The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Damn, since when did you turn into Hulk, Tondo?!"

"It seems all the time you spend in the gym is not wasteful."

"Hey, be more respectful here! Don't just pinch my bicep like that, you perv! Don't you know how hard it is to build this?!"

The atmosphere on the Thunder's side melted immediately by the laughter from several players as they teased Tondo mercilessly. Tondo himself also looked far more relaxed than before. After all, this was his best moment after playing terribly in the first set.

Honestly, this was the kind of situation Kawaki hoped Uehara would get. After a difficult game, it only took one brilliant play to ease the tension, and after that, everything would be easier for the player. However, no one complained that it was Tondo who got this moment.

"Good serve, Kobayashi!" Tondo laughed merrily. "I know for sure since the first time I see you that the damn serve of yours would be a nightmare for everyone in the league! Ha! I know I was right!"

"Hey, now, you are just bragging! I remember you cursed him and Agostini a lot after they embarrassed you in front of Kenzo-senpai, right?" Shou retorted, exposing Tondo's lie immediately.

"E-Eh…" The middle blocker looked sheepish as he got caught off-handedly. The other players laughed at him one more time, which turned his face red. "A-Anyway!" He coughed, trying his best to hide his embarrassment. "Good job, Kobayashi! Keep up your amazing performance in the service line!"

"Sure!" Yuki nodded firmly.

The atmosphere around was pretty good. However, Uehara could only stare from outside of the crowd with envy, feeling excluded by his teammates. 'I should be the one there. How could a rookie steal everyone's thunder like this?!' Find more to read at empire

Still, he was sensible enough to not voice that thought. After all, just like in Riku's last play he wanted to complain, in this case, Yuki also deserved the flowers he received. Uehara knew what a menace Yuki was in the service line, and the glasses boy helped the team a lot in the last couple of days. Even though Uehara had a complicated feeling toward the rookie, at least he could see Yuki's brilliance here.

"Okay, get ready to play! The referee will start the game again!" Shou clapped his hands, and the players finally dispersed and went back to their original position. The turn to serve was still in Yuki's hands, so the confidence in their side was undoubtedly high. "Come on, Kobayashi! Give me one more!"

"One more good serve!"

"You can do it, Kobayashi!"

"Your serve sucks!"

"Your ace sucks!"

"You cannot score!"

"Come on, Phoenix!"

The encouragement from Yuki's teammates was drowned once again the moment all the supporters rose from their seats and clapped and chanted so loudly, trying to destroy everyone's eardrum. Yuki had to wince at how loud it was, turning his head to the referee to ask whether this should be stopped or not. Unfortunately, a distraction from the supporters was a part of the game too, so the referee just shook his head and signaled him to get ready to serve.

'Well, if we cannot get any leverage in this position, I better make one for us.' Yuki thought.

After facing Yuki's accurate serve to the corner a few times, the Phoenix took a different approach now. Even though they were still not giving up on revealing his 'serve to the traffic' trick, they were more sensible right now, spreading out the defense to get ready for a serve to difficult spots. This was what Yuki was waiting for.

This time, he took a longer time from the referee blowing the whistle to tossing the ball. He wanted to make the tension grow on the other side of the court, trying to make them anticipate a strong serve like before. And when he finally did it, what came next was an ordinary serve. To Nakamura's spot.

"Shit!" Nakamura – the defensive specialist – cursed, somehow remembering the depression he had after three or four times receiving this nightmare. "I need to move!"

Or… That was what he thought. However, his brain seemed to be lagging for a moment, stopping his legs from moving. It was just for a second, yet in a game when even a millisecond could change the direction of the game, Nakamura knew he wasted too much time freezing.

Fortunately, Amano next to him was able to react. "Naka! Don't move, I will pick it up!"

Nakamura did so, and he let Amano flash in front of him. In the end, the ball was saved, but since Amano had to cover for the ball, the formation became pretty chaotic for the Phoenix. "Teru! The rest is up to you!" The handsome boy shouted.

"Don't worry, Amano-senpai! I got this!" The setter replied.

Tondo, Shou, and Kojima on the front line straightened their back, sharpening their eyes to figure out where the ball would go. Then, as if guided by his instinct, Tondo left the wall unconsciously, leaving the two teammates in confusion.

'What the hell, Tondo?! What are you doing?!' Shou cursed inwardly.

However, his question was answered immediately when he realized that Mirai was jumping in front of him already, and he was too late to react. It was different from Tondo, though. The middle blocker left the wall to make a space before he started his run-up, wanting to step back so that he could jump higher. And when Mirai was about to spike, the wall he formed alone suddenly erected, and the Phoenix's ace was too surprised to change the direction of his spike.

BAM!

"YEAH!" Tondo clenched his fist tightly as he realized the block was successful. "Fukushima, what?! This is my territory now!" He shouted arrogantly.

He didn't know what force drove him to say those provocative words. After all, besides the last two plays, Tondo's performance couldn't even be said as decent, so to say the air was his territory was enough to trigger an unpleasant reaction. Just a second after that, all the supporters on the stand booed him instantly, abusing him with so many nasty words.

"KUSO! What a bastard!"

"Oi, Shigeo, I don't care if you can win or not! Make sure you break his leg!"

"Die, you bitch!"

"How dare you to be so arrogant here!"

"Get out, you motherf*cker!"

"You are not welcome in Fukushima, you Pig!"

The situation was getting heated for a moment as the people standing on the front side of the stand pointed their fingers angrily at Tondo. Hell, the referee even had to stop the game first to calm down the supporters. Fortunately, no one started throwing things at the Thunder players, or the situation would be far worse than this.

Or… Maybe, things were bad already, and no one noticed about it yet.