Whenever exams come around, many students from Itachiyama go to worship.
As for the Inari God, it was completely unrelated to them.
Amatori said seriously, "Just think, if Karasuno didn't want to force out all of Inarizaki's new tricks in a single match, we would be the ones serving as the testing ground."
After thinking about it seriously, Iizuna nodded in agreement, "That actually makes sense.."
In theory, it would be very difficult for Karasuno's defense to be pushed to a 2-0 deficit, especially with Hirugami anchoring the team.
As for why Inarizaki was able to achieve such a large point gap, it ultimately came down to their use of a new playstyle that caught Karasuno off guard, preventing them from establishing a clear rhythm from start to finish.
Karuno and Inarizaki were indeed somewhat familiar with each other, but they had only played one practice match since the spring, back when Hinata was just a support staff member who didn't know much.
They couldn't exactly go around asking for match footage of Inarizaki's training games against Shiratorizawa or Aobajohsai, so they had no way of knowing what kind of tactics Inarizaki actually employed.
A lot of things Hirugami heard through the grapevine from Hoshiumi, plus the only two official match recordings of Hinata playing..
That was Hirugami's only impression of the core of Hinata's Inarizaki.
Even he had a difficult time playing against them, let alone the newly reborn Bessho, or Hakuma Mebuki, who at this stage lacked much independent thinking ability.
Additionally, Inarizaki hadn't revealed too much in their first two matches against Hinata, having saved most of their killing moves for Karasuno.
It felt as if.. they were intentionally bringing it out to work on their coordination for tomorrow's match against Itachiyama.
Thinking of this, Hoshiumi felt very angry.
But as angry as he was, he still had to dive to receive Miya Atsumu's serve.
Miya Atsumu's serve was always timed perfectly, this time it also targeted a spot near the sideline, forcing Hoshiumi to break his own form to save the ball.
"Captain!" Hoshiumi scrambled up from the floor, his eyes tracking Hinata as he moved toward the net to prepare for a block, while in his peripheral vision, Miya Atsumu was leisurely advancing to organize the next attack.
—Even angrier.
"Touch!" Oori Ren shouted.
Seeing that the distance between the Inarizaki side and the net was quite large, yet Hakuma still insisted on a hard spike without any intention of playing a worm or a short diagonal, Hoshiumi's expression contorted.
—He was going to be furious to the extreme.
"Nice touch!" Akagi raised his hands and sent the ball steadily into Miya Atsumu's hands.
Miya Atsumu jumped to set, delivering the ball over the shortest possible distance to Hinata, to Aran behind him.
The three members of Karasuno, who had already been lured into jumping by Hinata's feint, suddenly felt a sense of dread, but it was already too late to adjust.
Hakuma, who hadn't even jumped to his full height, landed, then used his long arms and legs to leap once more, blocking the way in front of Aran.
Hinata, who had just landed after a cover spike, widened his eyes, nearly swallowed by the shadow cast by Hakuma's frame.
Without any technique, this block relied on.. nothing more than pure height advantage.
A heavy thud rang in everyone's ears; it was already too late to adjust the trajectory, so Aran slammed the ball forcefully against Hakuma Mebuki's arm, sending the suppressed ball crashing back down into Inarizaki's court.
Hinata, being the closest, spun around instantly and, in a moment of desperation, dove straight toward the floor, using the side of his fist to send the ball flying.
Unprepared for the impact, he slammed into the ground, feeling a sharp pain in his chest.
"Great save!!" Aran also breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly rushed forward to perform a Second Attack.
When Hakuma jumped up again just now, he was a bit panicked; after all, in pursuit of speed, Miya Atsumu had given him a flat set, leaving him with absolutely no time to adjust his follow-up.
After all.. no one expected Hakuma to actually manage to catch up like that.
Kita successfully made the third touch to send the ball back.
Hinata also scrambled back up after dodging Aran's movement, preparing for the follow-up attack.
