The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

As he felt the ball was within his reach, Yuki jumped. He outstretched his arms, trying to get the ball before it could land on the floor. He felt his body weight shift forward, his legs extending in a perfect arc, his arms bending to cradle the ball in a perfectly timed dive.

The moment Yuki felt his fingertip touch the ball, with a swift flick of his wrist, he sent it soaring back toward Riku who was waiting with open arms to receive the perfectly placed pass,

"NICE RECEIVE, KOBAYASHI!"

Within a second, Tsunemori\'s collective momentum shifted from chaos to control in the blink of an eye, and the exact opposite happened to Shimoyawata.

"Fall back!"

"Keep your eyes on them! Don\'t let anyone slip away!"

As chaos descended on the opponent\'s side, Riku didn\'t hesitate to take advantage of it. Instead of passing the ball, he jumped immediately, recoiling his arms back while getting ready to spike the ball. All the players with white jerseys on the other side of the net who were still trying to recover their position were taken aback, didn\'t expect Riku to spike the ball immediately.

*BAM!*

The ball hit the floor instantly without anyone could even stop it, adding another point for Tsunemori

"COME OOOOON!" Riku roared before he ran toward Yuki\'s direction, hugging the glasses boy excitedly.

It wasn\'t the point that triggered his excitement, but the hustle and the spirit of not giving up that Yuki showed that made his blood boil. Even though he was alone, even though the ball was far out of his reach, even with all the fatigues that were about to kill him, even if it seemed impossible, Yuki still ran, hustling through all the difficulty to save the ball.

And when he did it, as his friend and teammate, Riku couldn\'t help but feel touched.

"Goddamnit, Kobayashi! That shit is amazing!" Riku exclaimed.

"A bit gentler, please. My body feels like a jelly right now." Yuki said weakly, rubbing his shoulder that was hit by the overly excited blonde boy. "Also, Agostini, when will you go all out again? Did you say before that it is time to end this game? I have already done my part, and now it is time for you to fulfill yours too."

Riku was stunned for a second, then nodded his head solemnly. Yuki was right. With the condition of both teams getting hit by fatigue right now, the one who was in advantage was Shimoyawata who had more players on the bench.

They could just replace the players who were too tired right now and save it for the final set if that scenario happened, so he and the other Tsunemori players had to make sure they won this set.

Even though the team was still behind, the point he got earlier cut off the gap into three points. While it was still a lot, at least the momentum shifted into Tsunemori right now. Moreover, it was time for Riku to serve the ball, and it would be a lie for all the players with white jerseys if they said they were not nervous.

"Come on! Concentrate, everyone!"

"We have done it before! We can stop the serve!"

Riku snorted, amused at the shout of encouragement from the other side. Still, he took a deep breath, closing his eyes to concentrate while waiting for the referee to blow the whistle. The moment it sounded, he threw the ball immediately, starting his run-up and did the sequence of movement perfectly before hitting the ball hard.

*BAM!*

The sound of his hand making contact with the ball echoed all over the court, making everyone flinch unconsciously. It crossed the net in a blink, getting through the area between Ezaki and Wakamatsu like a lightning flash before creating a little shockwave as the ball hit the floor. No one could react, let alone touch the ball during the process.

Everything seemed to freeze before Riku clenched his fist and raised it to the sky, making a cool pose as if it were the last thing he could do.

"OOH!"

"Holy shit! What the hell is that?!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

While they were celebrating, the players on the other side of the net were hit by sudden depression. If Yuki\'s amazing save before was the play that changed the momentum of the game, this ace serve from Riku was the one that ensured it would stay at Tsunemori for a while.

"Come on, everyone! We are still in the lead! We can do this!" Ezaki clapped his hands, trying to encourage his teammates. Still, no one took his words seriously.

While they softened their judgment of the boy, it was impossible to erase the grudge that had been in their heart for about a year that quickly. And most importantly, they were all just teenagers carrying the volatile mood inside them. They could forgive someone so easily when something good happened, but when the opposite occurred, the grudge would continue or even become worse than ever.

Still, there was someone who shared Ezaki\'s sentiment right now.

"He is right, you know?" Hideo suddenly said. Everyone snapped their head, couldn\'t believe their captain would show his support toward the problematic boy. "We are still in the lead, so we need to adjust our mentality. Also, I don\'t care how you hate him, but it is clear in this game that he is more useful right now than anyone else here.

So, just like Miura-sensei said before, if someone couldn\'t accept that fact and didn\'t want to work together with him as a team, say it directly and I will talk to Miura-sensei. I hate if we lose the game because of something stupid like this…"

The expression on Shimoyawata\'s side changed. The last sentence uttered by their captain really slapped them hard straight to the face. Hideo was right. It didn\'t matter how much they hated Ezaki, but currently, he was the most useful player out of everyone else.

And if they still hesitated to play together with him even when the team was in danger, it was no different from what Ezaki did last year, and this time, they even did it consciously.

\'Do we really become the thing we hate the most here?\'