During the braking process, use your arms to drive your entire body, completely converting the momentum from your approach into upward force, so that.. you can jump higher.
Hinata nodded, silently committing it to heart.
Hoshiumi rushed forward again in the middle of the court, his original jumping motion stuttering slightly, which extended his overall hang time.
By the time Inarizaki tried to react and make amends, it was already too late; they could only watch as Hoshiumi leaped, his jump a step too slow.
"This is a.. ***-type one-man time difference," Coach Kurosu continued to instill knowledge into Hinata.
"*** type?" Hinata asked in confusion.
Coach Kurosu pointed out the key point directly: "A normal time difference requires a feinted jump process, followed by settling down to jump again, but Hoshiumi's only paused for a moment."
"Because Hoshiumi-senpai can jump very high himself?" Hinata instantly recalled the previous point.
Coach Kurosu nodded. "Right, he can achieve the effect of being well above the block without needing to create a massive distance from the blockers.."
Listening to these two provide real-time instruction based on the situation on the court, Coach Omimi gave a knowing smile.
Inarizaki also took the victory in the second set, though the margin was narrower than before, with a final score of 26:24.
Both sides didn't arrive particularly early, by the end of the second set, it was basically lunchtime.
Both sides arrived by bus, so there was no rush to finish; three sets were scheduled for the afternoon.
While waiting for takeout in the rest area, Coach Kurosu took the opportunity to talk to Miya Atsumu and the others about Hinata.
"I'll leave the Quick Attack practice to you, Atsumu," Coach Kurosu said, looking toward Miya Atsumu, who was sipping a drink.
In addition, we'll discuss the matter of intra-club practice when we get back. For now, I plan to arrange a practice match around Golden Week to give Rishia, Unabara, Hinata a chance to test themselves.
Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Hinata, who was currently handing out water cups to everyone: "Would Karasuno's level be a bit too high for Shoyo-kun?"
It was mainly because he hadn't yet seen just how far Hinata could go.
No, that's not right..
Miya Atsumu froze in place, his hand halfway through fixing his hair, as his mind drifted back to that first encounter under the sunset.
The orange-haired boy caught up to the flying setter from behind in an almost impossible situation; that kind of dynamism.. was far beyond what a setter with a normal rhythm could contain.
He suddenly had a very bold idea.
But Coach Kurosu had already changed the subject: "It is indeed inappropriate at this stage. If you want to make a change, you could choose Shonan over in Kanagawa.."
Shonan is one of the top schools in Kanagawa, their national ranking is equally high; compared to Karasuno, they are a team that is much better at combining blocking and receiving.
His gaze caught sight of the cat-shaped icon hanging on the wall in that instant, an inspiration suddenly exploded in his mind: "No, Shonan is also a bit too strong."
“I'll get in touch with Nekoma. I heard Coach Nekota has returned to the scene, so this year is worth looking forward to.”
They won't be so strong that it's impossible to compete, relatively speaking, their schedule for practice matches is quite easy to arrange, so the other side has no reason to refuse.
Leaning in, Hinata caught the key phrase: "Nekoma?"
Miya Atsumu put a hand on his hip and looked at Hinata. "You know them?"
Hinata raised his hand. "I just met their setter, Kenma, at the entrance! He's a super interesting person!"
Seeing Hinata's clearly joyful expression, Miya Atsumu pursed his lips.
In the end, he couldn't help but say, "Are you that close? I remember that setter was a second-year."
How did he call out his name?
Hinata's entire body froze for a moment: "Second year? Is it a senior!"
It's over, it's over, it's over—
Not only did he fail to use honorifics, but he even called him by his name!
Seeing Little Tangerine looking as if the sky were falling, Miya Osamu rolled his eyes. "Why are you scaring him?"
The fact that they could talk about it meant that the other person didn't care about the issue.
Miya Atsumu replied with a smile, "It's fun."
Having heard the conversation between the two, Aran suppressed the urge to mock them and looked at Hinata, who was clutching his head, with a look of pity.
You've worked hard, Hinata.
Author's Note:
Atsumu, you bastard.
Chapter 11: The Eleventh Fox
The start time for the afternoon practice match was set for one-thirty, a time when everyone would have mostly digested their lunch and had time to rest.
However, this time was actually a bit too long; the root cause was that Coach Kurosu and Coach Aran had gone to find the club representative in an attempt to contact Coach Nekota, which had pushed the schedule back a little.
But for certain high-energy individuals, they simply couldn't sit still during the break.
Especially for Hoshiumi, who wanted to maintain the form he had in the late stages of the second set this morning, he decisively took a volleyball onto the court to warm up his serve once lunch was mostly digested.
Hinata, who had returned with Rishia, saw Hoshiumi practicing serves all by himself at first glance.
