Inarizaki took an eight-point lead, the match went into a technical time-out.
Standing to the side with a water bottle in hand, Miya Atsumu looked down as Coach Omimi gave Hinata a quick calf massage.
He was pondering a question.
—What is the distance between Hinata and them?
Talent?
No, Hinata's athletic ability is even better than Suna's and Aran's.
Thinking?
Not exactly. From being completely ignorant at the start to now being able to grasp the team's offensive rhythm simply, Hinata's growth rate is incredibly fast.
If Hinata's cognitive ability was only a 1 when they first met, it is at least a 2.5 now.
—Then what could it be?
Hinata's damp hair clung to his face, for a moment, Miya Atsumu was reminded of that specific sensation of touch.
It was somewhat prickly, much like Hinata himself on the volleyball court; he was not inherently docile and even constantly tried to encroach upon his authority.
But Atsumu didn't hate this feeling.
Those eyes at sunset were exceptionally bright, just like.. the sun.
That day, Hinata once said that he was also someone he wanted to surpass.
What is the distance between them?
—Perhaps only time.
But was it truly impossible to defy?
Miya Atsumu suddenly felt that it wasn't.
Hinata's ambition to "chase time" was never just empty words.
—The distance between them was already very close.
Away from the crowd, Miya Osamu slightly turned his head to look at his twin brother.
Those eyes, which were almost identical to his, were now focused and devout, seeing nothing else but that orange figure.
After lowering his head in silence for a few seconds, Miya Osamu turned his head away and let out a particularly disgusted click of his tongue.
Miya Atsumu said softly, "Shoyo, when you pull the ball to either side of the net in a moment, you don't have to stay too close to the sideline; try a tip instead."
Hinata nodded. "Understood, try not to hit it out, right?"
Atsumu shook his head. "No, even if it goes out, it's because of Itachiyama's block. The main issue is that if you don't control your tooling well, you'll easily touch the block or get called for a double hit. It's better to leave enough space."
Hinata nodded vigorously. "Oh, oh, oh, I get it! Like this, right??"
Watching Hinata use body language to demonstrate and confirm, Miya Atsumu narrowed his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips.
Before Suna could even make any comment, Amatori, who was already preparing to return to the court, spoke up: "How disgusting."
Miya Atsumu's smile vanished instantly, he glared fiercely at Amatori.
The two of them locked eyes and fell silent under the gaze of the head referee, appearing to exchange insults through their stares.
The time-out ended, Oori Ren prepared to serve the second ball.
Iizuna turned his head quickly toward Amatori, who was still glaring at Miya Atsumu. "Inarizaki won't have a chance to run a Double Quick; just keep an eye on the Ace in the back row."
"Understood," Amatori nodded.
He didn't care; he only needed to focus on the Setter. In any case, the Quick Attack wouldn't be able to catch up, so he would just let Agatsuma handle it.
After an eerie silence of two seconds, Iizuna struggled to suppress the urge to kick Amatori Toru.
Forget it, this is fine too. Focusing on the setter is standard play..
Fortunately, even if Amatori became unreliable, Sakusa was there to back them up. After a beautiful tooling of the block, he broke Inarizaki's service run to tie the score.
Meanwhile, Amatori also rotated to the service position, completely escaping the deep pit of following the block.
Miya Atsumu looked at his reddened fingers and looked at Sakusa as if in protest, "Can't you just play with someone else!"
If this continues, he's going to develop a psychological complex regarding Sakusa's blocking.
Aran, following behind, rolled his eyes. "Your form is the most improper; if we don't hit you, who will we hit?"
Kurosu rested his chin in his hands, thinking about how to give Miya Atsumu extra blocking practice when they returned.
It wasn't just about the flaws in the defense, but rather his genuine concern for Miya Atsumu's precious fingers.
Amatori glanced at Miya Atsumu's position.
Although he also really wanted to target Miya Atsumu with his serve, unfortunately, the conditions simply weren't there.
In the end, he chose to serve the ball toward the position at Aran's feet.
The Ace's back row is equally difficult to deal with, since both Akagi and Miya Osamu are highly skilled at receiving, there is no point in targeting them.
Glancing at Aran, who was already prepared to receive, Miya Osamu charged forward without hesitation, intending to coordinate with Hinata Shoyo for a double quick attack.
Agatsuma didn't give Miya Osamu a single glance, instead staring at Hinata's movements and moving in coordination with him.
Inamura and Sakusa chased after Miya Osamu, who was moving toward the other side to prepare for a back-row attack, they barely managed to touch the ball the moment he spiked it.
