But unlike Agatsuma before, Hakuma has cover, since Karasuno and Itachiyama have different styles at the net, they won't use a one-on-one block against him.
However, Hakuma is a Spiker, he won't leave the court when he retreats to the back row. Could I approach it from this angle?
Hinata raised his hand and tapped his head, but no new inspiration came, leaving him in a state of conflicted confusion.
Miya Atsumu shook the water cup in his hand and tilted his head slightly to look at him.
Since the match was halfway through, Hinata seemed to have been thinking about something else. Was there some problem in this match that he had failed to notice?
Noticing Miya Atsumu's gaze, Hinata put down the towel in his hands. "Actually.. I've been thinking about what kind of stance I should take when facing Hikari-kun and the others."
Hearing this, Miya Atsumu fell silent.
Alright, he had overthought it.
Miya Atsumu thought for a moment, then replied, "We'll just have to deal with whatever they throw at us."
Karasuno's strength is built upon the exceptional physical abilities of their members. Given that advantage, it is difficult for them—none of whom even reach 1.9m—to compete, it could be said they are at a disadvantage from the very start.
While Karasuno's tactics are quite organized, it's not impossible that they, like them, have been holding something back until the Finals.
Right now, he has no way to make any tactical arrangements against Karasuno; he will have to wait until after the Semifinals to see.
Miya Atsumu turned and said, "We'll have to wait until tomorrow to discuss the specifics; when the time comes, the two of us will watch from close range by the sidelines."
Hinata nodded vigorously: "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Miya Atsumu took a sip of water, his gaze drifting toward the Joshu team flag hanging on the opposite side.
He hoped Itachiyama could be a bit more reliable, ideally exhausting more than half of Karasuno's stamina, then forcing them to reveal all of their tactics in the match.
Of course, he doesn't want Itachiyama to defeat Karasuno.
Because..
It's more meaningful to take revenge personally.
Achoo!!
Inamura, who was in the stands, suddenly let out a sneeze, startling everyone from Itachiyama nearby.
Sakusa instinctively prepared to get up, but on the other side, Ushijima was sitting on the very edge, so he couldn't move even if he wanted to.
Inamura hurriedly tried to clear his name: "I don't have a cold! It's just that someone just opened a bag of snacks with pepper in them!"
Inamoto, who had just opened a pepper-wasabi flavored snack stick, looked back: "Huh? Me?"
Beside him, Ogihara glanced at the dark cuisine in his hands, not daring to even breathe, for fear that Inamoto would drag him into eating it as well.
Inamura fell silent for two seconds, then pressed down on his own setter: "You eat, you eat, I'm fine."
Someone must be talking bad about me..
It must be Miya Atsumu!
Chapter 421: The 421st Fox
While the members of Itachiyama were chatting idly, the match on the court was also reaching its conclusion under Inarizaki's absolute dominance.
Hinata scored by tooling the block, the scoreboard beside the court jumped to Inarizaki 24:21 Shiratorizawa, match point for Inarizaki.
Shiratorizawa's offensive methods are still too one-dimensional," Iizuna said, tapping his own thigh. "If I had to be specific.. Goshiki is still not mature enough.
“Actually, the overall situation isn't much different from when you were a Second Year High Schooler, Ushijima.”
The National Sports Festival is relatively easier to play than the Interhigh and Haruko; with Shiratorizawa's current strength, they would likely only reach the top sixteen in the other two major tournaments.
But for Shiratorizawa, which hasn't received much significant reinforcement, it is actually already an excellent result.
Moreover, Shiratorizawa's problem wasn't about breaking into the top eight or the Semifinals on a national level, but rather finding a way to qualify from the regional level first.
Ushijima recalled his conversation with Coach Washijo when he returned to Sendai Tohoku University for an exchange a while ago: "Coach Washijo said he had his eye on a Libero from Chidorigayama, he wasn't sure if there would be a chance to recruit him."
The current Third Year Libero at Kitagawa Daiichi is also quite good; he could be a secondary option.
Iizuna froze for a moment: "You're not leaving any for Seijo?"
Ushijima's voice was calm as he stated the simplest of truths: "Shiratorizawa has much richer resources, Aobajohsai does not possess any other unique competitive advantages that could be decisive. As long as one is rational enough, one will inevitably choose Shiratorizawa."
Thinking of a certain person, Iizuna couldn't help but smile.
For some reason, he always had a premonition that Shiratorizawa might not even be able to secure a single player..
Miya Osamu serves.
Everyone on the Shiratorizawa side held their breath, not daring to make even the slightest mistake.
A ten-thousand-meter abyss lay right at their feet; one single slip-up would send them plummeting to the bottom to face the end of their journey.
The guillotine was already hanging above his head, but it wasn't the final moment yet; who knows if a miracle might occur.
Adhering to the philosophy that the sooner the match ends, the better, Miya Osamu briefly adjusted his touch before raising his hand and tossing the ball without hesitation.
