Washio and Bokuto followed at top speed, blocking in front of Hinata.
Staring at Bokuto directly in front of him, Hinata's gaze shifted slightly to the side of the block.
The antennas are not located directly on the sidelines, but further out.
To avoid going out of bounds or touching the antenna, blockers do not stand too close to the antenna.
Therefore, by utilizing this gap between the blockers, one could execute an extremely extreme line shot from Position 4.
After visualizing the trajectory of the ball in his mind, Hinata raised his hand and spiked the ball along the predetermined path.
Bang!
The volleyball hit the line, Hinata successfully scored a point for Inarizaki.
Miya Atsumu immediately raised his hand toward Hinata: "Nice hit, Shoyo!"
Hinata also jogged over and gave Miya Atsumu a high five: "Atsumu-senpai, that was a great set!"
At Miya Atsumu's signal, Hinata reached out and "voluntarily" gave Miya Atsumu a hug.
In the waiting area, Miya Osamu and Suna, who had just returned, raised their middle fingers at Miya Atsumu once again.
Miya Atsumu replied with a smile, his face full of the smugness of a winner.
Hinata, who saw nothing at all, didn't know what was happening; he only saw that several second-year seniors seemed to be glaring at each other.
But he didn't pay it any mind, since these seniors often acted like this in their daily lives.
The source of conflict is usually a pudding or a rice ball, or at most.. a soaked assignment.
The service right passed to Bokuto.
This time, the Inarizaki supporters had learned their lesson; they started the rhythm a step ahead of Bokuto, giving him no chance to find his own rhythm.
But Bokuto was completely unaware; instead, he cast a surprised glance at the Inarizaki supporters behind him, then subtly puffed out his chest and held his head high, appearing even more energized than before.
Amatori, watching from the stands, had seen through it all: "This guy must be thinking something like, 'The Inarizaki supporters have already been captivated by my charm.'"
In the next second, Bokuto directly chose to clap along with the Inarizaki supporters.
He actively entered Inarizaki's rhythm, even influencing the supporters behind him.
Bokuto stood there, just like an international superstar.
Taking the ball from the referee, he raised a single finger: "My serve is the greatest!"
The next second after the whistle blew, Bokuto tossed the ball straight ahead.
But this time, he wasn't startled by a buzzer-beater; instead, he tossed the ball only after truly confirming that his condition had returned to normal.
He stepped forward and leaped up with a thud from the baseline.
The applause and cheers from the entire crowd seemed to turn into starlight draped behind him at this moment, his leaping figure appearing so dazzling.
BANG!!
The sudden, explosive bang made Hinata's eardrums ache, not to mention how the sound coincided with a burst of applause from the crowd, nearly making his heart skip a beat.
Rishia Heisuke faced this ball head-on, but his attempt at a dig failed to control it properly, he was knocked to the floor.
The volleyball flew out of the court, but Hinata, who was right at the edge, rushed after it and successfully hit it back into the court, but unfortunately, it went over the net.
Looking at Bokuto, Shiratori rested his chin on his hand. "He's the same type of player as Shoyo."
Kuroo crossed his arms over his chest. "I told you he was your type too."
This guy's preferences are really easy to understand; he simply likes people or things that shine.
However, his childhood friend is a bit too altruistic..
Shiratori retracted his smile that had just begun to form: "No, I have no interest in Bokuto; I don't want to set for him for the rest of my life."
Just the thought of having to act as a nanny while setting the ball made him feel like his life was over.
Bokuto's ball was decent, but having him set.. he might as well just kill him.
"Opportunity Ball!" Komi sent the ball to the attack line.
Akaashi quickly passed the ball to Mokoba, who was jumping at Position 4. Mokoba Akitsugu raised his hand and delivered a heavy spike, bypassing Inarizaki's double block to hit a sharp cross.
Aran quickly followed up, successfully defending the ball: "Atsumu!"
Hinata instantly flew across the entire net, leaping up on one foot, preparing for a quick attack to break the rhythm.
But at the exact moment Atsumu-senpai's set arrived, the block from Fukurodani followed suit.
The spike and the block came down almost at the same time.
It wasn't just the speed of the attack; it also meant the time for adjustment would be shortened.
Three consecutive sounds of impact occurred in extremely short succession, by the time everyone had regained their composure, the ball had already slammed into the floor.
While still in mid-air, Hinata spun around and used his feet to bump the ball back up.
The moment Hinata landed, Aran reached out and grabbed him, preventing him from falling to the ground.
After offering a word of praise, Miya Atsumu quickly followed up and reorganized the attack: "Great save!"
At this moment, the condition of the players in the front row could all be described as quite good. After adjusting their states, Aran, Hinata, Oori moved forward simultaneously to prepare for an attack.
This time, the one responsible for executing the Quick Attack to create a time difference between the front and back rows was Oori Ren.
