In the First Set, they played into Karasuno's state of mutual exhaustion; at that time, both sides had their full starting lineups on the court.
Now that half of Inarizaki consists of new talent, even if Karasuno wants to wear them down, it will be impossible to target their Ace completely; they could even protect Hinata by sacrificing the condition of players like Kumagai and others.
On the contrary.. Karasuno has taken out Hakuma, the remaining Hoshiumi Hikari will find it difficult to fight alone.
“I understand,” Kumagai nodded in agreement.
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu, then at Kumagai; having completely failed to understand what the two were talking about, he tilted his head, a look of confusion on his face: "What?"
Understand what? Atsumu-ge didn't seem to say anything just now.
Miya Atsumu didn't intend to explain anything to Hinata, instead simply saying, "Just play as you normally do. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, there's no need to hesitate."
Seeing Miya Atsumu's attitude, Hinata didn't intend to ask more: "Okay."
With a friendly smile toward Hoshiumi on the other side of the net, Miya Atsumu turned and walked toward the service position in the back.
The fastest way to escape an opponent's attrition-based playstyle.. is to end this set as quickly as possible.
Hoshiumi Hikari couldn't help but let out a small click of annoyance.
Takahashi, who was already struggling to keep up with the pace, gave a rather poor first receive, Tokura Ria also couldn't quite nail the angle of the pass, ultimately only managing to give Hoshiumi Hikari a high ball near Position 4.
Having received the ball, Hoshiumi did his best to exploit Inarizaki's blocking error, hitting the ball right onto Masaru Haseda's fingers.
If one were to be strict, Masaru Haseda had actually been very cautious, controlling his hand shape during the block to ensure the opponent wouldn't have any chance of tooling the block.
But.. just like Hinata, Hoshiumi will create his own opportunities.
And just as Hinata targets Takahashi and the others, freshmen who lack experience are easily lured into making mistakes, ultimately being forced to leave openings.
The ball flew out of bounds; just like before, Arima Shuji couldn't save it, Karasuno scored.
"They've certainly got some momentum." Miya Atsumu lightly raised an eyebrow.
To say that Karasuno would give up this set.. it's certainly a bit early to say that, after all, they aren't quite sure what the level of that Number 2 player is yet.
But none of that mattered; what mattered most right now was the advantage Inarizaki held.
During Bessho Chigen's service turn, Karasuno failed to score a point from Inarizaki. Hinata's back row spike once again forcefully interrupted Karasuno's service turn, bringing the score back.
"A completely single-core playstyle.." Coach Unabara said from the sidelines, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"While I know Miya Atsumu is a sufficiently all-around setter, Inarizaki's lineup has always been a multi-core formation with more than three points, the abilities Miya Atsumu has demonstrated lean more towards multi-faceted coordination." Coach Hiya also understood what Coach Unabara was trying to say and spoke up in agreement.
This current, complete single-core style.. Miya Atsumu is playing even better than I anticipated.
Unlike a multi-core team where the primary goal is to create a diverse offensive flow for teammates, the role of the setter in this kind of single-core team might seem simpler, but in reality, it requires much more energy to focus on the act of "setting" itself.
Before this, they didn't fully look down on Atsumu's pure setting ability; in fact, when it came to raw technique, they thought Kageyama, whom they had seen before, was even better.
Miya Atsumu's advantages are his shrewd tactical ability and coordination, combined with his own top-tier technique, which allow him to surpass a multitude of setters, including those from Iizuna, to become the strongest.
But at this moment, they had to admit..
When using Hinata, a spiker who can almost achieve perfect synchronization with him, Miya Atsumu demonstrates abilities that far exceed any other setter.
Coach Unabara nodded repeatedly: "They complement each other perfectly."
As long as it can be demonstrated, it means that this state can be maintained for a long time through training, the combination he envisioned was precisely to use Miya Atsumu's ability to simultaneously utilize Ushijima, the future core Opposite of the National Team, along with other spikers.
Of course, this logic also applies to Hinata.
Hinata has already demonstrated his own potential and powerful offensive capabilities; all he needs is a high-level setter, it doesn't have to be limited to Miya Atsumu.
As it happened, they wouldn't lack such high-quality setters in their future national team.
Coach Hiya's eyes were full of admiration: "Hinata and Ushijima both have excellent stamina. In that case, the final roster could even consider taking only three opposites."
Coach Unabara's eyes brightened even more: "Indeed, even for a long-series tournament, that would be enough."
At this, Coach Unabara suddenly remembered something: "By the way, is the National Sports Festival going to be postponed this year?"
Coach Hiya nodded. "Yeah, the higher-ups want to make it a big event and use it as an opportunity for disaster relief fundraising. It's been postponed by about a week compared to previous years, the venue has changed as well, but the final results haven't been released yet."
“The results for the Olympic bid for the 20th will be out next month, there might be further adjustments because of it.”
Recalling their arrangements, Coach Hiya continued, "The announcement date happens to be the very last day of this training camp."
Coach Unabara rubbed his chin. "Oh my, then I'll have to give my speech some serious thought.."
Before he could even finish his sentence, the ball Hinata had chipped off the block flew straight toward the position of the two of them, aimed directly at Coach Unabara's nose.
Coach Unabara was quick to react, only after confirming that the Karasuno players couldn't catch up did he raise his hands to block the ball, catching the volleyball steadily.
Looking at Coach Unabara and Coach Hiya, Hinata, knowing full well he had done something wrong, didn't even dare to breathe heavily. He bowed repeatedly to the two of them, almost performing a full dogeza to beg for forgiveness.
