"As expected of Aoba Johsai. They actually have this many fans."
"Damn it, so that pretty boy is Aoba Johsai's ace? We'd better deal with him properly next!"
After seeing Hank changing clothes, Yamamoto—with his blond pompadour—was instantly filled with anger. Since they were about to play against him, he was determined to go all out and beat him badly.
"Kenma, once the first round starts, send every ball to me."
"We have to seize an absolute advantage right from the start."
Yamamoto said this angrily. Right now, he could hardly wait for the match to begin. He was dying to crush Hank completely. What he did not know, however, was that what happened next would leave him utterly stunned.
"Okay."
The somewhat introverted Kenma nodded slowly and agreed. After all, aside from receiving, Nekoma did not have many direct offensive methods. As long as they could keep the ball alive again and again, then in his view, they could eventually win the match.
That belief had always been in his heart.
"Train properly. Don't let your guard down."
"I heard from Karasuno's players that Aoba Johsai's number 23 is extremely hard to deal with. We have to take him seriously."
Kuroo could not help reminding them. Since they had only recently played a practice match against Karasuno, they knew a fair amount about Aoba Johsai—especially about their number 23. They had heard Karasuno mention him more than once.
"Huh? That pretty boy? You're telling me to watch out for him?"
"I'll make sure he learns just how awesome I, the great Yamamoto, am in a minute!"
Yamamoto was full of disdain. Being told to be careful of some pretty boy was ridiculous. It was not even worth considering.
"So that's the Aoba Johsai ace Hinata kept going on about?"
After hearing Kuroo's warning, Kenma could not help but lift his head and look at Hank, who was standing in front of him. His heart immediately became wary. He trusted what Hinata said very much. If Hinata thought someone was dangerous, then Hank definitely was dangerous.
He had to face him carefully.
…
A sharp whistle rang out.
Standing at the service line, Iwaizumi sent out a very steady serve. As soon as the volleyball crossed the net, Nekoma High sprang into motion. In the back row, Kuroo bent his knees slightly and cleanly dug the ball up. It traced a beautiful arc before finally dropping into Kenma's hands.
"To me!"
Yamamoto shouted and immediately took large steps into his approach. The moment he reached the net, Kindaichi and Oikawa both rose in response, their hands stretching forward as if they were fully prepared to seal him off completely.
But at that moment, with the corners of his mouth lifting, Yamamoto did not hit the ball Kenma had set for him. Instead, after making a decoy motion, he dropped back down.
Right after that, Kuroo, who was behind him, connected into the attack and fired a straight spike into Aoba Johsai's court. With a crisp impact, Kunimi failed to receive it.
Nekoma immediately took the first point.
"My bad. Sorry."
Kunimi felt a little apologetic. It was not that he had not wanted to receive that ball, but the speed of the line shot had simply been too fast. Once that kind of ball got past the block, it became extremely hard to deal with.
Not receiving it was understandable.
That was why Oikawa did not blame him. After saying, "Don't let it get to you," he did not look back again.
"Well, pretty boy? Shocked by our ladder attack?"
"We earned this with real hard work!"
After successfully scoring, Yamamoto's face instantly lit up with delight. A ladder attack required two attackers to position themselves one in front and one behind. One acted as the decoy, while the other followed up from behind.
It was like climbing a ladder, and it was a fairly common attacking pattern on the volleyball court.
(End of Chapter)
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