Hearing Miya Atsumu's voice, Suna, who had been smirking, quickly pulled his smile back and returned to his usual stoic expression.
He stared at Miya Atsumu, as if silently saying something.
The two stared at each other for several seconds, in the end, it was Miya Atsumu who was the first to break the gaze.
Atsumu turned his head away, deciding not to argue with Suna for Hinata's sake.
He was a mature and steady senior, completely different from a guy like Suna who was always looking to cause trouble!
Suna didn't mind that Atsumu-senpai was badmouthing him in his head again; after all, the memes produced by this Haruko tournament, along with the photos of Miya Osamu's messy morning face, would all become part of his collection.
Yeah, this will also be part of Miya Atsumu's birthday present for next year.
Miya Atsumu walked to the service position while holding the ball.
Mokoba's expression was not very good: "What a terrible opening.."
Not only did they lose their own service turn at the very start, but they also faced the opponent's strong momentum in the next turn.
Once they scored during Miya Atsumu's service turn, they would once again fall into the difficult situation of having the score gap widened.
The whistle blew in his ears, Miya Atsumu, who was in a bad mood, raised his hand to call for silence amidst the cheers from Inarizaki.
That last play was clearly partly thanks to him.. at least a quarter of the credit!
Shoyo didn't even think to celebrate with him!
He decided. On this play, he would pin Fukurodani to the ground and declare his strength to everyone with a beautiful score.
Coach Kurosu gazed silently at Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to serve.
But Miya Atsumu didn't give him even a half-second glance; the instructions and warnings he wanted to give had failed to reach him.
I can only hope that Miya Atsumu is reliable enough on his own..
As the service time limit reached the third second, Miya Atsumu, standing behind the baseline, raised his hand to toss the ball.
Coach Kurosu's eyes lit up.
—A perfect toss.
Miya Atsumu stepped forward quickly, jumping from the baseline and spiking the ball toward the corner where Komi was positioned.
Komi's brain worked at high speed, attempting to discern something from the overall erratic movement of the ball.
This ball.. is going out of bounds?
An absurd thought crossed Komi's mind, but he immediately dismissed it.
This was the least likely possibility; Miya Atsumu was currently in peak form, so there was no chance of a service error, especially with a jump float serve that didn't require extreme speed.
Precisely because of this, the most likely outcome for this ball was.. a sudden drop followed by a line shot.
Although he had read the trajectory of the ball, Komi was still a moment too late when he raised his hands.
The ball brushed past him and fell behind him.
A soft sound echoed in everyone's ears.
By the time the Fukurodani players turned to look, the volleyball had already slammed into the baseline; it was, without a doubt, an in-bounds ball.
The referee on the sidelines gave the same ruling, signaling that Miya Atsumu's serve was a valid score.
Miya Atsumu raised a single fist, but this time it wasn't to call for a halt to the cheering, but to make the roar of the crowd even more intense.
Nice serve, Atsumu-senpai! One more!
Oikawa Tooru curled his lip. "What an arrogant guy."
It's just scoring a point with a serve, what's the big deal?
The key is that Inarizaki's cheering is truly spoiling this guy; they're giving him far too much face.
While Hinata was cheering along, Miya Atsumu beckoned to him with a wave of his hand: "Shoyo."
Hinata approached Miya Atsumu with a bit of confusion, watching him raise his hand.
Although he didn't know why Miya Atsumu was celebrating a service ace with him, he loved it.
So Hinata also slapped him on the back, his face full of excitement. "Scoring on a serve is so cool, Atsumu-senpai!"
I wonder when he will get the chance to score a point with a serve on a stage like this Center Court.
It will surely be.. an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Mokoba's expression became even more unsightly: "What a catastrophic opening."
Now, Inarizaki is bringing the score back. They had already experienced just how difficult this was during the last set.
Komi took a deep breath.
After several days of matches, his reactions had become a bit sluggish.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have been unable to keep up after making that judgment.
But it doesn't matter; he will definitely be able to receive the next one.
Atsumu-senpai had already returned to his prepared approach position, walking four steps forward before turning to face the members of Fukurodani.
It was a jump float serve again.
Even though Komi had raised his alertness to the highest level, Miya Atsumu did not choose to serve the ball to him this time.
Miya Atsumu sent this ball toward Mokoba Akitsugu on the other side; it was a shot with an extremely short drop, falling immediately after crossing the net.
By the time Mokoba Akitsugu reacted and lunged forward, the ball was already below his knees.
In his desperation, he could only choose to touch the ball with the back of his hand.
