He must find a way to further widen the score gap during this service turn.
With so many freshmen and substitutes on the court right now, he must leave enough room for error for the team.
The whistle blew, after getting himself into position, Miya Atsumu decisively raised his hand to toss the ball.
Coach Kaku was not good at receiving serves, Hakuma was even worse; his lack of judgment made it difficult for him to handle a jump float serve.
And Karasuno's current positioning makes it difficult to completely cut Hakuma out of the receiving formation, which also gives him enough space to perform.
Even though it's difficult to maintain control and precision at a time like this, but..
He is High School's Best Setter and also the strongest Server; as long as he wants to, he can do it!
Thud!
A heavy thud echoed throughout the entire arena at that moment. The ball flew over the net at a considerable angle, even after crossing the three-meter line, it showed no signs of dropping.
And the ball, without any spin, wobbled violently from side to side, making it impossible to determine where it would land in the next second.
Hakuma stared at the ball, feeling for some reason that there was a high probability it was coming straight for him.
The way to receive this kind of ball.. never mind, it's not that heavy, so I'll just jump and block it.
With the idea in mind, Hakuma immediately took action.
Under Takahashi's shocked gaze, Hakuma shouted, "I've got it!" then stepped forward and reached out, intercepting the ball directly in mid-air.
Miya Atsumu's expression froze. After cursing inwardly, he landed and retreated, preparing to adjust his position to avoid being targeted by the spike.
But Hoshiumi had no intention of letting him off easy.
Hakuma's set was high enough, the trajectory to the setter was short enough.
Tokura Ria was not short for a setter; after a two-step approach and jump, she sent the ball toward Hoshiumi Hikari in Position 4 with the shortest possible distance and the highest speed.
The moment he received the ball, Hoshiumi's eyes locked onto Miya Atsumu, who was still in the back row of Inarizaki and had not yet fully cleared himself from the play.
As Miya Atsumu realized things were looking bad and prepared to switch positions with Arima Shuji, Hoshiumi Hikari's gaze focused on Rishia Heisuke's fingers in his field of vision.
In the next instant, following a heavy thud, the ball struck Rishia Heisuke's middle finger with precision before falling out of bounds.
As Hoshiumi descended, a triumphant smile of a successful scheme spread across his face.
If Hinata can do something like fishing, he can certainly do it too, it might even work even better when the opponent is caught off guard.
Arima, who had been lured forward by Hoshiumi, quickly turned around and burst into his fastest sprint to chase after the ball.
Sensing that he might be subjected to tooling the block, Rishia Heisuke made a slight adjustment, so the ball did not fly directly into the stands, but instead remained within a reachable range.
Just as the ball was about to fly over the court railing, Arima Shuji touched it.
He used one hand to scoop the ball back up and send it toward the court.
At a time like this, he no longer had the luxury of controlling the ball; he could only ensure that this one wouldn't fly over to Karasuno.
Watching the trajectory of the ball as it fell, Miya Atsumu moved in with two quick steps.
—That's enough.
Miya Atsumu leaped backward while retreating, while his entire body was leaning backward, he also pulled his palm back, intending to deliver a back set during such a movement.
The ball itself wasn't high enough, Miya Atsumu had already lost his balance.
In this situation, the possibility of Miya Atsumu using a feint was infinitely close to zero.
The moment the judgment was made, Bessho took the lead in chasing after Masaru Haseda.
Miya Atsumu, however, just smiled.
In the very end, he used his fingers to flick the ball.
Watching the ball fly precisely toward the predetermined point in his field of vision after leaving his hands, Miya Atsumu's body lost its balance and leaned backward, yet a smile spread across his face.
Volleyball is, of course, not a one-person sport, the court is not a one-person stage.
But.. they can also choose to become the Ace and ascend the stairs to the top.
With the fourth set already confirmed, ensuring the Ace's own strength was precisely for the purpose of unfolding the battle at this very moment.
The cards in their hands have been almost played out.
Their best option now is to give everything they have to let the Ace fly even higher.
Only Hinata can spike? That's enough.
In Miya Atsumu's falling field of vision, the boy who had leaped with all his might extended his arms at the highest point, his powerful ability to hang in the air supporting him as he completed his final adjustment at this very moment.
Targeting the gap in the block that appeared between Hirugami and Hakuma because they hadn't synchronized in time, Hinata spiked the ball with all his might.
The advantage of having a high contact point was utilized to its absolute limit at this moment. Hinata spiked the ball almost from above the heads of the two-meter giants, driving it in a straight line over the shortest possible distance into Karasuno's front court.
Hoshiumi, who had been fooled by Miya Atsumu's feint, lunged from behind, but he couldn't reach the ball.
A heavy thud echoed throughout the entire court at that moment, followed immediately by the whistle.