Miya Atsumu ultimately chose to give the ball to Aran.
After all, Hinata and Oori had already pulled Fukurodani's block to both sides, so it would be excessive if Aran couldn't even score a point by spiking over the net.
Even though Aran is not the Ace in this set, his offensive ability suffers no reduction due to the adjustment of his role.
A powerful spike slammed directly into Fukurodani's front row, scoring a point for Inarizaki in an incredibly dominant fashion.
Nice one, Aran! One more!
Hinata also started cheering along: "Aran-senpai is so cool!"
When Aran looked over, he puffed out his chest proudly. "Did you see that, Aran-senpai! My save just now!"
Aran gave him a thumbs up. "I saw it, I saw it. That was amazing."
That kind of quick attack being blocked could only be attributed to the opponent's reaction speed being too fast, Hinata's ability to save it himself had already compensated for that point.
Glancing at Miya Atsumu out of the corner of his eye, Aran decided to be fair: "Atsumu, your sets are great too."
Miya Atsumu lowered his eyes and said nothing.
—Actually, it was just average.
That last ball being blocked was mainly his fault; it was because the ball he set wasn't fast enough for it to be caught.
As expected, after playing at such a high tempo from the opening until now, had he also become somewhat involuntarily relaxed?
This won't do; he must find a way to adjust himself.
Having received the ball, Hinata was already positioned in the back ready to serve, while Miya Atsumu slowly raised his hands to cover the back of his head as he prepared to serve.
Hinata's serve was easily neutralized by Komi from across the court, without even requiring Mokoba, who was responsible for that side, to reach out.
With two people needing cover in the back row, as the Libero, he had already perfectly fulfilled his duties, freeing everyone else from their defensive positions.
Under the cover of Mokoba and Saru in the front row, Akaashi raised his hands to set the ball to Bokuto, who was performing a back-row attack.
Bokuto scored a point with a back-row attack by tooling the block.
The score has remained locked at a one-point difference from the opening until now, neither Fukurodani nor Inarizaki has had an opportunity to change it.
At this time.. it's time to introduce some stronger weapons.
Coach Kurosu raised his hand and beckoned to Miya Osamu in the waiting area.
Miya Osamu stepped forward and sat down beside him on Coach Kurosu's bench upon the coach's signal.
The current score is very close, Hinata's quick attack has failed to break the deadlock for a long time, the others are not playing very comfortably either.
If they stay in this state, they will have to seek faster scoring and choose to use a Double Quick with Miya Osamu to pull ahead.
Miya Osamu and Kumagai Kuniharu were sitting together on the Coach's bench.
Kumagai, who had been called over but had yet to step onto the court, blinked, his face full of innocence.
With neither Washio nor Aran's service turns resulting in a score, the service right passed to Fukurodani's Mokoba Akitsugu.
Glancing at the score displayed on the large side screen, even Iizuna felt a sense of exhaustion from the inside out: "So.. just how on earth did they manage to create such a long rally?"
As the match has progressed to this point, the score has only just reached Fukurodani 5:6 Inarizaki.
Almost every rally lasted around twenty seconds, the longest one even stretched to twenty-four seconds.
A long rally like this, especially one where both sides are putting everything into their Strong Attack, feels hopeless just to watch.
However, both sides in the match were actually in quite good form; on Inarizaki's side, Miya Atsumu was still smiling and saying something to Hinata.
Laughter from Fukurodani students drifted up from the stands: "Go for it! Yanyangtong Yangshen Laoshi!"
Mokoba, who had just received the ball, raised his hand in frustration and pointed at that jerk of a classmate standing directly opposite him.
“Are you ever going to stop! If you're so capable, don't you dare leave in a bit! Yeah, I'm talking to you!"
The crowd in the stands laughed even harder, even the other people and the adults from the Inarizaki supporters joined in the jeering: "Go! Go! Don't mess up this time!"
Mokoba Akitsugu stood huffily at the approach position, preparing to intimidate this group of guys with an exquisite serve.
The moment the whistle blew, Fukurodani's cheering also quieted down, leaving only the boos from behind them.
The Inarizaki supporters' booing of the server had become its own established system, Fukurodani's attempt to replicate it as retaliation had failed completely.
The key is that they don't just boo their opponents; they boo their own teammates as well.
Even for Miya Atsumu, if he messed up a ball, he would definitely be despised by the entire crowd.
Although he was excited, Mokoba did not act rashly, waiting until the very last second of the service time before tossing the ball into the air.
Jump Serve?
No, no, no, a jump serve with that kind of ball speed would be completely meaningless at a time like this; if he's going to serve, he should go for a jump float serve.
Although he doesn't use the jump float serve very often and isn't particularly proficient with it, it is absolutely perfect for this moment.
Watching Mokoba's familiar jumping posture and his preparation to spike, Akagi was momentarily stunned.