In a long, long match, this is the kind of play that can ignite the entire stadium.
That was close, it almost hit us..
Just as Miya Atsumu, having received no response for a long time, turned his head to look at Hinata, Hinata suddenly shook his head.
He withdrew his gaze from the court and turned to look at Miya Atsumu. "I will continue to refine my skills."
“Even without Atsumu-senpai, I must open up the game for the team.”
His gaze was incredibly firm, allowing Miya Atsumu to clearly feel the conviction contained within it.
Atsumu lowered his gaze slightly, his expression softening with tenderness and certainty: "I believe in you. You will become stronger, stronger than anyone else."
No difficulty would make Hinata stop, he would accompany Hinata on this endless road.
After all.. Hinata had once promised him that he would play volleyball for the rest of his life.
Having received recognition from the strongest senior in his perception, Hinata's face was filled with pleasant surprise.
He nodded heavily. "Yeah! I definitely will!"
Suna crossed his arms over his chest and silently shifted a little further to the side.
Being squeezed, Akagi asked in confusion, "Aren't there seats over there? Rintaro, why are you squeezing me?"
He was almost squeezed right onto Coach Kurosu's small stool; the armrest was digging into his waist!
Suna remained expressionless, having no intention of moving at all: "Sorry, Akagi-senpai, I just feel a bit cold right now."
Yeah, there's a kind of bone-chilling coldness to it.
It's too twisted, Miya Atsumu.
Miya Osamu, who happened to rotate to the side of the Coach's bench, had an expression on his face like he had just swallowed a fly.
Under the referee's watchful eye, Miya Osamu walked up to Miya Atsumu and forcefully pried his hand off Hinata, before turning back toward the court.
Scheming with ill intentions and getting handsy with someone..
What a jerk! Scum Atsumu!
Miya Atsumu, who had been pulled for no apparent reason, was filled with confusion, when he turned his head to look at Miya Osamu, his expression was one of pure shock.
He immediately spoke up, "Hey! What the hell are you doing, you bastard!"
Coach Kurosu interrupted Miya Atsumu's words: "Atsumu, don't interfere with the match on the court."
Suna took the opportunity to reach out and drag Hinata away from Miya Atsumu's side.
Looking at Akagi, Suna, Hinata, who were already crowded together, as well as the "isolated" Miya Atsumu, Rishia Heisuke, who had just been called over to prepare for serving, didn't even know where to sit.
Forget it, he decided not to sit after all; standing was fine too.
After hesitating for a long time, he moved to stand on the other side of Coach Kurosu, far away from the trouble-making Coach's bench.
Rishia clenched his hands behind his back, trying his best to remain calm under Miya Atsumu's dark gaze.
Help, he didn't even do anything to Atsumu-senpai, so why is he glaring at him!
After Rishia Heisuke replaced Oori Ren and scored a point with a power serve, the score gap narrowed to three, but in the end, it failed to change the final outcome of the match.
Watching the score end at Fukurodani 25:21 Inarizaki, Iizuna frowned: "Fukurodani had a hard-fought victory in that set."
Although Ginjima and Kita Shinsuke and the others played very aggressively, they truly had no way to make up for it in the later stages after such an unfavorable opening.
Moreover, compared to the essence of scoring points, this Inarizaki lineup was more inclined towards stalling for time to wear down Fukurodani's momentum; having only a four-point difference at the end of the set was already quite good.
The most, most important thing right now is..
It wasn't just the Libero; the overall condition of Fukurodani's starting lineup had begun to decline.
Shiratori Natsume clapped her hands: "As expected, Inarizaki actually won the gamble in this set."
He laughed, picking up from what he had said a long time ago, "When one side is exhausted and the other is full, the outcome is already decided."
That might not be the case. What if Fukurodani is exceptionally tenacious?
Amatori wore a sour expression, refusing to accept the ruling given by Iizuna.
It's nothing, he just can't stand seeing Inarizaki win!
If both starting lineups were at their peak, Inarizaki would still be stronger than Fukurodani in terms of raw ability.
Iizuna was not at all blindly optimistic: "Not to mention that in a long match like this, a best-of-five format, the side with the deeper bench will naturally have the advantage."
It would be one thing if Fukurodani could just decisively take the Third Set.
But.. that last set was such a grind that even he found it a headache, let alone Bokuto, whose mental state wasn't great to begin with.
As everyone returned after playing the Third Set, Coach Kurosu applauded for them: "You played very well; we have completely achieved our initial objective."
Unabara's receive was good, Yui's block touch was quite impressive as well.
Ginjima Yui responded loudly, "Yes! I'll keep working hard!"
