But Suna was equally skilled at serving this kind of ball, so Akagi wasn't entirely unfamiliar with it.
Hoshiumi's powerful serve was almost as fast as Miya Atsumu's, Akagi barely managed to dig it up with a diving save: "Atsumu!"
"What a receive!" Miya Atsumu rushed forward, the moment his hands touched the volleyball, he sent it flying with a loud thud along an almost perfectly straight trajectory.
The volleyball flew out at an extremely high speed, passing through Hinata's hitting point with incredible precision as it soared past Position 4.
Bang!
With a loud bang, Hinata had already spiked the volleyball away, leaving everyone in the front row, including Hirugami, unable to react in time.
Hoshiumi's body reacted instinctively, his hand reaching out before his brain could even catch up.
But Hinata's line shot was so ridiculously fast that the moment it hit his arm, it bounced straight out of bounds, giving Hoshiumi no chance to follow up.
The smile on Hirugami Yukio's face froze, his brain stalled for a split second.
Wait, what just went past? It looked like someone spiked the ball?
The referee on the sidelines didn't react until this moment, raising his flag to signal that Inarizaki's score was valid.
Hoshiumi looked at Hinata, who had turned and rushed toward Miya Atsumu, then looked at Miya Atsumu, who had his arms spread toward Hinata, his expression quite distorted.
Confused by the rhythm Inarizaki set at the opening, he completely forgot that Hinata's signature move wasn't a high ball or a tooling the block, certainly wasn't his ability to grasp a momentary opportunity for a block.
What the media is highly praising about Hinata right now.. is that extreme approach speed and the velocity of his line shots!
"Beautiful, Shoyo!" The crowd below the court was also incredibly excited.
The feeling of being too clingy during the previous two plays had made them feel on edge, but this point was won with absolute precision.
After hugging the excited Hinata Shoyo, Miya Atsumu looked across the net at Hoshiumi Hikari in a great mood.
A Quick Attack.. as expected, it's best used as a surprise weapon.
Raising his hand to pat his own face, Hoshiumi let out a soft sigh.
Being drawn into the slow tempo that Miya Atsumu started was his mistake. The real point of contention between him and Hinata Shoyo wasn't about height, volleyball isn't a game where the person who jumps the highest always wins.
There are too many variables to manipulate in the midst of all this.
Hinata is not just executing a normal Ace mode now; he is also acting as a decoy for Aran to a certain extent.
And with a killer move like the Quick Attack.. it might even become a way for him to act as a decoy for himself to a certain extent.
Quick Attack, time difference, Hinata's own hang time.
Even with the same jump, different types of attacks can ultimately be derived.
Hoshiumi knew very well that at this stage, Hinata's awareness relied more on instinct, he was still quite green when it came to executing tactics.
This should have originally become Hinata's fatal weakness, becoming the key to breaking through their pressure.
But.. the one holding the reins now is none other than High School's Best Setter.
It wouldn't matter if it were Hinata; as long as Miya Atsumu could do it, it would be fine.
"What a pain.." Hoshiumi said softly.
Although he hadn't originally intended to answer any volleyball questions for Hinata, adding his contact information was merely to have some fun with the twins, they gradually became familiar with each other, Hinata would naturally ask him whenever he encountered something he didn't understand.
So, just as he had said when he gave Hinata clothes, he was essentially half a mentor to Hinata.
—But only half a mentor.
Just like this, in a place he doesn't even know about, Hinata is also steadily growing.
But this was fine too.
Compared to Suna-senpai.. he really did want to be rivals with Hinata Shoyo.
The serve passed to Kita Shinsuke.
Compared to Miya Atsumu, Kita Shinsuke's jump float serve leans more towards stability; he also decisively avoided Hoshiumi Hikari, sending the ball to Kamibayashi Keiichiro on the other side.
Hoshiumi is an expert at receiving serves, but their Libero has not reached his level, which also provides a breakthrough point for Kita.
Staring at the volleyball being spiked toward him, fine beads of sweat instantly welled up on Kamibayashi's forehead.
Stability does not mean it's easy to receive.
On the contrary, this was a textbook-standard jump float serve, so precise that Kamibayashi could tell at a glance that the ball would not go out of bounds.
Similarly, while maintaining this retreating stance, he also had absolutely no way to control the ball smoothly.
The ceiling lights were somewhat dazzling, the moment the ball fell, it blocked the light, yet it shifted slightly just before making contact with his hands.
The sudden brightening of his vision caused Kamibayashi's body to shift almost involuntarily; by the time he regained his senses, the volleyball had already dropped, grazing his shoulder.
With a soft thud, the volleyball hit the ground, Inarizaki scored.
—The first ace of this set has occurred.
"Kita Team is so cool!" Hinata cheered, raising both hands high.
He thought Atsumu-senpai would score a beautiful point at the start, but he didn't expect Kita Team to take this first service point.
Kita smiled slightly. "Just luck."
