The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Okay, Sawada-kun, don't be too tense, or it will mess with your control. Relax your shoulder and take a deep breath first." Yuki instructed the shy boy.

"Y-Yes, Kobayashi-kun!" Sawada stuttered. Still, he tried his best to follow Yuki's suggestion, showing that while he was shy, he didn't want to sit on the sidelines when given a chance to improve.

"Still trying to help Sawada-kun, Kobayashi?" Sato smirked knowingly.

Yuki just rolled his eyes, doing his best to ignore the old man's teasing. Although he was a bit reluctant to teach his future rivals, he had to admit it was enjoyable to share his specialty with his peers. Not that he would say it out loud, of course; he didn't want to give Sato the satisfaction.

"Instead of teasing me, it would be better if you helped Sawada-kun fix his mechanics," said Yuki. Hearing that, Sato frowned and turned to the nervous Sawada. "Do it again, Sawada-kun. Let me see it carefully."

"Y-Yes, Sir!"

After watching Sawada serve again with no improvement, Sato frowned, realizing the boy needed some intensive training. "Come here, boy; follow me. I'll guide you. Next one, come! If you have any questions, you can ask Sasaki-kun or even Kobayashi-kun, okay?!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Yuki felt half of his mind urging him to complain about his new role. He was there to participate, for God's sake! How had he suddenly become Sato's assistant coach?!

"Eh, don't fret about it, Kobayashi-kun." Haruo had a smug grin on his face. "Now, can you help me improve my serve, Sensei ~ ?"

Yuki groaned, knowing full well that this would be a long session.

-0-

Fortunately, he was only required to assist with serving training that day. Although helping thirteen players identify their mistakes while improving their serves was exhausting, Yuki was satisfied with the results. At least he gained quite a favor from almost everyone there, and that would be an asset for him in the future.

For the next few days, it was as if he had suddenly vanished from everyone's sight. It couldn't be helped, considering the skill he excelled at most was serving. Not that Yuki was bad at other aspects, but he was still decent enough that the coach didn't have to worry about him at all.

For example, the day after serving training was focused on receiving training. Sato turned everyone into liberos and checked all the mistakes the players made—from posture and positioning to footwork and how they should aim the ball. In the end, the final training segment was called "lone defender," where one player had to defend his side for about ten minutes against waves of attacks coming from the others behind the net.

It was a challenging training session, during which Yuki missed the ball a few times. At first, he thought he was a decent defender, considering he was the best one at Tsunemori High. However, after being bombarded for ten straight minutes, Yuki was sure there was still room for improvement.

Still, it wasn't bad enough to attract the coach's attention, and Yuki was grateful for that. While there was nothing wrong with receiving help, being observed intently by two or three senior staff members to figure out what was wrong with him was a pretty unnerving thought, and Yuki didn't want it to become a reality.

The following day was amusing. Previously, Sato had turned them all into liberos; now, they were transformed into setters. While the old man said he didn't expect them all to become excellent setters in a day, he still wanted to make them reliable emergency setters in case their regular setter was unavailable. All the players willingly joined the training without complaint.

This was when Riku suddenly shone and outperformed everyone in the room. If at first, Yuki always saw his friend as a bold and adventurous setter, today he learned that Riku could be as accurate as a machine. Provided Riku was calm enough, he would always manage to place the ball perfectly for his teammates, often leading to deadly attacks.

Unfortunately, the key was his calmness—something rare in Riku Agostini.

Still, it was pretty amusing to watch everyone trying their best to act as setters for a day, no matter how awkward they were. Yuki was thankful that he had been forced to train as one by Riku previously, so although he wasn't as skilled as the other natural setters, he still placed among the top 50 percent of the group.

The spiking training afterward was brutal. Just like before, everyone had ten minutes on the court to showcase their skills. However, the catch was that four liberos, who would always train separately, would be there to defend the other side of the court. It was their job to score, no matter how tight the defense was.

After the spiking training ended, Yuki realized just how abysmal his abilities as an attacker were. He usually relied on his speed and trickery to break through the opponent's defense. However, when he was alone under the watchful eyes of the four best defenders in the room, he felt helpless, managing to score only 3 out of 15 attempts, which put him near the bottom of the list.

'Man, I'll never hear the end of this from Riku and that bastard Haruo,' Yuki muttered after training ended.

As for blocking training, with Akihiro sidelined due to an injury on day one, Haruo immediately grabbed the spotlight, demonstrating why he was the best middle blocker of his generation. No matter what kind of trickery the opponent attempted, he could always read it and react accordingly. It was as if he were a machine, programmed to read the game and respond with the best strategy possible.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Reluctantly, Yuki had to admit that the taller blonde was far superior as a middle blocker.

After six days of training on all the basic skills necessary for volleyball, everyone was excited to see what was coming next. There was only one day left before training concluded, and they all knew what their final test would be: a real game.

Sato couldn't help but smirk when he saw the players' visible enthusiasm before speaking, "Well, I don't need to say anything here because I'm sure everyone knows what we'll be doing today. So, what I'm going to do next is introduce your opponents for today. Please welcome our hosts, the Konan High Volleyball Team!"