The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

The first time Yuki saw the ball cross the net gently, his eyes shone brightly. After all, this was the first time he had such an easy ball to deal with for… Hell, he didn't even remember when was the last time he had such a kind ball. He also glanced at the other side of the net, seeing that the opponent's formation was still in shamble. So, without even a slight hesitation, the glasses boy jumped, not even coordinating with his teammates to reset the play first and decided by himself to just dunk the ball back to Kikugawa's side, letting it fall without any of the opponent's players able to stop it.

Thud!

For a moment, silence fell on the court. Suzuki and Tachibana who rushed and dived on the floor to save the ball just to be one or two seconds too late couldn't help but look up at Yuki's face, and being stared by the opponent from the floor, Yuki himself flushed, feeling excitement rushed to its peak before he clenched his fist tightly, roaring out loud. "YOSSHAAAAA!"

This was followed by the cheers exploded from all over the court.

"Oh, yeah! Yuki! Yuki! Yuki"

"Come on, Yuki! You can do it! You are our school's hero!"

"Yuki, you are the best player ever!"

The other Tsunemori players also came and slapped his back playfully to celebrate the last play. Hell, Hirano even gave him a thumbs-up which was probably the highest praise the stoic middle blocker could give considering how awkward his personality was. Yuki himself grinned, trying to maintain his mood so that he wouldn't get careless for the next play.

Meanwhile, on Kikugawa High's side, Suzuki cursed at himself, feeling like he was the one to be blamed in the last play. "Shit! If only I could be a little bit faster…" Tachibana also felt the same since he was the second-closest player to the ball before it fell on the floor.

Unexpectedly, it was Kaito who poured cold water on his head. "No, Senpai, even though you are a bit faster, you won't be able to do anything about the last attack." The boy said as a matter of fact. All the Kikugawa players snapped their heads, looking at their kouhai / friend in disbelief. "It might be hard for you to accept, but before he jumped, I could see him observing our position first. He is the type of player who always calculates everything inside his head, so there is no way your movement slipped under his gaze. He should've already realized that you wouldn't be able to reach the ball, and if you could, he would take a different approach to make sure that we suffered from the blow."

Some of his teammates had their mouths gaped wide while the others also bowed their heads deep, somehow knowing that Kaito was right. Of course, they didn't know that Yuki didn't have that much complicated thoughts during that play. It was just Yuki's second nature to always think of another way to attack other than brute forcing since at the beginning of his career, the boy was too weak to be counted as a good hitter.

"Okay, don't be so gloomy like that!" Kaito clapped his hands, encouraging his teammates. "Even though he relies on his dirty trick, so what? As long we can maintain our formation all the time and not get distracted by the other movements on their side, we will be able to stop him so easily! Cheer up!"

This worked perfectly to snap the other Kikugawa players from their depression. Suzuki also added, "Yeah, if we keep falling on the slump, Junya-sensei will not hesitate to replace us, you know?" All of them shuddered at the prospect of having to be put on the bench in a clutch moment when the game was about to end. Right after that, they all woke up from their slump and were ready to continue the game. In their mind, even though it was a bit unbelievable, they still chose to believe that Yuki could be stopped. Of course, it was always easy to say rather than to be done, especially when in the next turn, it was Yuki who was on the service line.

"Damn! The executioner would always come in the worst moment!" Tachibana couldn't help but curse. Executioner. Yeah, that was Yuki's nickname in Tokyo for his deadly service from behind the line. Of course, Yuki himself didn't know about that, since it was a pretty new nickname given by the volleyball magazine a week before this game began.

"Get ready, Senpai! Don't lose your concentration!" Yusuke also took part in defending the larger area, getting ready for anything that could come from Yuki. "Captain, move a bit forward. Let Tachibana-senpai have more space to run later!" He kept instructing his teammates.

Unfortunately, all of those arrangements were useless since Yuki could still see a hole in their defense. Right after the referee blew the whistle, the glasses boy sent a powerful serve to the joint area between Yusuke and Tachibana, slipping through their defense perfectly as the two Kikugawa defensive players stopped reacting when they saw their teammate was about to move.

BAM!

"YEAH!" Yuki patted his chest violently, followed by his teammates who jumped on him in excitement. "That's how you do this!"

Meanwhile, on Kikugawa High's side, Tachibana approached his kouhai immediately and said, "Don't forget to communicate, Yusuke! You have a wider defensive range compared to me, so if the ball is slightly leaning toward you, I will assume that it is yours. Speak if you want for me to receive it!"

"Y-Yes, Senpai!" Yusuke nodded quickly, wincing at the scolding he received from his senpai. In hindsight, this was indeed his fault. The coach had already given the position of the team's defensive leader to him, so of course, the others would be waiting for his order. In the last play, he failed to do that, which ended up for Tsunemori High to get another point.

"Come on, Yuki! End them in your turn!"

"Don't give them a chance to breathe! Kill them all!"

Under the cheers from the audience, Yuki walked back to the service line with eyes full of confidence. This time, he saw that the opponent's coordination was better, and no hole was left alone in their defensive formation. Unfortunately for them, once again, Yuki proved to everyone else what a menace he was behind the service line.

Thud!

"Oh, Shit!" Kaito who was on the front line was taken aback when he saw a slow, wobbly ball coming in his direction. He didn't expect that after he was not targeted for so long, Yuki would send a serve straight in his direction out of nowhere. He raised both hands, trying to anticipate it with an overhead pass like the theory that his coach had always been talking about in the past. However, the boy was too late since the ball slipped through his hands and bruised his hands before flying outside of the court.

"YES! YES! YES!"

"Come on, Yuki! Give us three!"

"Yeah! Give us three!"

However, before Yuki could continue his momentum, Arisawa Junya finally took action, getting up from the bench and making a 'T' signal with both his hands toward the referee. "Kikugawa High, timeout!"