumu patted his shoulder: "Happy times are always short."
Aran's expression turned serious: "Then I'll have to play a tiered attack."
What's wrong with the back row? His back row offense is much better than Ushijima and the others!
Under Aran's eager anticipation, Miya Atsumu finally called out his name: "Aran!"
Then.. he set the ball to Hinata in Position 4.
Seeing the height of this ball, Hinata instantly adjusted the stride of his approach.
After taking the final step, he left a small distance to.. bring up his right leg.
Thump!
A small figure soared into the air.
This was Hinata's first time hitting a high ball like this in a match; the contact point completely soared above the height of Kai and the others' block.
It was simply.. despair-inducing.
—But that's only for the blockers.
Ishikawa read the direction of Hinata's spike and lunged forward, using a diving save to keep the ball alive: "Satomi-senpai!"
"Great save!" Satomi Hideji raised his hands, setting the ball to Katori on the other side.
Suna shouted loudly, "Touch!"
"Nice touch!" Akagi backed away, setting the ball toward Miya Atsumu near the net.
Miya Atsumu glanced sideways at Miya Osamu, who had jumped up beside him, also looked toward the opposing team's blockers.
In the next second, Atsumu, who had already jumped to set, pulled his hands back, letting the ball fly over the net toward the opposing side.
Akagi scores.
The members of Inubushi Higashi looked at the ball hitting the ground with confusion.
“Playing like that?!” The Shirabu team also felt a bit disgusted.
It wasn't even a Second Attack; he let the Libero score the point instead.
"I thought you were going to give it to me!" Hinata Shoyo said, having been fooled by Miya Atsumu just as easily.
Meanwhile, Miya Osamu, who was already used to it, remained expressionless, even though he had been prepared to perform a slide attack..
The serve passed to Miya Atsumu.
After that initial unforced error, Miya Atsumu played much more cautiously this time, even abandoning the float serve to start using power serves.
But Inubushi Higashi still sent the ball up on the third play.
Facing Kai's high ball from Position 3, Akagi decisively dove forward to receive it, barely managing to send the ball up: "Atsumu!"
Miya Atsumu stepped forward to chase the ball: "Nice receive!"
Kai's gaze flickered toward Suna, who had already moved forward, as he quickly analyzed Inarizaki's intent in his mind.
A back set from the Middle Blocker?
No..
An orange figure moved from Position 2 to Position 4 in an instant, moving with incredible speed.
At the same time, Miya Osamu also crossed in front of the Setter, charging toward the marker at Position 2.
Is this a Double Quick?
In the next second, the volleyball in Miya Atsumu's hands had already flown out, falling toward Position 4.
—It's a Flat Quick Attack from Position 4.
Almost as a matter of physical instinct, Kai Kiyoharu and Murakami Masakuni had already rushed forward, the two of them jumping together to form a block at the exact spot where Hinata had intended to spike.
Hinata had also rushed to the net, getting into position to jump.
But the moment he jumped, Kai suddenly noticed that the ball Miya Atsumu had set was unexpectedly high.