The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Come on, Thunder! You can do this!"

"Giant Bear! Giant Bear! Giant Bear!"

The cheers that seemed to die down when the second set was over emerged once again, getting louder in every second. Even some of those supporters who left before came back to their seats once again, voicing their support for their favorite team. Haruo's sudden outburst, which was returned by Yuki's surprise attack managed to ignite the entire building.

All the Giant Bear's main players started to feel uneasy on the bench, especially Ojiro Senta. Although he knew his position was untouchable – he was the team's ace for God's sake – and he just wanted to treat this punishment as a short break, seeing the bench players who usually were invisible during the training session suddenly fight so hard when he stayed idle on the bench without any injury that could prevent him to play was a bit too much for Ojiro Senta's liking.

Fortunately, even though Sadaharu was a strict coach, he was flexible enough to bend his words for the team's sake. When the coach saw the development of the game, he furrowed his brows for a moment before taking a decision. "Oi, Senta! Izuki! Get ready! You both will be back after this!"

The team's ace and setter widened their eyes in surprise, but it took only a second before they replied, "YES, SENSEI!"

Under the envious gazes of two main players who weren't lucky enough to get called by the coach, those two rose from their seats and prepared themselves for the game immediately. Sadaharu called for them to get closer before he started to explain, "Listen, that glasses boy is fast, but he usually stays behind as a defensive player. The fact that he dares to move forward and join the attack means he knows that we don't have enough big guns on the court to threaten him so he could do this easily. I want you both to target the boy and maybe intimidate him a little. That way, even if he comes back as a pinch server, he wouldn't dare to do anything bold. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

After a quick talk with the assistant referee near the sideline, those two finally entered the court again, high-fiving their teammates as they went back to their positions. "Good job, Haruo. You did far better than any of us here." Ojiro Senta praised the middle blocker.

"Eh, it is nothing. Don't fret over it, Senpai." Haruo waved it off nonchalantly as if what he just did was not worth mentioning.

Ojiro Senta could only shake his head in exasperation. He didn't know if this was Haruo being humble or cocky – or even both at the same time – but whatever it was, the ace was grateful that Haruo was able to lift the team from the muddy situation they were in before.

"Okay, everyone! Your ace is back! Get ready to attack!" Ojiro Senta shouted, encouraging his teammates.

"Hell yeah!"

"Senta-san, please take care of us!"

"Don't you dare to mess this up, Ojiro!"

Yuki narrowed his eyes at the older boy, inwardly praising him for this bold move. 'Just one shout and all the doubts lingering around the team disappeared instantly. As expected of the team's ace, they all are always the brightest person on the team.'

He was glad though, that Kawaki didn't replace him immediately as those two entered the court. He knew he had this rare chance due to the opponent's team was filled with a bunch of bench players, so the coach himself dared to experiment by putting him on the court. But with both Ojiro Senta and Izuki back on the court, Yuki didn't know how long he would stay there too.

'Well, better use my time here wisely.'

A moment later, the game finally resumed again, with Tachibana taking the serve for Tokyo Thunder. He didn't have anything special in his arsenal, so the best thing he could do was to send the ball to the trickiest spot he could think of. Unfortunately, Tachibana's accuracy was far from the best as the ball fell directly onto Giant Bear's best defender.

"Oh! Nice receive, Hori!"

"Zuki! Left!" Ojiro Senta shouted, asking for the ball.

All the Thunder's players on the front tensed, ready for the opponent's ace. After being subbed off for the beginning of the third set, there was no doubt that Ojiro Senta had all the energy in this world to vent out for his next spike, and honestly, they didn't want to be at the end of it. Unfortunately, they were the team's blockers, the first defensive line of the team. So, no matter how unwilling they were, they still had to jump to stop the attack.

BAM!

"One touch!" Tondo shouted, ignoring the tingling pain on his forearms after receiving such a powerful spike.

"I got this!" Shou, the team's captain, picked up the ball quickly before it could go too far and out of reach. "Agostini!"

When the ball was flying toward Riku's direction, almost all the Thunder players had their eyes lightened up as they all stepped one step to the back for their run-up. In a second, three players were on the way to get ready for Riku's pass. Yuki himself was about to join when he noticed the signal given by his friend.

'A quick attack?!' He raised one of his eyebrows questioningly.

While there was nothing wrong with the method, Riku himself wasn't a setter who liked to do a quick. The blonde boy always preferred something slow and more refined so that the audience could see what was happening and admire him more rather than rushing recklessly like a headless chicken. So, Yuki was surprised to find out that Riku suddenly got out of character and wanted to do a quick.

'Damn, that means I would be useless on the front. Where would he send the ball, though? I need to protect the spiker.'

It didn't take a long time for Yuki to figure out where Riku would send the ball. Coincidentally enough, his peripheral vision also caught Haruo doing the same, meaning that the middle blocker also realized where the ball would go. With that thought in mind, Yuki moved immediately to the right side, and a second later…

BAM!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

No one knew what just happened. They all knew that Shou was the one who spiked the ball, and by how it was still within Thunder's side, they could guess that Haruo managed to block it. However, the question was, how could it still stay in the air?

Before everyone realized what he just did though, Yuki recovered from his spot immediately and ran toward the opposite wing. He didn't even hesitate to jump as he shouted, "RIKU!" And without any question, his friend sent the ball back at him, and he swung his arm as quickly as possible to hit the ball in front of him.

BAM!