Even though he was half a step slower than Hinata, his superior wingspan allowed him to catch up to his opponent before Hinata reached his peak.
Hinata was not surprised by this.
Before that, his timing had been caught by more than just one person.
Height is the greatest weapon in volleyball, those tall players can jump again to catch up after being left behind by him.
Therefore, with every single ball now, Miya Atsumu would give him as much space as possible to adjust.
Just like.. right now.
Hinata's gaze passed over Lev's fingers in front of him, looking toward Yaku Yasu, who had stepped forward to prepare for the front-court ball.
Excluding the most comfortable dump, excluding the very clear and obvious Short Diagonal, what he had to choose now was..
Hinata's hand paused in mid-air for a moment; the instant the ball began to fall, he pressed down from above the volleyball.
There was a gap between Lev and the net, a gap created because he failed to control his movements during his second jump.
Moreover, he hadn't even had time to lean forward, his fingers even gave him a chance at Tooling the block.
This kind of opening is the best opportunity to execute a Woguo.
Under Lev's shocked gaze, the volleyball dropped right in front of him, grazing the net as it fell into Nekoma's court.
The ball landed in such an extreme position that even Yaku, who had already lunged forward, found himself unable to reach it.
The volleyball landed softly, then rolled right to Yaku's hand.
24:20, match point for Inarizaki.
Hoshiumi, having finished his stretching, stood by the sidelines with his hands on his hips, his eyes filled with intense admiration: "That was amazing, Shoyo."
Among the techniques Hinata has mastered, Woguo was perhaps the first to master anything other than tooling the block.
—Of course, he learned them all from him.
Now Hinata is able to utilize them very well; even against a defense of Nekoma's scale, he can find opportunities to score.
“He is indeed quite incredible.” In the stands, a person wearing a blue and white number 4 jersey and a black and red jacket watched the match on the court quietly.
The other person beside him narrowed his eyes: "As expected of the National Sports Festival champions."
Not far away, Shiratori turned his head upon hearing the commotion.
The moment he saw the other person's clothes, the gentle smile on his face vanished instantly.
Shiratori said expressionlessly, "Can't you change positions, Ichibayashi?"
Before he could even respond, a notification sounded across the court.
Having had his attention drawn back, Shiratori looked at the court once more, only to find that Inarizaki had changed the server yet again.
Suna breathed a sigh of relief, walking to the sidelines and taking the number 10 sign from Kumagai.
This is the final point; let the juniors handle this crucial moment.
"Akuma, serve a good one!" Hinata shouted toward Kumagai, then fell silent.
Standing in Suna's position, Kumagai stood by the sidelines, staring intently at the Nekoma members on the opposite side.
Although the score gap was large now and their victory wouldn't be affected by his serve, still.. if he could be the one to take this final point, he thought he would feel very happy.
The volleyball flew over the net, but Yaku, having accurately predicted the ball's trajectory, received it steadily: "Kenma!"
Seeing Kuroo prepare to perform a back quick in the center, Inarizaki quickly moved to follow. However, Kuroo instead performed a dump, aiming directly for Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu didn't let anyone else receive the ball, instead raising his hand to perform a set. Miya Osamu, having received the ball, raised his hand to spike it, but Kuroo blocked it squarely.
Hinata, with his incredibly fast reflexes, lunged forward and popped the ball up. However, he failed to control the trajectory, causing the volleyball to hit the top of the net directly.
In the next second, the volleyball lightly tumbled over the top of the net, dropping down right in front of all the Nekoma members.
Kenma lunged forward without hesitation, reaching out his hand in an attempt to dig the ball. But at this very moment, he had already seen the final outcome.
—He won't make it in time.
Right at that moment, a foot extended from the side and kicked the ball directly from underneath.
It was Haiba Lev.
The ball itself had no initial velocity; although Lev's kick sent it flying, the direction was severely off, it hit the net directly.
The volleyball bounced back, smashing onto the Nekoma floor once again.
Kenma supported his body with his arms, reaching out forcefully once more in an attempt to touch the ball.
The ball landed less than three centimeters from his fingers.
With a soft thud, the ball hit the ground.
As if he had lost all his strength in an instant, Kenma let out a soft breath and collapsed completely onto the ground, still in the motion of his dive.
His fingers curled slightly as he lowered his head in silence, pressing his burning cheeks against the cool, orange floor.
It's over.
Hinata, who was still on the ground, suddenly relaxed his entire body and lay back.
