This time he was no longer afraid, his eyes filled with curiosity and the excitement of seeing part of his premonition confirmed.
But it was obvious that Miya Atsumu didn't understand what he meant at all.
Atsumu simply raised an eyebrow. "What? Can't you do it?"
Unabara Uta's excitement instantly vanished, leaving him slumped and dejected: "I'll try harder."
Miya Atsumu's expression showed visible disdain: "You're no good like this; the opponent's libero is running on empty and can still receive Aran's spike."
Akagi laughed by the sidelines: "It's the gap in experience.."
For a libero, extra experience is very important.
Ichibayashi's libero is a Second Year after all; for Unabara Uta to perform at this level during high school, when experience can so heavily impact performance, is already quite remarkable.
Ginjima frowned. "But what about Atsumu? Why is he bullying the juniors?"
Aran spread his hands. "Isn't he always like that? Just look at Kuniharu."
Aran was quite moved by the fact that Ginjima had actually spoken up to criticize Miya Atsumu.
Watching Miya Atsumu crowd around Hinata again, Miya Osamu said expressionlessly, "He's a complete jerk."
Miya Atsumu, far on the other side of the court, was completely unaware of this; he was still whispering something to Hinata, not forgetting to point at Hoshinoya and Rei across from them.
Hinata was very cooperative, nodding in agreement one moment and then looking completely enlightened the next.
Rei wiped the sweat from his face and looked at Hinata with a frown.
Although it was still difficult, he had just confirmed one thing.
—Even if it was just a follow-up block, as long as his initial position was close enough, he could still catch up to it.
After interrupting Miya Atsumu's service turn.
Ichibayashi took advantage of the Ace's strong period in Position 4 to make a sudden push, scoring consecutive points to tie the score.
Unabara Uta still hadn't adapted to Hoshinoya's spike, the passes she provided were enough to give even Miya Atsumu a headache.
—But it was still barely playable.
Miya Atsumu felt a vein throbbing in his temple.
Who on earth did these first-year little brats learn this from? It felt as if they were subtly trying to manipulate him.
Watching the landing point of this ball, Unabara Uta silently checked it off in her mind.
Shoyo had said that as long as it was within three meters of the attack line, Atsumu-senpai could keep up; he only needed to stabilize that range.
Next, it's about reducing the spin as much as possible; as for the ball speed, Atsumu-senpai can handle that himself.
With a few more balls, he will definitely be able to master how to handle this kind of strong attack.
From now on, no matter who he faces, he will have the strength to hold his own.
Coach Kurosu, standing by the sidelines, nodded. "Not bad. Your reactions are fast, the balls you're setting are quite stable; they aren't flying off wildly."
As long as it's a ball Miya Atsumu can set, that's enough.
Moreover, if he adapts well now, he will be able to feel at ease about rotating Unabara Uta into the game during tomorrow's match against Fukurodani.
A best-of-five match will be several times more grueling than this, to ensure everyone stays in peak condition, it's estimated that the entire team will need to undergo a certain amount of rotation.
But what Inarizaki lacks least is substitutes for rotation; as long as they can wear Fukurodani down, they will win.
Moreover, if Unabara Uta can improve during this Haruko, Akagi's graduation won't cause the team to lose its cohesion too severely.
As Unabara Uta's stability in receiving improved steadily, the service turn returned to Hoshinoya.
Nasu shouted in support of the Ace, "Hoshinoya-senpai, serve a good one!"
Ichibayashi's strongest serve—please bring them a score!
Hoshinoya took a deep breath, his eyes locking onto Unabara Uta.
This libero's stability in receiving is not necessarily bad at all; relatively speaking, he will definitely be easier to target than Akagi.
Targeting Inarizaki's libero is essentially targeting the setter; there's no doubt about that.
But ideals are beautiful, while reality is cruel.
Although Hoshinoya's ball was aimed at Unabara Uta, he had already lost his former form, a mistake occurred during the toss.
The slipping volleyball lacked any normal speed, Unabara Uta received it quite calmly.
The ball was sent right above Miya Atsumu's head, this time, he didn't have to move a single step.
Taking advantage of Hinata's cover, Miya Atsumu sent the ball to Aran's hands.
Aran slammed the spike down, but Fujisawa Kafka kicked it up with his foot.
The spectators in the stands from Iizuna were completely stunned: "This guy is actually using his hands to receive.."
This person seems to be using all sorts of strange parts of his body to receive the ball.
