The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"This should be the first time Konan High lost a set in this tournament, right?"

"No, it is longer than that! This is the first time Konan High lost a set in a year!"

"Really?!"

"Hell, yeah! Even Matsukita failed to do so when they had a chance to face Konan High twice during the last Inter-high!"

"Man, that is so crazy!"

"And all of this is because of that middle blocker? He is still a rookie, right?"

"Hey, don't underestimate him! Hari Haruo was the best middle blocker in the middle school tournament last year! He is bound to be a big player soon!"

"Oh, I remember him too!"

Listening to the crowd singing praises at him, Haruo couldn't help but let out a smug smirk unconsciously. While this wasn't the first time he was under the limelight, it was always good to know that all eyes were on him, especially because he just did something amazing like shutting down both Lucas Silva Morais and Matsumoto, the two best hitters in the country during the first set.

Well, the term 'shutting down' was a bit too stretched here. Those two were the best hitters in the country, so it was impossible to prevent them from scoring all the time. However, Haruo managed to limit them both to have less than 10 points for each, with he himself managed to contribute about 6 points from blocking those two alone.

This was the first time anyone managed to shut down those two in a year, so of course, all the scouts who originally wanted to watch Konan High would turn their attention to him.

"Stop being a loony like that, Haruo! That is unbecoming for you!" Ito, the team's captain suddenly sent a weak karate chop to wake the blocker up from his daydreaming.

"Ouch! What the hell, Captain?!" Haruo grumbled, fixing the hair messed by his senpai. "Let me enjoy this moment for a second, will you?" Grunted the blonde boy.

In return, Ito just rolled his eyes, knowing full well that this was just Haruo's narcissistic personality. "Yeah, yeah, just enjoy this moment. But don't let it get through your head, okay? You know that Matsumoto and Lucas will never allow us to have a moment of peace in the next second, right?" The captain reminded his kouhai.

"I know." Haruo turned solemn at the reminder. Even without turning around, he could feel the hungry gaze directed at him coming from Konan High's bench, and he knew his life would be far from easy in the second set. However, a grin suddenly formed on his face, showing an unwavering excitement. "Well, that is the risk of offending the best team in the country in their home court, right?"

Ito could only sigh helplessly as he saw Haruo pumped up once again over the prospect of the opponent getting more motivated against them.

Since the U-19 league was over and Haruo was back from playing with Tokyo Giant Bear, the middle blocker had always been in a hungry state, waiting for a strong opponent to face. At first, Ito and Nitta, the team's ace, indulged the boy's shenanigan, playing a pick-up game against him. However, to their horror, the qualitative improvement in Haruo's game was too much for them to handle, and after an hour of the game, they both finally gave up. Continue reading stories on My Virtual Library Empire

Now that another strong opponent finally appeared in front of him, of course, Haruo would be excited to play again.

"Come on, Haruo! Don't get too excited! Preserve your energy for later, okay?"

"Sure, Senpai!"

After a fifteen-minute break, the second set between Konan High and Kyoei Gakuen finally was about to start, and all the players from both teams were ready on the court. Even though the first set ended up with a tight score of 27 – 25, none of the players there showed any exhaustion. For Kyoei Gakuen, since they were the first team who managed to break Konan's defense, they were excited to see whether they could make history as the first team to beat Konan High in the last few years. As for Konan High, the first set loss was like a huge slap on their face, and now, the only thing they wanted was the blood of their opponent.

"Come on, Lucas! Give them hell!"

"Yeah! Don't let the humiliation go away!"

"Kill them all!"

Although Lucas couldn't understand what the supporters on the stand were shouting about, he could feel the bloodlust and revenge energy coming from there. He himself also felt the same way, especially after his disappointing performance during the first set. He needed to wash away his shame, and the Brazilian boy knew who was the first one he had to kill.

'Well, since you did a good job before, let's see if you could do the same now.'

As the referee blew the whistle, he served the ball quickly, sending it with enough power to pierce Kyoei Gakuen's defense. This time, he sacrificed the power for accuracy as he wanted to aim at the front line where Haruo was standing.

BAM!

"Oh, shit!" Haruo cursed, taken aback at the ball that suddenly appeared in front of his face. "Sorry, Aki-senpai, cover it for me!"

Aki, the team's defensive specialist rushed quickly, his eyes kept tracking the ball. Unfortunately, while he was quick enough to recover the play, he was a bit too far from the court and couldn't pass the ball accurately for his teammates to initiate a counterattack, which as a result, Nitta had to send the ball back to Konan's side for the final touch.

"Oh! Chance ball!"

"Shimada-senpai, send it high!"

All the Kyoei Gakuen players tensed immediately when they heard Sawada, Konan's setter, shout, asking for the ball. Even though they won the first set, it was mostly because Haruo managed to read Sawada's intention just in time in most of the plays. They still admitted that Sawada was a big threat that Kyoei needed to solve soon.

As the ball was flying toward the setter, Matsumoto and Lucas moved in unison, both trying to spread Kyoei's blockers thin. They did a good job, with Nitta attracted to the left to stare at Konan's captain while Ito was forced to guard Konan's ace. However, those two didn't panic even with the opponent they had to face, knowing that Haruo's support was always on time. This was one of the reasons why they managed to snatch the first set.

Unfortunately, this time, Sawada played a different game here.

Instead of tossing the ball to his teammates, the first-year setter twisted his body in the air so that he could face the opponent's court. Before anyone could react, he swung his left hand in a way that the power generated from his body was enough to spike the ball forcefully into the opponent's area.

As a result…

BAM!

The ball flew straight in the joint area between the middle back and left back without anyone able to stop or even touch it, resulting in the first point for Konan High in the second set.

Konan High 1 – 0 Kyoei Gakuen