A long, drawn-out buzzer suddenly sounded behind him.
Akagi, who had been wiping away sweat, suddenly turned around and saw the scoreboard, which had already jumped to 25:20.
Inarizaki 2:0 Nekoma, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Akagi tossed his towel aside, turned, rushed toward the court. "Beautiful! We won!"
On the other side, Rishia hurriedly gathered up the towels everyone had tossed aside before rushing toward the court. "Nice play, Shoyo! Great serve, Akuma! You guys are incredible!"
The cheers suddenly overwhelmed the entire gymnasium, like an explosion that had finally arrived after being suppressed for a long time.
Although they had only played two sets, even with a large point difference, this match was the longest one of the entire round.
Every long rally is equally exhausting for everyone; whether it is Inarizaki on offense or Nekoma on defense, the psychological pressure is just as great.
On the other side, Miya Atsumu walked over with his hands on his hips, looking down and nudging his hip with his foot. "At least cheer a little since we won, don't just lie there."
Although the amount of running for those rallies was indeed high, Hinata should definitely be able to handle it without any problem.
Shouldn't it be Miya Atsumu lying on the ground right now?
Why is Hinata lying there like a salted fish on a beach, completely motionless?
"I'm tired." Hinata placed both hands on his stomach; even after being kicked by Miya Atsumu, he only gave a slight wiggle.
Although his legs weren't particularly sore, his breathing and heart rate were still within normal ranges, he felt a sense of exhaustion from the inside out.
It was just like.. fighting through an all-nighter with Japanese and Math before final exams.
Seeing that everyone from Inarizaki was preparing to surround him, Hinata ultimately managed to pull himself up.
He crawled across the floor to the front of the net, looking under the net at Kenma, who had just been pulled up into a sitting position by Kuroo.
“Kenma!” he called out his name loudly.
Kenma looked back at him.
Without the barrier of the net, their faces were exceptionally clear to each other at this moment.
A faint look of confusion appeared on Kenma's weary face as he slightly lifted his eyes: "Shoyo?"
Hinata sat cross-legged on the floor, flashing a wide grin at Kenma on the other side of the net: "Let's play another match at next year's IH!"
He still wanted to keep playing; he hadn't had enough yet.
Without giving Kenma any chance to refuse, Hinata reached out his hand, extending it toward Kenma across the court's center line.
Kenma froze for a moment, his already overloaded brain acting as if it had only just realized what he had heard.
He subconsciously reached out his hand and grabbed Hinata's hand as well. "Okay."
Hinata looked at Kenma earnestly, just as Kenma was about to lose control and look away, he suddenly spoke: "I will definitely become stronger."
Compared to his past match against Nekoma, he could clearly feel his own progress.
But this was still far from enough; he had to become stronger than anyone else.
Kenma's eyes widened slightly.
After a long time, he curled his lips into a smirk: "I'm looking forward to it."
He admitted that he was a player who wanted to try and conquer high-difficulty raids; that feeling of constant exploration was fascinating.
And now, what he really wants more than anything is to see just how far this boss can evolve.
So.. let him see even more.
In the present, in the far future.
He looked forward to it immensely.
Chapter 183: The 183rd Fox
Thank you for the match!!
The players from both sides bowed to each other at the sidelines, signaling the end of the match.
Staff members quickly entered the court, cleaning the floor as fast as possible to prepare for the start of the next match.
The scoreboard at the side of the court also reset to 0:0 at this moment, only the names on it had changed to Aobajohsai and Gao Yuan.
Watching the backs of the group as they prepared to leave, Hinata reached out and grabbed Miya Atsumu. "I want to keep watching the match."
They have another match this afternoon, so they don't need to spend much time on stretching; he can do his exercises right by the sidelines.
Aobajohsai's opponent was also an established powerhouse that had previously achieved a Semifinals finish; this match was bound to be spectacular.
Fine," Miya Atsumu agreed readily, turning his head toward the coach and the others, "Coach, Shoyo and I are going to watch the match here!
Coach Omimi called out to Miya Atsumu, "Atsumu, come over here, there's a one-on-one interview."
Miya Atsumu looked at Hinata beside him upon hearing this. "Then you stay here and look around for a bit, don't run off. I'll be right back."
Although Inarizaki's recruitment work was mostly finished this autumn, there were bound to be many more talented prospects from junior high schools who had yet to make a name for themselves.