The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Akira furrowed his brows, disliking how the game spiraled out of control. He remembered how excited he was a moment ago when Yuki and Hirano could move in sync on the front line, just to be slapped on his face when Haruo suddenly joined Kyoei's offense to deal with this sudden change.

Now, the game entered some kind of weird state where Haruo, the opponent's middle blocker became their strongest hitter while Yuki, his strongest defensive player, tried his best to block Haruo's attack.

He glanced sideways at the only player on the bench, racking his brain on how to use him properly.

'If Yuki joined the front line with Hirano, Asa's presence would only hinder them both, as he couldn't match their reaction speed. And while as a left-handed hitter, he could be a completely different threat to the opponent, Asa himself is never a good offensive player. Maybe, putting back Ogawa on the court will do the job.'

After thinking about it for a while, Akira nodded, convinced that it was the best decision. He turned around and called the last player on the bench. "Jimmy, get ready. You are in."

"Me?!" Ogawa was taken aback for a second. .net

"Yes, you." Akira nodded once again. After Ogawa stood up, he whispered something at the player. 'Listen, what I need you to do is to be another hitter who is ready to spike. It doesn't matter whether you will receive the pass from Riku or not, but you need to keep jumping to divert the opponent's attention. As for defense, just tell Yuki and Rano they could go crazy.

And remind them to always communicate with the other players, okay?'

"Yes, Coach!"

After another long and exhausting sequence of rallies happened and ended with another point for Kyoei due to Kaede's misjudgment, Ogawa finally joined back at the court. He replaced Asahi who hadn't contributed so much up to now.

"Yuki, Rano, come here for a second." He waved his hand to the two blockers. "I don't know what Akira-sensei wants you both to do, but he only said go crazy." He relayed the message. The moment Yuki and Hirano heard that, they both grinned at each other, knowing that they got the green light from the head coach.

"So, Akira-sensei also noticed our progress, huh?" Yuki couldn't help but smirk.

"Well, he is the coach," Hirano commented, hiding his excitement better than Yuki. "Anyway, don't just look at me before deciding what to do. Don't forget to keep your eyes on the opponent. No matter how sync we are with each other, it would be useless if we both got fooled by the opponent." He reminded his kouhai.

"Sure." Yuki nodded at him.

After that, the tempo of the game was slowed down, turned into monotonous. Both teams chose to retreat at the same time, not only because they wanted to take a safer approach, but also because exhaustion started to kick in. It had been more than one hour since the game began, and their movement started to get sloppy.

However, the points kept increasing rapidly for both teams. In Kyoei, Haruo's new approach to the game still managed to gain a slight edge for the team, as Hirano still couldn't adapt to the opponent's style yet. As for Tsunemori, the addition of Ogawa as another hitter was enough to allow Riku to be creative, fooling and avoiding Kyoei's blockers to get a point.

*BAM!*

"Nice receive, Kai!"

It was another serve from Kyoei's player, and as the defensive specialist on the team, Kaede reacted quickly to pick up the ball on the left. Riku moved quickly when he saw the ball was in the air, tracking it slowly before getting ready to pass it again. He glanced around to see the situation on the court before deciding to pass the ball to the middle.

'You want to copy us? Let me show you how the original should be!'

*BAM!*

Hirano who was there jumped and spiked the ball in a split second, not giving Haruo time to react. Riku just smirked while silently giving his fellow blondie a provoking gaze, sending a smug smile that Haruo was very familiar with.

"Damn!" Haruo couldn't help but shake his head wryly. "He got me this time." However, there was no hint of frustration on his face. He was a national-caliber player who had already won the biggest prize in the tournament when he was in middle school. Such a childish provocation wouldn't affect him that easily.

Ito and Nitta stared at each other, a hint of concern could be seen in their eyes. This was the problem Haruo had that the team was aware of. Since the blocker just won the national tournament a few months ago, he didn't have the same drive and ambition to win as the other Kyoei players.

It was normal for a player who just won a national tournament to have a bit of hungover and lost motivation for a moment. However, Haruo was their best player currently, and Kyoei couldn't afford him not going all out at this time.

"Should we do something?" Nitta asked with a whisper.

"I don't know," Ito answered, his expression was uncertain. "Saito-sensei is still calm enough, so it seems we are overreacting. But we need to be more careful and cannot put more burden on him." He glanced at his compatriot knowingly.

Nitta nodded, indicating that he understood what the captain implied behind his words. "I got it. I will be more active. You too, okay?"

Since Haruo was an unknown variable that they didn't know the condition for sure, it would be better to grasp the momentum by themselves and not rely on the blocker. Moreover, they two were the most senior players on the team and had their own pride, so it was impossible to let a freshman handle everything.

"The game has already been prolonged for too long," Ito said, glancing at the scoreboard. "It is time for us to snatch it away."

-0-

"COME ON, RIKU! GIVE US A GOOD SERVE!"

"KILL THEM ALL!"

"COME ON!"

The game was about to reach the conclusion state, and the crowds were getting louder. Even the most fanatical supporter of Tsunemori who frowned upon Riku who always got cheers from the girls didn't hesitate to show their support to the blonde boy again. They hoped that the setter would be able to do something impactful on this chance.

Riku himself was calm. The more the game went into the crucial state, the calmer he was. Even though he didn't have a lot of experience in competitive tournaments, this kind of moment was something he had been dreaming of for a long time. There was no way he would mess this up and give away this opportunity so easily.

'17 – 18, huh?' He glanced at the scoreboard. 'Whoever got 20 points first would gain the momentum. Yuki has already shown his value and contributing on so many points for the team. This time, it is my turn to do that.'

Riku turned his head to the opponent players who took a step back and got ready to receive his serve. Then, an idea suddenly popped inside his head, and a smirk suddenly curled on his face.

'I have never thought I would consider doing something like this. You are really a bad influence, Yuki.'

The moment the referee blew the whistle, he tossed the ball slightly in the air. All the Kyoei players tensed for a second, taking another step back unconsciously. However, what they didn't know was that Riku had already prepared a trick to pull in this situation. Seeing how far in the back the opponent's players were, he couldn't help but smirk.

'Perfect!'