In short, just spike it down.
BANG!!
A heavy thud that made everyone's eardrums vibrate echoed throughout the entire arena, the ball turned into a meteor in everyone's sight, with only an afterimage left to be captured.
The ball slammed heavily onto the Date Tech three-meter line, then bounced toward the ceiling.
The entire stadium erupted in an uproar, the cheering from the Inarizaki stands grew even more frantic.
That was amazing!
Osamu, good receive!!
And even until the moment the ball hit the ground, Sakunami Kosuke in the back row of Date Tech hadn't even reacted.
Miya Osamu landed by bending his knees to absorb the impact, watching the blocker who was staring at him blankly from the side with an expressionless face.
Although most of the time in the past he was the one covering for Aran, he had to admit now..
—The feeling of spiking right over the net is truly amazing.
He turned his head toward Hinata and raised his hand to signal a high five: "Shoyo, good cover."
The expression on Hinata's face clearly showed he was suppressing his excitement: "Osamu-senpai was so, so cool—"
Even though he wasn't the one who scored the point, that explosive spike from the three-meter line that set the whole stadium on fire wasn't his play, he.. he felt that he was at least responsible for half the credit.
Miya Osamu fell silent for two seconds.
Hinata's expression was truly easy to read, under the influence of Miya Atsumu's mindset that "the spiker's spike accounts for more than half the credit for scoring," it only took him half a second to know exactly what was going through Hinata's head.
At that moment, Miya Atsumu also walked over, waving his hands. "No, no, no, my feint on the toss was also very good. It should be a third of the credit for each of us."
Miya Osamu raised an eyebrow slightly. "So I'm also one-third?"
Miya Atsumu shook his head and pointed a finger toward Unabara Uta behind him. "No, Unabara Uta, who receives the ball, barely counts as one-sixth. So you're only one-sixth too."
Hearing this, Miya Osamu said bluntly, "If you want to fight, just say so."
Considering that his last spike was truly comfortable under Miya Atsumu's and Hinata's toss, he would try his best to hold back and not hit Miya Atsumu in the face.
Facing Miya Osamu's increasing weight and strength, Miya Atsumu, who was actually somewhat unable to win, chose to stubbornly deny it: "Who's afraid of whom?"
Caught in the middle, Hinata trembled, "No fighting, please no fighting.."
Watching the replay of that last play on the big screen, Komori also felt a headache coming on. "To actually give Miya Osamu a chance to spike into the net.. that's terrifying."
Because of someone's overly flamboyant personality, since Miya Osamu's own abilities are quite all-around rather than being the type with one aspect that is exceptionally outstanding, Miya Osamu often doesn't stand out in Inarizaki.
As a result, many people overlook the fact that, now that Aran has graduated, the one truly responsible for the Strong Attack is Miya Osamu.
Unlike Ginjima's brute force derived purely from strength, or Hinata's speed achieved through his arm swing, Miya Osamu's spike is capable of mastering both aspects simultaneously.
In a sense, his spike is the closest thing to "perfection."
To let a spiker like that have the chance to spike over the net—even he wouldn't be certain he could receive it, let alone the already immature libero from Date Tech.
Niokuchi tilted his head slightly to watch the three of them, his fists clenching and unclenching.
A sense of helplessness, but more so a feeling of frustration, surfaced softly: "He's being led around.."
But they had no time-outs left to use.
Hoshiumi said from the sidelines, "It feels like the Date Tech coach's reaction was a bit slow."
Date Tech's blocking is a standard follow-up block, which should only begin moving after seeing the trajectory of the setter's toss.
But Inarizaki's quick attacks were too fierce and too dazzling, the inexperienced Date Tech failed to coordinate their defense in time, which directly resulted in their blocking being led by the nose by Inarizaki, causing them to lose the "precise" advantage zone of their follow-up blocking.
Hirugami also nodded. "It can't be helped. Date Tech hasn't made it to the National Tournament in many years, the coach is a newcomer; a lack of experience leads to situations like this."
Date Tech, having fought their way out of Miyagi, was already very strong, but they were no match for an opponent that was an established powerhouse from the National Tournament.
After moving into their third year, the Miya Twins have also become more stable, never showing fluctuations in their form or becoming overly hot-headed on the court.
Since the only reference material Inarizaki has available this year is the footage from the qualifiers from two months ago, Date Tech is essentially flying blind.
The teams that might face Inarizaki later will be grateful to the scout, Date Tech.
Date Tech itself has similarities with the way Karasuno plays, making this match more valuable than he had anticipated.
Hirugami said softly, "This is going to be tough.."
Hoshiumi also nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Date Tech is likely going to lose."
From the opening rotation to the current tactical maneuvering, Inarizaki has firmly held the upper hand over Date Tech.
Hirugami put himself in Date Tech's shoes and thought for a moment: "Let's see if Date Tech can win the rotation in the next set. If they can have Position 1 restrict Hinata, there might still be a chance."
Similarly, he also had to find a way to limit Hinata.
"Yeah." Hoshiumi nodded.
The whistle blew, Miya Atsumu scored with a Serve, the score for the First Set ended at Inarizaki 25:19 Date Tech.