Hoshiumi's serve was an extremely beautiful power serve, both spinning and heavy, earning Karasuno quite a few points.
Hinata watched with rapt attention.
Just like receiving, serving is also an extremely demanding skill.
To reach this level.. it would take at least several years; he couldn't possibly learn it in such a short amount of time.
Including technique and strength, he is still far from reaching that level of heaviness.
Even so, he had something he was desperate to ask about.
In the end, Hinata, having summoned all his courage, still approached Hoshiumi Hikari, who was testing his feel for the ball.
Hoshiumi-senpai, I..
Hoshiumi turned his head, looking at Hinata with an unfriendly expression: "Huh?"
Hinata did not back down, saying very bluntly, "I want to see that super amazing move from my senior—the one where he jumps up with a thud and spikes the ball right over the 1.9-meter block!"
That super amazing one! Not only does it not touch the block, but even the receivers can't keep up with it!
Behind him, Rishia Heisuke's face was filled with shock.
Although he had already realized that Hinata would likely charge straight ahead, he hadn't expected this moment to arrive so quickly.
Hoshiumi's expression cracked, an uncontrollable smile spread across his lips, overriding his previous seriousness.
However, he still maintained his composure: "It's the same for you Inarizaki players, isn't it?"
Atsumu stood to the side with his hands on his hips, watching Hoshiumi Hikari arrive with an air of leisure. "What's the big deal? Don't be so stingy."
He intentionally drew out his words, combined with that Kansai accent, his entire tone sounded incredibly clingy.
Hoshiumi Hikari, having just lost two sets, was fuming and gave Miya Atsumu a direct roll of the eyes. "Can't you do it? Why don't you teach him?"
Miya Atsumu threw his hands up. "Me teaching him wouldn't be very helpful."
Beside them, Hirugami, who was watching the drama unfold, let out an even deeper smile; this guy was being roundabout to say that Hoshiumi was short.
But it didn't really matter; Hoshiumi Hikari never got angry over things like this.
Hoshiumi Hikari found Miya Atsumu extremely unpleasant to look at, so he simply shifted his gaze to Hinata Shoyo beside him.
From the very beginning, this guy had been looking at him with a gaze that was blunt yet complex.
Envy, longing, excitement.. in short, it was a gaze so intense that he simply could not ignore it.
"Tch." Hoshiumi Hikari turned his head away, looking extremely awkward.
In the end, he still said, "Anyway.. just hit one ball for me to see first."
Hinata widened his eyes and hurriedly replied, "Yes!"
Kita, who had been watching everyone from below the court the whole time, added a timely remark: "Hinata, warm up."
"Want me to set for you?" Miya Atsumu looked toward Hinata.
Before Hinata could even agree, Hoshiumi on the other side spoke up with blatant disdain, "No need, I'll do it."
The only setter on the court, Miya Atsumu, blinked, having been inexplicably pushed out of the play by Hoshiumi.
After a brief warm-up, Hinata stood at the baseline with the ball. He looked up to exchange a glance with Hoshiumi before tossing the ball up and performing an underhand pass toward Hoshiumi.
Hoshiumi frowned slightly, imperceptibly adjusting his positioning.
Kamibayashi, who had just finished eating and come in to rest, laughed heartily. "That ball was quite off-target."
Seeing that the ball didn't fly directly at Hoshiumi's head, Hinata's expression froze for a moment.
Oh no, I'm getting a bit too nervous!
By all rights, he shouldn't be making mistakes on a ball like this anymore!
However, Hoshiumi didn't show any reaction.
Before this, he already knew clearly that Hinata was a rookie, the key point wasn't the set itself, but the subsequent..
Thinking this way, Hoshiumi also made a small "error."
"That ball.." Hirugami could tell at a glance that Hoshiumi had done it on purpose; the ball wasn't directly in front of Hinata, but further away toward the side of the net.
The high ball changed from the center to the sideline, the overall distance was stretched significantly.
Kamibayashi was filled with shock: "Wow, that's too high and too far! Can that little guy even reach it?"
This little guy is much shorter than Hoshiumi; can he even jump that high?
Hinata, who had already begun his approach run, didn't care whether Hoshiumi was intentionally making things difficult for him; instead, seeing that the ball's landing point was clearly not in the center, he changed direction mid-stride, taking two extra steps to move directly under the ball.
He did not try to imitate Hoshiumi, but instead chose the jumping style he was most proficient at.
Moreover, just as Coach Kurosu said earlier, for this kind of play that requires lateral movement speed, a single-footed approach is itself the most suitable.
—If he remembers correctly.
Under the gaze of everyone at Karasuno, Hinata, who had agilely changed course from the middle to the sideline, leaped nimbly and struck the ball firmly at its highest point.