—Heavy and powerful.
Although he had been extremely nervous before and his condition wasn't great, at this very moment, he was inexplicably calmed by the rhythm of Atsumu's heartbeat.
Perhaps.. it was simply a distraction?
Hinata's mind went blank, in this moment, the only thing in his field of vision was Miya Atsumu's face.
Atsumu's expression was very serious and earnest, as if he were making a long-term promise to Shoyo when he spoke: "I am your setter, so no matter the circumstances.."
“Shoyo, you can use me without any hesitation.”
Hinata's eyes widened involuntarily; the Miya Atsumu smiling in his field of vision seemed to provide him with a sense of profound stability.
Suna watched Miya Atsumu quietly.
Where is the gentleness, where is the tranquility?
From this angle, he.. looked just like a monster luring lost travelers into a trap.
Yet, someone was completely oblivious and bit into that alluring yet lethal poison.
Hinata unceremoniously stated his demand to Miya Atsumu: "I want a higher toss; no matter what kind of block, I will overcome it."
—No matter what happens, please give me your best toss.
—I'll bring the points back.
Miya Atsumu's smile deepened: "Alright then."
Hearing this, Aran on the other side broke into a cold sweat on Hinata's behalf.
This was a very dangerous move, because Miya Atsumu could truly force himself to meet every single requirement of a spiker.
But he also demanded that the spiker provide him with corresponding feedback.
Once the effort Miya Atsumu puts in and the rewards he receives fail to reach a proper proportion, problems will inevitably arise..
Miya Osamu sat quietly on the Coach's bench, his expression calm, as if he hadn't noticed the situation on the court at all.
On the opposite side, Saru Yamato was already preparing for the next serve, the Head Referee urged Inarizaki to adjust their positions and get ready.
Miya Atsumu let go of Hinata's hand, a hint of regret on his face.
Saru Yamato patted the ball against the ground.
In the last second of the service time limit, he raised his hand and tossed the ball up.
His touch was also on fire; just like at the opening, he kept his eyes fixed on Hinata at the edge of the back row.
The more difficult something is to handle, the faster and more accurately it must be eliminated; even half a rotation of interference is enough.
He retreated immediately, leaving himself enough space to receive the ball.
Having already envisioned how he should receive this ball, he stepped back one more step before lunging forward in a lunge, lowering his stance to face the ball head-on with his arms.
Since he already knew the opponent's goal was to interfere with his subsequent approach distance, he would not be fooled again.
Although the toss was a bit off, Miya Atsumu still couldn't help but praise it: "Great first receive!"
After receiving the ball, Hinata quickly stood up and charged forward, taking two large strides before leaping with all his might behind the three-meter line.
While Osa Noboru was closing in on Hinata, Miya Atsumu instead tossed the ball to Suna, who had jumped up just a step to his side.
Suna spiked the ball, perfectly avoiding the block from the approaching Akaashi.
But Komi's reaction was also incredibly fast; he took a large, diagonal step backward, covering nearly half the court, forcing his position from where he had originally prepared to receive the cross-court spike to directly in front of Suna.
After lowering his body as much as possible, he barely managed to receive the ball.
“Akaashi!”
Akaashi Keiji quickly moved under the ball, having no other choice, he decisively sent the ball toward Position 4.
As Bokuto leaped at the net, the three-person block from Inarizaki followed him.
After a heavy thud, Suna and Rishia teamed up to block Bokuto's cross-court spike back into Fukurodani's court.
Inarizaki scores on a block.
As the service right passed to Miya Atsumu, Inarizaki took the lead with 8 points, the match went into a time-out.
Aran sighed, "It's frustrating, we just can't pull ahead."
He felt that his own condition was quite good today, as several of his strong attacks had played out well.
However, it was the same over at Fukurodani; in fact, Bokuto's attacking intensity was even more ferocious than his.
Although Washio and Mokoba do not have a particularly high presence, their overall scoring rate is quite decent because of it.
Moreover, in comparison, Mokoba and Saru perform better when it comes to coordinating with the Libero for receives.
Moreover, Komi himself is better at receiving heavy spikes than Akagi, so Aran will only find it more difficult than Bokuto.
Akagi was quite optimistic: "It's no problem. We're still in the lead; we just need to capitalize on one mistake from the opponent to fight our way back."
Play boldly and without worry, I'm here, so don't be afraid!
Whether it was the opponent's heavy spike or an error on their own side, as long as the ball could be saved, it wasn't a problem.
Anyway, Fukurodani wouldn't have another chance for such a consecutive scoring streak in the short term; instead, it was their turn to enter their strongest rotation.
