The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Unlike the cheerful atmosphere around them, the air around Giant Bear's bench was quite dark, with almost everyone wearing a downcast expression. It wasn't just their failure to stop Yuki that weighed heavily on them; they also endured merciless scolding from their own supporters. This was probably one of the downsides of playing for a big team. The supporters never minced their words when they critiqued players who performed poorly, regardless of whether they were veterans or rookies.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It wasn't the first time they had wished for a kinder fanbase.

"Okay, don't think too much about them," Kisuke Sadaharu, Giant Bear's coach, tried to lift the mood. Although he was infamous for his harsh teaching methods, he knew he couldn't scold the players all the time. Sometimes, he needed to take a softer approach, and this was one of those occasions. "You know how they act. Once you play well, they'll forget everything and praise you like a god."

That was an understatement. For those who had followed the team for a long time, they could all remember how crazy the fans had been when Giant Bear won the league a few years ago. Some even went so far as to associate with the yakuza by getting championship tattoos on their bodies. While volleyball wasn't as popular as football, the supporters were certainly crazier than anyone could imagine.

"Okay, for now, try your best to ignore their scolding. It will fade quickly once you manage to break out of this slump." Even though the players were unwilling, they nodded, knowing this was the best solution. "Next, let's deal with that boy's serve. Can someone explain why none of you could stop it, even though the ball always looks so easy to pick up?" He raised one of his eyebrows challengingly. Find your next read on empire

All the Giant Bear players stared at each other before turning to Haruo. It wasn't as if they were sacrificing the boy; rather, the middle blocker was the one who knew Yuki best on the team. Receiving those stares, Haruo sighed, knowing he had no choice but to begin explaining Yuki's abilities. Now that they were in a timeout, he could provide more detail than the vague warnings he had thrown during the game.

As Haruo gave a more detailed explanation, everyone could only shake their heads in wonder. For the main players who already had some idea, they still questioned whether Yuki was truly a rookie. But Sadaharu became somber as he realized how deeply in trouble his team was.

"So, Yuki Kobayashi basically has a floater, a spin serve, perfect accuracy, and a wicked mind that likes to take advantage of the openings given by his opponents. Is that right?" he asked for confirmation. When he saw Haruo nod, he sighed deeply, pondered for a moment, and then decided, "Okay, listen carefully! This is what we are going to do."

-0-

After a while, the game was set to resume, and all the players were back on the court. Yuki raised one eyebrow slightly at the formation set by Giant Bear. All but two players—the captain and the first target of his serve—were positioned at the back, ready to face him. The intriguing aspect was the wide gap between those two, creating a large hole in the middle back as if inviting him to serve into that particular spot.

'They don't want to deal with a serve in the traffic and near the corners. Smart. The fact that they are willing to create such a huge gap in the middle to protect the corners shows that they are confident in those two to react quickly if I throw the ball there,' Yuki thought, realizing the situation. 'Now, what should I do?'

Knowing was one thing, but figuring out how to deal with the situation was another. With the formation spread out like this, his accuracy and traffic trick would be useless. The opponents already knew about his floater and spin serve, so once they recognized it, they would easily pick up the ball. Ironically, the best way to counter it was with a powerful jump serve—the most basic ace serve that players learn first—which Yuki, coincidentally, had not yet mastered.

'Well, no need to cry over what I haven't learned yet. I have contributed five points in a row, so let's use this chance to experiment.'

When the referee blew the whistle, Yuki tossed the ball slightly, leaping forward while recoiling his arms back to generate more power. Riku, who saw this, was surprised, not knowing when Yuki had started learning about the jump serve. Little did he know, this was Yuki's first-ever attempt at it.

'Okay, it should be easy. Let the ball fall from its highest point, then unleash your arm as quickly as possible and hit the ball… Now!'

BAM!

In the end, Yuki executed his first-ever jump serve straight to the middle back, hoping it would hit the floor before either Goro or Tomoaki, the two players positioned at the back could react. Unfortunately, it was just wishful thinking, as the ball lacked the strength and speed Yuki had envisioned.

'Shit! I messed up the timing!' Yuki cursed, realizing the issue.

Seeing the easy ball approaching him, Goro leaned to the left, bending his knee to reach the ball effortlessly. He picked it up and sent it straight to Izuki, their setter.

"Oh! Nice receive, Captain!" one teammate exclaimed.

"Damn! Finally, they stopped the boy's serve!" another added.

"Zuki! Give it to me!" Ojiro Senta shouted, eager to end Yuki's term serving as quickly as possible. The sentiment seemed shared by the setter, as just a second later, the ball was flying toward the ace. Tondo also jumped to block the attack. However, with only one blocker in front of him, Giant Bear's ace easily avoided the block.

BAM!

"Shit!" Yuki cursed loudly when he couldn't receive the ball perfectly. Aiming the ball at him was a clever move, considering that normally, a pinch server would struggle in other aspects of the game. The spike itself wasn't complicated—just a normal powerful one. However, the power behind it was comparable to Kenzo, the main player from Tokyo Thunder, who had tested him in the past. No matter how strong he became after starting his gym regimen, Yuki still found himself getting thrown around by the opponent's spiker, and he hated it. "Someone, cover it!" he shouted to his teammates.

"I got it!" Shou on the left jumped, attempting to spike the wild ball directly to surprise the opponent.

Unfortunately, as he leaped for the ball, one of Giant Bear's players on the other side of the net also took off from the ground. Shou didn't know who was in front of him, but the two were locked in a head-on matchup for a few seconds before Thunder's captain swung his arms powerfully.

BAM!