After thinking for a few seconds, Hoshiumi finally fixed his gaze on Oori Ren.
Ah, he knew.
It should be about adjusting a taller Middle Blocker to stand beside Hinata to reduce the pressure on Hinata's blocking.
Hinata stared intently at Hoshiumi Hikari: "Hoshiumi-senpai, I've improved a lot during this time! I'll definitely give you a big surprise!"
Hoshiumi froze for a moment. "I know, I've watched all of your matches."
Opposite him, Hinata clearly fell silent for two seconds.
For a moment, Hoshiumi thought Hinata was going to crawl under the net to give him a hug. But clearly, Hinata controlled himself.
Hinata put his hands on his hips and said somewhat proudly, "No, Hoshiumi-senpai, it's something else."
Hoshiumi slightly lifted his chin, turning his head to glance sideways at Hinata. "For real? What, are you learning how to be a Setter like Miya Atsumu?"
Watching Hinata's expression freeze, Hoshiumi continued, finding it somewhat amusing, "You actually dare to try and copy his setting."
"There, there's more!" Hinata tried to struggle.
Oh?" Hoshiumi followed up, "Have you mastered your Short Diagonal? Or do you even dare to use Tooling the block from the back row now?
Hinata suddenly took a step back, the look in his eyes toward Hoshiumi shifted from eager anticipation to pure pity.
—Completely guessed!
"Stop teasing him." Hirugami looked at Hoshiumi, stopping his attempt to expose everything about Hinata.
However.. Hoshiumi really does know Hinata well; his guesses were basically spot on.
Hoshiumi turned around and walked back, preparing to receive a serve: "How interesting."
Watching Hinata cast a pleading look toward Miya Atsumu, who was about to serve, across the net, Hoshiumi let a pleasant smile spread across his lips.
Of course, he knew.
After all.. in terms of skill and training progress alone, that was him at some stage in the past.
But Hinata had a playing style completely different from his.
Unlike a flock of seagulls swarming for prey, Hinata was much more agile, much more sharp, much better at attacking when an opening appeared.
Hearing the referee's whistle signaling the serve, Komori Motoya in the stands rubbed his chin. "Speaking of which, I just remembered something."
Sakusa looked at him: "What?"
In the silence while waiting for Miya Atsumu's serve, Komori's voice was exceptionally clear.
—The sun is a star, you know.
The sound of the spike immediately followed, echoing in everyone's ears, as Miya Atsumu's powerful serve instantly soared over the net and smashed into the Karasuno court.
I've got it!!
Hoshiumi shouted, positioning himself in front of Suwa, the Setter, lowering his center of gravity. While using a side-step and a single hand to send the ball upward, he simultaneously rolled onto the ground, dissipating the momentum and perfectly clearing a path for Suwa to move forward.
Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly, then quickly moved forward, preparing for the subsequent defense.
The captain and setter of Karasuno excels at jump float serves, setting the libero aside, Hoshiumi is a rare player capable of mastering receiving techniques at the high school level.
Similarly, the match against Karasuno was one of the few times Miya Atsumu would avoid using a large number of jump float serves.
"Great receive!" Suwa shouted.
Meanwhile, Hoshiumi Hikari had also scrambled up from the ground and was striding toward the net to take his approach.
Hinata stayed still at the net, instead staring intently at Hoshiumi's jumping motion, as if committing it firmly to memory.
Oori Ren and Kita Shinsuke had already converged; as Hinata adjusted his position and retreated at the perfect moment, they lunged diagonally in front of Hoshiumi.
Hoshiumi decisively aimed his spike at Oori Ren's fingers, performing a beautiful tooling the block.
"Michinari!" Aran called out to Akagi Michinari, who was closer on the other side.
Akagi rushed out from the court and decisively kicked the ball before it could smash into the barrier advertisements: "Atsumu!"
Hirugami was in awe: "He actually saved that.."
However, Inarizaki's current front-row offensive options were relatively monotonous, with only Hinata's Quick Attack and high balls being noteworthy.
He quickly locked his gaze onto Hinata, who had already rushed to Position 3 and was preparing to jump.
Oori and Kita did not move, the only one to start moving at the same time as Hinata was Aran, who had circled around from the back row toward Position 1.
Akagi's serve was very close to the net, due to their positioning, Hinata and Aran did not choose to attack from the left wing, but instead left the space open for Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu took a step forward, using an extra-wide lunge that allowed him to lower his center of gravity while leaning back to clearly see Hinata's movement as he prepared to jump.
Miya Atsumu had already watched Hinata Shoyo's jump thousands of times.
While marveling at the beauty of the movements every single time, he had also memorized almost every aspect of the range of Hinata's movements during his jumps.
Depending on the different heights and hang times Hinata would achieve, he would proactively adjust the arc and the position of the peak for every ball.
