Chapter 494: The 494th Fox
The time-out Inarizaki had taken to secure an eight-point lead had already ended, Miya Atsumu's Service Turn was interrupted by a block and score from Star First, passing the Service Right to Izumi Nozomi.
Holding the ball and standing at the service position, Izumi Nozomi slowly exhaled.
Although their tenacious defense during the subsequent exchanges of the first set prevented Inarizaki from scoring consecutive points, they didn't feel like they were playing smoothly.
The serve couldn't create an advantage, scoring through offense was difficult; most of the time, they could only rely on defense through blocking to stall the opponent and look for openings to score via blocks.
And now.. he had something even more confusing on his mind.
For some reason, he feels like he's playing very unsteadily right now.
The Dual Wield, which was supposed to be a lethal downward strike, failed to score any points and didn't even cause any significant disruption to Inarizaki's defense. Moreover.. his setting felt quite awkward as well.
Hinata withdrew his gaze from Izumi Nozomi and moved to the side of the front row, staying ready to face a short serve at any moment.
Izumi Nozomi found it hard to believe.
The underhand float serve might indeed have lacked power. He knew that Inarizaki's Unabara Uta was an expert at receiving ceiling serves, but this first-year Libero.. his skill couldn't be that high, could it?
As the whistle blew, Izumi Nozomi tossed the ball with his left hand and struck the volleyball from below with his right hand using the base of his thumb.
With a heavy thud, the ball soared high into the air, turning into a tiny black dot in everyone's sight, almost merging with the ceiling.
Nishizawa looked up at the ball, taking a step back to follow its trajectory.
Without any hesitation, once this ball landed, there was no doubt it should be right here.
A heavy thud exploded once more, making Yamaguchi grimace on the sidelines.
The ball flew steadily through the air, landing toward Inarizaki's front row. The impact was well-controlled, yet it ensured there was enough height for Miya Atsumu to work with.
Unabara Uta shouted from the waiting area, "Great First Receive! Follow it!!"
As she stepped forward to avoid being targeted by the spike, Izumi Nozomi felt her heart skip a beat for a moment.
It was for no other reason than the simple feeling that his serve was utterly worthless.
Something is wrong, something is definitely wrong!
Inarizaki doesn't have any players who can handle a Ceiling Serve. As for why Unabara Uta could receive it so well, rumors say she used to play Beach Volleyball and had contact with the expert Shimizu-senpai, but Shimizu has already gone abroad and couldn't possibly be acting as a sparring partner for Nishizawa Hokuto.
So how could a first-year player like Nishizawa have any experience receiving a Ceiling Serve? And how could he receive something as unexpected as a float serve so well?
Coach Himegomiya, sitting in the stands, gasped, "That's a bit much. Even a genius isn't this kind of genius.."
With a serve like that, even Komori wouldn't have the confidence to handle it perfectly; after all, no one at Itachiyama would let a receive float.
If it wasn't based on experience.. that reaction speed and judgment were almost inhuman.
Coach Kurosu, sitting on the Coach's bench, curled the corner of his mouth. Realizing he was about to lose his composure, he quickly raised his hand to cover the lower half of his face.
Of course, of course.
While Nishizawa Hokuto is talented, he hasn't reached that terrifying, superhuman level that is even more frightening than Komori. Otherwise, the one starting in the lineup right now would most likely be Nishizawa, rather than Unabara Uta.
As for why Nishizawa's first receive was so excellent..
Besides his own excellent spatial awareness, one would have to credit their team's Ace Spiker and the Star First's own Libero Ace.
Fukami looked incredibly excited in the waiting area, as if he were the one on the court right now.
After using a feint to shake the opposing blockers, Miya Atsumu sent the ball back to Miya Osamu.
Although Sasaki and the others were not fooled by the feint at all and quickly closed in on Miya Osamu, they were not aiming for a perfect block; for Miya Osamu, who possessed enough strength to confront a block head-on, this was a gap he could exploit.
Stuck near the boundary pole, Miya Osamu swung his arm with all his might to spike the ball, driving it down into the Star First's court on the opposite side.
Hatta, knocked off balance by the ball, fell uncontrollably toward the ground, Kuwabara, who lunged from behind, ultimately failed to save the ball.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
The moment his feet touched the floor, Miya Osamu successfully completed the process of absorbing the impact.
Regarding this difficult Block.. he had no other solution.
Since the Quick Attack couldn't shake them off, Miya Atsumu had no intention of using his even more exhausting extreme Quick Attack style in this match, he would simply provide the most unsolvable answer.
A violent breakthrough, it was as simple as that.
Miya Osamu, who had landed on the floor, slowly straightened himself up and turned his head toward Miya Atsumu at his side, conveying his own emotions through his eyes in silence.
—I just got that point back.
Miya Atsumu tilted his chin up slightly, offering no affirmative response.
—This is nothing. Let's aim for ten points first.
Left behind, Hinata's expression looked somewhat pitiful.
Well, he didn't possess the power to break through a situation with brute force like Miya Osamu, so it was only natural that he wasn't the Setter's favorite in a play that required direct confrontation with the Block..
But!
At least give him a chance to answer!
