—He could probably score several points just by serving, couldn't he?
After lying on the desk with eyes squinted for a long time, Amatori Toru suddenly sat up straight.
While Iizuna was lost in thought over a math problem, Amatori's hand reached out again, while slapping the table haphazardly, he accidentally swept Iizuna's workbook onto the floor.
Just as Iizuna was about to lose his temper, Amatori had already handed over the tablet: "Inarizaki, Inarizaki—"
Iizuna struggled to suppress his anger: "You'd better say something serious."
Amatori's eyes lit up as he struggled to find the right words: "Exactly! Inarizaki has actually become serious!"
After carefully wiping down his own workbook, Iizuna took Amatori's tablet with a hint of suspicion.
Agatsuma Soushi, who had been struggling with a four-character idiom question for ten minutes, also poked his head out to look at the images on the tablet.
After staring at the screen for about ten minutes, the three people, who had previously remained silent, began to look at each other after Hinata and Aran executed a standard tiered attack in coordination.
"Mm." Iizuna put down the tablet.
"Mm." Amatori blinked.
"Hmm.." Agatsuma thought seriously.
The two of them looked at Agatsuma, hoping he would say something.
After a long silence, Agatsuma said three words: "Very standard."
Amatori finally couldn't suppress his urge to complain: "No, why has Inarizaki started playing so predictably?"
If you've got the guts, don't use all those flashy tricks when you play against us! Just use conventional tactics!
Iizuna crossed his hands on the table: "Hinata's movements have become cleaner, his tactical execution speed is faster than before."
And the frequency of converting successful overall defense into points is higher than before, which means.. the overall defense has become stronger.
Even though these videos will be watched sooner or later, knowing a step ahead that Inarizaki still has an advantage in practicing their fundamentals is certainly helpful.
They should also work on strengthening their defensive blocking later, practicing central blocking like Fukuda General and Karasuno; it will definitely come in handy.
Agatsuma nodded. "Yeah."
Amatori looked at Agatsuma with a serious expression. "What do you mean 'mm'? Complain about those bastards from Inarizaki!"
Agatsuma nodded again: "Alright."
The two stared at each other for three minutes, in the end, not a single word was spoken.
Iizuna smiled at Amatori, while Amatori lay face down on the table, declaring defeat.
On the other side, Inarizaki had quickly taken the match 2-0.
The scores for the two sets were 25:19 and 25:17, both of which showed a significant point gap.
Even if they switched to a conventional playstyle, Inarizaki's sharpness would not diminish in the slightest; in fact, because their defense would be correspondingly strengthened, they would lose even fewer points than before.
As he was packing up his things to head back, Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu: "This way of playing feels very effortless."
Atsumu gave a light laugh. "Of course, this is the most effortless, most standardized way to play."
Of course, if they master it, they will be invincible.
Unfortunately, they still lack sufficient defensive strength at the moment, which means they still struggle whenever they encounter a team with strong offensive capabilities.
Hinata continued to press for answers, "How was my first receive this time?"
Miya Atsumu nodded, "You've improved a lot."
Watching Hinata bouncing forward to go find the coach, Miya Atsumu couldn't help but laugh.
"Great receive" and all that.. he had already said it to Hinata countless times on the court.
——There will be more in the future.
Suna clicked his tongue: "How disgusting."
It was a pity Miya Osamu wasn't there; otherwise, someone would have had something in common with him.
Matou Yukimaru, who was still on the sidelines, frowned: "Inarizaki doesn't plan on playing like this forever, do they?"
How did he remember that even without Miya Osamu, Inarizaki played so wildly in the finals of the National Sports Festival?
Wakamura expressed disdain for this: "How is that possible? They are the Foxes; they only play conservatively when they are absolutely certain of victory."
I bet they won't be making such faces when they face them in the finals..
Chapter 134: The One Hundred Thirty-Fourth Fox
Inarizaki's first day of matches went without any surprises, winning both matches 2-0.
After showering and returning to the room, Hinata approached Miya Atsumu with height-growing milk in hand.
Watching Miya Atsumu scrolling through something on his tablet, he asked in confusion, "Atsumu-senpai, what are you watching?"
Miya Atsumu tilted his head to the side, allowing Hinata to see his screen clearly: "I'm watching the footage of Municipal Kobe; that match they played against Itachiyama during this year's Interhigh."
Hinata leaned forward and sat down beside Miya Atsumu: "I remember Wakamura-senpai seems to be very good at conventional tactical coordination."
Yeah.." Looking down at Hinata's hair, which he had already managed to wipe halfway dry, Atsumu withdrew his gaze before Hinata could look over, "Wakamura-senpai is indeed only good at that.
Recalling the match they had watched while sitting by the sidelines, Hinata raised his hand to mimic the motion of pushing up glasses. "I remember.. that senior with the glasses, his Quick Attack was really good, wasn't it?"
But speaking of Wakamura-senpai's expertise in standard tactics, now that I think about it, he mostly played Back Quick and Flat Quick Attacks in Position 2.
"Yeah, but things are a bit different now." Miya Atsumu reached out and dragged the progress bar, sliding it directly to the end of the first set.
