Kito Yukan fell silent.
Chapter 433: The Four Hundred and Thirty-Third Fox
After calling a halt to Inarizaki's cheering, Miya Atsumu slightly lifted his chin to observe the serious-looking Miyazaki Sho.
For mature Wing Spikers and Liberos, facing the same Serve multiple times in a short period allows them to find a way to receive it through adaptation and trial and error.
Therefore, aside from the impact of physical exhaustion, many formidable servers find it increasingly difficult to score points as the match progresses.
But this point does not apply to Miya Atsumu's ever-changing Dual Wield.
Even within the same Service Turn, he can choose different serves, ensuring the opponent doesn't have much time to adjust.
Similarly, the momentum has been reclaimed, next.. just focus on scoring points properly.
At the very end of the service time limit, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to toss the ball, then took a large, purposeful stride forward for his approach.
Countless serve training sessions had allowed him to perfectly master his jumping position and rhythm; as long as his toss felt normal, he could ensure with one hundred percent certainty that he would not step on the line.
The linesman on the sideline bent down to look at the baseline.
Having prepared long ago, Unai Aman raised the camera borrowed from his teacher and pressed the continuous burst button the moment Miya Atsumu jumped.
The moment the heavy thud of the spike rang in his ears, Unai Aman stared in shock at the photos he had just taken in the camera.
Not a single inch of error..
"I've got it!!" Miyazaki shouted, while diving in front of the setter, Yumi Matsuo.
Without focusing on lateral curve, Miya Atsumu's power serve focused entirely on strength, the ball arrived in front of them even faster than before.
Of course, both are equally difficult to receive.
Thud!!
The ball hit the arm Miyazaki Sho had extended while diving, then bounced high, landing in front of the net.
Beautiful!!
Aoba Haruka praised him without reservation.
Since Yumi Matsuo can't make it over anyway, then.. I'll just spike it directly!
The heavy thud of the spike echoed throughout the entire arena as the volleyball, carrying a heavy spin, slammed straight into Suna's arms before bouncing upward.
On the other side, Hinata, who had not participated in the Block, widened his eyes slightly: "Ah."
Aoba Haruka licked his lips, lowering his center of gravity the moment he landed and leaping into the air again from the same spot.
Suna, who had jumped a bit late in order to chase Aoba Haruka's peak hitting point, had only just landed and had no time at all to jump again to block this spike.
At the exact moment Aoba spiked, a hand reached out from the side toward him, attempting to cut off the ball's trajectory.
Hinata grit his teeth and tried to tense his body to face the direct impact of the ball.
But his fingers were still not firm enough, Aoba Haruka's spike was short, sudden, carried immense power.
The ball hit Hinata's fingers and then flew out of the court.
Taking one look at the height of the ball, Rishia also gave up on chasing it.
The ball hit the side stands, the spectators cried out in surprise as they dodged it, before a tall girl caught it and sent it straight back onto the court.
Rishia rushed to chase after the ball and bowed to apologize to the spectators in the stands over there.
That was so cool, Amari Yuka!
Amari Yuka sat back down and gave a shy little smile.
Hinata, in the middle of the court, shook his hands and looked pitifully at Suna and Miya Osamu, who was approaching him.
Suna reached out his hand to him: "Can you still move?"
Hinata reached out his hand, Suna took a look before pressing down on the first joint of Hinata's ring finger, eliciting a sharp, painful gasp from him.
“Ow, ow, ow—!”
After confirming the situation, Suna said calmly, "It's not dislocated, you're fine. Just be careful when you're spiking and covering the ball in a bit. If it really feels uncomfortable, ask the Coach to wrap it for you."
Miya Atsumu, who was the furthest away and the last to squeeze through the crowd, struggled to poke his head out from the throng of people: "What happened? Are you injured?"
Seeing the state of Hinata and Suna, Miya Atsumu first confirmed that Hinata was definitely fine, then quickly turned his focus on Suna: "Rintaro, do you even know what you're feeling before you go touching him!"
Suna released Hinata's hand and turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu. "What else?"
Miya Atsumu gave a light click of his tongue.
Well, he had to admit, when it came to finger injuries, Suna might actually be becoming an expert.
He forced his way between Rishia and Unabara, pushing Suna aside: "I'll blow on it for you, Shoyo. If I blow on it, it won't hurt anymore."
Suna let out a sneer and, along with Miya Osamu, left the circle one after another, revealing the figures of Miya Atsumu and Hinata.
Miya Atsumu didn't dare to move a muscle.
Hinata blinked, looking at Miya Atsumu with a hint of disappointment. "No more blowing?"
Atsumu glared fiercely at Suna: "I'll call it for you in a bit."
Pfft.
Hearing Oikawa Tooru's laughter, Kito turned his head to look at him: "What is it?"
