The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Oh! Amano-kun! Coming back with a bang!"

"That is a nasty cross!"

"Damn! It has been a long time since I saw such an exciting play!"

"Amano-sama! Look at here!"

"Kyaaaa!"

Cheers exploded as all the people on the stand looked at Amano waving his hand at them, asking for the supporter to get louder. Kato was sure that she would have an ear problem when she got out of the game. However, she still stared at Amano in awe.

'Handsome, charismatic, popular, good at his job. He is the perfect combination of Yuki and Riku.' She thought.

Still, never crossed her mind that those two wouldn't be able to handle Amano. After all, from an emotional standpoint, this game was too important for Yuki to lose, and Riku would never let his friend fight alone. If anything, facing such a strong opponent would only make them both fired up more.

'Come on, you two! Show me your best today!' Your next journey awaits at empire

-0-

It took a moment for the referee to calm down the crowd, and when it finally happened, the game was ready to be continued. Now, it was Phoenix's turn to serve, and the one who was about to do that was Shigeo, the middle blocker.

'Don't underestimate him. Even if he is a middle blocker, he still packs some strength with him, and he has it within himself to use brute force to break through your block. His jump serve also improves a lot compared to the past, so you need to look at it too.'

Kawaki's assessment of Shiego's worth offensively suddenly flashed through Yuki's mind. He stepped back unconsciously, preparing for a long and powerful serve. It was proven to be the right decision since the ball came straight between his area and Shou's in the middle-right, and before the captain moved, he rushed first with an incredible speed. "Captain! Mine!" He shouted.

This was also something he learned when he was under Sekine's tutelage. Once taking initiative, don't hold back even though you see your teammates also moved. Chances were, your teammates would hesitate to take action once they saw you make a move.

BAM!

"Oh! Nice receive, Yuki!"

"Shit!" Yuki himself cursed, ignoring his friend's praise. Even though the receive was good, his landing spot covered Shou's running-up route, and he couldn't recover quickly enough to let the captain go. As a result, he prevented himself and Shou from joining the attack, which was equivalent to half of the team's heavy-hitter gone.

Without having too much choice, Riku had to resort to sending the ball to Uehara. The ace himself was ready. He pointed his finger forward, asking for a short and quick pass close to the net. Since Shigeo took the serve, this was his chance to attack before the middle blocker went back to his original position.

"Senpai!"

BAM!

With a strong spike, Uehara executed the quick attack perfectly. Hachimura also jumped, but with only him alone, stopping Uehara's solo attack would be near impossible. As a result, he could only watch as his wall got torn apart like it was a wet paper and the ball bounced on his team's side of the floor.

"YOSSHAA!" Uehara roared, clenching his fist as he landed on the ground. This was his first point after such a long time, and even though he did it without the opponent's blocker in front of him, it was still a point nonetheless and he celebrated it like usual. "Good pass, Riku! But it is still a bit too slow! Don't worry about my speed, I would be able to catch your pass, you know?!" He grinned, giving the setter feedback for the last attack.

"Sure, Senpai. Nice attack too." Riku also praised the ace.

Unfortunately, the one who served next for the Thunder couldn't capitalize on the chance to grab the momentum since Kojima's serve could only meet the net. Tondo had to wince unconsciously as he felt the ball was so close to smack his head.

"Oi, Kojima! Get more serious! Are you trying to aim for my head or something?!" He shouted, glaring at his friend.

"Sorry, sorry! That is my bad!" Kojima apologized quickly.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he apologized, it didn't change the fact that he failed to score. Now, the ball was back to Phoenix's hand again. This time, it was Hachimura's turn to serve, while Shigeo was replaced by the libero for the rotation. This was a chance for Uehara or any other Thunder attackers to strike since the biggest problem on the opponent's side was out, and they couldn't help but feel excited.

After the referee blew the whistle, Hachimura tossed the ball slightly in the air before hitting it with decent strength. However, unlike the first two or three servers the Phoenix had, Hachimura didn't have any specialty, and he just sent an ordinary one straight to Riku, using the strategy to take the setter out of the equation first.

Unfortunately, now with Yuki's ability as an emergency setter and Riku's ability as an attacker revealed, Riku didn't even need to hold back or be hidden by his teammates. He let the ball fall onto his forearms before speeding up, rushing forward to join the attack.

"Yuki! Middle, quick!" He shouted.

Yuki glanced sideways and found out that Mirai eyed Riku closely, so he couldn't use his friend directly in this situation. However, the current rotation put the Phoenix's front side into their weakest state, with Hachimura on the back, Shigeo on the bench, and only Teruya and Nakamura, two short players who didn't belong on the front line were there. This was the opportunity for the Thunder to grab the momentum, and the best way to do that was of course by giving the ball to the ace.

"Uehara-senpai!" He shouted, tossing a pass that was slightly higher than usual but also slower and letting the ace be creative with the attack. Yuki didn't have any slight doubt that his senpai won't be able to convert the attack. Facing two short blockers, if he couldn't do that, Uehara might as well hand the ace status back to Kawaki.

"Oh! Nice pass, Kobayashi!" Uehara grinned. He waited for a moment to see the opponent's blockers, and before they could jump, he caught them off guard by doing that first, taking a lead one step faster to win the aerial battle. "Ha! I got this!"

From the outsider's perspective, it was clear that Uehara would score the ball. Not only the two blockers were shorter than him, but they also jumped one step later. It was the equivalent of having Uehara spike the ball without any interference, which most of the time would result in a point for a thunder. However, as he swung his arm to spike the ball, from the Phoenix's back row, the handsome boy who just entered the court a while ago disappeared, and before anyone knew of his whereabouts, he was already next to Nakamura on the front, reinforcing the wall. As a result…

BAM!