Hinata retreated almost instantly, giving up on the block and lowering his center of gravity to prepare for a direct receive without a block.
Hakuma's gaze was fixed intensely on Hinata.
After several sets of back-and-forth struggle, he could say he wasn't playing very comfortably; furthermore, with both Suna and Tokura Ria keeping their eyes on him, it was difficult for him to shake off Inarizaki's block while Asahina's stamina was gradually failing.
This kind of opportunity against an open net is quite rare, so.. he must make the most of this chance and strive to break through Inarizaki's defense head-on.
With a full swing of his arm, Hakuma's hand made contact with the ball, producing a heavy thud that was ear-splitting.
Hinata instantly held his breath, lowering his center of gravity as much as possible to stabilize his body.
The ball reached Hinata in an instant, but before that, Hinata had already used his predictive abilities to pinpoint its landing spot.
Everything was perfectly in place.. he could receive this ball.
Thud!!
The volleyball struck Hinata's arm with a blur of motion, but because Hinata had shifted his center of gravity slightly forward to receive the ball at the lowest possible point, the force of the ball sent him stumbling forward.
As he fell, the ball grazed his face and bounced up, heading straight toward the net.
Beside him, Ginjima reached out to try and save the ball, but after touching the net, the ball dropped straight to the ground. Ginjima's hand touched the ball, but he failed to get it back up.
The whistle blew, Karasuno scored, the score was tied once again.
Hinata felt his cheeks stinging with pain, the pain continued to radiate from his elbow where it had hit the ground after he fell forward.
Seeing that he hadn't gotten up after so long, Tokura Ria was practically terrified: "Shoyo, are you okay?"
Unabara Uta had already left, if Hinata were also injured and forced to leave the court, then this match would truly be over.
Hearing Tokura's voice, Hinata scrambled up from the ground on all fours: "I'm fine, I'm fine—"
His movements were a bit too fast; Miya Atsumu, who had followed behind to ask for the score, didn't react in time at all and was nearly struck on the chin by the suddenly rising Hinata.
Hinata turned his head to apologize to Miya Atsumu: "My bad, my bad!"
Miya Atsumu looked at the bright red streak on the side of Hinata's left cheek and frowned slightly. "As long as you're not hurt. That ball just now was hard for Komori to receive, too."
As he spoke, he reached out to lift Hinata's face, touching Hinata's cheek with his finger.
"Hiss—" Hinata hissed through his teeth.
Miya Atsumu let go of his hands and raised his hand to pat Hinata's head: "There are no more time-outs. After this set is over, I'll have the Coach give you an ice pack, though I expect it'll still swell up. I'll bring you some boiled eggs to massage it with later."
"Yeah." Hinata nodded.
He didn't care much about being swollen like a pig's head; his main concern was that if it swelled up, it would affect his field of vision.
Noticing his concern, Miya Atsumu spoke up to comfort him, "It won't be that serious."
After regaining the service right, Karasuno's setter, Tokura Ria, moved to the front row.
Looking at the incredibly lively atmosphere of the opposing side's cheering, Komori frowned slightly. "By switching to a setter in good form and with enough energy, it feels like Karasuno's entire momentum has risen along with them."
Iizuna nodded. "After all, they are the core of the team's coordination, to some extent, they can even influence the team's playstyle."
It feels like Inarizaki is in danger this set..
Both Hakuma and Hoshiumi were in the back row, causing Karasuno's front row offensive intensity to drop instantly. Although Tokura Ria attempted to deceive Tokura Ria with a Second Attack, Tokura Ria had learned his lesson and was not fooled by him.
Tokura and Ginjima Yui worked together to shut down Norikura Isao's spike, Inarizaki scored a point on the block, breaking Karasuno's service turn.
The score jumped to Inarizaki 21:20 Karasuno at this moment.
"Nice play!!" Although he didn't directly participate in the block, Hinata was just as excited as Tokura.
Scoring a direct point from a block against Karasuno, who is already extremely skilled at blocking.. that was so cool!
Hoshiumi gave a high-five and said, "No big deal, stay steady."
With Hirugami not on the court, he is the captain, so it naturally falls to the captain to perform the task of boosting morale.
Moreover, he would immediately rotate back to the front row. During such a critical period near the end of the set.. Karasuno was clearly at a significant disadvantage.
Exhaling softly, Hinata raised his hand to toss the ball, then took a running start and moved forward to serve.
His serve was aimed directly at Hakuma's position, but Takahashi, positioned nearby, guarded Hakuma carefully, giving him no opportunity.
Karasuno counter-attacked, Bessho Chigen scored with a quick attack, once again breaking Inarizaki's service turn.
Hinata was not discouraged either; after all, his serve had never been particularly powerful, they didn't actually have an advantage in this rotation.
Norikura Isao served from across the net, Hoshiumi Hikari turned back to the front row.
Exchanging a glance with Hoshiumi Hikari, Hinata used his tongue to press against the scraped part on the inside of his cheek.
The pain washed over him, making his mind a little clearer.
He had just slightly underestimated the intensity of Hakuma's full-power spike, had also slightly overestimated the stability of his own lower body at this stage.
His condition had certainly declined, but.. it didn't mean he couldn't play at all.
On the contrary, he felt he could still play ten sets; he just needed to adjust his condition slightly.
The one he truly found surprising.. was Hakuma Mebuki.
He had been observing Hakuma for a long time.
