But as expected, it's still a matter of the back row receiving.
“Mine, mine, mine!”
On the court, Hinata had already slid into a quick defensive position; he should have been the one to defend this ball. However, he hadn't anticipated this development, by the time he tried to chase it, the ball was already out of reach.
“Mine, mine!” Ginjima also hurriedly took the blame.
The speed of the forward press was just a bit too slow; if only it could have been a little earlier..
Hakuma, on the other side of the net, was visibly excited; he looked at Hinata, silently proclaiming his victory.
Hoshiumi glanced sideways at Hakuma, frowning slightly without saying anything.
Akaashi rubbed his chin. "If Hakuma's scoring ability improves even further, does Karasuno have a chance to exploit a hole in Inarizaki's defense this set?"
Shiratori froze for a moment upon hearing that: "A loophole?"
He let out a light laugh, propping his chin on one hand as he leaned forward to look at everyone on the court. "The fact that the Ace isn't good at defense at this stage doesn't mean the whole team is like that. It's obvious that Inarizaki has been improving in all directions simultaneously this year, at this stage, they have already reached a level where there are no obvious flaws."
“By comparison.. Hakuma's growth rate is clearly a step behind. I don't think he has truly made any breakthrough; that last play had significant flaws, it was just because Inarizaki 'didn't expect it'."
Akaashi nodded in agreement, "It's understandable. With that kind of height, if his technical talent were also equally strong, he'd probably be a world-class monster."
But there's no denying it, if they lose this match, Hakuma will have to take the blame.
Karasuno is currently operating with a dual-core system, with Hoshiumi's performance being flawless, Hakuma's problems have become extremely glaring.
Listening to the conversation between the two, Bokuto-senpai shrugged his shoulders.
But he also felt there was no problem with it, after all.. an Ace is supposed to bear that responsibility.
"In other words, Hakuma is not suited to be the Ace." Shiratori gave the same judgment.
To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.
Watching Hakuma spike toward the center and be blocked, Shiratori let out a soft sigh. "But.. I can understand him."
In a sense, he is actually quite similar to me.
Akaashi tilted his head slightly toward Shiratori.
He wasn't actually that familiar with Shiratori himself; they were friends, but most of their interactions were centered around the "problem-producer" that was Bokuto.
Akaashi did not know much about Shiratori himself or his past.
However, after spending time together these past few days, Akaashi didn't feel like prying into those matters either.
Akaashi smiled, after thinking of something, he asked back, "So, are you also planning to let Bokuto-senpai be the Captain in the future, Shiratori-senpai?"
Shiratori said without a second thought, "Of course."
Bokuto expressed that he was deeply moved: "Natsume—you actually trust me this much!! I definitely won't let you down! I'll be a good Captain!"
Akaashi expressed doubt regarding this statement.
Bokuto could certainly be a great spiritual leader, but.. the team also definitely needed someone to handle the actual business.
Akaashi hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
Forget it, maybe Central Physical Education University will be able to recruit even more suitable people later; when that time comes, let their Coach deal with the headache himself.
Chapter 535: The 535th Fox
After interrupting Miya Atsumu's Service Turn, Karasuno played steadily, not giving Inarizaki any opportunity to score consecutively.
Right now, Suna hasn't rotated to the front row yet, so there is still some distance until the point where Inarizaki can achieve their largest continuous scoring streak..
This is not good news for Karasuno. After all, Hirugami will be on the Service Turn next round, if Bessho is the one coordinating the Block, he won't actually be able to manage Inarizaki's Quick Attack.
Hoshiumi wiped a bead of sweat from the side of his face with his hand and glanced at the scoreboard by the court.
Because they lost a point to Inarizaki right at the opening, it was still Inarizaki's serve.
However, it wouldn't be a major problem; as long as they could stabilize their current state and the score gap, once Inarizaki's form declined and they could no longer maintain such a high-tempo offense, that would be their opportunity.
Of course, he was still very confident in Hinata's physical strength, but.. the brain gets tired too.
He didn't believe that this high-tempo running offense was solely Miya Atsumu's masterpiece. Things like the Quick Attack primarily relied on the spikers themselves to execute, even if Miya Atsumu had six arms, he wouldn't be able to pull it off alone.
Just a little bit.. just a tiny bit of chaos would be enough.
Lowering his center of gravity to receive Ginjima's serve, Takahashi sent the ball as high as possible over Asahina's head.
Hoshiumi from the back row quickly took a running start and moved forward, preparing for a Spike.
With front row Hirugami and Hakuma providing cover for him, his back row rotation could be described as seamless.
As Inarizaki's block came down, Hoshiumi's spike smashed directly over Tokura's head.
Unabara Uta hurriedly tried to retreat, reaching up to touch the ball.
Hoshiumi's spike was aimed at a direct kill, without even adding any spin; it was a pure, heavy line spike.
Unabara Uta, who had rushed over unexpectedly, had an unstable lower body and was nearly knocked over by the ball.
