Well, he admitted that he was indeed a bit startled.
Previously, he had only seen Inarizaki's quick attacks on video. Although he had mentally prepared himself for the fact that they would be faster in person than on video, when he actually faced them.. he truly still couldn't react in time.
But it didn't matter; he had already memorized that feeling. Once he rotated back to the front row..
As he high-fived Nishinoya, Tsukishima asked softly, "Nishinoya-senpai, did you see it?"
Nishinoya patted Tsukishima's arm and walked toward the court with firm steps: "I saw it, don't worry."
With his feet spread wider than his shoulders, Nishinoya raised his hand and pointed toward Hinata on the other side of the net.
Bring it on! I'm right here!
Hinata's face was full of excitement: "Nishinoya-senpai!"
No matter when it is, playing against a server with such a powerful serve truly brings a sense of excitement!
He raised his hand and shouted to the Setter, "Atsumu-ge! Give me the ball!"
Miya Atsumu gave a light smile. "Shoyo is very energetic today."
Miya Osamu glanced at Hinata and Kageyama, who were glaring at each other, replied softly, "After all, this is the long-awaited moment of true revenge for him."
Facing Kageyama in a formal match on the court—this was perhaps the obsession that had never left Hinata's mind.
When they went to Karasuno for the training match previously, they did indeed win, but at that time, they could all feel that Hinata was somewhat dissatisfied with that match.
Of course, it wasn't that they were dissatisfied with their opponents, but rather that they could sense Hinata's sense of emptiness.
Just like that faint sensation Hinata once gave off, the King should not be like that, the opponents they expected should not stop at that level.
Can an opponent clearly feel whether a team has finished their coordination? That former Karasuno was clearly not a complete team.
And the opponent standing before them now.. is the one they have long awaited, a truly powerful opponent full of fighting spirit.
Not just Hinata, but even he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement and joy.
Suna lightly spun the volleyball in his hands.
A buzzer-beater is meant to be a sudden surprise when the tempo of the match is slow enough, so that it can achieve the maximum effect.
Thanks to Karasuno's number 7, that last-second serve just created an opportunity for him.
The moment the Head Referee blew his whistle, Suna suddenly raised his hand and tossed the ball.
He took a large stride forward, jumped in front of the end line, raised his hand to deliver a heavy spike.
With a slight twist of the waist and upper body, the ball did not fly out in a straight line, but instead traced an arc, dropping from diagonally above to below.
Sitting on the Karasuno Coach's bench, Tsukishima nodded, turning his head to watch the ball with an expression of teeth-gritting frustration.
Damn it.. in the end, did we just create the environment for our opponent?
As expected, it is difficult to change the serving conditions by actively creating an environment when you are in a situation where you cannot score consecutive points.
Nishinoya Yu, who was positioned slightly further back, reacted instantly. He took a lateral step, lowered his center of gravity, squared his shoulders toward the ball.
His split-second judgment allowed him to complete the receiving movement successfully; no matter how tricky the ball was, Nishinoya had delivered a perfect response at this moment.
The entire stadium erupted in an instant, with two consecutive cheers, each louder than the last.
The former was for Suna's exquisite control of the ball's trajectory, the latter was praise for the defender.
Tanaka, having already taken a wide approach, shouted for the set: "Give me the ball!!"
Kageyama, who had already taken his position, arched his back into a beautiful curve, setting the ball to a high point near Position 4 while giving Tanaka enough space to make his play.
Even though Tokura and Hinata had already lunged toward that area, Kageyama was confident that Tanaka could overcome the block of those two.
After all.. he is their Ace!
A heavy thud exploded across the court. Hinata reacted with lightning speed, leaning his body slightly backward to flatten his hands and make contact with the ball at the very last moment.
As his center of gravity was thrown off, he also shouted loudly, "Touch!"
Miya Osamu stepped forward quickly, preparing to receive the ball that Hinata had popped up.
Coach Kurosu shouted loudly from the sidelines, "Great play!! Follow it!"
Hinata landed on one foot, using his powerful sense of balance to force himself into a stable stance, without falling or affecting his subsequent offense.
In the stands, Coach Utsunomiya whispered to Coach Himegomiya beside him, "Did you see that? Karasuno's Libero?"
Coach Himegomiya asked back, "I saw him. What about it?"
Why ask about her lover's future apprentice? Is Utsunomiya still not satisfied even with Komori?
Watching Nishinoya receive Rishia's ball and send it toward the front row attack line, Coach Utsunomiya nodded repeatedly: "It's a pity Komori has already decided to come here; otherwise, this child would indeed be worth recruiting."
I'm considering whether or not to recommend him to the professional teams, but I remember this player didn't make it into the Junior National Team training camp, so his reputation might not be enough.
On the court, Kageyama and Tokita completed a perfect rotation around the attack line; Tokita passed the ball to the center of the front row, Kageyama, who had already rushed there to jump, delivered a heavy spike that slammed down toward the three-meter line of Inarizaki's front row.