Glancing at Hoshiumi, who was already preparing to step forward for a spike, Hinata's mind was currently filled with nothing but amazement at his 1.72m height.
You can try again even if you miss! I'm so jealous!
Taking a glance at Hinata's expression and seeing that he still had the composure to envy Hakuma, Kita felt completely at ease.
Hinata still can't make the diving motion an instinct yet, so errors occur in emergency situations like the one just now.
Fortunately, Hinata's own body weight isn't that heavy, so he didn't crash too severely.. though that's not certain, as Hinata doesn't have much muscle right now either.
Hoshiumi's spike was just a feint, but fortunately, Hinata was the only one assigned to follow Hoshiumi, as Hakuma leaped, Oori Ren and Kita from the other side quickly moved to cover.
Because Hoshiumi and Nozawa needed to provide cover on the other side, to increase the element of deception, Suwa's set for this ball wasn't particularly high, which also meant that Oori Ren didn't need to create too much distance from the net.
A double block cannot completely shut down the opponent's spike trajectory, so Hakuma immediately gave up on the straight shot and prepared to spike a short diagonal toward the other side.
At this moment, there was only Aran defending Position 5 for Inarizaki, leaving him a considerable amount of room to maneuver.
Suna, who was in the waiting area, narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression remaining calm, as if he had already predicted the outcome of this play.
—This guy is too easy to read.
The moment Hakuma spiked, Oori Ren and Kita Shinsuke adjusted their blocking direction together, shifting from blocking the line to shutting down Hakuma's right-side short diagonal.
With a loud thud, Oori Ren intercepted the volleyball mid-air, slamming it back down onto the Karasuno court.
Hoshiumi and Kamibayashi both rushed forward from behind, but unfortunately, Hakuma's spike had so much power that the ball bounced back even faster, neither of them could catch up to it.
Oori Ren landed on the ground, letting out a soft sigh of relief.
He raised his hand and clenched his fist, letting out a low roar: "Hell yeah!!"
Standing by the sidelines, Amatori felt his teeth ache: "A hexagon warrior, Inarizaki.."
He was of a similar large build, but his blocking experience, technique, sharpness completely overwhelmed Hakuma Mebuki.
Aside from receiving, Inarizaki basically has no weaknesses.
Not to mention their offense and serves, Suna and Oori also perform exceptionally well at the net, could even be called Inarizaki's "Twin Towers."
Moreover, this weakness in receiving is only relative to Itachiyama, with Miya Atsumu there, it wouldn't even be an issue.
Once Hinata's receiving can reach half of Hoshiumi's level, combined with Miya Osamu and the Libero, they will basically be invincible.
But.. Itachiyama is still stronger and more balanced than them.
"So cool! Oori-senpai!" Hinata, who had just been envying Hakuma, now turned his attention back to Oori Ren.
He suddenly felt that not dreaming of being two meters tall was fine; being 1.9m like Oori Ren was also okay!
Oori leaned down and gave Hinata a high-five: "That was a great save just now, you didn't get hurt, did you?"
Hinata shook his head: "I'm completely fine!"
It was just a minor bump, nothing like when he had to rely on Band-Aids to get through those specialized diving practice sessions.
Oori Ren's slightly low voice was incredibly reassuring: "Yeah, when we get back, we can practice counterattacks more; you just need to let your body move on its own."
Hoshiumi, who had scrambled up on the other side of the net, looked up and glared at Hakuma: "You should have just tipped it. The opposing setter is in the back row and the front-row defense is weak; even if you don't score, you can force the setter to receive it."
It was the same just now. If you had hit the ball down between the blocker and the net, you would have scored..
Seeing that Hoshiumi was about to clash with Hakuma, Suwa quickly signaled a time-out.
Komori whispered to Sakusa, "I feel like Hoshiumi has already cursed out Hakuma from head to toe in his mind."
