The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Rano! Move along! Jump with me!"

"One! Two! Now!"

*BAM!*

"SHIT!"

"YOSSHAAA!"

Yuki started to get tired when he saw another one of Konan's attacks pierced the team's wall again. No matter how quick he and his teammates were, how many players joined in the front line to set a wall, or even how well he read the opponent's intention, the team couldn't stop Konan's wave of offense at all.

To make it worse, the combination attack of Yuki and Riku that managed to gain an advantage a while ago suddenly lost its effectiveness. It didn't matter what kind of combination they created impulsively, but Akihiro, the opponent's blocker always managed to read them like an open book. They still didn't know what flaw they revealed for Akihiro to read them perfectly like this.

What happened on the court was like a reminder to anyone there, that no matter how many tricks they had on their sleeves, it wouldn't matter in front of absolute strength.

"Man, this is pathetic." Riku scowled. "We got our asses whooped like it was nothing."

"Well, in our defense, our opponent is the best team in the whole country. Almost all the team playing against them would experience the same." Kaede chuckled, yet his eyes were blank.

Yuki could see that his teammates were exhausted already. Not physically, of course, since they were ready to play for all days against Konan High. If that was the case, he would be happy, considering that meant they were still able to match Konan's intensity.

Unfortunately, the exhaustion Yuki saw right now was mentally, as he could see the morale started to evaporate from the air as the game went on. Not being able to score even for once and getting dominated completely like this sure would demoralize the entire team.

"Well, it is still one point away before they win the first set." Yuki took a glance at the scoreboard. It showed the score 24 – 11 for Konan's lead, which wasn't that bad for Tsunemori since they managed to steal ten points against the best team in Japan.

However, remembering the stake of this game and the fact that the team would be disbanded by the school if they lost today, everyone couldn't help but feel depressed. "Let's end this as soon as possible and hear Akira-sensei's opinion about this. Maybe, he has an idea on how to get out of this situation."

Even though they didn't believe Yuki's words, the other players still followed what he said, getting ready for the next play. They knew they couldn't run away and had to face the game until the end. That didn't mean they had to like it, though.

"Come on, Shimada! One more point!"

"Give us a good serve!"

It was still Shimada who served the ball. Honestly, it was embarrassing how they couldn't force all the Konan players to serve the ball. Shimada was their fourth player to serve, leaving Sawada and Akihiro who didn't get a turn to do the same as them. That meant Tsunemori failed to force Konan to have a full rotation in this game.

However, compared to Konan's opponents in the past, they still did a decent job in this regard. Usually, Konan would only have two or three rotations in the game before crushing their opponent in the most dominating way. Not something that all the Tsunemori players would be proud of, but it was still a rare achievement for a weak team like them.

After a while, Shimada finally served the ball. The ball was pretty close to the sideline, but Koji had good eyes to see if it would fall still inside of the court. He saved it easily, sending the ball to Riku's spot – and Yuki's too to some extent.

"Oh! Nice save, Koji!"

Yuki and Riku moved immediately, their eyes roamed to the other side of the court to see their opponent's movement. They kept their eyes intently on Akihiro, just to find that the middle blocker was unfazed by their antic. The boy stood still and didn't have any intention to move before they started to make a move first.

Gritting their teeth, Yuki and Riku had no choice but to try to ignore him. This time, Yuki acted as bait, letting Riku set the ball as he rushed forward for a quick attack. Unfortunately, they were so focused on Akihiro that they somehow forgot it wasn't just him who was able to read their combination successfully before.

And before Yuki could realize it, he had already swung his arm, hitting the ball with all his might.

*BAM!*

"OH! BLOCK BY LUCAS!"

"Damn, as expected from the best players in the country! He is amazing!"

Yuki had his mouth gaped wide when he saw Lucas standing in front of him with a big grin on his face as if the block was nothing. Even though he had seen the same thing over and over again in the last couple of minutes, it still left him in awe of how fast Lucas could run from the back to cover the area in front of the net.

The block also ended the first set, with Konan finally emerging as the winner, even after a rough situation in the middle of the game.

"As expected, they are still the undisputed king here."

"But Tsunemori put up a decent fight in the first set! I hope they won't give up soon just like any other team when facing Konan in the past."

"Does that also include Matsukita?"

"Of course! Hahaha!"

Hearing someone mocking the team so openly like that, Amagi's ears felt hot all of a sudden, Gondo grabbed his shoulder tightly. "Sit down and don't do anything stupid again, Amagi!" The captain hissed. Amagi could also see his teammates glaring at him, signaling the setter to not do anything reckless like shouting from the stand as he did before.

"Don't you all hear what they said about us?" He hissed back.

"Yeah, we hear it too. We are not that deaf, you know? And yeah, we also feel insulted by what they are saying." One of the players said. "However, what is there to argue? Even though they are wrong and we have never given up in the middle of the game, we are still the losers at the end of the day. Arguing would only validate their argument here."

Amagi grumbled grumpily as he sat back in his seat, regaining his calm back. He knew his teammate was right. That didn't mean he had to like it, though. He glared intently at the Konan's bench to the point that if glares could kill, he would be arrested for manslaughtering the entire Konan team right now.

'If Tsunemori could trouble you like this, you will have no chance to win against us. Just wait in the final, Konan High… We will destroy you with all of our might!'