The Birth of A Volleyball Legend
Chapter 43: A Tough Game for Both Teams!

"Good job, Riku!"

"Damn, that is awesome!"

"How in the hell could you always have the coolest play of the day?!"

All the players with green jerseys on the court gathered around their setter, slapping the blonde boy's head excitedly. While they were still a bit down from being dominated by Shimoyawata, at least this play sparked a small fire inside them.

Yuki could only shake his head in wonder when he saw Riku was surrounded by his senpai. He knew full well by now that this was the blondie's modus operandi, always doing something flashy to make everyone excited.

"Oi, Kobayashi!" Riku suddenly called him when the blonde boy finally escaped from the crowds. "If you saw everyone moving to attack, you wait in the back for defense. If not, our team will be full of holes. Look into my eyes and you will know where I want to go, so you need to be ready to save the ball if it is blocked by the opponent."

Yuki hummed for a second before nodding his head in understanding. That was a logical arrangement that he himself was embarrassed to admit it had never crossed his mind until now. There would always be one or two players needed to cover whenever the team attacked, and right now, he was the most suitable out of everyone on the court.

"Don't worry, I will do that." He gave a thumb up toward his friend.

The game continued with the tempo suddenly fastened, especially after Asahi joined the fun. Tsunemori shortened the gap little by little until at one point, they finally managed to tie the score again. It wasn't like Asahi was so good that he could change the direction of the game, but he brought something different that elevated Tsunemori's offense.

Yeah, usually, the attack would be one-sided toward the left where all the heavy hitters gathered. It wasn't like no one was able to do it from the right, but since most of them were right-handed hitters, they preferred to be on the left side. Whoever on the left side usually prepared themselves to get ready defending the attack from the opponent's outside hitter.

However, Asahi was a left-handed man, and he preferred to attack from the right side. That meant all the wing side was occupied by Tsunemori players, which activated Riku's ability to spread out the blockers and attack the opponent with more variations.

To put it simply, Asahi's appearance unlocked Tsunemori's offense from all over the court.

*BAM!*

"Nice receive, Wakamatsu!"

That didn't mean it was easier to pierce Shimoyawata's defense, though. They were still tough as usual, proven by Wakamatsu who dived spectacularly to save the ball that was about to fall.

"Ueno, keep calm! Don't be hasty! We can kill it!"

The setter glanced around for a moment, looking at where he would send the ball. Fortunately, he hadn't known that Yuki figured out his tick yet, so he didn't know how the glasses boy could read him like an open book.

"Hirano-senpai, dump!" He shouted.

Yuki could see the opponent's setter was frustrated he was able to predict his movement once again. Hirano who heard the instruction backed down instantly. While it was possible to block the dump directly, he was too close to the net and was not willing to risk another blocking foul.

He received the ball awkwardly, letting it fly on the spot.

"Senpai, move!" Riku suddenly appeared.

Since it was still too close to the net, even though Hirano received the ball well, it only turned into an overpass situation. Fortunately, Riku reacted immediately, sprinting over in that direction and jumping, wiping the ball first before the opponent could do it.

However, one of the players with a white jersey suddenly rushed forward, saving the ball before it could touch the floor.

"Oh! Nice save, Senki!"

"Hideo, follow it up!"

All the Tsunemori players cursed the same thing the Shimoyawata did often earlier. They both started questioning what kind of joke God wanted to make by letting two stubborn teams meet against each other in the first round.

Still, since it was an emergency save, the setter couldn't get the second ball, and the captain had to set the offense by himself. He passed the ball awkwardly to the left, far lower than the height of the net. It was impossible to end the turn with a spike, so the outside hitter there just sent the ball toward the Tsunemori's side once again.

"Chance ball!"

Having another chance to attack, all the Tsunemori players stepped back a little before doing their run-up simultaneously. It was a sporadic attack with four players running in all directions to create more chaos on the opponent's side.

By now, while all the players with white jerseys were eyeing Tsunemori's players one by one, they also kept their eyes on Riku, didn't want to receive the end of another dump trick.

Without even looking, Riku sent the ball to his back, where Asahi was waiting on the right wing. Seeing the ball coming, the bun-haired boy didn't hesitate to jump, recoiled his arms back and got ready to hit the ball. The outside hitter of Shimoyawata on the other side also moved, wanting to at least disturb the spike.

Even though separated by the net, the collision between those two was unavoidable as when Asahi spiked the ball, the opponent's body crossed the half-court line.

*FWEEE!*

The referee's whistle echoed immediately. No matter where the ball would go, it was another point for Tsunemori, considering the opponent touched the net first. It was the same blocking fault that Yuki had done earlier.

However, no one cared about that.

"YOSSSHAAAA!!!"

All the players with green jerseys roared simultaneously, celebrating the point. Meanwhile, some of the Shimoyawata's players sprawled on the ground, their chests heaving as they struggled to catch their breath. This was another one of an exhausting rally.

Looking at the score that hadn't even touched 20 in the first set, they all cursed at the same time, knowing it would be long before the game was over.

However, there was someone on Tsunemori's side who wanted to cut the game short. He walked outside of the court line while grabbing the ball, preparing to serve. Pushing his glasses slightly upward, he recalled all the sweat and tears he shed to train his serve in the last two or three weeks to reach the level of perfection.

While it wasn't there yet, he had the confidence the level of his serve would be enough for his team to take over the lead and even widen the gap between the two teams.

'Well, let's see how effective it would be…'