Kita Shinsuke withdrew his gaze and said softly, "But in essence, there isn't much difference; a spiker's attack against a block is nothing more than a few specific patterns.
There is no such thing as a truly seamless wall in this world; as long as you use your heart, you will certainly, definitely be able to find a way through.
Hinata's eyes lit up; he was very familiar with this problem!
Leave it to me! Although I really can't shake off that sticky Block, I'll find a way to score!
I'm the Ace, Atsumu-ge, just give me all the sets you've got!
Chapter 445: The 445th Fox
So reliable, Shoyo.
Miya Atsumu laughed so hard his eyes narrowed into slits, but considering Shinsuke was sitting right next to Hinata, he ultimately didn't lean over to pat Hinata on the head.
Because.. Kita Shinsuke had already reached out first.
Kita stroked Hinata's hair, which was fluffy and soft after being washed and dried, his expression exceptionally gentle. "Good luck in tomorrow's match. There is only one final step left before the championship trophy."
Hinata nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"
The morning's match footage was still playing on the tablet, while across from him, Miya Osamu was wearing gloves and making his own tuna rice balls.
Noticing Hinata's gaze, Miya Osamu hesitated for two seconds before asking, "Do you want some?"
Hinata rubbed his stomach, only after confirming he was only seventy percent full did he nod vigorously in response, "I'll eat!"
Miya Atsumu had also intended to ask for one, but Miya Osamu had no intention of playing along with him; he decisively lowered his head to continue kneading the rice ball, having no intention of paying him any more attention.
He took the loss and continued studying Karasuno's footage with Kita Shinsuke.
Miya Osamu gave the first rice ball he had made to Hinata, quietly watched him eat the rice ball.
Hinata took a huge bite, his very first mouthful was filled with the oil-soaked tuna inside.
The rice and the filling were perfectly paired; the seaweed on the outside and the tuna on the inside went into his mouth together, creating a taste that was not only delicious but also had an excellent texture.
Hinata's eyes sparkled: "It's delicious!!"
Miya Osamu curled the corners of his mouth and glanced down inconspicuously at the remaining food in his lunch box. "It's a pity there are no sesame seeds; this combination should really have a little more sesame."
Hinata was shocked: "Really?! Th-then, if there's a chance next time—"
Osamu gave Hinata the answer he wanted: "I'll make it for you when the time comes."
Lifting the rice ball in his hands, Hinata cheered loudly, "Yes! That's awesome!"
Miya Atsumu gave a huff, leaning his elbows on the armrest of the sofa beside him, watching the tablet out of the corner of his eye.
Hinata, who had originally been sitting by Kita Shinsuke, moved a little closer to him, nudging him with an arm, handed the remaining half of the tuna rice ball to Miya Atsumu when he looked over.
Hinata stared intently at Miya Atsumu, seemingly waiting for his evaluation after eating it.
After finishing the remaining half of the tuna rice ball, Miya Atsumu noticed that although Miya Osamu wasn't looking at him, the way he was holding the rice ball seemed a bit distracted.
After thinking about it carefully, he spoke, "It's delicious."
Miya Osamu paused for a moment, tilting his head slightly and still refusing to look directly at Miya Atsumu.
After asking Kita Shinsuke if he wanted some, Miya Osamu enjoyed a delicious tuna rice ball made from the leftover rice.
Mmm, it's delicious.
If Miya Atsumu were to give this delicious food a bad review, he would truly have no taste and extremely poor judgment.
Kita Shinsuke covered his mouth and chuckled, then pointed at Hoshiumi Hikari in the video. "Compared to the Interhigh, Hoshiumi's offensive intensity has decreased a bit."
When Karasuno plays Itachiyama, they tend to favor using Hakuma's height advantage to exert direct pressure.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "After all, Koldorf and Ogihara both have sufficient height, so in the Semifinals, there's no need to overexert the Ace's stamina."
Although Karasuno's current setter's overall performance is average, his setting skills are only passable, his brain is quite sharp; most of the time, he won't lead the whole team into a trap.
Kita Shinsuke said, "That in itself is already quite remarkable."
At the high school level, the momentum of players' offense and defense is incredibly fierce; strategists like Miya Atsumu are a rare exception.
From the footage of this set, Itachiyama's setter was toyed with by Karasuno in several instances of offense and defense.
Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly. "Even if Karasuno just played a standard game with this lineup, they'd already be terrifying, let alone having a brain that can do more than just block."
Hinata held a cup of warm tea, staring blankly as he listened to the discussion between Miya Atsumu and Kita Shinsuke.
He carefully recalled his past match experiences, then voiced a heavy question: "By the way.. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like all those blockers like to focus on me, but they don't really focus on Hikari-kun much."
Um, I mean that kind of one-on-one Block, not just the usual defensive stance during a Block.
Miya Atsumu froze for a moment.
It was indeed as Hinata said; although they were all short players, few teams would choose to use a one-on-one Block against Hoshiumi; instead, even slightly taller players like Aoba Haruka would be marked just like Hinata.
After analyzing the situation, Miya Atsumu gave his reasoned answer: "It really is because of his impact on the lateral movement, isn't it?"
Kita Shinsuke understood what Miya Atsumu meant, explained to Hinata in very detailed terms: "Hoshiumi is better at playing high balls and various technical balls. While Aoba is also skilled with technical balls, they also play short, flat, quick attacks on both sides quite well. As for you, Shoyo.. your Side Quick Attack is too much of a threat; if they don't focus on you, it's very likely to result in the Block being completely dismantled.
Setting aside the risk of giving an opponent's powerful spiker a chance to spike an empty net after the block is completely broken, the cost-effectiveness of a one-on-one block is much higher, it's clearly more effective at limiting the ball's trajectory.
Setting aside the fact that most players sent for one-on-one blocking have excellent individual blocking abilities, simply limiting the ball's trajectory for a counterattack is effective enough.
Hinata rubbed his chin. "I see.."
No, what he meant to say was something else, something he had experienced..
Painful and suffocating..
After his vision caught sight of Miya Atsumu's yellow hair, Hinata's eyes suddenly widened. "Ah!"
He gestured wildly, "No, it wasn't a Block, it was that—"
“Kenma's one!”
With too much information flooding his mind, preventing him from recalling those distant memories for a moment, Miya Atsumu subconsciously let out a sound: "Hmm?"
After processing for a moment, Miya Atsumu extracted the key point.
He suddenly realized, "Ah, that one, the kind where you spike from a serve."
His impression of that match was exceptionally deep, because Kenma's ability to set up plays was incredibly strong, he knew from the very beginning that he had failed to realize the opponent's true purpose immediately.
Although it appeared to be targeting the Ace, it was actually putting pressure on the Setter to drain his energy, aiming to force an error.
Miya Atsumu also raised a hand to stroke his chin, his brain, which had become exceptionally active after receiving inspiration, instantly coming up with a complete set of plans.
Takahashi's receiving is quite good, since Hoshiumi is not Hinata, his receiving is even better than their own team's Libero, so simply applying the same method definitely won't work.
If you want to fully realize the effect of using indirect pressure to draw out the setter.. perhaps you would have to work on everything from serving and receiving to blocking all at once.
Miya Atsumu took the initiative to ask Hinata, "Shoyo, what do you think of Yukihito's performance today? How effective were those two attempts at that kind of Block?"
Hinata nodded vigorously. "Yukihito is amazing; his block is terrifying."
Tokura didn't just want to work on his judgment and precision; when he returned today, he even exchanged ideas with Ogata regarding the proactive playstyle of the Guess Block.
If he could truly apply it skillfully, he would definitely become an extremely fearsome blocker.
Hinata knew that as long as his friend could truly settle his mind and dedicate his energy and passion to something, he would become incredibly persistent and hardworking.
When they first met, the tall Tokura was very thin.
Even though his weight has increased to a certain extent now, Tokura is still several kilograms lighter than other players of the same height.
He remembered Tokura telling him that it was because he had hoped to grow taller more slowly during puberty, which had led to him not eating properly.
Now Tokura is also doing muscle-building training with him, he has improved much, much more than before.
Hinata has always been very serious about eating.
Tokura was a person who could endure long periods of hunger for the sake of his passion and obsession; Hinata felt there was nothing he couldn't achieve.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Alright, I understand."
Although he personally felt that Tokura's performance was nothing special, he was more willing to trust Hinata's intuitive judgment.
After all.. he knew very clearly that, on some level, his own judgment had a significant discrepancy with Hinata's.
When it comes to the persistence needed at this moment, he was more inclined to trust Hinata's judgment.
Miya Atsumu leaned forward slightly, tapping his fingers on the marble tabletop: "As we discussed before, let's build upon the foundation of a war of attrition against Karasuno and take the next step in our strategy."
I will have a conclusion by tonight, we will hold a meeting tomorrow morning to make further arrangements.
Vice-Captain Miya Osamu responded, "Okay."
Seeing the two of them reconcile and act reliably when it mattered most, Kita Shinsuke felt completely at ease.
Although the two of them can be quite childish at times, they are reliable when it matters most.
Itachiyama and Karasuno played the subsequent two sets much like the first set. Itachiyama itself possesses very strong overall qualities, their matchup against Karasuno was essentially a clash of titans. Karasuno took the lead in the Third Set and maintained it until the end of the match.
Having watched the match from the perspective of the live stream and commentary from beginning to end, it was already close to the time they should be resting.
Kita Shinsuke glanced at the time and was the first to stand up. "The last subway is about to arrive. I'll head out first; I'll come back tomorrow with Aran."
Hinata jumped up and said goodbye to Kita Shinsuke: "Okay! See you tomorrow, Kita Team!"
See you tomorrow, Kita Team——
See you tomorrow, Kita Team—
The Miya Twins said goodbye to Kita Shinsuke one after another, then looked at each other and both let out a huff at the same time.
Coach Omimi had already taken the lunch boxes away when the match they were watching was halfway through, they didn't even have to clean up the table.
After saying goodnight to Hinata, Miya Osamu turned and left, clutching his room card.
Watching Miya Osamu leave, Miya Atsumu despised him deeply: "So childish!"
Today, Hinata stood on Miya Atsumu's side: "Yeah, Osamu-senpai was super childish today!"
After closing the door and putting away the tablet, Miya Atsumu finished washing up and came out. As he was about to turn off the lights, Hinata was already sitting cross-legged on the bed waiting for him.
Those eyes, full of anticipation, seemed to be asking him for a goodnight kiss.
Atsumu's movement to turn off the lights paused slightly.