The ball flew above the net, Sakusa and Ginjima jumped at the same time.
Leveraging his height advantage, Sakusa was the first to touch the ball, driving it down for a line shot in front of the Inarizaki court.
Rishia and Hinata both lunged forward at the same time, but they failed to reach it.
The ball slammed into the floor with a sharp crack. A whistle followed immediately, signaling a score for Itachiyama.
The scoreboard jumped to Inarizaki 5, Itachiyama 4 at this moment.
Ginjima quickly raised his hand to take the blame: "Mine!"
Miya Atsumu clapped his hands. "It's okay, next ball, next ball."
Inarizaki still held the lead, so there was no need to panic; he had already planned out the next moves and just needed to execute them as usual.
Sakusa from the opposing side held the ball and walked to the service position, his gaze sweeping across the receiving formation in Inarizaki's back row.
But with just that single glance, he froze.
Inarizaki's back row at this moment consisted of Kumagai and Miya Osamu, along with Ginjima on the other side, stepping back to cover Miya Atsumu.
Wait.. Kumagai?
On the sidelines, both of Itachiyama's coaches were a bit dazed, completely unable to react to what Inarizaki was planning to do.
Kanzaki, in the stands, raised a question: "Isn't Inarizaki going to substitute their Libero?"
After Itachiyama scored, Kumagai and Suna should have swapped positions, followed by Suna substituting in for the Libero, but Kumagai was still the one standing on the court.
"It doesn't have to be a substitution; it's not a hard requirement for a Middle Blocker to swap with a Libero in the back row. In some cases, you can even use a Libero to substitute for a back-row Wing Spiker, though every substitution requires one dead ball in between," Hanae explained to him patiently.
It depends on the specific playstyle, but normally, you replace the Middle Blocker who focuses on blocking.
Looking at Inarizaki's current positioning.. are they planning to use Miya Osamu as a Libero for the time being?
Hoshiumi stroked his chin while speculating.
Excluding Unabara Uta, Miya Osamu has the best receiving skills among the current Inarizaki starting lineup.
However, Miyas Osamu still has the task of coordinating with Miya Atsumu and Shoyo to perform quick attacks; wouldn't it be a bit of a waste to place him in the Libero position?
Sakusa didn't have much time to think; the whistle had already sounded in his ears, the referee signaled for him to serve.
Regardless of who is acting as the primary setter for Inarizaki right now, it is obvious that the more well-rounded Miya Atsumu is the greater threat.
Even though Ginjima was providing cover, the formation was still far too dense to easily disrupt. As long as they could suppress Miya Atsumu, they could force Kumagai into setting, compared to Miya Atsumu's distribution, Kumagai was clearly much easier to deal with.
Having made up his mind, Sakusa tossed the ball up at the very last moment of his service limit.
The ball, carrying spin, traced an arc near the antenna, precisely avoiding Ginjima and heading toward Miya Atsumu in the back row.
The spin generated by Sakusa's soft wrists ensured that even if Miya Atsumu didn't receive it, the ball would still land in-bounds, forcing Miya Atsumu to reach for it.
Miya Atsumu did not hesitate for long, instead dropping his center of gravity and bending his knees to receive the ball. His movements were so decisive that even Sakusa, who had just delivered the serve, frowned.
In the front row, Shoyo quickly made a hand signal behind him, then adjusted his position to jump near the Attack Line, intending to set the ball.
The role distribution, which had been beyond expectations from beginning to end, caused Ogihara and the others to react significantly slower, while Rishia Heisuke and Kumagai had already jumped on either side of Hinata, one in front and one behind.
Watching Hinata's movements, which were almost a one-to-one replica of Miya Atsumu's, Ogihara felt a sudden tingling sensation on his scalp.
Who was he going to set to?
In the next second, Hinata performed a slightly unpracticed back set, sending the ball to Kumagai in Position 1.
Ogihara Ayato and Inamoto rushed over immediately, but the two had made a serious misjudgment, having never received a serve from Kumagai head-on before.