Two thuds sounded almost simultaneously as Hoshiumi and Hinata on the other side of the net jumped toward the clouds together.
Hirugami and Hakuma's jumps were timed even later, almost ensuring they would reach their peak at the same time as Hoshiumi.
"That blocking height is equally terrifying.." Komori pursed his lips.
The shorter the player, the more precise the timing required for blocking. Because their jump timing is out of sync with others, there are more factors to consider.
And when it comes to this, Hoshiumi can indeed reach the absolute limit.
But.. someone is superior in other aspects.
The volleyball traced a parabolic trajectory, its peak coinciding with Hinata's hitting point, at that same moment, the ball's speed gradually slowed, coming to a near standstill.
Hoshiumi's pupils contracted as he stood almost directly in front of Hinata, a sense of foreboding flashed through his heart.
The technique of using spin to make the ball stay at its highest point for as long as possible is very difficult, especially when one has to consider whether the referee will call a double hit.
But Miya Atsumu was extremely skilled at this, making the possibility of an error almost non-existent.
And with the speed of this ball, the time it remains suspended at its peak will reach an astonishing level.
This also meant.. Miya Atsumu had confirmed that Hinata could stay airborne for this long.
The entire thought process ended in an instant, Hoshiumi was already beginning to descend bit by bit after reaching his peak.
The blocking action did not involve an arm extension process; even though Hoshiumi could extend his time in the air, it wasn't the time for that now.
Hoshiumi's eyes reflected Hinata's figure.
This guy..
His hang time is absolutely ridiculous!
With a loud bang, the volleyball soared over the entire Karasuno block and crashed straight down into the center of the court.
The fastest-reacting setter, Suwa, lunged forward to save the ball, while simultaneously calling out Hoshiumi Hikari's name at the top of his lungs: "Hikari-kun!"
Hoshiumi, who had retreated, quickly moved in, preparing to set.
The moment his gaze met Hoshiumi's, Hinata's mouth parted slightly, his eyes followed the volleyball without hesitation.
Just now, Hoshiumi-senpai's gaze seemed to say—watch how I set the ball.
The volleyball flew past Hirugami, who was feinting in the center, toward the two-meter giant Hakuma Mebuki on the wing.
Unlike Hoshiumi and Hinata, who rely on their jumping ability to hit over the block, Hakuma Mebuki is a pure碾压 in terms of height.
But because he focused more on the fundamentals of blocking, Hakuma, who had also only been playing volleyball for just over a year, did not have as many spiking techniques, his ball trajectory was relatively easy to predict.
The volleyball smashed down from above Kita Shinsuke, tracing a large diagonal across the court; it was the most common way for a novice to spike.
I've got it!
Hinata, who was closest, slightly bent his knees and reached out to receive the ball.
Aran circled around behind him, positioning himself at the baseline behind Position 4, preparing his approach run.
"Nice receive! Shoyo!" Miya Atsumu raised his hand and gave the ball to Aran, who was in a perfect position.
Aran's spike smashed straight down, but Hoshiumi managed to touch it: "One touch!"
"Nice touch!" Libero Kamibayashi followed up.
Watching Hoshiumi's blocking movement, Hinata licked his lower lip.
He slightly adjusted his footing, positioning himself between Hoshiumi and Hirugami, waiting for the Setter to deliver the ball.
If the spike came from Hakuma in Position 4, he wouldn't need to block.
But if it were either Hirugami or Hoshiumi, he would need to provide support at the block.
With a light sound, the volleyball was back-set by Suwa toward Hoshiumi Hikari.
Hinata quickly retreated two large steps.
His eyes followed the volleyball, while his peripheral vision tracked Hoshiumi Hikari's movements.
In previous matches, your blocks were generally aimed at touching the ball, but this time is different. Aside from the timing, the opponent, Hoshiumi, is using his jump to counter the block, just like you.
No one is more familiar with his jumping timing than you are.
Besides, when it comes to air superiority, I don't think Hoshiumi is stronger than you, so..
As Hoshiumi took his approach, Hinata also stepped forward, following the two large steps he had previously taken backward.
A split second before Hoshiumi, Hinata leaped with a heavy thud.
Seeing Hinata and Oori follow up with a block, Hoshiumi's expression shifted slightly.
He knew Hinata was good at touching the ball during a block, but this posture of his right now..
That wasn't a block at all; instead, it was almost the same posture as when he was attacking.
With Oori Ren shutting him down on the left and Aran waiting on the right, Hoshiumi's attacking options were essentially limited to tooling the block, a tip, or trying to spike directly through the block.
But..
Watching Hinata's hand, Hoshiumi's pupils contracted.
Hinata's hang time determined that his height at this moment almost surpassed Hoshiumi's, with his arms and wrists pressing down, he left him no room for tooling the block.
In that case, the best option right now would be to hit a short diagonal from the right side to interfere with the Ace's back-row attack.