Atsumu's hand flicked upward lightly, the volleyball did not fly toward the side of Position 4 in a long trajectory; instead, it rose at a high angle and fell over the shortest distance into the hands of Miya Osamu, who had jumped up behind him.
Two consecutive sounds of impact rang out as the ball hit Tsukishima Kei's fingers and flew high out of bounds.
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled that Karasuno's block went out of bounds, Inarizaki scores.
The moment the cheers erupted, Tsukishima, having landed, glanced at the finger he had just hit, then lightly clenched his fist.
“So this is what it really feels like to hit the ball..”
Miya Osamu, who had high-fived Miya Atsumu, tilted his head slightly toward Tsukishima on the opposite side, but the latter had already turned away, giving them no further attention.
Miya Osamu raised an eyebrow, staring at Tsukishima's back for two seconds before slowly averting his gaze.
Tsukishima looked at Kageyama, who hadn't scored a single point, said, "King, even your serve is no good. What happened to that opening advantage you promised?"
Kageyama averted his gaze, not responding to Tsukishima: "Tsk."
He wasn't surprised that it was received, but failing to disrupt Hinata's subsequent offensive movement was a major mistake on his part.
It's completely different, Hinata.
But he won't give up easily either. Hinata's movement of using the ground to stabilize himself has a fatal flaw: he can only handle normal spikes.
Once a serve has heavy spin, it is impossible to handle it with that nearly ground-parallel receiving movement.
Meanwhile, Hinata, who had delivered a perfect First Receive, was currently receiving cheers from the Inarizaki members; he raised both hands high and gave a thumbs-up to Hayami in the stands.
I wonder if Tatsuya Yukiya and the others are watching this match; Kageyama's serve, an infinitely enhanced version of the Jump Serve at that, can now be received by him as well.
But his handling was still not good enough; next time, he will work hard to provide Miya Atsumu with a better setting environment!
Watching Miya Atsumu, who had already walked to the service position, Nishinoya Yu placed his hands at his sides and shouted loudly, "Bring it on!"
Miya Atsumu lightly rotated the volleyball in his hands, adjusted his state, decisively stepped forward.
Karasuno's Libero has become quite proficient at both receiving spikes and receiving jump float serves at this stage, but based on the opponent's past performance, his success rate against power serves is still higher than against jump float serves.
However.. he doesn't necessarily have to use those two types.
In his memory, Nishinoya Yu probably had a serve that he had almost never encountered.
Nishinoya's gaze was fixed on Miya Atsumu's movement. Although the cover from Inarizaki's side was excellent, he could still see the opponent's spiking form the moment Miya Atsumu jumped.
Based on the previous steps and the approach, this ball was undoubtedly a Power Serve, judging by the approach steps and the momentum from before.
With this concept established, Nishinoya Yu lowered his center of gravity, preparing to face the impact head-on.
But in the next instant, he saw Miya Atsumu's hand tilt slightly to the side.
—A Side Spin.
The moment he made the judgment, Nishinoya Yu adjusted his position following the spin from Miya Atsumu's direction, lifting his shoulders to try his best to dig this Side Spin.
His reaction speed was fast enough, since Miya Atsumu was specifically targeting him, he successfully received the ball.
"What a first receive!" Kageyama shouted as he rushed forward to chase after the ball.
He completed the setting process while moving, then passed the ball to Tsukishima Kei, who was very close behind him.
The two of them's Back Quick had become quite perfect after such a long time of practicing and coordinating; whether it was Tsukishima Kei's hitting point or the timing of the jump, their coordination was flawless.
Furthermore, because Kageyama had practiced that type of set that would come to a halt to satisfy Hinata's request, this ball even maintained enough time for Tsukishima to make adjustments on top of the traditional Back Quick.
As Suna and Miya Osamu rushed toward him, Tsukishima seized that moment, beautifully tooling the block off Miya Osamu's fingers to score a point.
Landing, Tsukishima gave a slight smile toward Miya Osamu on the other side of the net. "It's not that hard."
Miya Atsumu raised a hand to wipe a bead of sweat from his chin, unable to help but click his tongue. "Tsk, so difficult. Isn't it better to just be a good boy?"
Hinata stood with one hand on his hip, looking toward Kageyama, who was saying something to Enoshita Chikara on the opposite side. "But the one who wants Kageyama to stop being a good boy is you, Atsumu-ge, isn't it?"
“Actually, he hasn't changed much.”
“It’s just.. he already has teammates he can trust.”
He knew he was right to recommend that Kageyama and the others learn the Back Quick; the level of coordination and the sharpness of their ability to seize opportunities for spikes had, in a way, already surpassed that of the original Municipal Kobe.
Enoshita Chikara's service turn also failed to score. Since Inarizaki was determined not to give Karasuno consecutive scoring opportunities, Enoshita Chikara's serve, which lacked much power to begin with, caused no trouble for Inarizaki.
After receiving the ball, Miya Atsumu quickly organized a set for Suna to execute a Line shot with a changing trajectory, fooling Tsukishima once.
Suna slightly raised his eyes: "It's nothing special."
Tsukishima's brow twitched.
Miya Osamu's serve didn't feel particularly good, hitting the top of the net before dropping into Karasuno's court.
Tokita dove in from the side in time, successfully sending the ball up.
Kageyama coordinated with Tsukishima to execute a fake move at Position 2, then quickly sent the ball to Tanaka, who had already rotated to the front row.
Tanaka seized the opportunity and delivered a heavy spike, scoring right on the line.
Cheers erupted from the Karasuno stands: "What a Line!!"
