"So strong."
Kiyoko stared at Hank on the court, her lips parting slightly as she murmured blankly.
Boom!
Along with that heavy, muffled sound, Hank, towering high at the net, scored off Tanaka's hands yet again. Tanaka, who had been grinning and acting carefree before, had now been beaten into complete silence. He practically did not even have the face to stay on the court anymore.
The second set had only just begun, and Hank had already taken almost six points from him alone.
And right now, as the team's ace, Tanaka had not managed to score even once. Not only that, none of his attacks had even landed on the side of the court Hank was guarding.
"He's so strong it's basically insane... Ever since he came on, I haven't even touched the ball once... Can a volleyball match really be played like this!?"
"He can do everything by himself. I've never seen an ace like this before."
"It's Hank. Even if he learns some new technique later, I wouldn't find it strange at all."
The Aoba Johsai starters were no longer shocked by Hank's performance. At this point, they felt that for Hank, this was almost normal.
After all, with talent like his, on top of training at such terrifying intensity...
If he still were not strong, then that really would make no sense.
"Crows really are creatures that live in groups. Through teamwork, they can even defeat animals far stronger than themselves."
"But... that only works if the thing they're facing is an animal that actually exists in nature."
Coach Irihata wore a wicked grin on his face. He had wanted for a long time to see just how much Karasuno's expressions would change after he put Hank on the court.
And the result turned out exactly as he had expected, which left him extremely satisfied.
No one could deal with Hank.
"Tanaka's completely lost confidence. We should sub him out."
"Put Tsukishima in. That'll at least strengthen the front-row blocking."
Watching Tanaka, who had already been beaten until all confidence had left him, Takeda directly told the waiting Tsukishima to get ready with the substitution board.
Tweet!
When the referee by the net saw Tsukishima rise from the bench, he blew the whistle and stopped play. Karasuno needed to make a simple substitution.
"Pull yourself together, Tanaka!"
Daichi glanced at Tanaka, who looked like he had completely lost his dreams, and shouted at him sharply.
But Tanaka gave no reaction at all, as if he had suffered a massive psychological blow. Otherwise, there was no way he would have ended up like this.
No one could even imagine what kind of damage Hank had done to him mentally.
"Kageyama, set it to me!"
Just after Tsukishima was sent onto the court, Hinata suddenly turned toward Kageyama and spoke.
The serious expression on his face made it obvious that he was extremely confident in the next attack.
Seeing that, Kageyama could not really say much.
After muttering a quiet "Yeah," he immediately locked his gaze onto Hank's position in front of him. On the surface, his expression did not change at all.
But inside, towering waves had already erupted in his heart.
Because he had never understood this.
Why was it that both he and Hank had played with Kindaichi and Kunimi, yet the results were worlds apart?
Back when he was at Kitagawa Daiichi, even though he had been called the King of the Court and his talent as a setter had been obvious, he just could not sync up with Kunimi and Kindaichi no matter what.
They would even start arguing over the smallest things on a regular basis.
But now, on Hank's team...
Kindaichi and Kunimi showed none of those coordination problems at all.
Kageyama had even seen the two of them smiling on the court, looking completely relaxed, as though they sincerely regarded Hank as their leader from the bottom of their hearts.
That scene shook him immensely.
"You haven't slacked off during this time, and neither have I... Let me show you the results of my training these past few days."
Tobio Kageyama was already prepared.
Next, he was definitely going to use the freak quick that only he and Hinata could pull off.
Against that attack, no matter how fast Hank's reactions were, there was no way he could respond in time.
"Serve a good one, Kindaichi!"
Kunimi turned around and spoke to Kindaichi, who had already served more than a dozen times since the match began.
At this point, the outcome was basically decided anyway, so it really did not have much to do with them anymore. All Kindaichi had to do was send the ball over to Karasuno's side.
After that, once Hank made his move, they would get another point again.
Everyone was already more or less used to this kind of thing.
To the point that nobody even found it strange anymore.
"Sorry, I messed up the serve..."
Looking at the ball that had dropped into the net, Kindaichi felt a little apologetic.
He only needed to send it over, yet he had still made a mistake.
But then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
If he had not missed that serve, then Hank might really have shut the other side out completely.
Even if this was only a practice match, that still felt a little too much.
"Give them a good one, Tsukishima!"
Once possession returned to Karasuno, Hinata and the others also shouted unwilling to be outdone.
They firmly believed that as long as the score had not reached the very end, there was still a chance.
(End of Chapter)
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