Looking at Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to take the court, Coach Kurosu's eyes were filled with gratification.
Atsumu's condition is top-notch today; there's no need to worry about him in the short term.
Watching Miya Atsumu return to the court alongside Aran, warming up his wrists and ankles and bouncing on his toes, Kawarai felt shocked.
This guy is acting like he's on stimulants today..
How did he remember Miya Atsumu not being this energetic when they played against Seijo before!
Matsukawa rested his chin on his hand and said, "This is the Finals; there will be drug testing after the match."
Moreover, there haven't been many cases of drug use during Haruko in the last decade or so, a player of Miya Atsumu's national prominence certainly wouldn't find it necessary to gamble his entire life away just for a Haruko championship.
"No." Oikawa Tooru's voice suddenly rang out.
The members of Seijo looked over, all of them feeling a bit dazed.
What did Oikawa mean by that? Did Miya Atsumu really do something illegal?
Under everyone's watchful gaze, Oikawa blurted out of nowhere, "He's legal."
He knew that after yesterday's match, something bad was going to happen; those guys from Inarizaki spoiled Miya Atsumu a bit too much.
If it had been him.. it wouldn't have been too much to sentence Miya Atsumu to death right then and there.
Iwaizumi beside him fell silent, while the rest of the Seijo team failed to keep up with Oikawa Tooru's train of thought.
"Huh?" Both Kawarai and Matsukawa were a bit stunned.
Behind them, Kunimi buried his face under his jacket, shrinking into his chair in silence.
Yeah, he doesn't know a thing.
After the starting lineups for both sides were confirmed, Saru Yamato retreated to behind the center baseline to prepare for his serve.
Shoyo's positioning was near the edge of the court, with Aran, Akagi, the retreating Rishia Heisuke primarily responsible for the First Receive.
Relatively speaking, it is not easy to target Shoyo's position during a serve.
But.. there was still an opening for Saru Yamato to exploit.
He watched the referee's movements, the moment he saw the whistle blow, he raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
—A buzzer-beater.
Before Hinata could even react, the ball had already soared over the net and smashed down right in front of him.
From this position, he actually couldn't force him into a diving save, because it would inevitably go out of bounds to his left, while the right side was within Aran's defensive range; essentially, there was no gap to exploit at all.
Therefore, Saru aimed this serve directly at Hinata's front, with a short landing point to ensure Hinata had to step forward to receive the ball, effectively disrupting his subsequent approach and momentum.
Hinata took a step forward, dropping into a lunge with one knee down as he used his arms to meet the ball head-on.
This wasn't the kind of heavy spike that would send a person flying, so there was no need to choose an arched receiving motion.
In times like these, you can instead treat yourself like a board to bounce the ball off of, forcibly sending it to the position you want.
For Hinata, this kind of ball was still easy to handle, especially since he could control the ball's landing spot himself, allowing him to give the setter a stable First Receive.
As for the issue of the approach run afterward..
Anyway, in the back row, he can also do it without a running start.
He can jump and spike!
Coach Unabara silently closed his eyes by the sidelines, feeling a bit unable to watch the subsequent play.
Oikawa covered his face with his hands.
It's a mess, it's a complete mess..
But he admitted that some techniques were indeed common, even quite useful at certain times.
—For example, right now.
Hinata's arm swing was incredibly fast; the sudden ball speed he generated was even more terrifying than that of many players whose raw strength far exceeded his own.
And Fukurodani had also completely failed to expect that Miya Atsumu would still choose to give the ball to Hinata under these circumstances.
Given that Suna had such excellent attacking conditions, giving the ball to Hinata was practically insane.
Miya Atsumu grinned, his face full of the satisfaction of a scheme successfully carried out.
That's right, it was that one option everyone thought was impossible.. it was his best choice!
Watching Hinata leap in the back row, Osa Noboru's face was filled with shock.
Wait..
How can this person's vertical jump height be so ridiculous!
Because he had jumped early to block Suna, he was already in the middle of his descent.
Even though Hinata's vertical jump from the back row resulted in a low trajectory, he still managed to achieve a tooling the block effect through sheer timing.