Every time the opponent jumped for a block, a spike, or an offensive cover, he paid close attention to their movements.
Hakuma's physique is quite large, so he isn't as agile as he and Hoshiumi; every jump puts considerable strain on his body.
So before this, he had actually confirmed through observation that Hakuma's condition had declined significantly, especially as his jumping process had become heavy and strenuous.
But Karasuno's setter was very clever; he slowed down the tempo of his toss, although he was forcing Hakuma to jump, it certainly achieved the desired effect.
Watching the ball fly over the net and smash toward Hakuma Mebuki's direction, Hinata landed and exhaled softly.
That is why he misjudged the intensity of Hakuma's spike; after all, that kind of state couldn't possibly last, it could even be said that the setter was actively exploiting the spiker's remaining stamina and value.
If Hakuma Mebuki continues to play in this state, he likely won't be able to last through this set.
It's not a big problem; a five-set match is essentially a long-term battle of stamina between both sides, he has long since prepared himself to endure a long struggle against the opponent.
"I've got it!" Takahashi shouted, stepping in a crossover movement to the ball's landing point to receive Hinata's spike.
"Great first receive!" Tokura Ria praised, also moving in to prepare for the second set.
Hinata's gaze swept past Hakuma in the back row, then landed on Hoshiumi Hikari in the front row.
Hakuma-senpai's back-row attack was still quite poor; under normal circumstances, there was no need to focus on it, as the front-row blockers would make the judgment, it was enough for him to provide support.
"Touch!" Tokura's voice rang out immediately after.
On the other side, Arima Shuji moved in time to cover, receiving the ball that had been popped up by the block.
“Nice receive!” Miya Osamu shouted, then turned to give Hinata a look.
Hinata understood immediately, stepping back to create enough distance for a run-up, lowering his body close to the ground as he prepared to explode into his approach.
Bessho Chigen diverted a portion of his attention toward Hinata, while at the same time, Miya Atsumu was already chasing after the ball, leaping into the air to prepare for a toss.
None of the Karasuno blockers dared to move.
After all, Miya Atsumu was truly capable of performing a Second Attack to smash the ball into the floor the moment they made their initial move.
Bessho kept an eye on both Hinata and Ginjima's movements in the front row at the same time. Just as Miya Atsumu leaned back slightly, preparing to execute a back set, Hinata had already rushed behind the three-meter line.
—A quick attack from Position 2.
Bessho, who was eighty percent certain of this judgment, leaned his body toward Inarizaki's Position 2.
At that very instant, the ball in Miya Atsumu's hands was suddenly sent forward in a toss.
But it wasn't Tokura who performed the spike, but Miya Osamu, performing a back-row attack.
The powerful spike slammed directly into Hakuma Mebuki, who was positioned right under the ball, as the block failed to stop it.
Hakuma, whose knees and calves were already under immense pressure from frequent jumping and attacking, was completely unable to stabilize himself against the ball; he was knocked straight down by the heavy spike and fell, sending the ball flying out of the court.
The whistle blew, the score jumped to Inarizaki 22:21 Karasuno.
Miya Osamu turned his head toward Hinata. "I got your revenge for you."
Hinata, who had felt that Miya Osamu's spike just now had an extremely strong sense of purpose, snapped out of it and raised his hands in surprise, shouting, "Long live Osamu-senpai!"
"Tsk." Miya Atsumu rolled his eyes inwardly.
Miya Osamu looked at the Twins, who were not giving him a pleasant expression, couldn't help but let out a soft click of his tongue.
The two glared at each other before turning away.
Ginjima Yui, who had already walked to the service position, let out a long breath. After adjusting his state, he tossed the ball up in the final second of the service turn.
"I'll take it!" Takahashi shouted, diving to receive the ball.
Tokura, having secured the ball, licked her lips, performed a back set fake, then transitioned the ball to Hoshiumi, who had rotated back to the front row.
Hoshiumi did not let the ball go to waste, accurately spotting the slight opening in Tokura's block and scoring by tooling the block.
"Yes!!" Hoshiumi raised both hands high.
After being quiet in the back row for a long time, Hoshiumi, having returned to the front row, immediately demonstrated his terrifying dominance on the court.
Of course, it was also because he had received sufficient rest during that previous rotation where he did nothing in the back row.
“My apologies,” Tokura Ria hurriedly admitted her mistake.
Miya Atsumu waved his hand, his gaze toward Hoshiumi filled with vigilance.
Hoshiumi's offense was certainly powerful, but Tokura, who had just provided a perfect feint and ensured the speed of the ball, also played a crucial role in winning this point.
Indeed, at this moment, replacing a setter in good form for the exhausted Karasuno was no different from injecting oxygenated blood into their system.
Miya Atsumu clapped his hands. "Stay steady, keep your eyes on Hoshiumi, don't give him the chance to use the block."
Hinata is currently in the back row, so their front row attack intensity will decrease accordingly; while back row attacks can certainly be executed, they also require opportunities.
Now that Hirugami has rotated back to the front row, it's essentially declared that Hinata's back-row attack will, in most cases, fail to produce results.
Hoshiumi smiled.
He doesn't only have tooling the block as a way to score; he returned to the front row at this moment specifically to pull the score back in one breath!
Bessho Chigen serves, Hirugami Yukio takes his position at Position 4 in the front row.
Relatively speaking, Bessho's serve was not that difficult to handle; Arima adjusted his position and successfully moved in to receive the ball.