Amatori, who had been staring at the 2m height on the court for a while, finally couldn't help but ask a soul-searching question: "Um.. what exactly is Hakuma doing?"
Iizuna smiled. "I don't know, but I think Hoshiumi is about to scold him."
Hakuma certainly didn't make any major mistakes during these two rounds, but.. he also didn't score much.
The ball was indeed sent over in various ways, but his clumsy technique lacked the ability to score through skill; instead, it gave Inarizaki opportunities for counter-attack scoring.
Hakuma is in great condition right now; theoretically, it shouldn't be like this.
Amatori crossed his arms over his chest, pursing his lips as he stared at Hakuma on the court: "Tsk, watching this is making me a bit frustrated."
“Once he gets under my wing, I'm going to give him a proper education.”
As a Wing Spiker, a spiker who enjoys much more comfortable attacking conditions under the protection of the Ace, what on earth is this guy doing?
Inarizaki's Block is indeed difficult to deal with, but they don't possess the ability to directly shut down Hakuma.
Touching the ball requires a lot of care, because if you don't handle it well, you'll get injured. If you touch it too many times, your fingers will hurt, your reactions will be slowed down by your body's instincts, causing your pressure to weaken as the game progresses.
No matter the situation, a direct spike is the right choice.
But Karasuno had used their two time-outs in this set—one to disrupt Inarizaki's offensive rhythm, the other to deal with Takahashi's eye issue; now, there were no more time-outs left.
The back-row attack struggled to take a single point from Inarizaki. Seeing the score had been leveled, Hoshiumi turned his head while simultaneously grabbing Hakuma by the front of his shirt. "Hey, what on earth are you doing out there?"
Hakuma didn't react for a moment: "Huh?"
Under the Head Referee's gaze, Hoshiumi let go of his hands and said somewhat anxiously, "You were certainly direct with that spike just now."
Watching Hakuma's expression, Hoshiumi clicked his tongue.
He hesitated for half a second, but ultimately spoke up: "You haven't understood the situation at all.. If I don't make it clear, I'm afraid you won't understand."
Hoshiumi paused, the hurtful words that were about to leave his mouth were ultimately rephrased: "Get your head in the game. The opponents aren't that scary. Spike right through them!"
“Didn't you always say you were stronger than me? Well, you certainly scored more points than me.”
Hirugami's expression remained unchanged.
Hoshiumi still didn't say anything definitive, but it was true.. perhaps for Hakuma, taunting would be a bit more effective.
Hakuma's technique was completely inadequate; the only reason he could hold a starting position on Karasuno's team was ultimately because he possessed sufficient height and strength, as Karasuno needed him to reach over the net and spike the ball down.
If he cannot do this, or does not dare to, then Hakuma loses the very meaning of standing on this court.
Hoshiumi reached out his hand, pointing from afar toward Hinata on the other side of the net: "Shoyo is much stronger than you."
Hinata, who had been called out by name, hadn't actually heard clearly what the two of them had been saying before, but he heard this one sentence clearly.
He stood with his hands on his hips and lifted his head with great pride. "Of course! That's why I will definitely win!"
The Head Referee urged both sides to quickly take their positions and prepare for the next ball. Hoshiumi didn't have time to say anything more, so he could only give Hakuma one last glare before returning to his position.
He had said all he had to say; if Hakuma still couldn't figure out the situation, he was prepared to have the Coach make a substitution.
Hakuma indeed hadn't figured it out yet, nor had he thought that much about it.
His head was filled with nothing but Hoshiumi's last words.
Is he not as good as Hinata?
Are you kidding me?
Hoshiumi might indeed be better than him in some ways, but saying that Inarizaki's chirping Little One is stronger than him?
Hakuma did not want to accept it; his brain, already irrational due to exhaustion, was swallowed by surging emotions.
Regardless, when all things were considered, he would be the ultimate winner.
Height is the greatest weapon in volleyball, the winner will be him!
He was going to smash Hinata into the ground!!
As Hinata turned back to head to his position with his back to the net, he immediately locked eyes with Hakuma Mebuki's eyes, which seemed to be spitting fire.
He subconsciously shrank his neck, but as soon as he thought about how Hoshiumi had just said he was stronger, he regained his confidence.
Hakuma played without much spirit; after discussing it with Miya Atsumu just now, he had basically grasped the situation over at Karasuno.
Tokura put enough psychological pressure on Hakuma, although he is not on the court right now, Suna is also doing quite well in this regard. Combined with Hakuma being in the back row now, Suna's block height is actually more than sufficient.
Having grasped this, they could now use this approach to counterattack.
Norikura Isao of Karasuno serves.
Norikura Isao glanced at the backs of Hoshiumi and Hakuma with some concern.
Even though these two don't usually get along, arguing on the court.. well, it's not like it's the first time.. so it should be fine.. right?
Watching Coach Kurosu prepare to submit a substitution request, Rishia, who had been lost in thought, suddenly spoke up: "Coach, Atsumu-senpai's condition is fine, so.. I have an idea."
Chapter 538: The Five Hundred and Thirty-Eighth Fox
Kumagai leaned back slightly, trying to hear what Rishia and Coach Kurosu were saying.
But the two of them spoke for only a short time, the Coach even nodded in agreement without even thinking about it.
—Kumagai felt as if he was being isolated by the Coach and Rishia.
