Miya Atsumu focused his attention back on the court. "It's Itachiyama's starting lineup."
After taking off his sunglasses, Tokura suddenly found that his vision had become much clearer.
He swept his gaze across both sides of the court, who had already taken their respective positions, finally locked his vision onto Hirugami Yukio.
Hinata and the others had mentioned more than once that Hirugami-senpai was the most incredible Middle Blocker in the current high school stage, it was only natural that he was the one Hinata should learn from.
Although Coach Kurosu's current direction for him is to learn from Suna, his own brain isn't actually that sharp, so having him play as a Middle Blocker won't allow him to achieve the same effect as Suna.
Perhaps.. he should find his own comfort zone again.
Thinking this way, Tokura Yukihito reached out and poked Shoyo in front of him. "Shoyo, what do you think of Hirugami-senpai's block?"
Hinata thought about it seriously and replied, "A very difficult block."
Tokura fell silent upon hearing that: "Um, what I mean is, what do you think Karasuno's block is like?"
Hinata thought seriously again and gave a new answer: "A super difficult block."
Suna gave a slight, knowing smirk, then poked Hinata in front of him while Miya Atsumu was fully focused on the match, making a few gestures toward him.
Itayashiyama's early offensive organization was nothing short of spectacular; Inamoto's performance was far more mature than during the IH, as he not only utilized Sakusa but also simultaneously used Koldorf on the other side to create openings.
Although it was obvious that Inamoto was not yet proficient at orchestrating a three-point attack, for the current Itachiyama, a two-point attack was actually more than enough.
Moreover, even if he doesn't utilize three points simultaneously, as long as he can create a sense of urgency for the opponent, forcing the opposing player to act according to his will.
However, what they are facing at this very moment is the strongest defensive system in high school volleyball at this stage. The greatest advantage of Karasuno's blocking and defense pattern is its ability to cover three points simultaneously, adjusting through highly skilled coordination.
So.. it's actually still not enough.
Beautiful!
Yukihito's block is amazing!
Looking at the volleyball rolling at his feet, Sakusa, who had just landed, let out a slight, irritated click of his tongue.
It was completely anticipated, including his move to adjust the trajectory of his spike..
He was predicted with absolute precision.
Inamoto pursed his lips and withdrew his gaze from Hirugami.
It seems a change in offensive strategy is still needed, to avoid conventional playstyles as much as possible.
“If he had that kind of idea, he'd be finished."
Miya Atsumu lowered the arm he had resting on his leg, leaned his whole body back, tilted toward his left side.
He commented, "It's actually that Itachiyama isn't very good at this kind of slightly improvisational, flexible playstyle of ours. Whether it's Sakusa or Komori and the others, they all actually follow the logic of their original training. If we were to change our playstyle abruptly, it might even have the opposite effect."
The person beside him suddenly spoke, "Hmm, you gave up too easily."
Miya Atsumu's eyes widened; he froze for a moment before snapping his head around, locking eyes with Suna at such close range.
He was a bit dazed, completely unable to react to what had actually happened.
Atsumu-senpai raised his hand, pointing at Suna with a slight tremor, then turned his head toward where Suna had been sitting, only to find Hinata sitting there instead.
He said he felt like something was wrong!
Just now, he felt that it was a bit too quiet around him, Hinata hadn't leaned toward him even once, nor had he used his hands to touch him.
But he only felt that Hinata was watching the match with his whole heart and soul just like him, his movements just now were so forward-leaning that he was almost crawling onto the railing in front, making it impossible to see the position beside him even with his peripheral vision.
In the end, Miya Atsumu withdrew his hand and shot a fierce glare at Tokura behind him.
Tokura Yukihito grabbed his own collar and pulled it upward, shrinking his entire body into his clothes.
As long as he can't see Atsumu-senpai, Atsumu-senpai won't see him!
Miya Atsumu gave Suna a look of utter disdain before ultimately shifting closer to Aran.
He had no intention of crowding around Hinata either; after all, compared to Suna, he was even less willing to be near Stinky Osamu.
Ever since he found out that he and Hinata didn't plan to return to school for the school festival, Miya Osamu had rolled his eyes at him countless times this morning; he even wondered if something was wrong with Miya Osamu's eyes.
But no, Miya Osamu simply found him annoying.
Tokura adjusted his school uniform jacket and looked at Hinata through the gap in the zipper, asking softly, "I mean, do you think I'm suited to learn Hirugami-senpai's playstyle?"
Hinata's eyes widened. "Eh? Do you want to learn this, Yukihito?"
Imagining Hirugami Yukio with that hairstyle, Tokura Yukihito grew incredibly excited. "Wouldn't that be amazing! It would be super, super difficult to deal with!"
Headless Knight" Tokura Yukihito smiled, then continued, "I mainly want to learn the logic behind Karasuno's blocking. Atsumu-senpai said before that many people might refer to their playstyle to deal with us in the future, so I was thinking, why can't we use it ourselves?
However, Coach also said that Karasuno's flexible adjustment between a three-person formation and a two-on-one setup relies on proficiency, so there isn't actually much we can reference at this stage.
A tuft of hair in the middle of the empty collar swayed with Tokura's movement. "Actually.. um.. I was wondering if I could act as two people by myself."
Hinata's eyes widened: "Tokura, you actually learned the Shadow Clone Technique before me!"
