Hearing this time and this location, Unabara Uta trembled all over.
He silently moved two steps to the side, creating some distance between himself and Miya Atsumu.
Hinata blinked. "Sunday night?"
Is there anything special about that time? Aran-senpai and the others should be playing their match during the day on that day.
On the other side, Tokura held up a finger: "Sunday is Halloween, right? Shibuya will be very lively on Halloween!"
Hinata's eyes lit up: "Ohhh—"
Tokura turned his head and said to Miya Atsumu, "Then Atsumu-senpai, you definitely have to go to the Sky Observation Deck, it's super beautiful at night!"
I went there once with Teacher Gojo before, I still remember it even now. I feel like it's perfect for a告—no, I should say it's perfect for a date!
Miya Atsumu, who had just been about to put on a fierce expression for his junior, paused, then nodded. "Fine, I'll make a reservation."
Unabara silently shrank behind the Libero, trying to have Nishizawa block him.
He wondered why he had been having such an ominous feeling; so this is what was waiting for him!
No, after this match ends, he's going to tell Imai immediately that he wants to change their date location!
Nishizawa's face was filled with eager excitement: "Unabara-senpai, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell and need me to sub in!"
Unabara-senpai quickly straightened his posture, showing his reliable side as a senior: "No need, Senpai, I still have plenty of energy!"
Nishizawa Hokuto expressed his regret.
Aoba Haruka stared intently at Hinata, who was taping his ankle, but Miya Atsumu stepped forward and blocked his view.
Atsumu turned his head to look at him, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
Withdrawing his gaze from Aoba Haruka for a moment, Atsumu turned his head to look at the timid Unabara Uta. "Anyway, that's for later. For now, we need to end this quickly."
Receive it steadily, Unabara.
Unabara patted his chest: "I understand, just leave it to me!"
I'll give it my all, just in case I need a free pass for when I might accidentally interrupt Atsumu-senpai's date!
Hinata also raised his hand in agreement: "Yeah, yeah! I'll do my best too!"
In short, win this match, then win the next one, then carry this good mood into the rest of the plans!
After confirming the rotation sheets submitted by both Head Coaches, the Head Referee signaled that the Second Set was ready to begin.
Miya Atsumu stood up first. "Let's go, let's go! Let's take this in one go!"
After the Head Referee confirmed the starting players for both sides, he signaled for Miya Atsumu to serve.
Atsumu walked to the service position holding the volleyball, his gaze slowly sweeping across the members of Rakusan on the opposite side.
In the second set, they had the advantage of having a player with a strong serve, he was confident he could score during the opening.
Although they could also maintain the score gap like they did in the second half of the previous set, if the opponents wanted to get into a grind with them, they probably wouldn't be able to end it for a while.
Therefore, they not only had to try their best to gain an early advantage during the opening, but they also had to expand this advantage as much as possible, striving to win this set as quickly as possible; every single rotation saved was one fewer they had to play..
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled for Miya Atsumu to serve.
Don't think too much about it right now.
His current goal was to score from the serve; this was the foundation for all subsequent strategies.
Tossing the volleyball in his hands, Miya Atsumu stopped the mental countdown and simply raised his hand to toss the ball.
Uehara, who had originally been waiting for Miya Atsumu to time it to the very last second, felt his mind ring. He hurriedly adjusted his movements to follow the trajectory of the ball.
Damn it.. I'm too late!
Uehara Tsuyoshi decisively changed his movement, lunging forward with one hand to desperately reach the ball as it hit the edge of the court.
Beautiful!
What a great first receive!!
Watching the ball fly up, Yumi Matsuo also quickly moved to the net, preparing to set the ball.
The balls he usually sets to Aoba Haruka don't actually require much adjustment in terms of height, because Aoba Haruka's height itself isn't exceptional, his jumping ability is nowhere near as strong as the Inarizaki Little One's. He excels more in technical plays, even developing many tricky ways to play.
Because of this, the most important thing about the balls he gave Aoba Haruka was that they had enough height.
But now Aoba Haruka had changed his requirements; what he needed were high balls to Position 3 that were higher, further from the net, offered a wider field of vision, provided more spiking options than before.
This style of play consumes stamina extremely quickly; he knew that even if Aoba Haruka had great physical conditioning, he wouldn't be able to play like this for two full sets.
Therefore, for them, they should also end the battle quickly.
For this reason, he would also do his utmost to satisfy all of Aoba Haruka's needs.
While pushing the ball upward, Yumi Matsuo used the ball's natural spin to ease the impact, then transitioned into a high, gentle set toward the center: "Haruka!"
Suna and Miya Osamu jumped simultaneously from the other side of the net, both of them blocking Aoba Haruka's direct line.
When spiking from the center, it is impossible to shut down all ball paths like one can from Position 4, but players can be positioned on both sides. As long as the Libero's reaction speed is fast enough, it won't be as difficult to chase down as a single-point breakthrough from Position 4; it can be considered a completely different way of responding.