He had only just received permission from the coach to join the Junior National Team; if he were to be kicked out, or even suspended and forced off the court, because of something like accidentally hurting a coach..
Then he'll go to Coach Unabara's front door and cry!
In a state of extreme exhaustion, Hinata couldn't control his own thoughts at all.
Being naturally timid, he had already envisioned countless possible tragic endings in his mind, his face turned pale, which gave the nearby Masaru Haseda quite a fright.
Masaru Haseda panicked and hurriedly reached out to support the staggering Shoyo-senpai: "Shoyo-senpai! Don't die!"
Coach Unabara handed the volleyball to the approaching Miya Atsumu, while simultaneously raising a hand to signal to Shoyo not to worry about it.
Hinata let out a sigh of relief, mentally labeling Coach Unabara as a "good person among good people."
This coach grabbed him when he was about to fall the first time they met, now he isn't even holding his mistake against him..
That's great!
Miya Atsumu chuckled. "Coach Unabara is actually quite kind, so don't worry too much, Shoyo."
Of course, that's only off the court.
On the training grounds.. he is also an absolute demon of a coach.
But for Hinata, there wasn't any coach who could truly be called a "devil."
Hinata nodded deeply. "I felt it."
The atmosphere on Inarizaki's side was relatively relaxed, or rather, Miya Atsumu was intentionally trying to keep the team's atmosphere light.
After all.. the real challenge was still ahead.
The whistle blew, Hinata scored with a high ball spike from Position 3.
This ball even caused Takahashi, whose footing had already become unstable, to fall to the ground, securing the score in the most forceful manner possible.
The score at this moment jumped to Inarizaki 25:21 Karasuno.
When the score gap was pulled to 3 by Inarizaki, Karasuno clearly began to adopt a more defensive, compact playstyle, no longer engaging in a back-and-forth struggle with Inarizaki.
The score on the sidelines jumped to 2:2, both sides were tied once again, returning to the same starting line.
Coach Kurosu reached out and patted Masaru Haseda's shoulder: "You played well."
Masaru Haseda lowered his head. "I made a lot of mistakes."
If he hadn't given Hoshiumi so many opportunities to use tooling the block, they could have won this set much more easily.
The Coach said with a smile, "Keep your head up, you've performed very well. Keep up the good work."
Hinata also crowded over: "Exactly! Katsuya, this is your first time on the court and your first time playing Middle Blocker, you're so much better than I was when I first started!"
“He can keep up with the blocks, his offensive cover is excellent, he hasn't made any errors on his serves—"
Hinata counted on his fingers, as he reached the last one, his gaze drifted toward the back of Miya Atsumu's head. But Miya Atsumu anticipated him and slapped his hand down.
During the period when he first started playing, he made a grand feat by contributing a powerful serve that struck Miya Atsumu right in the back of the head.
Facing Hinata's thumbs-up, Masaru Haseda pursed his lips and then nodded heavily, "Yeah! I'll play better next time!"
Noticing Hinata and Miya Atsumu's movements, Rishia Heisuke, who had been talking to Kumagai on the other side, silently shut his mouth.
Speaking of which..
Shoyo, don't you feel bad for Akuma's back of the head for a second!
Thinking about it, he looked at Kumagai beside him.
Kumagai stared straight ahead at the floor, saying emotionlessly, "I know what you're going to say, but for the sake of my mental and physical health, please don't."
A person's back of the head can't be made of steel; if he doesn't rank in the top three of his grade in the next final exams, then Hinata is the one to blame!
Unabara leaned over and asked, "What? Akuma, are you feeling unwell?"
At this stage, the somewhat dim-witted Hinata turned his head and asked in confusion, "But shouldn't Akuma be healthier than you, Unabara?"
A long silence fell near the Inarizaki Coach's bench.
Suna turned his head and let out a laugh, feeling somewhat regretful that Aran wasn't there.
"What on earth is going on?" Miya Atsumu sighed helplessly.
The court had already been cleaned, with all the sweatstains left on the floor carefully wiped away by the staff, the volleyball had been wiped down and replaced with a new one.
Everything announced that.. the deciding set was about to begin.
Glancing at the Head Referee who had already stepped forward and Hirugami Yukio who was walking over, Miya Osamu turned his head toward Miya Atsumu and asked, "Me?"
Miya Atsumu was silent for two seconds before finally admitting defeat in a shameful way: "You do it, you do it."
Miya Osamu gave a sneer and lightly bumped into Miya Atsumu with his shoulder as he stepped forward.
The next second, Miya Atsumu jumped up directly: "What are you doing touching me!"
Miya Osamu, feeling a bit dazed by Miya Atsumu's sudden outburst, raised an eyebrow, stopped in his tracks, turned his head to ask, "What? Are you not allowed to be touched?"
Miya Atsumu took two steps back. "No! What if you touch me and catch my bad luck!"
His hand is already this black, what if he infects Miya Osamu!
Miya Osamu, who thought Miya Atsumu wanted to pick a fight, fell silent for two seconds before finally turning around and walking toward the Head Referee's position with a look of utter disgust.
After watching Inarizaki's grand performance, Hirugami Yukio stood with his hands on his hips and looked down at Miya Osamu.
The Head Referee didn't care about all that; he simply showed the coin to the two of them, just as he had at the beginning.
Watching the coin fly upward with a crisp sound, flickering in his field of vision like a butterfly as it reflected the light from above, Miya Osamu's expression remained calm, without a single ripple.
Although luck is considered a part of one's ability, the portion it can influence is extremely small.
All human efforts had been exhausted; all he had left to do was wait for fate to unfold.