“That’s something only you would do,” Miya Osamu said, looking at Miya Atsumu and helping him review his dark past.
Miya Atsumu fell silent for a moment, then decisively skipped over the topic: "It's just a broken fingernail, it won't affect the rest of the match. I'll just wrap it up and it'll be fine."
This kind of injury was quite common for them, but most of those cases were caused by being hit directly; cases like this, where a fingernail is torn off due to a touch, were not many.
Fortunately, Hinata's power isn't that great; otherwise, hitting it like that could have easily resulted in a sprained finger or even a dislocation, just like what happened to him last year.
Miya Atsumu lowered his head and rubbed Hinata's crown with his chin: "Wait until after the match to apologize. A minor injury like this won't keep you out for long."
Hinata could only nod. "Okay."
And just as Miya Atsumu had said, after applying painkiller and disinfecting the wound, Ogihara returned to the court with his finger wrapped in bandages.
Komori patted his back and leaned down to give him a few instructions.
Having repositioned himself at the net, Hinata glanced at Ogihara several times, but the other simply gave him a smile.
After returning the smile, Hinata took a deep breath and returned to his competitive state.
Miya Osamu exchanged numbers with Kumagai on the sidelines, Kumagai went onto the court to serve in his place.
Hakuma Mebuki, in the stands, was stunned for a moment. "Why did they switch to Miya Osamu?"
Hoshiumi speculated, "They'll probably stick with the Jump Float Serve; without absolute strength to back it up, a Power Serve poses limited threat to Itachiyama."
To score from a direct confrontation against Komori, one would need at least the same level of power as Aran, in the current Inarizaki.. there probably isn't anyone like that.
Kumagai stood in his approach position, holding the ball and taking a deep breath.
Komori turned his head to instruct Ishikawa, who was responsible for receiving on the other side, "Dual Wield, be careful."
Now their setter is in the back row, with Sakusa dropping back from the front row to provide cover for him, while he and Ishikawa take care of the rest.
Kumagai, who had already planned this, lightly spun the ball in his hands. The moment the whistle blew, he tossed the ball upward, delivering another incredibly tricky serve right at the buzzer.
Hoshiumi couldn't help but click his tongue. "Disgusting. That's just disgusting."
Watching Kumagai's large strides forward, Komori and Sakusa on the other side both froze for a moment.
That approach stride and frequency.. could it be a Power Serve?
Wait, a power serve?
The loud sound exploded in his ears instantly, the volleyball became a blur in Komori's field of vision, reaching him in an instant.
His body's instincts had already driven him to move, judging the ball's position and lowering his center of gravity to reach out and perform a bump underneath it.
Bang!!
A force even more powerful than expected crashed down directly on him, leaving Komori slightly stunned. This power far exceeded Miya Atsumu's, the feeling it gave him was almost no different from Miya Osamu's. In terms of serve speed alone, it was even stronger.
This guy.. isn't he a Setter!
Komori's powerful lower body strength forced him to stay upright, but the ball's trajectory was slightly off, landing far from the Attack Line.
Seeing that the ball wasn't landing in its intended spot, he hurriedly shouted to the setter, "Sorry! Inamoto!"
Kumagai, having landed, couldn't help but click his tongue.
As expected of the high school's number one Libero, he considered his serve to have been quite good, yet it was still neutralized by the opponent.
But it didn't matter; a mistake of this level was considered a serious error within Itachiyama's first receive system, they only needed to prepare for the subsequent defense.
Inamoto barely managed to adjust the ball toward Sakusa's position. After receiving the ball, Sakusa locked onto Suna's hands and executed a dump just as Suna realized he was attempting to tool the block.
Hinata, who was still in mid-air following the block, spun around abruptly and reached out a single hand to scoop up the ball.
Great save!
After exchanging a glance with Miya Atsumu, Kumagai quickly stepped forward, jumping behind the Three-meter Line as if preparing to spike directly.
At the same time, Rishia stepped back to receive the ball, while on the other side, Miya Atsumu took a large stride forward, preparing to attack.
Considering Kumagai was originally a setter himself, in this situation..
Inamura and Ogihara made their judgment almost simultaneously—a fake spike, but a real set.
In the next second, Kumagai, while mid-air, redirected the ball toward Hinata at Position 4.
Ogihara and Inamura moved in at the same time, blocking the way in front of Hinata.
But Hinata did not spike the ball, instead letting it fly over the net and drop.
Coach Himegomiya clicked his tongue. "Using that trick again."
In the back row, Komori exploded with incredible speed at this moment, diving to pancake the ball.
Inamoto shouted, "Great save! One more!"
The conditions for this ball were still not ideal, so Inamoto could only continue to choose to trust Sakusa, sending this high-difficulty ball to the opponent.
And Sakusa lived up to his reputation as the Ace, precisely timing his move to press the ball down right between Hinata and Suna.
Inarizaki's back row, which suffered slightly from a lack of defense due to Miya Osamu's absence, failed to keep up in time; Kumagai missed the ball, Itachiyama scored.
Nice play!
That was amazing, Sakusa-senpai!
