The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"OH YEAH!" Nakamura roared, celebrating when he saw Kojima failed to receive his attack. "Good pass, Teru! Good move, Captain, Jun-kun!"

"Nice attack too, Naka!" Amano returned the praise with a high-five.

The building was buzzing in excitement as Nakamura scored another point. Even though the Phoenix was still down by 2 points, it was clear that the momentum was on their hand right now. Adding to the fact that the Thunder still didn't have a clue of Amano's playing style and the unwavering amount of cheers from the crowd, tremendous pressure suddenly shifted to the Thunder's players.

"Sorry, Senpai. I was too hasty to do a quick before." Yuki apologized quickly. Even though he still thought that there was nothing wrong with his choice, since it failed to score, he had to take the blame for it.

"Don't worry, you and Riku have done the same quick attack several times today and it is always enough to give us a point. One point lost wouldn't diminish your achievement before." Shou reassured him. However, it was clear that in the current situation, he was the one who needed to be reassured the most. "Anyway, any idea of how to score? Riku?" He asked, hopeful that the setter would have a brilliant idea.
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"I don't know, Captain…" Riku said helplessly. "Our option to attack right now is very limited. You haven't joined the offense for a while, and aside from Uehara-senpai, Yuki is the only one. If Kojima-senpai joined, the balance would be broken and we wouldn't have anyone guarding the back if something happened, which is not something I want to do in a critical moment like this."

Everyone sighed in unison as they went back to the start. They knew that Riku was right. In a situation where it only took 2 points for the opponent to overtake the score and 3 more points for anyone to win this first set, doing something bold would be too risky. They needed to use their most stable way to score, but unfortunately, their ace was still in the middle of a slump right now.

"Can you use… I don't know, one of your trickeries? Dump attack or something like that?" Kojima asked, frustration visible on his face.

"That is something that depends entirely on the court, Senpai," Riku answered with a dry tone. "Moreover, even if I plan to do so, I would never tell you all beforehand. It would be easier to notice my intention based on my teammates' reaction, you know?"

They debated in circles for a moment, yet frustratingly, they couldn't find the best answer to get out of this situation. Fortunately, Kawaki didn't stay passively as he rose from his spot and announced, "Tokyo Thunder, timeout!"

-0-

In fact, Kawaki was also in the middle of a headache no lesser than what his players suffered. After listening to the players' discussion, he also reached the same conclusion. The team's offense met a dead end.

"So… What do you think, Sensei?" After spending half of the timeout in silence, Shou finally broke the silence. "Is there something we could do?"

Kawaki rubbed his forehead tiredly, racking his brain to think of a solution. Even though this was a huddle with no answer, as the head of the team, he had to make a decision here. He glanced at the bench players for a moment before shaking his head, knowing that there was no one he could use there.

After a while, he finally spoke, "For now, I will give you two main objectives." All the players straightened their backs immediately. "First, help Uehara get out of his slump and score a point. Right now, he needs to regain his confidence, and that is the only way I could think of. So, Agostini or Kobayashi, if you both find Uehara had a chance to score an easy point, give it to him."

"Yes, Coach!" Both rookies answered in unison. It seemed their status as the two setters of the team was established inside Kawaki's heart already.

Meanwhile, Uehara raised his head, staring at the coach in disbelief. His performance had been terrible today, so this was an illogical decision. In his opinion, the coach should've just put him on the bench a while ago.

It seemed Kawaki noticed his state as the coach addressed it immediately. "I know you play terribly in the first half, Uehara, and that is unacceptable. However, you are still the team's ace, so you are far more useful on the court rather than sitting your ass on the bench. You are our strongest attacker, so you will definitely attract the opponent's defenders. This would give your teammates a chance to score more easily. And once you regain your form, I know you are a force that needs to be reckoned with. Just trust yourself, okay?"

In the end, even though Uehara was touched, he could only give a nod to the coach, still in a self-doubt state.

"As for the second objective, I want you all to test Amano's range of activity." Kawaki continued. "You see him roaming all over the court. One time he received the ball on the back end of the left side, and then he rushed to the front right to join the blockers. His defensive area is too wide. Try to figure out his limit. Always look at his position before attacking and end it up to the spot far within his reach."

"Yes, Sir!"

-0-

A minute later, the game continued again, and while the timeout wasn't enough to lift the gloomy mood on the Thunder's side, at least the new objective would force them to concentrate more on the game rather than on their depressing feeling. Also, this timeout was done in an attempt to cut off the opponent's momentum. Kawaki was hopeful that Karma would play its role since at the beginning of the game, Yuki's momentum was also cut off by a timeout.

Unfortunately, that was just a wishful thought. The game was still completely within the Phoenix's control, and Amano also started to show off his leadership. He led the defense to lock down the Thunder's offense while also starting to take a role as one of the attackers with the same capability as Mirai, the team's captain. The new addition of him to the team really changed the dynamic of the game.

Now, the once two points behind team was the first one to reach 24, only needed one more point to win the first set.

"Come on, Hachimura! Give us a good serve!"

"End this set quickly!"

If people didn't know better, they would think Hachimura's serve was deathly. After all, this was his seventh consecutive serve in a row. This just showed how outclassed the Thunder in this game.

Thud!

Just like before, another weak serve was coming in Riku's direction. Honestly, the blonde boy started to get sick of this. He started to see the weak serve coming at him as a constant mockery from the opponent for not being able to stop their momentum. Still, like in the few previous plays, he stepped back a little, giving Yuki space to cover up for him.

"Good job, Yuki! Now, run!" He muttered lowly that only Yuki could hear it.

The glasses boy didn't need to be told twice. He rushed immediately to the front side and leaped forward, wanting to do the blitz attack they often used before. However, as if the God of Luck itself was against them, in the last second, the ball slipped from Riku's finger, and while the blonde boy managed to recover, in the end, the final pass was far too close to the net to his liking.

"SHIT! Sorry, Yuki! Cover it for me!"

Yuki gritted his teeth as he was already in the air, yet the ball was far out of his reach. He extended his arm forward, trying to tap it so that at least it could change direction to a better spot. However, before he could even do that, Amano was in the air already, and in this aerial battle, the handsome boy from the Phoenix had a more favorable position since he was closer to the ball.

Thud!

Amano didn't even have to use force to end this play. Just a gentle tap to push the ball back to the Thunder's side was enough since Tondo and Shou weren't even ready to react. As a result, the ball fell gently to the floor, and at the same time as Amano landed, he was surrounded instantly by his teammates.

"WE GOT THE FIRST SET! WE GOT THE FIRST SET! COME ON!"