Hinata's spike scored, once again putting Inarizaki in a dominant position.
Miya Atsumu stood up from the floor and raised his hands high toward Hinata. "Shoyo, great spike!!"
Landing on the ground, Hinata slightly hunched his back, after his chest heaved heavily from the exertion, he suddenly looked up toward Miya Atsumu.
With a flush on his face from the increased heart rate and rising body temperature after intense exercise, Hinata raised his hands and rushed toward Miya Atsumu: "Atsumu-ge, great play! That set was beautiful!"
In that situation just now, Atsumu-ge still had enough energy to pull off a fake, that was incredible!
Miya Atsumu was bumped by Hinata so hard that he lost his balance and took a step back, helplessly steadying Hinata's body.
He patted Hinata's shoulder and said softly, "You're too excited, Shoyo. Calm down a little."
His heart rate was already above the threshold, so it would be safer to stay calm at a time like this.
Hinata pressed even closer to Miya Atsumu: "Because it felt so good!"
Miya Atsumu soothed the overly excited Hinata: "Alright, alright, I know, me too."
Feeling that the Ace was very satisfied with that last serve, Miya Atsumu also couldn't help but curl his lips into a smirk.
To be honest, the thinking of those loud-mouthed black-and-white porcupine-haired guys is actually quite useful at certain times.
Making the Ace stronger.. for the strongest Setter, it was naturally much easier to handle!
Arima Shuji wiped the sweat from his chin with his hand, seeing the others cheering, he couldn't help but smile as well.
But in the next second, his expression turned serious once again.
After all.. he could have actually provided a better response to that ball just now.
He actually hadn't performed a VO2 Max test correctly before, but judging by his usual training volume, he was likely the weakest in the First String, aside from the first-year students.
After all.. he, this substitute libero, was himself a product of being the standout among the short players, his juniors were all countless times better than him.
He also knew that his very existence was a kind of "safety net" for the team, serving to step up temporarily during such team crises to see them through the crisis.
But he had to admit that this current situation was slightly beyond his level.
If things continue like this..
Just then, a sudden gasp of surprise erupted from the Inarizaki stands on the opposite side.
Although it wasn't loud, Arima could tell it was a sound of joy.
—What happened?
Hinata's voice rang out immediately: "Oh! Unabara!"
His eyes were sharp; from a distance, he caught sight of Unabara poking his head out of the side Players' Tunnel. He immediately raised both hands high, waving them vigorously in Unabara's direction.
Unabara Uta signaled to him as well, then pointed upward, telling Hinata to look at the Head Referee.
Hinata quickly snapped out of it and refocused his attention back on the court.
The opponent was about to serve, so he needed to get into position immediately to prepare for the subsequent first receive defense.
Arima Shuji breathed a secret sigh of relief.
Since he has returned, it means his condition is fine, Unabara Uta's legs are quite nimble now, so he should be able to keep playing. In that case.. his mission ends here.
When it comes down to the final showdown, give it your all.
Chapter 372: The Three Hundred and Seventy-Second Fox
Under the guidance of the staff, Unabara Uta returned to the court and sat beside Coach Kurosu at his signal.
After exchanging a glance with Arima Shuji, Unabara Uta turned his gaze toward the scoreboard on the other side.
“They're up by two points.”
When he left the infirmary, the score was still tied, but in the time it took him to get here, Inarizaki had actually pulled ahead.
And judging by the cheers from the crowd just now.. he seems to have missed a great play.
—I'll have to go back and review the match footage.
Coach Kurosu said softly, "Adjust your state a bit more. We can still hold the score gap for now, so there's no rush to make a substitution."
Unabara Uta nodded: "Understood."
His condition itself couldn't be described as good; since Arima-senpai could still maintain his composure, it was naturally better to let Arima-senpai handle it.
After all.. even after winning this set, there is still the final deciding set.
Once both sides' main players fall into a slump, it is time for him, the defensive Libero who provides stability, to truly show his worth.
Watching Karasuno request a substitution, replacing the number 3 Wing Spiker Hakuma Mebuki with the number 2 Wing Spiker Shiraishi Daigo, Kumagai wiped the sweat from his chin: "It seems like Karasuno is prepared to let this set go."
Miya Atsumu exhaled, taking a moment to catch his breath: "We can't play with a two-point deficit; it was a decision made with full knowledge of the consequences."
Kumagai speculated, "Karasuno will continue to wear down our stamina in the later stages, won't they?"
The final set of a five-set match is basically a test of willpower. Since Karasuno was prepared to let this set go, he didn't believe the opposition wouldn't try to drain the stamina of Hinata and Miya Atsumu.
“Yeah,” Miya Atsumu nodded, “as long as we know the opponent's objective, we can dismantle and neutralize it.”
After all.. the situation now is completely different from how it was at the beginning.