Kuroo sat down in the stands, holding his bento: "Inarizaki's match is about to start."
Kenma opened a bag of bread and quietly watched the match on the court as well: "Mm."
Their match is in the afternoon, there is still a long time before it begins.
Although there was still quite a bit of time left, they needed to allow time for digestion, so they had to eat in advance.
Among the matches for the four top seeds, only Itachiyama's match has finished so far, Shirabu's match against Fukuda General is also scheduled for this afternoon.
Listening to the music of Inarizaki, Kenma suddenly realized why the venue had felt strangely quiet yesterday.
Because.. Inarizaki has no match, Shiratorizawa, which is of the same scale, did not advance.
However, he himself wouldn't be affected by Inarizaki's cheering, but it was hard to say for Lev and the others.
Looking at the two teams already standing on opposite sides of the net, Kenma was not surprised: "So Shoyo is playing on the right wing after all?"
Although Hinata played as the Opposite when Miya Osamu was sick before, the Opposite position requires enough offensive power to break through, with Hinata's current strength level, he is not yet able to master it perfectly.
And if Hinata's own claim is true—that his receiving skills have improved—then playing on the right wing would also be a good option.
Please look forward to playing with us!!
Having already replaced the middle blocker to take the court, Hanae stared at Hinata, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.
He knew that saying Municipal Kobe was a guaranteed victory wasn't actually realistic, so.. winning just one set would be enough.
At the very least, he must ensure the seniors don't graduate with a record of zero wins.
To this end, he must become the team's most solid support.
Miya Atsumu served first. Facing the Inarizaki banner, Miya Atsumu took six steps forward, then turned around to look at the Municipal Kobe team.
The once-boisterous stands fell silent almost instantly, many of the passing spectators followed suit, falling silent as well.
Hanae said in a low voice, "Power Serve."
It can certainly be confirmed as a Power Serve, but it's hard to say whether Miya Atsumu might have added some spin to it.
But.. Miya Atsumu had also performed actions that confused these steps before, it seemed he had also practiced this during his time with the Junior National Team.
Miya Atsumu's approach is essentially three steps; the only difference is the stride length of the two types of jump serves.
If one put in the effort there.. they could indeed be combined.
—That substitute setter from Inarizaki did exactly that.
As they waited for Miya Atsumu to serve, Hanae's expression twisted slightly.
After all, why has Dual Wield become a Setter's essential skill for Inarizaki!
Kenma stared intently at Miya Atsumu, Yaku, beside him, couldn't help but stop eating.
Take a look and see what the serve of High School's Best Setter looks like now..
But to Hanae's surprise, Miya Atsumu's ball had undergone no change; it was a straightforward, heavy, fast Power Serve.
Without any float, it meant there would be no loss of power in the serve itself.
All the power was concentrated into the ball's speed, so fast that.. it was impossible to react in time.
Relying on his body's instinctive reaction at its physical limit, Hanae barely managed to touch the ball, but he couldn't control it, causing the ball to fly out of bounds.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
Watching the Inarizaki members on the opposite side already cheering, Hanae Akari completely failed to snap out of it.
It wasn't his hallucination; Miya Atsumu's serve speed had indeed become faster than before, especially in terms of power.
As his gaze swept over Oikawa, who was standing by the sidelines with his arms crossed watching, an absurd thought entered Hanae's mind.
—Atsumu-senpai wouldn't have gone back to training his strength just because he lost an arm-wrestling match to Oikawa-senpai, would he!
Chapter 166: The One Hundred and Sixty-Sixth Fox
Hanae Akari patted her own face and took a deep breath.
Before Wakamura could offer words of comfort, he had already shouted, "The next ball will definitely be no problem!"
That shout startled Kanzaki, who was standing nearby: "You.. why are you so energetic today?"
They're both first years, so why is he the one being so incredibly nervous?
Hanae didn't even look at him: "Don't talk, I'm nervous."
Kanzaki's expression almost cracked.
Is he nervous? Why can't he tell!
Watching Miya Atsumu take his six-step approach and turn to settle into position once again, Hanae silently spread his legs and lowered his center of gravity to prepare.
Miya Atsumu has a bad habit; he loves to use a power serve to pressure the Libero when he has the upper hand.
This also meant that in this situation, he actually didn't need to make any large-scale movements; he only needed to focus on the ball's trajectory, control his body, successfully absorb the impact.
