Hinata's spikes are certainly difficult to receive, but they aren't as hard to handle as Aran's heavy spikes.
When Aran and Hinata launch an attack at the net at the same time, they can completely tear them apart.
Hinata's spike slammed down right on the sideline, a decisive and rapid line shot.
Fujisawa Kafka lunged for it but failed to make contact; in the end, Hinata's spike was simply too fast.
Mokoba-senpai frowned in the stands: "Inarizaki's strong attack from Position 2 is quite nasty."
Although Shiratorizawa also frequently employs this, the essence of it is fundamentally different from Inarizaki's.
Goshiki's offensiveness lies primarily in his ability to break through the block, much like Ushijima, whereas Hinata is troublesome in his ability to use technical shots to maximize his ability to ignore the block.
Combined with Miya Atsumu's unpredictable setting, no matter which side is chosen, it can produce the maximum possible strong attack.
Coach Kurosu looked at the scoreboard, which showed a stable one-point lead, his gaze swept over the Middle Blocker Rei, who had returned to the Coach's bench to sit and rest.
A temporary lead, huh..
Having formed an idea, Kurosu raised his hand to call over Unabara Uta, who was still by the sidelines handing a towel to Suna.
Unabara raised a finger toward himself. "Me?"
Under everyone's gaze, Unabara Uta handed what he was holding to Rishia and finally walked over to the Coach's side.
Coach Kurosu patted the empty spot beside him. "Michinari's stamina is starting to fail him; you go up and sub him out."
Don't be afraid. You are in perfect condition right now, the opponents are no longer as strong as they were at their peak. With your ability, you'll definitely be fine.
Glancing at Miya Osamu on the other side of the Coach's bench, Unabara Uta nodded. "Understood!"
He understood this; with good physical condition, his reaction speed would be faster than his opponent's, allowing him to perform even better than usual.
When Suna returned to the court once more, the Inarizaki Libero also underwent a silent substitution on the sidelines.
Watching the 1.8-meter-tall Unabara Uta walk onto the court, Hoshinoya instinctively glanced at Hinata, who was still in the back row.
Hinata, who had been secretly observing everyone from Ichibayashi, understood instantly what that look meant.
What, do you think he's too short!
He has already scored so many points, how can you still look down on him!
Hoshinoya, glared at by Hinata, glared right back at him immediately, only withdrawing his gaze once he saw Hinata shrink behind Suna.
Nuzzling his nose under Kuroe Kao's gaze, Hoshinoya let out a soft click of his tongue.
That damn Little One.
He's so short, yet he jumps so high and runs so fast; he's so unpredictable, it's infuriating.
Rei clenched his fists by the sidelines, but ultimately released them in a sense of helplessness.
—He messed it up.
Kumoita, who had finally recovered from the grief of losing such good prospects, rubbed his chin.
Although there are many first-year high school players in this Haruko, the players from Inarizaki still have the strongest confidence, as expected.
The assistant coach beside him nodded. "Indeed, they are all full of vigor."
Kumoita grew more and more satisfied as he watched: "This new number 16 who just entered the court also has good judgment; it's just that his receiving technique is a little lacking, but that can be trained.
Training a Libero is the most time-consuming process; without much tournament experience, it is already quite impressive for a First Year High School student to achieve this level of performance.
Although there is still a distance to cover compared to Hanae, it is clear that he has a bright future ahead of him.
Miya Atsumu's serve was received by Nasu with a diving save.
Although the receive was ugly, it was indeed a perfect setup.
And facing Hoshinoya's spike, Unabara also gave up an ugly ball.
“Atsumu-senpai!”
Hinata, turning back to the front row, leaped suddenly from Position 4, using a backhand to drive the ball into a very tight inside angle toward the other side of Ichibayashi's court.
Moreover, the spike was incredibly fast, giving Ichibayashi no chance to react and block it.
The ball slammed into the ground, Inarizaki scored once again.
With this point, the score gap jumped to two in an instant.
Rei bit his lower lip hard, his eyes turning bloodshot.
He should have anticipated that the opponent was preparing to perform a Short Diagonal; he should have been the one defending this ball..
"To be able to spike a Short Diagonal of this quality at a time like this.. Inarizaki's Little One is just too terrifying." Mokoba's expression was pained.
Moreover, Hinata's condition was excellent throughout the entire match; whenever he made a move, it was always his strongest attack.
Komi's expression turned solemn: "Miya Atsumu's endurance is also terrifying."
In the second set of the penultimate day of the tournament, they were actually able to make up for a mistake of that magnitude from the Libero.
No, actually, it can't really be considered an error.
It was already incredible enough that Hoshinoya could even receive a spike like that.
