The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Kiyotake was never an explosive player. No, he was the one who took his time to think and strategize first inside his head before taking action. Hell, some people even said his playing style was too cowardly, what with how he always avoided any risk in front of him, and Kiyotake was okay with that. However, if there was one occasion when he would go all out without overthinking the situation in front of him, that was when he had to complement Reiki's erratic playing style.

'He is about to jump again, right? The first rebound has already caught everyone's attention, so now…'

As all the eyes were on Reiki, Kiyotake who was in the back row snuck from behind Neito, tapping his friend's back subtly to tell the setter that he was right behind him. Fortunately, the setter caught his movement, and as everyone had their eyes on the captain, he sent the ball straight toward Kiyotake who jumped from behind the line.

'Not bad…'

Even though a back attack was never Kiyotake's strength, with not even a single Tsunemori player jumping in front of him, it was quite easy to execute the attack flawlessly. He slammed the ball down behind Tsunemori's front line, and even though it wasn't a very strong attack, the spot was far from anyone's reach in Tsunemori's back line.

"YOSSHAAA!" Kiyotake clenched his fist, chest bumping Neito next to him. "Good pass, Neito! That is what I have been waiting for!" Not a long time after that, Reiki also joined the hug as the captain had the biggest grin on his face. "Nice decoy too, Cap! You are good at it!" Kiyotake teased his friend.

"Hey, I am not just good at being a decoy, you know?!" Reiki retorted, affronted. "Whoever said that will receive a kick in their asses!" He called out, eliciting a round of laughter from everyone. Kiyotake who saw that sighed in relief, glad that Reiki bounced back higher after getting scolded by the coach before. Honestly, even though he knew Reiki played terribly in the first set, what the coach said about Reiki didn't deserve to be the captain was a bit too much for Kiyotake. After all, if not for Reiki, who would be able to lead this team?

After this, the game restarted again, and the next few minutes became a playground for Reiki. While his serve and spike didn't pack a lot of power like any other heavy hitter out there, he made it up with his speed and flexibility. He was everywhere. One moment he could be in the left wing covering for the leak coming from Tsukiji's blockers, and the next second he could already be in the right wing to join the attack.

To make it worse for Tsunemori High, Reiki managed to activate the entire Tsukiji offense, and now, instead of waiting passively for Michael Wang to make a miracle, they all barraged Tsunemori's defense with one attack after another. With someone like Reiki who was the fastest player on the court and Michael Wang who was the tallest person on the court on their side, they dominated the entire second set pretty easily.

"Asahi, leave Reiki to Hirano, he can handle it. Just reinforce our defense on the back side! No matter who is going to attack us, stay back! Besides Hirano, our line of blockers has been proven to be ineffective here, so let's throw it away and use another way to deal with their offense!" Akira instructed his captain passionately.

It was in the middle of the second set, and Akira finally had enough. Even though his team was able to score once or twice on several occasions, the opponent would always return it three times worse, which also made the score gap between those two teams smaller. He could see that his players also realized how severe this situation was, as most of them couldn't utter any words as they tried their best to regain their composure.

"So, we just let them bombard our defense?" Asahi asked for confirmation while he played with the bottle of water in his hand.

"Yes." Akira nodded firmly. "We have to admit that we are not built for a constant aerial battle for an entire set. We only have Hirano and you, and if we tried to force Yuki and Riku to join the front side, the sacrifice we have to make would be too much. So, yeah, besides Hirano who will still shadow Reiki, we will throw away all the thought about setting up a blocker or two against them."

Asahi cringed a little, unhappy with the decision. He felt the need to get a payback after getting toyed by the opponent's setter in the last few seconds. However, he knew that his sensei was right. The team didn't have a lot of blockers. Those who were capable besides him and Hirano had a bigger role that would impact the team if they were dragged to the front line. This was definitely the best strategy Akira could think of instantly after seeing the change in their opponent's strategy.

"Also!" Akira suddenly raised his voice once again, stopping his train of thought. Not just Asahi, but almost everyone on Tsunemori's bench raised their heads toward their coach. "I know you all have improved so much during the summer break, and I couldn't be prouder for all of you. However, it seems that this is the time for us to pick up the core of our team that we are so close to throwing away, right?"

"The core of our team?" Some of the players looked at each other confusedly.

A huge grin suddenly formed on Akira's face as he continued, "Why, yes! Of course, it is our tight defense! Don't you forget our motto in the last Inter-high? Our opponent might be better, faster, and stronger than us. But in an endurance battle, we will beat everyone's ass all day! If we cannot win the game in the most direct way, let's do it in Tsunemori's old way! Let's drag our opponent to hell!"

