What did Hinata say? Why didn't he quite understand?
Coach Kurosu's expression froze for half a second. After quickly analyzing Hinata's words in his mind, he nodded. "That's right, there's no problem with understanding it that way."
“Also, did he teach you the other common plays?”
Hinata nodded again: "He did, but besides the ones in position three, I didn't remember any of them."
When he said this, he looked straight ahead with such a serious expression that even Coach Kurosu was momentarily stunned.
Ginjima was a bit shocked.
What a confident guy.
Alright.." The coach nodded, then looked toward the substitute setter watching the excitement on the other side. "Nagumo, you and Suna, come and give a demonstration.
By the time Miya Atsumu and the other person finished their laps, the preliminary demonstration on this side had already been completed, the basic things that needed to be taught had all been briefly covered.
Just get a general idea for now," Coach Kurosu said, pointing toward Miya Atsumu, who was drinking water, as he addressed Hinata. "Today, Atsumu mainly has some different ideas.
To put it bluntly.. Rintaro, Osamu, you guys go to the left court. Atsumu, Shoyo, Shinsuke, go to the right, try out a few plays.
“Yes, sir!”
Before stepping onto the court, Miya Atsumu reached out and put an arm around Hinata Shoyo's neck, whispering to him, "Shoyo-kun, don't worry about anything else for now; just run to the position you think is best, leave the rest to me."
Hinata didn't question him, simply nodding. "I understand."
In short, it means breaking through the block, right? He can do that!
The referee blew the whistle, signaling Miya Atsumu to serve.
Scanning the crowd on the court, Miya Atsumu finally let his gaze rest on Hinata.
He had wanted to test that kind of agility and jumping ability with his own hands for a long time.
Now.. the opportunity has finally arrived.
Patting the ball in his hands, Atsumu raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
A heavy jump serve smashed over the net, but Miya Osamu, having anticipated it, caught it steadily.
He hasn't been practicing the dual-wielding style for very long; at this stage, he is still more proficient at powerful serves.
“Rintaro!”
The ball was tossed to Suna, Kita and Hinata on this side of the net also quickly followed up.
The jump height for a block is destined to be lower than that of a spike, it would be very difficult for Hinata to touch Suna's ball under these circumstances.
But he had already seen Hoshiumi handle this kind of situation before.
Hinata proactively held his palms flat, maintained a certain height, then attempted to touch the ball.
Coach Kurosu, standing by the sidelines, nodded. "Good touch."
According to the rules of volleyball, as long as a part of the body passes above the top edge of the net during the jump, that first contact is considered a block, a block contact is not counted as one of the three permitted touches.
Failing to kill the ball doesn't mean the block is invalid; touching the ball can still sufficiently reduce the power of the spike, which is equally beneficial for the back-row defense.
This trip to Tokyo had indeed allowed Hinata to learn quite a lot.
Kita Shinsuke stepped back and received the ball steadily.
Meanwhile, after the block, Hinata rushed from his original position on the right side of the net toward the left without hesitation.
Realizing he was going for an attack, Suna and Oori both chased after him at the same time.
This guy.. he started running right after the receive? Isn't he going to check with the setter first?
Hinata's gaze remained fixed on Suna, who was moving almost in sync with him on the other side of the net, before Suna suddenly stopped and turned just before reaching position four, sprinting toward position two in the opposite direction.
Suna's eyes widened slightly, his reaction to Hinata's sudden turn was ultimately a moment too slow.
Damn.. I've been left behind.
Jumping high at the edge of position two, Hinata leaped a step ahead of Suna.
The excitement of breaking through the block lasted only a moment before Hinata's expression suddenly changed, as he realized he might have caused trouble.
Oh no!
He seemed to have started running too early; Atsumu-senpai's toss hadn't arrived at all!
But.. Atsumu-senpai just told him that he could run wherever he wanted, as long as he could shake off Suna-senpai and the others' Block, it would be no problem at all.
And if he truly did manage to shake them off, then it meant he only needed to attack according to his own instincts; as for how the ball would come to him.. that was no longer something he needed to worry about.
He only needed to believe in the fact that "the ball will come" for it to be enough.
—That's right.
