Bang!
Bang!!
Two consecutive sounds of impact echoed through the court. Hinata tensed his body, precisely intercepting the ball's path with the base of his left thumb.
His entire posture leaned forward in a curve, the force transferred from the base of his fingers to his wrist being absorbed by his own body, he did not lose his balance under the impact of the ball.
The volleyball, which had been pushed back by Hinata's active movement, was pressed straight down into Rakusan's court, falling rapidly toward the sideline near Aoba Kureha's feet.
Because Aoba's spike itself had immense power, the ball dropped extremely fast after it was deflected back.
The referee by the sideline quickly bent down, looking down to check where the volleyball had landed.
In the end, he raised his flag and awarded the point to Inarizaki.
One quarter of the volleyball was on the line, the rest was out of bounds, so it should be ruled in-bounds.
Hinata landed almost at the same time the whistle blew.
That was incredible!
“That block was so cool! Little Giant!”
Great block, Little One!! One more!
"Ohhhhhhh—that was so cool!!" Bokuto, who had been feeling down about Saru's failed attack in front of the computer, instantly jumped up.
That was Shimizu's block from before! The one-handed one!
Saying this, Bokuto turned his head and grabbed Shimizu: "Shoyo not only learned my spike perfectly, but Shimizu, you've mastered the essence of blocking too!"
Damn, I'm so moved—
Watching Shimizu's helpless smile, Shiratori chose to remove himself from Bokuto's focus, sighing softly toward the computer, "It's a collection of the best qualities from everyone.."
A gentle smile played on his face as he watched the live broadcast of the match, feeling wonderful.
The next second, Bokuto poked his head over: "What does this mean? What director? A research institute?"
Shiratori stopped laughing.
Meanwhile, Hinata also landed on the court in a somewhat disheveled manner.
His right foot landed first, for a moment he couldn't steady himself, stumbling several steps out of bounds and nearly falling into Coach Kurosu's arms.
Coach Kurosu was so startled that he hurriedly stood up to support him: "Are you okay? Does your knee or ankle hurt anywhere?"
Even watching that deceleration process just now made him feel a bit scared; one could only imagine the pressure on his body when landing after jumping to that height.
Even though Hinata wore braces for his patella and ankle joints, he still felt terrified.
After Hinata steadied himself, he immediately raised his hand to clutch his head: "Damn it! I forgot I wasn't on the sand!"
He had only intended to bump the volleyball upward, but he lost control and jumped too high, unexpectedly pressing down from above.
Because he felt a sudden surge of joy, like a failing student who had just remembered a key answer during an exam, he became overly excited as he jumped, completely failing to consider the landing.
After a brief moment of frustration, Hinata suddenly looked up, staring at Coach Kurosu, who was still supporting him with one hand.
“Coach! Did you see that?! My block!”
“I blocked it with just one hand!”
Coach Kurosu gave a helpless smile, let him go, reached out to ruffle his hair: "I saw it, incredibly cool."
Hinata turned his head again toward Coach Omimi: "Coach! Did you see my incredibly cool block!"
Coach Omimi raised both hands and gave him a high five: "Super amazing."
Hinata rushed straight toward Unabara, who was still sitting on the Coach's bench: "Unabara! My block was super amazing!"
Unabara also raised her hand and gave him a high five: "Yes, yes, yes, you're invincible!"
But it wasn't the first time he had seen it; when they played beach volleyball before, Hinata had performed many solo blocks, although the success rate wasn't particularly high, he felt excited every time he saw it.
After Hinata had finished high-fiving everyone nearby in his excitement, he rushed toward Miya Atsumu with his hands raised high. "Atsumu-ge! Did you see that?! My super, invincible, amazing, handsome, sharp, spectacular block!"
Miya Atsumu, who had been looking unhappy, immediately broke into a smile after making eye contact with Hinata, raised his hand to high-five him: "Shoyo is naturally the best; that block just now was better than Hoshiumi's."
On the court far on the other side, Hoshiumi, who was holding the ball and preparing to serve, couldn't help but sneeze.
Under Hirugami's somewhat worried gaze, Hoshiumi raised his hand and wiped his nose: "Who's talking behind my back.."
The only victim, Aoba Kureha, was currently crouching on the ground contemplating life: "Little One.. single person, single hand.. blocked my spike.."
Aoba Haruka's mouth twitched. "You're being way too useless."
That last play would have been better if he had just spiked it; he looked so pathetic getting blocked like that.
Aoba Kureha's mind went blank: "I'm such a useless person.."
After two seconds of silence, Aoba Haruka turned his head to look at Hinata, who was jumping around on the court, holding both of Miya Atsumu's hands.
Setting aside his useless younger brother for a moment, the Inarizaki Little One's play just now was indeed quite terrifying.
His vertical jump was much, much stronger than he had imagined.
