Chapter 157: The One Hundred and Fifty-Seventh Fox
Watching Kageyama deliver the ball precisely into Hinata's hands as he jumped, the two of them coordinated a brilliant Quick Attack, Coach Washijo nodded.
The thing Unabara Uta emphasized actually included this Quick Attack; last time, they had only seen it on the surveillance footage.
This time, I saw it in person, it was even more skillful than before.
You can tell they have been practicing their coordination quite a bit over the last few days, their speed is incredibly fast.
After handing the camera to the volunteering Wase Eita, Coach Saito returned to Coach Washijo's side: "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Kageyama and Hinata seem to coordinate their quick attacks a bit faster than Miya Atsumu?"
Inarizaki's negative rhythm quick attack was indeed fast, but from what he could see right now, Kageyama's setting seemed even more decisive?
Coach Washijo was not surprised by this question: "Right now, Hinata is completely dominating. Kageyama doesn't need to think too much; he just needs to confirm the set and deliver the ball."
Miya Atsumu has much more to consider, he will even occasionally give Hinata more difficult sets, such as hinting for him to spike with his left hand.
After pondering for a moment, Coach Washijo pointed out the most important point: "Furthermore, Kageyama's setting has more power than Miya Atsumu's. The entire setting process can be compressed to the shortest possible time, especially with this kind of Line Attack."
If one were to pursue speed alone, then pure straight balls that go directly through the spiker's hitting point would inevitably be stronger.
But Inarizaki doesn't play that way very often now; after all, their opponents possess blockers on the level of Karasuno's Shirabu, making simple straight passes too easy to be intercepted by a block.
Just like..
Tendo Makoto, on the court, accurately predicted Hinata's movement; the arm that had originally been blocking directly in front suddenly traced an arc in mid-air, blocking the other side.
With a loud thud, the volleyball was blocked straight back, falling onto the court.
Shiratorizawa scores.
Saito marveled slightly, "I think guessing the block is quite useful when facing a sudden attack like this."
Unfortunately, Kawanishi's intuition wasn't as sharp as Tendo's, his ability to read people's intentions hadn't reached that level, so.. he was still quite far off.
But the upside was that Kawanishi himself played very well when following up on blocks, switching between the two modes with even more flexibility.
The first-year players on the court interrupted Ohira Shion's service turn, the serve passed to Rishia Heisuke.
"Give it your best, Heisuke!" Hinata cheered for Rishia Heisuke.
Meanwhile, Rishia Heisuke, who had stepped up to the service line, was also working hard to adjust his condition.
As Inarizaki's current key server, he must focus on improving his serve to bring points to the team during critical moments.
Coincidentally, his recent serves have been feeling quite good, so..
His gaze locked onto Kawanishi Taichi on the opposite side, the moment the whistle blew, he raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
With a four-step approach at maximum distance, he then leaped with a heavy thud less than ten centimeters from the baseline.
The high tossed ball landed precisely at the hitting point after the jump.
Just like the posture of someone preparing to spike after a running jump, his entire body formed a C-shape, extending his arms as much as possible to prepare for maximum power.
With a loud bang, the volleyball suddenly soared over the net and smashed into the opponent's court.
But the ball's speed was too high, causing it to lose some control, it ultimately landed nearly half a meter in front of the baseline.
A somewhat misshapen volleyball bounced up and finally rolled back to Miya Atsumu's feet.
“Tsk, failed.” He clicked his tongue.
Hanae stood by the court and asked Miya Atsumu, "Atsumu-senpai, what are you practicing?"
Miya Atsumu took another ball out of the crate, spun it in his hand, then replied softly, "A secret weapon."
Before Hanae could say anything else, Miya Atsumu's next words reached him.
You're not allowed to look.
I told you it was a secret weapon, so why do some people have absolutely no self-awareness?
Looking at the crowded court, Hanae fell silent.
If he doesn't want him to watch, he shouldn't practice here; if he just brings a stool over to watch from the side, no one is going to come and drag him away.
The two stared at each other for ten seconds before Hanae shrugged his hands. "It's uncomfortable for Senpai to practice all by himself, so let me try receiving it."
That's right, if you're going to learn someone's secrets, you should do it openly.
He wanted to see exactly what changes Miya Atsumu was planning to make to his serve.
Anyway, their team practice has been postponed to 2:30 today; word is they're planning to organize a practice match without changing positions.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he was going to probe Atsumu-senpai's true abilities.
Miya Atsumu narrowed his eyes: "Hanae, Wakamura-senpai has corrupted you."
He had also faced Hanae in junior high; back then, he was an honest child, so why was he acting so brazen now?
Seeing that Hanae had no intention of leaving, Miya Atsumu gave up: "I'm not going to help you if you get sent flying."
To be honest, every single person present was a future enemy of his, he had seen everything he was supposed to see and everything he wasn't; it made no difference whether there was one more or one less.
