The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Yuki's facial muscles twitched slightly when what Akihiro said registered through his brain. He didn't even need to look at his teammates to know what their reaction would be.

"Ha?! Are you kidding me, brat?!" Koji scowled, his expression turned ugly.

"Even though I said before that I don't have the skill to beat you in a pure volleyball game, that doesn't mean you can look down on our team like that, Brat!" Ogawa also had the same ugly expression as his friend. "Show some respect to the opponent!"

Akihiro opened his mouth, ready to spout some nonsense to answer Tsunemori players' words. However, before he could do that, Matsumoto stepped forward and slapped his kouhai's head pretty hard, making the others wince unconsciously.

"Ouch! What the hell, Captain?!" Akihiro scowled indignantly. However, whatever complaint he had disappeared with the saliva he swallowed back when he saw not just the captain, but almost everyone, even the coach from the bench glared at him.

"Come here for a second," Matsumoto said shortly. Akihiro knew he screwed up big this time, so it would be better to swallow his complaint and accept the scolding from the others. Before they left though, Matsumoto turned at the Tsunemori players and bowed his head. "I apologize for his rudeness. I will make sure he knows better after this. Excuse me."

All the Tsunemori players were speechless, still processing what just happened in the last few minutes. From the blatant provocation from the opponent's middle blocker to the genuine apology from the opponent's captain, this wasn't the development they expected to happen in this game. However, they all knew why Matsumoto reacted strongly to Akihiro's provocation.

Even though the middle blocker didn't say anything excessive, he still said that in front of the referee. While the referee might not punish him just for a small matter like this, this kind of incident could give the referee a bad impression that Akihiro was a troublemaker brat. It wouldn't matter if the referee just let this matter go and moved on.

However, it would be bad if the referee reported this incident to the volleyball association which had the right to punish them for the provocation.

No matter how big Konan High was, there was no way they could escape the punishment warranted by the association.

Fortunately, except for giving a stern gaze, the referee didn't say anything, just signaling Konan High to calm down and not delay the game. However, the provocation had already been thrown, and all of the Tsunemori players were fired up already.

"Oi, Riku." Yuki suddenly spoke to his friend. "I don't care what we are going to do, but let's kill that cocky bastard in the next play." Even though Yuki didn't show any reaction, in the end, he was still a teenager. There was no way he wouldn't get riled up from such a blatant provocation.

"Sure." Riku who also felt unhappy with Akihiro's provocation agreed to Yuki's proposal immediately. "Let's do it."

After a while, the game was about to start again. It was still Lucas's turn to serve as the Brazilian boy grabbed the ball and walked to the service line. Just like before, all the Tsunemori players moved forward, leaving Kaede and Yuki behind to handle the ball.

"Kai, even if it looks like the ball would go outside, don't ignore it. He could do a topspin serve." Yuki informed his senpai.

Kaede nodded silently, knowing what Yuki wanted to say. A topspin serve would make the ball drop sharply, making the ball fall shorter than the players thought it would be. It was good to deceive the players on the back line and let them think the ball would go out just to find the linesman said it was still inside the court.

It was a troublesome technique that Kaede and Yuki needed to be careful when they handled it.

After a while, the referee finally blew the whistle, letting Lucas do the serve. Yuki's eyes stared intently at the Brazilian boy, didn't want to miss any single detail even for a second. And when his eyes met Lucas's, he knew the ball would come in his direction.

"Come on!"

*BAM!*

The ball zoomed into his body with great speed, then dropped instantly when it crossed the net. Yuki reacted quickly, moving forward to anticipate the ball. It wasn't difficult to receive it when he knew what would come in his direction. However, he didn't stop just like that. After receiving the ball, he recovered quickly and started rushing forward.

"RIKU!"

Even without looking, Riku knew where Yuki would go. This was the connection built after so many times forming combination attacks with each other. Riku knew that Yuki would definitely go for a quick attack to catch the opponent off guard.

However, it seemed he wasn't the only one who knew Yuki's intention. Akihiro who provoked them a few minutes ago also moved, knowing that someone from Tsunemori would definitely want to slap him in the face. It was just a matter of who would do that, and when he saw Yuki's quick movement, the middle blocker knew what Tsunemori players wanted to do.

"It seems you are eager to turn my words into reality, huh? Brace yourself, four-eyes!"

Yuki who was already in the air suddenly faced a huge pressure from the other side of the net. This was the first time he faced Akihiro head-on as a spiker in this game, and he knew that even with all of his antic, Akihiro was still a national-level blocker. However, that didn't mean Yuki would back down from the challenge.

'If this works against Haruo, it should be perfect against you!'

After recoiling his arms back, he swung them as quickly as possible to generate more power from inside his body. However, when his hand was about to touch the ball, he reduced the speed, then changed it from a hard spike into a soft tap, trying to get through Akihiro from above.

The middle blocker who was ready for anything from a cross, a straight, a rebound, and even a block out was taken aback at the choice Yuki took here. This was the only thing he didn't think of how to handle, considering after facing his provocation, there was no way the opponent would be timid and go with a fake. But Yuki wasn't a hot-headed player like Koji or Ogawa.

His best weapon was his brain, and when he could stay calm and think about his actions clearly, there was a high probability what he was going to do would be successful.

"SHIT!"

Shimada who was on the back dived forward, trying to save the ball. However, he wasn't quick enough as he could only see helplessly the ball fall in front of his eyes. For a moment, the silence seemed to fall down the court with all the players staring at the ball blankly. It was finally broken by Yuki whose eyes were on Akihiro as he said coldly, "You want a clean block? Sorry, not from me."