Komori stepped forward, diving to save the ball.
The strongest Libero called out to the starting Setter countless times: "Captain!"
Iizuna stepped up quickly, raising his hand to send the ball to Amatori.
That was a poor set; compared to technical plays, the power-based attacking style is definitely easier to execute.
Amatori took a deep breath and poured all his strength into spiking the ball.
Akagi dove forward, digging the ball back into the court with a back set: "Atsumu!"
Seeing the ball being misdirected, Coach Omimi below the court also grew nervous: "Cover! Cover!"
Hinata grabbed Agatsuma Soushi and jumped at the 2.5 position, while on the other side, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to set the ball to Suna.
Bang!
A heavy thud rang in Hinata's ears. As he descended, the ball spiked by Suna on the other side was blocked back by Amatori and Inamura working together.
The moment he landed, Hinata immediately lowered his body and dove to the side.
Touching the ball with one hand, Hinata took the initiative to strike it hard: "Atsumu-senpai!"
Landing on his side, he reached out to brace himself against the ground to force a stop, preventing himself from interfering with Suna and Miya Osamu as they moved forward.
The moment Miya Atsumu touched the ball, he sent it back in a back set, sending the volleyball to the standard position for a back-row attack.
Even without Hinata, they could still execute negative-tempo quick attacks.
The moment he spiked, Miya Osamu felt that things were looking a bit bad.
Unless Suna was covering for him, it was obvious that the back-row quick attack Miya Atsumu was coordinating with him was a bit too fast.
Without Hinata's interference, Agatsuma moved steadily in front of Miya Osamu, forming a three-man block alongside the other members of Itachiyama.
But this ball didn't leave Miya Osamu much time to think; he could only rely on instinct to spike the ball, but unfortunately, it hit the block head-on.
The volleyball suddenly dropped back toward Inarizaki's side, but because of the initial spin, its trajectory was somewhat unpredictable.
In the end.. Suna pulled back the hand he had prepared to save the ball.
The Itachiyama block went out of bounds, Inarizaki scored.
Looking at the ball that had landed at his feet, Miya Osamu suddenly looked up at Agatsuma Soushi on the other side of the net.
It wasn't his hallucination; Itachiyama seemed to have slowed down.
It wasn't even an intentional slowdown, but rather.. an unconscious deceleration caused by the gradual depletion of stamina.
The moment he realized this, the nerve that had been taut in Miya Osamu's mind suddenly relaxed.
Hinata's energetic cheers still echoed in his ears, from the other side, Miya Atsumu's voice drifted in, but he couldn't hear what was being said.
Osamu let out a long breath, the moment he locked eyes with the frowning Agatsuma Soushi, his eyebrows twitched slightly.
Miya Osamu, who had been worn down by Agatsuma Soushi during the IH, felt the frustration in his heart completely dissipate, his face, which had been somewhat different from Atsumu's due to its excessive calmness, now wore an identical smile.
You lost.
Pursing his lips, Agatsuma's voice sounded low: "Itachiyama won't lose."
He admitted that he had been a little startled just now.
Perhaps it was because Atsumu's brilliance was too dazzling, combined with the new sun rising over Inarizaki, that they subconsciously overlooked Miya Osamu, who had been busy performing various supporting tasks throughout the entire process.
He suddenly remembered just now, these two.. are twins.
Glancing sideways at the scoreboard, Miya Osamu gave an noncommittal response to Agatsuma.
Inarizaki 22:23 Itachiyama, they can still fight.
Sakusa scored by tooling the block, Itachiyama reached set point, but Inarizaki quickly fought back to tie the score at 23:24.
Akagi subbed out, Oori Ren served, Inarizaki substituted Rishia Heisuke in.
Rishia's serve was heavy and powerful, the controlled placement was equally tricky.
Komori dove toward the center: "I've got it!"
"Inamura!" Iizuna passed the ball to the setter-opposite Inamura Gen, who was attacking from Position 4.
Inamura, who also specialized in technical plays, once again executed a beautiful short diagonal, smashing the ball over the block to a spot just a step away from Miya Osamu.
Kita Shinsuke quickly followed up, receiving the ball with one hand: "Atsumu!"
Miya Osamu looked up, gazing at Agatsuma Soushi, who was quietly observing them from the center of the front row.
Hinata had already retreated behind the three-meter line in the center, seemingly preparing to take a running approach for a quick attack.
On the other side, Suna had also moved to Position 4; the two of them staggered their timing, one in front of the other, preparing for a Double Quick.
Exchanging a glance with Kita Shinsuke, Rishia Heisuke and Miya Osamu stepped forward almost simultaneously, filling the last two gaps across the net.
