Aoba Haruka grew even more indignant: "Tsk, when you compare them, some people are just too foolish to even look at."
Hearing this, Harukawa gave a helpless smile. "He has a fever; as his brother, you should give him a break."
Amidst the cheers of the entire crowd, Hinata straightened up, taking a deep breath as his chest heaved.
He turned his head toward Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to give him a high-five: "Atsumu-ge, support me."
Miya Atsumu reached out, allowing Hinata to rest his hand on his forearm, while simultaneously leaning in to transfer his strength over.
After completing this series of movements, Atsumu lowered his head slightly and asked, "What's wrong?"
Hinata lifted his right leg, rotated his ankle, shook it a bit. "I didn't adjust well during my first jump and landing, my ankle feels a bit uncomfortable from the impact. Let me adjust it."
Miya Atsumu nodded and said nothing, merely silently supporting Hinata's body.
While Hinata was adjusting, he turned his head to look at Ginjima on the other side. "Gin, next time, be more decisive when you jump."
Ginjima nodded: "Understood."
Because Miya Atsumu hadn't given him clear instructions just now, his movement was indeed somewhat hesitant, allowing the opponent to realize his identity as a decoy.
Waiting for that sudden discomfort to pass, Hinata let go of Miya Atsumu: "There, all good."
After bouncing in place to confirm he was fine, he couldn't help but marvel at how great ankle braces were.
As the rotation shifted and positions were adjusted, Hinata looked toward Miya Atsumu, who was walking toward the back, said, "Can we speed it up a bit more? Being watched like this is a bit uncomfortable; I want to shake off the block."
Miya Atsumu agreed readily: "Of course. The one who has the right to make that decision isn't me, it's you, Shoyo."
After a moment of slight daze, Hinata suddenly lowered his eyes and smiled, saying to Miya Atsumu, "I'll leave the setting to you, Atsumu-ge."
His voice was steady and firm, his upright posture made one unable to help but want to trust him.
Nishizawa Hokuto stared blankly at the tablet for a moment.
He thought..
Perhaps this is what a true Ace looks like.
Hinata had already turned around, casting his gaze back toward the members of Itachiyama on the opposite side.
He suddenly remembered the words Hoshiumi had once said to him a long time ago.
I hope you can erode Miya Atsumu's dominance, take control from all aspects, seize the advantage.
Probably.. that's how it is.
As he grew stronger, it was obvious that Atsumu was gradually handing over the dominance of the offense to him.
From the beginning, when he was only responsible for jumping and attacking with full authority given to Miya Atsumu, to learning how to pace the Quick Attack himself, finally to Miya Atsumu teaching him the use of various tactics step by step.
And now, his setter said to him..
—The one who decides everything is him.
Hinata took a deep breath, suppressing his suddenly racing heartbeat.
This trust.. he certainly will not let it down.
Author's Note:
Inarizaki High School, Kosaku (August 2013)
Position: OH Number: 7
Height: 182.4cm Weight: 73.1kg
Recent troubles: When asking for advice on spiking, I can't understand what Hinata is saying.
Ability Parameters [Inarizaki High School Third Year Summer]
Strength: 4 Serve: 7
Jump Power: 3 Receiving: 3
Explosiveness: 3 Dig: 4
Intelligence: 2 Setting: 2
Technique: 3 Spike: 6
Speed: 3 Block: 5
Chapter 348: The Three Hundred and Forty-Eighth Fox
The cheers from behind were intense and fervent. After a long tug-of-war and the difficult situation in the second set caused by the Libero's injury, this consecutive scoring held truly epoch-making significance.
Hinata rested his hands on his knees, bending slightly to shift his weight downward as much as possible, aiming to relieve the strain on his waist and abdomen for a short period.
His serve cover itself had no real purpose, since Rishia Heisuke's serve was different from Miya Atsumu's serve, which relied partly on deception, the cover held little significance.
Rishia Heisuke, behind them, slapped the ball against the ground after the whistle blew.
The effect of the last play was good; although it wasn't an ace, it significantly disrupted the opponent's subsequent coordination.
This play.. let's do the exact same thing.
Sweat overflowed from his forehead, trickled down his cheeks to his chin, finally dripped onto the floor.
Komori stared at Rishia Heisuke's movement on the opposite side, prepared to make a corresponding defensive move at any moment.
After having faced Rishia's spikes and serves for two sets, he had somewhat underestimated Rishia Heisuke's actual power level.
Without needing any backup work, the level of power Rishia Heisuke displayed was much stronger than before, the sharpness of his serve was, in some respects, even more terrifying than Miya Osamu's.
But it didn't matter; he already had it figured out, he definitely wouldn't make the same mistake with this ball.
Rishia Heisuke sent this ball toward Inamoto in the center, Inamoto's reaction was also very fast, stepping backward and circling around from the side toward the front row.