Tokura hurriedly waved his hands: "No, no!"
It's mainly because I've found that my offense is just average. Although I could try to adjust my attacking patterns like Suna-senpai, my thinking isn't very clear, I lack confidence.
But I feel like my blocking is still decent, so I was wondering if I could use my long reach to transplant Suna-senpai's offensive patterns into my blocks.
For example..
Before Tokura could even speak, Hinata had already raised his hand to answer: "The Noodle Man's block, which can temporarily adjust its blocking direction!"
Rishia Heisuke, who was drinking water in the row behind, nearly sprayed it all out: "Why is it Noodle Man!"
After thinking about it for a moment, Tokura Yukihito gave Hinata an affirmative nod: "That's.. true?"
Rishia felt like he was having a myocardial infarction: "Don't accept it so easily!"
Aran raised his hand to wipe away his tears, his face written with emotion: "Heisuke—you've grown so much—"
Miya Atsumu thought seriously.
Actually, Tokura's presence does provide a new perspective. Their offense is already quite sufficient for now; their main deficiency at the moment is blocking.
Although he didn't think Tokura Yukihito could master it in a short period of time, considering Inarizaki's lineup for next year, they would likely have no other Middle Blocker once Suna-senpai graduates..
Don't try it out in this match; wait until he goes back and practices. Once he can properly block Hinata's technical shots, then he can start using it.
In time, it might become a very useful weapon.
Thinking ahead, it might be something we can use to deal with Sakusa and the others during Haruko.
Just as Miya Atsumu expected, Inamoto clearly attempted some out-of-bounds plays, after Sakusa was blocked once again, Coach Utsunomiya took the initiative to call a time-out.
Miya Atsumu sighed with emotion, "That was fast."
It'll probably be hard for Karasuno later, since the only chance they had to exploit the opponent's mistake was interrupted by the coach.
Hinata asked, "The only time?"
“Yeah, actually, from the very beginning, the match was within Itachiyama's comfort zone,” saying this, Miya Atsumu pointed toward Itachiyama's side of the court. “When Sakusa's first block happened, they didn't actually make any major mistakes; at most, Inamura was just a little slow to transition back on defense. They just need to make some slight adjustments.”
As a setter, Inamoto should have trusted the Ace, trusting that he could land a spike that wouldn't be blocked, but he didn't.
“He wanted to use a three-point attack to disperse the opponent's block, but his technique was not skilled enough.”
Not only was the true purpose of the set read by Karasuno, but he also gave up a ball with an unstable head because he was trying to deceive the block.
This is the real reason why Sakusa's spike was blocked.
Miya Atsumu rubbed the calluses on his fingertips, wondering who the true decision-maker behind this strategy was.
Hoshiumi likely wouldn't study things like this, while Hirugami might, it's unlikely; as expected.. it's still that setter operating from the shadows.
Although it wasn't particularly useful against him, this kind of psychological tactic was more than enough against imperfect setters like Inamoto.
Hinata nodded: "I understand."
“Is it still what Atsumu-ge said before, that the basis for all setting is actually built upon.. uh, the premise of being able to deliver a stable ball?”
At this moment, Miya Atsumu's phone rang again, causing all the Inarizaki members to look toward him.
Atsumu pulled out his phone with an expressionless face and calmly hung up the call, as if nothing had happened.
He put his phone back in his pocket on silent, leaned back, looked at Hinata, who was to his back-left: "Just based on this, Shoyo, you're more mature than Tobio-kun was before."
As Hinata stood tall with a hint of pride on his face, Miya Atsumu suddenly changed the subject.
But speaking of which..
His gaze focused on Tokura Yukihito, his eyes as sharp as arrows: "Yukihito, why are you being so proactive today?"
Tokura, who had just poked his head out, pulled it back, this time even retracting his hands.
Miya Atsumu let out a sneer and looked toward Kumagai on Tokura's other side.
Kumagai understood perfectly. He gave Miya Atsumu an OK gesture, then silently reached out and tied Tokura's two empty sleeves together in a knot.
Eh?
Eh? What are you doing!
Tokura struggled: "Shoyo! Akuma! Save me!"
Behind them, Rishia silently pressed his hands together in prayer, mourning for Tokura, who had been targeted by Terrorist Alligator Senior.
After readjusting his state, Itachiyama maintained his own rhythm and was no longer led by the nose by Karasuno, while Sakusa was also slowly adapting to the pressure of Karasuno's block.
Aoba Haruka, sitting in the stands, suddenly said, "I suddenly feel like Hinata-senpai is amazing."
Harukawa, standing beside her, looked somewhat puzzled. "Why are you suddenly getting so emotional?"
This isn't an Inarizaki match, so why bring up Hinata all of a sudden?
Aoba Kureha replied with complete seriousness, "I've only just realized so intuitively—Karasuno's block can't even smoothly deal with the current strongest Ace in high school."
“..”
Aoba Haruka nearly spat out the water he had just taken into his mouth, turning to look at Aoba Kureha with eyes full of shock.
Everyone from Rakusan looked toward Aoba Kureha, their gazes filled with shock as well as a hint of pity and helplessness.
Aoba Haruka, who was being looked at like a fool by everyone, couldn't take it anymore: "What! I'm just telling the truth!"
Aoba Haruka hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
Miyazaki covered his face. "No, your reaction time is a bit too slow, don't you think?"