The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

A pin-drop silence fell as the boy's shout echoed throughout the building. Everyone stared at the boy in disbelief, and the preparator himself just grinned foolishly as if he hadn't done anything wrong. Hell, even some of his teammates slapped their foreheads while the others tried their best to act as if they didn't know him at all.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that everyone finally reacted, and just like any other normal human being expected, what the boy – Kaito – received was a pretty violent reaction.

"What the hell?!"

"Is it not enough to provoke us in our home a few days ago?!"

"You are so brave, Boy! Do you have a suicidal tendency or what?!"

"Riku, Yuki, kill him later!"

Suzuki on Kikugawa's side himself just slapped his forehead in exasperation. He knew it was his job as the team's captain to keep everyone in line. However, Kaito was too volatile for his own good that even the coach sometimes had a headache at his unexpected shenanigan like this.

He could also understand the violent reaction from the crowd. Even though the words uttered by Kaito had no hint of provocation element in it, the fact that he shouted them out loud was enough to trigger the crowd's anger. Coupled with Kaito's behavior when he came to Tsunemori High and provoked the entire school a few days ago, it was a no-brainer for the boy to become the villain instantly.

"Yusuke, can you control your friend? Put him on a leash or whatever, just please, make him obedient just for one day." Ao, the team's middle blocker begged his kouhai a little.

"Why me, Senpai?!" Yusuke cried with no tears, trying his best to shrink his presence as little as possible. He also joined Kaito provoking Tsunemori High a few days ago, so he didn't want to anger them anymore today. "Where is Hunya-sensei, anyway? He is probably the only one Kaito is willing to listen, right?"

"Yes, besides you." Some of the Kikugawa players murmured inwardly.

However, all of them still turned their head around, trying to search for their coach's whereabouts. It was just a few seconds ago that they entered the building together, so how could their coach disappear already?

That was when they had the exact same reaction as all the Tsunemori players when they entered the building the first time.

"Holy shit… They all are here to support Tsunemori?!" One player with a headband cursed with jaws dropped as he saw the crowd. "Man, this is the first time I see so many people gathering for the same reason like this!" Even the 750 tickets their school bought didn't look as impressive as Tsunemori's crowd right now since their own crowd was pretty scattered on the stand.

"And we have to play against them?!" Ao shrieked in fear.

"Kaito sure knows how to pick the worst opponent, right?" Suzuki shook his head in exasperation.

Even though historically, their team was far better than Tsunemori High, Kikugawa High was still considered a middle-upper team that was three or four levels below Konan High and Matsuyama Kita High. They had never experienced the national tournament even once before, so they had never experienced the crazy atmosphere where all the supporters on the stand were singing and doing some choreography to support their team. For them, this could be considered the peak of their career in this regard, and they were a bit overwhelmed by this.

"Ah, Sensei is there!" Yusuke suddenly pointed his finger in one direction, and as all the Kikugawa players followed it, they all were dumbfounded when they saw their coach walked toward the opponent's bench already.

"What the hell is Sensei going to do?" That was the question hanging in all the Kikugawa players.

Akira himself was not surprised when he saw his former disciple approaching him. He raised one hand to stop when all of his players wanted to come forward and greeted the man, signaling them all that he would handle this matter.

As they stood toe-to-toe, no one spoke anything at first, but everyone could see tension brewed between those two. All the players from both sides were ready to step up whenever something unexpected happened. They forgot, though that the two people who confronted each other were their head coach and were calmer than anyone else in this building.

"So, that is your troops, huh, Sensei?" Arisawa Junya sneered mockingly as he saw the Tsunemori players behind Akira. "I am not impressed with their physicality. Sensei, it seems your standard has been falling so low."

Even though he didn't shout it, everyone on Tsunemori's side could hear his mock loud and clear. A thick vein popped on some of the players' foreheads while a few who had a short temper rolled their sleeves high, ready to take action.

However, Akira was one step faster as he replied to the mock calmly. "Well, the same could be said for your team. You still have a weird hobby of gathering all the matchsticks together, huh? How many times do I have to tell you that tall players alone are not enough to win the game?"

That was when Tsunemori players realized that more than half of the opponent's players were taller than Asahi, the second-tallest player in their team. This fact alone was enough to intimidate some of them, and Arisawa Junya noticed that too. "Well, it seems that my players' height is enough to intimidate your players, Sensei. Just make sure they are not going to pee on their pants on the court, okay?"

Before anyone could retort back, he turned around and laughed, leaving all the members of the Tsunemori team speechless. However, the war declaration had been thrown by the opponent's head coach, and coupled with Kaito's action before, this was enough to anger all of them.

"So, are you all on the same page as me or not?" Asahi suddenly asked his friends with a calmness that was enough to scare the opponent.

"Well, it depends." Ogawa clenched his knuckles playfully with a creepy smile on his face. "Are you thinking about beating them all to death in the game? If so, then yes, we are on the same page here."

Some of the players there also nodded firmly while the others gave their opponent a death stare. If stares could kill, all the Kikugawa players would've been under sex feet already.

"Well, good. Because I didn't intend to just beat them, but I will go to the court with the intention to kill them all. Are you all with me?!"

"HELL, YEAH!"

"Then, let's kill Kikugawa High today!"