Did he just score with a block?
He relied on his own judgment to keep up with the opponent's spike, adjusting on the fly to secure this point?
Then he..
That was incredible!
Hinata rushed over immediately: "Great play, Yukihito! That was so cool! How did you just do that!"
Rishia gave a thumbs up: "The Noodle-Wiggling Block version."
Tokura smiled helplessly. "That nickname sounds pretty terrible.."
Before his mood could fully brighten, a loud voice from the stands rang out: "Yukihito—so cool!!"
“Our Yukihito is incredibly cool! The most handsome one in the whole stadium!”
Catching those keywords, Tokura's mood instantly plummeted to rock bottom.
He waved his hands repeatedly in denial, "No, no, no, I'm not cool, I'm not cool."
Hinata reached out and patted Tokura's back to comfort him: "It's okay, at least you were truly handsome just now, I approve!"
Tokura almost burst into tears: "Shoyo, stop adding fuel to the fire!"
Tokura Yukihito.
Hearing that voice, Tokura turned his head stiffly and indeed saw Miya Atsumu looking at him with a grim expression.
He didn't dare even breathe loudly, quickly standing at attention while repeating ten times in his heart that Atsumu-senpai was the coolest.
Miya Atsumu stared at Tokura: "What did I tell you before the match? Don't try techniques you haven't used before without thinking—did you treat my words like they were just wind passing through your ears?"
Tokura silently hunched his shoulders, making himself look a bit shorter: "I was wrong, I admit it."
Atsumu had no intention of letting Tokura off that easily: "Failing a block is a minor thing, but what if you hadn't controlled your angle and collided with Shoyo next to you just now?"
They certainly encouraged trying new things; otherwise, they wouldn't have assigned Tokura to handle the block coordination.
But trying new things must be built upon ensuring safety; that kind of high-risk maneuver should not appear on today's volleyball court.
Tokura slowly performed a kowtow: "It won't happen again. I just had a momentary lapse in judgment. I'll make sure to master it before I bring it up again."
Coach Omimi, standing by the sidelines, began to wipe away tears: "Atsumu—he's already such a mature Captain! To think he would actually care about his juniors' well-being—"
Suna glanced at Coach Omimi, then looked at Miya Atsumu.
No, the point isn't Tokura, but Hinata, who was almost knocked down.
Coach Omimi was deeply moved. "I thought I wouldn't see an Atsumu like this until the day Shoyo grows to 1.9m—"
Miya Atsumu, who had been seriously lecturing Tokura, lost his composure in a second: "Coach! I'm not that terrible!"
Hinata cheered, "1.9m!"
Aoba Haruka, on the other side of the net, couldn't take it anymore: "What kind of nonsense is this, hey!"
Get serious! You Kansai person!
He now deeply understands and agrees with what Hanae said before.
—Who wants to automatically switch into manzai mode with these Kansai people!
Miya Atsumu returned to his position huffing with anger: "Damn it, that's just too much!"
He glanced at the back of Tokura's head, silently adding it to his mental tally.
Suna lightly rotated the volleyball in his hands, adjusting his touch.
He certainly knew that his last serve was an out ball, so he would strive to keep this one in-bounds..
His serve was indeed kept in-bounds this time, but the landing point was too far forward, completely failing to target the chest.
However, by pure chance, this ball landed right between the Ace Aoba Haruka and the Libero.
Unfortunately, Rakusan was as rigorous regarding receiving order as Inarizaki; while Aoba retreated with the momentum, Uehara rolled sideways to receive the ball.
The moment his vision returned to normal and he saw Iori Miwa score with a spike, Uehara was almost moved to tears.
That ball was so easy to receive, it almost made him cry!
Miya Atsumu turned his head to look at Suna: "Rintaro, can you even do this?"
One serve went out, one serve lacked spirit, just now, his receiving was half a beat too slow.
Suna didn't say anything, he just silently went to the sidelines to switch positions with Unabara Uta.
His touch isn't very good today; he'll probably need some time to warm up properly.
However, Miya Atsumu only teased him lightly, before shifting his full attention to Iori Miwa, who was preparing to serve on the opposite side.
It was a basic jump serve, it was relatively easy to receive.
Miya Osamu sent the ball toward the Attack Line while simultaneously adjusting his position to cover for a counterattack.
Hinata observed Aoba Kureha while moving.
Although the opponent was moving with him, he wasn't following him completely, he wouldn't interfere too much with the blocking of his own teammates just because he was marking him.
He didn't think the opponent's one-on-one block would be effective, but he had to be wary of the other two players' follow-up.
However, the two players from Rakusan were also making minor adjustments, essentially maintaining a state where the three of them could evenly cover the width of the net.
After a rapid analysis in his mind, Hinata followed Miya Atsumu's initial instructions, moving from the center to near Position 2 to execute a flat spread.