Hanae's face was filled with seriousness.
When he was in the Junior National Team, he practiced with Oikawa-senpai for a long time, now he can even receive Oikawa-senpai's power serves!
What's a mere power serve from Miya Atsumu!
Opposite him, Miya Atsumu raised a hand to rub his nose, feeling a bit itchy and wanting to sneeze.
—That jerk Osamu must be talking behind my back.
Miya Osamu rolled his eyes at him.
The referee glanced at Miya Atsumu, who was glaring at Miya Osamu, blew the whistle, raising his hand to signal the serve.
Coach Kurosu, standing by the sidelines, remained expressionless; he simply watched silently as Miya Atsumu regained his focus, then called for the Inarizaki cheer to stop.
Tossing the ball in his hands, then spinning it on his fingertips, Miya Atsumu delayed the toss.
Across the net, Hanae broke into a cold sweat in an instant.
The feeling of a guillotine hanging over one's head, ready to fall at any moment, is absolute torture.
As Miya Atsumu counted down in his head, Hanae was doing the same.
Normally, if someone decides to stall for time to launch a surprise attack, they usually wait until the very last second.
But the moment Hanae reached "7," Miya Atsumu on the other side moved.
Hanae was completely stunned, but the sound of Miya Atsumu hitting the ball rang out immediately after.
In an instant, the volleyball flew over the net, heading straight for Hanae.
Kuroo felt a bit nauseous: "This is so disgusting—"
Fortunately, Miya Atsumu's ball was still aimed at the Libero, so even though Hanae didn't react in time, he didn't need to make much of an adjustment to his position.
After exerting all his effort to lower his center of gravity, Hanae made contact with the ball on the front of his arms.
The moment he made contact with the volleyball, his whole body was pushed back slightly by the force of the ball, but his incredibly stable center of gravity supported him, preventing him from falling, it was a near-perfect dissipation of force.
The ball soared high, falling toward Wakamura's head.
What a great first receive!
Yaku's eyes widened. "That was amazing."
As a libero of a similarly small stature, he certainly knew exactly how much finesse was required to deflect a force several times his own.
Being able to master this skill so proficiently, Hanae truly lived up to his reputation as a Libero who could be selected for the Junior National Team in his first year.
Hanae stood up full of confidence, a heartfelt, smug smile on his face.
See! Atsumu-senpai's serve is nothing!
Kanzaki's back-row attack was precisely positioned by Suna, who touched it: "Touch."
Akagi stepped forward slightly, using his hands to pop the ball up: "Good touch!"
Miya Atsumu jumped in place, while Aran was already in the back row, preparing to move forward for a spike.
Suna, who had just performed a block, also retreated and used the momentum to take a running start, preparing for a three-person block.
Tosaka felt like her head was exploding. Not only that, but in her entire field of vision, two guys on both sides of the net had already jumped.
"Give me the ball!!" Hinata shouted.
The light sound of contact rang in his ears as the volleyball was sent toward Inarizaki's Position 4.
This also means—Hinata is a decoy.
The volleyball flew past Suna, looking as if it were about to reach Miya Osamu's hands.
Wakamura and Tosaka jumped almost simultaneously to prepare for the block, but Wakamura, lacking sufficient height, was clearly a head shorter after jumping, making him the opponent's most obvious weak point.
But..
Hanae stepped forward, sealing off this obvious gap and waiting for the prey to come to him.
The more obvious the opportunity, the more likely it is to be a trap.
Municipal Kobe was like this, Inarizaki.. was the same.
Under Wakamura's shocked gaze, Miya Osamu's spike missed the mark, he immediately lowered his head and crouched down as he landed.
Behind him, the Ace leaped up with a thud, his broad back obscuring the view behind him.
The Ace raised his hand, putting all his strength into a powerful spike.
After the heavy sound, the volleyball slammed into the space between Hanae and Higashiyama.
In a moment of desperation, Hanae reached out with one hand, but the super-ace's spike, which lacked any block to reduce its power, was not something that could be absorbed by such a brief contact.
With a loud thud, the volleyball flew high into the air, falling toward Inarizaki's side.
Just as Akagi was about to shout "Opportunity Ball," Hinata, having just finished his quick attack cover, stepped forward and leaped directly into the air.
The ball had barely cleared the net and hadn't even begun to fall before it was spiked down.
No one from Municipal Kobe reacted in time before the volleyball slammed straight down near the sideline.