The height at which the volleyball fell was almost level with the highest point of the block.
But at this moment, Fukuda General's block did not press forward as a whole; instead, it extended upward to reach his ball.
Hinata's gaze shifted downward, looking past the block to Midorikawa, who had already moved forward to prepare for his line shot.
The Libero on the other side had already retreated to the right half of the court; considering the distance of the diving, it was practically certain that he could receive a ball landing in that large portion of the court.
A semi-super player, huh..
Information flashed through his mind in an instant, Hinata's spiking hand changed its motion at the very last moment.
If he couldn't spike it straight down, then he wouldn't spike it.
Without enough power to support him breaking through the opponent's back row defense, the optimal solution.. was actually to hit the ball out of bounds.
Eyes locked on Shiratori's fingers, the fingers adjusted the direction of the spike the moment they touched the volleyball.
With a crisp sound of impact, the volleyball hit Shiratori's ring finger with unerring precision.
The ball, which didn't have much power, bounced off Shiratori's fingers the moment they made contact, flying behind Hinata Shoyo with an exaggerated height and angle.
The volleyball flew over the sideline barrier and landed on the ground near the Inarizaki team flag.
Fukuda General's block went out of bounds, Inarizaki scores.
Miya Atsumu rushed to Hinata's side immediately, opening his arms toward him: "Great hit, Shoyo!"
Shiratori, who landed on the ground, glanced at his fingers.
Hinata Shoyo's power was such that even after that strike, his fingers didn't even turn red.
Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the two people who separated after their brief hug, Shiratori let out a soft sigh.
But that was precisely why this ability to judge the ball's trajectory after a spike.. seemed even more preposterous.
Standing by the sidelines, Coach Unabara raised a hand to stroke the stubble on his chin, a flash of shock crossing his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of gratification.
He chuckled. "So Atsumu will have moments like this too.."
Coach Hiya, who had just gone to confirm the follow-up arrangements for the finals with the women's volleyball representative, happened to return and immediately heard Unabara's remark: "What do you mean by that?"
Unabara Uta replied softly with two words: "Favoritism."
After chewing over those two words repeatedly, Unabara denied it himself: "It's not exactly that, it's just that the person he chooses is stable enough to shoulder the responsibility of opening up the game at any time. That's why it looks like favoritism."
“But in the end.. it's actually a rational choice.”
Coach Hiya also realized, "Ah, so it's what they call 'being a Spiker who can live up to such favoritism'?"
Coach Unabara nodded. "That's exactly what it means."
Miya Atsumu serves the second ball on the court.
Miya Atsumu's serve was once again timed to hit just in front of Kuroo's receiving position, but Midorikawa on the other side reacted extremely quickly, instantly moving to follow and receive the ball.
Fukuda General organizes a counterattack, Oori Ren follows up to touch the ball.
Shiratori's gaze fell on Hinata, who had rushed forward once again to execute a strong attack along the sideline.
Even with the pretext of an Ace in the back row, with Hinata's attacking angle, speed, that incredibly perfect height, it would be impossible for a Setter not to choose him.
Kiyoko stared at Hinata's movements, while simultaneously keeping part of her attention on Owari Aran in the back row.
After observing the close-range movements through an entire rotation, Hinata's habits had been sufficiently confirmed based on the video footage.
What he needs to do now is drop the fishing line, then..
The moment Hinata caught a flaw in the block and prepared to change his shot to a line, Shimizu, who was near the sideline, suddenly adjusted the angle of the block.
Bang!
Before Aran, who was almost in the back row, could even react, the ball had already been pressed down by Shimizu, falling straight back into Inarizaki's court.
Fukuda General scores on a block.
Aran immediately spoke up to take the blame: "My bad, my bad."
It was because he hadn't executed the counterattack properly; the ball itself wasn't fast, so he should have anticipated that it would be blocked.
Wiping the sweat that had already trickled down to his jawline, Hinata let out a soft breath.
It was his mistake; he didn't jump just now.
Across the net, Shimizu's eyes softened slightly and her brows furrowed gently; looking down at Hinata, her gaze was incredibly tender: "Good luck."
The encouragement was sincere, her looking down at him from above was also real.
Hinata's pupils contracted, for a moment, he felt a chill run down his spine.
It might not look like it, but this person.. in the first set of the first round of the National Sports Festival, he single-handedly shut down Ushijima-senpai's back-row spike.
His timing for blocking was so precise it was suffocating.
Fortunately, he would only face this person for a single brief moment, another Middle Blocker from Fukuda General was still within his current range of coverage.
Shimizu's serve was still quite powerful, but for Akagi, who was already used to it, responding was relatively easy: "Atsumu!"