Hinata turned his head and apologized to Kumagai, "Sorry, my bad."
It was his block that caused Kumagai's service turn to end like that; next time, he will definitely, definitely provide better cover.
Kumagai simply responded, "Next time, I'll score directly on my serve."
Chapter 339: The 339th Fox
Watching Kumagai return to the waiting area, Miya Osamu stood firm in his position once again.
As his gaze swept over Komori, who was saying something to Sakusa on the opposite side, a sense of helpless exhaustion welled up in his heart.
Kumagai's power level on the Power Serve is already the strongest in Inarizaki at this stage. Although he is not skilled at handling Miya Atsumu's serves with tricky spin, his overall performance in terms of ball speed and power is superior.
Even though the serve was ultimately received by Komori.. it still managed to disrupt the opponent's first receive, proving that this approach itself was effective.
At this thought, Miya Osamu and Miya Atsumu exchanged a glance, Miya Atsumu immediately made a hand gesture toward Coach Kurosu.
Receiving the signal, Coach Kurosu raised his hand and called over Fukami and Kosaku from the waiting area.
Coach Utsunomiya rested his chin in his hand, thought for a moment, then also reached out to call over their number 15.
Noticing Mihara Ryota approaching, Inamoto Shuma froze for a moment on the court.
Mihara Ryota, who had once been written off by the opposition as being sidelined for this match, held up two fingers toward him and gave a grinning peace sign.
The whistle blew on the court, the referee signaled for Inamura to serve.
This time, Miya Atsumu's setting was very decisive, handing Hinata a Quick Attack.
Facing this kind of offense on the court for the first time, Ogihara, who was currently acting as the blocker, was completely stunned, but Hinata had already leaped into the air, having spiked the ball down before he could even jump.
“I'll get it!” Ishikawa dove forward in an attempt to chase the ball.
But Hinata's spike was so incredibly fast that it gave him no chance to save it.
Even though it was a Sharp Cross, which should have given the receiver the longest time to react, the terrifying ball speed still made it impossible to handle.
Hirugami couldn't help but remark, "That was clean."
Hinata's running speed was faster than he remembered, since Hinata had just run past Rishia, his small stature made his movements even more concealed behind Rishia's presence. Under the narrow field of vision at the net, he would surely be difficult to defend against.
As expected, it would be necessary to make some mental preparations regarding his movement patterns based on Hinata's logic of movement.
Although he was confident he could follow up from the back row, he still prepared for the possibility of Inarizaki executing a Double Quick.
Nice play!
Nice one, Shoyo!
Hinata raised his hand to high-five Miya Atsumu, the two of them cheered.
On the other side of the net, the Itachiyama side fell into silence. Ogihara and Inamoto exchanged glances, both noticing the confusion in each other's eyes.
Sakusa spoke calmly, "It's fine. Ogihara, you keep an eye on Hinata; just try to touch the ball or restrict its path."
Even though a single block has its limitations, with Komori and him there, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Inamoto is still a Second Year, but Ogihara is a Third Year player, in terms of mindset and ability to execute commands, he is much more reliable than Inamoto and the others.
“Understood.” Ogihara nodded, took a deep breath, refocused his gaze on Hinata.
Fukami and Suna swapped positions on the sidelines, Fukami Subaru took the court to serve.
After giving Fukami encouragement, Hinata turned to face the net, his eyes meeting Ogihara's from across the net.
To be honest, from the moment he first saw the opponent in the video, he felt like something about them seemed familiar, giving him a sense of.. déjà vu.
The whistle blew, Fukami patted the ball against the ground, tossing it high into the air at the very last second of the time limit.
Looking at Kosaku sitting on the Inarizaki Coach's bench, Coach Anromi in the stands expressed envy at Inarizaki having so many key servers who could play a significant role at critical moments.
Moreover, Inarizaki's key players aren't just responsible for serving; they are capable of making a significant impact during crucial moments.
Kumagai's power serve had already yielded good results, building on that, Fukami decisively sent the ball toward the corner near Ishikawa.
Kumagai was testing Komori with a power serve at Miya Atsumu's command, since his task was to score, he naturally wouldn't choose the most difficult opponent to handle.
Ishikawa himself had a deep impression of Fukami, who was in the same year as him. Upon feeling that he was being targeted by the opponent's serve, he immediately abandoned the idea of a platform pass and decisively chose a diving back receive.
Inamoto praised aloud, "Beautiful!"
Rishia's fingers touched Sakusa's spike, deflecting the spin on it: "Touch!"
Miya Osamu quickly followed up, setting the ball toward Miya Atsumu.
Ginjima Yui, who was preparing to attack from Position 4, raised his hand to call for the ball: "Give it to me!"
Miya Atsumu took a step and jumped to set, performing a fake direct set before turning his hand to send the ball behind him.
Hinata, who had already rushed toward Position 2, leaped up with a thud, extended his arms, swung his hand to spike the ball straight down in a line shot.
But at that very instant, two fingers suddenly darted into his previously unobstructed line of sight, forcefully touching his spike.
Hinata was startled, his pupils dilating slightly in shock, the deep color of his eyes clearly reflecting that bandaged hand.