In the event that the block has touched the ball, it must be received regardless of whether it goes out of bounds; if the ball hits the floor, Inarizaki loses the point.
Seeing that Akagi was already in position, Hinata instantly pulled back and ran toward the sidelines, creating enough space for the spike.
Oikawa Tooru's expression turned ferocious.
This defense.. is just a bit too annoying.
Why is Aobajohsai better at playing Position 1 and 2, as well as Center 1 and 2?
Aside from Oikawa Tooru's personal habits and the Ace's own positioning, it also actually has to do with the quality of the receiving defense.
When the setter is in the front row, it ensures there are three people in the back row to receive spikes.
But when the setter is in the back row, most of the time they need to withdraw one blocker to defend, or reduce the number of players receiving spikes to two.
This would directly result in the already insufficient defense being further reduced.
But Inarizaki was exactly the opposite; since Hinata's blocking level was only average, they could always ensure there were three people in the back row to receive a spike.
This kind of high-intensity full-court defense, even if the players' individual skills are far from those of a First Libero, can still be described as impeccable.
Especially when it's like this right now.. it makes it incredibly difficult to play.
As Oikawa Tooru retreated, he kept his eyes fixed on Miya Atsumu's setting motion.
For Inarizaki, the pressure only intensifies during such match points, so Miya Atsumu's logic of action follows a predictable pattern as well.
Aside from the trust flowing through his very blood, there is now only one spiker that Miya Atsumu favors.
Kindaichi and Kawarai lunged toward Inarizaki's Position 4 almost simultaneously, joining forces to stand before Hinata, who had leaped from the back row and was preparing for a spike.
Hinata's reaction was equally fast; relying on his long hang time, he managed to wait out the opponent's block as it descended.
The ball hit Kawarai's fingers precisely and bounced out of the court.
Watari Chikaharu dashed after it, diving to perform a back receive that somehow managed to save the ball just before it flew out of bounds.
But in the next second, he slammed into the guardrail by the side of the court.
Oikawa Tooru quickly chased down the ball, reaching out to touch it as he jumped.
One more time! Iwaizumi!!
A ball with no hint of concealment flew toward Iwaizumi Hajime, the only thing he could guarantee was its height.
Iwaizumi took a deep breath, staring at the volleyball with absolute concentration.
While the Inarizaki block was closing in, he had already adjusted the trajectory of the ball, spiking it toward the side, aiming directly at Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu was sent flying by the ball almost instantly, his whole body falling downward.
The ball also bounced out of control, flying toward the third-floor stands.
The whistle blew, Seijo scored, gaining the serve.
At the same time, the announcement sounded from the sidelines, as Aobajohsai's number 6, Yagihata Shu, was replaced by number 12, Kindaichi, who entered the court to serve.
Kindaichi stepped off the court and took his number from Yagihata Shu. "I'm counting on you, Yagihata-senpai!"
Yagihata stood at the position for his serve's approach, patting the ball against the ground.
Standing here at this very moment, he could feel with absolute clarity the weight on his shoulders, a weight carrying the hopes of thousands.
After this Haruko ends, the Third Year seniors will be retiring, the responsibilities belonging to the Captain have long been designated by the coach to be handed over to him.
But facing this responsibility.. all he could truly feel was trepidation.
Oikawa-senpai was too excellent, so excellent that he felt there wouldn't be a better Captain in this world than him.
He himself definitely couldn't do it; he couldn't even do half of what Oikawa-senpai could.
Just the thought of that responsibility belonging to the Captain made him feel like he couldn't breathe.
So.. even if it was only for a moment, he wanted to hold them back for even longer.
Take this point, in one breath, overtake them to secure the victory.
Let that person be their Captain for one more day.
A low voice came from directly in front: "Give me a good serve."
Yagihata Shu looked toward the sound and saw the back of Kyokutsu's head.
With a difficult smile curling at the corners of his mouth, he raised his hands and held the ball in front of him.
He went for it.
At the very last second of the service time limit, he raised his hand and tossed the ball up.
Just like during regular practice, he jumped countless times in front of the baseline.
Hinata stared with wide eyes at Yagihata Shu, who appeared through the gap, looking at him as if he were a piece of food—without any emotion, even faintly.. revealing a hint of anticipation.
