The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Amidst the cheerful atmosphere in the building, there was only one tiny spot on the court that had a completely opposite atmosphere, and it was on Sumida High's bench. All the players with the yellow jerseys squirmed under the intimidation from the crowd, feeling stressed about the situation they were in right now. Michi Botan just let out a deep sigh at his players' expressions.

"Why are you all so glum?! Have we already been expecting something like this to happen?" He asked.

Indeed, this situation was already within their prediction the moment they saw the horror of Yuki's service. However, predicting was one thing, and seeing it become reality was another. Hell, even the most troublesome trick they anticipated, the serve into the traffic trick hadn't come out yet, and they had no way to deal with Yuki already. This was of course enough to put their minds down instantly.

"Okay, if he is playing around with the powerful serve, we will be in trouble. He is smart enough to see the hole we create the more we panic. So, let's force him to serve short like a floater and his normal serve to the front. Yes, Homura?" He pointed his finger at the opposite hitter who raised a hand.

"We have already done so before, so what will make it different this time?"

"That is a valid question, and I will tell you the answer." Michi Botan nodded in acknowledgment. "We know by now if that boy goes for the back row, he will aim for an instant kill, and we can acknowledge that it would be too hard for us to handle it. However, if he goes for the front row, he would aim to scatter our formation, and their line of blockers is trained to deal with it by closing all the areas possible for us to attack. So, instead of forcing our way to attack them in the middle of our chaos, once we receive the ball, we can give it back straight without a fight."

A pin-drop silence descended on the Sumida High's bench as the players there had their jaws dropped at the implication. "So, you mean we should give up our chance to attack?" Hitoshi – the captain asked.

"Well, rather than trying to force our way to attack when it is clear they are more than prepared to face that, I would rather believe our chance here." Michi Botan shrugged. Stay connected via empire

Honestly, this was probably the best approach Sumida High could do. By giving back the chance to attack the home team, they could also recover their position first before setting up their tightest defense to deal with the repercussions. Still, there was one problem left for this to happen, though.

"What if he decided to go for the back row?" Singo Inoe, the defensive specialist asked.

Then, Michi Botan's face darkened as he suddenly revealed a creepy chuckle. "Well, he will have no chance, since we will force him to go for the front row."

-0-

Five minutes later, the referee blew the whistle, asking for the players from both teams to come back. The ball was still within Yuki's hand, and although the timeout could cut off his momentum, the glasses boy believed it wouldn't change the game too much.

'Oh, they straightened their back side? Don't they learn something from the experience before? Or do they think what I did is a coincidence? Interesting.'

Unbeknown to Yuki, this was the psychological trick prepared by Michi Botan for him. By letting the two best defenders on the team take a little step back, this would give Yuki the illusion that Sumida High wanted to prevent a powerful serve to the back. This would make him choose to attack the front row, which all the Sumida players wanted him to do.

Yuki didn't know that Michi Botan had already trapped him in the mind game he was always fond of.

'Well, let's see if you can stop this!'

With precise accuracy, Yuki sent the ball short to the area between Tachi and Hitoshi. It was just a simple serve, but the spot was tricky enough for a team that lacked communication skills to struggle to handle this ball.

For a moment, that was what both Tachi and Hitoshi were going to do. They froze instantly when they saw each other wanting to pick up the ball. Fortunately, from the back row, Inoe, the defensive specialist dude reacted quickly, rushing the ball to pick up their mess.

Thud!

"Shit! Wake up, you two morons! Pick up the ball!" He roared.

Fortunately, his shout was enough to wake those two up and they finally reacted. The receive itself wasn't pretty good since Inoe had to do it after running with a high speed, but Tachi managed to get the ball first before it could go further outside of the court.

"Iguchi!" He shouted.

The setter – Iguchi – didn't have to think twice as he sent the ball straight to the back row of Tsunemori's side.

"Oh! Nice! Free chance!"

"Riku! Give it to me!"

"Send it to the left!"

For Tsunemori players, they didn't have any thought about this since Yuki's serve – if not managed to score directly – would always give them a chance to attack like this. However, for Sumida High, this was what they were waiting for. They moved immediately, recovering from their chaotic position while also locking in all the Tsunemori players one by one.

They also kept their eyes close to Riku, knowing full well he liked to do the trick on his own when no one noticed his presence. However, what they didn't expect was for them to find Riku was shadowed by Yuki pretty closely.

'What? What is going on here?' That was the thought inside all the Sumida players' heads.

After a second passed, it was Tachi who reacted first. He widened his eyes in realization as the memory of their combination attack during the training camp surged into the tip of his head. "SHIT! KEEP YOUR EYES ON – !"

He wanted to warn his teammates about the scenario of Yuki acting as the setter to catch them off guard. Unfortunately, Tachi was one second too late, as Riku was already in the air, and in the next second, the ball was already in front of him, ready to get hit.

BAM!