If he can't score another spike, he's going to die of sadness!
Perhaps it was because Hinata's gaze was too resentful, or perhaps it was because the aura of resentment emanating from Hinata was too obvious, but Miya Atsumu, who was still glaring at Miya Osamu, felt an itch on the back of his neck.
He raised his hand to scratch, deciding to simply ignore that gaze behind him.
With so many defenders on the other side, the feeling of using Hinata as a decoy was truly exhilarating.
Although he couldn't have a major impact on the block, every movement Hinata made was able to draw away at least one back-row defender, creating enough space for others to exploit.
However, Hinata had indeed told him before that he wanted balls with more airtime, so he likely had some ideas of his own.
Seeing that Miya Atsumu was prepared to ignore him, Hinata decided to take the initiative.
“Atsumu-ge!”
The Ace's cry at this moment was like an echo from hell, forcing Miya Atsumu to turn his head toward Hinata, who was clearly demanding the ball.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to signal a time-out to Hinata. "Hold your horses, let me check the situation first."
Hinata decided to place his trust in Miya Atsumu.
Miya Osamu has been playing very aggressively these past two days, he has managed to achieve excellent results with a strong presence in every single set.
At this rate.. he felt like the MVP of this tournament was going to elude him!
Having gained the Service Right, Miya Osamu moved to the back row, allowing Star First's Coach Mikumo to breathe a sigh of relief.
As long as Hinata's positioning remains stable enough to cover a back row defense, they are actually quite helpless against Miya Osamu's unreasonable Strong Attack.
Especially since their setter is currently in the back row, the back row is not in a state where all three players can participate in defense.
He shouted loudly, trying to stabilize his players' mental state: "Stay steady, stay steady! It's no big deal!"
Izumi Nozomi briefly pulled herself out of the despair of her serve becoming useless scrap metal, took a breath, prepared to throw herself into the rest of the match.
And Miya Osamu gave him a quick glance before tossing the ball at the very last second.
Despite being covered by Kuwabara at this moment, Izumi Nozomi had a strange sensation of being targeted by something.
After a heavy thud, the ball was spiked hard by Miya Osamu, aiming directly at Hayami in the corner of Position 1.
Seeing the serve coming so blatantly toward her, Hayami was somewhat surprised.
If Miya Atsumu's serve aims for points rather than targeting him, then Miya Osamu being targeted by it means this ball is essentially a tactical play?
He thought for a moment, but his body had already moved to follow the ball, lowering his center of gravity to receive it.
Listening to the heavy thud exploding in her ears and knowing this ball would be difficult to receive, Izumi Nozomi looked up to find the ball behind her while shouting in praise, "Great first receive!"
And hearing the voice of her setter, Hayami felt a momentary pang of guilt.
It was for no other reason than because he suddenly remembered what kind of tactical play Inarizaki was planning to use.
During the Junior National Team training camp, he had taught Hinata how to use serves to make the setter uncomfortable.
It seems now.. Inarizaki has applied what they learned in practice, using it against Izumi Nozomi, who hates this most of all.
Apologizing to Izumi Nozomi in her heart, Hayami quickly adjusted her position, preparing for a counterattack.
In normal circumstances, he does not participate in the counterattack, but once he realized that Inarizaki intended to use this method to force Izumi Nozomi to give up the back set, he knew that Inarizaki would definitely be able to keep up with this ball.
It was for no other reason than the fact that the primary blocker on the opposing side was Suna.
Just as Hayami expected, Sasaki's spike was accurately blocked by Suna and fell straight into Star First's court.
Hayami, who followed up in time, perfectly received the ball and sent it straight up to Izumi Nozomi.
Because Izumi Nozomi's positioning was close to the front row Position 3.5, Hayami's set still came from behind her.
But this time, Hayami gave the ball a high set, giving Izumi Nozomi plenty of time to observe and adjust.
Izumi Nozomi executed a perfectly coordinated Back Quick with Arashiyama this time, but Hinata, following up from the back, also managed to touch the ball after jumping.
One-touch!
Nishizawa quickly stepped forward to act as the Opposite: "Great touch!"
Yamaguchi marveled again from the sidelines, "His reaction is so fast."
Watching it from such a close distance, rather than on a recording, he—the Middle Blocker—was not confident that he could react like that, catching up to the fastest Back Quick in a standard Quick Attack from behind.
Kageyama didn't say anything.
Actually, for Hinata, the reaction time for such a ball isn't the moment the set reaches the spiker's hands after the setter's pass, but rather includes the additional time it takes for the spiker to spike.
Hinata's blocking style is simple, of course, it was also described by Tsukishima as being a bit "cowardly."
It was simply about positioning himself at the top edge of the block the moment the ball crossed the net; the height of the block itself wasn't important, since he was only aiming for a One-touch.
Inarizaki organized a beautiful counterattack, Ginjima also broke through with brute force, cleanly scoring a point and deepening Hinata's resentment.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
Seeing the play end, Hayami hurriedly signaled to the coach on the sidelines, gesturing for a Time-out with a guilty look on her face.
Coach Mikumo was startled, thinking that Hayami was feeling unwell, so he hurriedly requested a Time-out from the Head Referee.