Miya Atsumu sat in his chair without saying a word, merely swirling the cup in his hands as if he were lost in thought.
Kita Shinsuke instructed, "Atsumu, play the serves after this a bit more steadily."
Miya Atsumu's Service Turn was actually their best opportunity to pull ahead in the score, especially since Atsumu's powerful Jump Float Serve could achieve twice the results with half the effort against Fukurodani.
He was only afraid that Miya Atsumu's mind would wander, instead of playing a stable Jump Float Serve, he would try something new and give points to the opponent.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to make an OK sign. "Don't worry, Kita Team."
He didn't want to play all five sets; he would definitely be exhausted to death.
In the last set, he had been fearless because of the massive point gap, but now that the score was so close, he certainly couldn't afford to recklessly try anything else.
The key now is how to coordinate the toss.
After several days of matches, the quality of their receives and counterattacks had actually declined accordingly.
During these past few days of matches, he had been trying his best to coordinate and address these issues, but what he had to do now went far beyond that.
In the previous matches, he hadn't actually used much of his strength, now was the perfect time to use all of that remaining energy.
Even though what Hinata said to him was merely that he "wanted a higher toss," that was also Hinata's own understanding of the setter.
For this match, for him or for Hinata, just being tall is far from enough.
Since he has decided to set, he must give Hinata the best toss possible.
He will definitely be able to do it.
He will definitely be able to do it.
While Shoyo Hinata was spacing out and resting nearby, the time-out quietly came to an end.
Everyone returned to the court, Miya Atsumu took the volleyball from the referee and stood four steps away from the baseline.
Shoyo raised both hands to the sides of his head and shouted loudly, "Atsumu-senpai, serve a great one!"
Atsumu-senpai's last serve was beautiful, so there won't be any problems this time either.
Taking a deep breath, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to toss the ball in the final second of the service time limit.
Looking on from the stands, the people from Shiratori felt a sense of emotion at this moment: "Too cautious."
Miya Atsumu's personality was naturally quite unconventional; he would often attempt high-risk moves during the serve stage, behaving with complete spontaneity.
But in today's match, aside from a few harmless instances of eccentric behavior, he played the entire game like a shrewd and steady strategist, leaving his opponents absolutely no room to exploit.
Komi Haruki was also feeling extremely overwhelmed at this moment.
With the opponent clearly refusing to give him any openings, it was quite difficult for him to receive that Jump Float Serve, which was something he was already quite good at.
Not to mention that Miya Atsumu's Jump Float Serve is already top-tier in the country, with unpredictable ball trajectories that are extremely difficult to defend against.
The ball suddenly dropped the moment it crossed the Three-meter Line. In his urgency, Komi, who was not positioned too far forward, could only dive toward the net, attempting to use his fingers to bump the ball.
Feeling the sensation of the touch on his fingers, Komi immediately called out to his own setter.
“Akaashi! Save the ball!”
This ball wasn't in a position for Akaashi to set, so he simply lowered his center of gravity as much as possible and used his hands to bump the ball toward the top of the net near Position 4.
Bokuto rushed forward quickly, jumping up and preparing to spike.
The underhand dig lacked any real speed, there was no possibility of it bypassing the block.
With the offensive intent being far too obvious, Hinata decisively followed Suna and Rishia's block.
Three people stood before Bokuto, pressing down from above.
With insufficient height on the ball, Bokuto didn't have enough time to adjust the trajectory of his spike, leaving him with no choice but to power through and spike it straight down.
The moment Suna observed Bokuto preparing to spike towards Hinata, he adjusted his blocking route, shifting from his original position in the middle to a spot that would block the path of the ball heading toward Hinata.
With a loud bang, Suna blocked the ball back into Fukurodani's court with both hands.
Komi, who had just risen from the back row, lunged forward again, but unfortunately, he couldn't save it.
Inarizaki scored consecutively, the score jumped to 7:9 in favor of Inarizaki against Fukurodani.
Iizuna frowned. "The score we worked so hard to catch up to has been pulled away again. Fukurodani must be feeling the pressure."
After being pulled up by Bokuto, Komi raised his hand and slapped his own face hard.
With a loud slap, two handprints appeared on Komi's face, leaving Bokuto stunned for a moment.
Bokuto asked with pure confusion, "What are you doing?"
Komi replied, "To clear my head."
Bokuto had an epiphany upon hearing that and raised his own hands as well: "Then I'll also—"
Before Bokuto could even finish speaking, Mokoba and Akaashi grabbed him from either side.
Mokoba hurriedly said, fearing that Bokuto would actually slap him, "Stop, stop, stop! You don't need to calm down!"
Please keep burning, our Ace!