Hakuma's strength lies in his ability to consistently hit over the block while providing continuous, powerful offensive support.
Inarizaki also grasped this point, essentially only focusing on making contact with the ball; any errors in receiving could be completely covered by Miya Atsumu, they would not lose their composure because of it.
In other words, if Hakuma can master more technical plays, he will be invincible in terms of strong offense.
If the opponent's lineup lacks a player capable of consistently handling a spike like Ushijima's, they will very likely be broken by Hakuma.
Coach Utsunomiya observed Coach Aran's constant smile and knew exactly what he was planning with that composed demeanor.
The main goal for Karasuno at this National Sports Festival is still to train their players, since their current starters are almost all first and second-year students.
Moreover, there are several titans sitting in the upper division; the chances of Karasuno winning the championship at their current level are no different from a meteorite striking the gymnasium.
It is said that Coach Aran has already recruited this year's best Libero from the Kanagawa Interhigh Junior High, there will be further reinforcements to come, as they aim for championships in next year's three major tournaments.
However.. Itachiyama would certainly never admit defeat.
Utsunomiya turned his head to look at Unabara Uta beside him and said, "Is there a setter among this year's third-year middle schoolers? Recommend one to me, I'll go scout him."
Unabara didn't hesitate to throw out two names: "Yura Shota, his overall abilities are extremely strong. Subaru Fukami, his serve is excellent, but unfortunately his setting ability is average; he could be converted to a Spiker."
Utsunomiya glared at his old friend. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
The one in front was recruited from Shiratorizawa's own training program into the high school division, while the one behind is Hyogo's best server from this year's Interhigh, he has already been scouted by Kurosu.
"How could that be?" Unabara said, without even a hint of a blush or a tremor in his voice.
Speaking of which.." Coach Himegomiya rubbed his chin. "Won't Inarizaki have three setters capable of powerful serves next year?
However, given Inarizaki's current roster, there's a high possibility that the freshman will transition from a Middle Blocker to a Wing Spiker, but.. even that would be terrifying.
By then, the entire team's configuration will consist of everyone being a heavy hitter, except for Suna and the Libero.
Coach Utsunomiya sighed, "Go back and keep working on your receives."
Look at Karasuno; they lost points to unknown servers in two consecutive sets, making it difficult to close the gap in the score.
Well, thanks to Karasuno once again, their unknown has become known to Itachiyama.
I don't know exactly what was discussed over at Karasuno, but after the time-out ended, Hoshiumi glared at Hakuma again and demonstrated the hand position for a sleeping fruit several times to him.
Oori Ren and Kita Shinsuke exchanged a glance.
Since the opponents were planning to attempt a diving save, they couldn't maintain such a large distance from the net like they had before.
Hoshiumi Hikari, who had looked very grim, glanced out of the corner of his eye at the Inarizaki members as they were communicating with hand signals, then slightly turned his head and revealed a sinister smile.
If Hakuma Mebuki could have learned it that easily, they wouldn't have had to resort to impromptu teaching on the court.
The truth was that they had explained these technical plays to Hakuma Mebuki long ago, but unfortunately, Hakuma Mebuki never made much of them, remaining obsessed with more exhilarating spikes.
This is also why Karasuno placed him in the Wing Spiker position instead of the Middle Blocker position; after all, this guy is clueless when it comes to both technical plays and Quick Attacks.
Of course, the main reason was that he performed better in Karasuno's blocking pattern, which wasn't much different from Hirugami's during their first year.
But this was fine for now; by making the opponents believe Hakuma could score, they would revert to their normal blocking, which would give Hakuma the opportunity to perform regular spikes.
Glancing at the 5-point deficit that had already been pulled away, Hoshiumi let out a soft breath.
Even though it might be a bit late to try and catch up now, it would still feel incredibly frustrating to let it end just like this..
Nozawa, who was still in the front row, looked at the two juniors beside him and unconsciously pursed his lips.