He looked at Miya Atsumu, who was smiling with downcast eyes while saying something to Hinata, then suddenly spoke softly across the net: "Hinata-kun."
Called out to, Hinata looked up and looked at him with some confusion.
Aoba Haruka pursed her lips, her voice firm: "I will become stronger than you."
Yes, at this very moment, he admits..
—Hinata is a stronger person.
Chapter 332: The Three Hundred and Thirty-Second Fox
This is truly terrible..
Glancing at the scoreboard which already read Inarizaki 5:2 Rakusan, Coach Natsume, standing by the sidelines, let out a deep sigh.
In this rotation, the Aces of both sides were facing each other, judging by the current situation, Aoba Haruka was clearly at a disadvantage.
In terms of pure technique and individual ability alone, the more mature Aoba Haruka is undoubtedly superior to Hinata, but Hinata has an incredibly strong setter assisting him by his side.
And Hinata's ability to execute the setter's commands was practically one hundred percent, combined with Miya Atsumu's incredibly brilliant mind, the final result achieved was not as simple as ten plus ten equaling twenty, but rather ten times ten.
They couldn't win; no matter how they looked at it, there wasn't even a glimmer of a chance for victory in sight.
But are we just going to admit defeat like this?
—That's a bit too pathetic, isn't it?
Osa Noboru raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Akaashi Keiji in his field of vision was panting, his hands on his hips as he struggled to regain his composure.
If they lose here, they will be stopped at the top eight in the nation.
To be honest, this is an acceptable result for Fukurodani.
Last year, when Bokuto-senpai and the others were still around, they also stopped right here at the IH.
But.. it just feels somewhat unsatisfying.
Not long ago, they had just achieved the great result of becoming national runners-up, which was far from the top eight.
But the mountain ahead was insurmountable, the shadow it cast was utterly despairing.
Akaashi turned around, looking at everyone with a very calm expression: "Hold on just a little longer."
I'll try my best to interfere with their block, use more dumps and tooling the block, stay a bit further forward during counterattacks. If we play steadily, opportunities will come.
"Understood." Osa Noboru nodded.
He was no longer the only first-year in the team; he was now a senpai.
As the most experienced person besides the Captain, he must shoulder the pressure for the others and support the team's operations alongside Akaashi Keiji.
He couldn't worry about anything else now; he would just give it his all.
A prompt sounded at this very moment, signaling a time-out after Inarizaki had taken the lead with eight points.
Glancing sideways at the Karasuno and Fukurodani side, who had just scored their fourth point, Coach Utsunomiya stood up from the stands and clapped his hands toward everyone.
Pack up your things and get ready for warm-ups. Don't leave anything like your phones behind in the stands.
Yes, sir!
The members of Itachiyama rose in response, standing up one after another to line up and follow the two coaches toward the tunnel.
The score difference in both matches was not small, depending on how things went, they could basically win both 2-0. According to the match schedule, their warm-up time limit would end right when this round of matches concluded.
At this very moment, across the court, a group of people sitting in the stands facing them had also stood up; judging by the color of their uniforms, they were the opponents for their next match.
Watching from the computer, Shiratori looked at Coach Kurosu and the Ace, Aoba Haruka, who seemed to be arguing about something, said softly, "It feels like it's already impossible to turn the tide.."
Actually, the way to turn the tide is quite simple: just focus on the most fundamental thing—receiving every ball properly, then scoring through serves and spikes.
But when the opponent's overall quality is visibly stronger, it is precisely these two things that cannot be achieved.
Shimizu looked at the computer screen, then at the tug-of-war still happening between Fukurodani and Karasuno on the tablet, nodded in agreement: "Yeah, the gap is obvious."
With a three-point lead already established by the eighth point, if there are no major upsets, Inarizaki has essentially already won.
Just as Shimizu had judged, after the match resumed, Inarizaki decisively chose a conservative playstyle, shifting the focus of their offense from Hinata to their two Wing Spikers.
While preserving the Ace's stamina, the defensive system was configured to be more coordinated.
Aoba Kureha grit his teeth, sweat pooling and streaming down his cheeks, dripping onto the floor.
To be honest, based on his physical sensation right now, the intensity of Inarizaki's offense has indeed decreased.
Especially since they rarely use a multi-directional simultaneous attack anymore; most of their plays consist of Rishia and Miya Osamu jumping to spike from both sides.
Although blocking had become more proficient and they had more offensive opportunities, it didn't have much of a substantial effect.
Seeing that Hinata had no intention of stepping up to attack, but instead retreated to prepare for a counterattack, Aoba Haruka grew increasingly frustrated.
Meanwhile, Miya Osamu had already stepped forward to prepare for a spike after a sudden increase in speed, his overall running rhythm almost matching the negative tempo of a quick attack.
A slightly distracted Aoba Haruka almost failed to react in time, his adjustment under pressure contained quite obvious flaws.