Oikawa Tooru pointed at Miya Atsumu on the court. "I suddenly realized that, just by looking at him with the naked eye, Miya Atsumu has become the second shortest person on Inarizaki's court right now."
Taking a glance at Unabara Uta's hair, which was relatively more upright than Miya Atsumu's, Kito nodded. "It really is like that."
Rishia Heisuke's height had already completely surpassed Miya Atsumu's, combined with his hairstyle, he was visually almost as tall as Suna.
And the one with the fluffier hair.. is actually quite useless.
Hinata pressed down on his hair, which had just been messed up by Miya Atsumu, smoothed it back into place with a look of annoyance.
Thinking this, he looked at Aoba Haruka's smooth and silky hair, a hint of envy flickering in his eyes.
The moment he locked eyes with Hinata, Aoba Haruka, who had already grown to over 1.78 meters, imperceptibly puffed out his chest.
He was only in his second year of high school, he believed that he would definitely grow to 1.8 meters by next year!
Hinata raised his hand to brush his bangs.
Atsumu-ge said he was planning to change his hairstyle after graduation, or else.. should he go get a perm too?
Aoba Haruka inconspicuously stood on his tiptoes.
Although 1.80m is the passing mark for a professional Wing Spiker, if one were to dream.. 1.85m isn't an impossible dream!
Aoba Kureha, who had rotated to the front row, looked down at his brother and then at Hinata on the opposite side, feeling somewhat bewildered.
But he didn't care about any of that; since he was currently standing in Position 4, he might as well be considered the Ace of Rakusan.
Since he was already standing here, he should show everyone what he was truly capable of!
Hinata gave up worrying about his hair; after all, it would get wet from sweat later anyway, then it wouldn't be so frizzy.
—It's all Atsumu-ge's fault!
As Harukawa prepared to serve, Hinata's gaze also fell upon Aoba Kureha.
This person's Block should have become much stronger, but it's still unclear what kind of style he will use to deal with him.
Anyway.. I'll just have to deal with whatever he throws at me.
Watching the serve smash toward them, Unabara Uta quickly called out and moved to follow up: "I've got it!"
This First Receive didn't fly off this time. After offering a word of praise, Miya Atsumu quickly moved forward to follow up with a set: "What a great First Receive!"
At the same time, the opposing side's formation—originally Aoba Haruka, Iori Miwa, Aoba Kureha from left to right—had completely reversed.
With Iori Miwa still acting as the middle blocker, Aoba Kureha moved over to Hinata's side, the three of them standing alert to defend against Inarizaki's offense.
Oikawa Tooru narrowed his eyes by the sidelines. "Oh my, is this.. that kind of coordinated Block from Karasuno?"
But soon, he dismissed that suspicion himself.
Because Aoba moved toward the center, following Hinata's movements.
Hoshiumi Hikari narrowed his eyes in the stands, the sense of absurdity flashing through his mind.
Is Rakusan crazy? They actually dare to use a One-on-one Block against Hinata?
Using his peripheral vision to keep a close eye on Aoba, who was clearly moving with him, Hinata abandoned his original plan to hit a high ball in the center.
The moment his body paused at Position 3, he used his hands at his side to give a signal to Miya Atsumu, who was moving up from behind to prepare for a set.
Miya Atsumu took a quick glance, a decision was made in his heart.
Under Aoba Kureha's watchful gaze, Hinata paused for an instant before stepping half a step in the opposite direction while maintaining a low center of gravity, lunging directly toward Position 4, then leaping up forcefully a step later.
But Kureha's reaction was not slow at all; at the same time, Aoba Haruka was watching Miya Atsumu while also keeping an eye on Kureha's movements.
When the ball left Miya Atsumu's hands, he and Yumi Matsuo arrived there almost at the same time.
The triple block pressed down from the side, but Hinata's jump timing was extremely precise, leaving himself a path to hit a Kou Chokusen.
Harukawa, from the back row, blocked that opening, staring at Hinata with burning eyes.
Come on, spike it.
With only one step, Hinata had no way to jump as high as he would with a standard approach, so the landing spot of this ball definitely couldn't be in the front row.
Miya Atsumu's lips curled into a slight smirk.
Such a careless judgment.. it's a bit of an understatement of their Little Giant.
This ball was indeed neither high enough nor fast enough, but he gave him plenty of time to adjust his spike. In this situation, Hinata could freely execute whatever technical shot he desired.
And now, this situation that seemed to offer no room for maneuver was actually not difficult at all for Hinata.
The moment Hinata swung his arm down, Aoba Kureha keenly sensed that something was wrong.
He almost instinctively extended a hand, trying to cover the gap for that Line, but it was already too late.
He made a wrong judgment, so he couldn't block it at all.