The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Before the last spike…

Yuki panted heavily, trying to recover to his original position as quickly as possible after doing an acrobatic save to keep the ball up in the air. The sweat started to make his sight blurry, and he could even hear the sound of his heart beating. Still, even with all of that holding him back, Yuki still gritted his teeth and got up when he saw the light in Riku's face before his setter was going to pass the ball.

He recognized that glint.

'Damn, Riku! Are you sure you don't want to kill me?!' He grunted. However, the carefree smile he had on his face told everyone the otherwise. Just in this moment, after doing everything to keep the ball fly and was ready to join the attack, Yuki suddenly felt so alive.

He didn't even stop to take a breath, just hopping around like a rabbit before rushing forward like a mad man. He used Riku's body as a cover while checking below so that he wouldn't pass the front line, and when he leaped forward, the grin widened as the glasses boy saw the ball was already in front of him.

'That is a perfect pass!'

BAM!

Even though Kiyotake and Michael Wang on the other side of the net also jumped, they couldn't match his timing correctly. This was also one of the advantages of a back attack; the unexpectedness always made it difficult to match the attacker's timing. As a result, the ball got through Tsukiji's line of defense and fell onto the back of Tsukiji's side.

"YOSSHAAAAA!" Yuki roared, venting out his emotion before turning around to Tsunemori's supporter outside of the court and waved his hand excitedly. "COME ON! WHERE ARE YOUR VOICES, GUYS?! LOUDER!"

There was an awkward silence for a second before all the fifty people there roared back, following Yuki's lead.

"Hell, yeah! That is our Kobayashi!"

"Come on, Tsunemori! Let's kill the home team! Come on, Tsunemori!"

"ALE! ALE! ALE!"

The excited chant from their supporters managed to lift the mood of all the Tsunemori members either on the court or in the bench. Some of the players – Ogawa and Koji – could be seen doing a stupid dance while the others were either laughing with each other or grabbing the bottle of water in the bench to relief their thirst. One thing in common, though, even if most of them looked dead exhausted, they still had the biggest grin on their face as if they could do it all day, and that, honestly terrified Tsukiji High the most.

"Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous." Banjo said, wiping the sweat on his face. "Honestly, do they really believe they could last longer than us?"

"Well, if you compared our condition with them right now, I am sure they would believe that too." Kiyotake smiled wryly. "I mean, even though physically, we are not that far behind them, can you say the same to our psychological condition?"

Kiyotake and Reiki who heard that winced unconsciously, knowing that the vice-captain was telling the truth. Let's not talk about physical condition, because even though Tsunemori players looked worn out, at least they could still move around freely as if they weren't burdened by fatigue. They didn't know whether Tsunemori players still had stamina reserved for the rest of the game or was it because of adrenaline that they could stand still after dragging Tsukiji into the most exhausting battle the home team had ever played.

But that wasn't a big problem compared to Tsukiji's psychological state.

See, Tsukiji was formed by a bunch of offensive players who were good at striking to the weakest spot to end the play as quickly as possible. Just looked at Reiki who was good at a blitz attack, Banjo who was a menace with his block-out technique, or even Michael Wang with his ridiculously tall height. Almost all of them were assassins who were good at killing the opponent at the first strike, not a tank who was good at a prolonged battle like the last few plays.

As a result, getting dragged into the unfamiliar territory like this of course made them uncomfortable.

"Okay, let's take a deep breath and clear our head." Reiki spoke, inhaling the air around him deeply. As he released it slowly, the other Tsukiji players followed it up, knowing they all needed to release the tension inside their body. "Okay, good. Now, let's start thinking. Neito, you are our control tower. Is there anything you find wrong in our game? Just spell it out freely."

The setter pondered for a moment before saying, "We are too focused on targeting the joint of their back side."

"Joint?" Some of them tilted their head confusedly.

"Yes, Joint. The area between the middle back and wing back." Neito nodded, confirming his words. "I know it is a vulnerable area, what with how easily it could cause miscommunication between them. However, they also understand that. The joint is the area that 19 protected the most, and as you can see, his defensive range is no joke."

"Hmm… I can see your point here." Kiyotake nodded, cringing at himself as he remembered how he never wanted to take a risk to spike the ball to a trickier area and resolved to the joint as Neito said. "So, we need to aim more to the sideline, huh?"

"Yes. Even though it is riskier and I know most of you are uncomfortable with it, you have to admit that our offense pattern is quite predictable. So, we need to do something new here. Also, by sending it close to the sideline, at least that 19 bastard wouldn't be able to cover everything." Neito sighed. "Oh, two more things. First, we need to score quickly to put Ishida back on the court. No offense to you, Juzo, but you didn't contribute much in our offense."

Juzo – the freshman middle blocker – just nodded even with a sour expression.@@novelbin@@

"Also, Wang, don't spike it to the back. When attacking, dunk it to the front." He said it with a thick accent. Michael Wang nodded, giving the setter an 'OK' mark.

"Is that all?" Reiki asked.

"Yeah, that is all that I could think of for now." Neito nodded.

"Okay, let me say the last word before we go back to our position." All the Tsukiji players there put their attention on their captain. "We should know by now that Tsunemori will stick with this strategy for the rest of the game, so this will also be a test for us. Their supporter will also be there for our head, so be patience and don't get provoked. We need to stabilize the game, not make it more chaotic than before, okay?"

"Sure!"

-0-

Meanwhile, back to the stand, Ida Hasebe took a deep breath as the game was paused for a moment after Yuki's last attack. He almost had a heart attack when he heard the roar from the boy, which was followed by the cheers from the small group who managed to silence the entire building.

'Fifteen years I have worked as a coach in Japan, and this is probably the craziest high school game I have ever experienced.' He muttered wryly.

His assistant seemed to agree with his sentiment as the man just came back from outside, bringing two bottles of water while offering Hasebe one. "Man, it is pity that we watch the game live in this building. If only any television station wants to broadcast this game live, watching it in television with a can of beer would be the best." Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

Hasebe snorted, yet not denying his assistant's words. He opened the bottle and drunk all the water inside, enjoying the cold feeling sliding through his throat. A moment later, he shook his head, trying to put his focus back on the court, especially to the Tsunemori's side where the number 19 caught his attention since the beginning of the game.

"So, he is more than what you expected, huh?" His assistant asked.

"Yeah. Honestly, this is a gross underestimation from my part that is unforgivable." Hasebe clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I am too focused on his ability as a pinch server – which is good, mind you. He is probably one of the best servers in Japan for his age right now. However, by doing that, I neglected his other ability, and this game is like a slap on my face."

His assistant just hummed a little before saying, "Not that I can blame you, since everything about him and his report always highlighting his service ability. But I am sure that after the game today, everyone will see that he is not just a one-pony trick. Honestly, his resilience is crazy. Remind me of a lot of older, professional players." He grinned widely.

Still, even though the momentum was back to Tsunemori again, both Hasebe and his assistant knew that the game was still far from over. Tsukiji was still on the lead – although only by one point – and sooner or later, their own supporter would wake up from their dazed state and started to attack Tsunemori's players. And if Hasebe knew Tsukiji High as well as he thought, he pitied Tsunemori for what they were going to face next.

'Brace yourself, Tsunemori High. Tsukiji High is a team who will get better when the game entered a crucial moment. Your determination will be tested after this, don't get destroyed!'