From the back row, Saru Yamato and Mokoba Akitsugu lunged in from both sides simultaneously, barely managing to save the extremely fast ball.
"Great save!" Akaashi quickly took his position, ready to cover the error from that play.
Bokuto, in the best offensive position at the front row, also raised his hand immediately to call for the ball: "Akaashi!!"
Saru Yamato and Mokoba Akitsugu were still on the ground and hadn't gotten up yet, while on the other side, Osamu would find it difficult to score from under Suna's block without sufficient offensive cover.
The only person capable of breaking this deadlock.. is him, the Ace.
Akaashi did not hesitate for long, sending a precise set straight to Bokuto.
Of course, he couldn't deliver a perfect set in any situation like Miya Atsumu, but he could certainly attempt a high ball to Position 4, which was what he was most familiar with.
Bokuto jumped so high, so high that he completely cleared the reach of the three blockers from Inarizaki.
But Miya Atsumu and Suna were quite experienced in dealing with super-fast balls; the moment Bokuto spiked, they leaned back to adjust their hand positions, turning a block into a touch.
The ball hit Miya Atsumu's hands just like that.
After actively adjusting, the hand used for a controlled, flat touch won't be directly poked by the ball and cause an injury, but it is still quite painful.
And even though they had reached this level, they still failed to achieve the effect of a proper touch.
The ball flew high into the air, landing far outside the court.
Rather than a block touch, it felt more like a tool from Bokuto.
Watching the volleyball fly off, Miya Atsumu, who was being thrown backward by the momentum, grit his teeth.
He knew this ball would be difficult to save, he also knew it would be a challenge even for Hinata.
But..
Shoyo! I'm counting on you!!
In the next instant, an orange shadow lowered his body into a momentary starting position before pushing off the ground and lunging forward.
The sudden burst of speed allowed Shoyo to chase down the ball near the sideline barrier.
He used his momentum to jump, using his incredibly long approach to leap to an astonishing height.
Coach Unabara, standing right nearby, looked up, his eyes fixed on Shoyo's figure as he blocked the overhead lights after jumping.
With a loud thud, the ball was sent back, landing on Inarizaki's side of the court.
Before Coach Unabara could even snap out of it, Hinata, falling from the sky, crashed directly into him, his face filled with terror.
Fortunately, Coach Unabara himself came from a volleyball background, his height and build were quite solid.
He reached out in time to catch Hinata, preventing Hinata from dragging him down or causing him to step on him and sprain his ankle.
“Sorry, sorry!”
The moment he landed, Hinata hurriedly apologized, then vaulted over the railing to rush back onto the court.
Time was tight; he absolutely could not afford to waste a single second.
Miya Atsumu, who had already secured the ball, sent the pass toward the Position 2 marker.
Suna, jumping in the middle of the ball's trajectory, made a feint, while the true target of the jump float serve was Rishia Heisuke on the other side.
The set Atsumu gave was actually not very good; it had almost no height.
In such an emergency situation, he had done his absolute best just to get the ball over.
Rishia Heisuke naturally knew this.
As a Right Wing Spiker, helping the Ace handle bad balls was naturally part of his responsibility.
And at a time like this.. it was exactly the moment for him to step up.
Suna had already drawn the Fukurodani block away, so there was very little left for him to consider.
Just like when he serves, spike the ball with everything you've got!
The loud impact exploded in Bokuto's ears as he rushed over, the ball passed by his ear like a blurred shadow.
The sound of the ball slamming into the floor followed in the next second; Komi was simply too slow.
Rishia Heisuke scored with a spike.
Before Rishia could even react, an orange shadow rushed over and threw itself directly onto him.
Hinata cheered, "Heisuke! That spike was so cool! So cool!!"
Rishia Heisuke also cried out in excitement, "It was Shoyo's doing! Shoyo is the coolest one of all!!"
Acting as the middleman for this play, Miya Atsumu looked at his empty embrace, his mood plummeted.
Pfft.
The moment he heard the laughter, Miya Atsumu whipped his head around, catching Suna red-handed this time.
He instantly transferred his grief, indignation, fury onto Suna.
You bastard, Rintaro!!
Chapter 222: The Two Hundred and Twenty-Second Fox