Hinata did not prepare for a direct spike, but instead hit the lower half of the volleyball, sending it spinning away.
The ball rose in height once more, just barely flying over the arm extended by Aoba Haruka, accelerating as it tumbled toward the ground with a backward spin.
It was too late by the time Harukawa reached out; he could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the ground with a soft thud.
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled that Inarizaki scores.
Hinata landed with a triumphant grunt, raising both hands high to receive the cheers from the entire crowd.
Nice one, Shoyo!!
One more!! That was so cool!
Super Ace Carrothead!
Orange carrot head!!
Incredible, invincible carrot head!!
Hinata turned his head in protest: "I'm not a carrot-head!"
Rishia Heisuke patted his shoulder. "Accept your fate, Shoyo."
Hinata said indignantly, "If I have carrot hair, then you have chestnut hair, Heisuke."
Hearing that, Rishia Heisuke seriously touched his hair. "Like a chestnut?"
Unabara replied, "Like little grass."
Sitting in the stands, Hirugami rubbed his chin. "Rakusan's blocking strategy is quite interesting."
Even though it's a one-on-one Block, they are simultaneously considering a coordinated movement with three people standing in formation.
Moreover, their purpose in following up individually wasn't to stop Hinata, but to mirror him, used to eliminate interference.
Takahashi asked in confusion, "Distractions?"
Hoshiumi rested his chin on his hand and explained to his junior, "In other words, they don't need to observe the unpredictable and deceptive Shoyo; they only need to focus on the setter and Aoba Kureha."
After speaking, Hoshiumi turned his head to look at Hakuma Meisei: "It's worth considering."
Chapter 434: The 434th Fox
“What?”
Hakuma had no reaction at all to what Hirugami, Hoshiumi, the others were saying; he was still thinking about the way Hinata spiked that ball just now.
Hoshiumi gave him an exasperated look, then rested his chin in his hand, ignoring him. "It's nothing. Just focus on watching number 13."
Being tall was indeed an incredible advantage; even if his comprehension wasn't particularly good, those people would chew up the necessary knowledge and feed it directly to Hakuma's mouth.
He only hopes that after Hakuma absorbs this knowledge, he can make some use of it in tomorrow's match.
On the sidelines, Oikawa Tooru was still grimacing. "I knew Rakusan was acting out of character by adjusting their opening positioning; it turns out they were trying to use Aoba Kureha to block Shoyo-kun's position."
“That’s disgusting, it's just too disgusting..”
He could clearly see Inarizaki's intention to conserve energy for tomorrow's match, but seeing Rakusan continuously pull out these tactics, he did not think Inarizaki would be able to achieve their goal one hundred percent.
If they don't handle it properly, there is a high possibility that Rakusan will drag them into a full three-set match.
Kito laughed, "The Rakusan coach is very bold; he has much more spirit than my coach did back in high school."
From what he had learned from Aoba Haruka before, Aoba Kureha's physical conditioning isn't very good; in fact, their stamina can't be compared to Shoyo's at all.
This style of play was likely intended to account for Inarizaki wanting to conserve energy to face Karasuno, ensuring that Shoyo wouldn't have to run as much as he did against Itachiyama's blockers last year; the overall tempo would inevitably be something Aoba Kureha could keep up with.
Even so, it is unlikely that Aoba Kureha will be able to play any more matches after finishing this one.
This also meant that even if Rakusan won today, tomorrow's match would be as good as a gift to Karasuno.
But for Rakusan, even if it meant facing the certain cost of failing to secure third place after a loss, this runner-up position was a gamble worth taking.
Oikawa Tooru tilted his head slightly and asked, "Which school did you go to in high school, senpai?"
Kito let out a soft sigh and said with a hint of regret, "Ah, my alma mater hasn't been very prominent these past few years, so you might not have much of an impression of them."
“Eigou High School, have you heard of it? Because it's a municipal school, it has always been referred to as Ichiritsu Eigou.”
He began to reminisce about the past: "When I was in high school, our best result was making it to the Semifinals. But about five years ago.. I think we took Runner-up?"
“However, my coach at the time retired a few years ago and is currently living in Australia for retirement. I'm not familiar with the current coach at Ichiritsu Eigou, so I haven't paid much attention to them lately.”
Oikawa Tooru nodded, "I have an impression of them; I've played against them before."
If I remember correctly, their current Captain has been in office for nearly a year and a half.
Kito froze: "He repeated a year?"
Oikawa Tooru was silent for a second. "He was already the Captain in his second year."
Realizing he had misunderstood, Kito awkwardly raised a hand to rub his nose, then turned and said, "That's quite an achievement."
In sports clubs where the hierarchy between seniors and juniors is very strict, being able to serve as Captain or Vice-Captain in a lower grade is a complete testament to one's talent and prestige.
