Aoba Haruka's technical skills are among the very best in all of high school; even Hinata and Hoshiumi cannot surpass him when it comes to the fine control of many technical plays, after all.. relatively speaking, Aoba Haruka's hands are larger.
Aiming for Tokura's block, Aoba Haruka used a beautiful tooling of the block to score a point, breaking Inarizaki's service turn.
Great play, Haruka! One more!
Tokura shook his hand. "That hurts.."
Miya Atsumu no longer knew what to say.
Tokura's performance when facing tooling the block has always been mediocre, especially since this guy still hasn't learned how to stop.
Even though he acted as a sparring partner for Hinata for so long during team practice, in the end, his performance was still so terrible it was painful to watch..
This guy actually had the nerve to boast that he was going to become a blocking expert Noodle Man!
Atsumu laughed out of sheer exasperation.
Feeling a chill running down his back, Tokura shrank his neck, trying to make himself disappear from Miya Atsumu's gaze.
But as luck would have it, there was still a spectator in the stands who loved to stir up trouble: "Yukihito—what a terrible ball!"
No, he had to hold his head high; at the very least, he couldn't act like a coward!
Kumagai, in the waiting area, commented, "He has a lot of backbone."
Beside him, Masaru Haseda hesitated, looking as if he wanted to say something, his hands clutching his pants with a hint of nervousness.
Even though he knew he probably wouldn't get much chance to play this year, he still found himself secretly hoping for it.
Noticing his expression, Ginjima Yui patted his back, offering him comfort and encouragement.
The National Sports Festival's schedule is short, which is a relief, but the Haruko schedule will be much more terrifying, they might not even draw such a good bracket again.
Under normal circumstances, player rotations would be more frequent, first-years would have enough opportunities to play.
Of course, this is also part of the strategy.
Rakusan relies heavily on the Ace and Miyazaki; setting those two aside, the offensive level of the others is not sufficient to break through Inarizaki's defense while they are in such great form.
Inarizaki's high-pressure blocking strategy forced Yumi Matsuo to give the two of them difficult balls to handle time and time again.
—Just like how Karasuno used to pressure Hinata.
Amatori, in the stands, twitched at the corner of her mouth: "In the end, he turned into exactly the kind of person he hated most.."
Iizuna sighed, "It is indeed very effective. Although most teams won't be able to master the essence of it, having one or two would be more than enough."
Even though Inarizaki hasn't learned Karasuno's overall blocking pattern, this method of using reinforced blocking pressure is actually more intuitive to use than Karasuno's.
At this point, Iizuna paused for a moment.
Wait..
In that case, compared to Yumi Matsuo, the person more likely to be affected by this style of play should be..
Uehara Tsuyoshi, who could no longer run around the court, forced himself into a diving save to keep the ball alive.
It was already match point for Inarizaki; one more point lost and it would be over.
Haruka had worked very hard; the initial five-point deficit had been narrowed to four points through constant pursuit. The match was not over yet; they still had a chance.
As a Libero, he had to keep this momentum going!
Tokura called out to Rishia to rush forward for a block, jumping in anticipation of Miyazaki Sho's spike trajectory: "Over here!"
Miyazaki, performing a back-row attack, once again executed a spike with quite a good side spin, successfully bypassing the block and driving the ball into Inarizaki's court.
The ball's placement was incredibly tricky; Unabara Uta, unable to reach it in time to use his hands, had to perform a kick, using the side of his foot to control the ball.
“Beautiful!” Miya Atsumu exclaimed in praise.
He confirmed Hinata's position and calmly sent a Quick Attack toward the edge of Position 2.
This final ball.. let the Ace end it.
Unable to keep up with Hinata's Kureha, he simply gave up on following him and dove backward to chase after the ball that was about to hit the sideline.
She cannot lose.
Haruka wanted to win; no matter what, she couldn't let the ball touch the ground!
Watching the ball fly up, Miya Atsumu couldn't help but let out a soft click of his tongue.
The three players in the front row quickly prepared to block. Currently, the Rakusan front row consists of Iori Miwa, Aoba Kureha, the setter Yumi Matsuo. In the absence of an attack, there is an eighty percent probability that Matsuo will trigger a back-row attack.
Tokura also successfully deduced this.
He also remembered what Miya Atsumu had once taught him—the more critical the moment, the more a setter would tend to set the ball to the Ace.
Watching the ball fly toward the hitting point in the back row, Aoba Haruka's position quickly shifted as he prepared his approach.
With his peripheral vision tracking the still-recovering Kureha, he stepped forward without a moment's hesitation and jumped to spike.
