Before the live broadcast, Kageyama was also watching Inarizaki's current rotation process with extreme seriousness.
For Karasuno, the process of coordinating a 4-2 rotation was incredibly difficult; it wasn't just a matter of the players—Coach Ukai himself had no experience playing a 4-2, since it rarely appears even in professional matches, there was almost no useful reference material available.
In fact, the Miya Twins' playstyle at Inarizaki was actually just a pseudo 4-2, after all, Miya Osamu was essentially a defensive Opposite, the setter in a 4-2.
In this play style, the front-row setter performs the strong attack, while the back-row setter handles the setting, ensuring that the front row can maintain a three-point attack from start to finish.
But now that Inarizaki has switched to Kumagai's playstyle, it is truly something they can use as a reference.
Moreover, this was the multi-faceted simultaneous attack they had been studying lately, Inarizaki used it with even greater maturity.
Watching Kumagai's movements, Hirugami suddenly realized he was wrong.
Generally speaking, a Setter's movements contain hints regarding the direction of the pass; only more mature and top-tier Setters are capable of making them unreadable to their opponents.
—For example, someone like Miya Atsumu.
So he had been observing Kumagai, trying to make a prediction.
But it wasn't until the moment Kumagai sent the ball back in a back set that Hirugami realized he couldn't read where the opponent was going to set the ball at all.
Hirugami and Hakuma rushed toward the Position 2 marker together, while his gaze followed Hinata Shoyo, who had already jumped from behind Position 1.
He was wrong, he was incredibly wrong.
The level of a substitute is indeed not as high as a starter's, so the level of substitutes in the high school world is generally assumed to be below the team's passing grade.
But.. this is Miya Atsumu's substitute.
—He is just not as good as Miya Atsumu.
Hinata jumped very high, at the same time, he applied as much forward momentum as possible during his jump, which resulted in his final spike landing extremely close to the front row attack area.
Watching the two people rushing toward him, Hinata's gaze reached even further.
Peering through the gap in the block, he saw Kamibayashi waiting for him at the sideline, he also saw Hoshiumi chasing in from the other side, preparing to receive a short diagonal.
Catching a glimpse of the empty front half of the net in his peripheral vision, Hinata slightly adjusted his spiking hand.
—A short diagonal.
Hirugami reacted almost instantly, instinctively adjusting his blocking direction in an attempt to shut down the Short Diagonal.
But although Hinata was close to a front-row attacking position, the actual distance between him and the net was even greater.
The volleyball grazed Hirugami's arm as it flew past, crashing into Karasuno's front row.
Hoshiumi lunged with all his might, but he was still just a little too late.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scored.
Tanaka's face was full of shock during the live broadcast: "A short diagonal! He couldn't even do that when he first arrived!"
Sugawara Koushi nodded. "His progress is incredible.."
And at this moment, someone was cheering more excitedly than anyone else in the world: "Ohhh—Super Short Diagonal!"
“You learned it just by watching it a few times?! That's incredible! Next time, I'll teach him my special move! I'll defeat Aran!"
Watching Bokuto-senpai standing on the chair, Mokoba-senpai raised his hand, grabbed a piece of paper from the desk, crumpled it into a ball, tossed it over: "Get down from there right now!"
On the court, Hinata opened his arms and rushed toward Kumagai: "Great pass, Akuma!"
Kumagai leaned down to give him a hug, unable to hide the joy on his face: "Just like usual."
He actually had the chance to play as a setter on the court; he was grateful to Atsumu-senpai.
Aran glanced sideways at Miya Atsumu, whose face was as dark as the bottom of a pot: "You said that yourself."
Miya Atsumu walked over, reached out, grabbed Hinata by the collar: "If you had jumped just a little further forward just now, you would have touched the net. You're playing volleyball, not doing a triple jump."
Hinata, who had originally wanted to share the joy with Miya Atsumu, fell silent.
Atsumu immediately turned his gaze toward Kumagai: "Can you make your tosses a bit faster? What, are you giving the opponents a chance to chase them down? Also, can you stop setting like a robot? Where are the feints? You need to provide cover for the Spiker."
Kumagai lowered his head, trying to find a crack in the floor to hide in.
Aran looked at Kita Shinsuke: "What a jerk, he only knows how to bully his juniors."
Kita Shinsuke walked up behind the three, including Miya Atsumu, with a stern expression: "Kuniharu, go serve."
It wasn't until this moment that Coach Unabara suddenly said, "That was a good spike, that little short diagonal was very stable."
Coach Hiya also nodded in agreement. "That was somewhat unexpected."
Utsunomiya, who had just finished signing and arrived with the team, froze for a moment and looked at the two of them in surprise: "You two only just realized?"
Before Unabara could respond, Utsunomiya had already guessed: "Ah, so Miya was the one doing the setting before, right? It was indeed very deceptive."
For a setter of Miya Atsumu's level, the balls he sets make the spikers feel as if they have become even stronger, which is also why Aran's performance on the court is sometimes even better than Ushijima's, despite both being part of the Three Major Spikers.
So.. being quite rigorous in this regard, Unabara and the others would not make a judgment based solely on that.
