The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"No, nothing." Yuki shook his head quickly.

Akira pondered for a moment, then after seeing his shaking legs, he realized, "Are you nervous?"

\'Nervous?\' Yuki blinked a few times, processing the question. \'Yeah, maybe Akira-sensei is right. I am indeed nervous right now.\' He nodded unknowingly.

Akira hummed lightly, trying to understand his mood. After spending a moment in silence, he finally gave up and asked, "Care to explain why?"

"I don\'t know…" Yuki let his words trailed, his eyes staring at his teammates fighting to save the ball on the court. "Maybe… I am afraid of everyone\'s expectation for me?"

Akira was surprised by the answer, yet after thinking about it for a while, he understood. "You see the others fighting so hard while pinning their hope in your return, so you are afraid you will disappoint them?" He asked. Seeing the subtle nod from the glasses boy, he patted the boy\'s shoulder and said, "Well, the good news is, it is normal for you to feel that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Even the best player also feels nervous when he sees his teammates fighting for him. He will feel burdened, thinking that he has to do something to repay their trust. However, do you know what is the difference between the best player and the ordinary one?" Without waiting for Yuki to answer, he continued, "The answer is in the mindset, Yuki.

The best player would use the burden he carries as his strength, his new motivation to play better, while the ordinary one would crumble under the pressure."

Yuki went silent for a moment, pondering about Akira\'s words. "Then…" He finally spoke. "Which one do you think I am, Sensei?"

"While it might sound biased, I believe you are not going to be the ordinary one. So, you have to prove to everyone else that I am not wrong here, you know?" Akira joked.

After a while, Yuki finally had a smile on his face, making Akira sigh in relief. This was the thing he learned when he was studying as a coach. At the end of the day, you could treat your players like children. When under pressure, you can help them calm their mind by boosting their confidence, and the best way to do that is to praise them, just like what Akira did here.

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"So, are you ready to pay their trust and carry the burden as the best player?" Akira asked.

"Sure." This time, there was no hesitation in Yuki\'s eyes. It was all determination there.

"Good. Now, go and bring me the win!"

"Yes, Sir!"

-0-

After all the Tsunemori players finished their celebrating, the referee finally announced the substitution for them. To their surprise, Yuki came in to replace Koji, probably the most consistent attacker today. However, when they saw the rotation, their eyes lightened up as they realized something.

\'He is going as a pinch server! Akira-sensei wants to use this momentum to kill Kyoei\'s morale!\'

Yeah, it should be Koji\'s turn to serve this time. However, with Yuki replacing him, Tsunemori would have their best server on the service line, and in such a crucial time like this, Yuki\'s presence was like a nightmare coming to reality for Kyoei.

"So, you are going to steal the limelight that we fought so hard before huh?" Riku said, yet no heat could be found in his tone. He had a massive grin on his face when he gave the ball to his friend. "Well, if you are going to steal the limelight, make sure you do it perfectly, okay?"

"Don\'t worry, I will." Yuki nodded firmly.

He took a deep breath, concentrating his mind on the ball. He could see the tense situation on the other side and chuckled inwardly. It seemed the opponent was really nervous about the serve.

Yuki shook his head slightly, glancing at the referee. When he noticed the whistle was about to be blown, he tossed the ball immediately, catching the opponent off guard.

\'Well, if Akira-sensei wants to use my serve to kill them, I have to go all out from the beginning, and I would start it with…. This!\'

*BAM!*

The ball went straight to the other side of the court, passing the net with a normal pace as it moved just like any ordinary service. However, no one on Kyoei\'s side moved, as if someone put a petrifying spell on them. Their head didn\'t even turn into the ball as they finally realized what happened when the sound of the ball hitting the floor finally registered through their ears.

*Thud!*

"YOSSSHAAAAAAA!!!!!" Yuki punched the air excitedly, followed by Riku who ran onto him.

"Damn, Yuki! You use that from the start?! Are you kidding me?!"

"That is a nasty trick!"

"Awesome!"

"Come on, Kobayashi!"

Yuki\'s face flushed red in excitement as he was surrounded by his teammates and basked under the cheers. What he just did before was basically combining two tricks, serving the ball straight when the referee blew the whistle and aimed it to the traffic.

He knew that Nitta was in an aggressive mode and would want to step back to prepare for his run-up as soon as possible, while the opponent\'s setter was also trying to go forward at the same time.

He aimed the serve straight to the intersection route between those two, creating an awkward situation where they both had to decide who would receive the ball, and as a result, due to the lack of communication between Kyoei\'s ace and the setter, the serve went in, adding one point for Tsunemori while tying the score.

"Yamada! Go forward! Let Aki and Ito handle the backline!" Saito from Kyoei\'s bench rose, giving a quick instruction. It seemed he also started to worry here. "Nitta, don\'t move too quickly! Wait at least until you know who will receive the ball before moving!

Be patient!"

\'Oh? So, he notices my trick, huh? As expected of the coach, his eyes are different.\' Yuki muttered. Then, a grin suddenly formed on his face as he thought, \'Well, good for him to know the trick. But what if I throw it away and use another one here?\'

Unlike before, this time, even when the referee blew the whistle already, Yuki hadn\'t moved yet. He took his time leisurely, putting pressure on the opponent who was trying their best to figure out what to do. A second later, he tossed the ball gently and tapped it in such a way that the ball wouldn\'t rotate too much, creating a floating effect that made the ball wobble in the air.

"OH! Here comes Kobayashi\'s signature serve! A floater!"

"It goes to their ace! Come on!"

"Wait! Someone covers their ace! What a coward!"

Everyone cursed when they saw Aki suddenly appear, taking over Nitta\'s spot to take care of the floater serve. The defensive specialist used the overhead pass to receive the ball, sending it to the setter on the front. Nitta who was behind Aki took three steps to the back quickly before asking for the ball again.

"YAMADA!"

Even though his attack was proven to be ineffective, the setter was too afraid to ignore the shout and gave the ball to Nitta. Unfortunately, it turned out to be Kyoei\'s downfall.

Seeing the ball flying in front of him, Nitta was blinded by his own thought. All the thing inside his mind right now was to score as soon as possible, or the team would be in trouble. However, while his mind wandered far, he didn\'t realize that a wall suddenly formed just like before, covering his sight while closing any route for him to spike.

When he was about to aim for a block out, the wall suddenly moved in such a way that when the ball hit it, instead of going out of the court, the ball bounced back to his own area.

*BAM!*

Nitta was stunned for a moment, couldn\'t believe his attack failed for the second time in a row. The moment he landed on the floor, he turned his head to the blocker who just killed his spike, and there he found it, the glasses boy who just returned to the court after receiving his spike before.

With one ace and one clean block, Yuki made a strong statement in his second comeback, sending a threat to the opponent that he was there to snatch the win.

Tsunemori High 21 25 22

Kyoei Gakuen 25 7 21