Although Miya Atsumu's words seemed to be persuading him and giving him a reason to take the next step, his tone was quite forceful.
But.. Hinata felt that he wasn't ready yet.
Perhaps it was because he had made too many mistakes, that he felt a certain subconscious sense of fear.
"Shoyo, look at me." Miya Atsumu turned Hinata Shoyo's face, forcing him to meet his eyes.
This is a good opportunity to make mistakes, besides.. if you don't take the first step, you'll never reach the next one.
Hinata certainly understood this principle.
But the point he cared about, ultimately, was the issue of his own lack of ability; the possibility of making a mistake during a breakthrough on the court would only be even greater.
This was a matter of whether his mistake would make all the seniors' hard work go to waste.
Miya Atsumu's tone was firm: "You don't need to do anything else, just try your best to control where the ball lands. You've already practiced the bottle shot for a little while, right?"
As for where you should aim.. you should know quite clearly.
Swallowing hard, Hinata suddenly felt that Atsumu's gaze was somewhat burning.
Yes, he knew where he should aim his serve.
Coach Ukai and Miya Atsumu had already trained him countless times on basic tactical positioning, aside from the transition points between defensive responsibilities, the most critical area to target was the position where the back row setter advances.
As if reading Hinata Shoyo's mind, Miya Atsumu reached out and patted his head. "The Ace is you anyway, so it doesn't matter if you lose points on a serve; just make sure you win even more points back yourself."
Behind them, Akagi silently gave Miya Atsumu a thumbs up.
The next second, Hinata's eyes lit up, just as expected.
That's right, even if he loses a point, he can win it back himself. Although he has no confidence at all when it comes to serving, he is still very confident in his spiking.
Hinata nodded: "I understand, I'll give it a try."
To put it simply, training a Power Jump Serve can go in two directions: one is to increase the ball speed, the other is to increase its accuracy.
For Hinata Shoyo, it is currently impossible to have both; as soon as he tries to increase the ball speed, he will lose control over the volleyball itself.
Relatively speaking.. at this stage, it is more feasible to sacrifice a portion of ball speed to pursue serve precision.
However, in the future, emphasis must still be placed on increasing ball speed. After all, any technique can potentially be neutralized by a powerful Libero, whereas extreme speed is the most formidable weapon.
"Shoyo, what a great serve—" Rishia Heisuke shouted from the sidelines.
As Inarizaki's current key point-scoring player, he was actually a little afraid that there would be total silence after his serve.
Therefore, every one of his serves aimed to be even stronger than the last, pushing his abilities to their absolute limit.
Although he knew Hinata might not care about this.. he still hoped Hinata could receive more applause.
Hinata's gaze swept across Touryou's defensive formation, finally locking onto a position on the back line between the Libero and the wing spiker on one side.
The Touryou Setter was still in the front, so the best attacking position could only be right on the line.
This level of difficulty..
Taking a soft breath, Hinata calmed his heart and prepared to wait for the referee's whistle.
To put it plainly, it's just like playing bottle knock-down; they are essentially both fixed-point serving styles.
The whistle blew.
Just like Miya Atsumu, who lightly spun the ball in his hands, Hinata used his palms to feel the shape of the volleyball as much as possible.
Whether it's a spike or a serve, the direction is mainly controlled by the palm and the wrapping of the fingers, he is not yet very familiar with this process.
No, he had to imagine his state during a spike as much as possible. Then, he would adjust the trajectory upward slightly to ensure the ball could clear the net..
After simulating it in his mind, Hinata tossed the ball and dashed forward almost simultaneously.
With both hands behind his head, Miya Atsumu listened quietly to the movement behind him.
Hinata's serve was taught to him personally, so he knew exactly what stage it was at—even better than Hinata himself.
So.. it's fine, it's just a matter of that final push.
Miya Atsumu stared into the eyes of the Touryou Middle Blocker on the other side of the net, watching Hinata's silhouette reflected in his eyes.
The sound of the approach, the sound of feet striking the floor during the jump..
That was the heartbeat of the volleyball court.
BANG!!
The volleyball flew over the net, landing precisely on the sideline that Hinata had originally aimed for.
The Libero and the Spiker both tried to chase after it at the same time, but they both stopped their hands simultaneously when they noticed the opponent was preparing to dive.
The volleyball flew between the two of them and landed near the sideline, just out.
The Touryou Libero reacted quite quickly, raising his hand and shouting immediately, "Out!"
The referee did not make a decision immediately.
The entire stadium fell silent, Hinata held his breath, waiting for the guillotine to fall from above.
But in truth.. he already knew the result.
After careful consideration, the referee raised his hand and signaled, awarding this point to Touryou.
—Hinata's serve went out.
So close—
Aaaaah! Just a little bit more!
Don't lose heart, little radish! One more ball!!
The other side has the serve now, how can there be another one?
