They indeed seemed not to have mentioned it to the other seniors, having only told Oikawa Tooru.
Iwaizumi Hajime fell silent.
So that's what was up with Oikawa Tooru's strangely familiar state regarding Hinata before; he thought the guy had secretly gone to sneak a look at Inarizaki's practice match that day without him knowing.
As it turns out.. it was just close contact between juniors?
He almost thought Oikawa Tooru had violated the rules and was ready to give him a good beating.
On Inarizaki's side, Coach Omimi went to confirm the specific details of the warm-up session with Coach Irihatsu, but there wasn't actually any specific purpose; he was simply being contrarian toward the coaches from Seijo.
However, contrary to Coach Kurosu and the others' expectations, Coach Mizoguchi from Seijo was unexpectedly aggressive, stubbornly insisting on extending the time for the service turn.
The two stared each other down for several minutes, until finally, the captains from both sides silently reached an agreement while standing aside.
By the time both sides finished their warm-ups, the match between Karasuno and Ichibayashi had already concluded.
Standing by the side of the court, Hinata's gaze was fixed intently on the scoreboard, which showed Karasuno 29:31 Ichibayashi, he could not look away for a long time.
Someone stood by his side.
Hinata turned his head and met Hoshiumi-senpai's eyes.
Hoshiumi stared at Hinata, his expression serious: "That number 4, he has a lot of strength. When you receive his serves, remember not to touch the ball with your hands, or you might get injured."
Hinata looked down and saw the bandage on Hoshiumi-senpai's middle finger, he could probably guess what had happened.
Hoshiumi-senpai continued, "The opposing team's number 1 setter is also very clever. Don't let him trick you during the block; just treat him like Suna."
“And one more thing..” He turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu, who was sizing him up, "Make sure to clear a path for Shoyo."
Miya Atsumu tilted his chin up slightly. "I didn't need you to tell me that."
This was his mission; Hinata was his Spiker.
No matter when, he will pave the runway for Hinata to take flight.
Hinata shot a quick glance at the number 1 player in the unfamiliar black and red uniform who was sizing him up from the other side: "I will definitely avenge Hoshiumi-senpai!"
Hoshiumi-senpai patted his shoulder. "Good luck."
The Karasuno members left to do post-match stretching, after a moment of darkness, the scoreboard by the court lit up again.
The reset score and the scoreboard, now displaying Inarizaki and Aobajohsai, announced the start of a new round of battle.
Stepping back onto the orange floor, Hinata took a long breath.
Standing here at this very moment, he could feel the weight of countless wishes resting upon his shoulders.
Therefore, no matter who the opponent standing on the other side of the net is, all he wants is nothing less than an unquestionable victory.
Limping, Iizuna was supported by Amatori as they sat down in an empty seat in the second-floor stands, quietly watching the Inarizaki members, who had already begun selecting their side of the court after the coin toss.
"To be honest, Hinata is quite something," Ginjima said.
Amatori turned her head to look at him. "What do you mean? In what way?"
Iizuna sighed helplessly, "Don't let his crying fool you; he's just simply unable to accept that the opponent he was looking forward to facing lost to someone else."
“When they beat Nekoma this morning, they were happier than anyone.”
At this point, Iizuna couldn't help but laugh. "After all, it's just different, isn't it?"
In the end, all that remained of the former was a sense of emptiness.
Oikawa Tooru gave the final pre-match summary: "Nekoma's playstyle is actually quite interesting. As I said at noon, let's take half of it as a reference; for now, let's focus on suppressing Hinata and Miya Osamu's annoying quick attacks as much as possible."
In addition, regarding Suna's spike, Komatsu, make sure to suppress one side when blocking. Even if he tries to adjust his spike trajectory on the fly, he will still need to aim for the area without a block. Makoto and Watari just need to wait for the opportunity.
Everyone nodded in agreement. "Understood."
Oikawa Tooru stole a glance at Aran, who was raising his hands to gesture something: "The strategy for dealing with Aran's spikes is similar to the tactic used against Ushiwaka; the blocking and the receiving must both keep up simultaneously."
However, most of the difficulty with Little Ushiwaka is due to the special spin from his left-handed spike. By comparison, Aran is a bit easier to deal with in that regard. You must time the block and hold your position perfectly; it can be blocked.
Matsukawa was full of confidence: "Don't worry, I'll manage to block a few of Aran's spikes no matter what."
He couldn't block Ushijima, so Aran would have to block a few of his spikes.
Miya Atsumu is ready to start in the opening lineup.
Looking at Inarizaki's starting lineup, Oikawa Tooru's brain stalled for a moment.
Matsukawa turned his head to look at Oikawa Tooru: "Are you still staring at Suna?"
Oikawa Tooru's eyes went dark: "Stare at what? He's just waiting in the substitution area."
That's right, Suna's successful resistance had earned him a brief opportunity to slack off.
Taking over for Suna as the Middle Blocker was Inarizaki's Second Year Wing Spiker, Kosaku Hiroto, a player who was not at all inferior to Suna in terms of offense, even specialized in serving.
Standing at the service position, Miya Atsumu made a peace sign and flashed a provocative smirk at Oikawa Tooru on the other side of the net: "I guessed right."
