The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

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"Ha! You suck, Koji! Do five more diving drills!"

"Shut up, Kaede!"

It was the day after the second round against Tokomiyama, and even though the excitement was still there, they regained their focus quickly, starting to train again to prepare for the next round. Just like usual, there was no one else other than the team members in the gym, making it somehow lonely for them to train. Akira and Megumi were also not there yet, so their training was a bit messy today.

"Oi, Kobayashi-kun," Koji called. "Do you have any tips for me to get better at receiving the ball?"

Yeah, out of everyone on the team, Koji was probably the weakest defender here. Hell, even Hirano who was in the middle blocker was better at receiving than him. Not by miles, of course, but the game-reading ability the blocker had was enough to keep him one spot above Koji in terms of defense.

Yuki pondered briefly while fixing his glasses, his mind recalling how his senpai received the ball. "Hmm… Maybe, stop trying to aim where you want to send the ball and just plant your feet to the ground firmly?" He advised.

"Eh?" Koji tilted his head confusedly. The others who heard the conversation also chimed in. "If I didn\'t aim the ball, would it be more troublesome for the others?"

"No, it wouldn\'t be." Yuki shook his head. "If the ball is in your direction, your only task is to keep the ball in the air. As for how we receive it, you don\'t need to worry. Our rotation would always ensure you are surrounded by me, Kaede-senpai, or Okamura-senpai. If we cannot protect you from receiving the ball, we will at least be able to cover the second ball for you.

After all, you are our best attacker, so you shouldn\'t be worried about doing that job."

"Eh…" Koji rubbed his neck awkwardly, didn\'t expect to get praised by Yuki like that.

"Anyway, if you still want to improve your receiving skill, maybe, you need to fix your footwork and positioning first. Here, let me give you an example." Yuki threw the ball to Kaede, ignoring Koji\'s dazed state. "Kaede-senpai, can you spike the ball to me?"

"Oh? Sure!"

"Make sure you aim it to my upper body!"

"Okay!"

Now, it wasn\'t just Koji, but all the other players also had their eyes on Kaede and Yuki. While they were decent in receiving and might have some improvements during the camp, it wouldn\'t be a bad idea to listen to the two best defenders of the team. When everyone was ready, Yuki nodded, and Kaede threw the ball to spike it directly at his body.

Yuki received the ball perfectly, sending it toward the place where the setter would be in a normal game.

"Now, Koji-senpai, it is your turn."

Koji was taken aback by the sudden call, yet he didn\'t back down from the challenge.

"Kaede-senpai, make sure you aim at the same spot!" Yuki called.

"Sure!"

The second-year opposite hitter did the same, but now, Koji couldn\'t receive the ball perfectly as it bruised his forearms.

"So, does anyone see the difference between my receive and Koji-senpai\'s?" Yuki asked.

All the players who gathered around him twitched their mouths in annoyance, didn\'t understand his point at all. Yuki sighed, knowing it would be difficult to make a point just by one example. He was ready to repeat the process once again, before Hirano – surprisingly – said, "Is it your stance when receiving the ball?"

"Exactly!" Yuki exclaimed in delight. "It is all in my stance! Don\'t you see it?!" Seeing the others shook their head, Yuki sighed tiredly. "Let\'s do this again. Koji-senpai, get ready!"

All the players looked at each other before the one Yuki mentioned stepped up again. This time, it was Yuki himself who did the spike, and after getting a hint from the glasses boy, now all the eyes were on Koji\'s stance.

Once again, Koji couldn\'t receive the ball perfectly. He still didn\'t get why – or to be more exact, what was wrong with his stance. When he turned around though, he saw several of them nodded and had their face lightened up as if they just got an inspiration.

"I get it! So, that is how he did!"

"That is genius!"

"You need to be able to react quickly, though."

Koji – with the others who had no clue on what they were talking about scowled, asking, "Anyone kind enough to explain here?"

"It is in your feet, Senpai." Yuki decided to take pity on him. "When the ball didn\'t come straight to your forearms, you adjust your position by moving both your feet, making your body unbalanced and the ball would go in the direction you don\'t want to. And when I do it…" Yuki signaled Kaede who had the ball to spike it at him.

The moment the ball was unleashed, he just turned his body around slightly to adjust his body before doing a perfect receive, letting the ball fly once again toward the setter\'s spot.

"See? I don\'t need to move away from my position. I just turn my body slightly, yet my feet are still planted on the floor. And even if I have to do that, I only move one of them, using another foot as a pivot to keep my body balanced. That way, my receive would be less awkward and it would also be easier to aim the ball too."

Koji had his jaws dropped when he heard – and saw Yuki\'s example. It looked so easy that he couldn\'t believe he had never thought about it. However, just like the others said before, it required perfect timing to react like that and probably a long repetition before he could do that as easily as Yuki did.

"Okay, let me try it!" Koji smiled and rolled his sleeve upward.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?! You have done it several times before, so it is our turn now!"

"Yeah! Let me do it first!"

"No, it should be me! I was the one Yuki asked for the help first!"

"Shut up!"

Yuki could only shake his head when he saw his senpai\'s antic. Honestly, it was still awkward for him to explain how he did it considering he himself was still a rookie.

Yet unlike the former members from the third year who were full of pride, the current players who were full of sophomore students here were willing to learn from their kouhai, especially when they knew he was better in that department. At least, it gave him a good impression of his senpai.

Unfortunately, before they could try again the new technique they just learned, Akira and Megumi suddenly appeared in the gym, their eyes were dead serious. Their appearance gave them the feeling that something big was coming, and that was not in a good way. Without being ordered to, they gathered immediately around those two, waiting for the information that would go next.

"Okay, everyone! Listen!"