The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Wow, I finally know what his trick is!"

"Next, I will be able to do that too!"

"Ha! You're dreaming! I would be the first one to pull that off!"

"Excuse me? Did you forget about me?!"

Yuki snorted incredulously as he watched the players around him talk excitedly about his service trick. He would have laughed if he weren't afraid of becoming a public enemy here. Haruo, who was next to him, noticed and asked, "Is something wrong with them?"

"Oh, no, nothing at all." Yuki snorted. "I just think it's funny how they overestimate themselves."

Haruo arched one of his eyebrows curiously before asking again, "Care to explain?"

"Well, they all think that knowing the trick will allow them to replicate it easily, and I bet none of them will be able to do it. And no, I'm not saying this without reason. In fact, I have two reasons for my belief."

"And those two reasons are...?" Haruo trailed off, letting Yuki finish.

"For one, this trick doesn't rely on technique, but on accuracy. After watching them train their serve for more than two hours, do you really believe anyone could do it as well as I can?" Yuki raised his eyebrows challengingly. There was a hint of arrogance in his tone, but Haruo couldn't deny that the bespectacled boy's accuracy was insanely good.

"What's the second reason?" Haruo asked again, not willing to answer Yuki's rhetorical question.

"The timing," Yuki said firmly. "Everyone thinks it's easy because I grossly oversimplified my explanation. In reality, I also have to think about the timing of when to throw the ball. If I throw it one second too early, the opponent's receiver will easily pick it up, and if it's one second too late, not only will the previous scenario happen, but the opponent's setter will also be ready on the front row, and then you'll have to face the opponent's counterattack. Overall, it's not that simple."

Haruo hummed slightly, nodding his head with a complex expression on his face. Yuki didn't have to worry about the taller blonde not understanding his explanation—he knew Haruo had a high volleyball IQ and could simulate what he had just described in his mind.

"So, it has nothing to do with you being petty about your trick being revealed?" Haruo suddenly asked, his expression shifting to a playful one.

"W-What?!" Yuki spluttered. If he had been drinking water or sipping tea like a character from an old-fashioned cartoon, he would have choked immediately at the insinuation. "W-What do you mean I'm being petty?!" Yuki asked, affronted.

"Oh, don't try to hide it! I can see you're still fuming from getting ordered around by Sato-sensei! You don't need to be shy about it!" Haruo smiled while playfully putting his arm around Yuki's shoulder.

Yuki visibly sweated from Haruo's sudden overly friendly attitude towards him. Still, he rolled his eyes exasperatedly, muttering, "I swear, you both are the same stupid, annoying blondes."

"Hey! I'm not the same!" Haruo, realizing immediately who Yuki was referring to, felt offended. "How could you put me on the same level as him?! I'm smarter, more handsome, and the better blonde here!"

"Better blonde? I swear, you're the more annoying blonde here!" Yuki shot back.

"Hey, that's so rude!"

While they were bickering with each other, Yuki didn't notice that someone on the other side of the net was watching their interaction with an unhappy expression. The person was Riku, and he scowled unconsciously upon seeing Haruo bantering with Yuki. 'Just because you're on the same team now doesn't mean you can get close to him. Just wait, you blonde bastard. I'll show you your place soon.'

-0-

A minute later, everyone was ready for training. After Sato blew his whistle, the ball flew back and forth for the next hour, with Yuki's team going first to receive. Just as Yuki expected, most of the players on the other side tried to replicate his trick, and most of them failed.

It usually took three attempts at most before they realized that the trick wasn't as easy to replicate as they initially thought. They then switched back to their most comfortable arsenal, not wanting to punish themselves further.

Some of them listened to Sato's words, which stated that they didn't need a powerful serve to get an ace. While they couldn't replicate Yuki's trick, at least they began learning to be more observant on the service line and used every trick possible to score from there.

Meanwhile, other players with decent jump serves, like Riku, stuck with that, working to improve their accuracy, power, and awareness of where to aim the ball.

After an hour passed, Sato blew his whistle again and shouted, "Change sides! Team B, it's your turn to serve! Grab the ball and decide who will go first! Team A, pick six players to play defense with one on the sideline first! Just like with Team B, I will rotate the players constantly so that everyone has a chance to be the defender. Got it?!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Without needing to be ordered twice, everyone moved as instructed. For Team B, all six players stepped back immediately, not needing to discuss anything since they let Yuki serve the ball first.

Yuki rolled his eyes, fully aware that everyone had made him the guinea pig to be observed first. Not that he minded, of course; he understood this was the risk of being the best.

'Well, let's see how well they fare against my arsenal.'

Yuki licked his lips in excitement as he bounced the ball on the floor, trying to relax his tension. He could sense the anxiousness brewing on the other side of the court, knowing that while this was serving practice, the players there treated it like a real game and didn't want to lose a point to him—a sentiment Yuki definitely appreciated.

'Okay, the gap between each player is pretty wide, so they are trying to prevent the serve from slipping through. Well, that means I can do this…'n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Right when Sato blew the whistle, Yuki served the ball without hesitation. The player on the right back was taken aback when he saw the ball coming into his direction. However, before he could react, the ball curved sharper than he could believe, slicing through his area and reaching the middle back where the strongest defender stood.

"SHIT! MIYAUCHI!"

Miyauchi did his best to pick up the ball, but the gap between him and the player on the left back was too wide. They hesitated for a moment about who was responsible for the ball, and that split second of hesitation was enough for the ball to pierce through their area and fall behind them, resulting in a point for Yuki as if this were a real game.

While everyone was speechless witnessing this, Yuki smirked inwardly, thinking, 'Tanaka-kun is right. I'm definitely enjoying this training.'