The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Man, we're going to play against that trickster already?!"

The only tanned-skinned boy on Konan's team groaned.

"This is going to be troublesome."

Still, even though he said that, there was no heat in his words, and coupled with the subtle smirk on his face, everyone could tell he was trying to hide his excitement.

"Of course, you would say that, Lucas. It's not your responsibility to receive it. Meanwhile, this will give me quite a headache, you know?"

the boy next to him grumbled in English yet with a thick Japanese accent.

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a spoil sport, Shimada-senpai!" the other boy grinned. "We've already won the national tournament; why are you so afraid of a freshman from a no-name school like him?"

Everyone rolled their eyes, knowing that the boy hadn't even been there when they played against Tsunemori High. However, all the cheerful atmosphere disappeared instantly when they heard a cold voice from behind. "All of you, stop messing around and start warming up!"

"Yes, Sir!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The boy sighed tiredly while Matsumoto chuckled next to him, finding the situation amusing. It had been ten minutes since Sato announced they would play against the camp members, and they were currently warming up to prepare for a long day.

"Don't be too harsh on them, Genzo. They've just returned from the national tournament, so let them have some fun too," Matsumoto said.

"Well, Sato-sensei and Sasaki-sensei are here, so we can't show this kind of shameful attitude," the boy identified as Genzo Harada, the third-year setter, shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Still…" Then Matsumoto patted his shoulder. "You need to relax a bit. Don't forget to have fun, okay?"

"Sure." Harada grumbled.

After five minutes of warming up, all the Konan players were finally ready for the game. Their opponents, six talented players selected for this camp, had already been waiting for them with hungry gazes. Seeing that, Lucas couldn't hide his chuckle as he muttered, "So scary…"

"Stop playing around, Lucas!"

"Yes, Harada-kun."

When all the players were ready, Sato, who acted as the referee, finally blew his whistle, signaling that the game was about to begin. Yuki took a deep breath, glancing at Konan's side while trying to figure out where and how he should send the first serve of the game. It was a no-brainer for his teammates to let him do that, considering his terrifying performance in service training.

Looking at the tall boy who appeared wild and unrefined, Yuki murmured to himself, "So, he is Akihiro-kun's replacement, huh? His body language tells me that he doesn't view us as equal. Well, let's see if he can handle this serve or not."

Thud!

Right after Sato blew his whistle, Yuki served the ball immediately, and the sophomore middle blocker, positioned on the top left, was taken by surprise when the ball came his way.

'So, he's aiming at me, huh? Does he think I'm the weak link here? Ha! No—Eh?!'

Just as the boy raised his hand to receive the ball, it wobbled slightly in the air. Before he could even react, it slipped through his hand, making contact with his body first before bouncing out of bounds, resulting in Yuki scoring the first point.

"YOSSHAAAA!" Yuki clenched his fist, followed by a roar of excitement from all the camp members, whether inside or outside of the court.

"Nice serve, Kobayashi!" Subaru, the outside hitter of the team, ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Yeah! I didn't expect your trick to work!" Aizawa nodded.

While they all knew Yuki was a menace behind the service line—having done the same when his team played against Konan—being on the receiving end of the game was a different story. They couldn't help but feel the thrill of watching the bespectacled boy's serve pierce through Konan High's defense.

Meanwhile, on Konan's side, Shimada wore a smug expression as he watched his kouhai's failure to receive the serve. "See, Hikaru? Lucas and I already told you how problematic the trickster is, and you still insisted we were overreacting."

The boy, Hikaru, just scoffed, still not believing what had just happened. "It was just a coincidence! He was lucky to catch me off guard. I'm sure I'll be able to pick it up next time."

"Sure, Hikaru. Whatever helps you sleep better tonight," Shimada smirked, infuriatingly.

Seeing their interaction and Hikaru's frustration, Yuki arched his eyebrows slightly as a theory formed in his mind. 'So, it seems there's a slight rift between the defensive specialist and the middle blocker, and no one seems bothered about it—as if this were just part of their daily commotion. It seems their relationship with this blocker is a bit colder than with Akihiro-kun. Could it be because a freshman has snatched his position as the main blocker?'

Yuki shook his head, trying to set aside his theory for now. But since Konan's players were kind enough to reveal their weak link, he would target that without mercy.

FWEEEEET!

As the whistle blew, Yuki tossed the ball slightly before hitting it in the air. This time, he added slightly more power and more spin, trying to test Hikaru once again.

'He's underestimating me, huh?! Don't think that just because I'm a blocker, I can't handle your—'

Thud!

While Hikaru was still in the middle of his inner monologue, the ball suddenly dropped sharply, and before he realized what had happened, the sound of it bouncing off the floor echoed throughout the room, followed by an awkward silence as everyone stared at Yuki in disbelief.

Yuki, the culprit, just smirked, trying to feign innocence before breaking the silence with a single word: "What?"

-0-

"Damn, I know Sekine is responsible for his serving training, but I didn't think that the old geezer would push him so hard that he could become this monstrous." Sato said from the sidelines, shaking his head in admiration.

Hasebe, who overheard that, rolled his eyes, knowing that Sato and Sekine were two old geezers from the same generation. He still had the sense not to point that out loud. "While it's great to score twice in a row with the same method, this won't work again since Konan's players won't let him do that. The next play will show us Kobayashi's ability to adapt, so this will be interesting to see."

Sato, lost in thought, nodded slightly while muttering, "You're right, Hasebe-kun. The next play will be interesting, indeed."