The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Ishida, Tanaka, get ready! Move aside and give each other room to move! Koda, move a little to the back and wait until you're sure either Tanaka or Ishida receives the ball before moving! Remember, don't hesitate! If you see you can receive the ball, move immediately!" Riku instructed his teammates as the next play began.

Aizawa, who heard that, whistled lowly, impressed. "Now he's taking more initiative in defense too. Good job, Blondie."

"Why is he so tense, though?" Ono asked, frowning. "This is not his first time facing a player with a good serve. Hell, he didn't react like this when we played against each other, and while I know Lucas-san's jump serve is deadly, I still think you are more dangerous than him on the service line, Kobayashi-kun."

That was a bold declaration that would make anyone who had suffered from Lucas's serve want to smack his head. Yuki himself just snorted before saying, "You flatter me too much, Ono. I still have a lot to learn." He ignored the incredulous gazes from the other players around him. "As for why he is so tense right now… I think he is in a dilemma."

"A dilemma?" Some of them parroted his words questioningly.

"Yes, a dilemma." Yuki nodded, confirming what he had just said. "On one hand, he knows that they cannot lose a single point from Lucas-san's serve, or the team's morale would hit rock bottom. But to do so, he must involve himself in defense, which would be hard since they don't have any emergency setter besides him on the team. He hesitates on whether he should join the defense or not."

Aizawa furrowed his brows, not liking Yuki's explanation. "Does that mean he doesn't believe his teammates would be able to save the serve?"

Yuki widened his eyes slightly, realizing the implication of his words. "No, no, it is nothing like that!" He denied the accusation immediately. "Tanaka-kun and Ishida-kun are among the top five defenders during the training, so it would be stupid for Riku to not believe them. However, no disrespect to them both, but they have never experienced Lucas-san's serve directly, so no matter how good they are, it would take time for them to adjust. It is different for Riku, who has the experience of playing against him. He knows what to expect from Lucas-san, and his defense is also not that bad. With him joining the defense, the chance of Lucas-san scoring directly from the serve would plummet while their chance of survival would increase astronomically."

All the players around blinked in surprise, not expecting Yuki to analyze the situation in one breath. Aizawa himself finally relented, huffing silently. While he was not happy with the statement that Riku's presence on defense would help Team B survive—of which Yuki still didn't know the reason—at least he acknowledged the truth behind Yuki's words.

"So, what do you think will happen next?" Takeda, the middle blocker of Team A, asked.

Yuki hummed slightly, pondering for a second before answering, "Well, since Riku is taking the initiative to instruct his teammates, that means he is willing to bet on Tanaka-kun and Ishida-kun. So, everything will depend on them."

Those who had experience receiving Lucas's powerful serve winced unconsciously, looking at the two defenders of Team B with pity. However, they had no intention to convey Yuki's analysis to the players on the court, wanting to see with their own eyes how their peers suffered from the same serve as they did in the last game.

When the game finally continued, everyone winced at the sound of Lucas hitting the ball.

BAM!

It became scarier when the sound of the ball piercing the wind as it traveled to the other side of the court echoed through the building. Tanaka, who faced the ball, paled slightly before bracing himself for the impact. However, no matter how prepared he was, he was still caught off guard and knocked several feet back by the serve.

"Tanaka!" Some of them shouted, worried.

"Hey, think about him later! The ball is still alive!" Riku shouted at his teammates while moving to retrieve the ball.

From an outside perspective, it might look like what Riku did was pretty heartless. However, Riku had been playing with Yuki for a long time, and he had seen his teammates get blasted like this so many times in the past, only to bounce back as if nothing had happened. So, he just believed that Tanaka would be the same.

Fortunately, it seemed the other players also agreed with what he said, as two of them stopped approaching Tanaka and turned around to start their run-up. The ball saved by Tanaka wasn't in a good position. It bounced far outside the court, forcing Riku to run to pick it up. Now, with his unfavorable position, he had no choice but to send the ball back to the court first, and he had to be careful with his long toss so that it wouldn't go further than he wanted it to.

"Oh! Nice pass, Agostini!" Ryo, who received the pass, jumped.

Unfortunately, right after he took off from the ground, Matsumoto did the same. Although there was only one blocker in front of him, Matsumoto's presence alone was enough to intimidate Ryo, who came from a not-so-notable school and didn't have a lot of experience playing against good players. As a result, the boy tried his best to avoid the block, only for the ball to fall into Konan's libero.

BAM!

"Oh! Nice save!"

"Shigeo! Give it to me!"

Lucas shouted, raising his hand on the left side.

All of Team B's players tensed immediately, their eyes on the Brazilian boy. Riku, who had just run for his life to pick up the ball, also returned as quickly as he could, joining the front line immediately in an attempt to block Konan's ace. When the ball flew toward Lucas, three players—Riku, Koda, and Ichiro—were ready to jump.

"Okay, follow my lead!" Koda took over the command. "Jump together with me! One! Two! Three! Now!"

BAM!

Once again, Lucas's powerful serve managed to blast Team B's players away. Now, the victim was Koda, who was in the center of the wall.

"Koda! Are you okay?!" Now, even Riku was concerned.

"Don't worry about me! The ball is still alive!" Koda shouted, trying his best to hide his pain. He didn't need to say it twice, as Tanaka had already run to save the ball. Unfortunately, he was still suffering from Lucas's serve from last time, so his receive this time was still far from perfect.

"Ryo!"

"I got this!" With a shaky pass from Tanaka, Ryo sent the ball back to Shigeo, trying to force the setter to pick it up.

However, an unexpected thing happened.

As the ball came to Shigeo, none of his teammates tried to protect him. Instead, Lucas suddenly came forward, ready to act as an emergency setter. And when the ball finally came to him, he sent it directly to Matsumoto in the middle, who slammed the ball with all his strength, easily piercing Team B's crumbling defense.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

BAM!