The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Oi, oi, oi, are we going to lose today?"

"Don't say it like that!"

"Well, the game's direction is not in our favor right now."

"Have you ever heard the said that baseball starts from two outs?"

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know, but I think it is related to anything that could happen before the game really ends." Discover more content at m,v l'e|m-p| y r

"Well, I don't care if we win or lose, I just hate to see that bastard smile smugly like that at us."

"You are right! We can lose, but that bastard must pay!"

The pessimistic chatters could be heard in the crowds, mixed with the threat of Kyoei's ace that still flew around from those who were fuming from the provocation before. Still, their voice to support the team started to die down a little, not as intimidating as before. It was clear that everyone thought that this game was unsavable for Tsunemori even though it was still in the first round.

All the Tsunemori players couldn't help but feel depressed about that. This was the first time they played under such a massive crowd supporting them, yet more than half couldn't even stay until the end of the game. They couldn't blame those who had left already though. If they were in the crowd too, they would've been left a long time ago after seeing their shit performance today.

Still, that thought couldn't prevent them from feeling down right now.

"Why are you all looking so down, senpai?! This is just going back to the beginning again!" Riku tried to encourage his teammates. "Don't you forget how quiet our last two games were? This is not the first time we don't have anyone to support us, so why are you so bothered? Come on, we can still keep going!"

All the players looked at their kouhai speechlessly, silently wondering how could someone still be so bright in this situation. Even though what Riku said was true, the blonde boy forgot about something here. Having no supporter since the beginning was still far better than having some and then being left alone in the middle of the journey.

"Even if what you said is true, what should we do now? We don't stand any chance against them." Kaede said in a depressed tone.

Riku had a sweat drop on his face, inwardly taking a note to talk to his uncle about Kaede after the game. He had noticed by now that every time the team was in a bad situation, it was always Kaede who voiced his depression first, and everyone would follow him no matter of time. This was a bad habit that should be far from any competitive team.

"Well, I have a lot of ideas of what we should do after this. For one, we still have Kobayashi, right?" He grinned. The atmosphere around him also lightened up a bit as everyone suddenly remembered about Yuki. "Even though I don't know if he alone could influence the game, at least our chance would be better with him on the court, right?"

Even though they were still depressed by the situation they currently faced, some players acknowledged his words, knowing that the blonde boy was right. With Yuki around, while that might not change anything, at least they would put up a better fight. The question was, could they hold the game a little longer until Yuki was back?

"Oh, and before you fall into another pit of depression again, let me say one more thing." Riku suddenly added. "Facing against a superior offensive team like Kyoei… This wasn't the first time for us, right? Remember the game against Shimoyawata? Don't you think before that it was impossible too for us to win the game?

But we used one strategy to neutralize their offense perfectly, and we can use that too this time!"

All the players looked around, confused about what strategy the blonde boy was talking about.

"Don't you get it?" Riku started to get excited. "Facing such a superior team in offense, there is one thing we can do, and that is to use the stubborn defense we trained our asses off for a long time to drag the game to hell!"

-0-

Akira nodded in approval when he heard Riku's pep talk, glad that it could affect the others in a good way. If only he still had a timeout, he would stop the game and do the same in a heartbeat. And the essence of Riku's talk was also the thing he wanted to emphasize the most.

'Defend with all your might! Come on, hold them back until Kobayashi is back!'

A moment later, the game restarted with Kyoei's setter serving the ball. It was another ordinary ball, one which Asahi was able to pick it up easily. Riku moved quickly to the front side while glancing around. Inwardly, his mind recalled his uncle's words during the timeout.

'Make sure you use every chance we get effectively! Make them think we can still bite them when they are careless. This would at least be able to hold their offense back for a while.'

With that in his mind, Riku decided to do something unconventional. Instead of sending the ball to the wing, he signaled Hirano to run, and they did a quick setup attack in the middle to fool the entire Kyoei players on the other side of the net.

*BAM!*

"YOSSHAAA!"

"Nice spike, Hirano-senpai!" Riku grinned excitedly. This was the first time ever he set up a quick in the middle to the blocker and he was satisfied with the result. Despite the lack of communication, they could still execute the play perfectly to add one more point to Tsunemori.

The next one in line was Koji. Since Noriyuki's departure from the team, he had been trying his best to fill up his senpai's shoes as the ace of the team, and one of the efforts he made was learning how to do a jump serve. Even though he wasn't as proficient as Riku, the second-year hitter was still able to send a powerful one to the opponent's side.

*BAM!*

"SHIT! SORRY!"

Even though Kyoei's player managed to save the ball, it wasn't a perfect receive. Instead of going high, the ball went straight with a high speed, hitting the net before it fell down to the floor. Ito rushed immediately, trying his best to keep the ball in the air. His attempt was proven to be fruitful as he managed to reach the ball first, letting it fly to the air.

"NITTA!"

"I got this!"

Nitta jumped immediately to reach the ball. However, he had no intention to spike it. The ball was too close to the net after all, so his position wasn't ideal to hit the ball. Instead, he pushed it slightly, aiming the ball to Hirano's hand so it could bounce back to their area and the team could reset the play to do a brand-new attack.

"Oh! Nice rebound, Nitta!"

"One more time!"

All the Tsunemori players tensed for a second, ready to receive the attack. Hirano also kept his eyes closely on Nitta's movement wanting to slow down the attack. Even though he had a poor performance as a blocker today, Hirano still tried his best to use his presence to reduce the violent impact of Kyoei's offense on his teammates.

But this time, the ball didn't come to Nitta.

No, instead of going to the left side as usual, Kyoei's setter tossed the ball to the middle, giving it to Ito for another back-attack. Kyoei's captain rushed from the back line, eager to execute the ball as Nitta attracted two blockers to the left side.

However, the moment he unleashed his spike, Ito's eyes widened in surprise as a pair of arms suddenly rose from nowhere, blocking his path to spike the ball.

*BAM!*