Actually, most of it was anticipation, Hinata had already begun practicing this, but he wasn't as skilled as him yet; after all, the gap in experience was the greatest divide in this regard.
Hinata took every word to heart: "I understand, I'll keep working hard!"
As expected, there really are no shortcuts.
But this counts as a secret technique, after all—it's the experience of a successful senior!
Saru Nagi, having been blocked twice in a row, took a deep breath, his mouth twitching downward, his expression far from the relaxed look he had before.
This is bad..
Looking at the serious atmosphere from Fukurodani, Coach Omimi let out a hearty laugh. "As expected, first-year players always have these kinds of issues."
Aran was the same when he first enrolled; because his physical development hadn't caught up yet, he was often suppressed heavily by the opponent's blockers, who used their experience to shut him down due to his lack of physical strength.
Once his physical strength catches up in his second and third year of high school, things will be much better; at the very least, he will have the capability to forcibly break through a single blocker.
Kageyama, sitting in the stands, lowered his gaze in thought. As he thought of something, the corners of his mouth curled slightly, under Ogata's observation, he revealed a terrifying and sinister smile.
Ogata couldn't help but fall silent, failing to even respond to Nishizawa's inquiry from the other side.
Fine, fine.
He understood, he completely understood, he understood from top to bottom why Hinata had mentioned to him so many times that Kageyama Tobio was terrifying.
Can this guy not be funny for a single second?! He clearly looks quite good, he looks so well-behaved when he's quiet!
Noticing Ogata's gaze, Kageyama turned his head to look at him, his eyes filled with faint confusion. "What is it?"
Ogata turned his head and laughed it off. "It's nothing, I just thought a tuft of your hair was sticking up just now.."
Hearing that, Kageyama raised his hand to press down his hair, smoothing his head until it was perfectly round and flat once again.
After tidying up, he looked at Ogata and said, "Thank you."
Kenma, who was behind him, was startled by that sentence. Using his hair as cover, he carefully scrutinized Kageyama several times, confirming that the guy wasn't possessed by anything.
He didn't have much interaction with Kageyama; the last time they played a training match was last summer, this Golden Week was the first time he had been in a training camp with Karasuno since then.
Based on their interactions during regular practice matches.. is this guy the type who would actually say thank you?
A winter has passed; has anyone given him a song request?
Kageyama glanced at Hinata, who had retreated to the back row to participate in defense, then looked up, thinking for a moment again.
That's how it works.. Just like giving timely praise during a match, one should say thank you after someone helps..
Ogata rubbed his nose, his impression of Kageyama changed just a little bit.
Even if his smile was a bit terrifying, he really is a good kid..
Shortly after Inarizaki scored consecutive points, Hinata also rotated to the back row after his service turn.
This signaled the official end of Inarizaki's dominant streak, as their overall offensive pattern shifted from its original high tempo to a slower pace, with the front-row setter leading the two strong attacking points of Rishia Heisuke and Ginjima.
This sudden, large-scale change caused serious maladjustment on Fukurodani's side. In particular, the Libero Sae clearly had no way to properly slow down his pace, resulting in several instances of premature movement that led to quite clumsy receiving motions.
After playing two rotations of standard tactics, Miya Atsumu once again utilized the staggered quick attacks between Miya Osamu, who had rotated to the front row, Hinata in the back row.
Sae was practically tortured, spending the entire match crawling on the floor, his frequent receiving errors made things quite difficult for Akaashi as well.
Fortunately, Saru Nagi's own physical abilities were quite formidable, allowing him to barely manage to stabilize the situation under Yuki Natsu's cover.
“Ginjima-senpai, what a great serve!” Hinata shouted, hands at his sides, cheering loudly for Ginjima.
After Ginjima's service turn ended, Yuki Natsuo, who was the last server for Fukurodani this rotation, took action, followed by Atsumu-senpai's service turn, which meant he would return to the net.
He hadn't had his fill of the Strong Attack from the last rotation, next time, he would completely crush the opponent's defense!
Ginjima Yui patted the volleyball in his hands, his gaze sweeping across Fukurodani's first receive formation.
After switching to the Middle Blocker position, he would only be able to play when he was in the front row; after finishing this serve, he would leave the court.
So in this Service Turn.. he will score.
Honma, who had already stepped off the court, asked the coach beside him, "After Aran-senpai graduates, the strongest offensive player left in Inarizaki should actually be Ginjima, right?"
Coach Anromi nodded. "Mhm. In terms of pure strong attack capability, Ginjima's power level is superior to Miya Osamu and Suna, is also greater than those two first-year students."
However, unless they are facing teams with certain specific lineups, Inarizaki doesn't strictly require strong attacks based on raw power right now.
As he spoke, Coach Anromi gestured with his eyes toward Miya Osamu, Suna, Hinata on the opposite side. "Compared to last year's lineup, Inarizaki's current offensive style is actually more focused on technique and agility."
With Inarizaki's current level of Quick Attack, let alone in the high school circuit, it would be difficult to find an equal even in the university and professional circles.
This system of Double Quick, even Triple Quick, centered around Miya Atsumu, can leave opponents completely unable to react when playing against certain inexperienced teams.
With the support of these two points, Inarizaki's offensive capability will not decrease too much due to a lack of strong attack options.
This is also one of the important reasons why Coach Kurosu could decisively move Ginjima to the Middle Blocker position.
Ginjima's serve is also very powerful, so much so that Coach Kurosu wouldn't often replace him with a key server except in situations where a Jump Float Serve is needed.
This kind of extremely powerful Power Serve is exactly what Inarizaki is lacking.
—especially since the other Middle Blocker, Suna, only has a tiny bit of experience when it comes to serving.