Accompanied by a heavy thud echoing through the court, the whistle blew immediately after, as Kageyama scored with a spike.
Coach Himegomiya replied expressionlessly, "He is from Chidorigayama; Shiratorizawa considered inviting him, but he didn't go."
Now it was Coach Utsunomiya's turn to be surprised: "Why?"
He said that it was impossible for such an outstanding Libero to have no reputation at all.
Speaking of Chidorigayama, he remembered that there was indeed a very famous junior high school libero a few years ago, but he later went missing along with Kageyama.
In the end.. did they all end up at Karasuno?
“Wait, how do you know so much?” Coach Utsunomiya asked suspiciously.
Coach Himegomiya made a peace sign with her fingers. "Ah, my partner successfully poached him; he came to Central Physical Education University to play beach volleyball during his college years."
She flashed a row of white, neat teeth at her old colleague. "I actually quite like him; he has a lot of personality."
“For example.. his reason for not accepting the invitation from a strong local school in Miyagi Prefecture was that he thought their uniforms weren't as good-looking as Karasuno's.”
Coach Utsunomiya's eyes went dark: "Isn't that even more ridiculous!"
On the court, Kageyama gave a slight nod toward Hinata, whom he had just spiked past, declaring his victory.
Hinata raised his hand, pointed to himself, then pointed to the scoreboard by the side of the court, held up one finger toward Kageyama.
You didn't win.
We, Inarizaki.
Still leading.
Chapter 503: The Five Hundred and Third Fox
Kageyama's temple twitched as he narrowed his eyes at Hinata across from him, but ultimately, he said nothing.
He understood Hinata's meaning, there really wasn't much to refute.
Once Karasuno takes the lead back, he will return those words to Hinata.
Watching Kageyama compete with the senior from Inarizaki on the opposite side, Tokita silently blinked while preparing to serve.
To be honest, he still found it somewhat unbelievable that he could become a regular starter at Karasuno in his first year, but he also understood that the opportunity was mainly due to tactical adjustments.
After all, if they were to use a traditional single-setter tactic, Karasuno still had other wing spikers they could use.
But the problem was that Karasuno's truly exceptional players were only Kageyama and Nishinoya, if you counted carefully, Tsukishima as well. Because of this, their tactical priority was to maximize Kageyama's advantages as an all-around player.
Now that he has moved to the back row, he often has to act as the setter.
As a fellow Setter, he had actually tried to seek advice from Kageyama, who was his senior, on a technical level. After all, Kageyama was the most outstanding Setter in the prefecture during the high school stage, he had trusted him from the very beginning.
Even though Kageyama accepted his requests for advice without hesitation, the problem was that he couldn't understand Kageyama's guidance; many times, he couldn't even comprehend it and had no way to simulate Kageyama's playstyle.
Fortunately, since their coach Ukai was a former setter himself, he was still able to receive guidance from Coach Ukai, so he wasn't left completely in the dark and forced to rely solely on online lessons.
However, when it came to certain techniques Kageyama wanted, they still faced many difficulties during their private communications.
So.. when teaching proved difficult, Kageyama would often activate extra cheat functions.
—For example, seeking advice from High School's Best Setter.
Setting aside the issue of Miya Atsumu being unable to answer more than one out of every ten calls, most of the guidance he provided was perfect; one could even say he possessed the aura of a "master teacher."
But considering how amazing Miya Atsumu is and how Inarizaki is a famously strong school, it's understandable that training for the Inarizaki Volleyball Club would be even more hectic than Karasuno's, leaving him with no time to answer calls.
However, this was still the first time Tokita had seen this Miya Atsumu-senpai in the real world, he couldn't help but feel..
He was quite different from the image he had imagined.
Tokita smiled and silently weighed the volleyball in his hands.
The whistle blew in his ears, the Head Referee signaled for him to serve.
Tokita Sora's serve was equally cautious; just like Tsukishima's previous strategy, he tried his best to time the serve to the very last second of the time limit.
However, his execution was still not skilled enough, failing to perfectly time the final second of the countdown.
Unabara Uta was startled; he was just about to read the final second when the opposing server suddenly tossed the ball.
Startled, he almost committed a movement violation.
Tokita Sora's serve was different from the video Unabara Uta had seen; this time, he used a jump float serve with a particularly sharp angle.
Unabara Uta's expression froze for a moment. The instant Tokita struck the ball, he quickly retreated, pulling back enough distance to give himself space to react.
His mind raced as he tried to judge the state of the ball.
Was it out? Or was it in?
Unabara closed his eyes, giving up on it, just decided to act as if it hadn't gone out.
He took a step back and jumped, raising his hands to face the ball.
With a light thud, as the ball flew into the air, Miya Atsumu's face darkened beside it.
That Unabara guy.. why did he even try to receive that? That ball was an out ball!
It wasn't until he landed that Unabara Uta realized something was wrong.
However, he noticed that Miya Atsumu, who had stepped forward to prepare for a set, didn't praise him, which came as a bit of a surprise.