The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Seeing how his team was bullied mercilessly by the opponent, Akira couldn't bear it anymore. The head coach rose from the bench immediately and went straight to the referee. "Sensei, timeout for Tsunemori High!" He called out.

The referee nodded and blew the whistle, letting all the players take a breath after a long and exhausting battle.

"Man, this game is intense!"

"I didn't expect that Gondo-san would be so good!"

"Hey, are you a new fan here? Gondo is always terrifying! It is a pity that his presence is shadowed by Matsumoto and Lucas from Konan High!"

"Yeah! Honestly, I still think that Gondo is better than those two!"

Chatter broke from all over the building as everyone talked about the game excitedly. Yeah, excitedly. Since the building was dominated by the purple and yellow colors of Matsuyama Kita High, it was a no-brainer for the crowd to get excited when their team was in the lead.

Meanwhile, on Tsunemori's bench, all the players there turned solemn. There was still a hint of frustration that could be seen in some of the players' eyes, yet somehow, they were still able to stay calm. After all, while they recognized the horror of Gondo's new playing style, they were still in the adapting phase here, so it would take some time for them to finally be able to stop the opponent's captain. Right now, what they needed the most was not an overly complicated strategy, but more time to get used to the game.

Also, they called this timeout in the hope that it would kill Gondo's momentum, and they would be able to fight back later.

"A good call, Yuki, and good coordination, everyone." Akira didn't forget to praise his players. "We are just unlucky before this. However, I like how you all went into an all-out defense to handle Gondo's situation before. Rano, next, the ball didn't go to Gondo, you don't need to rush and jump, just wait patiently on the back. Get ready to join the counterattack later."

Hearing this, Yori was probably the one who was surprised the most. After all, he hadn't been with the team for about eight months, so he didn't know anything about this new strategy. He couldn't help but frown, thinking, 'Isn't this stripping Hirano-kun's responsibility as a middle blocker? Won't he feel offended by this?' It was clear that Yori didn't follow the team's journey thoroughly, as he didn't know that this was not the first time such an occasion had arisen. Hirano didn't even bat his eyes, nodding his head shortly before drinking a bottle of water provided by Megumi.

"Good." Akira nodded satisfactorily. "I know that this is still pretty early to do this, but we really need to fight back here, or the morale will plummet far worse later. So, we will be back to our good old strategy. You all know this, too, right?"

Everyone grinned excitedly when they heard that, knowing what the coach wanted to say. "Don't worry, Sensei! We know what to do! We will be back to our old strategy, fighting for every ball that is still flying on the court! We are back to our motto, Let's drag them all to hell!"

"Hell, yeah!"

Right after that, the game continued, with Nakamura still taking the service for Matsuyama Kita High. The outside hitter sent another powerful ball once again, which still ended up the same, being picked up by Tsunemori player. This time, it was Asahi who managed to do that.

BAM!

"Oh! Good job, Captain!"

"Riku!"

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Riku rushed as quickly as possible, picking up the second ball immediately. This time, he didn't waste any second, not even waiting or taking a look at the opponent's position. No, he wanted to launch a blitz attack straight away, intending to take advantage of the opponent lowering their guard after the timeout. This time, he sent it to Hirano, who executed the final ball from the right side.

BAM!

"Oh, yeah!" Hirano clenched his fist, having a high-five with Riku. "Good pass!"

"Nice spike too, Senpai!" Riku also praised the middle blocker.

All the Tsunemori High players sighed in relief unconsciously after they finally managed to break Matsuyama Kita's dominance. Even though the score was still 13 – 5 for the opponent's lead, at least this time, it gave them a glimmer of hope that they could bring the momentum back to the team. They still didn't dare to dream about overtaking the score, knowing that there was no way Matsuyama Kita would let them do that easily.

As for Matsuyama Kita players, even though they were annoyed at the last point, they couldn't help it. Riku moved too quickly, not giving them any chance to react. They also didn't make this big, knowing that such a simple point wouldn't be able to shake their foundation. Gondo, the team's captain, just reminded everyone to be careful for the next play.

"Okay, don't lower your guard! You don't know what terrible things they might save for a desperate situation!" The captain shouted, which all of his teammates took half-heartedly.

After that, everyone went back to their original position to continue the game. This time, it was Hirano's turn to take the serve.

Usually, he would never take a serve, especially considering how weak he was in this department. Akira would use this chance to put him on the bench and replace him with whoever was available on the bench as a pinch server, and for the next three rotations, his presence would be replaced by Okamura as the team's libero. This time, since the only one on the bench was Yori, another player with a weak serve, Akira chose to retain Hirano for one more rotation, knowing that this was not the best time to reveal Yori's presence to the world.

Thud!

In the end, Hirano could only send the ball short, and he was so fortunate that it didn't hit the net. No, the ball slipped so close through the net before rolling to the opponent's side. Seeing this, Nakatani, the team's middle blocker, rushed to catch the ball. Unfortunately, his position was a bit awkward, so the ball he sent wobbled slightly in the air. Also, Amagi was a bit too far to where the ball would land, so Tono, the team's defensive specialist, had to take care of the ball here.

"Gondo!"

"I got this!"

Even though Tono's pass was ordinary and even a little bit off the course, Gondo still didn't have any trouble jumping. The captain thought that this was the ace's role: to blast away any ball, no matter how bad or how ordinary the pass was. Moreover, the confidence he gained after the last few plays before the timeout also helped him a lot this time, and he shouldered the burden voluntarily.

However, this time, he failed to recognize the opponent in front of him, as suddenly, right before Gondo could swing his hand, a pair of arms stood tall in front of him, and when it finally snap Gondo back to the reality, Matsuyama Kita's captain could see a glasses boy was there, looking at him intently.

"FUCK!"

BAM!