Miya Atsumu looked up at the ball sent by Kita Shinsuke, observing the situation on the other side of the net out of the corner of his eye.
Inarizaki's strongest blocking lineup was currently in a state of slight panic; they were exerting all their strength to run, trying to catch up to him and become an obstacle for him, but they were completely a step behind.
From the very beginning, he knew that on this court, the only thing that could catch up to him was..
It's nothing but volleyball.
Hinata had already given him a perfect answer, now the next task belonged to him.
Miya Atsumu leaned his body back, in the upside-down world reflected in his eyes, the figure of the boy jumping at the edge of the net appeared.
The sensation of the volleyball touching his fingertips felt great, his vision was incredibly clear.
The height of the toss, the speed, the angle of the ball's trajectory..
With a light sound, the volleyball left his hands.
In the next instant, within Hinata's field of vision, a sphere composed of red, green, white appeared suddenly right at the tip of Suna's finger.
The ball wasn't spinning fast, certainly not enough to be called a double hit by the referee.
At the exact moment Hinata reached his peak, the volleyball reached the same point.
—Not a single inch of difference.
Thump!
The sound of the volleyball being tapped rang out.
The ball traced an extreme diagonal, flying just above Suna's fingers and slamming down nearly half a court away from Miya Osamu.
"That's insane." Aran, standing by the sidelines, had a look of pure shock on his face.
From the moment Hinata suddenly turned at the other end of the net until the ball hit the ground, the entire process took absolutely no more than three seconds.
No.. it was even less than the blink of an eye.
Can so much be accomplished in such a short amount of time?
Suna looked sideways at where the volleyball landed and frowned.
Even though he had realized Hinata would suddenly change direction, he still couldn't catch up to him.
Having just landed, Hinata's expression was clearly one of confusion.
He actually hadn't understood at all what had just happened; the ball had just whizzed right over.
The feel of the spike was solid, proving that the ball's position hadn't deviated even a fraction from where he had just made contact.
So.. was Atsumu-senpai actually aiming for his hitting position after he jumped?
Having finally figured it out, Hinata looked toward Miya Atsumu.
His mouth hung half-open, his expression was one of shock, as if he had just witnessed a miracle.
After a long moment, he finally managed to utter a single word: "Okay.."
Across the net, Suna looked over.
Great?
That was amazing!!
It was the first time such simple yet pure praise had been directed at Miya Atsumu, the emotion contained within the tone was incredibly intense.
"That set just now! That was amazing!" Hinata was so excited he jumped up and down on the spot, feeling as if he might even rush forward to give Miya Atsumu a bear hug if no one else were around.
Miya Atsumu stood there with a smile, accepting all of Hinata's praise without reservation.
I must say, this feeling is truly exhilarating.
But in truth, most of the joy came from that successful Quick Attack combination just now.
"How did that last play feel?" Miya Atsumu turned his head toward Hinata, a deep smile in his eyes.
Although he had already guessed that Hinata might actually dare to spike, when he truly saw this result.. he still felt a sense of pleasant surprise.
—As expected, it was right to test him with Osamu; otherwise, he really might have made a mistake.
Just as Hinata was about to speak upon hearing that, Miya Atsumu held up a finger. "Give me some constructive feedback."
Opinions?
Hinata froze for a moment.
He had no opinion at all.
But seeing Atsumu-senpai like this, I feel like not offering any opinions is absolutely out of the question.
But.. will I really get scolded if I give my opinion?
After observing Miya Atsumu's expression several times, Hinata finally spoke up tentatively, "Um.. it feels like the ball's hang time is a bit short. If you want to use technical shots or something, there might not be enough time."
Miya Atsumu rubbed his chin and muttered to himself, "Should we really be improving it in this direction?"
Actually, they had already conducted experiments before Hinata arrived; at that time, Miya Osamu had raised almost the exact same question.
Considering various issues such as initial positioning and serve reception, Miya Atsumu truly had no way to ensure the quality of every single tactical play.
Therefore, if there is no way to react sufficiently when being targeted, the tactic itself loses a certain degree of meaning.
However, before that, the result of his and Miya Osamu's attempt was..
The two of them started fighting.
Author's Note: