Even though they knew this, Inarizaki still made that choice.
Amatori sighed, "Inarizaki still has an ace up their sleeve."
He leaned forward and asked Komori in front of him, "By the way, what do you think of the skill level of Inarizaki's current substitute Libero?"
Komori replied, "I'm not quite sure. Although he has played in this match, it's obvious he hasn't warmed up his hands yet.. What I can tell is that his first receive is quite good."
Amatori narrowed his eyes: "Tsk, maybe it's waiting right here."
Chapter 452: The 452nd Fox
Watching Unabara massage his own calf, Hinata leaned in and asked, "Unabara-senpai, are you feeling okay?"
After feeling himself, Unabara Uta responded, "I'm fine, it's just normal muscle soreness from exercise. My muscles feel a bit tight, but it's not a big deal in the short term; I shouldn't get any cramps."
As someone who had experienced multiple injuries, he had a pretty good understanding of his own physical condition.
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief: "That's a relief then."
But Unabara suddenly changed the subject, his tone turning quite solemn as he said, "However.. there is a very serious problem."
Hinata instantly became alert, his gaze fixed on Unabara Uta with a hint of tension, fearing that something might happen to Unabara Uta.
He swallowed hard and asked tentatively, "What?"
Unabara replied seriously, "My hand hurts."
Hinata, who didn't react for a moment, blanked for a second. "Huh?"
Turning his bright red palms toward Hinata, Unabara Uta tried to win his sympathy: "I've done too many overhead serves, my palms feel like they're on fire."
Hinata recalled the days he was tormented by Shimizu and Shiratori while playing beach volleyball at Central Physical Education University: "So this is what it feels like to receive a power serve.."
Unabara Uta's overhead receiving was basically forged during that period of hellish training; even his defense improved significantly during that time.
Although the overhead receive's movement starts off looking very similar to a setter's, the actual technique required is completely different; the key to this kind of receiving is using the upper body to absorb the impact.
However, even if one can successfully complete the process of absorbing the impact, the palms and wrists used for a direct tooling the block will inevitably feel sore.
Nishizawa, who was handing out towels to everyone, poked his head out from behind and asked with an excited face, "Is Unabara-senpai feeling unwell? Do you need me to help!"
Unabara's mouth twitched. "I'm still as energetic as ever, thank you very much."
Nishizawa was very disappointed. He turned his head back to continue drying himself with a towel, but before leaving, he didn't forget to say to Unabara Uta, "If you're feeling unwell, you must speak up. I'm here for you!"
Feeling the longing for the court in Nishizawa Hokuto's words, Unabara Uta felt particularly helpless. "This guy.. he's being a bit too excited, isn't he? I feel like he's going to make me step down and hand over my position at any second.. No, if possible, he might actually want to usurp my position."
Hinata swallowed the warm water in his mouth: "It's because it's the Finals, I suppose. I can understand."
“To be able to play in such an important match, even become the backbone of the team.. just thinking about it makes me feel incredibly excited, it's super cool!!”
He looked at Unabara Uta beside him, his eyes shining as if they contained twinkling stars.
At this, he sighed softly. "It's a pity, there are no more chances like that now."
Unabara-senpai couldn't keep up with Hinata's pace. "Huh?"
Hinata stared at the faint halos of the overhead lights on the floor and said very, very seriously, "There are fewer and fewer people looking down on me."
Unabara didn't know what to say for a moment. "So that's the reason.."
History and records write the names of winners in bold, so compared to Hoshiumi, who stopped at the quarterfinals during his second year of high school, Hinata's rise to fame was even faster.
Since their first year at Haruko, they have never once underestimated Hinata.
But truly, being something like a hidden Ace.. it was indeed extremely exciting.
Unfortunately, he won't have that opportunity himself, because he is nowhere near the level required to stun the crowd. In comparison, he is very satisfied with his current situation.
The first set is more than halfway through, Inarizaki currently leads 16:14.
Next, follow the plan and play steadily; while securing the victory in this set, try to exhaust the opponents as much as possible to pave the way for the future.
The Head Referee signaled for the players to return to the court, Inarizaki's Rishia Heisuke served.
Hoshiumi stood ready at the net, lightly stretching his wrists and ankles.
To be honest, this time-out at 16 points was actually not ideal for Inarizaki.
After interrupting Norikura Isao's service turn, Inarizaki could have actually used Rishia's power serve to further consolidate their advantage, but this time-out disrupted Inarizaki's rhythm and gave Karasuno some room to adjust.
Since he is currently in Position 4 in the front row and the Setter is also in the front row, he doesn't need to retreat for defensive cover; he can focus all his energy on offense.
Over the last few rotations, he had already more or less figured out the logic of Inarizaki's blocking and defense. Now that he had adapted.. he was confident that he could score against the Miya Twins and Tokura. He would play steadily, performing even better than his opponents while avoiding any mistakes.
Hinata cheered loudly for Rishia: "What a great serve!"
Behind him, the Inarizaki members also cheered for Rishia with immense volume, making the entire stadium feel incredibly heated.
[Rishia himself was originally a key server for Inarizaki, his power serve was quite terrifying.]
Although it was partially neutralized by the Karasuno side, overall, it had a sufficient disruptive effect on Karasuno's overall formation.
