Hoshiumi kept his eyes fixed on the ball, lowering his center of gravity as he prepared to jump.
Tokura and Ginjima from the opposing side had already caught up, following closely after Hoshiumi jumped, using their height advantage to press down from above and seal off the path for Hoshiumi's Spike.
Hoshiumi's gaze shifted toward Hinata's position on the right, Hinata had already followed up, reaching out in an attempt to fill the gap in the block.
But Hoshiumi's ability to seize opportunities was incredibly strong; while Hinata was moving diagonally, Hoshiumi had already spiked the ball toward the top edge of the net.
He used a lot of strength to ensure the ball could clear the net, while simultaneously controlling his body to avoid touching the net.
Hinata frowned as he reached out to touch the ball, preventing it from falling between him and the Net.
"Nice." Ginjima stepped back while using his hands to dig the ball up.
Tokura seized the opportunity, jumping to attempt a Spike.
But the situation with this ball wasn't great; there was no opportunity for a Spike, so in the end, he could only rely on his decent hang time to Dump the ball over.
Takahashi, who had just scrambled up, rushed over quickly and saved the ball.
The ball wasn't that high, Asahina wasn't confident he could set it well, so he once again sent up a high ball to Position 4.
But.. this time, his set was relatively further back.
Behind the already jumping Hoshiumi, Hakuma had already leaped up, putting his full strength into spiking the ball.
Thud!
A heavy thud exploded in everyone's ears, causing Ginjima and Tokura to recoil backward from the impact as the ball flew diagonally out of bounds.
Unabara Uta's reaction speed was quite fast; he immediately bolted after it, successfully making a back receive before the ball could fly over the railing.
“Atsumu-senpai!”
Tokura raised his hand to call for the ball, but Miya Atsumu didn't look at him at all, instead sending a set toward Position 4 on the side.
Hoshiumi and Hirugami noticed something was wrong almost immediately. This ball wasn't for Hinata; just like Karasuno's previous offense, it was a back-four.
Hirugami, Hoshiumi, Asahina gathered in front of the ball, the three of them deadlocking the path of Miya Osamu's Spike.
At the moment Miya Osamu spiked, Hirugami adjusted his blocking angle and blocked the ball.
Unabara Uta rushed back onto the court at top speed, stretching his body to the limit and managing to receive the ball just before it hit the floor.
This time, Miya Atsumu's praise was much more sincere: "Beautiful!!"
As Miya Atsumu rushed forward, he lowered his center of gravity. As his knees slid against the floor, his leaning body reached an extremely low point, allowing him to touch the ball.
Hinata and Tokura quickly completed their rotation. While Miya Osamu performed another approach feint at Position 4, Hinata had already rushed to the edge near Position 2.
Hirugami and Hoshiumi quickly followed up, cutting off Hinata's path for the Sharp Cross.
Hinata jumped off one foot, his body leaning toward the Sharp Cross. Because it wasn't a running jump, it was quite difficult to adjust his trajectory into a Line.
Staring at Hirugami's hand, Hinata's fingertips were about to touch the ball.
—A dump.
Hoshiumi, having instantly read Hinata's intention, pressed forward as much as possible, but in that very instant, Hinata's hand snapped upward from the top of the ball without even touching it, before turning to press down toward Karasuno's sideline.
Hakuma had already rotated to the other side, Norikura Isao and Takahashi chased after the ball from different directions, but in the end, neither of them could reach it.
The whistle blew again. Inarizaki 2, Karasuno 0.
Hinata gave a small laugh. "A total victory for Unabara!"
Unabara, who had already stood up, raised his hand to high-five Hinata: "Nice one, Shoyo!"
Unabara Uta was able to save that ball just now because he is tall enough; a height of over 1.8 meters also brings sufficient leg and arm length.
And it would be very difficult for Takahashi to dive back and save the ball; it might be possible if his physical condition were better, relying on his starting speed and agility, but right now, Unabara Uta clearly had the advantage in every aspect.
Miya Atsumu walked over to Hinata and waved a hand at him: "Shoyo, don't forget about me."
Hinata raised his hands high, leaning his whole body slightly backward, then slapped Miya Atsumu's hand with all his might: "Atsumu-ge! I'm going to watch those last two points over and over again! It must have been incredibly cool!"
"It'll be in our highlight reel." As he spoke, Miya Atsumu glanced over at Unabara Uta.
Unabara Uta shrugged his shoulders.
What's wrong? What's wrong with him now! Why is he glaring at him again! Can he decide who Hinata high-fives first?!
Aran narrowed his eyes in the stands. "Bullying a junior like that.. what a demon."
Kita Shinsuke rarely agreed with others, but even he chimed in: "Atsumu is indeed too harsh."
Chapter 530: The Five Hundred and Thirtieth Fox
Go Atsumu-ge! Get one more point!
Scanning the tense and serious expressions of the Karasuno members, Miya Atsumu felt a sense of joy more wonderful than ever before.
That's right, a serve.. it has to produce this kind of effect.
Takahashi's face turned pale.
He knew he was being targeted, and.. he had no effective means to counter it.