Watching the way Shiratori followed up from the back row to receive the ball after the touch, Hirugami said softly from the stands, "I'm quite surprised."
Hoshiumi turned his head slightly. "What?"
Hirugami replied, "Shiratori-senpai and the others are in quite a passive position."
Hoshiumi, who understood instantly what Hirugami was trying to say, frowned as well: "Dealing with one type of play would be fine, but Inarizaki's various tricks are just too many."
—It's so many that it's almost nauseating.
Miya Atsumu once again sent the ball toward Hinata, who was moving to the wing for a strong attack: "Shoyo!"
Under Miya Atsumu's hint, Hinata Shoyo distanced himself from the net and executed a backhand spike into a short diagonal, forcefully snatching a point from beneath the iron wall on the opposite side.
Watching Hinata fall in his peripheral vision, Shiratori's smile gradually spread across his face.
In fact, their blocking didn't involve any special techniques.
It is simply a matter of breaking down what they practice daily and reassembling it in the appropriate way at the right moments to achieve maximum efficiency.
At most, it's just adding a little bit of intuition brought by experience, along with the predictive ability brought by thought.
It is actually the same for Hinata Shoyo.
It's just that the manifestation of this method.. is his almost instinctive offensive awareness.
The volleyball landed softly in Fukuda General's court, as Matsuda, who had already been drawn away to the back, failed to retreat in time.
Fukuda General 8:13 Inarizaki, the score gap had gradually widened to match Coach Kurosu's initial estimation.
Nice hit, Shoyo!
That was a beautiful tip! The feint was absolutely masterful!
Amatori Toru rubbed his chin in the stands. "I wonder if it's just my imagination."
After giving up the heavy use of quick attacks, has Hinata become more flexible in his choice of technical shots?
Iizuna nodded: "Yeah, the frequency of tips and shots has clearly increased."
Sakusa's voice rang out softly at this moment: "There is a gap in the opponents' defensive skills."
If they can be anticipated and saved, it becomes meaningless, so the correct approach when playing them is to pursue extreme ball speed.
At the very end, Komori gave a bitter smile.
Chapter 118 The One Hundred and Eighteenth Fox
“Shinsuke,” Coach Kurosu said, waving toward the waiting area to call Kita Shinsuke over, “You're subbing in for Shoyo during his service game.”
He patted the seat beside him, gesturing for Kita to sit down: "With Aran there, just focus on your defense. If necessary, set the ball to Atsumu for a spike."
Kita Shinsuke took the sign with number 17 from Coach Kurosu: "Understood."
He was very familiar with the process of defending a lead; in essence, it was a process of covering for teammates' mistakes and minimizing the probability of losing points.
Of course, this was also what he was best at.
On the court, Ginjima Yui prepared to serve, Aran also moved to Position 4 in the front row.
Looking at Oori Ren beside him, then at Aran next to him, Hinata quickly raised his hand to make a gesture to Aran, then pointed at himself.
Aran slightly raised an eyebrow and glanced at Miya Atsumu, only returning an OK after finding that he had no reaction.
Hinata was clearly even more excited, the look in his eyes when he turned to look at Miya Atsumu held a hint of smugness in his eagerness to try.
Across the net, Shiratori leaned forward to look at Hinata, attempting to use mind reading to figure out what Inarizaki was planning to do.
However, the opponent's thoughts were simply too erratic, to the point that.. I couldn't guess them at all.
Shiratori's smile deepened.
Noticing Shiratori's gaze, Hinata turned his head toward him and gave an unconscious smile.
Meeting that gaze, the smile on Shiratori's face froze instantly, he shifted his gaze away, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Kuroo-senpai looking at him with a look of utter disdain.
Those eyes seemed to be asking him—can you actually do it or not?
The veins on his forehead throbbed. Shiratori raised his hand and pushed Kuroo's hand away. "Let's play steadily; let's get used to the opponent's rhythm first."
Kuroo looked even more disgusted: "Tsk."
He retreated to his position, taking a deep breath to adjust his state.
Indeed, considering the offensive capabilities of both sides, this score gap will be very difficult to close. The real priority now is to use the remaining time to properly adapt to Inarizaki's rhythm.
Ginjima's serve flew over the net and slammed down, but Matsuda, who had already retreated to the edge, lowered his center of gravity and received the ball steadily.
It's so touching. Compared to something like Miya Atsumu's Dual Wielding Jump Float Serve with overwhelming power.. this is just too gentle.
Shiratori-senpai!
After a quick glance at the positioning of the opponents across the net, Shiratori used this posture to spike the ball down with one hand.
Akagi was startled, but fortunately, Hinata's reaction was incredibly fast, he immediately extended his legs to dig the ball.