Although Aoba Johsai still held an absolute advantage in the current situation, he could still tell that every Karasuno player had already given everything they had. If they could seize the next opportunity, they absolutely had a chance to strike back against the powerful Aoba Johsai.
There was no doubt about that. The only question was who would be able to step up next.
"…"
"The little shrimp's monster quick attack looks like it's improved quite a bit too."
"We need to be more careful against their quick attacks from here on."
Oikawa looked at the Karasuno players on the court, who were already starting to show the limits of their stamina, and immediately began analyzing the situation. Right now, the circumstances no longer allowed him to hold anything back. If they let Karasuno continue linking together attacks and defensive plays at any moment on the court, problems could easily appear.
So the most important thing now was to directly crush the people in front of them. First, they had to deal with the opposing side's coordination.
But if they wanted to deal with Karasuno's coordination, someone had to step forward.
Thinking of this, his gaze turned toward Hank beside him. Right now, only Hank could disrupt the opponent's rhythm. In volleyball, rhythm was one of the most important things. Once that rhythm was broken, the rest of the match would become much easier.
"According to the records from the original story, the current Karasuno has already improved quite a bit. Every player's fundamentals have grown a lot."
"But they're still too weak."
"If this were Karasuno from next year's Spring High preliminaries, things might be different, but right now, they don't pose any threat to me at all."
Hank looked at the protagonist group in front of him, all panting heavily yet still clinging to their courage, and a teasing expression could not help but appear on his face. At this stage, they were meant to be completely crushed by him. Then, when they finally managed to catch up, he would throw them behind again.
That was the posture of the strong.
With that thought, Hank did not hesitate at all. He began his approach from the net, jumped, and then spiked the ball straight toward Nishinoya. Right now, Hank's plan was simple: shatter Karasuno's defensive line right in front of them once again.
That was the fastest way to end the match.
"He's actually spiking straight at me? He's seriously looking down on us."
When Nishinoya saw Hank already jumping up at the net, he immediately prepared to receive. To him, after training with Hank for so long, his own receiving had also improved by a lot. From here on, that situation where he could not receive Hank's serve at all would not happen again.
With that thought, he rushed forward and received Hank's spike once more.
"What power!"
After Nishinoya received Hank's spike, he immediately lost control of his expression and could not help grimacing. In his eyes, the force behind Hank's spike just now was simply too much. It gave him the feeling that he could barely receive it. The ball even flew straight back onto Aoba Johsai's side of the court.
Karasuno did not even get a chance to set the ball.
Seeing this, Oikawa quickly seized the opportunity and set the ball to Hank again. This time, however, Nishinoya was not so lucky. His dig sent the ball flying out of bounds.
"Damn it! This guy has locked onto me!"
"…"
Nishinoya looked somewhat helpless. Hank had completely marked him now. From here on, Hank would not avoid him when spiking, nor would he deliberately choose another angle. In other words, as long as Hank was in the front row, Karasuno had absolutely no way to withstand Aoba Johsai's offense.
Seeing this scene, many Aoba Johsai fans outside the court began cheering one after another.
"Hank really is a monster. Every match, he deliberately aims at the opponent's libero. His goal is to completely break down the other team's defensive line!"
"That kind of play doesn't just require extremely high skill. It also requires enough confidence. The fact that he actively chooses to target the libero shows that he has absolute confidence in his own strength!"
"You can already tell now how the rest of this match is going to go."
"I just don't know who's stronger now: Aoba Johsai or Shiratorizawa!"
…
When the fans outside the court saw the situation on the court, they already had an answer deep down. From here on, Hank would definitely crush Karasuno completely. Even if Karasuno erupted with more potential again, in the face of absolute strength, it would be completely useless.
Many people understood this very clearly. After all, the current result had already foreshadowed the course of the match from here on.
Barring an accident, Aoba Johsai would defeat Karasuno!
"It's okay, Nishinoya. Just focus on receiving from here on. If there's a ball you can't bring up, we'll help you bring it up!"
"Yeah, we're a team. We won't lose to Aoba Johsai again!"