Ichibayashi launched a counterattack, Kuroe decisively used the Ace as a decoy, feinted the set himself, then turned to spike a second ball over.
The Inarizaki members were completely caught off guard; Ichibayashi scored consecutively, leveling the score once again.
Hoshinoya and Kuroe Kao high-fived, both cheering together, "Beautiful!!"
Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly. "That momentum is intense."
Watching this kind of all-out playstyle, even he felt exhausted just looking at it.
At this rate, he didn't even know what Ichibayashi would have left to use for the third set.
So, for the sake of Ichibayashi's members' health.. they should try to finish the battle in two sets.
Hoshinoya's next serve was still aimed at the libero, Unabara Uta.
Although this serve was much better than the previous one, Unabara Uta, who had already regained her touch, still provided a quite good First Receive.
Miya Atsumu quickly passed the ball to the unguarded Kita Shinsuke.
Kita's spike was received by Nasu, then Kuroe raised his hands to send the ball right in front of Ouji Son.
Ouji Son's gaze drifted imperceptibly toward a tuft of orange hair behind the block.
He raised his hand and lightly tapped the ball mid-air, sending it toward Hinata's side.
Obstructed by the block, Ouji Son didn't see what happened behind him at all; the volleyball was already flying through his field of vision.
Aran moved from his original position to behind Position 4 and prepared to jump, exuding an incredibly powerful momentum.
Without a second thought, Ouji Son and Hayakawa from the other side lunged toward Aran at the same time.
Right at that moment, while tilting his head, Miya Atsumu flashed Ouji Son a very bright smile, in the next second, the ball in his hands flew out.
Watching the orange shadow that suddenly surged out from behind Aran in his field of vision, Ouji Son's shock was almost overwhelming.
This Little One.. where did he come from?!
Didn't he just go to receive the ball? How could he still perform a quick attack against the Ace?
Rei, standing by the sidelines, was expressionless.
That last ball had such an obvious intent that Hinata didn't even use both hands; he sent the ball up with just one.
He was someone who could still thrive even under the continuous targeting of Municipal Kobe, Nekoma, Seijo; how could he possibly fail to handle that last ball?
Hinata's back-row attack scored a beautiful point, instantly breaking Ichibayashi's momentum.
After regaining the initiative, Inarizaki played visibly more cautiously; even Aran joined the defensive lineup.
With Kuroe Kao's performance declining, the combination of Hinata and Aran's attacks meant that many attempts failed to allow Ichibayashi to successfully organize a Strong Attack.
This state of tight defense clearly gave Ichibayashi no chance to mount any kind of counterattack.
Rei rotated to the front row once again.
He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Hinata, who was secretly observing him, but he kept his focus straight ahead on Miya Atsumu.
Ensure he was positioned in the center, then go after the ball..
He would never make a mistake.
Hayakawa's serve hit the top of the net precisely before tumbling down in front of Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu didn't dodge either, decisively reaching out his hands to receive the ball.
Hayakawa's serve lacked power, so Miya Atsumu's ball was placed quite well.
On the other side, Hinata moved forward, approaching the area below the attack line to prepare for a set.
Suna had already jumped at Position 3, Miya Atsumu followed closely behind after the receive, creating enough distance on both sides of the net.
"Atsumu-senpai!" Hinata shouted, then sent the ball toward Aran in front of the back-row attack.
Hearing the sound of the spike, Miya Atsumu was momentarily stunned.
—Shoyo has gone bad!
Shiratori cupped his face with both hands. "Shoyo's setting is truly a sight to behold."
Ouji Son's reaction was a step faster, diving to barely manage to receive the ball.
Flower!
Kuroe Kao held her hands up in front of her forehead, delivering the ball accurately to Rei as she jumped.
Working in coordination with the setter, Rei performed a back-attack spike and raised his hand to hit a line shot, smashing it straight toward Aran's face.
Aran raised his hands in front of his face, popping the ball up.
“Atsumu!”
Seeing the ball fly away, he hurriedly called out Miya Atsumu's name.
The conditions for this ball were limited, so Miya Atsumu provided no cover, Hinata, who jumped, was almost instantly targeted by Ichibayashi's block.
Hinata showed no fear at all, jumping up against the block of Ichibayashi and the other player closing in on him.
Kuroe Kao and Rei were both players who left a deep impression on him, he was already very familiar with the blocking habits of these two.
He could see Nasu's position in the back clearly; at this moment..
The ball flew into his field of vision, in that same instant, Hinata's gaze also locked onto the side.