Touch!
Nice touch!
Watching the ball, which had lost most of its speed and spin after being touched by the block, Komori was deeply moved as it nearly scraped the floor.
He skillfully bumped the ball to Iizuna, sending it once again to Sakusa for a powerful spike.
Suna also managed to touch the ball: "A touch!"
In the stands, Hoshiumi felt a bit of a toothache, Hirugami, who had come along to watch the match, was also smiling with difficulty.
In terms of visual impression alone, the blocking from both Itachiyama and Inarizaki doesn't actually give off a "steel wall" sensation, but the sharpness of the blockers on both sides is remarkably high.
This kind of precise touch suppression is enough to force the vast majority of spikers into a state of internal struggle.
Watching Agatsuma Soushi closing in, Hinata Shoyo slightly adjusted his position.
As Agatsuma Soushi prepared for his alert spike.. his hand lightly tapped the bottom of the volleyball.
A tip.
Amatori's dive was a little too slow, allowing Hinata to score smoothly.
The serve passed to Miya Atsumu, sticking to his initial plan, Atsumu used his serve to target Iizuna, Amatori Toru, who was beside him.
However, Amatori, who had completely abandoned any follow-up attack to devote himself entirely to the task of receiving, skillfully neutralized Miya Atsumu's serve, allowing Itachiyama to quickly claw back a point.
Hinata followed closely, moving to the back row.
Once he moved to the back row, the effectiveness of his quick attacks became limited.
Additionally, since he requires Hinata to assist with the reception, he focuses more on playing technical balls from the back row.
Aran in the front row bent his knees to dig a short ball dropped by the opponent, sending it back to Miya Atsumu, but he no longer had the conditions to continue the attack.
“Shoyo!” Miya Atsumu raised his hand to send the ball toward the area near Position 1 in the back row, guiding Hinata Shoyo to spike the high ball.
Watching the volleyball falling from above, Hinata Shoyo's brain worked at high speed.
Behind the block, Komori and Inamura were already prepared to receive any balls that got through, Koldorf and his teammates' blocking gave Hinata no chance to use a tool.
A tip would probably be received, so hitting a short diagonal at this angle is a bit unrealistic.
Then.. what should be done?
—Since Gen-senpai is defending the line, wouldn't it work to draw him away with a cross-court shot and then immediately switch to a line spike?
As that thought flashed through his mind, Hinata's body had already moved a step ahead of his thoughts.
In Komori's field of vision, Hinata's body shifted slightly, appearing as if he were preparing a short diagonal spike.
But he didn't move with him, because.. Hinata's arm movement didn't follow through, making it look a bit too fake.
With a loud thud, Komori, having completely seen through Hinata's intention, steadily received the ball.
Itachiyama launched a counterattack, Sakusa scored by tooling the block.
Although he didn't score, Coach Kusubashi in the stands still applauded: "He learns so fast."
This was actually part of what he and Hinata had discussed during the training camp. Although it was still quite unrefined, the fact that Hinata could consciously execute it was already quite impressive.
Unfortunately, this level of skill was far from enough; a Libero of Komori's caliber could easily tell the difference.
Hearing Coach Kurosu sigh, Akagi, who hadn't had time to watch the court just now, was stunned for a moment. "What happened?"
Miya Atsumu had already seen through everything, his tone was equally filled with regret: "Shoyo is fishing, but unfortunately, the fish is a bit hard to catch; the hook came up empty."
However, at least it gave Komori a fright, so the objective was partially achieved.
Hinata pursed his lips, going over Komori's receiving habits in his head once again.
—He had absolutely no clue.
He probably shouldn't try something he has no clue about at a time like this; it would be better to maintain his state of using a Quick Attack combined with a decelerated high ball.
Miya Atsumu patted his back: "Start with something simple, like Amatori-senpai over there."
Hinata frowned, his expression very serious: "I'm sorry, Atsumu-senpai, I lost the point."
And it was a very important point; Itachiyama had extended the lead to 2, making it difficult to catch up after that.
Miya Atsumu comforted Hinata: "It's okay, just work hard and you'll get it back."
Take a bold risk. I'm here, so don't be afraid.
A sentence got stuck in his throat.
Hinata opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing under Miya Atsumu's gaze.
He was panicking and couldn't help but cast a pleading look toward Kita Shinsuke in the waiting area.
But Kita Shinsuke was talking to Kumagai beside him and didn't look at him at all.
Oh no, Atsumu-senpai is getting a bit too worked up.