The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Even before he walked through the service line, Yuki could hear the hitched breath taken by the people outside of the court unconsciously, staring at him with nervous gazes. He tried his best to hide the little smirk that formed on his face, knowing that his opponent had this kind of effect on the opponent. Honestly, being treated as a bogeyman like this by the opponent was probably the highest praise he could get as a player.

Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Still, the sudden silence only lasted for a few seconds, and when he bounced the ball to the floor several times to prepare himself for the serve, a wave of boos and insults could be heard resounding throughout the building, trying to distract him from his task here.

"BASTARD! GO HOME!"

"YES! YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED HERE! GO CRY TO YOUR MOMMY!"

"DON'T THINK WE DON'T KNOW YOU! WE WILL STEAL YOUR SISTER AFTER THIS!"

"DIE, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Honestly, Yuki wanted to laugh so badly at Tsukiji's supporters. He could appreciate how their insult was always creative and not repetitive, making him curious about what would come next. Still, even though the noises didn't affect him that much like during the first set, he couldn't let this affect his teammates too. So, he did what he thought the best, and that was to signal Arina Sugawara and the rest of the Tsunemori supporters to return the favor.

"OH, DON'T THINK YOU CAN INTIMIDATE ONE OF US LIKE THIS, OLD GEEZERS!"

"HELL, YEAH! YOU ONLY DARE TO SAY THAT BEHIND THE CROWD! COME AND SAY IT IN FRONT OF MY FACE!"

"DAMN, TSUKIJI! DON'T BE SO SHAMELESS!"

"THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME! THIS IS OUR PLAYGOUND!"

This time, Yuki couldn't hold back anymore. He chuckled a bit too loudly at the last insult, wondering who came up with such a creative insult like that. The glasses boy wilted under the linesman's glare, knowing it was inappropriate to laugh at this chaotic situation. Still, this alone at least helped him achieve two things. First, his teammates got their focus back again, and second, this managed to break Tsukiji's concentration whose momentum was at its peak after Michael Wang's series of operations.

After the main referee managed to calm the crowd, though, everything was finally ready to get restarted again. Yuki thought for a second about what he wanted to do. At first, he wanted to be bold and go for a spin serve, making a silence challenge as if telling Michael Wang something like, 'This is how you do it!' Or something similar. However, when he saw Tsukiji's tight formation, he threw that thought far away, knowing that the ball would be anticipated easily.

'So, what should I do?'

Until the last second, Yuki still hadn't decided what he was going to do in this serve, yet his poker face was enough to make all the Tsukiji players nervous. In the end, though, Yuki decided to send a long, ordinary serve straight to the edge of the court, very close to the baseline.

Thud!

Banjo who was the closest to the ball hesitated for a second, not knowing whether the ball would land on or off the court. However, in the next second, he could hear Ishida shout, "SENPAI! GOT THAT!" And instinctively, he raised both hands to cover his head, letting the ball fall onto his catch.

"Neito!" He pushed the ball back into the air as quickly as possible, not wanting the team to get punished in a clutch time over something like this.

The setter reacted quickly, flying from one wing to another just to pick up the ball. He didn't even turn his head around, just using his memory after glancing at his teammates' movement for a second before this. However, his back pass was as accurate as ever, flying toward Michael Wang who was running from the back left.

"Oh, what a nice pass! Good job, Senpai!"

BAM!

Unfortunately, Michael Wang's attack met another brick wall once again, and this time, it was Ogawa who did that. He couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance, feeling that this became more ridiculous as time went by.

'Bastard! Again?! How could this kind of a middle school strategy manage to contain me?!'

Yeah, Michael Wang wasn't wrong. In the end, what the Tsunemori team did was like a bunch of middle school students learning how to play the sport for the first time in their lives. They didn't know how to do a block properly, so instead, they just waited in the back until the ball came in their direction and reacted accordingly.

An amateur strategy, yet it worked perfectly for him.

"RIKU! LEFT!"@@novelbin@@

As the ball flew once again toward Tsunemori's ace, Michael Wang gritted his teeth, using all the remaining forces on his body to move. His recovery speed once again managed to surprise all the people inside the building, but Koji had already gotten used to his sudden appearance like this.

BAM!

"Oh! A block out! As expected, Koji!"

"What a nice spike! Come on!"

"No, it is not over yet!"

When all the Tsunemori players were ready to celebrate, Michael Wagn who was still in the air saw the ball was still in his range, so he extended one of his legs to the right side and kicked it, trying to keep the ball flying.

"REIKI-SENPAI, COVER!"

The team's captain whose name was called out of nowhere was taken aback for a second. Fortunately, even though his reaction was late, he was the fastest player on the team, so it was easy for him to recover the ball.

"Kiyotake!"

BAM!

"BLOCKED? REALLY?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS NOW?!"

Yeah, even if Tsunemori implemented a no-blocker approach, they still had one blocker roaming freely on the court, and it was foolish for Tsukiji players to forget about him. With his quick reaction, Hirano managed to gain a soft block over Kiyotake's attack, giving Tsunemori a chance to counterattack.

"Damn, you are one hell of a blocker, Rano!"

"Come on, everyone! Move!"

When four of the six Tsunemori players on the court moved simultaneously, things began to get chaotic. Tsukiji's line of blockers locked in all the opponent's attackers one by one, trying to close down their unlimited offense routes as much as possible. Unfortunately, just like any other team who fell into this trick, they forgot about one blonde boy who blended into the crowd, and the setter didn't hesitate to punish this mistake immediately.

Thud!