Seeing everyone from Karasuno crowding around the Coach's bench, Hinata was a bit dazed. "What's happening?"
Unabara Uta took a look, relying on his height, repeated, "The Libero is injured."
Hinata reacted, "Ah.. it was during the receiving just now.."
He knew very well how heavy Miya Atsumu's Serve had been; going straight up to bump it without any preparation, or even having only two finger joints make contact with the volleyball, could very likely result in a direct finger sprain or dislocation or fracture.
He couldn't help but sigh emotionally, "The Libero is truly a high-risk position."
Unabara Uta earnestly made an excuse for himself, "Mine was an accident; Takahashi was just being careless."
Hinata rubbed his chin. "If it's a dislocation.. does that mean he won't be able to play for the rest of this set?"
The substitute Libero for Karasuno seems to be quite mediocre, so they'll have no choice but to put Hikari-kun entirely in a defensive position.
"Not necessarily. A dislocated finger is relatively easy to deal with; the Karasuno coach and the venue's doctor should both be able to handle it." Suna Rintarou shook his head.
Hinata and Unabara haven't had that kind of experience yet, but as a player who specializes in blocking, Suna finds finger injuries to be a common occurrence.
If it's just temporary treatment.. generally, you just need to stabilize it and apply some pain relief.
Just then, Miya Atsumu, who had gone to ask the Head Referee about the situation, walked back: "Karasuno requested a time-out due to an injury. It looks like a dislocation, so they've called a doctor to handle it on the spot."
The match will probably be paused for about five or six minutes, so take a good rest.
Hinata looked toward Karasuno with some concern, as a doctor in a white coat was already walking over, carrying a medical bag.
Don't worry, it won't be anything serious..
Aaaah—
Hearing the sharp snap as it reset, Takahashi finally couldn't hold it back and burst into tears.
“You..” Hearing Takahashi wailing, Asahina didn't know what to say for a moment.
Considering that Takahashi had just been talking to them so seriously, saying that there would definitely be no problem and that his spikes were incredibly powerful, this sudden outburst left him feeling a bit at a loss.
Takahashi glared at Asahina while crying, "I'm just afraid of pain! Is that so wrong?!"
Sitting in his separate chair at the Coach's bench, Hoshiumi leaned over and asked, "Then why do you play Libero?"
Whether it was a bump or a diving save, the training regimen for these Liberos was incredibly long and painful. In Hoshiumi's own experience, a dislocated finger was nowhere near as painful as doing a hundred diving saves.
Takahashi sniffled: "That's different!"
And.. I took precautions during my training, I protected my body properly!
Hoshiumi didn't ask any more questions, but instead looked up at Hirugami: "I understand."
Being looked at like this by Hoshiumi, Hirugami Yukio, who had never cared about protecting himself before, felt a brief second of guilt.
But he looked at Takahashi with decisive seriousness: "You must protect your body during matches as well. You don't have the physique or physical conditioning that Unabara Uta and Hikari-kun have, so next time, don't try to receive Miya Atsumu's serve with your hands."
Takahashi nodded, "Yeah."
The doctor assigned to Takahashi tugged on him: "Don't move."
Takahashi cried even harder, turning his head to ask Coach Aran if he could spray him with more painkiller.
Hirugami refused on his behalf: "No, he's already had plenty sprayed on him; it just hasn't fully taken effect yet. It won't hurt in a little while."
Hakuma looked at his hands, looking thoughtful.
Hoshiumi glanced at him and said, "Meisei, you can try receiving with your hands more often. You have a height advantage and the weight to support it; maybe receiving with your hands will feel more comfortable."
After all, they weren't asking anything of Hakuma; they just wanted to provide him with a more "comfortable" set whenever he was forced to receive the ball..
Hakuma nodded. "Understood."
Seeing how easygoing he was now, Hoshiumi was somewhat surprised.
However, Hoshiumi didn't ask any more questions. After all, whether for him or for the whole team.. this was a good thing.
The notification sound rang out again. The doctor and the Head Referee confirmed that the treatment was complete, the match resumed.
Takahashi shook his hand, which had long since stopped hurting, received a sharp glare from Hoshiumi.
He immediately behaved, no longer making any unnecessary movements.
Seeing that Takahashi was in decent shape, Inunari subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and propped up his face with his hands. "That disrupted Miya Atsumu's rhythm a little.."
The Libero's finger injury was indeed not a major injury; after all, most receives rely on the arms, fingers are only used to assist with setting or receiving overhead. Overall, it wouldn't have too much impact on Karasuno.
However, Inarizaki, whose momentum of consecutive scoring and pursuit of a fast-paced Quick Attack had been interrupted, was feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Especially after that long time-out, Karasuno must have made corresponding adjustments to counter Inarizaki's high-speed playstyle; they won't make things easy for Miya Atsumu and his team.
Miya Atsumu took his position to prepare for the next serve. Karasuno's positioning had shifted much further back, clearly intending to deny Miya Atsumu any more opportunities to hit a deep line shot.
As long as the receiving formation is deep enough, it can be ensured that the ball will be handled by a bump or a diving save.