However, for Aoba Haruka.. the most important thing at this moment was the diversity of options.
He had one hundred percent confidence in his ability to play technical shots; even if there wasn't much time to adjust, he could make a choice between a forehand or backhand spike.
Scanning over Hinata, who had stepped forward toward the front row, Aoba Haruka decisively executed a forehand spike toward Position 2 of Inarizaki, sending the ball on a short diagonal.
Unabara rushed over from the back row in two steps, diving toward the floor to receive the ball.
But his push-off was so powerful that it sent his entire body flying over the net, sliding toward the other side.
Unabara-senpai hit this ball high enough, not only to give Miya Atsumu time to adjust, but also to create a glimmer of hope for him.
His foot has already crossed the center line; if he cannot leave before the play is completed on his side, it will be called interference against the opponent.
Unabara scrambled quickly out of bounds, then used his hands and feet to pull himself up, rushing back into the Inarizaki court from the outside of the boundary pole just as the ball fell over Miya Atsumu's head.
At the same time, Hinata, who had originally been in the front row at Position 4, suddenly lunged toward Position 2.
Catching on to his movement, Harukawa also hurried to follow.
Rakusan's requirements for a Middle Blocker were the same; since Kureha was not on the court at this moment, he was expected to carry out the follow-up process.
But just as Hinata took a massive stride, seemingly intending to leap at Position 2 to hit a wide spike, his entire ankle had already turned, driving the rotation of his knee and his whole body, completing a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn in an instant.
Harukawa failed to react in time, at that very moment, Hinata's terrifying acceleration fully revealed its fangs.
That figure crossed the nine-meter horizontal distance in less than a blink of an eye. By the time Miyazaki regained his senses and glanced down out of the corner of his eye, the figure had already lowered his center of gravity mid-stride.
Beneath the fluttering strands of hair were eyes as focused and sharp as a predator on the hunt.
—When did he get here?!
As Miyazaki took a step toward that side, the sound of his jump already rang out.
In the next second, the ball tossed by Miya Atsumu's single hand was spiked straight down.
Before Uehara could even react, the ball had already hit the ground with a crisp sound.
Hinata, who had jumped at an angle, landed outside the court, slightly bending his knees to absorb the impact while turning back toward the court.
He bent slightly with the momentum, using his hands to press against the ground to stop his body's inertia.
“Phew—"
The Head Referee froze for a moment before quickly raising his hand, blowing his whistle and making a gesture to indicate that Inarizaki scores.
My god! Orange lightning!!
How did he get over there!
“Wasn't he over at Position 2 just now! I was too busy watching Suna!”
The Shiratori from the third floor slowly raised his hand to prop up his chin, his narrowed eyes full of amusement.
Ah.. that's right.
After all this time, everyone has almost forgotten.. without absolute suppression at the net, Shoyo's agility is 'the strongest'.
Bokuto understood the term "strongest."
Also quite excited, he raised a finger toward Shiratori: "Indeed, Shoyo is now an Ace of a single finger!"
A vein pulsed on Shiratori's temple.
“It's top-tier, you idiot.”
Chapter 439: The Four Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Fox
Amatori's sunglasses nearly fell off his face in the stands.
Hey, hey, hey.. is this really happening? Has this guy finally decided to actually use his flexibility?
You have to realize that, compared to when Hinata was terrorizing him and Agatsuma back in the day, the other party's current playing style could be described as "honest."
—Though he felt this honesty was largely because Hinata had been forced into it by wearing heavy-duty support gear like an ankle brace.
Yesterday he hadn't been able to confirm it, but today, when the camera panned past, he saw clearly that Inarizaki had applied kinesiology tape to Hinata and Unabara.
Unabara's recent muscle strain certainly required protection for his calf, while Hinata's ankle and the lower part of his calf had light stabilization applied.
Considering that Hinata's Achilles tendon is naturally very long, his pivoting and takeoff-to-jump movements are more flexible than the average person's, he would basically avoid injury as long as he paid attention to his landing posture after jumping.
In this situation, a bit of stabilization would indeed be enough, allowing him to avoid using an ankle brace that might affect his agility.
On the second floor at the side of the court, Coach Himegomiya turned his head to ask Coach Utsunomiya beside him, "I remember Omimi is a master of sports rehabilitation, right?"
Although kinesiology tape is used quite widely, it is most commonly seen in sports with high levels of physical contact or where injuries are frequent and players cannot be substituted, such as football, figure skating, badminton, tennis; one truly doesn't see many high school volleyball teams using it.
Omimi went out of his way to learn this, which could be seen as showing extreme importance to Hinata's legs.
But then again, it makes sense; children at this age are still growing, Hinata's height has also increased significantly over the past two years. It's likely that his knees and ankles feel pain due to this growth.
If it were her, she would be willing to learn it too.
Coach Utsunomiya nodded. "Right, I remember he graduated from Juntendo."
Coach Himegomiya clicked his tongue softly. "Tsk, we lost in that regard."