Rishia Heisuke immediately performed a sliding dive to admit his mistake: "My bad, my bad!"
He should be grateful that the Inarizaki supporters aren't here right now, otherwise he'd probably be scolded until he couldn't hold his head up.
He was just standing there like an idiot even after the ball had hit the ground.. How embarrassing!
Miya Atsumu continued clapping to comfort him: "Don't worry about it. The opponent's serve is very fast; pay attention to the hitting motion to anticipate it in advance."
Rishia Heisuke said he couldn't see anything.
With two 1.9m walls and one 2m wall blocking the way, he couldn't see anything.
Coach Kurosu, sitting on the Coach's bench, rubbed his chin. "Heisuke's dynamic vision and reaction speed are still not quite there."
Although Hinata was a complete novice when he joined the club, his physical abilities were already among the best in the club at that time.
Rishia Heisuke simply has potential, but he hasn't developed his physical conditioning, though his strength has grown very rapidly.
From reaction speed and physical fitness to movement speed, there are many things Rishia Heisuke still lacks.
Coach Omimi suggested, "Should we have Heisuke practice Whac-A-Mole when we get back?"
The facilities in the arcade were specifically designed to test the two skills Coach Kurosu had mentioned. Suna had practiced them before and had quickly broken the arcade's record.
Coach Kurosu agreed readily, "Sure, that's absolutely fine. I'll get a card made for Heisuke as soon as we get back."
Training in this area is already urgent; before the Interhigh, they must refine their currently weak defensive lineup.
Among the freshmen who enrolled in April, no one has been promoted to the First String as a starter yet, so their coordination will not be disrupted by this.
Compared to many teams that rely on strengthening their rosters with new students, this was actually their advantage.
On the court, Oda's second serve was barely received by Unabara Uta.
The moment the ball flew into the air, a girl's piercing scream erupted from the stands.
“What a First Receive!!”
That shout startled Hoshiumi nearby, when he looked up, he saw a girl wearing an Inarizaki supporters headband and waving two number 9 cheering sticks, shouting encouragement frantically.
Kumagai looked back at the court for a moment before quickly averting his gaze, unable to stop himself from raising a hand to wipe the non-existent sweat from his forehead.
As expected of a professional from the brass band club.. truly terrifying.
Upon hearing the sound, Unabara Uta suddenly stood tall with renewed energy, as if injected with adrenaline, her gaze toward Miya Osamu and Suna, who were preparing to attack at the net, grew even more intense.
With two consecutive heavy thuds, Minka Shugo forcefully slammed the ball back down into Inarizaki's court.
In the next second, Unabara Uta, wearing a black jersey, had already lunged forward, palms positioned beneath the ball, using the back of his hand to make contact and save it.
The cheers from the stands erupted once again: "They saved it—That was so cool!!"
As Hinata retreated to prepare for the next attack, he shouted, "That was amazing! Unabara!"
Miya Atsumu took a few quick steps to catch up, while Hinata also started moving from near his original Position 4.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, he had already crossed the entire width of the net, leaping with a thud near the Position 2 marker.
Hirugami's gaze was unconsciously drawn by Hinata toward Position 2.
And in the very next instant, the sound of the setter's touch followed, the ball flew in the completely opposite direction, landing toward Position 4.
Miya Osamu, who had completed a cross-run in front of the setter with Hinata, leaped at Position 4, using even greater power than Hinata to support his spike, which came off with even higher speed.
Inunari dove with a diving save, getting under the ball.
"Beautiful!" Oda praised again.
Hirugami Fuku couldn't help but clap. "As expected of the University Championship's Best Libero."
One must realize that Hosei University is not a sports powerhouse, their final result was only reaching the Semifinals.
The fact that the tournament officials could choose him as the Best Libero in this situation.. is enough to show just how terrifying Inunari's strength is.
That reaction speed and composed receiving state are quite striking.
"Give me the ball!!" Oliver at Position 4 actively called for the ball.
Oda, diving from the back row, swept past the opposing Inarizaki's block. After a fake set toward Position 4, he quickly transitioned to set the ball to Minka Shugo, who was at Position 3 preparing for a Back Quick Attack.
Suna, having been momentarily faked out, rushed over and, together with Hinata on the other side, dove toward the center.
But Minka Shugo's height and jumping ability were equally excellent; since the opponent's reach was far inferior to his, his spike went directly over the block, smashing into the empty space in Inarizaki's back row.
Oda gave a light chuckle.