He then turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu, the smile on his face vanishing without a trace. "Why did you choose to play against Hoshiumi? You clearly know his receiving skills are better than the Libero's."
Given your usual style, you should be suppressing the Libero instead.
Miya Atsumu stood at attention. "No, I was hitting between the two of them, wanting to interfere with their collective reception—"
Under Kita Shinsuke's gaze, Miya Atsumu's voice grew quieter and quieter until he fell silent, looking at the ceiling with a face full of guilt.
Fine, he admitted, he just hadn't been able to stand Hoshiumi lately.
He knew he was wrong, really; he would suppress the Libero in his next service rotation.
So.. stop staring at him like that! Kita Team!
Kita Shinsuke received the ball returned by the opponent and prepared to serve his second.
Generally speaking, targeting the Libero is a play with high difficulty and high risk, but for Karasuno, it is not the case.
It could even be said that the feasibility is very high, but unfortunately, the effectiveness might be limited.
However, this was not something Kita needed to worry about; he was simply fulfilling his duties as captain, providing the necessary reminders when needed.
His task was to hold down the back row; as for the offensive matters.. he would leave them to Aran, Hinata, the others.
With the experience from the previous play, Kamibayashi did not miss the second ball; instead, he delivered it quite steadily right above Suwa's head.
Aran, who had already rotated to the front row, quickly swapped positions with Kita Shinsuke after his serve. He and Oori Ren crouched slightly with bent knees in the center of the net, waiting for the Karasuno setter to set the ball.
As the ace of Karasuno, Hoshiumi's back row attack was also very skilled, combined with the three people currently in the front row, there were quite a lot of offensive options.
After performing a feint, Suwa sent a back set to Hirugami, who was executing a flat quick attack in Position 2.
Aran quickly locked onto Hirugami and chased after him along with Oori.
The aerial advantage provided by Hirugami Yukio's 1.9m height was also quite ridiculous; under Suwa's deliberate maneuvering, his hitting point slightly exceeded Inarizaki's block.
Although he wasn't particularly good at jumping, Hirugami's proficiency with certain technical shots was enough to make up for it.
For example, right now..
Hirugami's hand, which had been prepared to spike directly, slowed down at the moment of contact. Almost simultaneously with Akagi's movement as he stepped back to prepare for the spike, Hirugami's hand lightly tapped the bottom of the volleyball.
The volleyball lightly cleared the block and slammed into Inarizaki's court.
Hinata, positioned one step behind the block, lunged sideways immediately. After his palm made contact with the volleyball, he used the momentum to roll to the side.
But because his movements weren't yet skilled enough, he almost crashed directly into the referee's stand on the other side.
Fortunately, it was a close call, but the volleyball had been sent in front of the net.
Watching the ball fly back up into the air, the entire Inarizaki waiting area erupted: "Ohhh! What a save! Shoyo!!"
Without realizing it, receiving and digging were no longer Hinata's absolute weaknesses.
Even if it wasn't perfect, it was definitely enough.
"Aran! Spike it directly!" Miya Atsumu shouted.
The height of this ball was quite low; even though the entire process was so fast that Karasuno hadn't kept up, it was still extremely difficult to spike it without hitting the net.
Aran used all of his strength and smashed the ball directly.
With a deafening crash that made one's teeth ache, the volleyball hit just outside the baseline of Karasuno.
The referee raised the flag, signaling that Aran's spike was out, Karasuno scored.
Aran clutched his head: "Damn it! There was no net touch, but was the ball's trajectory too flat!"
As expected, not everyone can evolve into Kiryu Ya; that kind of spike is simply not human!
Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly. "Aran, I'll have Shoyo set for you in a moment."
A ball like that, if Hinata were to spike it, would probably nail the floor, yet Aran actually sent it flying. Although Hinata's short arms and high jump were a big part of the reason, still..
Anyway, Hinata already saved the ball, so the failure to score is Aran's fault.
Miya Atsumu applied his theory perfectly to Hinata.
Facing Hinata's eyes, which were filled with "Really? Really?" expressions, Aran felt his vision go dark: "You don't have to torture me like this.."
Well, if the Miya Twins were to act like normal, decent people for just one day, he might find it even more painful to deal with them.
Watching the live stream from his hotel far away, Miya Osamu sneezed. "Oh no, I hope I'm not coming down with a fever.."
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu, his eyes filled with excitement and eagerness to try.
He had already seen Hoshiumi-senpai's tosses, when he thought about Kenma's tosses, he now had one hundred percent confidence in himself!
Where Aran couldn't see, Miya Atsumu slowly raised his hand and made an OK sign.
Hinata jumped up on the spot, silently expressing his excitement.
Across the net, Karasuno's Bessho Chigen and Kamibayashi Keiichiro swapped positions, at the same time, the serve passed to Hirugami.
A shout erupted from the cheering section: "Give us a good serve!"
Meanwhile, two people with national flags pinned to their chests walked in from the player tunnel.
"Watching that adult division match just now almost drove me crazy with frustration.." Unabara stretched his slightly stiff neck.