The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Well, look at them, being so carefree like that…" Nitta stared at Tsunemori's side with disgust. "It is as if they are not one set behind here."

"And by how we act, it seems like it is us who is behind, right?" Haruo added casually.

Yeah, if someone just came to the building and saw the atmosphere on both teams, they would've definitely misunderstood the situation of the entire game. They would think that Tsunemori who looked so carefree was the one on the lead while the gloomy Kyoei just lost the first set.

It couldn't be helped though. Even though Kyoei managed to snatch the first set, Saito was dissatisfied with how the game went, especially after Yuki's return on the opponent's side. They suddenly turned into a passive state, waiting for Yuki to show his ability instead of focusing on their own game.

This wasn't a behavior he wanted for the team, and if only their opponent was stronger, they would be punished immediately.

"Let's not dwell on this and stay focused on the next set." Ito finally spoke. "We only need to win this set and it would be over, so don't mess it up."

"Yeah, yeah. I know it." Nitta waved his hand nonchalantly.

A moment later, the second set finally began, and Yuki was already on the line to do the serve. He took a deep breath, adjusting his glasses first before bouncing the ball to the floor, trying to calm his nerves. Inwardly, he recalled the instruction Akira gave during the intermission, thinking about what to do.

'Yuki, since you are going to be the first to serve, I want you to go all out. Show them all the tricks you have learned from Sekine-sensei and grab the initiative of the game as soon as possible, do you understand?'

'Grab the initiative, huh?' Yuki muttered. 'Well, let's start with this.'

The moment the referee blew his whistle, Yuki tossed the ball slightly into the air. Even before he did that though, he had already had an idea of what kind of serve he wanted to throw. If the coach wanted him to grab the initiative quickly, there was only one serve that was suitable for that, and it was the serve he had honed for a long time.

"Oh! A weak one!"

"Don't worry! I got thi-"

*Thud!*

The one Kyoei player who was about to receive the ball stunned when he saw it slip through his hands, wobbling slightly to his right side, and bounce at his upper arms before it went outside of the court.

"HELL YEAH!" Yuki clenched his fist, celebrating the first point of the set. All the Kyoei players stared at him solemnly, didn't expect him to pull a floater service the first time he had a chance on the line. Read latest chapters at m_v-l'e|m,p| y- r

"That is a good one." One of them said solemnly.

"Yeah. The ball didn't rotate too much and started to wobble just after it crossed the net." The one who failed to receive the serve before added. "I don't know whether he could pull the same level of floater consistently or the last one was just a fluke, but keep your eyes on the ball. If you could, step back a little and use the overhead pass to receive the ball."

Everyone nodded in agreement at his words. One of the common strategies to deal with floater was to reach the ball actively by using an overhead pass rather than waiting for the ball to fall with the underhand pass. With the overhead pass, at least they would pick up the ball when it wasn't wobbling too much in the air, making it easier for them to save the ball.

However, it was still a hard thing to do, and it was impossible to expect all of them to be able to do that in one go.

Unfortunately, Yuki didn't intend to give them any chance to adapt. When they all were ready for another floater, he changed his strategy by using another trick he learned from Sekine.

'Listen, Yuki-kun. The rule states that you can do the serve only if the referee has blown his whistle already. But if you reserve the logic, as long as the whistle wasn't blown, everyone wouldn't expect for the serve to come at them. So, you can catch your opponent off guard by serving the ball right when the referee blows his whistle, and then…'

*Thud!*

Even though this time, it was an ordinary serve, just like Sekine's words, in his memory, Yuki caught everyone off guard by doing it at the same time as the whistle blew, and no one was ready to pick up the ball.

Everyone on Kyoei's side just stared at the ball stupidly, their mind went blank when they saw the referee pointing his hand toward Tsunemori's side, signaling one more point added for them.

"Good job, Yuki!"

"Damn, that is a nasty serve!"

"Keep doing that!"

The third serve came after that, with Yuki changing his strategy again. He went to the strategy he learned back before they played against Shimoyawata, which was to aim the ball at the route the setter had to take to go on the front, making all the Kyoei players react too late for the ball.

*Thud!*

"Sorry! It is a bit short!"

"Don't mind! Nitta! Cover!"

"I got this!"

Unfortunately, Kyoei's libero managed to pick up the serve. However, it was enough to create a chaotic situation on the other side of the net, and all the Tsunemori players were happy when they saw Nitta was forced to take the second ball.

"Rano! Asa! Together with me!" Since Yuki was on the backline doing the service, Riku took over the command on the front line, didn't even feel any awkwardness for calling his senpai with their new nicknames. "One! Two! Go!"

*BAM!*

"YOSSHAAAAA!" Riku roared when he felt the ball hit his hand and saw it bounce back to the opponent's side without anyone able to save it. "Good job, Senpai!" He grinned, giving a high-five to the other two blockers.

Now, the situation on Kyoei's side was in shamble. They stared at each other confusedly, didn't know what happened. One moment they just won the first set, and now, they were dominated completely by Yuki's serve. They were like a bunch of drunkards who didn't know what they just got hit by.

And to put the final nail in the coffin, Yuki went back to his first-ever serve strategy today, when all of them forgot about it, he threw a nasty floater toward Nitta, which Kyoei's ace was unable to pick it up perfectly, as the ball bruised his forearms slightly before it went outside of the court.

"YEAAAAAAH!"

As Tsunemori players celebrated crazily, Saito finally had enough. Kyoei's coach finally rose from his seat, signaling something for the referee before the sound of the whistle echoed throughout the building.

"KYOEI GAKUEN TIME OUT!"