Chapter 141 From Kageyama Station to Sawada Tsunayoshi…
Kageyama stood next to Sawada Tsunayoshi. After leaving the field, he did not show much anxiety. Instead, he focused on watching the field.
After Yamaguchi confirmed that the bench wouldn't be in disarray, he and the second-year students breathed a sigh of relief. Sawada Tsunayoshi looked over curiously.
"What's wrong?"
Why do you look like you're afraid of a conflict breaking out?
Yamaguchi leaned close to Sawada Tsunayoshi's ear and whispered an explanation to his accomplice.
"Kageyama is probably affected by previous matches and has some trauma from being substituted by the coach. In the match between IH and Aoshiro, Oikawa is Kageyama's senior and is very familiar with Kageyama, which caused a significant suppression. Then the coach substituted Kageyama. Wow, his momentum was really terrifying. I was afraid he would start arguing with the coach."
Tsuna had some recollection of this incident, and Hyuga enjoyed chatting with him about their daily matches.
"So they probably didn't end up arguing, right?"
He worked well with Tadashi Yamaguchi. In fact, the setter was completely focused. Even when he was off the court, he did not give up understanding the situation on the court. Even if they were talking loudly, the opponent would not notice them.
Tadashi Yamaguchi nodded. "Indeed, I was quite surprised. Kageyama looks fierce, but he's actually quite obedient in some ways?"
The argument didn't escalate into a fight. The coach made it clear that he wouldn't give up on Kageyama, and the intelligent setter quickly realized the coach's intention, and once again grew rapidly.
Sawada Tsunayoshi and Yamaguchi stopped talking and focused their attention back on the field, cheering for their teammates with everyone in the stands.
Watching the game from the sidelines can be even more nerve-wracking than being on the field yourself.
While Sugawara Koji is indeed somewhat lacking in strength, his understanding of the Karasuno members alleviates this deficiency considerably. Furthermore, with Hyuga as his trump card, he can hold his own against Tsubakihara.
If it were in iH, Sugawara Koji would have suspected that the coach was letting him play because of his status as a senior high school student.
He knew he couldn't compare to Kageyama, this genius junior, and Sugawara also felt envious of him. But after the envy subsided, he was glad that this feeling actually took over his mind.
Being able to come to Spring High School in his final year of high school was already an unimaginable dream come true for him.
There's no need to compare myself to Kageyama, Sugawara told himself. He couldn't analyze the situation on the field as meticulously as Kageyama.
Hyuga slowed down to integrate into Karasuno's overall offensive.
"After Coach Karasuno substituted Kageyama off the court, Karasuno's offensive tactics changed significantly!"
"Hyuga Shoyo! This guy who's always been at the forefront of the attack is now lying low. From which corner will he emerge? He's like a ghost! He's practically a god!"
The commentators were generous with their praise for Hinata, patiently refining his skills. Hinata knew from his very first encounter with volleyball that his height was not an advantage.
But he doesn't want to leave the stage prematurely. The Little Giant can do it, and he will follow in the Little Giant's footsteps and shine brightly on the field.
The Tsubakihara players felt as if they were trapped in a huge abyss called Karasuno. First, Sawada Tsunayoshi's powerful spike seemed to contain the force to break their arms, and then Kageyama and Hyuga's strange fast attacks caught them off guard.
They knew in their hearts that the players who could come to Spring High School must have their own special qualities, and Tsubakihara himself was not bad either, but when they met these players, they still couldn't help but feel frustrated.
In the second round, Karasuno even substituted Sawada Tsunayoshi. Although the new opposite hitter was decent, his skills were average and not impressive, which made Tsubakihara and his group feel annoyed at being underestimated.
They fought back, but were still suppressed by Karasuno. Kageyama seemed to be able to guess what they were thinking and used his sharp blade to pierce through their defenses layer by layer.
"They're so difficult to deal with!" Sibo couldn't suppress his anger.
I thought that Karasuno's strength would drop a bit after Kageyama left the court, right? But the substitute setter was no pushover either. She smiled and handed over the command to the attackers, completely unaffected by their targeted attacks.
Hinata thus demonstrated her extremely strong net play ability.
Kageyama and his freakish speed attack were so dazzling that most people overlooked Hyuga's own strength.
The blockers in Tsubakihara thought that if they jumped together with Hinata this time, they would be able to keep up with the opponent's speed and block the ball.
Hinata could guess what they were thinking. He glanced casually to the side, which excited Tsubakihara's block. He had finally found the kid's weakness. He probably knew he couldn't break through them head-on and wanted to hit a cross-court ball.
