The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Shit! Sorry, that's my bad!"

"Oh! Good cover, Koji! Send it back!"

BAM!

"A block again?! Damn, Wang is on fire!"

"Another one?! Really?!" Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire

For a moment, the air in the building seemed to disappear as everyone held their breath unconsciously. The only sound that could be heard there was the shouts from the court, either from cursing for a bad play, praising for a good play, or the communication between each player to cover each other. About five hundred people gathered to watch this game, and in this game, they forgot to breathe as they were enthralled by twelve teenagers who were running all over the court in front of them.

BAM!

"SHIT! It is him again?!" Reiki cursed in frustration, feeling his hair turn grey as he failed to execute another attack. If glares could kill, Yuki would've been dead already for a long time.

Yeah, the source of frustration that Reiki and all the Tsukiji players suffered came from one person, and that was Yuki. For all the intelligence they learned of how dangerous the boy was in the service line, no one had told them of how crazily stubborn the glasses boy was in the back line. Just in this sequence alone, he had already made three digs that saved Tsunemori from Tsukiji's bombardment. Not only that, but the most frustrating thing was how quickly Yuki recovered to his position after saving the ball, making it look like he was everywhere.

"Keep calm, everyone! No need to rush things here! Everything is still under control!" Neito shouted, trying to calm down his teammates while waiting for the ball to come at him.

Unfortunately, his teammates were a bunch of teenagers whose patience was as thin as a string. They weren't built for a patience and an endurance battle like this, so it was clear that frustration would cloud their judgment sooner or later. Just like right now, despite Neito's attempt to calm down his teammates, the other Tsukiji players turned blind eyes and rushed forward erratically, making it impossible for the setter to set up a good attack.

'Those idiots…' He growled furiously.

Having no choice since his teammates didn't realize they were locked in by all the Tsunemori players, Neito had to give up the ball as he spiked it by himself. He could see the disbelief in his teammates' eyes as they didn't expect him to end the play by himself, but honestly, Neito couldn't care less in this situation. Once he landed on the floor, he shouted once again to his teammates, "WAKE UP, IDIOTS! THE GAME IS STILL ON!"

Unfortunately, his reminder was a second too late as Koji was already flying when all the Tsukiji players froze at Neito's shout. Without hesitation, the team's ace swung his arm quickly, hitting the ball straight to the spot where no one was able to reach.

BAM!

"Hell yeah!" Koji roared, wiping the sweat on his face. "Nice pass, Riku! That is the best pass you give to me today!"

"My pass is always that good, Senpai! It is just you who suck at finishing it!" Riku grinned cheekily, also wiping the sweat on his face after running all over the court in the last play.

"Ha?! How dare you disrespect your senpai like that, you Brat?!"

The laughter coming from the other side of the net was a contrast to the gloomy atmosphere on Tsukiji's side. After a full minute of battling and pressuring the opponent, losing a point was definitely a disappointment. It didn't help that Neito, their setter, had a gloomy face as if he was ready to bite everyone who dared to say something stupid.

"Urgh… Neito, are you o – "

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Reiki winced unconsciously when Neito snapped at him. The setter breathed heavily as he glared at all of his teammates. Some of them turned their head quickly, trying to avoid the glare. Even though Neito was a calm person by nature, that didn't mean he had no temper. Just like right now, if he was pushed hard enough, he could also feel frustration. "Now listen here, you idiots! I've told you before to calm yourself down and there is no need to rush, but what did you do?! You completely disregard my words and rush forward like a bunch of starving kittens! You didn't even realize you were getting locked down by the opponent, each one of you! So, don't you dare question my decision to give up our chance to attack when you couldn't even see your surroundings with clear eyes, do you all understand?" He ended his speech with a hiss.

Some of the players there at least had the decency to look ashamed of themselves because they knew Neito was right. When emotion was running high in the middle of the game, it was always good to listen to the setter's words and take a deep breath before taking action again. Fortunately, before the silence turned awkward, Reiki stood up as the captain of the team and said, "Okay, let's take a deep breath and keep our heads calm. We are still on the lead, so there is no need to be that angry with the others, Neito. Also, sorry for not listening to your words. We promise we will do better."

