The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"YOSSHAAAA!" Yuki clenched his fist, punching the air toward the crowd's direction to celebrate the point. The crowd returned the celebration with a wave of chants shouting his name over and over again.

"Let's go, Yuki!"

"Come on, Yuki!"

"Kill them, Yuki!"

It was a blood-boiling moment to hear his name shouted with full affection by more than hundreds of people inside the gym. He could feel the excitement at the peak by now, especially when all the players came to celebrate with him too.

"Good job, Yuki! That is what we are waiting for!"

"Damn, is that a straight jump serve? You finally have a decent one in your arsenal?"

"Has anyone ever told you that your talent is a bit unfair, Yuki?!"

Yuki himself had the widest grin in his life to the point that it even started to hurt his facial muscles. This wasn't just an ordinary point. For him, this was the first time he successfully pulled a normal, powerful jump serve without any twist on it in the game.

Honestly, even with all the hidden weapons he had on his serve, he knew that the peak moment for a pinch server like him was to score from a powerful jump serve. He had been longing for that and training his ass over the summer, and when he finally saw that his effort was fruitful, it was probably the best feeling in the world.

"Come on, Yuki! Give me one more serve!"

"Let's do it again, Yuki!"

After the celebration was over, Yuki tried his best to calm his nerves. Even though he was excited, he had to be as steady as ever on the service line. He knew this was the team's best chance to grab the momentum, and he didn't want to mess this up.

'Okay, they are still in a shock after the last serve. That means they didn't expect me to have that before. Now that they know about it, even though they are still guarding the corner spot, they will also be on guard for another straight jump serve to the middle. Now, this is my chance.'

With that thought in mind, Yuki tossed the ball immediately after the referee blew the whistle, mimicking his serve before. However, Sumida High's players were ready for that this time. They reacted accordingly, believing that Yuki wanted to repeat the same feat as before.

Unfortunately, they forgot that Yuki on the service line was a magician, and a good magician never repeated the same trick twice in a row.

"I got it!" One of the defensive players with the yellow jersey reacted, moving to the middle when he saw the ball go straight to that spot at high speed. However, as it passed through the net, the ball suddenly curved sharply to the spot he left for the middle. "SHIT!"

BAM!

"OH! AGAIN!"

"Come on, Yuki!"

"Damn, he is on fire today!"

"What do you mean on fire?! This is his usual state, you know?!"

"Really?! Damn, he is good!"

Now that Sumida High's focus was on the powerful serve on the back side, Yuki changed his tactic instantly. Using his abnormal accuracy, he aimed the ball toward Tachi who was on the front left, giving the bodybuilder boy a floater serve.

Thud!

"Shit! Sorry, someone! Cover it up!" Tachi cursed when the ball slipped through his hand.

Yuki raised one of his eyebrows slightly at that. Honestly, he was expecting another easy point from this serve. However, it seemed he underestimated Tachi a bit. He thought Sumida High's ace was just a normal muscular boy who only knew how to attack and was awkward at receiving the ball. Yuki forgot that Tachi was also the camp's participant and had already passed through the hell training from Daiki Sato.

'Well, whatever. At least their formation is in shambles right now.'

True to his thought, Yuki saw the middle blocker – Sumida High's captain – had to pick up the second ball since the setter was too far from there. Even though the set the captain did was decent, unfortunately, the one who finished the attack wasn't their best hitter, which was easily blocked by Hirano.

BAM!
Experience more tales on empire

"OH! It is Hirano this time!"

"Come on, Hirano!"

"Kill their spiker, Hirano!"

"Let's go, Hirano!"

Now, the chants shifted to the middle blocker for his successful kill. It seemed whoever took command there knew what they were doing, giving each player their deserved flower when they did something amazing. Still, Riku was pouting slightly, knowing full well that it would take a long time before he had a chance to be in the spotlight.

"Mou, Yuki! Don't steal all the fun by yourself, okay?!" He slapped his friend's shoulder playfully.

"Oh, shut up! The more you whine, the less your chance to shine will be!" The glasses boy shoved Riku's shoulder in the same playful manner in return.

"Hey, there is no connection between those two!"

"There is!"

"Oh, come on! You just make it up!"

"Okay, you two. That is enough." Asahi acted like a captain to stop their bickering. "As much as it amuses me to watch you both make a fool of yourself, the referee has already asked for the game to be restarted again. Come on, don't test his bottom limit."

Both Yuki and Riku winced when they saw the stern glare from the referee. They were about to go back to their position and restarted the game. However, before they could do that, Sumida High's coach took action first.

"Sumida High, timeout!"

-0-

"It starts to become a norm, eh? For our opponent's coach to take a quick timeout after Yuki managed to score one or twice from the service line." koji threw a joke.

"Oh, yeah, I can see that." Kaede nodded in agreement. "I mean, if even Konan's coach is doing that, what is the chance for the other coach to ignore Yuki's serve?"

"He is a cheat code, I tell you!" Ogawa chimed in.

Yuki who sat on the other side of the bench smiled wryly at his senpai. "Just because I am here doesn't mean I cannot hear you, you know?"

"Well, that's why we say it louder!"

Laughter broke as the players on the Tsunemori bench joked around. The atmosphere was pretty light, given that Yuki managed to gain momentum with his three service aces in a row. Hell, all the players there hadn't even sweat, for God's Sake.

However, amidst the cheerful atmosphere there, Akira still couldn't stay calm. Even though he didn't know anything about Sumida High's coach, just by looking at his calm temperament when handling the instruction, Akira knew that he shouldn't underestimate the old man over there.

'We need to be careful, or we will pay for the price later.'