“Nice play, Shoyo!” Rishia Heisuke came over and gave him a high five.
Goshiki Tsutomu withdrew his gaze from where the ball landed, his eyes filled with a hint of shock as he looked at Hinata at close range.
Reaction speed, precision in finding the ball, balance, body control, a keen sense for the situation across the entire court..
Every step was just right, as if there had never been a mistake from the very beginning.
Composed, powerful.
Exquisite.
Shirabu clapped from the stands, his eyes filled with admiration for Hinata, even carrying a hint of excitement that left Akaashi somewhat puzzled.
But Akaashi didn't ask any more questions, simply turning his gaze back to the court. "Hinata's growth rate is very fast."
The first time he met Hinata, Hinata was still running errands for the First String.
But it was true; even back then, he had vaguely sensed that Hinata's comprehension was incredibly strong.
However.. I didn't expect him to grow to this level in such a short amount of time.
“Shoyo's fundamentals are relatively good and very solid, but most importantly, his physical abilities are good enough.” Shirabu rested his chin in his hand.
“Physically, he might have been ready for a long time; he just lacked a platform that could provide him with the necessary resources.”
But at the end of the day, this was actually all built up through more than ten national tournaments.
Shiratorizawa shrugged. "To be honest, Shoyo has played more national matches than both you and I."
Akaashi nodded. "That's true."
Experience is very important; the experience gained from every major tournament plays a crucial role.
It was obvious that Hinata was more adapted to this court than Goshiki.
Is it really that much more than mine?
Unable to bite into it, Bokuto simply crunched the biscuit stick into pieces and leaned in to ask.
Shiratori rummaged through his own pockets and pulled out an entire bag of dried beef jerky, stuffing it into Bokuto's hands.
“Eat.”
Author's Note:
Natsume-senpai's personal snack pocket: whole wheat dental biscuit sticks, nut chocolate bars, shredded dried beef, large pieces of dried squid, several candies.
Chapter 420: The Four Hundred and Twentieth Fox
After careful consideration, Coach Kurosu ultimately decided to change the key player during Suna's service turn.
Suna's Serve was indeed tricky enough, but at this stage, Suna still couldn't master the Jump Serve technique well. With the score gap not being particularly large, Coach Kurosu was somewhat worried that Suna might directly hand a point to the opposition.
For the server in this rotation, Coach Kurosu still chose Kumagai.
Fukami's power serve probably won't be able to play a major role; for now, starting with jump float serves seems better for opening up the game.
Moreover, Kumagai's power serve is actually at a similar level to Fukami's; from any perspective, Kumagai is the optimal choice for the current situation.
Watching Kumagai take the court after swapping number plates with Suna, Akakura pursed his lips.
He still couldn't deal with Miya Atsumu's Dual Wield, but.. he still had some confidence in Kumagai's Dual Wield.
In the previous rotation, they didn't actually achieve much, but they managed to keep the score gap within two points. This means that as long as they get two or three consecutive scoring opportunities, they'll have a chance to take the lead.
To put it bluntly, since Shiratorizawa's blocking isn't particularly strong right now, if he fails to receive the ball, it will be difficult to counterattack and score.
Kumagai spun the ball in his hands, the rapid rotation creating friction against his palm, the rising warmth gave him a sense of reality.
Unlike Miya Atsumu, he didn't have the habit of targeting the opponent's libero; after all, he lacked the confidence to land an ACE Serve while facing them head-on.
All he had to do was stand on the path Miya Atsumu had already explored for him and verify the solution, nothing more.
Exhaling softly, Kumagai raised his hand to toss the ball with precision just as the countdown reached its final moment, stepping forward quickly to complete the Serve.
With a heavy thud, the ball crossed over the net, dropping into Shiratorizawa's court on an extremely strange trajectory.
Kumagai's control over the ball might not be strong, but that doesn't mean his serves are easy to receive.
On the contrary, Kumagai's Jump Float Serve is widely recognized for its heaviness. Even if one correctly reads the ball's trajectory, it isn't something that can be handled easily; if the power is misjudged, it is very easy to injure one's wrist.
Akakura understood this, because during pre-match preparations, they had studied all of Inarizaki's key servers and knew what everyone's playing styles were like.
He chose to handle Kumagai's Jump Float Serve with a low stance; since the ball's landing spot was relatively easy to judge, he could receive it..
The moment his arms made contact with the volleyball, Akakura knew something was wrong.
The ball was heavier than he had anticipated; because receiving a Jump Float Serve requires applying a counter-force, his arm was relatively tense, making it impossible to absorb the impact directly.
After a heavy thud, the ball flew off completely out of control in its full rebound.
"Sorry, sorry!" Akakura apologized hurriedly.
Yura quickly followed up, rushing under the ball to attempt a pass.
The First Receive was quite rough, but.. it wasn't completely unplayable.
Just then, Goshiki Tsutomu, who hadn't asked for the ball throughout the entire process, suddenly spoke up: "Give me the ball!"
Yura stopped obsessing over it, after absorbing the spin through his touch as best as he could, he sent the ball toward Position 2 in the most stable state possible.
