The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Obaasan, a little bit quicker, please! We want to watch Yuki-nii and Riku-nii's game!"

"Yeah, Obaasan! It should've been started already!"

"Quick! Quick!"

In the orphanage, all of its residents were sitting eagerly in the kitchen, the biggest room in the building, waiting for Aiko to fix the television in front of them. Yeah, since the game between Tsunemori High and Matsuyama Kita High was broadcast on the local television, Aiko decided to ask Sachi – Kato's grandmother – to borrow her television. After all, the old woman had two big-screen TVs that she didn't use in her house, so the old lady didn't have a problem letting Aiko have one.

Everyone was so excited, not only because they could see their brother's game live, but also because this was the first time they had watched television after about eight months living in this orphanage. After all, even though they had never made a fuss about the lack of televisions or any entertainment devices before, when the real things were here, they couldn't help but get excited about it.

Aiko herself could only sigh helplessly at the children's enthusiasm. Even in such cold temperatures, she sweated a little bit, having a difficult time fixing the television. Her eyes kept switching from the manual book to the real object in front of her, trying to figure out how to make it work. Fortunately, Taro, the second-oldest boy after Yuki, had a good hands-on ability, and with his help, the big screen that a moment ago was still dark and couldn't show anything started to buzz, showing a blurry image there.

"Ah! Here it is! Just keep up what you are doing, Taro-nii! The image is getting better!" Hina jumped on her chair excitedly, staring at the big screen in front of him that slowly got better fascinatingly. In the end, she and the other children there squealed happily, celebrating together when Aiko and Taro finally managed to make everything look like a normal TV. "Good job, Obaasan! Taro-nii! Come here, let's watch it together!"

Taro couldn't help but snort amusedly at Hina's bossy tone. Still, he complied at her request, taking a seat next to her. Coincidentally enough, right when they turned on the TV, they found the game straight away, so they didn't have to switch programs to find it for a long time. The children applauded loudly when they saw their brother on television, and even Taro himself couldn't help but let out a small smile. However, when Taro saw the top right corner of the screen, the boy was taken aback by the score shown there.

'Wait, it is still 2 – 0, and Yuki-nii's team is in the lead?!'

-0-

In fact, it wasn't just Taro in the orphanage who was surprised at this development. Back to the arena, almost everyone had this flabbergasted reaction, not knowing how to react at the sight unveiled in front of them. Even though almost everyone recognized that Tsunemori was a strong defensive team, nobody expected that they would be able to hold the team scoreless for the first one minute of the game.

"Hold it, Jimmy! Don't get fooled by his subtle movement! He is going straight! Move forward!"

Thud!

"Oh, yeah! Nice dig!"

"Riku, follow it up!"

"I got it!"

BAM!

"Shit! Sorry!"

"Don't mind! Go back quickly, Asa! Get ready to defend again!"

This became a common sight in the first minute of the game, with all the Tsunemori team managed to put an unbreakable wall on the front line, yet not a single one of them was able to get through the opponent's defense. While Ogawa's presence as the main roster made their defense tougher, Koji's absence also exposed their weakness here, which was the lack of a heavy hitter who could deter the opponent's blockers on the team.

Still, even though the game reached an early stalemate state, both teams didn't lose their patience, waiting carefully while also trying to observe their opponent's current state. In Matsuyama Kita High, Amagi was a little bit flustered since some of the attacks at the beginning of the game didn't reach the target, yet he was still commanding his teammates calmly. As for Tsunemori's side, everyone played defense with full discipline, listening to Yuki's command at the fullest while also moving and reacting like a bunch of robots, not wanting to give their opponent any chance to stop them.

As for the current score itself, well… The two-point lead in this early game was somehow a bit accidental. For the first point, Gondo's serve slipped through his fingers, making the ball go down quicker than the boy's anticipation, resulting in it hitting the net. Then, the second ball came from Yuki's direct serve, piercing through the opponent's defense to add one more point for Tsunemori High. Those two points didn't reflect in the two teams' real capability here, so they still didn't want to relax yet.

"Nakamura-senpai, you reacted two seconds too late! The opponent had already reacted by the time you were going to jump! Move a little bit faster!"

"Hai, hai!"

Gondo-senpai, here!"

"I got this!"

BAM!

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Gondo cursed after seeing the ball meet Hirano's hand once again during this sequence. Even though the game had just begun, Matsuyama Kita High's captain counted that Tsunemori's blocker had already deflected three of his attacks, completely shutting him down. "Shit! Amagi, they seem to try to isolate me! Think something of it!"

Seeing that the rally had been running for too long, even Amagi started to get impatient here. He shifted the attack to the opposite side of his captain slowly, feeding the hitter there with an easy ball that should've increased their point if their opponent was ordinary. Unfortunately, Tsunemori High was too stubborn to give them an easy point, and even after about three minutes since the rally began, there was no hint that this sequence would be over.

"Damn, this is crazy…"

"Is this going to be like this for the entire game?"

"I don't know… This is Tsunemori High that we are talking about…"

Amagi narrowed his eyes slightly, knowing that the team had to score as soon as possible or the morale would be plummeted to the ground. In the end, after spending most of his time going to the right wing, Amagi glanced at Gondo on the left, signalling the captain to make a big movement on their side. The tacit understanding between those two was also noticed by Tsunemori players on the front line, and Asahi and Ogawa also moved to follow Gondo closely.

However, right when all the attention was on Matsuyama Kita's captain, Amagi made a move here. He didn't show any hint that he would do that, not even batting his eyes at the spot he was targeting. No, the setter just extended one of his hands so subtly without anyone noticed it, flicking the ball gently to get through the other side of the court.

Thud!