He extended a finger and pointed at number 5, who was preparing for a position 1 receive: "This Kanzaki Hirohiko is a first-year ace, he is very skilled at both position 1 and position 4 receives."
His presence wasn't that high during the IH Qualifiers, but in this tournament, he is essentially the main offensive force for Municipal Kobe.
Hinata raised his hands to simulate a blocking motion: "When facing this kind of back-row attack, you have to try to press forward as much as possible during the block, right?"
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Yeah, it's a matter of the ball's trajectory. The probability of a back-row attack completely beating the block is low, after all, the reaction time for blocking is longer."
Also, while pressing forward to kill the ball, you must, must minimize the distance between your two arms as much as possible. This guy is quite skilled at exploiting gaps in the block.
After saying that, he continued playing the video, showing Hinata how Municipal Kobe snatched points from Itachiyama.
A penetrating back-row attack spiked right through the middle of Amatori's arms, the ball carrying a side-spin as it instantly flew through the gap between his arms, which had been too far apart.
Because of the contact with the block, the volleyball lost control and flew completely out of the reach of Komori's back-row save.
Hinata immediately caught the point: "This.. does it have spin?"
"Correct." Miya Atsumu nodded, then after exiting, he pulled up a video shot from a closer angle, which seemed to have been filmed by someone zooming in with a phone from the sidelines.
After slowing down the speed, Kanzaki's spike became quite clear; it was a very obvious spin created by striking the side of the volleyball.
Hinata was stunned: "Ah, that, I practiced it with Sakusa-senpai before."
—Actually, it was something he summarized himself after watching the referee observe from a close distance.
But immediately after, Hinata noticed something confusing: "Won't that kind of movement be called a double hit?"
He spikes it directly, whereas this Number 5 essentially brushes the ball away, much like a tennis stroke.
Miya Atsumu shook his head. "Spikers hit the ball very fast. It's not quite at the level of a whistle-hit, but adding this kind of spin during the set makes it easier to blow the whistle on."
Hinata asked immediately, "Then can I try?"
After thinking it over seriously, Miya Atsumu replied, "I wouldn't recommend it. If you're not proficient, people will still criticize you."
Noticing the disappointment in the person beside him, Miya Atsumu added, "We can practice privately later."
Unfortunately, he has to move back after his match tomorrow.
However, Hinata was in class at the volleyball clinic, so he didn't have much opportunity anyway.
Suppressing Hinata's restless heart, Miya Atsumu pulled out another video: "And this, their other first-year Ace."
The moment the reddish-brown highlights appeared in his field of vision, Hinata froze: "This person.. he didn't seem this strong during the Interhigh qualifiers?"
At that time, the impression she gave him was that her receiving was very solid, but it was nowhere near as decisive as that video just now.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Hanae Akari, number 4. She underwent a complete transformation during the Interhigh. She completely got rid of her previous tendency to hesitate, her receives are now decisive and stable."
She is very strong; she was last year's Best Libero in the Interhigh Junior High. Coach Kurosu wanted to scout her but failed, so he settled for Unabara instead.
Hinata's expression suddenly turned serious.
—If he's even stronger than Unabara Uta, the best Libero of this generation, then he must be incredibly amazing.
Miya Atsumu leaned back slightly. "But you've already played against Komori and Yaku, so there's nothing to fear."
Hinata nodded vigorously: "Understood!"
Indeed, once I thought of Gen-senpai.. I suddenly felt that no Libero was scary anymore.
Miya Atsumu stood up and casually took the wet towel from Hinata's neck: "I'm going to take a shower first. If there's anything you want to watch, find it yourself."
"Okay." Hinata drank the last sip of his milk and eagerly began exploring the Municipal Kobe videos Miya Atsumu had saved.
Even though that's what he said, he still had to take it seriously.
Municipal Kobe had reached the national top eight two months ago, their overall strength was comparable to Shiratorizawa. Meanwhile, their starter, Miya Osamu, was still unavailable, it would be quite embarrassing if they were to suffer an unexpected defeat.
Their opponent tomorrow morning is Ashiya Ikuei High School, there is indeed a huge gap between them and Municipal Kobe. The coach doesn't even plan to let him play, wanting to let Rishia go up to get some practice in.
So Hinata could just focus all of his attention on Municipal Kobe.
After watching all the clips of Miya Atsumu's individual plays, Hinata decided to observe Matou's blocking once more.
As he began to doze off, Miya Atsumu also returned carrying some height-growing milk.
Reaching out to pat Hinata's head, Miya Atsumu said softly, "Go to sleep."
—He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.
They played two matches today and even did some extra practice together after returning to Inarizaki, so it's quite normal for them to be sleepy.
Get some good rest, tomorrow, go and claim the tickets that belong to them.
Seeing Miya Atsumu still planning to continue watching the video, Hinata, who had already curled up under the covers, poked his head out and asked, "Aren't you sleeping, Atsumu-senpai?"
It was already quite late; although the gymnasium where the match was held wasn't particularly far, they still had to wake up early to report to the Volleyball Club.