Even though Hoshiumi had just urged him to go for a direct spike, for some reason, he felt that now was not the right time.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Hakuma's hand slowed its downward momentum just as it was about to make contact with the ball, lightly tapping it instead of spiking it.
The ball flew toward a higher position, passing over Inarizaki's block and falling toward the back court.
Unabara Uta dove from the back row, making a diving save to keep the ball alive.
"Sorry! Atsumu-senpai!!" he shouted, calling out to Miya Atsumu.
Hakuma's back-row dump was indeed quite sudden; he almost failed to react in time..
The set was poor; the height was insufficient, the placement was bad.
Miya Atsumu didn't seem to mind much; he still stepped forward, positioning his body's center line directly in the ball's trajectory, bent his knees as much as possible to lower his body and reach out to touch the ball.
He sent the ball out, directing it toward Ginjima at Position 4.
Bessho was right there; while capturing the ball's shadow in his field of vision, he and Asahina had already moved to follow it, on the other side, Hoshiumi also lunged out diagonally, cutting off Ginjima's path for a sharp cross.
By coordinating with the back row, Takahashi had effectively sealed off all of Ginjima's spiking routes.
Ginjima's gaze was locked tightly on the Net in front of him.
Although he was inferior to his junior in both technique and awareness, he still possessed a fair amount of brute strength.
Since he wasn't going to leave him any room for a spike.. then he would just have to spike right through the block!
BANG!!
Two heavy thuds rang out in succession as Bessho, his body tensed, slammed his hands down, driving the ball directly back into Inarizaki's court.
Unabara Uta dove toward the ball once again, touching it with one hand.
One more time!
"Nice save!" Miya Atsumu gave Unabara Uta his most sincere compliment of the day.
Ginjima, whose spike failed to score, raised his hand again in a refusal to lose, calling for the ball: "Left Wing!"
After performing a fake set, Miya Atsumu pulled the ball toward his back, Hinata, who had already prepared himself, raised his hands to perform a spike under Suna's front-row cover.
Hoshiumi followed up in time; although he was a bit late, he managed to complete the one-touch from a back position: "One-touch!"
Takahashi, approaching this side, quickly followed up, using his hands to bump the ball: "Kongming!"
Asahina looked up at the ball at the net, while simultaneously taking an inconspicuous step toward Position 2.
Most tosses toward Position 2 are flat balls, intended to coordinate with the strong attacker in Position 4 for an open attack or a quick attack score, so many times the setter will try to get as close to that area as possible to shorten the ball's path.
But.. it was a feint.
Suna quickly deduced the purpose of Asahina's movement.
This was Asahina's usual trick; by doing so, he would expose his position while in the back row, effectively offering a weakness to his opponent and working in coordination with the front row's Block.
In this regard, the measures Inarizaki chose to take were..
Forget the setter; they were going all out to smash the opponent's Libero.
And now, this clumsy feint in the offensive coordination posed no threat to him; the true target of this ball was Hoshiumi at Position 4.
A split second before the ball was sent out, Suna's center of gravity had already shifted toward Hoshiumi.
Hoshiumi, who had already lowered his body in preparation to jump, noticed it.
The ball came right in front of him, Inarizaki's three-man block converged at that exact moment.
At the exact moment Suna's hands pressed down following Hoshiumi's movement, Hoshiumi did not touch the ball.
The ball continued forward along its original trajectory, grazing the net beside the antenna and flying into Inarizaki's court.
Miya Osamu's reaction time was incredibly fast; he lunged forward in a diving save to keep the ball alive.
Hoshiumi curled the corners of his mouth.
Miya Osamu's diving to save this ball meant he had no capacity to participate in the subsequent counterattack and offense; this gap had to be filled by Hinata, who was also in the back row.
In this way, Inarizaki was left without two important offensive points.
Miya Atsumu was a little irritated, but he still gave the ball to Suna steadily.
Restricted by Karasuno's block, Suna changed his spike trajectory once again, hitting a sharp cross at an extremely narrow angle.
Norikura Isao saved the ball, sending it toward Position 4 near Karasuno's front half.
Beautiful!!
Asahina followed up, preparing to set the ball.
From his position, he had no way to perform a feint; the height of the ball was insufficient, he also lacked the ability to give Hoshiumi a toss that was high enough to be out of reach..
Right at that moment, he noticed that Hakuma was already prepared to move forward from the back row.
At the moment Bessho moved to the center to jump, Asahina, who was positioned close to the net, sent a high ball toward the center, almost with his back to the net.