Komori, who didn't need to roll to make room, lowered his center of gravity and reached down to receive the ball, setting it a bit higher to coordinate with Inamoto's longer forward approach.
The ball landed on the front row's attack line, after a loud word of praise, Inamoto jumped to set the ball.
From the side, Sakusa used a backhand to impart a side spin, sending the ball toward the corner of Inarizaki's back row.
Arima was not on the court, Miya Osamu was a bit too far away to make the save.
The whistle blew again, in less than two seconds, Itachiyama ended Inarizaki's scoring streak.
Arima Shuji and Rishia Heisuke switched places, he patted his back, saying, "That was a great serve just now."
Rishia Heisuke nodded and returned to the substitution area.
The service right returned to Itachiyama once again, with Arima and Miya Osamu splitting the defensive duties in the back row, perfectly neutralizing the opponent's serve.
“Atsumu!” Miya Osamu shouted Miya Atsumu's name.
This was a rare, high-quality first receive from several rotations, he absolutely could not let this opportunity slip away.
Miya Atsumu was, of course, very well aware of this; as he moved forward following the ball's position, he used his peripheral vision to scan the members of Itachiyama.
Ogihara moved subtly following Hinata, while the other two were in no hurry to adjust.
But.. can he really keep up?
Recalling Hinata's words from not long ago, a pleasant curve curled the corners of Miya Atsumu's mouth. The moment Hinata retreated to the edge of Position 2 behind him, Miya Atsumu suddenly arched his back and popped the ball up.
And in the very next instant, Hinata took a step in the opposite direction and forcefully leaped straight up from where he stood.
The moment Ogihara's gaze shifted toward him, Hinata, having already secured the ball, had already completed his spike; the entire process was so fast that no one could react.
Bang!
The ball slammed into the three-meter line at Itachiyama's front row, making a crisp sound before bouncing almost straight up.
Hinata's jump was not complete, his arm extension was not in good condition, so the ball lacked power, but he still managed to bring out the fastest possible speed.
Combined with the fastest Back Quick in all of quick attacks, the entire pace of the offense became incredibly fast.
Miya Atsumu turned and high-fived Hinata: "Beautiful!"
Ogihara felt like his brain had stalled. He had been staring at Hinata the entire time, but in just a single blink, Hinata was gone again.
Feeling the soreness in his aching calf muscles, Ogihara suddenly felt a wave of extreme exhaustion wash over him.
His own body had already reached its limit in this extremely fast-paced tug-of-war, yet Hinata was still able to raise his height to that extent while staying in place under such circumstances..
The image of a senior who had been forced off the court due to injury surfaced in his memory, Ogihara Ayato gave a helpless, bitter smile.
Forget it.. I'll just take it one step at a time.
"This number 3 is much worse compared to their number 4 from last year," Shiratori said while munching on a sandwich.
Bokuto stuffed a bite of a beef burger into his mouth. "Is that so? I don't feel like this number 3 is that fast?"
He had something in his mouth, making his speech very muffled; Shiratori had to struggle to make out what he was saying before he could fully understand him.
Shiratori said helplessly, "Don't talk while you're eating, I was referring to overall performance, not just pure speed and physical ability."
“Even though this number 3's physical attributes and abilities are inferior to Agatsuma's, he has managed to push Shoyo to this point; if anything, he might even perform better than Agatsuma.”
Shoving a mouthful of dried small fish into her mouth, Shimizu nodded. "Mm, he knows how to make the most of his existing conditions; in that regard, he is very similar to Sakusa."
Shiratori nodded: "That's exactly the feeling."
As expected, as long as the person he was communicating with wasn't Bokuto, things could proceed quite smoothly.
On the stands, Hirugami simply explained to Bessho, "Ogihara is very good at managing his own stamina, rather than chasing blindly, he prefers to observe before acting, which makes him relatively more energy-efficient."
The setter, Asahina, suddenly spoke up, "But this observation will become something to be exploited, especially in a situation where their physical strength can no longer keep up."
Takahashi blinked. "A target to be exploited?"
Before Asahina could explain it to him, he realized it himself: "Ah, a feint. That is indeed difficult to deal with."
Hinata's spike feints had already fooled Komori several times before this, not to mention the blockers who were being played like fools by their quick attacks.
Hinata's way of shaking off the opponent's block involved moving in the opposite direction several times, which itself relied on exploiting the opponent's habitual thinking, it worked unexpectedly well against Ogihara Ayato.
Asahina nodded. "That's why, when dealing with this kind of offense, a sharp sixth sense can be more useful."
Whether using linear or non-linear thinking, one could easily fall into the opponent's trap. Furthermore, as the defending side, Itachiyama is inherently in a passive position, making Hinata's threat even more effective. Unfortunately, players possessing such intuitive abilities are rare, Itachiyama currently lacks one.
"That's true, you can't use common sense to predict the thought processes of Miya Atsumu and Shoyo." Hoshiumi affirmed the discussion between the two juniors.