In the stands, Inamura covered the lower half of his face with his hands, his lips trembling: "Who said that? Who said number 17 plays so honestly?"
He's a completely different person compared to the last set!
Komori gave an awkward smile: "A slow starter, huh.."
But rather than being a slow starter, he felt more like a player with zero match experience who, after playing just one set, suddenly realized exactly how he should play the game.
This speed of learning and adaptation.. is a bit terrifying.
"Look at him, Shuji," Shiratori said, pointing at Nishizawa Hokuto while speaking to Matsuda Shuji in the row behind him.
Matsuda protested, "I've already gotten stronger! You didn't even watch yesterday's match, Shiratori-senpai!"
Kazama chimed in from the side, "We've all gotten much stronger, we won't disappoint you in this afternoon's match, Senpai!"
Shimizu turned around and patted the two of them on the head. "Good luck, boys."
On the court, Miya Atsumu had already walked to his service position.
Wajima's mind went blank, despair flickered in his eyes.
They had agreed beforehand that the blockers would chase the Ace, if he handled the first receive properly, they would still have a chance against Inarizaki.
But.. right now, none of them have completed their tasks.
The volleyball was already infinitely close in his field of vision; his brain hadn't even reacted yet, but his body had already responded.
The instinct etched into his body through countless training sessions made him reach out subconsciously; although his positioning was slightly off, his upper arm made contact with the ball.
Thud!!
The heavy thud startled Wajima, who was attempting the receive; the ball flew off at a sharp angle, streaking toward the setter, Kanayama, in the back row.
Kanayama's reaction speed was even faster; he decisively stepped back to create distance and performed a low bump to handle the ball.
This ball was too fast, the height wasn't sufficient. He had no way to set it from above, but even if he played it low, as long as he could get the ball out, the front row Spiker would still have a chance to score.
As long as they break Miya Atsumu's service turn—
The sound of impact rang out once more as Suna calmly pressed down with one hand, blocking the ball that Akamatsu had spiked back.
Wajima, who dove to make the save, was ultimately a step too slow; the ball landed just five centimeters away from his fingertips.
The Head Referee signaled a point for Inarizaki via a block.
Wajima got up from the ground, clenching his fists tightly.
He looked at Suna on the opposite side and said through gritted teeth, "Bring it on!"
He touched the first receive; he was just a fraction away from saving the ball.
He felt that his condition was better than before, he would soon be able to adapt to Inarizaki's offensive intensity.
He no longer dared to hope for winning a set; his only goal now was to receive a ball properly, making that half-lidded-eyed, heart-gesturing, two-horned, jumping-around guy and that orange-headed guy see them clearly!
Equally excited, Hinata responded to Suna, "Again!"
The opening of this National Sports Festival was going very well; if they keep this up.. they can do it, they will reach that highest peak once again!
The long, drawn-out buzzer echoed throughout the entire arena, the scoreboard at the side of the court froze at Inarizaki 25, Hayakawa Industrial 16.
Amidst the cheers, Wajima and Fukaya looked at each other.
Fukaya Kenro said seriously, "We scored a few more points than the last set, so we won."
Wajima comforted himself: "At least.. we received two of their Quick Attacks, didn't we?"
To be honest, they didn't even feel like they had truly lost this match.
The gap in strength between the two sides was so great that they didn't even have a clear way to win.
Wajima walked to the edge of the court to line up, exhaling softly at the same time: "I feel like even if we face that person's heavy cannon later, I'm confident I can receive it."
Fukaya Kenro nodded. "That's enough. Our top priority right now is to find a way to secure a spot in Haruko."
We were recommended to the National Sports Festival, but we failed to qualify for both the Interhigh and Haruko.. that's a bit too embarrassing.
Wajima nodded: "Yeah."
They will secure a spot in Ishikawa Prefecture, then head back to that stage once more..
It's just that I don't know if there will be another chance to play against Nekoma again.
Looking at the Inarizaki members lined up on the other side of the net, Wajima closed his eyes.
He decided that the Middle Blocker he hated most right now wasn't Kuroo-senpai, but this detestable Suna.
“Thank you for the guidance!!”
After the applause, Koldorf frowned. "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Suna and Inarizaki's number 11 seem to have significantly improved their blocking skills."
Sakusa replied, "It's not an illusion."
Komori added, "Back during the youth training, Coach Unabara was already making an effort to have Suna-senpai strengthen his blocking skills. He must have continued practicing that aspect after returning, he likely shared his insights with the juniors as well."
But.. even though Inarizaki has put their new Libero into play, I get the feeling they're still hiding something..
Walking at the very back of the team toward the Players' Tunnel, Shoyo smiled at Suna beside him. "Suna-senpai, you've had so many scoring points from blocks in this match—if you keep this momentum up, the Best Middle Blocker title is definitely yours."