Their bodies, which hadn't been tensed in time, were knocked backward the moment they made contact with the ball; the ball slammed down powerfully between the two of them, sending them both crashing to the floor.
BANG!!
The ball bounced, falling toward the third-floor stands, the entire crowd erupted into an immediate uproar.
Watching the volleyball disappear from his sight, Miya Atsumu curled his lips into a smirk, his eyes looking up toward the sky filled with extreme pleasure.
Kumagai doesn't have many strengths; in the end, he only has two.
One is that he is smart.
The other is that he has enough strength.
Author's Note:
[Birthday Special Side Story!!]
After showering, Miya Atsumu casually draped a towel around his neck.
After observing his hairstyle in the mirror and confirming that his appearance was perfectly fine, he put on his slippers and walked out of the bathroom.
Shoyo was sitting cross-legged on his bed at this moment, looking very seriously at his.. legs.
The hand holding the towel paused slightly, Atsumu glanced down at his own legs.
It didn't seem like anything was particularly different; it wasn't as good-looking as Shoyo.
If I had to say what was different from before he came back.. maybe it was that he had swapped his athletic pants for short pajama bottoms?
Before he could even ask, Shoyo had already bounced off the bed, grabbing his change of clothes and rushing into the bathroom to take a shower.
Watching him leave, a slightly puzzled Miya Atsumu sat down in the spot where Hinata had just been sitting, seriously trying to recall if anything unusual had happened today that he might have missed.
Aside from having a brief moment of connection in the Locker Room, there didn't seem to be anything else.
Thinking of this, Miya Atsumu decided to let the matter go for the time being, turning instead to his tablet to browse through the Itachiyama footage that the coach had sent over.
As he repeatedly observed Sakusa's spike in slow motion, the bathroom door was opened.
Hinata's hair was wet and dripping, wearing a pair of slippers, he approached excitedly, "Is Atsumu-ge busy right now?"
Miya Atsumu replied, "No, I'm not that busy. I have to wait until seven when Coach and the others finish their discussion before I head over there."
Taking the towel from Hinata's hands, Miya Atsumu casually took out the mat from under the bedside table and placed it on the floor, gesturing for Hinata to sit down.
Hinata sat down with his back to him, contentedly enjoying the hair-drying service provided by Miya Atsumu.
The soft towel brushed against his ears, Shoyo's gaze stole a glance toward his backpack on the side, toward Miya Atsumu's legs that had him pinned in between.
Before he could make a move, his chin was suddenly held by Miya Atsumu's hand, Atsumu's voice followed immediately from above his head.
“I was wondering on the way back, Shoyo-kun, you seem quite interested in my legs today?”
Having had his thoughts exposed, Shoyo directly broke free from Miya Atsumu's grip, scrambled up on all fours, rummaged through the bag placed on the opposite bed to find a white object.
Sitting back down between Miya Atsumu's legs, Shoyo placed that white knee pad on Miya Atsumu's right knee. "I want to see Atsumu-ge wearing this."
Looking at Shoyo's eyes, which were full of excitement and eagerness, Miya Atsumu couldn't help but chuckle.
He leaned in slightly toward Shoyo, pressing his hand over Shoyo's hand that was clutching the knee pads. "You want to see me wear them?"
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, I've never seen Atsumu-ge wear knee pads before."
Setters don't need to make direct contact with the floor most of the time, knee pads can also cause a player to lose some flexibility due to their protective function.
From the day he met Miya Atsumu, knee pads had never appeared on Miya Atsumu's body.
While in the Locker Room today, Miya Atsumu kept fiddling with his legs. He hadn't understood it at first, but after imagining Miya Atsumu wearing knee pads, he suddenly understood.
Because of the straps on them, his knee pads are worn tighter than standard ones.
Atsumu's weight and body fat percentage are both higher than his, his physique is more developed than his, with thick muscles on his thighs that feel great to the touch.