Behind Bessho was Karasuno's Two-Meter Giant.
Inarizaki's block was not disturbed by Bessho, it continued to face him in its most complete three-person block state.
Having already realized that a dump would be useless, Hakuma recalled Hoshiumi's words the moment he caught sight of the back of Hoshiumi's head.
Anyway.. let's see if he can spike it down for a kill.
Bang!!
The moment the heavy thud exploded, Suna felt a massive force coming straight at him.
Back-row attacks certainly have more penetrating power than front-row attacks, but.. the placement of this ball was a little too perfect.
The ball got stuck right between Suna and Miya Atsumu, leaving both of them unable to put any force toward the center. The ball pierced through the middle like a drill, crashing straight down onto the floor.
The whistle blew immediately after, signaling a score for Karasuno.
Landing after the cover, Hoshiumi couldn't help but laugh.
“You're quite confident in your own strength, you big dummy.”
Chapter 539: The Five Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Fox
For real?
But most of my previous spikes were blocked by the opponent's touch.
——Hakuma directed an extremely serious questioning toward Hoshiumi.
The entire Karasuno side of the court fell silent for a few seconds after his words dropped. In a daze, Hakuma heard a cold sneer ring in his ears.
Hoshiumi's voice drifted over faintly: "The brain is a good thing, but if you don't use it for a long time, it gets rusty.. though I don't think you've ever used yours; it's probably still in mint condition."
Hakuma widened his eyes, feeling slightly wounded. "You're not calling me stupid, are you?"
Hoshiumi rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Otherwise?"
Hirugami's light cough echoed by the sidelines, Hoshiumi followed with two coughs of his own before saying, "What I mean is that you should use your brain when you spike, stop foolishly spiking right into the opponent's prepared block.
That last play was great; you need to find the gaps in the middle, you understand?
Hakuma nodded very seriously. Just when Hoshiumi thought his big, silly teammate had finally gained some intelligence, the other's voice followed immediately.
I also think that spike I just did was good.
Hoshiumi went crazy in an instant: "I wasn't praising you!!"
Hirugami laughed by the sidelines.
Hoshiumi's hair was carefully styled today, leaving no room to spike upwards, so he could only see the other person's back, which was trembling with rage.
But he felt that Hakuma should have understood what Hoshiumi meant; after all, while Hakuma's comprehension was a bit lacking, he was still able to understand and apply the things he had produced and experienced firsthand.
Regardless, Hakuma's intelligence is at a normal level when it comes to IQ tests.
As Takahashi sat down on the Coach's bench, Bessho had already walked to the serving position.
Hakuma was just in Position 5, in terms of attacking conditions, this was actually their best rotation right now.
With Hoshiumi and Hirugami providing cover in the front row, combined with the threat of Hakuma's back-row attack, it is very possible to score consecutive points.
Inarizaki is currently up by one point; as long as they can take this point, they can tie the score.
—Success or failure depends on this single move.
Bessho held the ball in his hands, his calm face masking eyes filled with fighting spirit.
He had little confidence in his serve, so what he actually needed to do was focus on the defense against Inarizaki's subsequent attacks.
With Takahashi not on the court, both Hakuma and Hoshiumi involved in the offense, he and Norikura Isao were responsible for the defense.
As long as Hakuma-senpai doesn't "act foolishly" again, it shouldn't be a major problem.
Bessho stared at the Head Referee's movements, preparing to toss the ball the moment the whistle blew.
A buzzer-beater doesn't actually require much technique; since both sides are currently in mediocre condition, a slight difference in timing won't matter much. The goal is simply to disrupt Inarizaki's defense as much as possible.
Unabara Uta stared at Bessho's movement.
The moment the whistle sounded in his ears, a volleyball appeared in his field of vision, soaring toward a high point.
As the core of the receiving movement, Unabara Uta was completely unphased.
The intense pressure of a buzzer-beater is built upon the server's own technical skill; Bessho cannot reach the level of scoring directly from a serve, so even if it were a buzzer-beater, it wouldn't hold much significance.
Moreover..
Under the torment of his own teammates, he no longer feared any restrictions regarding his toss timing!
Thud!
Unabara Uta decisively stepped back, lowering his center of gravity to cushion the ball.
"Nice play!" Miya Atsumu praised.
With Hirugami in the front row, the pressure on Inarizaki's side during a counterattack was immense, so the three players in the back row had no opportunity to act; only Suna and Ginjima in the front row were involved in the attack.
Hirugami's follow-up was very decisive, closing in on Suna almost immediately.