His aching legs ultimately failed to support his final jump.
He failed to reach the highest point of his target, could not even complete the process of his spike.
In a moment of desperation, Aoba Haruka reached out frantically, using his fingertips to touch the ball, attempting to tip it over.
But.. it was of no use.
Tokura slammed the ball down with a deadpan expression, ruthlessly driving it back into Rakusan's court after Aoba Haruka's touch.
Iori Miwa and Uehara Tsuyoshi both lunged from the side and from behind at the same time in an attempt to receive the ball, but in the end, they were just a little too late.
The moment the sound of the collision rang out, a short whistle and a long, drawn-out buzzer sounded in quick succession.
The match has ended.
Glancing at the two vastly different scores on the large side screen, Aoba Haruka gave a bitter smile.
“We've lost completely.."
Aoba Kureha braced himself against the ground, his entire arm trembling. His mind went blank, with the only thing remaining clear in his consciousness being that "the match was lost."
Realizing something was wrong, Aoba Haruka rushed to his side to check his temperature.
He felt a hand full of moisture, but he wasn't sure if it was sweat, tears, or both.
It was obvious that he had a fever.
As an older brother, Aoba Haruka actually knew his brother's condition very well, but this time, he failed to notice exactly when the other had started feeling unwell.
Kureha hid it too well this time.. No, ultimately, it was the failure of his own responsibility as an older brother.
Coach! Saltwater!
Watching the two sides bow to each other as they regrouped after the chaos, Oikawa Tooru, who had remained mostly silent during the second half of the set on the sidelines, couldn't help but click his tongue in frustration: "As expected, it's Karasuno against Inarizaki.."
Although this was the result he had predicted from the very beginning, seeing it happen in person still brought a sense of disappointment.
Kito commented, "After all, the strength of these two teams is undoubtedly top-tier in high school volleyball, so their victory isn't surprising."
He turned his head toward Oikawa and teased, "But you.. I thought you were very close with Hinata, so you'd probably like Inarizaki more."
Oikawa Tooru was taken aback, waving his hands dismissively. "No, no, no. If my affection for Shoyo-kun is eight parts, then Miya Atsumu is negative ten thousand."
No matter who plays against Inarizaki, I'll always cheer for their opponents.
Kito froze for a moment, unable to help but complain, "But that's not what you said when you were watching the Inarizaki and Shiratorizawa match yesterday.."
Oikawa Tooru fell silent.
He loosened his hands, which were soaked in sweat from gripping too tightly, wiped them on his pants: "The Women's Volleyball match is about to start, so let's head back and prepare tomorrow's draft."
Hearing this obvious attempt to change the subject, Kito stopped poking at Oikawa Tooru's spine: "Fine, let's go."
Walking through the dim Players' Tunnel, Oikawa Tooru suddenly spoke up: "Actually, I really like Aoba.. I mean the big one, I mean age."
Oikawa understood deeply that this senior had a knack for focusing on the wrong thing, so he made a point to emphasize that he meant age.
Kito stared at Oikawa Tooru's somewhat lonely profile for a moment before teasingly asking, "Is it because he has the same last name as your alma mater?"
Oikawa Tooru finally lost his patience: "Senpai! Be serious!"
Kito laughed, "Sorry, sorry, it was just a reflex.."
With his mood interrupted, Oikawa Tooru found it difficult to speak.
He tried his best to adjust his state and spoke again, "I just simply feel.. that he's quite to my liking."
If he had to describe it, he perhaps felt that he saw a small glimpse of a familiar shadow in the other person.
Kito didn't say anything else, but simply gave a light laugh.
Loud applause and cheering erupted from behind him; Oikawa Tooru knew those were the voices of the Inarizaki supporters.
Inarizaki certainly had the deep pockets; even for an away game, they could rally such a massive group of supporters.
By comparison, Shiratorizawa's supporters seemed a bit meager..
Only a King, proven through years of accumulation, could bathe in such massive cheers.
He had never once reached it before.
But now, he has obtained it.
In the distant future, he will definitely stand on an even larger stage, taking these guys on the court one by one..
No, to take them all down together.
Kito, who had been observing Oikawa Tooru, curled his lips into a slight smile, walking almost side-by-side with him.
Next, let him witness the birth of this year's final national champion.
Will it be the new King defending his title, or the old King getting his revenge?
He was looking forward to it immensely.
Chapter 442: The 442th Fox
Watching the coach from Rakusan support Kureha as he walked away quickly, Hinata frowned, his face filled with obvious worry: "Is he okay??"
When they were shaking hands just now, Aoba Kureha didn't shake hands with them and left the court directly.