The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Somehow, the second set turned out to be far better than anyone on the Thunder's side had expected. For one, the Giant Bear players could not recover from their defeat in the first set, while the Thunder players managed to execute the coach's plan well enough that it became impossible for their opponents to snatch away the momentum.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

This was definitely a new experience for both Yuki and Riku. Coming from a relatively weak team, they had never experienced how fun it was to completely dominate a game like this. In Tsunemori, they were always forced to defend as if their lives were on the line. While they might not have hated it, that playing style definitely took a toll on them. Moreover, having strong teammates helped a lot, as everyone could hold their own and never let a small setback bother them.

Honestly, they didn't understand why, with this caliber of players, Tokyo Thunder had fallen to tenth place in the standings. Although neither Yuki nor Riku knew how capable the other nine teams above them were, they could at least make some guesses based on Giant Bear's performance today, especially since their rivals comfortably sat in fourth place.

BAM!

"Oh! Nice receive, Kobayashi!"

"Fall back! Look at the signal!"

Currently, Yuki was on the court, trying his best to recover his position after receiving the opponent's spike. He found himself back on the court, not because it was his turn to replace Miyahara as a pinch server, but because they led the set by more than ten points. The current score was 22-9, and since the team had reached 20 points, Kawaki decided to give him a chance to play while allowing Miyahara to rest and prepare for the third set.

Yuki rose from his position immediately, glancing at Riku to see the signal indicating what kind of attack they would execute. This was something both he and Riku had started to learn after joining Tokyo Thunder. In Tsunemori, they would only attack sporadically, but a professional team had its own system and strategies that ensured everything went smoothly and remained organized. After all, a setter was just one person, and he couldn't do everything alone. If the other players helped him by moving in the direction he wanted without needing to communicate verbally, it would greatly assist in setting up an attack that would ensure a point for the team.

'He put up four fingers; that means a quick attack to Uehara-san with Kojima-san distracting the opponent. I need to move back and get ready when the ball comes back to our side.'

BAM!

"Shit! Sorry!" Goro, Giant Bear's captain, cursed out loud when he couldn't save the ball effectively.

"Free ball!" Yuki shouted, getting ready to pick up the ball.

Explore more stories at empire

This was an aspect that the team had researched extensively in the past. Whenever they used Uehara for a quick attack, there would usually be two outcomes: first, there was about a 67 percent chance of scoring directly; second, there was about a 30 percent chance that someone would manage to touch the ball but fail to save it perfectly as it flew back to Thunder's side. The last scenario happened less than 5 percent of the time, which included instances where the opponent's blocker managed to react or a player saved the ball perfectly, a rare occurrence that made Uehara and the team confident in this attack.

"Riku!"

"I got this!"

After sending the ball to his friend, Yuki kept his eyes focused, waiting for Riku's signal. When he saw the blonde boy give a thumbs-up, he moved forward immediately, ready to cover the front.

'This is going to be Shou-san's attempt to break through the opponent's blockers head-on. Riku wants to demoralize the opposing team, so I need to play my part by covering the front if Haruo manages to block the spike.'

However, his worry was unnecessary, as the captain had no problem evading the opponent's blocker.

BAM!

"YOSSHAAAA!" Shou roared excitedly, turning to Yuki, the closest teammate to him, before slapping the bespectacled boy's back with enthusiasm. "Good job, Kobayashi!"

"Eh, I didn't do anything special, Senpai." Yuki rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"No, you played your role perfectly in this play, ensuring that we had a strong backup behind us. I'm sure if you keep performing like this, Miyahara's position will be threatened." The captain grinned. Yuki was surprised by the unexpected genuine feedback from Shou, but before he could respond, Shou turned his attention to the other players. "You too, Agostini! Damn, that was an awesome pass! Keep sending it to my spot, brat, and I'll make sure to treat you to something good later!"

"Hey, what do you mean by that, Otsuka!" Uehara complained directly. "You can't bribe him like that! Agostini, you can ignore him and give the ball to me! I won't be like this sloppy guy!"

"Look who's talking! You're the one who failed to score!" Shou retorted.

"Why, you?!"

Even though they bickered with each other, there was no malice in their words. It was more of a playful teasing, as the atmosphere around Thunder was quite positive. While it might be because they were in the winning position—since winning solves 99 internal problems—nobody complained. After all, it wasn't often that they managed to beat their city rivals like this.

"Okay, the game isn't over yet! Let's not get overconfident and finish our job first before we celebrate, okay?!" Shou called out.

"Yes, Sir!" came the collective response.

With only two points left for them to win the second set, all the Thunder players grew impatient to finish it off. As a result, they became sloppy and lost four points in a row. Normally, Kawaki would have called a timeout to scold them for this kind of performance. However, since their lead was significant, the coach decided to trust his players, and fortunately, none of them disappointed him.

"Tondo, move to the left! Help me deal with this!" Shou shouted as he prepared to jump against Ojiro Senta.

"I'm coming!"

With two tall blockers in front of him, Ojiro Senta tried to manipulate the timing of his spike to confuse them. Unfortunately, Tondo did not fall for it, waiting until the last moment before taking action. As a result, the spike was easily blocked, scoring another point for Tokyo Thunder.

"YEAAAAH!" Tondo roared, celebrating the block. "One more point!"

"One more point!" All the Thunder players echoed excitedly.

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

Uehara, the team's ace who coincidentally had the chance to close out the second set, did not disappoint. While he didn't possess as many tricks up his sleeve as Yuki, his jump serve was still powerful enough to pierce through Giant Bear's defense, slamming to the ground with no one able to touch it.

"YOSSHAAAAAA!"