The ball flew toward the net and slammed directly into the top of it.
The moment the volleyball fell, Akaashi used one hand to scoop it up, successfully lofting the ball to a certain height without committing a violation, creating distance between the ball and the net.
Iizuna couldn't help but clap. "Beautiful."
Akaashi's adjustment on this ball was nothing short of perfect; even if he were the one doing it, he could only achieve this level.
After all, the first receive was a serious error; being able to set the ball at all was already quite impressive.
Having received the ball, Washio Tatsuki raised his hand at the highest point and spiked it, soaring over the Inarizaki block in front of him.
Akaashi didn't give him much with this play; it was simply high enough.
And for Washio Tatsuki, that was enough.
This ball was spiked directly down by Washio from above the block, so it was extremely close.
But the ball was extremely fast, far beyond the scope of being saved after hitting the block.
Miya Atsumu, who was already positioned forward, decisively reached out to receive the ball, successfully sending it up.
“Shoyo!” he called out to Hinata to step in for the second set, while he himself quickly retreated to create distance for a run-up, preparing for a back-row attack.
Glancing at Miya Atsumu's position, Hinata jumped and reached out to set the ball toward Position 2, facing himself.
But.. it wasn't for Miya Atsumu, who was performing a back-row attack, but rather for Rishia Heisuke, who was jumping on the wing.
Forgive him, Atsumu-senpai.
The position for this ball was already bad, so he really didn't dare to set it to the back row.
At a time like this, giving the ball to the person he was most familiar with, Rishia Heisuke, would have been the best choice; at the very least, he definitely wouldn't have made a mistake on a ball like this.. or so he thought.
Although Hinata's spike path was quite obvious, Atsumu's presence was so overwhelming that he managed to distract Fukurodani's block for a moment.
Rishia Heisuke spiked hard through Fukurodani's double block, resulting in a touch out.
But before Mokoba could even chase the ball, the referee blew the whistle, signaling an offensive fault by Rishia Heisuke, Fukurodani scored.
Oikawa Tooru said softly, "Shoyo's set was too close to the net; that number 14 touched the net during the spike."
Sorry—
“Sorry—!”
Hinata and Rishia both raised their hands in surrender toward Miya Atsumu, attempting to escape the fate of being kicked off the court by that demon-like senior.
The way the two of them played that ball was truly hideous; they completely wasted the ball that Atsumu-senpai had worked so hard to receive.
Miya Atsumu had a bellyful of frustration and didn't know where to vent it; in the end, he could only wave his hand and say, "It's fine, it's fine, just win it back later."
Having been given a reprieve, Hinata cheered, "Long live Atsumu-senpai!"
Coach Inubata, in the stands, wiped the tears from his face. "Atsumu—you've grown so much—"
As someone who had watched Miya Atsumu grow up, he naturally knew exactly what kind of temperament his disciple possessed.
He thought he would never see a scene like this again, where a teammate could still offer consolation with a pleasant expression even after a serious error.
Watching Kumagai being called over by the coach, Miya Osamu said in a low voice, "Be careful, he's going to start scolding someone."
So it was Hinata who just made the error, but if it had been anyone else, Miya Atsumu would have shown them his displeasure on the spot.
This guy just has.. two different sets of standards.
In the next second, Hinata's voice rang out in the court again: "As expected, I'm still not good enough; when it comes to setting, I still have to rely on Atsumu-senpai.."
Watching the flowers bloom behind Miya Atsumu, Miya Osamu remained silent.
Then he looked at Kumagai, who was staring at him in confusion. "It's okay, you can go now."
Taking a glance at the Omamori that Miya Atsumu had specifically hung on Coach Kurosu's bag before leaving, hoping he would carry it for him, Miya Osamu's feelings became even more complicated.
He knew exactly what was written on it, that was precisely why he felt so annoyed.
Surprising Victory, huh? What a fine Surprising Victory.
Why does it feel like he and Suna are also part of this Omamori routine?
After the initial mutual probing at the opening, the match on the court entered a fever pitch.
Although the opening rhythm was quite good, Inarizaki had failed to score consecutive points again for a long time, resulting in a stalemate with Fukurodani in breaking the opponent's rhythm.
Fukurodani had no opportunity to score consecutive points to level the score, Inarizaki had no possibility of further widening the gap.
After receiving the opponent's spike, Rishia Heisuke sent the ball toward the Attack Line.
Hinata stepped out from beneath the Position 2 marker where he had originally been, sprinting across the entire court in an instant to reach the side of Position 4.