There's even someone more impressive," Oikawa said, raising his hand to point toward the Rakusan members who had just lost a point on the court. "The Rakusan Captain is a Second Year, but he's already been Captain for almost two years, word has it he also serves as the Student Council President.
Kito's expression was solemn, his heart filled with awe for the person Oikawa had mentioned: "The younger generation is truly formidable.."
This was no longer a matter of talent or prestige; it was strength that spanned from the individual to the family, leaving no blind spots.
The service right passed to Suna.
Since the start of this match, Rakusan's libero, Uehara Tsuyoshi, has been on edge.
No one's service turn allows him to breathe a sigh of relief; even Shoyo, who is serving next, can perform a jump serve, the opponent's spike is the most troublesome one in Inarizaki.
Now that Suna has mastered the jump serve, this first receive was enough to make his vision go dark..
Harukawa, standing by the sidelines, called out to the Rakusan players to reassure them, "Don't panic, don't panic! Stay steady!"
Although Inarizaki still leads in the current score, they aren't trailing by much; given the advantage of Inarizaki's strong offense, they have done an incredible job of keeping the score difference within two points.
Glancing past Harukawa, who had just spoken, Rishia Heisuke silently rotated his wrists.
Has Inarizaki's strong offense passed?
—Not at all.
Although his flexibility might be a bit lacking, he didn't feel that his strong offense was any weaker than Miya Osamu's from last year.
And Tokura's spike variation and flexibility are also very high; setting aside the impact of the back-row attack, he felt that Inarizaki was still in a strong offensive position.
That's right, Inarizaki has no blind spots.
Rishia raised his hands behind his head. Both he and Tokura positioned themselves in the center, maximizing the obstruction of Uehara Tsuyoshi's field of vision.
The sound of footsteps stepping forward followed immediately after the whistle blew.
The sound of the hit followed immediately after, once again being Suna's most signature buzzer-beater.
For the first time facing a buzzer-beater jump serve on the court, Uehara's mind went blank.
Even though he knew Suna would play like that, he still couldn't react in time once he saw him actually do it.
No.. was it because my nerves were too tense that I couldn't react?
However, Uehara Tsuyoshi's reaction speed was quite fast; he decisively abandoned the conventional plan of receiving the ball with his hands and dove directly to expand his defensive range.
But just as he was about to touch the ball, he also clearly saw where the ball was going to land.
—It was an out ball that came with no warning at all.
Uehara Tsuyoshi knew something was wrong. He wanted to pull his hand back, but as the point of contact to help his body land gradually, he had no way to smoothly withdraw his hand at this moment; he could only clench his fist to avoid a touch as much as possible.
But it was still too late; the ball hit the back of his clenched fist and bounced upward.
Oikawa Tooru sighed repeatedly by the sidelines: "Oh dear."
Uehara Tsuyoshi scrambled up using both his hands and feet, preparing for the subsequent defense: "Sorry, sorry! It's mine!"
At the same time, on the other side, Miyazaki had already lunged forward, sending that insufficiently high and poorly positioned ball toward the net.
From the back row, Aoba Haruka could only watch in anxiety, shouting loudly to the front row, "Kureha, spike!"
Kureha had already chased after it.
Standing at nearly 1.9m, he possessed a natural advantage in height; as long as he could successfully complete the spike, his strength would allow him to break through Inarizaki's block head-on.
Tokura watched Aoba Haruka with extreme composure, diving toward the opponent along with Rishia and Shoyo.
He admitted that the opponent's height was a little bit taller than his, but in terms of vertical reach..
It was clearly to his advantage, wasn't it?
Under Kureha's shocked gaze, Tokura's long arms suddenly appeared in his field of vision, covering a range far beyond his hitting point.
In the heat of the moment, he tried to adjust his spike toward the diagonal.
Tokura's pupils suddenly contracted.
This won't work. Since Unabara is not on the court right now, with only Atsumu-senpai in the back row, the defense is very weak.
If the opponent manages to spike it diagonally, things will definitely go south.
He had to find a way to block, or at the very least, spike..
Even if it was just to avoid getting scolded by Atsumu-senpai.
Or perhaps it was for..
So that some terrible teacher doesn't film his dark history and broadcast it all over the world!!
Tokura used the flexibility of his waist to shift slightly, precisely pressing down on this ball.
With a loud thud, the ball slammed down behind Kureha, Tokura scored on the block.
The three players from Inarizaki's block landed one after another. Seeing that Tokura had failed to control his landing angle and was crashing down, Shoyo hurriedly grabbed the net to dodge him.
Fortunately, Tokura's sense of balance was still stronger than the average person's, he eventually managed to stabilize his body smoothly.
It was only when the whistle blew that Tokura, who had just landed on the ground, finally reacted.
He gently lifted his own hand, looking at his slightly reddened arm with some surprise.