The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

All the Kyoei players tensed for a second, staring at Riku who took off the ground to do his usual jump serve. Even though Riku's serve wasn't so much trouble for them, they were in a crucial moment right now, and even a tiny single mistake could cost them the game.

They didn't dare to lower their guard, especially when they all knew Riku's service packed some power that would be hard to receive if they didn't concentrate to their fullest.

They took a step back unconsciously, remembering that the blonde boy would always send the ball far to the back with a powerful serve. However, when he noticed The small smirk on Riku's face, Aki, the defensive specialist of the team knew what came next was the exact opposite of what they had expected before.

"SHIT! IT IS A FAKE! GO FORWARD!"

It wasn't just him who noticed Riku's expression. Nitta had already rushed forward even before the defensive specialist could shout to remind the others. But an unexpected thing happened after that. Instead of a gentle service to the front line, Riku sent a powerful one that they had expected earlier, catching everyone off guard.

"SHI – !"

*BAM!*

Aki who was rushing to the front line flinched when he saw the ball zooming into his face with high speed. He raised both his hands unconsciously, protecting his face from the ball. Inwardly, Aki thanked whatever deity protecting him, since he felt a heavy impact hit his hand. If only it hit his head… He shuddered at that thought.

As the ball hit his hand though, it bounced wildly outside of the court. Nitta who was the closest to save it turned around quickly and rushed toward the ball. Unfortunately, he was one step behind, couldn't save it from falling to the floor.

*Thud!*

"YEAAAAAH!" Riku raised his fist, roaring to celebrate the play.

"Good job, Riku!"

"Keep it up!"

"One more time!"

The crowds also went crazy when they saw Riku scored from the serve. By now, some students even held something like buckets and drumsticks or something like that to make a loud noise and show their support to the team.

"Since when did you learn how to do that trick?" Yuki whispered to Riku.

"Of course, since I saw you did that," Riku whispered back. "Don't you see their dumbstruck expression when they know they are fooled? Man, that was so priceless! I think I am addicted to it. Yuki, you really are a bad influence on me."

Yuki was speechless at Riku's shameless attempt to blame him. Still, he didn't deny his friend's words. He himself was familiar with this trick. By deliberately showing a smug expression, the opponent would think that he wanted to do a trick and do something unconventional. However, when they reacted, thinking of how to deal with the trick, he would do his usual operation, catching them off guard.

This kind of mind game where he tried to fool the opponent by deliberately showing his cards just to use them as bait was Sekine's favorite, which Yuki – and Riku to some extent – learned very well from the old man.

"So, did you learn anything else from Jiisan that you haven't shown off yet?" Yuki couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, I have!" Riku said smugly. "Just wait! What comes next would be more incredible than the last one!"

Yuki couldn't help but feel intrigued by Riku's bold words. While he knew his learning speed in this sport was far exceeded those of normal people, he knew he had one disadvantage, which was that his body wasn't trained to be an athlete for too long. For Riku who had been training for such a long time, of course, he could take advantage of his physique to do more tricks, so Yuki was curious now.

And the blonde boy didn't disappoint him.

The next serve he delivered was by far the most powerful one he did today. Its power was just slightly below Nitta's normal serve, but the tricky spot he aimed was enough to give Kyoei a difficult time. Aki who was closest to the ball bent his knee and leaned his body to the left, attempting to save the ball.

However, it seemed he was taken aback by the sheer power of the serve and couldn't aim his receive perfectly, letting the ball bounce on his hand and fly far outside of the court.

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*BAM!*

"HELL YEAH!" Riku clenched his fist, his face red full of excitement.

Yuki could only shake his head at his blonde boy. For all the talk Riku gave to him about the serve going to be more incredible than before, it sure looked like his normal one. However, maybe that was what Riku meant by the trick.

By pulling the trick before, he made the opponent wary of his serve and didn't know what he was going to do next, so his normal service would be enough to beat the distracted Kyoei and score another point for the team.

Or… So that was what he thought.

However, Yuki was taken aback when he looked at the aghast expression on the other side. And when he observed it carefully, he finally got it.

'Riku deliberately aims the ball at Aki, the best defender of the team to give a psychological shock to Kyoei. In such a crucial situation like this, if their best defender couldn't handle his serve, the entire team would be shaken.'

"So, how is it?" Riku asked with a knowing grin.

Yuki shook his head in amazement before he answered, "Do it one more time to make sure they cannot recover quickly and take their last timeout."

"Sure!"

The next serve came as Yuki expected, straight to Aki's direction. He could see the hesitation in Aki's eyes. It seemed Riku's last two serves were enough to disturb his mind.

*BAM!*

Like the last one, Aki couldn't receive the ball perfectly. Instead of going forward, the ball bounced from his hands to behind, went far in the crowd's direction. Yuki and Riku were ready to celebrate the point, thinking that there was no way someone could save that. Even all the Kyoei players seemed dejected, knowing it was impossible to save the ball.

Well… All, but one player.

Suddenly, a yellowish blur ran by at a high speed, shocking all the people in the building. The students in the crowd who saw the blur came in their direction and dispersed quickly in panic, afraid of the collision. The culprit of this chaotic situation himself didn't care about them.

He kept his eyes on the ball constantly, tracking its movement carefully before jumping with one hand extended in the air.

"BE CAREFUL!"

"OH MY GOD! GET AWAY FROM THERE!"

*BRUGH!*