The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Kai-senpai, you alright?" Yuki who was the closest to Kaede asked, worried.

"Y-Yes, don't worry, Yuki. Everything is under control." The defensive specialist smiled weakly.

If anything, though, this only made Yuki and the others worried more. After all, Kaede was not like Koji who got flustered easily. So, his stuttering like this was definitely not a good sign for the team.

"Oi, Kai, you know you don't need to put up a strong face in front of us, right?" Asahi frowned. "We know you are not good in a hostile atmosphere like this, so it is okay to retreat first and adjust yourself from the bench." The others also nodded in agreement. However, the defensive specialist just shook his head, rejecting the idea.

"No, no, I cannot do that. Sensei is right, I need to adapt on the court, not on the bench. Those two are a completely different matter."

As much as they hated it, all the Tsunemori players knew Kaede was right. Even though Ogawa showed that he was better at facing a hostile crowd compared to Kaede, there was a reason why Akira chose to put the defensive specialist from the start like usual. Kaede's defensive ability would be needed when the game entered a crucial moment, so rather than just shoving him into the mess without giving him time to adapt, it would be better to let Kaede adjust it from the start.

However, doing that would turn into Kaede a glaring weakness for the team until he could adjust, and there was no way Tsukiji High wouldn't pick this up.

"Come on, Reiki! Give us another good serve!"

"Give us one more!"

Reiki took a deep breath as he grabbed the ball, walking calmly through the service line. After the last attack, he had his eyes on Kaede, wanting to see whether the last point was a coincidence or something they could exploit. When the referee blew the whistle, he tossed the ball instantly, taking two big steps before taking a leap forward with his arm recoiled. However, right before he was about to unleash another powerful serve, something unexpected happened.

"REIKI, YOU SUCK!"

Reiki winced at the shouts coming from a small part of the crowd, getting distracted by it. As a result, all the strength gathered for the serve vanished instantly, and the end product was a weak serve that was stuck on the net.

Thud!

A dead silence followed for a moment as everyone turned their eyes on the small part of the crowd who was the culprit of this. After all, who was suicidal enough to insult the home team's captain in front of his crowd?

However, just within a second, the crowd that had caused this broke the silence with another round of shouts.

"Oh! He falls for the trick!"

"Ha! How does it feel to face your own weapon?!"

"Suck it up, Reiki!"

Yeah, the shout before came from Tsunemori's crowd. If before, Yuki thought they were very brave to come knowing they were going to be outnumbered, now he felt those fifty boys – no, warriors – coming together to support the team were insane. After all, this was a blatant provocation, which of course the home team's supporters wouldn't let it slide easily.

"YOU DARE!"

"GO HOME, YOU NO NAME BASTARDS!"

"FUCK YOU, THIRD RATE TEAMS!"

The tension that had just died down a few minutes ago rose to its peak once again at Tsunemori supporter's provocation. Hell, some of the old men from Tsukiji's crowd were even ready to jump into a fight, glaring fiercely to their opponent's supporters. Unfortunately, this was just a school game located in a public school. Even with more than 500 people coming to watch the game, there was no strict security to deal with this kind of situation. As a result, the game had to be stopped prematurely once again to ease the tension for the second time in this game.

"Man, you guys are crazy," Yuki commented dryly as he and his teammates gathered in front of their supporters. "I don't know how you will leave this building safely after this."

"Oh, don't worry, Kobayashi-kun." One of the boys there – the football team's captain if Yuki remembered – smirked. "This is still pretty tame compared to the games I usually attend."

Honestly, Yuki – and all the Tsunemori players – didn't want to know what kind of game the boy liked to go to. Still, it was good that at least one of them had experience in this kind of situation. "So, what are you going to do after this?" Yuki couldn't help but ask.

"Us? Nothing. Just the usual like before." The other boy who Yuki remembered as the former baseball team's captain shrugged.