If he wore knee pads, the muscles in that area would be squeezed tight, highlighting a very distinct, beautiful curve.
Looking at Hinata's expression, Miya Atsumu gave an exasperated laugh. "Shoyo-kun, you've got drool on your mouth."
Coming back to his senses, Shoyo hurriedly wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand, only to find that there was nothing there.
Realizing that Miya Atsumu was teasing him, Shoyo felt a bit annoyed, a hint of anger flickered in his eyes as he looked at Miya Atsumu: "I wasn't drooling!"
After locking eyes with Miya Atsumu for two seconds, Shoyo held up the knee pad with righteous indignation.
Miya Atsumu gave in: "Fine, if Shoyo wants to see it, I'll wear it."
Hinata rubbed his face against Miya Atsumu's knee, rubbing it eagerly, before finally lifting Miya Atsumu's legs to slide the knee pads onto them—the ones he had worn today and had not yet sent to Coach Omimi for collective washing and drying.
These knee pads were personally chosen by Miya Atsumu before. Unlike the standard colorway of this brand, the label on them was a festive orange-red, which Atsumu felt was very similar to the color of his hair.
Shoyo's movements were very careful, as if he were personally wrapping a gift, as he wrapped the straps over it in a cross pattern and finally tightened them to secure them.
The thigh muscles above the knees were pressed into beautiful curves just as he had imagined, but they were even more beautiful and more enticing than he had expected.
—I want to take a bite.
So he did.
Miya Atsumu, who had never felt such a sense of restraint, shifted uncomfortably. Before he could say anything, Shoyo leaned down, kissed his legs, then suddenly began to nibble on that patch of skin with his sharp teeth.
Considering there was a match tomorrow and he couldn't leave any marks, Shoyo's movements were light, he didn't use much force.
Rather than pain, Miya Atsumu felt more of an itch, accompanied by a sense of being caught between laughter and tears.
He reached out, using his finger to hook under Hinata's chin to stop him from biting him: "You like it that much?"
A long time ago, he had already discovered that Hinata seemed to really love using his things, including but not limited to wearing his clothes, using the nail care kit Hinata gave him, now, carrying Hinata's protective gear like this.
It was just like.. how a beast marks its territory with its scent, claiming him as part of Hinata's own territory.
Hinata nodded and said without a moment's hesitation, "I love it. I love everything about Atsumu-ge."
As he spoke, Hinata lowered his head slightly to kiss Miya Atsumu's palm, sticking out his tongue to earnestly lick those long, well-defined fingers.
Miya Atsumu curled his fingertips slightly, pressing them against Shoyo's soft tongue: "Can I take this as you inciting me? Shoyo-kun?"
“That's not wrong.. mgh?!" Before Hinata could finish his affirmative response, those two fingers suddenly slid into his open mouth.
Flexible fingers hooked around his tongue, the neatly trimmed nails grazing the sides of his tongue, while the calloused pads of the fingertips caressed his sensitive palate, probing deeper to touch the base of his tongue.
In that moment when his throat tightened, Shoyo, on the mat, nearly lost his balance and could only reach out to grab Miya Atsumu's wrist.
Miya Atsumu let out a low laugh, pressing his two pressed-together fingers between Hinata's teeth, relying on the fact that the other wouldn't bite him as he continued to explore within.
Hinata's mouth, unable to close for a long time after swallowing, was filled with saliva secreted from the stimulation, an ambiguous wet sound echoed as Miya Atsumu's fingers stirred within.
After Hinata realized that things were going south and patted his arm, Atsumu withdrew his fingers with a hint of reluctance, pulling a silver thread from between them.
As the saliva drawn out by Miya Atsumu's movement dripped from Hinata's lips, it landed on Atsumu's thigh.
As Hinata's mind went a little fuzzy and he subconsciously stuck out his tongue to lick Miya Atsumu's finger clean, Atsumu's voice, laced with a smile, sounded in his ear.