"Even if you're that strong, we're still going to beat you."
When Kageyama spoke, there was no expression on his face at all, as if he were stating something completely ordinary. Beside him, Hinata was also brimming with fighting spirit. Neither of them felt discouraged just because Hank had just defeated Nekoma.
On the contrary, it only lit an even bigger fire in them. If they ran into him in the Spring High preliminaries, they would definitely bring everything they had and face him head-on.
Even if they lost, they wouldn't let Hank win that easily.
The two of them had already quietly made up their minds about that. Right now, the goal they both wanted to overcome was Hank. They absolutely could not allow him to keep standing over them forever.
"If you want to beat Hank, then you'll have to beat the Aoba Johsai standing beside him."
"I'm right, aren't I?"
After hearing Kageyama's words, Oikawa suddenly became interested. The Spring High preliminaries were about to begin, after all. Very soon, their two teams would meet in the upcoming Miyagi Prefecture tournament.
No matter what stage they ended up facing each other in, the two teams could absolutely be called destined rivals.
At this point, if either side wanted to secure a ticket to Spring High, then defeating the other would definitely be something they had to do.
"You'll find out when the time comes."
"..."
After seeing the serious looks on Oikawa and the others' faces, Hinata instinctively took a step back. But the Kageyama standing behind him answered in an unhurried tone. For a moment, the atmosphere instantly became tense, as though neither side intended to give an inch.
After all, for these two teams, whether they could get a ticket to Spring High would determine whether they could keep moving forward on the path of volleyball.
When it came to something like that... naturally, neither side wanted to give up.
"That's enough, Kageyama. Hank helped us a lot, so don't say this stuff now."
"If you really want to say it, save it for the court a few days from now."
Daichi felt a little emotional. Judging from the current situation, Aoba Johsai would definitely become their strongest opponent. Right now... no matter what the final outcome would be, the only thing they could do was work desperately hard.
Other than that, they had no other choice.
Of course, in his heart... there was still one person he was waiting to return. That person was Karasuno's former Ace, Asahi. Although he had lost his confidence after their match against Date Tech's Iron Wall, he absolutely had to step onto the court in the upcoming Spring High preliminaries.
Without him, there was no way they could make it all the way to the end.
Karasuno still wasn't complete yet. But now, with fresh blood like Kageyama and Hinata joining the team, they would not lose to anyone again.
"Then I'll see you on the court."
Hank's gaze did not waver in the slightest as he spoke. His thoughts right now were very simple: advance to the final of the Spring High preliminaries. In the future, he was absolutely going to reach the pinnacle of volleyball. Right now, no matter what kind of opponent he faced, they would all be completely crushed by him.
He was very confident in that.
In the end, after Hank and the others had a friendly exchange with everyone from Karasuno before the tournament, they all gradually left the area. Some chose to return to their club and keep training, while others prepared to continue practicing elsewhere.
Although many people also wanted to invite Hank to keep training with them, this time... Hank refused. He left the court alone.
Then he silently began running around Miyagi Prefecture. There was not much time left before the Spring High preliminaries. For Hank, during this stretch of time, there were probably no teams in Miyagi Prefecture willing to play more practice matches against other teams.
After all, that would affect the upcoming tournament. So... for Hank, he had already lost the chance to gain more all-around stat increases through matches. Instead of spending more time building chemistry with the team,
it would be better to stabilize his mindset and use the time to train privately with Oikawa.
For the current Aoba Johsai, as long as their first touch didn't run into too many problems... then as long as the ball could be delivered to him, there was an eight or nine out of ten chance they would score.
"It's almost time for the Spring High preliminaries. There should be less than a week left."
"The first truly important tournament in this world is finally about to begin."
Hank silently noted down the date of the Spring High preliminaries, then turned and left, beginning his training on his own. Right now, the most important thing was... facing the upcoming Spring High preliminaries!
(End of Chapter)
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