Miya Osamu naturally wouldn't let this slip, with a powerful spike, the ball flew straight out of bounds, giving Uehara Tsuyoshi no chance to save it.
Tsk.
Aoba Haruka turned his head to look at the ball that had flown off, then swept a rather unfriendly gaze toward Aoba Kureha, his eyes extremely dangerous. "Is your head full of mush?"
If you're going to space out during a match, just say so if you don't want to be in the starting lineup.
“Mom really spoiled you.”
This guy, he should have touched that ball just now, then Uehara Tsuyoshi would have received it.
His positioning was excellent; as long as he got the ball, he would undoubtedly be able to adjust and execute a sufficiently effective technical play depending on the situation.
Setting aside Inarizaki's blocking for a moment, he has basically memorized the movement logic of their back row defense.
Relatively speaking, Hinata's receiving level is still a bit lacking; after all, he doesn't have enough strength, his physical growth is also among the weakest among the Inarizaki players. He is confident that he can win against his opponent in this regard.
But volleyball isn't a sport for him alone; even if he can win, Rakusan still won't be able to win.
And the reason for this sudden collapse.. was clearly his younger brother.
Aoba Kureha, having been called out for his recent serious error, pursed his lips but did not contradict his brother.
From the start of this match until now, he has made no shortage of mistakes.
Watching the large Kureha unable to say a single word under Haruka's gaze, Miya Atsumu, on the other side of the net, said with a sense of enjoyment of the chaos, "Wow, so fierce."
Aoba Haruka frowned and looked at Miya Atsumu. "Miya Atsumu-senpai, please stop fueling the fire and causing trouble."
Miya Atsumu shrugged his shoulders. "Not at all, I'm just someone who's been through this, trying to help you mediate your relationship with your brother."
Haruka looked at Miya Atsumu, then looked at Hinata, who was also observing them, said very seriously, "Senpai, you should take care of your own family matters first. Although I sympathize with you, I cannot agree with the idea that having a new family means becoming estranged from your brother."
Behind them, Miya Osamu froze, looking across the net at Aoba Haruka with a face full of shock.
Wait, they were exposed?
But Miya Atsumu and Hinata didn't seem to have done anything out of the ordinary? How did the opponents find out?
Watching the reactions of the group, Aoba Haruka silently confirmed his suspicions in his heart.
Without saying anything more, Aoba Haruka reached out and grabbed Aoba Kureha's arm, dragging him away from the net.
“Play properly for me. If you lose focus and make this kind of low-level mistake again, I'll throw you off the court.”
Kureha lowered his head. "Yes.."
Hinata blinked: "Aoba Haruka is such a good older brother."
Miya Atsumu, who had no idea where he had come to such a conclusion, froze for a moment. "Huh?"
Rubbing his chin as he summarized, Hinata replied, "He knows when to be strict and when to play around with his younger brother."
He will be like that with Xiaoxia too.
If one day in the future Xiaoxia makes a serious mistake or does something foolish.. he will also point it out very seriously.
"So does that make Osamu and I model brothers too?" Miya Atsumu leaned in close to Hinata, teasingly.
Upon hearing this question, Hinata's brain short-circuited for a moment: "Um.. never mind."
Immediately after, he offered a small rebuttal: "If you don't get physical."
Miya Atsumu reached out and placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, whispering in his ear, "What about me to you? I'm also a super—reliable older brother, right?"
Hinata nodded without hesitation. "Yeah! Atsumu-ge is super great!"
He felt that Xiaoxia also really liked Miya Atsumu's sets; before, during the holidays at the Volleyball Classroom, Atsumu-ge would even act as a sparring partner for Xiaoxia.
He was very patient when teaching Xiaoxia how to play, he was also quite charming.
Feeling Miya Atsumu's breath up close, Hinata felt his ears getting hot and a bit itchy.
His thoughts wandered, he suddenly felt that it would be quite nice for Atsumu-senpai to become a coach after he retired, or perhaps the two of them could open a children's club together.
But that was something to be seriously considered much, much later.
The current him..
Miya Atsumu tilted his head slightly toward Hinata, meeting his eyes.
In that instant, he suddenly guessed what was going through Hinata's mind.
“Shoyo, you wouldn't.."
Hearing those words meant to coax him, Miya Osamu let out a sneer. "What kind of brother do you think you are to him?"
Miya Atsumu rubbed his face against Hinata's hair behind Unabara Uta's silhouette to comfort him, then looked up at Miya Osamu. "You're just jealous, Stinky Osamu."
Miya Osamu's eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. "Nonsense. You'd better change your surname to Hinata right now."
Hearing this, Aoba Haruka became even more certain.
He nudged Aoba Haruka beside him with his elbow: "As expected, your guess was right."
Kureha perked up a bit and spoke proudly, chest out and head held high, "See, I am still a little bit smart."