With Rishia providing cover, Matsuo at the far end had no way to attend to his side.
Facing the two-man block, Hinata decisively chose to spike a Sharp Cross to avoid the receiver positioned too far forward on the other side.
Iori Miwa stepped forward, dropping his center of gravity to receive the ball, sending it right over Yumi Matsuo's head.
Matsuo gave a rather terrible feint, then quickly passed the ball to Miyazaki Sho.
Miyazaki swung his arm to spike, the resulting spin causing the ball to brush past the block and crash into Inarizaki's back row.
Unabara Uta took a step back and raised her hands, using her upper body to stop the ball and make it pop up.
Miya Atsumu, having caught the ball, quickly sent it toward Rishia Heisuke.
Rishia Heisuke spiked with all his might, his force sufficient to knock the approaching Miyazaki to the ground, but the ball bounced nearly vertically upward instead, falling toward the top of the net.
Tokura, being closest, prepared to challenge for the ball, but Aoba Kureha was even closer; he jumped from a single foot on the spot and forcefully reached the ball.
With a loud thud, the ball dropped, grazing Tokura's hand.
Unabara Uta in the back row reacted incredibly fast, diving to save the ball, barely managing to keep it up, but unfortunately, the height was completely insufficient.
Rishia didn't even look at the ball, rushing past Tokura's side-rear, preparing to launch an attack near Position 2.5.
As Miya Atsumu knelt, he sat on the floor and let his body fall backward, attempting to use his hands to handle the ball.
Volleyball is a part of his body; he can control it freely to achieve any goal he desires.
And a spiker like Hinata is undoubtedly an extension of his will; he will know exactly what he needs to do.
So..
The moment the volleyball touched his fingers, it provided an incredibly solid sensation.
Miya Atsumu's thumb and index finger stabilized the ball in an instant, allowing the power from Unabara Uta's unhandled force to travel through his arms and back, where it was absorbed, before using the strength of his wrists to pop the ball back out.
Go!
The moment Atsumu's vision flipped completely, the ball had already flown toward its predetermined position, where someone was already waiting for it.
Bang!!
The sound of the hit was incredibly clear.
The nearly perfect arm extension allowed Hinata to mobilize his own strength to the maximum and pour it all into this one spike.
Matsuo, who rushed forward in a panic, already had an unstable center of gravity, his body was not tense at all due to the diagonal force.
Given that there was no significant difference in height or physique between the two, even Hinata, who was not particularly exceptional in terms of raw strength, possessed the ability to completely spike through the block at this moment.
The heavy volleyball slammed directly into Matsuo's body, knocking him off balance.
Falling backward, Yumi Matsuo's face contorted, his eyes, caught in his peripheral vision of Miya Atsumu, were filled with disbelief.
Because he is a Setter, he couldn't understand how that ball was set that way.
Could someone really control the ball to such an extent in that situation? It was high, fast, had spin?!
The volleyball bounced very, very high into the air, falling outside the railing.
Uehara tripped on the railing while chasing after it and jumping, falling straight to the ground.
Taking a step back to dodge the incoming volleyball, Oikawa Tooru's expression was far from pleasant.
Kito caught the volleyball as it bounced off the ground and tossed it back into the court.
His eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Miya Atsumu.
As the applause erupted throughout the stadium, he also started clapping: "Delicate and bold, truly worthy of being the leader of the new generation of Setters."
Among the various positions in volleyball, the Setter is widely considered the most difficult to train.
Unlike the process of spiking and receiving, what a setter must do during a set is to absorb the rotation at the moment of contact, delivering the ball to the spiker in a state with as little rotation as possible—in other words, in an extremely stable state.
In the case of a normal high ball, this is relatively easy to achieve by utilizing the parabola.
But if one pursues speed, it is difficult to avoid any rotation most of the time, as one must avoid being called for a holding violation.
Therefore, compared to a high ball, a flat and fast set requires even more sensitivity from the setter himself regarding subtle manipulations.
Of course, this is also something that neither he nor Oikawa Tooru is particularly good at.
But the quick attack Miya Atsumu gave to Hinata wasn't just a quick attack; he didn't even intentionally avoid the spin, but instead utilized the rotation to adjust the volleyball's own trajectory, so that the ball would have enough hang time for Hinata to make adjustments as it passed through the spiker's hitting point.
In other words, it both spins and doesn't spin.
Oikawa Tooru clicked his tongue lightly: "How annoying."
He didn't think he could set a ball like that; his hands were nowhere near that agile.
Whether it be Miya Atsumu or Kageyama, those with such hands are the true geniuses.
What is even more despairing is that they know very clearly that they possess this talent, have found the path to push that talent to its absolute limit, are devoting everything to it.