The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"The team's offense sucks, Shinji-kun," Sekine commented casually from the bench.

Akira who still stared at the court sighed without even glancing at his old mentor. "I cannot help it, Sekine-sensei." He said helplessly. "Our best offensive players all come from the third-year students, so when they walked out of the team, our offense was weakened instantly.

I haven't had time to cultivate the sophomore players' offense to be up to my standard, so this kind of situation is already within my expectation."

"Oh?" Sekine arched his eyebrows, intrigued by Akira's last words. "Do you have any plan to deal with this situation?"

"A specific plan? Not really. But if you talked about faith, I have it for my players." Akira said, his eyes were on Koji.

-0-

"I GOT THIS!"

*BAM!*

"Oh! Nice receive, Okamura!"

"Riku! Follow it up!"

Riku stepped forward to pick up the ball flying on the front line. He still felt uncomfortable under Haruo's eyes, and when he saw the hesitation from the other players to attack, the blonde boy couldn't help but sigh. This was what facing a team with a tough blocker and good defenders behind would do to any offensive player.

That was when he suddenly remembered what Koji said to him before the play began.

"What? Keep passing to you? Are you okay, Senpai?" Riku blinked his eyes several times in disbelief.

"I am sure of it." Koji nodded firmly. "You notice it too that our offense is stuck and one by one feels it is impossible for us to score under the blocker's nose. So, just use my presence to figure out how to tear apart their defense. Use me as your bait."

Even though Riku didn't know where Koji suddenly got that confidence and determination, he couldn't fulfill his senpai's request that easily. After all, no one would take any bait that wasn't good enough to be eaten. For Koji to want to be a good bait, he had to produce something first, and that was what Riku hesitated for.

'Can he score against this bastard?' He murmured while glancing at Haruo who smirked from the other side of the net. After pondering for a millisecond, Riku gritted his teeth as he decided, 'Screw it! If nothing changed, our condition would be worse in every play! Let's do this! Koji-senpai, I trust you!'

He tossed the ball high into the air. This was the kind of ball that all the heavy hitters in the volleyball world would like, a slow, high ball that allowed them to be creative with their spike. This was also the kind of set that any blockers would like too, as it would give them a chance to fight a one-on-one battle against the opponent's best spikers.
Stay tuned to m-v l|e'm,p| y r

And that was what happened, as when Koji jumped, Haruo waited for a second to get his timing right before he followed Tsunemori's ace in the air with two hands extending in the air, ready to block the spike.

"KILL IT, KOJI-SENPAI!"

*BAM!*

"SHIT!" Koji cursed as Haruo's hands suddenly moved immediately to the direction where he wanted to aim the ball. 'This is ridiculous! How could he read the game so well that he could even predict where I would spike the ball?!'

Still, that didn't mean he gave up on the spot. The moment he realized his spike was about to be blocked, Tsunemori's area so they could start another attack again. And when the second chance came, he shouted once again, asking for the ball.

"RIKU! ONE MORE TIME!"

Riku didn't hesitate even for a second to give another high pass in his direction. And when Koji jumped for a second time, for a moment, his eyes met Haruo's, and everything suddenly slowed down in his perspective as he suddenly realized something.

'Why the hell do I need to beat him? My task is to score the ball!'

That was when his eyes finally landed on the other Kyoei players who guarded the sideline.

'Rather than forcing a cross and getting blocked, should I try this? Screw it! Let's try it!'

With the nothing to lose mentality, Koji adjusted his body in mid-air, using the momentum to pivot 90 degrees and redirect his trajectory toward the antenna. By now, he ignored Haruo's presence completely, with his eyes completely on Kyoei's player number 3 who guarded the sideline. Haruo's eyes widened in surprise when he realized what Koji wanted to do.

He tried his best to move his hand to block the ball, and…

*BAM!*

Koji brought the ball down with a thunderous spike as it went to Kyoei's area without anyone could stop it. The second-year hitter turned his head immediately, looking for the referee with a hopeful gaze, waiting for his final decision. Unfortunately, the referee shook his head before his shout echoed all over the building.

"OUT!"

"Aaargh! It is so damn close!" Koji groaned regretfully. He knew that he hit the ball from outside of the antenna. Still, he hoped he could fool the referee since the situation was a bit blurry before. Still, even though the play was a failure, Koji suddenly got excited as he had an inspiration. "Damn!

I am getting close to this, and I can feel it! Good pass, by the way, Riku!" He sent a thumb-up toward his blonde kouhai who stared at him with jaw-slacked.

This was the first time Tsunemori was so close to scoring from an open offensive play like this. Riku didn't know what kind of determination Koji had before the play, but whatever it was, it worked perfectly to spark the spirit of the team. Of course, realizing that, Riku didn't have any more hesitation to pass the ball to Koji.

"OH! NICE PASS, RIKU!"

Koji grinned as he saw the ball go in front of him. He glanced sideways to the other side of the net first to see Haruo's movement before he jumped, he kept chanting one thing inside his brain.

'Don't spike it blindly, Koji. You don't need to beat him. Your job is to score the ball. Look at his movement first, and then, send it in the opposite direction!'

*BAM!*

Unlike the last play, Koji went back to his normal cross-spike, startling Haruo who thought he would try another straight after the 'almost score' play before. However, Kyoei's defensive team wasn't formed by Haruo alone. The player with jersey number 3 suddenly jumped, diving to save the ball.

"OH! Nice save, Aki!"

"Shit! Sorry, it goes too far!"

"Chance ball!"

Fortunately, Kyoei's player couldn't save the ball perfectly as if flew back to Tsunemori's area. Once again, Koji took a quick three steps back before starting his run-up again, shouting, "RIKU, HERE!"

Haruo on the other side narrowed his eyes when he saw Koji was about to jump again. The last play was the second time Koji managed to avoid his block, and if the third time happened, it would change the direction of the game completely. The playful aura around him suddenly disappeared as he became serious, didn't want Koji to get the momentum.

However, the moment they both jumped, they had their eyes widened in shock as instead of going in their direction, Riku sent the ball to the exact opposite, to Asahi who was flying on the right wing.

"FU – !"

*BAM!*