In the end, Neito just huffed before walking away, not trusting himself to be able to say anything without slipping an insult behind his words. The other Tsukiji players just shrugged at each other, hoping that this was just a rare occasion that wouldn't happen again.

Unfortunately, they jinxed themselves.

If in the last few minutes, they managed to dominate the game, in the next few minutes, Tsunemori managed to turn the table and change the game into their playground. Even though they still faced the unwavering attack from Tsukiji High, they managed to hold their ground and kept the ball in the air for a long time, not giving their opponent any chance to score so easily.

All the Tsunemori players really embraced the philosophy of dragging their opponent to hell.

Still, this was a double-edged sword strategy on Tsunemori's part. After all, defending required more concentration and effort compared to offense, so it was clear that it would be them who would fall first. Hell, even a novice supporter in this sport like Arina Sugawara could see that, and the girl started to worry when she saw how much all the Tsunemori players sweated compared to their opponents.

"Shimada-kun, would it be okay to let them run amok like this?" She whispered a question to the boy next to him.

The boy – Shimada – who was the former captain of the basketball team crossed his arms for a moment before answering, "If it was any other team, I would say that this is a risky strategy. However, for them, this is a walk in the park."

"Really?" Arina Sugawara couldn't help but feel skeptical.

In return, Shimada just snorted before answering, "Trust me, this is not their first rodeo. To give you an idea, before their last Inter-high, most of their training was always filled with running, and that wasn't an ordinary run. It involved a lot of pace-changing training that would test their endurance to the limit, and honestly, it wasn't the craziest thing I have seen them doing their training. One day, my team had to start training at 1 P.M., and they had already run, and when my team's training was about to be over at 4 P.M., they were still running outside. They might not be the best team in this country, but in terms of endurance, I am sure they could challenge all the teams in Japan, even the professional ones. That is how good they are in an endurance battle like this."

Honestly, Arina Sugawara didn't know how to react. She was dumbfounded, astonished, and even flabbergasted at the training description Shimada told her. She knew that sports teams tended to get crazy and went overboard with their training, but she didn't know it could go THAT crazy. "Why would they go to that extent, though?" She asked.

"Because they were desperate," Shimada said as a matter of fact. "You have to remember that they just lost their five or six main players after the gossip fiasco with the senior members, and they were still under the pressure of the purge. With only eight members left, if they wanted to meet the school's target, they needed to improve fast, and the only thing that could be improved faster than anything else was stamina, and as you can see, now, they enjoy the fruit of their labor."

Arina Sugawara hated that she could see what Shimada was trying to say. Even though the training itself was barbaric, she couldn't deny the result, especially considering the team managed to survive up until now. Still, she took a note inwardly to discuss with Akira what was the most appropriate training menu to give to a bunch of teenagers.

BAM!

"ANOTHER ONE?! REALLY?"!

"Damn, that number 19 is a menace! You have to drug test him later!"

"Yeah! There is no way he could do that constantly! There must be a foul play here!"

Back to the court, everyone could hear the cry of frustration shouted by Tsukiji's supporters when they saw that once again, Yuki managed to save Tsunemori from the tight situation by sacrificing his body to dive forward and reach the ball before it could fall to the ground.@@novelbin@@

It was another long, exhausting rally, and all the Tsunemori players could see that their opponent was frustrated. They grinned slightly at that, knowing they were successful in making their opponent play sloppily. Now, what was left was to punish them when they were still exhausted from everything.

"RIKU! GIVE IT TO ME!"

"Right side is open! Send it here, Riku!"

With Koji and Asahi rushed forward, Riku had a decision to make here. If he sent it to the ace, Michael Wang would shut his senpai off easily. However, if he sent it to Asahi, even though he only faced Juzo, Tsukiji's second middle blocker, the captain lacked the power and technique to get through Juzo's wall.

However, there was always the third option here, and when he saw someone rushed from behind, Riku couldn't help but grin. 'Well, you have been working hard since this set began, so this is my present for you! Kill it!'

BAM!