The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Holy shit, a block! A clean block to kill the attack!"

"That is our twin tower, Shigeo and Hachimura!"

"Come on!"

Cheers exploded from the stand, deafening everyone inside the building. However, not a single soul made a fuss about it. After all, this was Fukushima Phoenix's homecourt, and for almost everyone on the stand, this was just a regular occasion for them. They really turned the building frenzy with their excitement, making it hard for the opponent to focus entirely on the game.

'No wonder all the teams who played an away game here call this place the devil's home. It really fits the bill.' Kawaki muttered wryly.

As for the players on the court, Uehara was still staring at the ball, too stunned to react. His heart shrunk when he saw the provocative smile given by the two blockers in front of him as if they were challenging him to do it again. When Shou noticed that, he slapped the ace's back immediately and dragged the boy toward the others who were waiting to discuss what they should do next.

"Okay, this is probably my fault here. I saw them leaning more toward Shou-senpai on the right wing, so I decided to send the ball in the opposite direction. I didn't count the fact that they could react this quickly." Riku admitted his mistake openly.

"No, you did the most logical thing there, so we cannot be mad at you." Shou waved his hand, dismissing Riku's attempt to take the blame immediately. "Remember what the coach said about them? Those two are new players here, so we don't have a lot of information about them. We don't know if them leaning to the right before rushing to shut Uehara down to the right was a deliberate bait thrown so that we would go to the left or they are just that fast. So, we need to gather more information."

Silence followed the captain's statement as everyone thought about it. After a moment, Riku finally asked, "So, how should we do it? Should we lose more points just to do that?" A frown formed on his face, not liking what he said.

"Oh, no, we won't do something drastic like that." Shou waved his hand. "No, what we should do is like this…"

-0-

A moment later, the referee finally managed to calm down the excited crowd and was ready to continue the game again. It was still Nakamura who served the ball, and Yuki stared at the boy intently, trying to figure out where the next ball would go.

Unsurprisingly, the ball didn't go in his direction for the second time. Instead, it went to Kojima who was on the opposite wing. It seemed the first serve was just to test his capability, and when Nakamura realized Yuki's defense was good, the boy tried to avoid him, hoping to create panic for the worst defender on the team.

Thud!

"OOOH! It went in!"

"Damn, what a serve!"

"Good job, Nakamura! Keep it up!"

Unfortunately for Kojima, the ball slipped through his fingers when he was about to pick it up. This was the hardest challenge to conquer a floater serve. Since the ball didn't make any rotation, it would move around shakily in the air for even a little disturbance there, making it hard to time correctly where it would land.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Sorry, that is my bad." Kojima apologized immediately, trying to play it cool. However, he couldn't hide how shaken he was from this blow. Seeing his state, Nakamura grinned widely as he found an easy prey to target.

Thud!

"YOSSHAAAA!" Nakamura roared when he saw his third serve was still successful.

"Three consecutive aces! Three!"

"Damn, Nakamura, you awesome boy! You are killing today!"

"Come on! Do it again!"

As the Phoenix was in the middle of celebration, the Thunder players were distraught after losing four points in a row at the beginning of the game. Shou glanced at the bench, wondering whether the coach would ask for a timeout or not. However, seeing the stoned expression on Kawaki, he knew that the coach didn't want to waste the timeout for something that they should be able to handle easily.

'Damn, what should we do? Miyahara is on the bench, and I am not used to a floater serve. The only one who can receive it is Kobayashi, but he alone is not enough. We need one more player to step up here, but who?' He bit his lips nervously, racking his brain to find a solution. He just didn't expect the solution himself to come forward voluntarily.

"What about me moving back to help Yuki, Cap?" Riku asked.

"You?!" By now, all the eyes were on the setter. "Can you really do it, though?" Shou asked skeptically.

Riku couldn't blame them, since he was always protected by the others. This was the privilege that only the ace and the setter had on the team. However, he knew he was needed here. "Don't worry, I have been training with Yuki most of the time and can handle a floater. It would be a piece of cake for me." He grinned. Read new adventures at empire

This was enough to convince all of them about Riku's capability. After all, most of the players there had the experience of training together with Yuki, and when the glasses boy was on the service line, more often than not, it would end up disastrously. So, for Riku to be able to survive Yuki's training told everyone his capability here.

Now, they were tempted to accept this offer. However, there was still one problem remaining. "If you receive the attack, who will be our emergency setter?" Shou asked.

Yuki facepalmed when he heard that. For a professional team like Tokyo Thunder to not have an emergency setter, this was the recipe for disaster. Fortunately, the problem wasn't exposed yet, so they could fix it quickly before the opponent could see that.

"Don't worry, Cap!" Yuki suddenly felt Riku pat his shoulder. "Just as I said, we have been training together for a long time, so of course, he would pick up something from me! And if you are worried about his capability, don't worry! Even Sato-sensei praised him highly, saying that he could be a setter if he wanted."

Yuki cursed his friend inwardly for boasting his ability endlessly like this. However, the damage was done already. Now, all the eyes were on him, a mix of shock and disbelief. In the end, he just shrugged, not admitting or denying Riku's words. He knew that it was unbelievable, so the best way to prove it was by showing what he could do on the court.

"Well, if you are sure, let's try to do this! Agostini, Kobayashi, we will count on you, so please, give us your best!"