After interrupting Norikura Isao's service turn, the service right passed to Miya Osamu.
Osamu raised his arms, wiped the sweat from the side of his face with the fabric on his shoulder, let out a long breath.
After playing these two sets, he was also struggling a little to keep up with the rhythm. But it didn't matter; he could still hold on. For the sake of final victory, there was nothing wrong with pushing himself just a little bit harder.
The whistle sounded in his ears, Miya Osamu lowered his eyes, quietly counting down the seconds.
It was still a toss at the very last second of the service time limit.
During this Haruko tournament, his timing never faltered once.
Takahashi also knew very well that Miya Osamu intended to play this way, he stared at the opponent's movements with total concentration.
Miya Osamu's recent spiking form was nowhere near as good as before, indicating that his condition had also suffered a serious decline; perhaps his serve power would also decrease accordingly..
The ball in his field of vision dropped after reaching its peak, Miya Osamu also completed his approach.
The sound of a heavy spike rang in his ears as the volleyball, spinning rapidly, flew over the net and slammed down directly in front of Takahashi.
A look of unmistakable shock flashed across Takahashi's face, but his body had already reacted a step ahead.
BANG!!
As his vision spun, a sense of absurdity flashed through Takahashi's mind.
Is this guy.. some kind of volleyball machine?
Not only does he not get tired, but he even controls the power and spin of the ball perfectly, maintaining high consistency with every previous serve, he even has the leisure to come over and attack him!
The consequence of not stabilizing one's lower body is being knocked backward by the ball, but fortunately, the ball had already flown up at a very high angle, so it would not affect Karasuno's subsequent offense.
As Takahashi was forced into a back roll, Asahina had already moved into position to chase the ball.
Hoshiumi and Bessho in the front row were already prepared for the attack, he did not call for Hakuma to perform a tiered attack.
Among all the spikers at Karasuno, Hakuma's efficiency in executing a combination attack is the lowest.
After all.. no one can block him. If he were to attack, his concealment would be effectively zero.
Under Bessho's cover, Asahina precisely set the ball to Hoshiumi, who was jumping at Position 4 for Karasuno.
Suna and Miya Atsumu rushed toward the ball, the two of them blocking the path in front of Hoshiumi.
The height of this ball was given quite beautifully. Even with Hoshiumi jumping with all his strength, they had no way of completely smashing it down, nor could they handle Hoshiumi the way they had handled Hakuma, as everyone had witnessed Hoshiumi's technical ball skills.
Rather than trying to spike it straight down, Inarizaki's approach to handling Hoshiumi was actually quite similar to how Karasuno handled Hinata; it was mainly about restricting the ball's trajectory and shifting the responsibility of defense to the back-row players.
Hoshiumi aimed for the sideline of Inarizaki and spiked the ball at maximum speed.
Miya Osamu, who had just finished his serve, had already retreated to defense; predicting Hoshiumi's ball trajectory, he positioned himself right in its path and successfully received the ball.
“Atsumu!” he called out to his twin brother.
"Nice!" Miya Atsumu praised, while quickly moving to follow the ball. As his body leaned backward, his fingers made contact with the ball, sending it into a beautiful flat ball toward the target position.
His movement was completely unmasked, but for Suna, who was preparing to spike this ball, it was already the best possible ball.
The Flat Ball ensured the speed of this play, in order to defend their Position 4, Karasuno's overall Block configuration was biased toward the other side; at this speed, Asahina and Bessho could not keep up.
Moreover, Hoshiumi himself has a height disadvantage here; no matter how high he jumps, he can't keep up with his Quick Attack.
Moreover..
He also had no reason to go head-to-head with the Block.
Suna twisted his waist to his left, swinging his arm down with the ball, forcibly changing the trajectory of what was meant to be a sharp cross into a line shot.
Takahashi, having rolled back up, was rushing back to defend near the net; the moment he arrived at the ball's location, he lunged toward his right side, managing to make contact with Suna's spike.
"Tsk." Suna couldn't help but let out a small click of his tongue.
Hoshiumi's spirit was instantly uplifted: "Nice one, Ai! One more!!"
As Takahashi used both his hands and feet to try and scramble up, Asahina had already chased down the ball near the outer edge of the court.
He slightly lowered his center of gravity, as he raised his body, he reached his arms forward, preparing to touch the ball.
His height was indeed third from the bottom in Karasuno, but he was still over 1.8m, although this ball was set high, he could keep up with it just by taking a short approach.
Hoshiumi-senpai was being guarded very closely by Suna, Bessho's spike lacked some power, while the Libero was on his side; no matter how you looked at it, it wasn't a good option.
At a time like this..
Asahina's peripheral vision swept toward Hakuma, who had already retreated to the baseline to take his approach, he applied a bit more force with his left hand, sending the ball toward the Three-meter Line.
The moment Hakuma saw the ball flying toward him, he had already made his decision.
He took a large step forward and leaped forcefully, timing his jump with the ball's position.
It wasn't a Quick Attack, Inarizaki's Block moved along with the ball, gathering three people into an Iron Wall in the center to press firmly against Hakuma.
Hakuma's hitting point didn't have as much of an advantage in the case of a back-row attack; even they could definitely block it as long as they timed it correctly.
Glancing at the three players at the Inarizaki block, Hakuma was also calculating in his own mind.