And your serve, too! Suna-senpai hasn't even used his full serve yet; it's definitely going to shock everyone later!
Suna was noncommittal about this: "Yeah, my touch feels pretty good."
I just saw Kita Team and Aran-senpai giving us a thumbs up, Giant-senpai too!
Atsumu-ge—let's go over to the cheering area in a bit!
Having secured a substantial victory in the first match, Shoyo felt a surge of excitement, finally feeling like he had truly achieved something tangible.
Unlike the first half of the new school year where only IH took place, the National Sports Festival and the Haruko qualifiers were held very close together. Although the long gap between them was filled with training, the feeling of these competitions was ultimately different.
Miya Atsumu, at the very front, looked back. "Huh? Aren't you planning to watch the Fukuda General and Star First match?"
And what about the Shiratorizawa match? Are you not going to watch that either?
"Look! I want to see them all!" Shoyo jogged all the way to Miya Atsumu's side.
We can go straight to the stands to greet the seniors after stretching, then sprint to the side of the court as fast as we can..
Atsumu-ge? Why are you walking so fast?
“Wait for me—Atsumu-ge, don't rush!”
Miya Atsumu didn't even look back. "Go by yourself!"
Chapter 410: The Four Hundred and Tenth Fox
Miya Atsumu couldn't outrun Hinata; after the two of them greeted Unai and the others from the spectator stands, they sprinted back to the court at a hundred-meter dash pace.
By the time they arrived at the sidelines, the match between Star First and Fukuda General was just beginning.
In the stands, Shiratori rested his chin on his hand, his eyes cast slightly downward as he watched the players take the court one by one at the call of the commentator.
To be honest, his last encounter with Star First was not a pleasant memory; it even left a shadow over Midorikawa Aki, who had been the one to tool the block on that play, Midorikawa has been blaming himself for it ever since.
Both sides had already submitted their starting lineups, the players listed were taking the court to confirm their positions.
Seeing Hayami standing in the Libero position outside the court, Shiratori breathed a sigh of relief.
He took out his phone, took a photo of Hayami, sent it to Midorikawa Aki, who had class today.
Before he could even put down his phone and look up, he heard a call coming from the distance.
“Hayami! Good luck!!”
Go, Star First!
The voice was somewhat shrill and high-pitched, the kind of voice where you could identify the speaker almost instantly.
—It's Hinata.
Shiratori's expression froze for a moment. As he looked toward the sound, he found that Hinata and Miya Atsumu were right below the Star First cheering area, putting all their effort into cheering for Star First.
A string of question marks flashed through Shiratori's mind. Of course, it wasn't because Shoyo had chosen to cheer for Star First, but rather..
“Wasn't Shoyo just over here? How did they get over there?”
Bokuto voiced the confusion that they all shared.
That's right, the Inarizaki cheering area and the Fukuda General cheering area were separated by only one school, both located in the middle section of the south side of the Inarizaki No. 2 Gymnasium, while the Star First cheering area was in the middle of the north side of the gymnasium.
It is known that the area in the middle of this gymnasium is enclosed, making it impossible to cross directly through the venue.
That means.. Shoyo and Miya Atsumu managed to circle around the other side of the stadium in such a short amount of time.
Shiratori fell silent.
Meanwhile, Miya Atsumu, who had been dragged along by Hinata, had already stopped thinking.
He knew Shoyo ran fast, but he considered his own legs to be long enough that he should be able to barely keep up with him.
But just now, he truly felt like he was about to fly.
Hinata is not only fast; given his sufficiently light build and excellent hang time, his stride is actually larger than that of players of the same height.
Moreover, Shoyo's physical development has been rapid this past year; his height and weight have both increased, his strength is much greater than before, making it quite easy for him to pull him along.
But.. he couldn't keep up with that speed.
He felt like his legs were about to break, his lungs were burning.
In a daze, Miya Atsumu thought back to the physical fitness test he had taken before.
In addition to the most intuitive data like VO2 Max, lung capacity is also an indicator that coaches can use for reference.
Although his lung capacity isn't exceptionally high, it is still at an extremely excellent level among his peers, reaching a full 6122ml. Of course, this also has something to do with his relatively large physique.
But despite his small stature, Hinata's tested lung capacity was nearly 6000ml; by comparison, Rishia Heisuke had only just over 4000.
Miya Atsumu knew very well that Hinata was terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
When they kiss normally, he actually can't control Shoyo; many times, he can only use other means to tease his partner, using this to gain the upper hand and create an effect of being "seemingly composed."
But as for exactly how much exaggeration was involved.. he knew it very well himself.