Hakuma, who had raised a question, looked down at Hoshiumi, who was sandwiched between him and Hirugami: "Being small isn't easy, is it? Or rather.."
"Alright, alright, stop it. We'll talk about this when we get back." Hoshiumi raised his hand, directly cutting off Hakuma's provocation.
It's not like they're the ones playing the match; his disciple is on the court, so he shouldn't be launching such indiscriminate attacks here.
Moreover.. he was almost tired of hearing it!
Glancing at Shiratori, who was being choked by Hoshiumi, Hirugami turned his head; from Hoshiumi's angle, he could only see his shoulders shaking incessantly.
Watching the ball fly high out of the court, Aran let out a small click of his tongue as he landed, but before he could make a move, Rishia Heisuke from the other side had already rushed out.
He used one hand to send the ball back toward the court just as it flew over the railing and toward the side judges' bench, but the overall arc of the ball was very low.
Great save!
Miya Atsumu rushed forward, not even glancing at the positions of the others, sent a blind pass back the moment he jumped to touch the ball.
He didn't even need to check if anyone was at the destination of his pass.
His heart was there, so naturally, there would be someone who could resonate with him and chase after him.
Hinata arrived on the ball's inevitable path almost in the blink of an eye.
While everyone was still immersed in Rishia's extreme save, he had already spiked the ball, aiming straight for the Three-meter Line at the far end of their vision.
With a loud crack, the ball dropped in everyone's sight and then bounced back up, finally rolling to a stop at the feet of the referee by the sideline.
That was incredible!!
Great pass, Atsumu! Great spike, Shoyo!
Shiratori applauded: "They're perfectly in sync."
No matter how many times one sees it, Miya Atsumu's courage and skill in such a blind pass is truly astounding, let alone the fact that someone can actually keep up with him.
In any case, he didn't dare to pass, his childhood friend didn't dare to spike.
The two of them were much the same.
As if sensing Shiratori's inner thoughts, Kuroo turned his head and glared at him.
Shiratori turned serious and didn't offer any further explanation.
Iizuna sighed, "Inarizaki has taken the advantage."
Damn it, Inarizaki's ability to exploit every little opening is just too strong; as long as they catch an opportunity, they can rapidly pull ahead in the score..
Fukurodani is getting harder to catch.
Miya Osamu, on the Coach's bench, relaxed even more.
The situation on the court looked quite good; he probably wouldn't need to go on during that period.
A very resentful gaze was cast from the court, causing Miya Osamu, who had already been prepared to collapse onto the Coach's bench, to sit up straight again.
He turned his head, avoiding Suna's sharp gaze.
First of all, he didn't want to play Middle Blocker.
Secondly, he didn't want to give Suna a chance to slack off.
Osamu cleared his throat, turned his head, began analyzing Fukurodani's playstyle alongside the coach with a serious expression.
Suna withdrew his gaze and let out a dissatisfied click of his tongue.
Chapter 223: The Two Hundred and Twenty-Third Fox
“Heisuke! Use your serve to take them down!”
"Yeah!" Rishia nodded, preparing to serve the next ball.
The feel of that last serve was excellent, it certainly disrupted the opponent; simply repeating that same serve would have been enough.
However.. he was actually somewhat unsatisfied with the state of that last play; he could do even better.
After slamming the ball against the floor, Rishia picked it up with one hand and spun it on his fingertips.
The Inarizaki supporters on the opposite side provided steady and enthusiastic cheers, making his heart pound even more violently.
Confirmed, he would definitely be able to make another breakthrough with this ball.
At the very moment the service time was about to expire, Rishia Heisuke raised his hand and tossed the ball forward.
After an extremely long four-step approach, the heavy thud of the final step echoed in everyone's ears.
BANG!!
In an instant, the ball flew over the net and slammed into the center of the Fukurodani court.
Komi took a step forward, shifting his body and lowering his center of gravity as much as possible as he moved toward the area where he predicted the volleyball would land.
But..
As his eyes caught the volleyball rapidly expanding in his field of vision, a sense of impending doom surged through his heart almost instantly.
Wait, the spin on this ball seems a bit too strong?
Rishia Heisuke's power serve didn't actually have that much spin, so most of the time, Komi could handle it quite well.
But this ball.. what happened?!
The ball struck Komi's arm and then flew out of bounds.
Rishia Heisuke couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face.
