The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Isn\'t it a bit too quiet, though?" One of them asked. "This should be the time for the first class to begin, right?"

"Yeah, you are right. There is something suspicious here." Saito, the coach of the team furrowed his brows. Then, he sighed tiredly when he heard the snore from the back of the bus. "Someone, please wake Haruo up. We have arrived already and it would be embarrassing if someone from Tsunemori saw him like this."

"Let me do this." Ito rose from his seat. As the captain, he felt it was his job to save the face of the team, so he would never let anyone embarrass the school with their behavior. "Oi, Haruo! Wake up!" He slapped Haruo\'s face hard, making everyone wince unconsciously at the sound of it.

"Urgh! Oh!" Haruo, the blocker of the team groaned, feeling a pain on his cheek. "What happened? Have we arrived already?" He grumbled, still half-asleep.

"Yeah." Ito nodded. "Wash your face first before you get out of the bus."

Meanwhile, outside of the bus, Saito was looking around at the school, trying to figure out where he should go. It wasn\'t long before Akira came, greeting him politely.

"Saito-sensei from Kyoei Gakuen?" Akira asked, offering a handshake.

"Yes." Saito nodded, accepting the offer. "Please, take care of our team"

"Us too."

After exchanging pleasantry and guiding the bus to the parking lot behind the school, Akira brought them all to the gymnasium directly. For a moment, all the Kyoei Gakuen were confused at how quiet the school was. However, they were stunned at the crowds that were already in the gymnasium the moment they entered the building.

"COME ON, TSUNEMORI!"

"You can do it!"

"Bring back the win to our school!"

"NEVER GIVE UP!"

"What the hell, man…" Nita held his breath in awe. "How in the world an ordinary team could gather so much enthusiastic crowds just to watch a mere third-round tournament?"

"That just shows either volleyball is a big thing here or it is rare for them to reach a third round, but I am more inclined toward the first reason," Ito commented. He was also in awe, never thought they would be greeted by such massive crowds in the opponent\'s home. Unfortunately, the crowds were not here to support them, so they were doomed to be a villain today.

"But this only makes things more interesting, right?!" Nitta grinned excitedly. "Think, when was the last time you played under massive crowds like this?! Except for playing against top teams like Konan and Matsukita, I doubt we would ever experience something like this again!"

Several of them twitched their mouth in annoyance. Only a psychotic person like Nitta would be more excited to play under hundreds of pairs of eyes who supported the enemy. For any normal human being like them, such an atmosphere could break their mentality even before the game began.

Still, they couldn\'t deny the truth behind Nitta\'s words. It wasn\'t often for them to play in this kind of atmosphere. Some players even never played in a game witnessed by audiences other than the other team\'s scouts.

It was understandable, since Kyoei Gakuen was a team that aimed to be the number one in the country, so if not against top teams too, the school would never see any need to hype their students to support the team.

"Anyway, why aren\'t you as nervous as the others, Haruo?" Someone asked. The others also looked at Haruo curiously, especially after seeing how calm he was.

"Me? nervous?" The tall boy snorted. "Senpai, did you forget who I am?"

That was when all the Kyoei players realized that just last year, Haruo was the major piece of the team that won the national tournament for middle school and was dubbed as the best blocker of his generation by several sports magazines in Japan. Playing under big crowds like today of course was not a big deal for him.

"Besides, instead of feeling nervous, I would rather think about anything else." The tall boy added. "For example, him." He pointed his finger at Riku.

"Oh?" The others turned their eyes to the blonde boy. "Do you know anything about him? Is he someone dangerous?" Ito asked, concerned.

His reaction was normal, since their data about Tsunemori was only their game in the second round when the game wasn\'t even competitive for Tsunemori to show all their strength. What Kyoei was most afraid of right now was something unexpected to happen because of the lack of data they suffered right now.

"Yes, he is dangerous." Haruo nodded solemnly, making everyone hold their breath unconsciously. "There is no way a popular dude whose handsomeness is only a level below me to not be a strong player here."

All of the players who heard that had sweat dropped on their faces, some even had to resist the urge to beat their kouhai to death for giving them a heart attack. Inwardly, they berated themselves for forgetting that Haruo was probably the most narcissistic person they had ever met in their lives.

"What\'s wrong?" Saito asked confusedly. He had just arrived back from exchanging pleasantry with Akira on the other side of the net. "Why are you all looking at Haruo-kun like that?" He asked once again, noticing the strange expression on his players\' faces.

"Nothing, Sensei." They shook their head simultaneously.

After asking for the last time to make sure everyone was okay, he asked the players to do their warmup first as the game would start in fifteen minutes. The tension inside the gymnasium rose as time went by, as the crowds kept increasing to support Tsunemori. Their excitement died down a bit, some even started to get intimidated by the supporters.

Finally, after a quick coin toss to determine who would serve the ball first which Ito won, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.

"Come on, Nitta! Start it strongly!"

"Yeah! Give us the first point!"

"Impossible!"

"You suck! Your serve would hit the net!"

"Come on! You cannot do it!"

"BOOOOO!"

Amidst the cheers from his teammates and the boos from the crowds, Nitta as the first player to serve the ball bounced the ball calmly to the floor, trying to calm his nerve. A second later, his eyes were on the other side of the court, all the noises disappeared from his ears.

He tossed the ball in the air, followed by a quick two-step run-up before leaping from the floor, recoiling back his arms to unleash it like a quick whip. And a second later, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of his hand hitting the ball, silencing the crowds in the building.

*BAM!*