Beautiful, Arong!!
The service right passed to Tsukishima.
Listening to the continuous jeering coming from the stands, Tsukishima turned his head toward the direction where the black banner hung and gave a small smile to Ogata Tomoya, who was leading the charge.
For some reason, Ogata felt as if he was being mocked.
He put down the paper megaphone in his hands and muttered, "This guy doesn't buy it at all.."
When the Karasuno Captain was serving, he felt that their jeering was somewhat effective, but Kageyama seemed not to hear it at all, Tsukishima went even further by mocking them.
He had directed so many cheering sessions, but this was the first time someone had actively attacked them.
Ogata's fighting spirit was ignited. He raised his hand to tighten the Inarizaki must-win headband tied around his forehead, then lifted his megaphone to continue leading everyone in Inarizaki's "signature cheering."
Glancing at Ogata, who was directing right beside them, Hayami hesitated to speak.
This guy usually looks as refined as Shiratori-senpai, occasionally throwing out a few words that sound like Go terminology that he can't understand, but why does he look so ferocious when he's leading the supporters..
So scary, is this really Inarizaki?
Facing the increasingly intense Inarizaki supporters, Unai, whose head was already throbbing, couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "They're truly amazing, these juniors of today.."
Chapter 502: The 502th Fox
In their deep study of the Jump Float Serve, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi chose completely different paths.
Yamaguchi himself focuses more on the quality of his serve, possessing incredible control over the precision of where the ball lands, he is also excellent at tooling the block.
Tsukishima's serving style is very similar to his own personality; he goes to great lengths to pursue the extreme difficulty of the serve itself, researching whatever techniques can make it harder for his opponents to receive.
It was quite obvious that in terms of timing, Tsukishima had not only studied how to time the very last second, but had also begun researching buzzer-beater plays, inspired by the previous match between Karasuno and Inarizaki.
However.. Tsukishima didn't think that a buzzer-beater would have much of an effect on Inarizaki in such a fast-paced match; it would be better to follow up immediately after a slow-paced play.
Since the conditions aren't sufficient right now, then he'll just have to create them himself.
At the end of his line of sight stood the linesman holding a flag at the edge of the Inarizaki court. Beneath the cover of his sports glasses, Tsukishima's gaze slowly drifted downward, landing on the white line that divided the orange and the lake blue.
The rhythm of one's heartbeat is the best reference for counting down the seconds.
Tsukishima exhaled slowly.
—Eleven.
The moment Hinata counted to eight with his heartbeat, Tsukishima suddenly tossed the ball up in his field of vision.
Tsukishima had played against Shiratorizawa during the Regional Finals with Karasuno, so even in the front row, they had to remain vigilant at all times.
With his center of gravity low, Hinata looked up, watching the ball rise and fall in his field of vision. Immediately following the sound of a short, sharp spike, the ball flew toward them at an extremely high speed without any rotation.
It wasn't a net touch.
The moment he made that judgment, Hinata quickly shifted his center of gravity, leaving the net without looking back, turning his back to the net to create distance between himself and the net.
Unabara Uta had already chased down the ball's position, in the instant it dropped sharply near the baseline, she had already leaped into the air, raising her hands to actively meet the ball.
As her fingers made contact with the ball, she used the strength of her fingertips to pop it toward the area near the front row's Attack Line, controlling the power and precision perfectly.
“What a great First Receive!”
Miya Atsumu praised loudly.
It was not in vain that he and Kumagai had spent so much time training Unabara Uta with Jump Float Serves. In terms of handling Jump Float Serves, Unabara Uta could be said to be on par with top-tier Liberos, it was perfect for him to handle Karasuno's two powerful serves now.
Hinata, who had already retreated to his approach position, moved forward with the momentum, stepping one foot just before the Three-meter Line, leaped toward the highest point in front of the net while jumping off a single foot.
Having secured the ball, Miya Atsumu sent it toward Hinata's hands the very moment he made contact.
Without any hesitation, Hinata swung his arm straight down to spike the ball.
The ball bounced off the floor after a sharp thud, eventually rolling toward the blue advertising boards on the side, only then did Tokita and Yamaguchi dive for it.
With a sharp thud, the ball bounced after hitting the floor and finally rolled to a stop near the blue advertising board railings on the side.
The whistle blew immediately after, declaring that Inarizaki scores and regains the Service Right.
And only at this moment, Tsukishima, who had just finished his serve, finally released his momentum and prepared to straighten his body.
After bending his knees to absorb the impact, Hinata slowly straightened up and shook the hand he had just used to spike.
Bathed in the cheers of the entire crowd, he curled his lips into a smirk, giving Suna, who had completely missed the block on the other side of the net, a classic Miya Atsumu-style crooked smile.
Did you see that?
So this is what their Quick Attack feels like when it's actually in play!
Tanaka stepped in front of Yamaguchi, baring his teeth as he flashed a rather fierce expression at Hinata.
This little fox cub was quite well-behaved the last time he came here; how did he get spoiled by others and start provoking his opponents now?
Yamaguchi raised a hand to scratch his head from behind and said to Tanaka-senpai, "Tanaka-senpai, it's fine, I know how to play it."
Hinata's movements were indeed difficult to read, but he didn't think he could perfectly defend against Hinata either; it was just that the defensive specialist wasn't on the court just now, all he really needed to do was limit the path of the Quick Attack as much as possible.
And now.. he was certain that if he put in the effort, he could still do it.
Tsukishima, who was in the back row preparing to switch with Nishinoya, glanced down at the volleyball that had just landed not far from his feet, he frowned imperceptibly.