Like falling musical notes, they leapt up in staggered succession.
Inamura Gen felt a sudden numbness creeping across his scalp.
Crazy, Inarizaki is simply crazy.
No Libero, you don't even have an extra defensive player staying back?!
Miya Atsumu stared at the volleyball falling from above, the sound of everyone's footsteps rushing forward sounding almost like war drums, driving his heart to beat faster.
The setter is the brain, the heart; the spikers are the arms, the extension of the setter's will.
He had never felt his setting to be this free, as if he possessed three heads and six arms.
The smile on his face was undisguised, but in Amatori's eyes, it looked utterly crazed.
Inarizaki goes all in.
So, King.. are you going to call?
Agatsuma held his hands in front of his chest and jumped up without hesitation, facing Hinata.
Why, why not follow?
Competition is, in its own way, a battle without smoke; one either emerges draped in glory, or is left with nothing.
Miya Atsumu's hand made contact with the volleyball, after applying force, his whole body followed through with the motion.
He didn't give this ball to anyone.
The volleyball flew over the net and over the block, falling slowly yet irresistibly into Itachiyama's court.
—Second Attack.
A black-haired shadow lunged from the back row, fingers sliding under the ball, forcibly lifting the height of the volleyball.
Komori's heart, which had nearly leaped out of his throat, was suddenly forced back down, he hurriedly stepped forward to try and make amends: "Great save! Sakusa!"
Seeing that he was about to step on Sakusa's hand, Agatsuma was forced to land on only one foot.
Having lost his footing, he collided with Sakusa, who was just about to get up. The two of them fell together, nearly tripping Amatori Toru, who was on the other side preparing to spike the ball.
"Tsk." Miya Atsumu's expression was foul.
Itachiyama's defensive power.. it's practically cheating.
Inarizaki's back-row defense was incredibly weak because everyone had moved up to attack. Miya Osamu didn't retreat in time, because he wasn't fully prepared, he failed to dig the ball.
The whistle blew, the score jumped to Inarizaki 23:25 Itachiyama, with the overall score tied at 1:1.
By the sidelines, Shiratori Natsume sighed with a hint of regret, "A king is still a king after all."
Shimizu Kanata crossed her arms over her chest, looking down helplessly as she said, " 'Grit' and 'skill' coexist."
That's it.. a King is a King.
Kuroo Rei glanced at both sides of the players who had returned to the vicinity of the coaches, said noncommittally regarding Kiyoko's words, "But Inarizaki has both of those, don't they?"
Shiratori let out a soft breath.
It's the deciding set.
Author's Note:
Atsumu: What kind of spike was that?
Osamu.. Just tell me if we scored or not.
Atsumu: That was a gift from the other side.
Osamu: Just tell me if you scored or not.
Chapter 109: The One Hundredth Fox
Amatori crossed his arms over his chest, feeling like his head was about to explode: "How are we going to play the next set?"
Iizuna's response was quick, without any hesitation: "There's no need to make special adjustments; let's stick with S1."
Even if it's a war of attrition, it's not just us being worn down; it's the same for Inarizaki. If we give up, wouldn't all our previous efforts have been in vain?
Sitting on the coach's bench, Agatsuma lowered his eyes. "Mm.. he can run a lot."
It wasn't just a matter of stamina regarding one-on-one blocks; the main issue was that the others couldn't manage that playstyle, which was practically a surprise attack.
Even though he was watching him so closely, Hinata's contribution to the team over these two sets was still incredibly high.
Letting them go like this would allow Inarizaki to unleash a strong Spiker, making it even harder for them to play against.
After a long silence, Iizuna-senpai suddenly raised his hand and patted Amatori Toru on the shoulder: "Listen to me, in the next set, throw your brain out the window and just aim for Miya Osamu."
Amatori blanked for a moment. "Miya Osamu?"
His brain had completely shut down, making his reaction a bit slow; it wasn't until he asked the question himself that he realized the goal was to suppress the Double Quick through spiking.
“We won't target Aran; let Komori handle him,” Iizuna-senpai said decisively. “As long as we can suppress Miya Osamu, with Agatsuma restraining Hinata in the front row, we can eliminate the possibility of the opposition using a Double Quick.”
As for why they hadn't done that before, it was obviously because Miya Osamu had been in quite good form until then.
As a key defensive pillar for Inarizaki, Miya Osamu's receiving and digging skills even surpassed the liberos of many teams in this tournament, making it highly likely that they would intentionally target him with sets.
But everyone was well aware that Miya Osamu was ill; at the end of the last set, Miya Osamu's reaction speed when coordinating with the attack had clearly slowed down.