Just like I said before, all it takes is a little catalyst—
“It's simple, right?”
Atsumu quietly met the eyes of Asahina, who was staring at him with wide eyes, beneath his calm gaze, the slight curl of his lips looked like mockery.
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu, then looked at Asahina on the opposite side, smiled at him again, his expression filled with a sense of confusion and innocence.
Asahina closed his eyes.
Chapter 454: The 454th Fox
Takahashi felt a bit intimidated, glancing sideways at Asahina, who remained silent with his head lowered and eyes cast down.
He tentatively approached twice, but Asahina ignored him both times, making him even more panicked.
Was it because the recent setting error was too devastating?
Or is it because he felt guilty for failing to react in time to save the ball during Inarizaki's set point?
Takahashi's brain worked at high speed, his outstretched hand attempting to grab Asahina, but in the end, he failed to touch him.
This guy.. he hasn't gone shut-in, has he?
How rare!
But it doesn't matter, because this is the moment for his guardian deity to step in—
Before the chest-out Takahashi could say anything, Hoshiumi, who had been discussing something with Hirugami-senpai on the other side, had already looked over.
“Kongming, what were you thinking about during that last ball?”
Although a Setter generally doesn't need to receive, Asahina's positioning just now was incorrect; he failed to adjust his position when he should have, allowing the opponent to target him directly and spike the ball right at his feet.
Even if he and Takahashi wanted to save the ball from that position, it would have been too late to reach it; it would have been entirely up to Asahina's own handling.
But.. someone was just standing there dazed, failing to react even as the ball came crashing down.
Asahina looked up, staring at Hoshiumi in a daze.
Hoshiumi frowned and reached out to touch his forehead. "Are you feeling unwell? Are you feeling sick? Do you need to be substituted?"
Asahina finally snapped out of it and quickly shook his head, saying, "I'm fine, I just suddenly realized a few things."
The last two points were my fault.. No, the fact that this set didn't go smoothly was my fault. It was my fault for not being able to discover Inarizaki's strategy in time.
Hoshiumi raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
—What is this guy saying?
Takahashi tilted his head slightly to inspect Asahina's back, stroking his chin and staring at him without saying a word.
Asahina looked at him with a hint of confusion. "What is it? Is there something on my back?"
Did he say anything particularly strange? Why is everyone looking at him with such strange expressions?
Takahashi responded earnestly, "I was thinking that although you're tall, you aren't very fat, so you probably shouldn't have to carry such a heavy burden, right?"
Hoshiumi crossed his arms over his chest and gave Asahina a slight nod of his chin.
Alright, skip the part where you take all the blame. As long as you know the last two points were entirely your fault, that's enough. Everyone else had issues too, so just give us your conclusion.
Asahina placed his hands on his knees and said honestly, "Inarizaki is indeed still draining my energy; my setting precision has dropped, which has had a huge impact on both Hoshiumi-senpai and Hakuma-senpai."
But I was also being a bit too impatient for quick results; in truth, I would have realized it very quickly if I had just calmed down.
But it's too late to say all this now. Inarizaki has basically achieved their goal, as for what comes next..
The moment Asahina and Hoshiumi locked eyes, they both felt a sense of reassurance from each other, as if saying, "I'll leave it up to you."
He swallowed the rest of his words, deciding to reorganize his thoughts.
“Hoshiumi-senpai doesn't need to worry about me like in the First Set; I will act as a decoy to actively draw their spikes toward this side. I'll leave the matters regarding the Setter to Hoshiumi-senpai and Hirugami-senpai to handle."
Asahina looked at Bessho Chigen: "I will spike when necessary, the offensive direction will be handled by the front row Middle Blocker."
Bessho Chigen gave him an OK sign.
Hirugami also nodded. "No problem."
Karasuno's offensive patterns were far less diverse than those of Inarizaki; if anything, any setter would be able to manage their playstyle similarly.
As for Asahina, his specialty lies in defensive inducement and coordination; as long as he can control the overall direction, there won't be any problems.
Asahina continued, "Our main problem right now is that the setter's tosses are unstable, which restricts Hoshiumi-senpai's freedom to spike, Hakuma-senpai hasn't been getting many good balls either."
“As long as we can ensure our scoring rate, we will still have the advantage in the remaining parts of the match.”
His words carried a hint of confidence as he methodically organized the team: "The pressure on Inarizaki is mostly on their Libero and Ace, since offense and receiving are themselves quite taxing on one's energy, we won't lose in a war of attrition."
Coach Aran stood with his hands behind his back, watching his team's setter arrange the team's overall strategy with a smile, a very satisfied expression on his face.
Meanwhile, on the other side at the Inarizaki Coach's bench, Nishizawa was still asking Unabara-senpai how he was feeling.
“How are you feeling, Unabara-senpai? Are your legs sore? Do your knees hurt? Are your wrists very tired? Do you feel like your brain can't keep up?”
If you're feeling unwell, senpai, just leave it to me!
Once he had calmed down, the completely non-threatening Unabara snapped back fiercely, "Can't you just wish me well? Once we get back, I'll have Ogata give you a proper lesson."