The reason for switching Suna into the role of the blocking core was not just because the opponents they might face tomorrow or the day after were all ultimate Ace-centered, high-power offensive teams that required him to conserve his energy.
It was also because they had made certain predictions regarding Seijo's initial formation.
When the opponent starts and has a powerful setter's service turn, Aobajohsai will choose to have the Opposite Kyokutsu serve first, with Oikawa Tooru starting from Position 5 in the back row to counter with a back-row attack.
Only when Seijo serves first do they have the option to choose an S1 opening.
Although Iwaizumi Hajime's offensive level is also very high, he still falls slightly short when performing a back-row attack; even when Suna is not on the court, Miya Osamu can handle him well.
As for why it wasn't Ginjima being subbed in..
Because Ginjima and Kosaku played rock-paper-scissors, Ginjima lost three rounds in a row.
However, the main reason was that Kosaku's serve was slightly stronger than Ginjima's, allowing him to give Inarizaki the advantage during the service turn.
Inarizaki's cheering was as high-caliber as ever, instantly drowning out Aobajohsai's chants.
Miya Atsumu held the ball in one hand and raised his other hand, waving it behind him to direct the Inarizaki members in the crowd to clap in a unified rhythm.
On the other side of the net, Watari Chikaharu lowered his center of gravity, took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down.
He absolutely could not panic; he had to avoid being carried away by the opponent's rhythm and had to maintain his composure.
The head referee blew the whistle, swinging his arms from the Inarizaki side toward the Seijo side, signaling Miya Atsumu to serve.
Miya Atsumu curled the corners of his mouth slightly, his hands, which had been rhythmically moving, slowly rising before suddenly clenching into fists at their highest point.
In an instant, the entire gymnasium fell silent.
The cheering from the Aobajohsai side had come to a complete standstill.
The Seijo supporters, having finally snapped out of it, hurriedly tried to reorganize their cheering, but it was already too late.
On the court, Miya Atsumu had already tossed the ball up, using his full strength through a three-step approach to spike it down.
The heavy, powerful serve slammed down, leaving Watari Chikaharu no time to adjust his position.
In the heat of the moment, he could only try his best to lower his center of gravity, but he simply couldn't control the ball's excessive speed.
The volleyball bounced off his arm, unable to dodge in time, he was struck directly on the chin by the ball.
The consecutive collisions caused the ball's trajectory to shift completely, eventually causing it to hit the ground.
Cheers suddenly erupted, Miya Atsumu raised both hands high in celebration: "Yes!!"
The commentators by the court were also caught up in the excitement: [Miya Atsumu! He has delivered an incredibly powerful ACE serve on the very first serve of the opening!]
Yaku, watching from the stands, frowned. "He really is difficult to deal with."
Miya Atsumu's dual wielding isn't actually that deceptive; what's most difficult to deal with is that because of his dual wielding, his service turns never have a period of weakness, regardless of the situation.
By choosing different service turns based on the opponent's lineup, he can ensure that he can deliver a serve capable of killing the match at any time.
Komori gave a bitter smile: "He still loves using power serves against the Libero."
Miya Atsumu's jump float serves are somewhat more controlled, but once he starts using power serves, they are basically aimed straight at the Libero.
“Ah, how cool.” Oikawa Tooru stood with his hands on his hips and said something that caused everyone from Seijo to stare at him with horrified looks.
Iwaizumi Hajime even felt like reaching out to give him a punch, just to see if Oikawa was possessed by some monster.
But in the next second, Oikawa Tooru's next words rang out: "But compared to me, he's still far from it."
After speaking, he and Miya Atsumu, who was provoking him from the opposite side, glared at each other.
Everyone from Seijo breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Good, it looks like Oikawa Tooru hasn't lost his mind from a fever.
Having reclaimed the ball, Miya Atsumu prepared for his second serve.
Watching Miya Atsumu raise his hand once again to call for silence from the Inarizaki members, Oikawa Tooru muttered under his breath, "Isn't he tired?"
This kind of performance is certainly cool to watch once, but after seeing it many times, it starts to feel a bit repetitive.
In contrast, his serve was a kind of cool that one could never tire of watching.
But even if Oikawa Tooru says he's tired of watching it, it doesn't affect the overall quality of Miya Atsumu's serves.
In fact, this time Miya Atsumu abandoned his strategy of targeting the Libero, aiming directly at Oikawa Tooru, who was being protected by Kawarai's back-row coverage.
However, without the interference of Inarizaki's annoying cheering rhythm this time, Kawarai reacted very quickly, turning around from the front and diving to save the ball, sending it back toward the net.
Oikawa quickly stepped past Kawarai, rushed to the net, popped the ball up.
The volleyball instantly crossed the horizontal distance of the entire net, traveling at its maximum range as a back-set to Kyokutsu, who had jumped up at Position 2.
Facing the incoming Inarizaki block, Kyokutsu timed it perfectly at the last possible moment, hitting a short diagonal to smash the ball toward the far end of the net.
But.. someone was already waiting there.
With a loud thud, Hinata managed to reach Kyokutsu's sudden short diagonal spike with one hand.
Watching the ball fly up, Hinata couldn't help but purse his lips.
Very good, he guessed correctly!
Chapter 186: The 186th Fox
Kyokutsu, in a state of decline, couldn't help but frown.