The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Even though he had never spoken it out loud, Lucas always felt that this year was pretty boring. Not only had all of his senpai graduated, putting him in a responsible position, but the same could also be said for the rivals who always managed to push him to the edge. Izumo from Matsugawa Kita High, Daisuke from Morioka High in Iwate, Kaito from Kaifukan High in Osaka, and Hiroshi from Esashi High in Hokkaido were a few names that managed to push Konan High to the brink last year, making the win even sweeter for the players—including Lucas. Unfortunately, they all graduated last year, and while their successors were pretty good, it definitely wasn't the same.

That was why Lucas would always cherish all the opportunities he had whenever he met an interesting player before the team would beat them.

"Man, his playing style really resembles Amagi a lot,"

Lucas murmured inwardly.

"They make everything their weapon to fool their opponents. Not the worst opponent to face, but they are definitely up there."

Coming from Lucas, of course, it was a big compliment. However, Riku didn't feel the happiness or at least the honor of being noticed by Lucas, especially when the Brazilian boy was eyeing him hungrily.

"Bro, you need to be more careful around him, or he will kill you," Ichiro patted his back sympathetically. The similar expressions on the other players somehow made Riku think that he was a sacrificial lamb ready to be offered to appease an angry higher being.

"Well, don't think about it too much! Let's continue the game first and see what he does. Don't worry; everything will be okay!" he finally said, trying to reassure his teammates. Even though no one was convinced by his words, they still did what Riku told them as Sato signaled for all the players to get ready.

"Come on, Ichiro! Give us a good serve again!"

The boy called Ichiro nodded, taking a deep breath while waiting for the whistle to be blown. While he didn't have the strength to score immediately from a jump serve, his accuracy was the second best in camp, with only Yuki above him. He had learned a lot during this camp, realizing that scoring a point wasn't the only way to contribute to the game with a serve.

'Okay, let's do this!'

The moment Sato blew the whistle, Ichiro tossed the serve immediately straight to the spot between the middle back and the left back. It wasn't enough to create confusion among Konan's players, yet the serve forced the player in the middle back to move forward, closing the space for Lucas in the left back to take his run-up, which also rendered the Brazilian boy useless for the next attack.

'Nice!' All of Team B's players clenched their fists when they realized this. They knew that Konan High wasn't just Lucas, but right now, he was the most dangerous player on the team, and getting him out of the equation counted as half a win for them.

'They are happy just by preventing Lucas from attacking? They underestimate me,' Matsumoto snorted. Then, without even doing a run-up, he shouted, "Shigeo! Here!"

The sophomore setter was taken aback when he heard the captain shout at him. However, he didn't question it and just tossed the ball to Matsumoto on the front right. Koda and Ryo, who were the closest to Matsumoto, tensed for a moment, awaiting the right timing before they jumped.

BAM!

Ouch… Everyone winced unconsciously at how loud the sound of the ball hitting Koda's hand was. And by the painful cringe palpable on the boy's face, everyone could guess how much it hurt.

"Ishida! Pick up the ball!" Riku shouted, not having time to worry about his teammate. After all, Koda did a good job of dampening the impact of the spike and giving the team a chance to counterattack. It would be an insult to Koda if no one could follow it up.

"I got this!" The libero rushed to the left side to pick up the ball.

Before the ball flew in his direction like usual, however, Riku suddenly froze as all the hairs on his body stood on end, screaming danger at the murderous intent coming from the other side of the net. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he panicked, thinking, 'How could such intense pressure come from an outside hitter?! This is worse than when facing their middle blocker!'

Even without turning around, Riku knew that this feeling of bloodlust came from Lucas. Even though he had experience playing against very good middle blockers like Akihiro or Haruo, none of them were able to intimidate him simply by using their presence on the court. Hell, even when he played against Lucas for the first time, the Brazilian boy had never shown that he could do this.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

'Damn, is he really just an outside hitter?!' Riku cursed inwardly. In hindsight, though, he should've expected something like this from the best player in the country right now.

Under such intense pressure, Riku tried everything he could, from glancing at one spot to leaning his body subtly to gauge Lucas's reaction. However, the Brazilian hitter didn't budge and just stared him down, waiting patiently until the ball fell into his hands. In the end, Riku gave up trying to do anything fancy and sent the ball to Ryo, which Lucas neutralized easily.

BAM!

"Oh! As expected from Lucas-san! He can change the game immediately after coming off the bench!"

"Damn, his block is scary!"

Riku clicked his tongue in annoyance when he heard the praises coming from the other players on the sideline. 'Tch. They will always praise whoever does well, no matter which team the players are from. A bunch of two-faced bastards.'

"Sorry, Agostini-kun, I couldn't get through Lucas-san's defense," Ryo came and apologized to him, thinking that Riku's unhappy reaction was due to the failure in the last play.

"Don't worry, Ryo. The last play was more of my mistake than yours. Let's just concentrate on the next play," he reassured the boy.

His other teammates who overheard the conversation sighed in relief, glad that Riku didn't snap and blame them. Not that they were afraid of him, of course, but the blonde boy was the natural leader of the team. Once they had a conflict with him, the team would crumble, and what awaited them would be a humiliating defeat.

Unfortunately, their nightmare wasn't over. When they turned around and saw who was the next player to serve, they gulped unconsciously at Lucas's predatory grin. Inwardly, they all thought the same, 'Oh, shit! We are so screwed!'