The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Okay, I don't know whether he is at the same level as Yuki or not, but you have to admit that he is a beast," Riku stated, shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean, did you see that?! His control over his body is crazy! How the hell is he a rookie?!"

That was the main question everyone – not just Tsunemori players – had inside their mind right now. After all the skills Bato showcased in the last two plays shouldn't belong to an inexperienced player. If in the first play, Bato managed to attract everyone's attention by doing everything from defense to offense alone to destroy Tsukiji's play, he silenced the entire building with the second play. His game-reading and decision-making ability, his outstanding physical ability, and his amazing control over his body were shown here as if announcing his presence to the people inside the building.

So, yeah, just like Riku said, while it wasn't clear how Bato was compared to Yuki, one thing for sure was that Keihin's middle blocker was a beast on a different level.

"Now, let's see how a powerhouse team like Tsukiji reacts to this situation…"
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"Good job, Bato!" If before, they were still afraid of offending the home team's supporters, now it seemed their judgment was clouded by the excitement. Morita and the other Keihin players jumped toward their resident genius to celebrate the play, and the tension on their side eased immediately. "That is such a nasty block! As expected from my kouhai, you learn the best from me!"

The other Keihin players just looked at their captain in disdain, never expecting him to be so shameless. Hell, even Bato himself gave the captain his best 'Are you kidding?' look. "Cap, I know you are a good guy, but I don't want to hear you bragging about that again, okay? You don't have the right to do that, Mr. 'Clench your butt and smash the ball.'." Said the boy mockingly.

Morita at least had the decency to blush in embarrassment even though he still tried to defend himself. "Hey, that is a decent advice, you know?!"

"Yes, for a monkey, not for an intelligent human like me." Bato retorted back still with his sarcastic remark.

They bantered back and forth for a while with their teammates watching the fun as if they were in the middle of a movie before the referee finally coughed, gaining their attention. "If you are done chatting with your teammates, go back to your position so we can continue the game!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

All the Keihin players didn't have to be told twice as they scampered back to their original position, some even looked sheepish. They didn't want to test the referee's bottom limit here and prepared themselves for the game to continue. Now that Bato managed to score twice in a row, the momentum was completely on Keihin's side, and the only advantage Tsukiji High had was the crowd.

"Come on, Reiki!"

"Wake up, Kiyotaka! Don't let them do anything they want in our home like this!"

"Yeah, kill them all!"

However, the voices died down immediately when they saw Morita back on the service line again. All the cheers disappeared, replaced by the hissed sound all over the building as everyone waited patiently for Morita to serve. When Keihin's captain finally did it, the sound of taiko drums echoed instantly throughout the court.

DRUM! DRUM! DRUM! DRUM!

"Shit!" Morita cursed. Even though he wasn't nervous anymore, the sudden sound of the drums right after he was about to serve was still enough to break his concentration. As a result, the serve he delivered turned out to be pretty weak, hitting the nets before the ball was lucky enough to get through the other side of the court.

"Neito, get this!" The closest Tsukiji players to the ball made a save before it could fall onto the floor.

"I get it!" Neito – Tsukiji's setter – shouted, approaching the ball immediately. Then, as he waited for the ball to fall into his hand, he made a quick gesture, which was followed by three Tsukiji players rushing forward in unison. 'You might be a beast, but you are not an omnipotent. Let's see if you can handle this, Bastard!'

A few seconds he spent waiting for Bato to make a move seemed like an eternity. However, once the ball was about an inch from his hand and he didn't see Bato make a move, he finally reacted.

Thud!

"Oh! What a dump!"

"As expected from our little wizard, Hirokazu Neito!"

"Come on, Neito!"

As the crowd cheered for the setter, Riku also nodded in approval. "He is smart." The blonde boy commented, attracting his friends' attention. "He knows once the blocker could read him, everything is over. So, he tries to overwhelm Keihin's blockers by using more attackers as a distraction, and if that blocker reacted like before, that Tsukiji's setter would send the ball in the opposite direction of where the blocker goes. The setter wants to win the game by avoiding unnecessary confrontation. He knows how to choose his battle."

Even though they weren't sure something complicated like that happened in just a few seconds, they decided to believe Riku since the boy was the expert there. Still, to get the nod of approval from Riku was a bad thing for them. After all, Tsukiji was still the favorite to win the game and became Tsunemori's next opponent. It would be troublesome to deal with such a clever setter like that in the future.

"Come on, Kiyotake! Give us a good serve!"

The boy named Kiyotake took a deep breath as he was on the service line. When the referee blew the whistle, he tossed the ball slightly in the air, running up a little before leaping forward to slam the ball.

BAM!

"Damn, that is another powerful serve!" Kaede winced unconsciously. "The strength is not as good as the captain before, but this one has the better accuracy. Look, he puts the ball into a tricky spot like that!" He pointed at the ball.

Indeed, while Kiyotake's serve wasn't the most powerful one, he made it up with his accuracy. Now, the ball he served was flying through the spot close to the sideline, making Keihin players over there hesitate whether he should get it or not.

However, the hesitation vanished instantly once the resident genius from Keihin High shouted, "GET IT, HORI, YOU DUMBASS! DON'T LET IT GO!"

As if something clicked inside his head, the boy called Hori rushed instantly with great speed, pouncing the ball like he was a hungry cheetah. He saved the ball acrobatically, yet unfortunately, it flew close to the net.

"Don't worry, I got this!"

Bato rushed forward to get the ball. Tsukiji's blocker also did the same, trying to get it first before Bato. They jumped in unison, both trying to overpower each other in this aerial contest. However, as Bato started to push forward, the referee suddenly blew the whistle, stopping the game.

"Wait, what happened?" Bato asked confusedly. The other players also had the same reaction, waiting for the referee to explain this. The referee, a man who was probably the oldest inside the building – was calm enough to explain. "Kid, your arms touched the net while you were in the air. That counts as a violation."

Bato widened his eyes as the scene flashed through his mind once again. Indeed, even though it was pretty light, his arms touched the net slightly when he was in the air, and he knew it was a violation that was punished by a free point for the opponent. No matter how much he wanted to complain, that wouldn't change anything, so he just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Oh! Another point for us?!"

"Damn, we tie the score! 4 – 4, this is just the beginning!"

"Come on, Tsukiji High!"

Even though only a few people on the stand could understand what happened before, they didn't care about it. The moment they saw the linesman add one more point for Tsukiji High, they roared in celebration as if it was them who were on the court.

"Come on, the momentum is on our side! Let's end this quick!"

"Kiyotake, give us a good serve!"

As the referee blew the whistle, the boy did the same routine, aiming for the spot close to the sideline. This time though, Hori who was still targeted reacted instantly, moving to get the ball first before it could go outside of his reach.

BAM!

"Nice, Hori! That is what we have been waiting for!"

"Taiyo, give me a high pass!" Bato pointed his finger up to the sky.

Two of Tsukiji's players on the front tensed, putting their guard on Bato warily. They didn't want the first attack to get replicated again. Once the ball was flying toward the genius boy, those two also jumped simultaneously, wanting to cover the area in front of the boy. Bato didn't even blink when he saw this. He tilted his upper body slightly, then tried to change the trajectory of his attack to a cross-spike.

However, as he was doing that, another Tsukiji player suddenly popped in front of him, appearing out of nowhere. Bato widened his eyes in shock, yet nothing could be done as he had already swung his arms here.

BAM!