“I've got it!” Shiraishi shouted, diving toward the ball as it approached the sideline.
It was truly wonderful that they didn't target Sae on the other side for this ball; he felt that if this level of exertion continued, it wouldn't be long before Sae was completely worn down by the Inarizaki players.
As it happened, Inarizaki didn't target everyone evenly, but instead focused their attacks specifically on Sae.
Especially that Number 10 little brat; it feels like he has some kind of grudge against Sae.
No, looking at Inarizaki's previous records, maybe he just has a grudge against all Liberos!
Sae! Physical training is imminent!
"What a great First Receive!" Akaashi said, stepping quickly toward the front row.
Hinata, preparing for a receive, stared at every move made by the members of Fukurodani.
At this moment, Fukurodani's Ace, Saru Nagi, was still in Position 5 of the back row, meaning he could only perform a back-row attack.
Without the speed of a front row attack, it is relatively easy to judge, so his focus at this moment should be on the two wing spikers in the front row.
Wing Spiker Yuki Natsuo and Middle Blocker Osa Noboru.
Osa Noboru is relatively familiar; although his offensive capabilities are average, he possesses excellent height and arm length, making it no difficult feat for him to hit above the block.
However, his spikes are relatively easy to receive, as long as you can predict the trajectory of his spike in advance.
Moreover, Osa Noboru isn't very good at diving, so the blockers only need to distance themselves in time to execute a touch, which provides sufficient suppression.
Therefore, the other spiker, Yuki Natsu, is the one who is more difficult to deal with.
Looking at this entire rotation just now, Yuki Natsuo is more skilled at tricky technical shots than Saru Nagi, especially things like short diagonals and side spins.
Suna-senpai and the others in the front row were also watching Yuki Natsuo; all he had to do was make up for the gap in the front row's blocking.
The ball slipped from Akaashi's hands and came straight toward Yuki Natsuo.
Hinata adjusted his position again, moving along with the blind spot of the block.
With Rishia Heisuke on the side, Ginjima-senpai, who was a former Wing Spiker, would definitely have no problem receiving the ball; all he had to do was cover this side.
If he were Yuki Natsuo, what kind of choice would he make when facing this kind of defense..
Hinata had the answer in his mind almost instantly.
—He will aim for this side where he is, hitting a short diagonal close to the net.
Thinking of this, Hinata decisively took a step forward.
Yuki Natsuo's expression changed abruptly, in the next second, he raised his hand and lightly tipped the ball over.
He couldn't hit it; he lacked sufficient power. Under such unfavorable conditions, a sharp cross would definitely be blocked, a short diagonal would surely be received.
Rishia Heisuke received the ball steadily, Miya Atsumu set it to Suna, Suna scored with a spike.
“What a great defense.” Ogata applauded from the stands.
Nishizawa Hokuto looked up at him, not quite understanding. He was a bit confused as to why the Fukurodani senior hadn't chosen a strong attack just now, even though Shoyo-senpai had provided plenty of attacking space.
Ogata held up a finger. "In Go, there is a term called 'Invasion'."
Nishizawa Hokuto repeated, "Invasion?"
Realizing that he couldn't help but start using terms his junior couldn't understand, Ogata hurriedly explained, "To put it more simply, the application scenario would be.. predicting that a certain localized area currently undergoing or about to undergo a fierce struggle will see a tactical move, so you preemptively place one of your own pieces on the corresponding path to neutralize the crisis. That is what it means to 'induce a move'."
To put it more simply, it's a process of anticipating a crisis and making a strategic layout in advance to neutralize it.
Nishizawa understood, his eyes lighting up: "Ah, just like Shoyo-senpai just did.."
Ogata nodded, his eyes full of appreciation for his junior: "That's right. Generally speaking, as long as the opponent is at the same level as you, they will be able to realize which of your moves is meant to lure them, thus abandon their original play."
Hinata's movement just now was a prediction that the opponent might attempt a strong attack through a short diagonal to break through the block, so he had already positioned himself behind to cover it.
Just standing there, he exerted a deterrent effect, making opponents afraid to attempt a spike toward the short diagonal. As for the sharp cross, its threat level was even lower; opponents could choose between a back-row diving back receive or a front-row block to shut it down completely.
"So amazing." Nishizawa Hokuto's eyes were full of longing as he looked at Hinata.
Just listening to him made his blood boil, besides, this was a defensive technique. He would definitely use it in the future, when that time comes.. he'll definitely look so cool!
The morning training match ended in a 2-1 victory for Inarizaki, everyone was granted a brief rest.
Hinata walked over to Miya Atsumu's side with a water bottle in his hands, looking up at his phone screen as it zoomed in and out. "What are you looking at, Atsumu-senpai?"
It looked like some kind of tournament bracket, similar to the Haruko he remembered, except there were fewer participating teams—only sixteen.
Miya Atsumu waved at him, gesturing for him to come over and sit. "The Black Eagle Flag bracket, I got it from Iizuna-senpai."
The Black Eagle Flag would begin in just a few days. The match schedule had actually been released a long time ago; he had only just asked someone for it.
Hearing this, Hinata's eyes lit up, he hurriedly squeezed himself next to Miya Atsumu.
He had agreed with Atsumu-senpai that they would go watch it together, so he really should take a good look at the tournament bracket.
He asked curiously, "I remember Atsumu-senpai saying that Black Eagle Flag would invite university teams to participate?"
The match schedule only listed the names of the teams, without specifying their year.
He himself wasn't particularly familiar with the university teams or the V1 and V2 teams, so he couldn't quite tell them apart.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Right, the Black Eagle Flag's participating composition consists of the top eight from V1, the top four from V2, the top four from the University Championship."
He had mentioned this to Hinata during the National Sports Festival, Hinata actually remembered it.