The speed of this ball was fast from start to finish, making it quite difficult to spike.
Goshiki Tsutomu considered his flexibility to be inferior to Hinata's, his ability to control his body and maintain balance was far behind.
Hinata had trained at Shiratorizawa before, Coach Washijo had taken him there as well, but he didn't perform as well as Hinata.
But.. for someone who had been absorbing Ushijima's bad sets since his first year of high school, Goshiki Tsutomu never feared a setter with poor quality.
No matter what kind of set it was, as long as the setter gave it to him, it was an expression of absolute trust in him.
He had to give an equally sincere response.
If a ball cannot be scored directly, then find a way to turn it into a point through other means.
This was also the greatest gain from the time he spent interacting with Hinata.
THUD!!
The ball was spiked with Goshiki Tsutomu's maximum strength into Rishia Heisuke's hands, bouncing back toward Shiratorizawa at a quite high angle before finally falling out of bounds.
Inarizaki's block went out, Shiratorizawa scored.
As it hit the ground, Goshiki Tsutomu flashed a slightly provocative smile at Rishia Heisuke.
There's no such thing as a glorious or ignoble way to play; as long as you can score, it's all good technique.
Right?
Rishia Heisuke had a serious expression on his face; he lightly stretched his hands and let out a sigh.
Hinata's accusation came from the side: "Heisuke! Your blocking hands need to be like this!"
As he spoke, Hinata even demonstrated it to Rishia Heisuke repeatedly.
Tokura, who was behind them, pursed his lips. "That last ball was too low; it would have been easier to clear the net if you had continued to drive it down."
In reality, Rishia, who simply hadn't had time to press down on the ball, remained silent. He locked eyes with Goshiki from the opposing side, an inexplicable sense of tension, like a drawn bow, flared between the two of them.
Behind them, Miya Atsumu let out an extremely dissatisfied click of his tongue, causing the three Second Years in the front row to instantly snap to attention, not daring to say a single word.
Seeing the three of them acting so spineless, Goshiki Tsutomu also withdrew his gaze, the look he gave Rishia Heisuke before leaving carried a hint of indescribable contempt.
Rishia said nothing.
Because he knew that if Goshiki Tsutomu were at Inarizaki, he would end up with the same fate as him.
As the buzzer sounded, Inarizaki took the lead with 16 points, entering a time-out.
Miya Atsumu followed behind Suna, raising a hand as he spoke, "The plan we set before the match has been completely ruined."
Suna walked back with his hands tucked into the waistband of his pants, his back slightly hunched. "There's a mole; there's nothing we can do."
Miya Osamu glanced at Hinata, who was jogging back toward the area near the Coach's bench, appearing as if he were afraid someone would steal the seat next to the Coach.
Indeed, they had originally formulated a psychological warfare strategy against Goshiki Tsutomu, but as it turned out, someone on their own side had been constantly cheering for him and even actively fueling the fire.
Goshiki Tsutomu's condition in this match is much better than before; his playstyle is even bolder and more uninhibited than before.
By this point, their plan could already be declared a failure.
Coach Kurosu asked Hinata, "You've tried all sorts of playstyles just now, how did it feel?"
Hinata nodded in response, "It's easier than I imagined. I feel like I can move even more freely."
Without the restriction of the ankle brace, he could be even more agile.
As long as the offensive conditions were good enough, he was confident he could pull off a ball like those at the very beginning, which pushed both speed and height to the absolute limit.
Coach Kurosu patted his shoulder: "That's good. The intensity of the offense in the upcoming matches will be very high, so use this match to warm up properly."
No matter who their opponents are later, they are no pushovers when it comes to blocking.
Moreover, the blocking of Itachiyama, Karasuno, Shirabu, Rakusan is all part of a complete defensive system developed through systematic training, unlike the blocking of Shiratorizawa, which is not as easy to manipulate as Karasuno's proactive blocking.
After considering many different factors, the result they eventually reached through discussion was to use the most powerful offense while maintaining the most fundamental defensive state.
With Nishizawa Hokuto able to cover for him, Unabara Uta could also move freely without worrying about his stamina, focusing entirely on defensive positioning to stabilize the quality of the First Receive.
Suna, Tokura, the others' blocking skills are also stronger than before, Suna's current blocking shut-down score ranks third in the National Sports Festival.
With these two points guaranteed, Miya Atsumu only needs to maximize the orchestration of everyone's offense.
Offense is the best defense; to ensure your own defense doesn't collapse, the best way is to prevent the opponent from executing a powerful offense.
At least, given the opponents they have seen so far, this style of play can be effective enough.
But it's hard to say if that would hold true for more, since the strength of Karasuno and Itachiyama is on a completely different level; neither of these two teams had actually revealed enough of their capabilities before facing each other.
Hinata lowered his eyes slightly.
He was confident that his offense would not be weaker than Hoshiumi's, but the problematic part was that Karasuno's offensive options weren't limited to Hoshiumi; Hakuma was also a factor that had to be considered.
Moreover, that unreasonable height makes him invincible in both defense and offense; if only there were a way to make the opponent lose their combat effectiveness..