Coach Unabara, who had worked with Utsunomiya before in the U14 youth team, looked at him and asked, "So this is the reason you wanted me to come watch this match?"
Utsunomiya nodded: "Hinata is very good at adapting to a setter's ability; basically, he can spike almost any ball tossed to him. It's a pity his time since starting is still short and he lacks sufficient experience, so he can't reach Kiryu's level.."
After a moment's thought, he added, "But I think Hinata has enough potential."
Seeing that Unabara was not moved, Utsunomiya shrugged, "I know you don't have much of an opinion on him right now either."
But.. don't you think something is strange?
Coach Hiya, who had been listening, froze for a moment and was the first to look toward the court.
After the serve went out of bounds, Kumagai had already been substituted off the court.
However, Hirugami also left after his serve; now it is Miya Atsumu serving, while Hinata has rotated to Position 4 in the front row.
They had watched Inarizaki's aggressive playstyle for a long time, in essence, there was nothing particularly surprising about it.
It was simply that they were faster, higher, their overall tactical execution was nearly perfect, their intensity was even greater..
Hmm?
Wait?
Hoshiumi's amount of sweat was visible to the naked eye, but that little shrimp from Inarizaki acted as if nothing were wrong, sweating but not in large amounts.
Although the main reason might be that Hinata didn't play the entire match with the team, for this set alone.. Hinata was constantly jumping around, basically never stopping.
In contrast, Aran, Suna, the others had begun to play a bit more conservatively.
While Fire was thinking, Utsunomiya whispered something to Unabara, immediately after, Unabara's voice rang out, sounding somewhat uncomposed.
What? How much did you say?!
Under Unabara's "you knew all along and still didn't recruit them" stare, Utsunomiya locked eyes with him for a long time before finally letting out a soft click of his tongue: "It's not like I didn't try to recruit them.. Why don't you give me a hand?"
This time, it was the Junior National Team's general manager who fell silent: "Recruiting right now would result in a suspension, wouldn't it? What, are you trying to pick out future teammates for Sakusa and Komori already?"
Utsunomiya is still a guest professor at the Central Physical Education University, he is also one of the people in charge of the university's volleyball team; it wouldn't be impossible for him to secure guaranteed admission for several members of the team.
After all.. Central Physical Education University itself is a pure sports university that relies on competition results for admissions.
Speaking of which, Utsunomiya's expression soured: "No, Sakusa's results are quite good; he doesn't want to go through the special recommendation route and plans to use his sports bonus to apply to other schools on his own. Iizuna is as well."
Komori, Agatsuma, the others are planning to go straight into professional teams without attending university.
This also means that the few prospects he has his eyes on might not come, the Central Sports University won't be able to recruit anyone..
No, not necessarily. As long as he casts a wide net, someone will eventually agree to come.
It's decided. Once he returns, he'll have the head coach of the Yangti University volleyball team grant recommendation-based admission to Ushijima, Bokuto, Aran, Kiryu.
—Surely there will be at least one.
Glancing at Utsunomiya a few more times, Coach Unabara returned his gaze to the court: "Even so, his foundation is still a bit too poor."
The Haruko qualifiers will also be winding down in a month. Do you really think he can train enough to reach the level of the Junior National Team?
Players who can be selected in their first year of high school generally have a foundation of ten years of experience.
Moreover, even if he gave his consent, there would still be people at the Volleyball Association who would disagree; otherwise, he would have dragged Hakuma Mebuki in last year to drill the basics.
Utsunomiya shrugged. "That's not it. I'm just giving you a heads-up, so you don't get scouted by another sport when the time comes."
—I heard Coach Kosano has been thinking about having Hinata go to the high jump team for a trial for quite a while now.
Recalling what happened last time, Unabara's expression darkened a shade: "I understand."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Hinata's voice rang out across the court: "Give the ball to me!!"
Compared to the others, Hinata's voice was actually quite high-pitched; even in this massive gymnasium, it was quite distinct.
Likewise, it easily caught everyone's attention.
Just like before, the high and fast ball was almost impeccable in its quality.
But this time, Coach Unabara's state of mind had changed.
His usually calm demeanor shifted as he raised a hand to stroke his beard. "That arm extension is truly beautiful, he jumps high enough as well."
With this height, he should be able to grow another ten centimeters; by then, he might even be able to reach 3.5m.
The spiking motion is also very decisive..
Utsunomiya remained silent for two seconds, saying nothing more, but he cursed Unabara in his heart.
Chapter 97: The Ninety-Seventh Fox
A great serve from Atsumu-senpai!
Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Miya Atsumu walked to the service position, holding the ball.
After Kumagai's serve ended, they had already pulled the score gap to 4; if no major problems arise, the victory is basically secured.
And now, Miya Atsumu's service remains a strong point for Inarizaki, while conversely, Karasuno's front row has once again fallen into a weak zone during blocking.
Amatori, who had been watching from the sidelines for a while, pressed his palms together in front of him: "Thank you, Lord Inari—"
On the other side, Iizuna didn't know what to say for a moment: "What are you giving thanks to the Inari God for.."
Even the relatively close Kameido Tenjin Shrine and Itachiyama are quite a distance away; the closest to them is Kameido Tenjin Shrine, which enshrines Sugawara no Michizane.