However, looking at how Hinata landed just now, he probably hasn't fully mastered his jumping technique yet, so we can rule out the possibility of the opponent jumping like that frequently.
And that last play..
He personally felt that it was likely built upon Hinata's own familiarity with the Quick Attack.
Other serves probably wouldn't produce this kind of effect; after all, he wouldn't stand there foolishly and bluntly waiting for the opponent to block like his stupid younger brother.
Aoba Haruka kicked Aoba Kureha in the back, as she faceplanted directly onto the ground, he said, "Don't worry, I'll get revenge for you."
And Kureha, who had nearly been knocked down by Hinata due to his brother's sabotage, looked on with eyes full of resentment: "You bastard, Haruka! You're in league with Inarizaki, aren't you!"
Komori, sitting in the stands, raised a hand to stroke his chin, looking up thoughtfully. "A fixed-point quick attack is indeed easy to predict, but Hinata's style of play is indeed far too bold."
Sakusa nodded. "By extension, Hinata should have gained new insights into blocking technical plays as well."
Excluding his sharp ability to judge the hitting point, the point he cared about most was that Hinata had maintained his bodily posture even when facing that kind of heavy spike, did not allow his opponent to forcefully spike through him.
Although Aoba Kureha's physical development is not yet complete, but..
"Quite solid," Koldorf said.
Coach Utsunomiya, sitting at the very front of the group, laughed twice: "Haha.."
Coach Himegomiya also laughed along a few times: "Hahaha.."
Everyone from Itachiyama looked toward the two coaches, Inamura Gen even narrowed his eyes.
Thinking back to Hinata and Unabara Uta's trip to Tokyo, he asked tentatively, "Coach.. you didn't send those two away for advanced training, did you?"
Coach Utsunomiya denied it, "How could that be?"
He simply introduced Hinata and the people from Central Physical Education University to the group; Sanjo Reo and Raphael were responsible for the training aspects!
Coach Himegomiya also said firmly, "Exactly, how could that be?"
How could Sanjo Reo's actions be blamed on her! And who is Sanjo Reo? She isn't even close to him!
In a place where the two coaches couldn't see, Inamura Gen silently rolled his eyes at the sky.
Did he really think he'd believe that?
During the pre-match discussions earlier, the two coaches had subtly hinted to them that Hinata and Unabara Uta might have made great progress, mentioning things like how Hinata's blocking and offensive capabilities had both become stronger.
Although he couldn't go into detail due to the regulations and his agreement with Coach Kurosu, the implication had been made quite clear.
The match hasn't even started yet, so how have the coaches surrendered and been bought off already?
Komori just smiled and said nothing.
Connecting this to Miya Atsumu's insistence that he go to Central Physical Education University, he had already understood the whole truth of the matter.
But none of that mattered.
Even without their two coaches acting as intermediaries over in beach volleyball, Hinata would still become stronger; it would just be through a different path.
All they had to do was react to their opponents' moves and faithfully secure a victory in every match.
After all.. he really didn't want to write a graduation thesis.
Just then, a signal sounded on the court; Rakusan called their second time-out of the set.
Coach Himegomiya crossed his arms over his chest. "The first time-out has only just passed, they've already used up all their timeouts? Rakusan seems to be acting out of desperation."
Coach Utsunomiya nodded. "Yeah, Natsume's coordination with the team is just average."
He paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way.. isn't Natsume the Old man's student?"
Coach Himegomiya also froze for a moment. "Ah, I think so."
—Though he didn't look like one.
Chapter 328: The 328th Fox
Glancing at the coach who was whispering ahead, the highly curious Inamura Gen leaned over: "Does this new coach from Rakusan have some impressive background?"
Coach Himegomiya replied, "It's nothing special, just a graduate of Shiratorizawa."
As she spoke, she lowered her eyes and reminisced, "I remember the year he was a starter.. Shiratorizawa won the Haruko championship."
Komori marveled, "That's incredible."
Although Shiratorizawa is a long-established powerhouse on a national level, they actually haven't won many championships; the last time Shiratorizawa won was at the National Sports Festival, which was about *** years ago.
And judging by the age of this Rakusan coach, attending Shiratorizawa must have been something that happened over a decade ago.
However, he had no impression of this face; the person probably hadn't entered the professional circuit and might have gone straight into an education major instead.
Inamura leaned against the back of the chair behind the coach and sighed softly, "That's so nice.."
He chuckled, "If I want to come back and work as a colleague with you coaches in the future, you won't kick me out, will you?"
Coach Utsunomiya also laughed, his tone very gentle: "How could that be? You are always welcome to come back."
Coach Himegomiya raised his hand and turned slightly, resting his elbow on the back of the chair as he looked at his student and said, "That's one thing, but if you want to come back as a coach.. at the very least, you'd need a master's degree in a related field and a coaching certification."
Hmm.. it would be best if you also have experience as an assistant coach for a professional team, or experience studying abroad.