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[Start of the chapter]
"Even though Oikawa usually looks completely harmless, the moment he steps onto the court… every move he makes goes straight for the opponent's weak point."
"He killed their entire defense in an instant."
Coach Irihata had already seen through Oikawa's intentions. He had to admit it… the two cores of his team on the court, Hank and Oikawa, were both extremely aggressive players. They were the kind of starters who specialized entirely in offense. That had forcibly compensated for Aoba Johsai's defensive shortcomings.
After all, the best defense was offense. As long as they gave the other side no chance to attack, then Aoba Johsai's weakness would no longer be a weakness.
"The Toru Oikawa who just stepped onto the court… made Hank, who was already hard enough to deal with, even more troublesome. Is Aoba Johsai really this strong this year!?"
"They'll definitely be one of the favorites to win Miyagi this year."
By now, Ittetsu Takeda had an extremely clear understanding of Aoba Johsai. Their strength far surpassed Karasuno's current level. Even if Karasuno improved in the future… they still might not be able to defeat them.
As things stood, this player named Hank could already be called one of the newest strongest Aces around.
He could probably rank among the best of Japan's younger generation as well. Judging from the strength he had just displayed… there were very few people in his age group who could compare to him.
He had the ability to lead a team to victory all by himself.
"Aoba Johsai! Aoba Johsai!"
"Second to none!"
.
Not many minutes after Toru Oikawa joined the match, the game finally came to an end with the score at 25:9. Right up until the end… Karasuno never managed to reach double digits. And as for the third set, from the very beginning…
Hank and Toru Oikawa had already seized complete control of the match. By the time Aoba Johsai reached 20 points, Karasuno had only managed 4.
That overwhelming gap in strength more or less caused a change in the hearts of everyone on Karasuno's side of the court.
"How is this possible? Even against another team from the same prefecture… we still couldn't even reach 10 points!?"
Deep in his heart, Shoyo Hinata began to waver. If he couldn't even beat a team from the prefecture right now, then there was no way he could compete in a national-level tournament… at the end of the day, he was still only at club level.
"Damn it… why did they become this strong!?"
Kageyama felt extremely frustrated. To be honest, he didn't think his natural talent lost to Toru Oikawa's… but the problem right in front of him now was…
Hank was too strong.
So strong that he had changed the entire nature of both teams.
Hank alone was enough to transform a team like this. To be honest, Kageyama had already begun to feel fear from the bottom of his heart toward Hank…
Even if he met him again in the future, even if one day his strength surpassed Hank's… he would still feel afraid of facing him on the court.
"As expected of a powerhouse. The match was practically one-sided from start to finish."
Daichi also found it hard to accept the result before him. They had lost too thoroughly. Ever since Hank stepped onto the court in the second set, the entire flow of the match had fallen under his control. There had been virtually no possibility of winning that set from him.
Individual strength had already become enough to overshadow the efforts of the entire team.
"Hiss!"
More than ten minutes later, the referee blew the whistle and announced Aoba Johsai as the final victor.
First set, 25:16.
Second set, 25:9.
Final set, 25:7!
After three rounds of battle, Karasuno had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Aoba Johsai. The momentum they had finally managed to build up was completely shattered on this day. Every member of Karasuno felt stifled. Ever since joining the volleyball club…
They had never seen a result like this before.
They had actually been crushed in one-sided fashion!
They hadn't even managed to score 10 points in two of the sets. If word of this got out, it would be utterly humiliating.
"Damn it! How can that guy be that strong!?"
Tanaka was the first one who couldn't hold back and blurted it out. He had never imagined the result would turn out like this. Karasuno had been beaten so badly that they couldn't even lift their heads.
"Keep working hard. This year's Aoba Johsai really is the strongest class they've had in years. Even their coach said it… their current goal is to make it to nationals."
Takeda gave a bitter smile. Being in the same prefecture as the strongest Aoba Johsai class in years… he didn't know whether that should be called fortunate or unfortunate.
The fortunate part was… they could play practice matches against them regularly.
The unfortunate part was… if they wanted to make it to Spring High, then they had to defeat Aoba Johsai first.
But everyone had seen Hank's performance with their own eyes just now. Trying to beat him… could only be described as incredibly difficult.
The next time they faced Aoba Johsai, the first thing they would have to deal with would be Hank's right-hand man, Toru Oikawa.
Otherwise, they wouldn't even qualify to stand against them.
(End of Chapter)
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