…
When the Karasuno players on the court saw Nishinoya blaming himself, they could not help speaking up to comfort him. The situation on the court was extremely complicated right now, but one thing was clear: if they wanted to completely win this match, they had to seize their chances.
They could not let Aoba Johsai keep giving Hank opportunities to score. Otherwise, the rest of the match would become dangerous.
"We can definitely do this!"
Hinata's face was filled with determination. From here on, they had already made their preparations. They only needed to receive every ball properly, then work together with Kageyama to send every ball back onto Aoba Johsai's court.
Bang!
Just as Karasuno was still discussing how they should play next, Hank, who had already rotated into the back row, jumped from the service line and slammed the ball directly onto Karasuno's court. Recently, all four of his attributes had improved quite a bit.
At this point, Hank had already become their nightmare. Even though they had trained together with him on ordinary days, and even though they could study his habits and even the limits of his skills together, it had no effect at all.
Once they were on the court, he could still instantly crush them.
Faced with this result, many of them were already unable to accept it deep down. After all, this was not the result they wanted.
"How is this possible? We usually train together. We already understand Hank extremely well. So why is the gap still this big once we actually play?"
"This guy is seriously a monster. He doesn't care about training with us at all. Even after we studied him the whole time, he can still beat us completely!"
…
At this moment, even Kageyama, whose mind was usually very strong, began to feel somewhat desperate. After all, before this match against Hank, they had all trained together. On ordinary days, they had also exchanged their understanding of volleyball. This was a situation where the other side had basically shown all his cards.
Yet even then, Kageyama still could not beat him at all. Did that mean that for the next three years, he could only grow under Hank's shadow?
Thinking of this, Kageyama suddenly shook his head hard.
Absolutely not.
He had to seize his chance. He absolutely could not lose to him again.
"I didn't expect Aoba Johsai to have improved so much too. The matchup from here on is going to be very dangerous."
"That ace named Hank should be able to go very far in the future."
Ukai looked at Hank, who was now standing at the service line, and felt somewhat helpless. Against an opponent like this, they could not win by relying on tactics alone. From here on, they had to make Karasuno's volleyball club continue training steadily and strengthen their team coordination.
They had to develop a system specifically designed to counter Hank. Otherwise, against that kind of top-tier vertical jump, there was simply no way to defend.
From his professional perspective as a coach, Hank did not merely possess top-tier talent. His fundamentals were also extremely solid.
Even without such an absurd vertical jump, he could still become a team's ace.
The younger generation truly was frightening.
"…"
Kiyoko's gaze remained fixed on Hank the entire time. She merely smiled without saying anything.
"…"
"I originally thought that after Karasuno studied Aoba Johsai for so long, they would show some surprising results."
"But in the end, that wing spiker named Hank can crush an entire team by himself."
"It looks like Hank is going to become Karasuno's nightmare in the future."
The two college students who had been watching Karasuno's matches all this time shook their heads as they spoke. This kind of situation was also terrible for them. As loyal Karasuno fans, they had watched the team defeat many opponents stronger than themselves along the way.
But now, looking at it, those so-called powerful opponents did not amount to anything in front of Hank.
There was always someone stronger. Barring an accident, this match was about to end early.
Tweet!
Along with the whistle on the court, the entire match against Karasuno finally came to an end.
The overall score was 2–0.
The set scores were 25–10 and 25–9.
In the first set, Karasuno poured all their energy into a hard battle against Aoba Johsai, but they still could not keep the score close. After Hank seized his opportunity, he directly shattered their team coordination completely. By the second set, even their strongest support was completely useless.
"Once you step onto a bigger stage, you'll meet even stronger opponents."
"…"
As Tsukishima left the court, he looked at Hank, who had stood on the court throughout both sets. The figure of his older brother suddenly appeared in his mind, and he could not help feeling a complicated sigh in his heart. From the looks of it now, his guess had been right. So-called geniuses did not truly exist.
They were merely frogs at the bottom of a well.
Once they faced a truly powerful opponent, the flaws in their coordination would be completely exposed.
(End of Chapter)
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