Nishizawa Hokuto upstairs had already regained his composure, watching Unabara Uta on the court with an expression as if nothing had happened.
Among the people he had encountered so far, the most incredible Libero was Tachibana-senpai from Seito, he was also the only Number 1 Libero mentioned by the other seniors.
After that, Unabara-senpai of Inarizaki was even more impressive; he was also the person Miya Atsumu had observed for the longest time. He needed to remember how the other person played, he also needed to learn what kind of Libero Inarizaki required.
“I've got it!”
The moment Osa Noboru hit the ball, Unabara Uta decisively took a step toward her left side.
This kind of ball, which wasn't particularly fast, was easy to judge, there was enough reaction time left to fully keep up with it.
What a great first receive!
Miya Atsumu quickly scanned the opponent's blocking and defensive formation, then leaped up, preparing to set the ball.
The Middle Blocker at the front row, Honma Masaaki, quietly watched the Inarizaki members on the other side.
Hinata had already moved up from near Position 4, while on the other side, Miya Osamu was preparing to jump and launch an attack at the other end of the net almost at the same time.
Meanwhile, Suna, who occupied his maximum field of vision and almost completely blocked Miya Atsumu from view, had also pulled back enough distance, preparing to step forward for an attack.
—The wing spikers on both sides are providing cover for the quick attack, while the middle blocker performs a strong attack on a high ball.
This scene was slightly beyond Honma Masaaki's own understanding, but coming from Inarizaki, it actually seemed quite reasonable.
Indeed, as Inarizaki's highest point, Suna's offensive intensity—being able to temporarily change his spike route and hit a spike that is both twisting and fast—far exceeds Hinata's.
Honma lowered his center of gravity slightly, staring at Suna's movements.
Although he couldn't see Miya Atsumu's movements clearly, he could still roughly guess the logic behind his actions.
Miya Atsumu is capable of delivering such absurdly fast balls, so he can pass out a Quick Attack even when both wing spikers have already jumped.
However, Fukurodani's blocking and defense were relatively scattered; with three people in the back row performing receive and defense, the area they covered was quite large.
But without a Libero, their ability to adapt to a Strong Attack would relatively decrease.
If he were Miya Atsumu..
Honma Masaaki instantly locked his gaze onto Suna in the center, while simultaneously using hand signals to indicate for the players on both sides to come over.
Saru Nagi rushed over to his left side immediately, while Akaashi Keiji followed half a step behind.
Akaashi used the remaining reaction time to observe Miya Atsumu's subsequent movements from the side, ensuring the opponent wouldn't change his playstyle to perform a Second Attack, or turn around to set Hinata in a forward posture.
Honma Masaaki did not look toward Hinata at all throughout the entire process, leaving all judgment of that side to Akaashi-senpai, because of this, he was able to focus his attention entirely on what was right in front of him.
The ball in Miya Atsumu's hands had already flown out, positioned between Position 2 and Position 3, he had indeed delivered a high-angle set, clearly not intended for Hinata in Position 4.
If he wanted to send it over there, the lateral speed would need to be even faster.
The three players from Fukurodani gathered in front of Suna, who was preparing to jump, forming an airtight wall of people to block him.
But in the very next instant, Akaashi suddenly realized something was wrong.
This ball wasn't meant for Suna, but rather..
Suna didn't even complete the full spiking motion in the front row; as he followed through and let his strength drop, a thick figure had already surged upward from behind him.
In the next second, a loud thud rang in everyone's ears. The ball flew over the already descending block and slammed into Fukurodani's court.
Shiraishi, having reacted in time, lunged forward to try and receive it, but ultimately missed.
Rishia Heisuke, who had perfectly executed the back-row attack, landed on the ground, slightly crouching to absorb the impact, let out a long sigh of relief.
He pumped his fist and cheered, "Nice!"
Hinata jumped up and cheered, "Heisuke! That was so cool!"
Rishia Heisuke turned his head to high-five him, then high-fived Suna and Miya Osamu as well: "Great cover, senpai!"
Having returned to the court, Sae wiped his face with his hand. "Inarizaki's playstyle is truly insane.."
In a situation like that just now, Rishia should have stayed behind to coordinate defense with Unabara, especially since they needed to be on high alert for things like counterattacks, but in the end, Miya Atsumu actually called for Rishia Heisuke to perform a back-row attack.
Do you trust your own Libero's ability that much?
After high-fiving Rishia Heisuke, Miya Atsumu stole a quick glance at Akaashi, who was speaking to Honma Masaaki with a solemn expression.
Actually, he didn't trust Unabara's ability at all; asking him to defend the entire court all by himself was nothing short of a fantasy.
The ability to choose that kind of collective attack.. was simply because he had great confidence in his own team's offensive capabilities.
In a situation like that just now, as long as the ball was spiked, it would absolutely never return to their own court.
From beginning to end, there was no involvement from the Libero, so naturally, it didn't involve anything like a Counterattack.
"So cool.." Nishizawa Hokuto swallowed hard from the stands.
He viewed it from a high-altitude spectator's perspective, a perspective that didn't suffer from the same visual limitations that Honma and Akaashi had just experienced.
