The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Yuki took a deep breath, bouncing the ball back and forth to the floor. He tried his best to calm his nerves, knowing this was a crucial moment for the team. If he could achieve even half what he did in the first set, the momentum would be on Tsunemori's hand, and it would raise the morale of the team instantly.

However, it would be difficult to do so. He could feel the intensity coming from the opponent's side as six pairs of eyes were locking into him. Seeing this, Yuki's memory somehow brought him back to the past when he first learned the game from Akira.

'If the first set is an intelligence battle, the second set could be described as an adaptability battle. After the first set is over, all the players from both teams will clearly know their opponent's abilities, habits, strengths, weaknesses, and so many more.

By then, the team who can grasp the momentum would be the one who can adapt to the opponent's style first and take advantage of it for their own favor.'

Yuki realized this was what Akira meant by the adaptability battle. If in the first set, Konan High didn't have any information about his serve that allowed him to score several points from the service line, this time, they knew what he was capable of and had already prepared themselves for it.

If Yuki could adapt to this situation and show that no matter what kind of intelligence Konan had about him, they still wouldn't be able to stop his serve, it would be a massive gain for the team.

Unfortunately, it was easier said than to be done.

'They have already expected the serve in the crowd trick, and a floater wouldn't work since they know I have that in my arsenal and they also have one who can do the same in their team. That reduces a lot of the tricks on my sleeves. However, I still have something that I can show here. Let's see if it works against them or not.'

The moment the referee gave a nod, Yuki tossed the ball a little into the air. Both Shimada and Lucas, the two best defensive players on the team tensed when they saw Yuki move, their eyes following the glasses boy intently. The other Konan players moved forward, didn't want to disturb those two's concentration. However, Yuki wasn't bothered by it.

From the moment he tossed the ball, his eyes only stared at one spot, and he knew it was the perfect spot to aim at this moment.

'There!'

*BAM!*

At first, it looked like an ordinary jump serve straight to Shimada's chest. The defensive specialist stepped back a little to adjust his stance, ready to receive the ball. However, he didn't expect the ball would curve sharply after it passed through the net, moving away from his direction to the corner of the court.

*Thud!*

The ball bounced to the floor, yet no one voiced their thought, turning their head immediately to the referee. The spot where the ball fell was so close to the sideline that they didn't know whether it landed outside or inside of the court. However, when the linesman raised one of his hands, everyone knew what the final decision was.

"YOSSHAA!"

"Good job, Yuki!"

"That is so close! Nice serve!"

While all the Tsunemori players celebrated with each other, the Konan players tried to appeal to the referee, testing their luck to see whether they could sway the referee's judgment or not. Unfortunately, after communicating with the linesman, the referee shook his head and explained clearly.

"My colleague saw it clearly that the ball still touched the sideline. It is clear that the service falls inside of the court."

All the Konan players slumped dejectedly. Even though they knew it would be hard to change the referee's decision, they still couldn't help but feel disappointed when they knew the final result. However, they didn't think about it for too long and put their focus back on the court.

"Okay, come on, everyone! Don't be fooled by his trick again!"

"Yeah!"

Just like before, all four players were pushed on the front line, leaving Lucas and Shimada on the back to receive the ball. Even though they still didn't know the trick behind Yuki's crowd serve, they knew that the fewer players on the back, the less likely Yuki would be able to pull his ingenious trick.

'Well, they should be worried about my sidespin serve right now. So, what should I throw for them?'

After thinking for a moment, Yuki finally decided to send them a floater. However, he added some twists to it. He served the ball right after the referee blew the whistle, catching the opponent off guard. Lucas, who saw the ball suddenly zoom into his face, was taken aback and didn't have time to react properly.

*Thud!*

"OOF – !"

"Bahaha! Are you kidding me?! It hit Lucas's head!"

Yeah, even though Lucas didn't have enough time to adjust his stance, he was a boy who grew up in Brazil where football was the biggest sport in the country. Facing the ball that went straight into his face, he greeted it with a header, letting it fly in the air. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect receive, and the ball went back to Tsunemori's area immediately.

"Oh! A second chance!"

"Riku! Let me do – "

*BAM!*

"Eh?"

Kaede who stepped forward to cover Riku's spot so the blonde boy didn't have to get the first touch had his jaws dropped when he saw his kouhai spiked the ball directly. Indeed, Lucas's header flew in a perfect height for Riku to spike it directly. However, not a single person in the building believed he would be bold enough to do so.

However, that was why Riku did that. Doing a flashy thing to show off was his specialization.

"OH! DAMN, RIKU!"

"What the hell is that?!"

"How could you spike the overhead pass directly like that?!"

"Hey, it works, okay?!"

Yuki had a big grin on his face as he saw Riku's quick reaction. When he saw Lucas manage to save his serve, Yuki was worried it would cut off the team's momentum. Fortunately, Riku managed to take advantage of it and scored, still giving Yuki another chance to serve the ball.

The glasses boy was confident that as long as it was still his turn on the service line, he would be able to grasp the momentum even though the opponent was Konan High.

And true to his thought, even though Lucas and Shimada were already prepared for another one of his serves, the next time he did that, the ball flew in the spot between them, falling far to the back of the court without anyone able to stop it.

*Thud!*

"YOSSHAAAAA!"