The ball flew straight up and landed back in Karasuno's court.
Takahashi shouted, "Opportunity Ball!!"
Unabara Uta cursed himself inwardly for causing trouble; seeing Hirugami jump from that position, he should have anticipated that the opponent would play a tiered attack.
If he could have reacted in time, he would have had a chance to handle this ball properly.
Hakuma quickly retreated and prepared to move forward for another attack: "Give me the ball!"
Inarizaki was very wary of Hoshiumi; as long as Hoshiumi's condition wasn't compromised by receiving, they basically provided an effective attack or cover on almost every ball.
Relatively speaking, the only one who had been staring at him was Tokura, so his attacking conditions were excellent..
As Tokura's attention was drawn away by Hirugami and Hoshiumi, Asahina, noticing this, passed the ball without hesitation into the hands of Hakuma Mebuki at Position 4.
Without having looked at Hakuma from beginning to end, Tokura moved two steps sideways and lunged in front of Hakuma, following Hinata.
They said they were watching Hakuma, but in reality, it was Hinata who was responsible for marking the opponent from this position; he only needed to make temporary adjustments based on the reaction provided by the setter.
After all.. Hakuma's quick attack was a total mess!
Facing the three-man block closing in on him, Hakuma couldn't help but feel a flicker of hesitation in his heart as he prepared to spike.
Can a direct spike.. score?
Hakuma's body had not fully developed yet, due to his large build, training for his jumping was almost strictly prohibited.
His contact point was actually entirely due to his height itself, his jumping technique was practically zero.
Because of this, despite being over thirty centimeters taller than Hinata, his performance in terms of vertical reach was not much different from Hinata's.
Hinata was already positioned here; by stepping back two steps and then moving forward, his block was not much different from a spike.
Tokura's fundamentals were developed during his first year playing in the Second String alongside Hinata. Because of this, Hinata had ample experience coordinating with him, allowing the two of them to time their jumps to reach the maximum height almost perfectly, effectively shutting down the path of Hakuma's spike.
Hakuma's intuition told him that he should have spiked the ball straight down, but another voice in his head told him that everyone on the other side was an expert at touching the ball, there was an eighty percent chance this ball would turn into an opportunity for the opponent's offense.
He couldn't let that happen.
Whether it was Coach Kurosu or Hirugami, everyone had high expectations for him, he absolutely, absolutely could not lose this Opportunity Ball.
With his mind racing, Hakuma cast his gaze toward Tokura's fingers.
He had just used a tooling the block, he remembered that when the block is in that state, it is the best time to use a tooling the block—
Watching Hakuma's movement, Hinata's pupils dilated slightly.
Tokura's lips curled up imperceptibly.
—Got it.
In the next second, two consecutive sounds of contact rang out, the ball then grazed Hakuma's body before falling back into Karasuno's court.
Hinata and Tokura adjusted their blocking arms simultaneously as if they had expected it, on the side near Tokura, the two of them worked together to press down and block the ball back.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scored consecutively.
In the stands, Amatori gasped, "Whoa, the balance has been broken.."
Oori Ren clapped his hands: "Beautiful Block."
He admitted to himself that he couldn't do it; the growth of these juniors was astonishing, they had already far surpassed him.
Aran felt a bit sour about the situation: "We're being played like fools.."
Tokura and Hinata learned well from Suna; one could even say they had been laying the groundwork from the very beginning.
Hakuma had also faced environments with a high frequency of touches at the net during blocks before, knowing that his own powerful spike could potentially fall into Inarizaki's trap, he clearly chose to attempt a technical ball this time.
This was entirely predictable and didn't even require much thought. Because.. this was exactly the kind of opening Tokura and the others intended to leave for Hakuma.
After trying every possible method, Hakuma, who had always been invincible thanks to his proud height, must have been quite discouraged.
After all, even if Hakuma's technique isn't strong, the number of times he has been shut down by a block is quite limited; most of the time, he can send the ball over.
The whistle seemed to still ring in his ears. Hakuma tilted his head slightly to watch the ball roll down by the sideline, momentarily unsure of how he should be feeling.
A sense of helplessness welled up in his heart, he felt a bit lost.
It feels like.. no matter what kind of ball is played, he can't score.
Is this the end?
A voice came from across the Net, leaving Hakuma momentarily dazed.
He lowered his head and met a pair of eyes filled with confusion, a hint of dissatisfaction.
In that instant, Hakuma tossed all those vague emotions to the back of his mind.
He stared intently at Hinata, a fighting spirit even more intense than before rising in his eyes: "You've got to be kidding me, it's only just beginning."
Watching Hakuma leave, Tokura reached out and gave Hinata a thumbs up. "So provocative."
Exactly, just let your emotions run even higher like this, then make even more unwise decisions!
Hinata looked back at Tokura with a dead serious expression: "I wasn't provoking you."
Tokura nodded perfunctorily, "Right, right, right, you didn't."