"His entire body had bent to that extent. It felt like all of his strength was being poured into that one ball."
"That attack really came out of nowhere."
Watching Hank unleash that terrifying back-row spike, Coach Irihata's evaluation of him immediately rose by another level. If Hank could already use a technique like a back-row spike at this stage, then for Hank, whether it was front-row blocking, spiking, serving, or back-row attacks, all of it was enough to prove just how strong he already was.
Everything an ace needed to do, he could do.
And not only could he do it, he could do it very well.
On that point alone, he already had the ability to become a serious contender for Aoba Johsai's ace position, and over the next three years, he could even become the team's signature player. Faced with that possibility, Coach Irihata was honestly thrilled.
After all, finding a player as gifted as Hank at this stage would be an enormous boost to Aoba Johsai as a whole.
As long as Hank and Oikawa could build stable teamwork within the current squad, then the team's future matches would become far easier. He had been waiting a long time for a day like this.
Although Iwaizumi and Oikawa had been childhood friends since they were young, Iwaizumi's talent was not especially outstanding. It could even be called fairly ordinary. But if Hank took that place instead, then Aoba Johsai would be able to go even farther in the future.
As far as this match was concerned, no matter what the final result turned out to be, Coach Irihata was already deeply satisfied.
Hank was a gift heaven had handed to Aoba Johsai. With him joining the team in the future, Aoba Johsai would have what it took to produce players for the Japan national team.
"Is that guy really a middle schooler? Why does his talent feel this terrifying? Did you all notice? He's practically a monster."
"With that kind of jumping ability and technique, this guy named Hank can already display terrifying power whether he's at the net or in the back row."
"A perfect-type ace? And he's only a middle schooler. If he gets a few more years of systematic training, I can't even imagine how high he'll stand in the future."
The university team had been completely stunned by Hank's back-row spike just now. They were so shocked they could barely speak. None of them had expected things to end up like this. His jumping talent really was absurd.
Unless something unexpected happened, this guy named Hank should be able to directly become a member of the youth national team.
In other words, he was already in the national-team pipeline.
"His volleyball skills are actually this polished? When exactly did he train to this level?!"
Standing nearby, Yui Michimiya also felt completely bewildered. Why was it that Hank had not only terrifying jumping talent, but had also surpassed all of her expectations in every other area? Honestly, judging from the results so far, Hank definitely had not trained for only these three years of middle school.
He had probably started training volleyball from a very young age. But the strange part was... why had he never told her?
"As expected, he's overwhelmingly strong. That level is already ridiculous."
After seeing Hank's back-row spike just now, cold sweat immediately formed on Oikawa's forehead. He was suddenly feeling a little afraid. If Hank had joined Kageyama's team instead, then the strength they would have once combined would become his greatest problem.
But fortunately, Hank had already joined Aoba Johsai and was now his teammate.
In the future, he would not need to spend much effort figuring out how to deal with Hank as an opponent.
That alone was something worth being very grateful for. In fact, with Hank joining them, Aoba Johsai's overall level might undergo a huge leap in the future. At that thought, Oikawa immediately began to feel excited. If that was the case—
then maybe he would not have to fight alone anymore, because now the team had Hank, whose talent was even greater than his own.
Boom!
After his attack succeeded and scored, Hank did not relax in the slightest. He continued serving steady jump float serves from the service line, and the volleyball dropped with precision into the space between the back-row libero and the front-row setter, catching the other side completely off guard.
Even after seeing himself score, Hank did not show the slightest change in expression. He simply continued bouncing the volleyball in place, as if scoring was the most ordinary thing in the world to him.
As long as he calculated things properly and sent the ball across, he would score.
After seeing that kind of emotional control from Hank, the university team on the other side finally began to panic. It was their first time facing a younger player with such overwhelming strength. Not only was he absurdly powerful, but his mental stability was also unquestionable—he clearly had nerves of steel.
That meant that no matter what kind of match he played in, he would be able to perform at an extremely high level.
(End of Chapter)
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