Inarizaki hadn't produced any effective high-intensity offense during these two rounds, yet he already felt like he was falling behind.
According to the tournament schedule, Karasuno had drawn an exceptionally lucky hand; from the first day until now, Karasuno remained undefeated.
But to their surprise.. Inarizaki had also fought their way through in such a low-loss state.
Based on the previous match alone, Inarizaki had completely analyzed Itachiyama, to the point that they hadn't even finished a single set using their regular starting lineup in the first two sets.
Although it was true that Itachiyama was indeed more difficult to deal with because of Kumagai, the result was still shocking.
Because of this, Hinata and Miya Atsumu actually spent yesterday's Semifinals in a relatively composed state.
Additionally, the Libero position, which is the most heavily taxed at Inarizaki, is rotated between the two, so even though the workload is massive, it is actually easier when split up than it would be for him alone.
At this moment, the Inarizaki members standing on the court were clearly in much better condition than the Karasuno members.
Generally speaking, this actually defies common logic. After all, many of the players rotated by Inarizaki in the early stages were core players.
In an ordinary team, the departure of a core player will inevitably lead to changes in the team's tactics; if the substitutes' skill levels decline, it could even cause the entire team to collapse.
And as for how they handled this.. Inarizaki could be described as being quite blunt and direct.
—Their choice was to dump all the pressure onto their Vice-Captain, Miya Osamu.
Whatever was lacking was supplemented; it could be said that in the early stages of the match, they used Miya Osamu's versatility and ability to handle pressure to pave the way for the others.
Sweat overflowed from Takahashi's forehead, running down his cheeks and dripping onto the floor.
That is a true monster.
Behind Hinata, Miya Osamu tilted his head slightly to look up at the large screen above the opposite stands, which displayed the score of the match along with an electronic timer.
It would be impossible to say he wasn't tired.
Among all the Inarizaki members, he was the only one who had been on the court for the entire duration from the first day until now, without even having a substitute server come on for him during critical points.
But his own task wasn't that heavy; if he didn't have to jump frequently, his consumption throughout a match was far less than Hinata's.
And.. this was his duty from the start, a different way of protecting the Ace.
Just like the daily morning routine after waking up, it was a task that had to be completed.
What he had to do today was also very simple: protect Hinata while scoring as many points as possible.
This was difficult. Given that his physical strength was already nearly exhausted, Atsumu-senpai's request was nothing short of unreasonable.
But he still agreed.
After all.. neither he nor the other Inarizaki members had any interest in playing a full five sets against the Karasuno members.
It's just about scoring points. Before Hinata arrived, he had always been the one to handle this task.
He and Hinata were both in the Left Wing, with Hinata even positioned between him and Suna; as long as Unabara Uta could cover the back court, their Quick Attack would definitely be even more terrifying than before.
Finally..
Let's mess around together one more time.
The moment the sound of the hit rang in his ears, Osamu slightly curled his lips into a smirk.
Takahashi gritted his teeth, stepped sideways, used his arms to cut off the path of the ball.
After receiving two balls, he had already slightly adapted to Miya Atsumu's serve.
With this level of intensity, Miya Atsumu certainly wouldn't be able to control his serve as he pleased.
His positioning was already quite close to the corner, further pressuring Miya Atsumu's serve space. By exploiting the fact that Miya Atsumu would be focused on him, he could force the opponent to serve with a fixed rotation angle..
The moment Takahashi saw the trajectory of the ball, he knew he had made the right bet.
As his arm made contact with the volleyball, he had intended to stabilize his center of gravity, but the ball was a bit too heavy, the sweat on his arm caused it to slip slightly.
Takahashi was knocked straight back onto the floor, while the ball fell out of bounds at a very high angle.
Asahina decisively circled around the outside of the Net and rushed to the outer side of the Inarizaki side.
The ball did not enter the Inarizaki court inside the boundary line; as long as he could pass it back from the outside, there would be no problem.
Hoshiumi glanced at the ball's position, constructing the angle from which it might be tossed back in his mind.
The ball might be a bit far from him when it reaches him, so he'd better create some distance..
Just as Hoshiumi had anticipated, the ball was successfully sent back by Asahina, the spin was handled as well as possible, giving him enough space for a Spike.
Staring at Tokura and Ginjima, who had already chased after the ball, Hoshiumi, who hadn't jumped particularly high for this ball, raised his hands and spiked the ball toward the space between the two.
Tokura twisted his body nimbly, using one hand to block the ball's path and slamming it back down into Karasuno's court.
The ball slammed directly into Hoshiumi's shoulder during its descent, bouncing almost straight up.
Hoshiumi's pupils contracted, with incredibly fast reflexes, he raised his hand the moment he landed, using the momentum to send the ball back toward the court behind him.
The contact during the block didn't count as a touch. When the ball hit him, he hadn't touched the ground yet, so that touch with his hand was the first touch.
Asahina was too far away and had no way to move in to set the ball.
Hirugami turned and chased after the ball, leaning his body backward to use his hands to back receive the ball in front of the net.