A basic power serve would suffice; since the match has reached this stage, the Shiratorizawa side must be exhausted from defending, making it impossible for them to easily handle his serve.
Hearing the explosive heavy thud, Akakura's heart skipped a beat.
Throughout an entire set, the sound of such a power serve had almost become a conditioned reflex for him.
Inarizaki's serve cover was excellent, so he didn't have enough space to observe, meaning he could only make a judgment once the ball appeared in his field of vision.
Although they mostly judge the ball's trajectory based on the opponent's serve motion, it's not entirely impossible to judge by just watching the ball itself.
In short.. this ball should be on his left side, near Yura.
Akakura decisively chose a side roll to receive the ball, making contact with it while ensuring he wouldn't become an obstacle for the setter's back row jump.
What a great first receive!
Yura quickly stepped forward, lowering his center of gravity and raising his hands, preparing to force out a high set.
Although there was no way to fully guarantee the quality.. the trajectory of an overhead set was shorter, the time for the blockers to react was similarly shorter.
"Over here!" Kawanishi Taichi called out for the set.
Suna didn't even look at him. Yura was not a setter with top-tier physical conditioning and ability like Miya Atsumu, he had never once recorded an instance of adjusting his setting direction on the fly once his body orientation was already set.
He didn't think Yura could make a breakthrough in such a situation; it was as simple as that.
Just as Suna expected, Yura raised his hand and set the ball right in front of Goshiki Tsutomu, who had already rushed behind Position 4 to take his approach.
Suna lunged toward Hinata, the two of them jumped together to block.
At the moment Goshiki spiked, Suna reacted quickly, adjusting slightly toward Hinata to touch the ball at a point that wasn't too high.
Nice touch!
After Unabara Uta's praise, he leaned back to find the ball, then raised his hands to set the ball up.
After Suna and Unabara Uta's consecutive touches, the spin and power on the ball had been almost entirely neutralized, leaving it in perfect condition when it reached Miya Atsumu.
After quickly scanning the status of the players in the front row, Miya Atsumu performed a fake set toward Rishia, who had already rotated to Position 2, before instead setting the ball to Hinata at Position 4.
Yanagita was thrown off by Miya Atsumu's movement, by the time he tried to recover, it was already too late.
Kawanishi and Goshiki jumped opposite Hinata, attempting to shut down his Kou Chokusen as much as possible.
Yanagita, who had missed his spike, did not lose heart; instead, he stepped back two steps, prepared at any moment to receive Hinata's short diagonal.
Hinata calmly scanned everyone on the opposite side, in an instant, he had a basic concept of several common paths in his mind.
In the moment before the spike, he decisively lightened his movement, lightly brushing the volleyball to make it land in the opponent's court with a backspin spike.
Goshiki Tsutomu's eyes widened.
Under normal circumstances, a dump near the net would need to be saved by a blocker after they land and turn around, but Hinata hit it with a backspin spike, so he would inevitably be unable to receive the ball in time.
The sound of the ball colliding with something rang out, in the very next second, a long whistle echoed throughout the entire arena.
Goshiki's heart nearly jumped into his throat at that very moment.
Did he receive it? Is it over?
Did it end like this? Did we lose just like that?
He didn't dare look back, he hadn't decided what kind of expression to use to face this defeat.
In a daze, he felt as if that whistle sounded a little distant.
Heavy panting occupied his perception, blurring his surroundings until he could no longer distinguish where the sound was coming from.
Cover! Cover!
“Yura!”
Two shouts came from very close by, like thunderclaps in a long rainy night, snapping him back to his senses.
It wasn't the sound of their match ending; it was the sound of the women's volleyball match on the adjacent court having finished, while theirs was still to come.
Goshiki Tsutomu, having caught his breath, raised his hand without any hesitation: "Give me the ball!!"
Watching Shiratorizawa struggle to organize their subsequent offense, Hinata licked his lips.
Although Yura's style is more aggressive, his underlying setting logic still follows the unified style of Shiratorizawa.
No, if I had to say, it should be considered the personal logic of a Setter.
—Crucial points go to the crucial person.
Just as Miya Atsumu would habitually give him this kind of ball, Yura also has a top choice in emergency situations.
Hinata was certain that this person was definitely Goshiki Tsutomu.
Suna quickly stepped up following Hinata, who was the closest, the two of them jumped in front of Goshiki Tsutomu, reaching their peak height at the same rhythm, while Rishia also quickly caught up from the other side.
The wall formed by the three of them blocked Goshiki Tsutomu. At such a close distance, he could even hear the hot, stifling sound of the opponents' breathing as they jumped.
What should he do?
He had actually known the answer to this question for a long time.
He was once led forward by his seniors, but now.. it was also time for him to become the white bird that leads everyone across the vast abyss.
Without hesitation, without even a shred of fear.