Kito said, "Alright, the referee blew the whistle."
Rishia slapped the ball against the ground, feeling the vibration of the volleyball as it bounced back into his hands to get a sense of its touch.
Takahashi had very high standards for himself during this set; from the opening until now, as long as the ball wasn't too far away, he chose to move in and handle eighty percent of them.
Although there haven't been any errors so far, the overall quality isn't actually that high; it's clear he is forcing himself into high-intensity receiving movements.
The score gap is still relatively stable for now. At this stage, Karasuno will definitely want to stabilize the situation and catch up, which will also place a great deal of pressure on the receiving movement.
In this situation.. in fact, all it takes is a single, sufficiently explosive point to bring the entire opposing side crashing down.
Rishia held the ball against his chest and slowly exhaled a heavy breath.
It's fine, just like usual.
His service, forged through thousands of repetitions, was not weaker than anyone else's. He had to believe in the strength of his own serve, he also had to.. score points for the team.
The countdown state, which was almost etched into his muscles, allowed Rishia to release the ball at the very last moment of the service limit with perfect precision.
Oikawa Tooru couldn't help but praise aloud: "A perfect toss."
Timing, height, distance, ball speed, arc.. everything was at its absolute best. A perfect toss would surely lead to a perfect serve.
Actually.. he has always believed that the person who understands him best must be himself.
The process of tossing the ball during a serve is, in fact, essentially like giving oneself a back set.
Enough training can eliminate those technical gaps, ultimately resulting in a perfect spike.
Of course, he was also working hard for it.
BANG!!
The sound of the heavy spike echoed throughout the entire arena.
The destination of Rishia's serve was right at Takahashi's feet, acting almost as a provocation directed at the Libero.
It was as if saying—the serve is right here, come and get it if you have the skill.
Komori gave a bitter laugh. "As expected of an Inarizaki server."
Takahashi was extremely tense. The moment he judged the ball, he took a half-step toward his right foot, lowering his center of gravity to face the ball head-on.
It's fine, he can do it—
As usual, Takahashi still chose the method with the highest passing accuracy, attempting to use his hands to pop the ball to the designated position.
But at the same time as he felt the impact, he suddenly realized his vision was shifting.
The sound of the collision rang out once more, by the time Takahashi regained his senses, the ball had already slammed into the railing at the edge of the second-floor stands.
Takahashi let out a confused cry, "Eh?"
Yamamoto cheered for Rishia: "What a beautiful ACE! Rishia scores a point with that serve!"
Hinata turned around and raised his hands high toward Rishia, shouting, "That was so cool, Heisuke!"
Rishia turned his head and gave him a high-five, his voice filled with confidence: "Of course it is."
Takahashi fell backward onto the floor, his mind somewhat dazed.
Yesterday he spent an entire set mopping the floor. He had originally intended to have a proper awakening today, but somehow he ended up mopping the floor again—
Aran muttered, "Too arrogant, Karasuno's Libero."
Unai Aman nodded. "Indeed. Actually, when facing a power serve like that, using a platform receive is a much more stable approach."
Kita Shinsuke also added, "Facing it head-on like this not only makes it easy to lose control, but there's also a possibility of getting injured."
Iizuna sighed softly, "The pressure is too great; he's being a bit too impatient for results.
He glanced at the replay of Takahashi's receiving movement on the mobile livestream, he could clearly see that Takahashi's positioning was correct, but because his leg strength wasn't stable, it ultimately caused him to fall.
Amatori shrugged. "It can't be helped. The game isn't opening up. Karasuno's defense is holding up reasonably well, but they're being completely suffocated by Inarizaki on offense."
Of course, I don't mean that Inarizaki's defense is exceptionally strong, but rather that they play so ruthlessly that they basically give Karasuno no chance to counterattack.
Inamoto muttered under his breath, "Didn't Karasuno do the same thing before? Inarizaki is just getting their revenge."
Having heard his words, Komori rubbed his chin and speculated about the Inarizaki members with the utmost malice: "Thinking about it from another perspective, perhaps Inarizaki is simply looking to fully repay that grudge?"
Amatori nodded repeatedly upon hearing this: "It's very possible. Miya Atsumu is quite the grudge-holder."
He was even spiteful enough to use an opponent's own playstyle to score points right on the spot, let alone this kind of grudge between the runner-up and the champion.
On the court, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to rub his nose, feeling an itch.
—It feels like someone is talking behind his back?
But he didn't pay it too much mind, instead refocusing his attention back on Karasuno.
He actually played this set quite easily; after all, Unabara Uta worked very hard this set and didn't miss too many first receives. Furthermore, the offense on their side focused mainly on technical balls; he only needed to control the tip of the ball well, Hinata, Miya Osamu, the others would find their own ways to score.
In contrast.. things were quite different over at Karasuno.
Miya Osamu, jumping from the front row, spiked the ball precisely into the space between Hoshiumi and Hirugami; although the quick-reacting Hirugami managed to touch it, the ball flew off at a very high angle.
Takahashi was a bit too far away to keep up; it was Norikura Isao from the other side who lunged forward to save the ball.
Asahina quickly ran outside the court, adjusting his posture as much as possible, attempting to back set the ball back into the court from that position outside the lines.