And.. knowing doesn't mean you can actually receive it.
Oikawa Tooru, who was drenched in sweat from practicing jump serves, sat down directly by the side of the court: "What kind of serve? Let me see it too."
But.. with that little strength of yours, you think you can pull off a flying spike?
Miya Atsumu's approach steps faltered, he turned around, returning the ball into the hoop.
He walked up to Oikawa Tooru step by step, looking down at Oikawa Tooru, who was looking at him with a provocative smile: "Let's have a contest to see who has more strength."
On the other side, Hoshiumi, who was still practicing hand tosses against the wall, froze for a moment, then quickly tossed the ball toward the hoop and turned around to pull his phone out of the jacket he had placed by the wall.
Meanwhile, Hoshiumi, who loved to stir up trouble, moved a chair between the two at lightning speed. "Come on, arm wrestling!"
"Why are you so eager?" Miya Atsumu's mouth twitched.
Komori also pulled Sakusa over: "Are we having an arm-wrestling competition?"
With a slight raise of his eyebrows, Miya Atsumu sat down on the edge of the chair and beckoned to Hoshiumi Hinata. "Come on, come on, you suggested this, so you go first."
Hoshiumi Hinata tilted his head, rolled up his non-existent sleeves, walked over. "You'd better think this through, I am a Spiker, after all."
It's not like he hasn't faced Miya Atsumu's block before; he's broken through it several times, okay? A mere arm wrestling match—he's bound to win.
Oikawa Tooru stepped back to make room for Hoshiumi, Komori naturally took Hoshiumi's phone to continue recording.
"Record the moment of my victory!" Hoshiumi had already imagined the moment of his victory.
Miya Atsumu gave a mysterious smile, placing his hand down with full confidence: "Come on, come on."
The two of them moved into their ready positions, once Oikawa Tooru, sitting to the side, confirmed that both were poised and ready, he clapped his hands loudly: "Start!"
The muscles in his arms tightened instantly, the veins in his wrists became clearly visible with the exertion.
Both Hoshiumi and Miya Atsumu had fierce expressions on their faces; it was clear they were straining with all their might.
After less than half a minute of stalemate, the scales of victory slowly tipped in Miya Atsumu's favor.
The next second, as Hoshiumi's expression became even more contorted, with a loud thud, Miya Atsumu completely pinned him down.
Komori Motoya announced the result: "Alright, Miya Atsumu is the winner!"
Hoshiumi looked at his trembling hands, feeling completely incredulous.
He.. actually lost an arm wrestling match to Miya Atsumu?!
Is this reasonable? This can't be reasonable!
After returning the phone to Hoshiumi and watching Hoshiumi delete the video just now, Komori sat across from Miya Atsumu with a smile. "Let me, let me."
He still had a little bit of confidence in his strength; he shouldn't lose to Miya Atsumu!
Oikawa Tooru clapped his hands again, signaling the start.
After another half-minute of stalemate, Miya Atsumu once again overwhelmed his opponent.
"Alright, Miya Atsumu wins," Oikawa Tooru announced the result of the match.
Having lost, Komori immediately looked at Sakusa: "Seihai!"
While Sakusa was trying to make an excuse, Komori had already pulled out some wet wipes from somewhere and wiped Miya Atsumu's hands from top to bottom.
Then, under Sakusa's somewhat shocked gaze, he looked up: "We're going to practice again in a bit anyway, we can't take a shower until tonight, so it's fine to compare a little, right?"
“……” Sakusa remained silent, eventually sitting down opposite Miya Atsumu.
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu was still staring in shock at his hand, which had been wiped clean.
What happened? Why was he suddenly wiping his hands for him? And it was so fast, he didn't react at all!
"Come on." Sakusa placed his arm on it.
Oikawa Tooru clapped for the third time: "Start!"
Sakusa's defeat was even faster than Komori's, Miya Atsumu, having achieved three consecutive wins, was practically beaming with pride.
"A complete victory!" Miya Atsumu's confidence was through the roof.
The strength training he had been doing for the past two months had not been in vain; the results were very significant!
He looked at the little Libero who was watching the excitement: "Hanae, are you coming?"
Knowing full well that his own strength was extremely limited, Hanae waved his hands repeatedly. "Count me out, I'll just watch."
If I arm wrestle with these people, my arms are going to break!
Seeing that no one else wanted to step up and challenge him, Miya Atsumu turned his sights on Oikawa Tooru: "Come on, Oikawa-senpai, you're the only one left."
Excellent, he is going to defeat Oikawa Tooru right here!
The two were ready, sparks practically flew as their eyes met.
High School's Strongest Setter and the dark horse setter who took down Shiratorizawa sat facing each other, war about to erupt.
Komori clapped his hands: "Start!"
Not even half a second had passed since the announcement to begin when a loud clap rang out.
Oikawa Tooru had already pinned Miya Atsumu to the floor with an expressionless face, making the whole process as easy as drinking water.