Sawada Tsunayoshi and Kageyama saw Hyuga's gaze from the sidelines. As athletes, their ability to spot volleyballs allowed them to see the situation on the court from the sidelines. Seeing Hyuga's gaze, they couldn't help but smile at the same time.
Yamaguchi was anxious, not because he was worried that Hyuga wouldn't be able to get the ball over the bar, but simply because he was emotionally stirred up and immersed in the atmosphere of the game.
"Snap—!"
As Tsubakihara's blocker was marveling at how high the little guy could jump, after sacrificing some of his speed to gain the upper hand, the opponent focused on his jump, even jumping higher than before. Tsubakihara's middle blocker was only surprised for a moment before immediately regaining his composure and concentrating on blocking.
Wait, a crisp tapping sound rang out, and they realized that the sound of this ball seemed off?
The next second, cheers erupted from Karasuno's side, and the referee ruled the score valid.
That ball was actually...
"A lob! Hinata didn't flinch at all when facing a blocker who was taller and stronger than him. He used his skillful technique to deceive the two experienced Tsubakihara middle blockers and pushed the ball over with a light lob!"
The commentator quickly uttered a series of words during the scoring gap.
Yamaguchi was happy for a while before remembering to turn around and ask the two guys next to him,
What were you two laughing about just now?
In such a tense and exciting environment, how could these two still be in the mood to laugh? Even if they had complete faith in Hyuga's strength, they should still be a little nervous, after all, they are not Hyuga himself.
Kageyama pointed at Hyuga, who was lunging at Sugawara, and said, "That guy just used eye contact to make Tsubakihara think he was going to spike a cross-court ball, and then he suddenly dropped a lob."
Sawada Tsunayoshi laughed and said, "That's right, Sho's skills in lying are getting more and more refined."
Tadashi Yamaguchi muttered to himself, "That makes sense. Tsubakihara, the middle blocker, shouldn't have been unaware that Shoyo was going to lob the ball. Sure enough, Shoyo must have done something to mislead the opponent into thinking that he was going to do something else, which led to their misjudgment."
"But from which attacker did he learn this move? We don't have any attackers around us who would do that, do we?" Yamaguchi wondered again.
Kageyama's face darkened. "He practiced with Oikawa-senpai when he was in junior high school. When Oikawa-senpai was a setter, he used to make some small tricks to deceive the opponent's block."
Sawada Tsunayoshi thought about it and agreed. "Sho probably learned a lot from the setters, like Oikawa-senpai and Yu-senpai from Inarizaki. Yu-senpai also likes to make some deceptive moves. When we played against each other before, we were still in elementary school, and Sho was already a bit fooled by the other side."
Tadashi Yamaguchi couldn't help but ask, "And what about you? Does Tsunayoshi get tricked too?"
Sawada Tsunayoshi shook his head. "I'm alright. I'm not easily fooled. Sometimes I think the setter's movements are quite obvious, and I can tell whether they're being sincere or not."
After listening to Sawada Tsunayoshi's critique of their guiding techniques, Kageyama didn't show any displeasure. He muttered to himself...
"Is this how you usually see things?"
"No wonder you were unaffected during practice matches."
Tsuna didn't linger on his own topic. Although Reborn had explained to him that Hyper Intuition wasn't entirely based on instinct, but rather on making decisions based on the opponent's expression and physical changes at extreme times, he couldn't easily explain it to the Karasuno members. Among the people he knew, there were many who possessed outstanding and amazing talents.
"Not just the people around him, but also Hinata and Louise must have learned a lot from their trip to Italy recently."
He recalled that short week.
Yamaguchi had already heard Hinata talk about that week's training; Hinata had raved about the Shell Club to the skies, and even Tsukishima had asked a few questions out of curiosity, so he knew a little about it. But hearing Sawada Tsunayoshi's comments as an observer, his curiosity was piqued again.
"Luis is the top outside hitter in the Italian Super League, he must be very strong, right?"
"Yes, although Louis's serve is one of the strongest in the world, his technique is by no means weak," Tsuna replied based on his memory.
Yamaguchi thought so too; to be able to firmly occupy the position of the Italian Super League's number one striker, he certainly couldn't have done it solely through brute force.
"Luis led Xiaoxiang through a lot of skill training, such as eye contact guidance, posture and form tendencies, and the ability to make small movements when not restricted, which could then trick the opposing player. During that time, I often heard the blockers in the Beike Club complain that Luis had corrupted a good kid."
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