-0-

A minute later, the timeout was finally over, and everyone was back on the court already. The chant from the crowd was getting louder than ever, especially when they all realized that their team had momentum there. They sang and jumped together on the stand, creating a mini earthquake that gave Yuki PTSD for a moment.

For Tsukiji High, we'll sing it out loud!

TSUKIJI HIGH! TSUKIJI HIGH! TSUKIJI HIGH SCHOOL!

"You okay, Yuki?" As always, it was Riku who noticed his wrong state.

"No, I am not okay. But don't worry, I will adapt." Yuki smiled weakly. "Just have a bad memory of the ground shaking like this, you know?" Riku widened his eyes in shock as he realized what his friend was saying. Without even waiting for Yuki to say anything, he rushed toward the referee and explained his condition.

Honestly, Yuki didn't hope much here. Even if his condition got worse, the referee would at best ask him to go to the bench rather than asking the supporter to change. After all, even though jumping simultaneously that could even shake the floor was a bit exaggerated, this was also one of so many advantages for the home team. If the referee stopped that, there was a chance in the future another player would pull the same thing as him when they got intimidated by the crowd.

However, it seemed that he underestimated the power of the referee here. After calling both Reiki and Tsukiji's head coach, they discussed something silently before those two went to the crowd and shared their discussion with the referee. A moment later, while the chant was still as loud as ever, there was no jumping around that shook the floor, and Yuki had his jaw dropped in astonishment.

"If you want to know, I just pointed out that the shaking floor would be too similar to an earthquake, and if the real thing happened here, we won't know about it until too late. I also mentioned that some people might have a bad reaction here, so they decided to take it seriously." Riku explained.

'Ah, so that is the case…' Yuki nodded. Even before the Fukushima Disaster, earthquake was a topic that always needed to be taken seriously. After all, Japan was the country that suffered from earthquakes the most in the world, so getting blindsided would always result in a bad thing. No matter what the reason was, though, Yuki was still grateful that Riku noticed his problem and stood up for him. Of course, he could try to hide it and let himself adapt slowly, but that would definitely affect the team's performance too.

This was just another small episode in the game that would be forgotten after everything was over. Yuki took a deep breath, trying to re-center himself as he stared at Tsukiji's players on the service line intently. With the strategy implemented by Akira, his role as the best defender on the team would have to shine the most here, and if he couldn't bring his best performance, he could say goodbye to the second set.

'Come on, give it to me… No, that is…' Yuki widened his eyes a little before shouting at his teammates, "Koji, it is short! Move forward!" Fortunately, even though the spot was tricky, the serve itself was pretty weak. Koji only needed to step forward one step before he covered the ball, and he even had time to move back and get ready to join the attack.

"Oh, yeah! Nice receive, Koji!"

"Riku! Left side! It is open here!"

Riku was tempted to follow that shout from Asahi, but when his eyes caught Michael Wang's eyes, he knew this was a bait thrown deliberately so that the Chinese boy could kill their attack. 'If you think that kind of lowly trick can fool me, you are so naïve! Here!'

Riku still sent it to the left, but instead of giving it to Asahi, he sent it toward Koji who was far on the outside of the court. He used his captain as a decoy so that Koji who just recovered from receiving the serve could be in a more open position.

BAM!

"Shit! Sorry, Riku!"

"Don't worry, go back and get ready to defend!" Riku shouted.

Honestly, he was surprised to see Koji's attack was blocked. However, Riku himself also forgot that Tsukiji had two blockers now, and their combination managed to cover the entire frontcourt of their side.@@novelbin@@

"It is a synch attack! Go back!" Yuki suddenly took over the command. "Keep your eyes on the ball! Don't forget your responsibility!" Of course, he still remembered the intelligence the team gained before the game. If it was a synch attack, Reiki wouldn't be able to optimize his speed advantage, and even if the ball was sent toward the captain, it wouldn't be a big threat to Tsunemori's defense.

"Neito-senpai, give it to me!" Michael Wang pointed his finger at the sky. Seeing that Tsunemori wasn't going for a block, it was logical for Neito to give it to the strongest hitter in the team, and right now, Michael Wang was what he had. "Oh! What a nice pass!"

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Michael Wang even had the time to glance and observe Tsunemori's defense for a few seconds before he unleashed his arm like a whip. He wanted to use his height advantage by knocking down the ball to Tsunemori's front side, but unfortunately, someone had already read his intention far before the ball was in front of him.

BAM!