Haseda Katsuya was also itching to move, he mustered his courage to raise his hand: "Um.. I—"
Hinata turned his head and asked him, "Haseda Katsuya, are you going to come up to serve?"
Hearing Hinata ask that, Haseda Katsuya said without hesitation, "Yes!"
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu and winked at him.
Miya Atsumu nodded after thinking for a moment. "Fine. You'll serve in place of Tokura Yukihito this set. I'll decide exactly when you go on; just make sure you warm up your hands, if you play recklessly, you'll be going back to take your punishment yourself."
Haseda Katsuya stood at attention. "Understood."
Fukami blinked, took two steps back to the edge of the court, waved vigorously toward the Inarizaki cheering squad.
Seeing his movement, Aran froze for a moment. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
He looked back toward the cheering squad's position to the side and rear, seeing Ogata stand up and walk to the very front.
Fukami pointed at Haseda, then made a phone gesture by his ear.
Ogata gave an OK sign, then headed toward the spectator seating's emergency exit while pulling a phone out of his pocket.
A moment later, Ogata returned.
As he passed by them, Aran reached out to stop him. "What's the situation?"
Ogata shook the phone in his hand. "Ah, it looks like Haseda Katsuya might be able to play this set. I'll give his Junior High coach a call. Since it's the Finals today, Haseda Katsuya said his Junior High coach is staying at his family's guesthouse and should be with his grandmother."
“How could his grandmother not see him appearing in a final like this?”
Kita Shinsuke looked down and smiled. "His grandmother will be very happy."
Ogata laughed heartily. "Right? That's what we thought too."
After the coaches from both sides submitted their rotation charts for the second rotation, the Second Set began immediately.
Taking a glance at the rotation, which was almost identical to the previous set, Oikawa Tooru couldn't help but let out a small click of his tongue.
He moved the headset away with his hand and said to Kito, "There's absolutely no novelty at all."
Kito gave a small laugh, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, spoke into the headset: [We see that both sides' players have returned to the court to confirm their rotations. Compared to the previous set, there has been no obvious change in strategy from either side; Karasuno still has S1, while Inarizaki has also chosen to prioritize ensuring Miya Atsumu's opening serve.]
Exchanging a glance with Hoshiumi on the opposite side, Hinata licked his slightly dry lips.
He felt like he hadn't drunk enough water just now, he was still a little thirsty.
Let's score eight points as quickly as possible, then take a moment to regroup..
Walking toward the service position with the ball, Miya Atsumu frowned imperceptibly.
For some reason, he had an ominous feeling. It was probably.. because Karasuno made some adjustments.
At the end of the previous set, Asahina clearly understood what they were going to do.
Although the halftime break wasn't long, there was indeed enough time to make adjustments, though Miya Atsumu wasn't quite sure what those specific adjustments would be yet.
He could only take it one step at a time and focus on ensuring a serve score for the opening.
After calling a halt to the cheering squad behind him, Miya Atsumu lightly spun the volleyball in his hands.
Yamamoto cheered for Miya Atsumu: 【Miya Atsumu's signature move—no matter how many times I see it, it feels incredibly overwhelming.】
Oikawa Tooru spoke without mercy: 【It's nothing more than formalism.】
Kito, who still had a mouthful of water, nearly sprayed it out. He turned to look at his cheap junior, his eyes filled with shock.
What is this guy talking about? If we're talking about formalism, Oikawa isn't lacking at all!
Miya Atsumu didn't know what Oikawa Tooru was talking about at the commentary desk, so after a quick adjustment to his touch, he decisively tossed the ball up.
There is no reason for a Setter not to target the back row, Takahashi's condition can't be described as good; being able to force him to receive for the Setter would be for the best.
Thinking this, Miya Atsumu's powerful serve went straight toward the position to the left of Asahina.
Hoshiumi's positioning was quite advanced, clearly leaving the task of back row receiving entirely to Takahashi and Norikura Isao; in this position, Takahashi should have been the one to step up and receive.
But right at that moment, Asahina took the initiative to step back, lowering his center of gravity to dig the ball with a forearm pass.
Hoshiumi shouted in praise, "What a great first receive!"
A question mark appeared above Miya Atsumu's head; for a moment, he couldn't react to what had just happened.
Yamamoto gasped in shock: [Karasuno's setter actively went for the first receive!]
[Even though the placement was tricky, the spin on Miya Atsumu's serve wasn't strong, Asahina was in just the right position to adjust and receive it head-on.]
Kito also chimed in with a compliment: "That was a beautiful first receive!"
Hoshiumi rushed under the ball and jumped, preparing to spike.
Hinata was startled, his body reacting faster than his brain; after stepping back two steps to create distance, he also jumped toward the ball.
Suna was even calmer; he didn't move in sync with Hinata, but instead took only a single step toward that direction, while keeping a watchful eye on Hoshiumi's movement out of the corner of his eye.
Just as Hinata jumped to his highest point in an attempt to block, Hoshiumi twisted his body mid-air, instead sending the ball toward Position 4.