As expected, he hadn't spent all that time watching Miya Atsumu and Aran's serves for nothing.
After a power serve with that kind of spin was actually hit by him, he actually felt that it wasn't that difficult.
Saru Yamato, beside Komi, rushed forward at his maximum speed and barely managed to touch the ball before it flew past the railing.
“Opportunity Ball!”
Just as Akagi was about to step forward, he saw Miya Atsumu raise his hand to signal that there was no need to receive the ball.
He quickly stepped back, leaving the space for Miya Atsumu.
On the other side, Hinata had already completed a cross-rotation with Suna at the net; Hinata leaped near Position 4, poised to perform a quick attack spike.
The speed of the entire coordination was terrifying; Washio could barely keep up, relying almost entirely on his own instincts.
But unfortunately, Miya Atsumu had no intention of giving this ball to Hinata.
Aran, who had leaped in the center, managed to get a hold of the ball and delivered a powerful spike that smashed down toward the three-meter line with almost no blocking in his way.
But Fukurodani's tenacity also exceeded everyone's expectations. The moment Komi, who had just been knocked to the ground by Rishia's serve, got back up, he lunged forward again, managing to make a touch on the ball.
"Great play!!" Even Akaashi became excited.
It wasn't a perfect pass, but with a ball of such high difficulty, he could force himself to give it a try.
After all.. no setter could remain calm after seeing Miya Atsumu's pass just now, let alone him, watching it from such close range on the court.
One hundred percent? One hundred and two percent?
No, on this battlefield leading to final victory, he must demonstrate abilities that exceed even those.
Akaashi Keiji stepped forward, forcibly lowering his center of gravity and his touch height just like Miya Atsumu.
He raised his hand, attempting to touch the ball with his fingers.
Fortunately, the rotation of the ball itself had been mostly reduced by Komi's recent touch, making it perfectly pass-able.
The moment the ball touched the setter's fingers, its trajectory was completely altered, sending it toward the Position 2 marker at the edge of the net.
Bokuto, who had already prepared himself over there, took a large step forward and leaped with all his might to spike the ball passed to him by Akaashi.
There was no time to adjust for technical shots like a short diagonal, but even with just a simple power spike, as the Ace, he had to do his absolute best.
The ball broke through the analysis between Suna and Aran, heading toward the back of the court.
Hinata dove nearby, barely managing to reach the ball.
"Atsumu-senpai!!" he called out, shouting Miya Atsumu's name.
Miya Atsumu's solid calves also appeared in his field of vision in the next second, the bone structure of his kneecaps being exceptionally clear under the pressure of such rapid, explosive movement.
In the blink of an eye, the ball was passed to Suna, but the blocking speed from Fukurodani's side was equally incredibly fast.
Washio, having completely anticipated that Suna would attempt to turn the short diagonal into an extreme line shot, precisely positioned himself in the ball's path to block it.
With a loud thud, the ball was forcefully blocked back, dropping into Inarizaki's court at the same speed as Suna's initial spike.
Akagi's movement was a step too slow, he failed to keep up.
"Sorry!" Akagi shouted loudly.
That point really shouldn't have been lost; a counterattack from that distance should have been able to reach it.
Coach Omimi, on the sidelines, cheered for everyone: "Don't worry about it, don't worry! Keep playing steadily!"
With them leading by three points, Fukurodani only managed to claw back a single point, so there was no need to be overly tense or self-reproachful.
However, it was a fact that Akagi's reaction speed had indeed slowed down.
After thinking for a moment, Coach Kurosu waved toward the waiting area again, calling the substitute libero, Unabara Uta, over.
Kumagai, having fully relaxed after the serve, watched Unabara Uta leave and silently raised his hand to cheer him on.
He was called up not long after the match started, but he wasn't substituted in until the second rotation.
To be honest.. he had been nervous just now, because at a time like this, there was a real possibility that he would be brought in to replace Miya Atsumu as the Setter.
The decisive points they just used to pull ahead in the score were all basically thanks to Miya Atsumu's extraordinary setting skills.
Hinata's follow-up speed and offensive ability are indeed strong, but whether the Setter can make good use of this blade is the real key.
With his technical skill being nothing more than amateurish compared to Miya Atsumu's..
He's bound to mess it up.
The service right subsequently passed to Akaashi Keiji.
And Akaashi's serve could only be described as neither good nor bad, failing to secure a point for Fukurodani.