Although it's impossible to fully guarantee the quality of the First Receive itself.. it's good enough.
"Give us a good serve!" Hinata shouted loudly.
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled Miya Atsumu to Serve.
Chapter 363: The Three Hundred and Sixty-Third Fox
Miya Atsumu glanced slightly to the side at Hoshiumi, who had retreated to defend the front row, a plan formed in his mind.
With Takahashi playing deep, half of the front court relied on Hoshiumi for defense.
While it does reduce the burden on the Libero to some extent, the problem it brings is that Hoshiumi will be forced to lose the opportunity to participate in subsequent active offensive support.
In that case, a Jump Float Serve would not be a good choice.
Looking down at the floor, Miya Atsumu felt a slight sense of regret.
Karasuno's positioning was adjusted on the fly just before the whistle, giving him no chance to readjust his approach distance.
I guess.. he played a dirty trick on him.
But it didn't matter; in the end, it was just a difference in the approach steps, so he just had to change his starting foot.
Having watched Hinata practice different approaches for the one-two-three-four step every day, he had become quite accustomed to making these adjustments; the only thing that would be seriously affected was his final jump height.
But Hoshiumi was already positioned near the front row, so he didn't need such a high contact point, as for the power of his spike.. he felt it was sufficient.
In the final second of the serve limit, Miya Atsumu tossed the ball high into the air before taking a large, forceful step forward.
When he saw the high toss, Hoshiumi thought Miya Atsumu was preparing another powerful Jump Float Serve like the last one. But after seeing the stride of Miya Atsumu's first step, he realized something was wrong.
A loud boom suddenly exploded.
Hoshiumi grit his teeth and threw his body backward, controlling himself so that the front of his arm could meet the ball.
The uncontrollable force slammed into his arm, causing Hoshiumi, who hadn't fully lowered his center of gravity, to be carried backward and fall straight onto the floor.
Fortunately, Hoshiumi ensured that his arms made direct contact with the ball the moment he received it, so the angle of his first receive was perfect.
"Great first receive!" Asahina shouted in praise, quickly following up with a set, arching her back slightly before lifting her hands to send the ball toward Hakuma Mebuki in front of her.
It didn't matter if Hoshiumi had no offensive options, as long as there was still someone in the front row who could move.
And he was certain.. that Hakuma Mebuki would not let them down.
Facing Inarizaki's three-man block, Hakuma Mebuki took a three-step approach and leaped powerfully near the edge of Position 4.
With an absolute height advantage of two meters combined with a full-power jump, he easily cleared Inarizaki's Block.
Broad shoulders cast a shadow from above, Hinata, who was already at the furthest distance and had rushed over temporarily, was almost completely enveloped by it.
Feeling the airflow from the close-range spike, Hinata's pupils suddenly contracted.
He thought he might have been wrong.
In this situation, he shouldn't have come over to block; he should have retreated to bolster the defense for receiving.
BANG!!
The volleyball flew straight over the net, smashing into the back corner of the court on the other side of Inarizaki at an angle of nearly forty-five degrees from the sideline.
Ginjima stepped laterally toward that area, attempting to bump the ball.
But a spike is extremely difficult to receive when the block is ineffective, let alone a sharp cross from a player like Hakuma putting his full strength into the spike.
Bang!
The heavy strike echoed through the entire gym again, the ball flew sideways, bouncing out past the railings. Hinata had only just landed, leaving him with no chance to save it.
The whistle blew, Karasuno scored.
"Nice!" Hakuma clenched his fist and gave a high-five to Asahina, who had walked over.
And as Hoshiumi climbed up from the ground and looked up, he happened to meet the hand Hakuma Mebuki was extending toward him.
He raised his hand and gave a heavy pat: "Nice spike!"
Hakuma, who had actually intended to give Hoshiumi a hand but was completely ignored by him, froze for a moment.
Hirugami smiled slightly, but said nothing.
He patted Hoshiumi's shoulder: "Hikari-kun, just serve well and score consecutive points to make a comeback."
Hoshiumi replied, "Of course."
Amidst the cheers, Inunari in the stands clapped his hands: "As expected of Hoshiumi."
With a receiving style this stable and clean, even among Liberos, his level is quite high.
Coach Sansou had previously considered recruiting Hoshiumi as a tactical player for the team, but he had already been reserved by the Adler. Furthermore, Hoshiumi himself had no intention of joining the team to sit on the bench for a year or two while the Black Jackals' starting Wing Spiker was in such good form, so he ultimately had to pass on the opportunity with regret.
Tapping the tip of his pen against the paper, Unai said, "Speaking of the Libero.. Hinata told me before that Karasuno's current starting Libero is very amazing."
“He said.. after Komori and Yaku, he can rank third among the liberos.”
Inunari showed a hint of interest: "Is he that good?"
I haven't seen it with my own eyes," Unai shook her head. "But Hinata said he'll be going to Coach Washijo's place this winter, he even invited me. Maybe I'll have the chance to see it in person.
Mentioning Coach Washijo, Unai gave a helpless smile toward the person he was not unfamiliar with, who had even been snubbed by him before.
Inunari also raised a hand to rub his nose. "Coach Washijo really does like him.."