A chorus of groans immediately erupted from the Inarizaki cheering section, with almost everyone sighing over that single ball.
Hinata, who had already prepared himself to be scolded, was stunned.
Eh? They aren't going to scold him?
In the waiting area, Unabara covered his face with his hand: "So I'm the only one who got scolded."
Rishia Heisuke secretly pointed at Miya Osamu. "Actually, there's also Osamu-senpai."
Hoshiumi's face was written with pain, as if he had been the one to serve that ball: "It was just a little bit off!"
“It would have been enough if he had just used a little less power, or if his jump timing had been just a little bit earlier!”
Hoshiumi was going completely crazy: "Just a little bit!!"
And beside him, someone was even more frantic than he was, to the point where they were almost crying.
Someone who wasn't much shorter than Hoshiumi, but whose voice definitely sounded like that of an elementary schooler, leaned over the railing and shouted down at Hinata, "Damn it! Hinata-senpai, keep going! Get ten more points back!"
Hoshiumi blinked. "I'm not fully awake. I thought I heard someone calling out to Hinata-senpai?"
Not long after, a teenage boy wearing a tracksuit walked over from the other side, grabbed the person, started dragging him away. "Alright, our match is in the next round, so I don't have time to stay with you for now. Go hang out with the Second String players. I'll come back to watch the Inarizaki match with you tomorrow.."
The kid tried to struggle, "I can do it on my own!"
The boy's voice sounded quite exhausted: "Stop messing around.."
As their voices grew fainter and further away, Hoshiumi noticed the text on the other person's sportswear at that moment: "Sannomiya Industrial?"
Hinata, who had been feeling down in the middle of the court, blinked and said, "I think I just heard Suzuki's voice."
The child's voice was somewhat thin, yet still quite distinct.
Miya Atsumu frowned. "Who is this now?"
Never mind," he decided to stop thinking about it and pulled Hinata aside to continue his instructions. "Shoyo, that serve of yours just now was good, your placement was excellent. Remember that feeling, keep playing like that from now on.
“Don't be afraid of making mistakes. The purpose of a serve is to disrupt the opponent's subsequent attack..”
Coach Kurosu stood by the sidelines in silence for two minutes, before finally lowering his head in silence, resting his forehead against the back of his hand, which had been supporting his chin.
After a deep sigh, Kurosu gazed at Miya Atsumu, who was talking to Hinata: "Even though the result was good, Atsumu went a bit too crazy."
He certainly encouraged bold attempts; in fact, it was his arrangement when Hinata first started using the Jump Serve during matches.
But Miya Atsumu's.. progress is a bit too rapid.
Miya Osamu narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk beneath his mask.
Considering it was Miya Atsumu, it was perfectly normal.
And since the protagonist is Hinata, who basically goes along with whatever Miya Atsumu does, it's even more understandable.
It was just a pity they couldn't score.
Encouraged, Hinata's condition improved, in the subsequent matches, he was like a little motor that almost never stopped. His overall movement frequency even shocked Hirugami Fuku, a professional player from the V1 League.
He asked Hoshiumi, who had no doubts about this, his younger brother, "Is Inarizaki's starting Opposite sick? Isn't number 17 afraid that running like that will affect his subsequent matches?"
Hoshiumi was silent for a moment, then turned to ask, "Fuku-san, what is your peak VO2 Max?"
Hirugami Fuku froze for a moment, then replied, "72.6, why?"
This is a normal stat for a Middle Blocker; after all, a Middle Blocker doesn't need to cover the whole court, so the physical requirements aren't as demanding as other positions.
However, he knew that Hoshiumi's physical conditioning was quite good, even stronger than his own.
Hoshiumi raised a finger to point at Hinata on the court: "Shoyo's VO2 Max was 76.4 when he was tested two months ago."
In other words, Hinata's physical stamina is only at a mid-level even when placed in the V1 League, so there is absolutely no need to worry about him running out of energy while Inarizaki still has other substitutes.
How much?!
Hirugami Fuku felt for a moment like he was hallucinating.
He had learned from his younger brother yesterday that Hinata had only been playing volleyball for a little over a year, which was quite different from Hoshiumi Hikari, who had undergone systematic physical and fundamental training since he was a child.
Finally, Hirugami Fuku uttered a few words: "This little guy must have come to the wrong sport!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Hoshiumi and Hirugami Yukio both looked at him at the same time.
Looking down at his volleyball uniform, Hirugami Fuku cleared his throat. "No, what I mean is.. the way he plays Opposite is tailor-made for him, but considering the team's composition, he shouldn't rely entirely on a Stronger Opposite playstyle."
The best choice would perhaps lie somewhere between a stabilizer and a Stronger Opposite; he should practice both setting and receiving, then be paired with two Spikers who can play technical ball, allowing him to switch freely between the two modes.
Hoshiumi pulled out his phone again. "Could you please repeat that? Fuku-san?"