They had never seen a serve hit with such terrifying power before. That ball had been launched from the service line, not smashed down off a setter's set, yet even so, it still carried such absurd force. It was practically monstrous strength.
They could already imagine what might happen once they actually started playing against him. The libero was going to be under enormous pressure.
If nothing unexpected happened next, there was a very real chance that Hank's serves would be impossible to receive.
"What kind of monster is that? He can hit a serve that hard from the service line? Who's supposed to receive his serve later?"
"So Aoba Johsai High is actually this strong!?"
After seeing Hank's serve just now, some of Johzenji's players were already starting to think about backing down. What they had just witnessed had clearly dealt them a huge shock, and for the first time, they began to doubt whether they could really defeat Aoba Johsai.
Could they really beat Aoba Johsai?
"What terrifying strength. I already expected their ace to be very strong, but I never imagined it would be like this."
"To think he can put that much force into just a serve."
After seeing Hank unleash such a powerful serve, Hana Misaki was instantly startled. The feeling he gave her no longer seemed like that of a high school student at all. Against the Johzenji volleyball club she managed, he felt like an overwhelming mismatch.
It was not just natural for her to be shocked by something like this. The Johzenji players on the court were definitely just as dumbfounded.
They simply could not imagine what kind of presence they were about to face next.
"Even Wakatoshi Ushijima from Shiratorizawa Academy might not be much stronger than this."
Johzenji's coach, Coach Anabara, could not help falling into thought as well. Hank gave him a feeling that was in no way inferior to Wakatoshi Ushijima, the strongest player on the strongest team in the prefecture. A genius like this, someone who would absolutely become one of the next generation's leading figures in the future, had actually appeared in their very first match.
This basically meant Johzenji was bound to lose next, but even so, they still had to do their best to score a few more points. Otherwise, it would just be too humiliating.
Being able to take a few points and learn something from this match was the most important thing. Other than that, there really was not much suspense left.
"Both teams, take your positions. The match is about to begin."
Once both sides had finished warming up, the referee in charge of this match slowly stepped forward and signaled for the two captains to come up and shake hands. The starting players were also announced, and as the team's ace, Hank naturally took the crucial position four.
That way, he could best connect with the offense organized by Toru Oikawa.
"Aoba Johsai, second to none!"
"Johzenji, never give up!"
...
After the referee and the other staff finished confirming the starting players for the match, the members of both clubs began cheering wildly for their own teams. Many of them even called out the names of the players they liked to cheer them on directly.
A few seconds after the cheering died down, Higashiyama from Johzenji stepped onto the service line and calmly sent a ball over the net.
"Nice one, Higashiyama!"
Terushima and the others quickly moved into position and got into blocking form in the front row. Compared with the other teams in Miyagi Prefecture, their physical ability ranked around the upper-middle level, so even though their fundamentals were not especially solid, their athleticism still gave them a clear advantage when it came to blocking.
They believed that as long as they had time to get their block set up in advance, they could stop anyone's spike.
As the serve brushed over the net, Kindaichi stepped forward into a lunge and easily received it with a forearm pass.
"Nice one, Kindaichi."
Oikawa crossed over to the middle, then sent the ball straight to Hank in position four. It was such an obvious set that the Johzenji players immediately seized the chance. The three players responsible for the block—
for some reason, almost felt like laughing.
After all, everyone already knew the next play had to be a spike from Hank.
But then, a sharp rush of wind suddenly tore past the three of them, and in the next instant, a ball came smashing down from above their heads.
Approach. Jump. Clean spike.
With just a few simple steps, he sent the ball flying straight off Johzenji's libero's arms. The force was so terrifying that the libero did not even have time to properly prepare before the ball was already out of his control.
"Hiss!"
Only after the referee declared the point for Aoba Johsai did the Johzenji players finally snap out of it, as though waking from a dream. None of them understood what had just happened. One moment, a black blur had flashed in front of them, and the next, they had already lost the point.
(End of Chapter)
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