Right at that moment, a voice forcefully cut in from behind.
“Oh! That was a beautiful play by Hinata!”
Mokoba and Washio both turned their heads at the same time, only to find that Bokuto-senpai had already slumped over the back of their chairs, staring intently at the match on the court.
Komi blinked at the increasingly excited Bokuto-senpai. "Are you resurrected?"
Rummaging through Mokoba's bag in the front row for snacks, Bokuto-senpai asked while eating, "What are you talking about?"
Komi waved it off. "It's nothing, just keep eating."
Bokuto stuffed a mouthful into his mouth: "Hinata's Short Diagonal tips are getting really good lately; sometimes when I get impatient, I tend to forget about that."
Shocked expressions appeared in the eyes of everyone from Fukurodani at the same time.
—This guy actually has self-awareness!
This person wouldn't be able to hit many line shots if he hit too many short diagonal shots, simply because the way one applies force is different for the two types of shots; when Bokuto is not in good form, he tends to forget this.
Compared to Hinata.. this guy hasn't completely ingrained this kind of thing into his bones.
But when he's in top form, it's a different story.
In that situation, Bokuto would only take those kinds of details to the extreme.
—He's like a completely different person.
But it didn't matter; Bokuto-senpai said he wanted to be an ordinary Wing Spiker, so as his teammates, they were looking forward to seeing how he would perform in every match they played together.
Taking yesterday afternoon's match as an example, being the Ace who leads the entire team forward.. it really is quite cool.
Please keep that state locked on Bokuto-senpai.
Whether it's Ichibayashi or Inarizaki, they will defeat them!
The rotation on the court changed again.
Although Unabara Uta's defensive capabilities were significantly inferior to Akagi's, his abundant stamina allowed him to perform exceptionally well in counterattacks and when diving to save balls that had been tooled off the block.
With Kita Shinsuke assisting from the side, the overall effect was even better than when this set first began.
"So this is the advantage of having enough depth on the bench." Mokoba-senpai sighed with emotion, then reached out, preparing to pull out his snacks to eat.
The development of Inarizaki's substitutes is truly absurd; they have successors for every important position, so there is absolutely no need to worry about any player getting injured.
That's quite effortless..
Looking at the yellow packaging in his hands, Mokoba looked back at the blue packaging in Bokuto's hands.
He searched through his bag once more in disbelief before finally speaking up to protest.
Hey! This flavor is for you! The one in your hand is mine!!
Bokuto suddenly realized what was happening and snatched the other bag of snacks from Mokoba's hands: "Oh, this one is mine."
Mokoba-senpai, left with nothing in his hands, was stunned.
Akaashi, sitting beside Bokuto-senpai, looked at him, then looked down at Mokoba, who had just lost all his snacks, finally reached out to snatch both bags, returning them all to Mokoba.
Mokoba-senpai, Bokuto-senpai's snack intake has already exceeded the limit today. Please don't give him any more after this.
Bokuto's face was written with shock.
Under his somewhat pitiful gaze, Mokoba ultimately couldn't bear it and pulled out a few bananas from Komi next to him and handed them to Bokuto: "Eat these."
Bokuto cheered, "Bananas!"
Komi looked puzzled: "Wait, what about mine?"
Mokoba shoved the half-eaten snack that Bokuto hadn't finished over to him: "This one, this one. You eat the snack."
Komi protested, "Oh no, my body fat percentage is already over the limit."
Shiratori and Kuroo, sitting two rows ahead, turned their heads at the same time to look at the quite boisterous Fukurodani group.
Weren't they just so quiet a moment ago? Why did they suddenly become so boisterous?
Shiratori gave a light laugh: "They really are full of energy.."
Kuroo raised an eyebrow slightly. "What do you mean? Don't you like players who are full of energy like this?"
As he spoke, he proceeded to imitate the energetic Hinata and the boisterous Miya Atsumu: "Like this."
That's not even the point.." Shiratori raised his hands in surrender. "I heard Fukurodani's Ace is very inconsistent, that's a bit of a problem.
Kuroo shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like you've seen many of Fukurodani's matches."
In his personal experience, Hinata and Bokuto-senpai were quite similar, but compared to the still-immature Hinata, Bokuto-senpai possessed that kind of Ace aura that could carry everything on his shoulders.
For a coward, he is a very suitable teammate.
Shiratori raised his hand to stop Kuroo's next words.
In any case, I'm not going to set for a spiker like Bokuto-senpai; our styles just don't mesh at all.
“Really??”
Kuroo rested his chin on his hand. "By the way, do you have any plans after graduation? Personally, I don't plan on continuing to play volleyball."