Chapter 317: The Three Hundred and Seventeenth Fox
After a quick drink of water, Hinata used a towel to symbolically wipe his hair and shook it vigorously to make it more voluminous, so it wouldn't stick to his face with sweat.
Miya Atsumu's tone was quite helpless: "You might as well dry yourself properly.."
Hinata, having been caught slacking off, gave a soft hum and continued rubbing the towel against his head.
Soon, his hair stood on end in a messy clump due to static electricity.
Facing Hinata's "mission accomplished" look, Miya Atsumu felt even more helpless.
However, Hinata's perspiration wasn't that heavy; this was only the first set of their first match, Hinata's condition looked as if he had only just finished warming up.
Coach Kurosu briefly asked Miya Atsumu for his opinion regarding the Second Set, then turned and submitted the rotation chart for the Second Set.
Miya Atsumu actually didn't express any opinions; he simply advocated for maintaining the status quo.
The coach also followed his lead, still filling in the rotation with Miya Atsumu's serve in Position 1.
Actually, Date Tech was also gambling.
Their rotations in the previous set actually had some mistakes, which caused the entire set to feel uncomfortable to play. This time, the Scorekeeper specifically adjusted the rotation so that Aone would start in Position 4, wanting to match up against Hinata.
Inarizaki's type of Quick Attack is the thing that gives them the biggest headache, especially since Hinata is protected by the Libero and the Wing Spiker during reception, making him quite difficult to target.
Miya Osamu, who also plays the Quick Attack, is relatively easier to handle; after all, he also has the task of helping the Setter receive, so he could be shut down from the very beginning.
In the previous set, Aone was essentially matching up against Miya Osamu, but since Miya Osamu was in the front row, he was not in Inarizaki's strongest offensive zone, which made his blocking arrangement seem misplaced.
After weighing the options, using Aone to restrict Hinata was the best choice.
Seeing Miya Atsumu stand in Position 1 and prepare to serve, the Scorekeeper couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Very good, he gambled correctly.
Next.. it would depend on how their own players would adapt their performance at the net.
The Scorekeeper's hand rested on his tactical board, while he slightly turned his head to glance at the two coaches from Inarizaki who were speaking.
Last year, these recording duties were handled by the manager, Katsuzuru Mai, so as a coach, he could focus more of his energy on analyzing opponents and adjusting tactics.
But Katsuzuru Mai has already graduated, since Date Tech is a school with a typical male-to-female student ratio where males far outnumber females, they failed to recruit a new manager this year.
He serves as the Volleyball Club's coach and manager while also acting as a teacher in charge, the heavy workload gives him a headache.
However, they have already reached the top sixteen in the National Tournament; even if they were to fall in this match, it would still be their school's best result in over ten years.
Looking back.. there should be a manager coming, right?
It doesn't matter, their players are all very strong; they will make it through Haruko.
Glancing toward the Date Tech side, Coach Omimi suddenly remembered something and said softly, "By the way, I heard Shinzan Girls is preparing to transition into a comprehensive all-subject high school."
It will most likely become a co-educational high school that focuses heavily on sports, just like Shiratorizawa.
Coach Kurosu was not surprised by this: "It's to be expected."
Shinzan Girls has dominated Japan for so many years, the school's own strength is already among the best in the country; it's impossible for the Board of Directors not to be interested in expanding the school's scale.
But if Shinzan Girls becomes the second Shiratorizawa.. then the competitive environment for sports in Miyagi would be far too terrible.
—They won't become the next Kyoto, will they?
Aoba Haruka, who had just finished standing by the sidelines, suddenly sneezed. "Damn it, who's talking about me.."
The Captain standing by the sidelines looked at him. "Are you okay? I hope you haven't caught a cold."
Aoba waved it off. "No way! It must be that brat Kureha talking behind my back; he was glaring at me several times during the match just now."
“Damn it, that disrespectful little brat!”
The Rakusan Captain laughed with difficulty: "Haha.."
He also didn't know what to do about these brothers on his own team.
Fortunately, the two of them had almost no physical conflict; it was simply that they often couldn't stand each other and would snap at one another.
Their match today was one round before Inarizaki's, after finishing necessary post-match activities like stretching and interviews, they rushed but still missed the first set between Inarizaki and Date Tech.
However, he could watch the footage with the Coach and the others at noon, so it didn't matter. Coming to the venue was simply to experience the pressure of the two-time champions up close.
The key right now is.. compared to those lively twins from Inarizaki, he felt quite happy just having to deal with the Aoba brothers.
And one of the lively twins, Miya Atsumu, had already raised his hand quite coolly to call for silence from the cheering section behind him after the referee's whistle blew.
Aoba raised a hand to cover his chest. "So cool.."
The Rakusan Captain fell silent for a moment. "You still haven't grown tired of it?"
Although he admitted that Miya Atsumu's style of play was indeed shocking and terrifying the first time he saw it, after seeing it so many times.. he had become somewhat numb to it.
Aoba Haruka answered decisively, "I never get tired of this."
With a look of longing on his face, he asked tentatively, "Captain, can't our cheering really coordinate with me a little more like this?"
The people around him fell silent for two seconds, only responding at the exact moment of Miya Atsumu's serve, "Do you want to be called over by the Student Council President for a private talk?"
Aoba Haruka fell silent.