The feeling of the entire court moving simultaneously in an instant made his scalp tingle; he found it hard to imagine what kind of reaction he would have made if he were a defensive player on Fukurodani's side in such a situation.
Ogata said directly, "The block read was poor; in a situation like that, you should have accounted for a back-row attack."
Kageyama, beside him, nodded in agreement: "Yeah, true."
Karasuno often uses this method of attacking through the toss itself, they are even more extreme than Inarizaki; the Libero handles the entire pass, even the setter participates in the attack.
Nekoma, whom they often play against, has a very tight defense; many times, they don't even give them an opportunity to find a gap.
No.. it would be more accurate to say that Inarizaki's front row attack options are so powerful that they make the defenders feel a bit overwhelmed.
Nishizawa Hokuto asked, "Then, what should a Libero do in a situation like this?"
“Um.. I mean Fukurodani's.”
Although Fukurodani's Libero wasn't on the court just now, he still wanted to know what would need to be done if he were on the court.
If a complete block is ineffective.." Ogata rubbed his chin, "It depends on whether you can react in time; if you go straight into a diving save, there's actually a chance to keep the ball up.
Nishizawa Hokuto nodded. "Understood."
As expected, the most important things are still reaction speed, proficiency, experience?
So the parts that need attention in general are still the same as before; practicing fundamental skills is of the utmost importance.
He has not been playing volleyball for very long, so there are indeed some things he doesn't quite understand.
However..
By his side is the all-around Ogata-senpai!
Although Ogata-senpai doesn't know much, doesn't play volleyball very well, has very average physical abilities, his theoretical knowledge is invincible.
If there is anything he doesn't know, he can ask directly, Ogata-senpai will teach him.
—It's just so incredibly useful!
"Osamu-senpai, serve a good one!" Hinata shouted.
Neither side has managed to score consecutive points so far. If Osamu-senpai and Suna-senpai also fail to score on their serves.. then he will unceremoniously claim Inarizaki's first consecutive scoring run for himself.
As if sensing what someone was thinking, Miya Osamu took a silent glance at the back of Hinata's head, before locking his gaze onto Miya Atsumu.
Feeling a chill run down his spine, Miya Atsumu scratched his head, but withdrew his hand the next second under the gaze of the referee who was preparing to blow the whistle.
He was definitely being cursed at by that bastard Osamu in his mind; once this match was over, he was definitely going to give Osamu a piece of his mind.
Sae performed a diving save to catch Miya Osamu's spike, sending the ball once again toward the area near the front row attack line.
“Akaashi-senpai!”
What a great First Receive!
Akaashi glanced at Inarizaki's lineup on the opposite side and sent the ball toward Saru Nagi.
Although Saru hadn't had any particularly standout performances since the start of the match, as the setter, he was always willing to trust his team's Ace.
Suna, who had already swapped positions with Hinata to stand in the center, glanced over at Saru Nagi's side before turning to give Hinata a look.
Upon receiving the signal, Hinata followed almost simultaneously, using his strong explosive power to jump near the pole just before Saru.
Even with only a single step of approach, Hinata perfectly utilized the momentum from that acceleration, raising his center of gravity and reaching out to touch the sky where Saru Nagi was positioned.
Seeing Hinata appear before him, Saru Nagi froze for a moment.
At the same time, Suna also lunged from the other side, blocking Hinata's path along with him to suppress his Line spike as much as possible.
After a moment of surprise, Saru Nagi grit his teeth, observing the defensive formation of Inarizaki on the opposite side.
Rishia Heisuke had already moved up from the other side of the net, clearly cutting off his space to adjust for a short diagonal.
With Miya Osamu in the back row defending against side spin serves like before, Unabara Uta in the back row covering the sharp cross, there was simply nowhere to aim.
Saru Nagi's gaze swept across Hinata's hands, after a brief moment of hesitation, he realized that tooling the block wouldn't work.
Hinata himself was an expert at tooling the block, he could feel that the opponent's body was not completely tense, which meant the opponent was maintaining the ability to pull back at any moment to bait him into a high ball out of bounds.
Then..
“Nagi!”
A call rang out in his ears, in the next instant, Saru Nagi steeled his resolve, swinging his arm with maximum effort to spike the ball toward Hinata's position.
At this moment, nothing was more exhilarating than being able to score this point with a direct spike.
Moreover, he had absolutely nothing to worry about; even if this ball was blocked, there was a Libero behind him.
Sae-senpai will save the ball, they will have another chance to attack—
BANG!!
Hinata and Suna adjusted the angle of their blocking arms almost simultaneously; Hinata's left hand and Suna's right hand hit the ball at the same time, pressing it back down.
Saru's expression turned grim, but Sae had already lunged from the back row in a diving save, successfully touching the ball.
Unabara shouted, "Great block! Opportunity Ball!!"
Hinata, who had played a crucial role in the block just now, landed on the ground, exhaled softly, swapped positions with Suna, rushed toward Position 4.
His expression was serious, but there was a hint of smugness and a sense of relief in his eyes.
Blocking was what he was least skilled at; most of the time, he was the one dragging the team down when it came to blocking.
But that was absolutely out of the question.
To catch up to Atsumu-senpai and others who have already moved far ahead—people who possess both height and talent—he cannot afford to have any blind spots.