"Want to keep going?"
Hank's expression remained calm from beginning to end, because he knew Kyotani could never be his opponent. He did not hesitate at all and directly crushed him until Kyotani completely shut down.
"…"
Although Kyotani was extremely unwilling to accept it, he did not say anything. He simply tossed the ball aside, then immediately tried to leave Aoba Johsai High. But just as he was about to go, Hank called him back.
He told him to stay and train with them.
"You can stay and train. I'm planning to have you go on court and play through all three sets in tomorrow's final."
"If you agree, I'll see you on the court tomorrow."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hank signaled to Oikawa, and the two of them continued training. Right now, although Aoba Johsai's overall strength could be considered decent, there was still no one who could serve as Hank's substitute.
The upcoming final would be a best-of-five match, which meant they would have to play at least three sets.
Unlike their previous matches, which were best-of-three, if they wanted to go all the way to five sets, the players' stamina would have to be taken into account. That made substitutes extremely important.
Hank trusted Oikawa's ability to control the flow of the game. Even if Kyotani really did go on court tomorrow, Hank believed Oikawa would be able to keep the match under control. There was no need to worry too much about possible problems.
Thinking of that, Hank temporarily set Kyotani's matter aside.
"If Mad Dog goes on court, he'll be a double-edged sword."
"A normal team wouldn't be able to control him."
Oikawa watched Mad Dog leave without even looking back. In truth, he felt somewhat helpless. He knew about Kyotani. There was nothing to say about his ability; he really could serve as a starting-level player. But his personality was far too difficult to control.
Anyone with even a little sense would know that putting a player like that on the court would be like planting a ticking time bomb.
That was why, after he left, the coach had not paid him much attention.
But now Hank had pulled him back. It seemed that the upcoming final might bring quite a few unexpected changes.
"Forget it. Whether he'll even show up tomorrow is still unknown."
Oikawa glanced at Hank and did not think too much about it. After all, the core of the entire team right now was Hank. As long as they worked well with Hank next, the other matters were not actually that important. Everything would have to wait until tomorrow's match began before the final result could be known.
Just like that, Kyotani's brief appearance did not cause much disturbance inside the Aoba Johsai volleyball club.
Everyone's attention was focused on the final that would begin tomorrow. As long as they could win tomorrow's match, they would be able to directly punch their ticket to the final stage of Spring High. Everyone understood very clearly what that result would mean.
If they could make it to nationals even once, it would not only bring a massive change to Aoba Johsai's volleyball club, but this current generation of Aoba Johsai would also become known as the strongest one. That reputation might not change for decades.
Because of that, everyone began looking forward to tomorrow's match in unspoken agreement, fully fired up inside.
Early the next morning, Aoba Johsai boarded the train heading to the final. Since this was the final of the Spring High preliminaries, the organizers had also provided plenty of funding.
From this point on, everything would be held under the highest-standard match conditions.
(End of Chapter)
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