On the other side, Unabara Uta scratched his head and grinned foolishly, his mind completely filled with the fact that he had been praised by the coach.
He also felt that he had performed quite well; he had successfully received several of Bokuto's spikes!
Coach Kurosu added, "Alright, next is the deciding time. Everyone, try to keep moving and be ready to step onto the court at any time."
If the clash in the next set becomes too intense and players get injured, the substitutes will have to step in; they absolutely cannot let the rhythm they worked so hard to build up be lost so easily.
Kumagai stayed at the very back of the team, only high-fiving Hinata at the very end.
Hinata looked at Kumagai with a face full of excitement: "Akuma, the way you pass to Position 4 is just so cool!"
It was just a shame that he wasn't on the court himself, but just watching was enough to make him happy.
Kumagai lowered his eyes toward Hinata, recalling the details of this set in his mind: "It was alright; I didn't do much."
Having said that, he stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at Miya Atsumu, who was observing him.
Miya Atsumu crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his chin slightly toward him. "No mistakes throughout the whole match, but nothing particularly brilliant either. It was passable, I suppose."
Compared to him, he was far behind, but compared to other setters, his performance was quite good; his sets to the Ace were both accurate and fast.
Not scoring was Aran's problem, not the setter's problem.
A joyful smile unconsciously appeared on Kumagai's face: "Yes, good luck in the match, Atsumu-senpai."
This was the first time he had received a passing evaluation from Miya Atsumu for playing an entire match.
Very good, this shows that he played this set quite well!
Hinata also began to wipe away his tears in joy for Kumagai: "Akuma! You're not a scrub anymore!"
Rishia Heisuke said softly, "No, Akuma has never been a ball-scrub, has he?"
This was a unique evaluation that Miya Atsumu gave only to Hinata, which could be considered a kind of special treatment.
Walking ahead, Miya Atsumu stumbled, nearly tripping over his own feet and falling.
Laughter rose up one after another in his ears, among them, there seemed to be some from the First Years.
But when he looked over, everyone's expressions had returned to normal, as if no one had been laughing just now.
After glaring at Suna and Miya Osamu, Miya Atsumu was the first to stand up and walk toward the court: "We've got this! Kita Team's second consecutive championship!"
"YES!!" everyone responded in unison.
This Fourth Set is the deciding set!
They will definitely win!
Chapter 228: Two Hundred and Twenty-Eight Foxes
Sitting on the edge of the Coach's bench, Kita Shinsuke couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth curl up slightly.
When Aran looked over, he silently lowered his head, hiding the smile on his face.
Watching the backs of the juniors in his field of vision, Kita Shinsuke said softly, "It is a consecutive championship for all of Inarizaki."
Hinata, who was one step behind the second-year seniors, turned around and looked at Kita Shinsuke.
Kita Shinsuke pointed to his own ankle, signaling Hinata to adjust his slightly crooked ankle brace.
Watching Hinata squat down in a frantic rush to adjust his ankle brace, Kita Shinsuke said softly, "However, for now, we need to play steadily to secure the victory in this match."
Having finished adjusting, Hinata raised his hand in response, "Yes!"
Kita Team was right; they had to secure the victory in this match first.
Bring back the victory for the Coach, the Captain, every single person cheering and supporting Inarizaki.
Bokuto led the rest of the Fukurodani team back onto the court, hands on his hips, shouting loudly, "Comeback from two sets down! Let's go!"
Akaashi let out a long breath. "Let's go!"
Although he felt deeply exhausted, the match was far from over.
His mental state felt alright today; although he was feeling quite agitated by Miya Atsumu, he didn't have that sense of losing control like he did during the match against Shirabu.
It was just that his physical stamina was starting to fail to keep up with the pace, but overall, it wasn't a major problem.
After all, he knew exactly how much his physical stamina could handle; he was still far from his limit, his heart rate had not yet reached his personal record.
Glancing at Hinata, who was still jumping around during the rotation confirmation stage, Akaashi frowned deeply.
This Little One is certainly too energetic.
As far as he knew, the player with the best physical conditioning in Inarizaki should be Aran, but Aran hasn't played as many matches in this Haruko tournament as Hinata has.
And now it looks like.. Hinata's condition is even slightly better than Aran's?
—It was somewhat absurd.
In the Fourth Set, Fukurodani served first. In response, Inarizaki chose their most standard formation, with Hinata playing in Position 4 and Miya Osamu playing as the Opposite.
This was exactly the kind of playstyle that Fukurodani had already prepared their most complete counter for, but..
Coach Anromi sighed, "This really isn't a good time."
His expression was extremely grim; as the head coach, he was actually under immense pressure at this time.