Yagihata frowned slightly, but still followed his intuition and spiked the ball into the space between Hinata and the sideline.
Standing only on the balls of his feet, Hinata quickly stepped to his left, lowering his center of gravity while pressing his wrist down to precisely block the ball's path with his arm.
A clean, sharp sound of impact rang in everyone's ears, the volleyball landed precisely on the Attack Line.
Komori couldn't help but laugh in the stands: "After receiving so many heavy cannons from Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai, this kind of serve might feel more like a mid-game break for Shoyo."
Watching Hinata rise smoothly after the receive to prepare for a back-row attack, Sakusa, standing beside him, also nodded. "That was beautiful."
Miya Atsumu stepped forward, preparing to set the ball: "What a great first receive!!"
Aran, who had been ready for a long time, called out for the ball: "Give it to me!"
After a quick glance at the opponents, Miya Atsumu sent the set toward Aran's call.
Aran also seized upon the gap created by Hinata's decoy run on Seijo's side and spiked the ball straight down.
The situation was critical; Oikawa Tooru could only perform a diving save to keep the ball in play.
Without Oikawa even having to call out, Yagihata Shu had already followed up.
“Give me the ball!”
Kyokutsu, who rarely spoke from beginning to end, finally called out for the ball at the very last moment.
Matsukawa's pull-away had already drawn Miya Atsumu away, making Kyokutsu, who had already crossed over to Position 4, the best target for the set.
Without much hesitation, Yagihata's set went directly toward Kyokutsu.
Kyokutsu used all his strength to spike the ball from a position between the block and the sideline, hitting it at an extremely sharp angle.
Miya Osamu knelt on the ground without hesitation, extending one hand to save the ball with incredible speed, reaching this incredibly fast ball.
His expression was quite calm, he simply called out to Miya Atsumu as he always did: "Atsumu!"
After playing many times against Hinata..
An attack at this speed wasn't considered fast for him.
Hinata took another running start forward.
His synchronization with the receive showed that this was no ordinary back-row attack, but a high ball with off-beat rhythm, performed with a two-footed jump.
High, fast, with absolute reaction time to adjust the spiking technique.
All the key points of the attack were concentrated on Hinata, drawing the gaze of everyone in the stadium.
Yes, exactly like that.
Watch him!
Watch him..
Spike a match-winning point!
In an instant, Hinata's hand swung through empty air, at that same moment, the ball flew over the net and dropped toward the ground as if no one were there.
Second Ball.
Everyone from Seijo who had reacted threw themselves forward, doing everything in their power to touch the ball.
But.. it was already too late.
The volleyball landed softly on the floor.
The long whistle echoed through the entire court at that moment, the signal announcing the end of the match.
Miya Atsumu looked down from his high vantage point at the Seijo members rushing toward the ball from all directions, a victor's pride etched upon his face.
“My position is so good, even with a block in place I can still score.. Instead, just give it to me..”
Hinata, who had been used completely as a decoy, muttered briefly before turning his head to rush toward Miya Atsumu.
“Atsumu-senpai, great play! We won!!”
Miya Atsumu reached out to catch him. "Shoyo, that was a great decoy. You had everyone on the other side spinning in circles."
He scored that point so..
—It was absolutely exhilarating!
“Atsumu-senpai, that was disgusting! As expected of you!”
Nice play, nice play!
Good job! That was a great play!
Is 'disgusting' a word used for praise?! Compliment me properly!
As the Inarizaki members cheered, Oikawa Tooru reached out and patted everyone on the back. "Kindaichi played well, Kunimi, you worked hard.."
Scanning the crowd, his gaze landed on Kyokutsu, who had stepped away from the group, Oikawa Tooru said with a hand on his hip, "Little Mad Dog, that last spike was very decisive, quite beautiful."
Kyokutsu, who had been secretly observing everyone, took a step back as if he had been caught.
Under everyone's gaze, he finally lowered his head slightly in response, "Oh."
Yagihata Shu walked over quickly, closing in on Kyokutsu almost instantly.
He grabbed Kyokutsu's hand before he could react, almost forcibly slapping him for a high-five: "Just celebrate properly after a good spike!"
Watari Chikaharu also rushed over and gave him a hard slap on the hand before Kyokutsu could pull it back: "Nice hit!"
Oikawa Tooru laughed heartily, feeling quite good.