The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

There was a long silence fell on the court as everyone stared at the ball rolling gently on the floor. Some of them still had their jaws dropped, not expecting for Tsubasa to pull a dump out of nowhere. However, after realization sunk in, the first one to react was Hideo, Shimo's captain, who shouted, "Ezaki! Are you okay?!"

That was when everyone finally noticed Ezaki was still on the ground, holding his shoulder a little while wincing after the awkward fall while trying to save the last ball.

"Hey, Ezaki, are you okay?!"

"Damn, you are too crazy! I know that this is your playing style, but mind your body a little, will you?!"

"Fuck, should we call a medic?!"

Seeing his anxious teammates, Ezaki couldn't help but smile, feeling warm inside. Half a year ago, he would never have imagined that someone from the team would be concerned about him, and now, here he was, being surrounded by the worried teammates after the bad fall before. Hell, even some of the opponent's players were also concerned about him, whether it was unconscious or a real action.

"Don't worry, Senpai. It is okay." He rotated his shoulder casually, showing that he wasn't hurt at all. "The impact is a bit awkward, but other than the bruise, there is nothing wrong here." His words made all of the players there sigh in relief.

"Damn, you scare the shit of us, Ezaki! Don't do that again!"

"Yeah, the game has just started! No need to risk yourself just for one ball!"

"We still need you, okay?! Just remember that!"

After the tension dissipated and everyone could joke around, that was when all the players there realized that Shirayuki High had just scored one point here. Then, everyone turned around, just to find Tsubasa, the main protagonist of the last play, clicking his tongue, showing his dissatisfaction.

"I get that the opponents are about their player, but what about all of you? Instead of celebrating with me, you are more concerned about the opponent's ace? What is wrong with you guys?!"

All of the Shirayuki High players could only scratch the back of their heads awkwardly, knowing that they were at fault here. Hell, even some of the Shimo players also felt guilty for stealing Tsubasa's limelight. However, they all admitted that the last play earlier caught them off guard, which showed their respect toward the setter.

Meanwhile, Riku, who watched what happened on the court, also clicked his tongue in annoyance, feeling pity that no one paid attention to the player who deserved it. As one setter to another, he really appreciated how Tsubasa managed to fool the entire building with his dump, somehow feeling pissed off that nobody was talking about him.

Yuki, who noticed that, just rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Wipe away that frown, Riku. It is just a play. If he could do it once, he could do it again later. Don't worry, he would get the limelight he deserved later."

"Ah?!" Riku was taken aback when he heard that, and then his face flushed in embarrassment when he realized what his friend was talking about. "Am I really that obvious?"

"For me, yeah." Yuki nodded with no hesitation.

However, even Yuki himself felt that Tsubasa's dump before was a fine play. He stared at the setter on the court in a new light, feeling that this game wouldn't be as one-sided as he initially thought.

'Oh, well, they are the top eight teams for a reason here. There is no way they would let themselves get beaten by the opponent so easily. It would be interesting to see who would grab the momentum first today…'

-0-

After the commotion was over and the referee checked whether Ezaki's condition was okay to continue the game or not, everyone was finally ready to resume the game. This time, it was Haruichi Takumi, the team's captain, who stepped forward to the service line.

"Come on, Captain! Get it done!"

"Just blow everything away!"

"Yeah, Captain! Don't worry about everything, just kill them all!"

Facing the encouragement from his teammates, Takumi took a deep breath before starting his routine to serve. Just like Hideo from Shimo High, he threw a powerful serve that would make everyone wince unconsciously. However, just exactly the same as how Hideo's serve went, this time, Wakamatsu, Shimo High's defensive specialist reacted quickly enough to save the day.

BAM!

"Oh, shit! Nice receive, Wakamatsu!"

"Ueno, bring it to me!"

After glancing sideways for a split second, Ueno, the setter, moved quickly and picked up the ball, sending it straight to the left where his teammate, Senki, was there. However, as Senki jumped, Ryusei, Shirayuki High's middle blocker with the jersey number 14 also followed the boy's movement, blocking his way to attack Shirayuki's area.

BAM!

"One touch!" He shouted after feeling the impact of the ball.

"Shit!" Senki cursed when he saw this. "Sorry, everyone! My bad!"

"Don't worry, just go back!"

"Get ready to jump again! The next attack is coming!"

True enough, right after Senki landed on the ground, he saw three of Shirayuki's players move together, rushing forward to overwhelm him. Seeing this, Genta, Shimo's middle blocker, reacted, moving to the left side to help his kouhai. Some of the players on Shimo's side also shifted their position toward that side too, somehow thinking that the ball would go there.

However, as if falling into the same hole twice, they didn't even notice that Tsubasa was alone without anyone watching him there. Not just that, since the position shifted onto the left side, there was a big hole on the right side of Shimo's defense that would be hard to cover. This was definitely heaven for a setter like Tsubasa.

So, without even blinking or turning around, he sent the ball behind as if he had eyes on the back of his head. There, Takumi was rushing for the ball already, taking off immediately before anyone from Shimo High could recover.

"Ha! Nice pass, Tsubasa!"

"Shit!" Seeing this, the closest Shimo player to him, Ezaki, also reacted. "Don't think you can score easily in front of me!" He took off from the ground, both hands soaring to the sky while also getting ready to move them to block the opponent's attack. Even though he wasn't the best middle blocker, the boy was confident in his ability on the front line.

Unfortunately, this time, he met a smart attacker as Takumi suddenly let out a small smirk before doing exactly the same as Tsubasa did in the play before, tapping it gently to get the ball passed the wall from above. This time, Ezaki couldn't do anything besides watch as the ball just flew gently above the tip of his head, and without even looking back, he knew the result of this play.

"Shit!"

Thud!