Yuki stared at him in disbelief for a second before snapping his head to Arina Sugawara. To his exasperation – and everyone's amusement – the girl had the gal to shrug helplessly as if this wasn't her responsibility. In the end, though, she and the other Tsunemori supporters couldn't be blamed for this mess.

Meanwhile, after the referee paused the game, he called the two coaches from both teams to discuss what happened. By the look of it, there were shouts and insults thrown between the two middle-aged men and every one pitied the referee who tried his best to be the middle man there. It seemed even the coaches got carried by the current atmosphere here.

"So, how is it, Sensei?" Asahi asked when he saw Akira approach them with a scowl on his face. "What does the referee say?" He asked.

"Not too much, just asking if you lot can tone down the insult." The older man said sarcastically. "The gal of that boy. He didn't even say anything about Tsukiji's supporters even though they are the first to throw the punch here. Sugawara-san, don't worry about the consequence, just lead the boys here to annoy everyone here to the best that you can."

Arina Sugawara blinked for a moment before an angelic smile that made everyone shudder formed on her face. "Sure, Sensei! Leave it to me!"

After a while, the situation seemed to get better inside the building. However, even those who didn't know anything about the game could see the tension still remain there, what with the hostility shown clearly by Tsukiji's supporters. Hell, they didn't even hold back their insult right now.

"GET OUT OF HERE, BASTARD!"

"THIS IS JAPAN, NOT YOUR HOME!"

"BLONDE SON OF A BITCH! GO BACK TO YOUR MOM!"

Everyone winced unconsciously at the cruel insults thrown by the crowd. Riku himself looked pretty calm. However, anyone who knew him well enough could see rage boiling inside himself, ready to get unleashed at any time. Hell, the referee even had to pause once again to warn Tsukiji's supporters, but in the end, the game was continued.@@novelbin@@

BAM!

Even with the mean distraction from Tsukiji's supporters, Riku still managed to unleash a powerful serve straight to Kiyotake's direction. By now, all the Tsunemori players tried their best to aim their attack toward the opposite hitter. Kiyotake himself reacted quickly. However, the ball came a bit faster than his prediction, making him miscalculate the timing he received it. As a result, while he managed to save the ball, it didn't go in the direction he wanted to go.

"SHIT! Ishida!" He shouted.

"I got this!" Replied the libero while tracking the ball's movement in the air. Still, since this was the second ball and he couldn't set up an attack properly, the libero didn't have too many options to take here. In the end, he decided to pass the ball to Reiki, hoping the captain would be able to show why he was also the ace of the team. "Captain!"

"Oh! Nice pass, Ishida!"

Reiki moved like a flash, trying to use his best weapon to take down the opponent. Yuki of course followed through as Tsukiji's captain was his responsibility in the first place. They both jumped in unison, one with one arm recoiled to get ready to unleash a powerful attack and the other with both hands covering the sky to prevent the attack.

However, in a split second, they both were in the air, Yuki suddenly caught a glimpse of mischievousness in Reiki's eyes, and he didn't need to be a genius to recognize that look.

'Shit! It is either a block-out or a rebound! I need to duck!'

BAM!

As his instinct kicked in, Yuki retreated both hands immediately, and a second later, the ball flew straight in the direction where his hands were there a second before. Reiki himself had his mouth gaped wide as he stared at the ball that he spiked which flew far to the stand where Tsunemori's supporter. For a moment, another dead silence befell inside the building before it was broken by obnoxious laughter from Tsunemori's crowd.

"AHAHA! Is he an idiot or what?!"

"Nice home run, Reiki! Go to the baseball club!"

"Sayonara ball! Good job, Reiki!"

Reiki himself tried his best to hide his flustered face as he didn't expect this result. For a moment, the building was dominated by laughter that even Tsukiji's own supporters also found this amusing. Still, that didn't change the fact that Tsunemori just gained another point here, and with three points lead, even though the game was still far from over, at least the away team got the first chance to grab the momentum here.

Tsunemori High 6 – 3 Tsukiji High