Miya Atsumu had just used the Ace as a decoy, so he did the same, which could be considered paying him back.
But in the very next second, a black shadow lunged forward again, catching up to the ball with sheer force.
Unabara Uta scrambled up from the floor, calling out loudly to Miya Atsumu, "Atsumu-senpai!!"
Miya Atsumu was quite surprised and delighted: "Great save!!"
Unabara's form today is top-notch; several of his defenses could be described as perfect.
"Ahhhhhh—so cool!" Imai shouted even louder from the stands.
However, that save was truly extreme, so the entire stadium erupted, making her voice less noticeable in comparison.
Before this, she had always been the trumpet player in the brass band; this was her first time having the chance to use her own voice to cheer for the Inarizaki players.
—It felt so good.
In the waiting area, Teruya Masato whispered to Atsumu, "Is this the power of love??"
Uta added, "It's too effective.."
Miya Atsumu quickly followed up, jumping while moving to provide a high-angle back set.
There were no dazzling feints like before; it was simply a high ball sent toward Position 4.
And Hinata, who had already moved up, jumped immediately after.
Leonard and Minka Shugo blocked Hinata's path almost simultaneously. The two 1.9m Iron Walls leaped up in front of Hinata, completely obstructing his field of vision.
Hinata's expression was very calm, his gaze focused on the two men's hands, or rather.. behind the block.
That's right, he had never stopped fighting for air superiority.
The sky was their battlefield, there was absolutely no escaping it.
He had jumped to his absolute limit to reach the highest point, but it turned out that this height was almost identical to his opponent's block height, making it impossible to jump over the block to attack.
But.. does this mean he failed to win the battle for air superiority?
The fingers in Hinata's field of vision slowly descended, at that same moment, his arm extension reached its final stage.
——The answer to that question was, of course, no.
He indeed had no way to jump higher, or higher than these blocks that were nearly 3.4m.
But in the battle for air superiority, the true winner is the one who can stay at the highest point for longer.
Minka Shugo's expression shifted slightly.
This Little One.. his airtime is just too insane!!
Just how ridiculous must his balance and body control be to achieve something like this—
With a heavy thud, Hinata spiked the ball over the descending Iron Wall, sending it crashing down near the sideline.
Judging that there was no overhand spike and therefore wouldn't be coming this way, Inunari ultimately failed to keep up. The ball hit the floor, Inarizaki scores.
"Ohhhhh—so cool! Shoyo!" Unabara Uta cheered, rushing forward.
Hinata raised his hand to high-five him. "Unabara, that was a great save too!"
After cheering, the two bumped shoulders, Hinata was nearly knocked over by Unabara Uta.
Unabara is in really good form today; is it because Imai is here?
Coach Kurosu rubbed his chin, considering that since Miya Atsumu was also a performer, his unconventional way of thinking led him to seriously contemplate the possibility of letting Miya Atsumu find a partner.
But he gave up the idea the next second; after all, he couldn't be entirely sure whether dating would affect Miya Atsumu's performance.
Besides, with Miya Atsumu's personality, it would definitely cause problems.
However, usually, Atsumu-senpai is quite gentle and patient with Shoyo..
Coach Kurosu's hand paused while stroking his chin.
Wait?
Chapter 258: The Two Hundred and Fifty-Eighth Fox
The sudden thought that popped into his mind was a bit terrifying, making Coach Kurosu unable to continue thinking about it for a moment.
He felt that he had likely stumbled upon the little secrets of his players.
However, he wasn't that narrow-minded of a person, but.. but..
Coach Kurosu covered his face with both hands, lowering his head as he refused to face this fact.
Shoyo is still just a child!
Well, Miya Atsumu is only a few months older than Hinata; he doesn't even have a larger age gap than he and his wife do.
But—
Coach Kurosu's sudden movement left Coach Omimi feeling a bit stunned.
He subconsciously thought about whether there had been any serious mistakes during the last few plays, but the final conclusion was that the kids had all performed very well.
Coach Omimi asked tentatively, "W-what's wrong?"
Coach Kurosu stood up, returning to his serious state, redirected his attention back to the court.
The match was still ongoing, he couldn't afford to think about so many trivial things.
Moreover, both Miya Atsumu and Hinata are his children, so he knows their temperaments very well.
Even if one day they truly came to him to say they were together, he should still offer them his blessings, after all, both of these children put volleyball above everything else in their lives.
Even if there were some issues with their emotions, it would absolutely not affect the match..