The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Uehara took a deep breath, trying to banish all the negative feelings inside his head right now. He could feel his hand trembling a little, showing how nervous he was. Honestly, he didn't even know why he was in this state. He knew full well that this wasn't the first time he played badly like this. But somehow, today's game managed to affect him the most, which unfortunately also dragged his performance more.

'Damn, I need to be calmer.' Uehara gritted his teeth, trying to put on a poker face. 'I need to hide these things carefully, or if the supporters noticed my state, they would eat us alive.'

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best to ignore the noises from the stand. When he opened it though, he was surprised to see his sight fell on the two rookies in front of him.

'What is wrong with me?' He shook his head. However, the more he tried to banish the two rookies inside his mind, the stronger he noticed their presence. He even started to think more about their performance today – albeit unconsciously. 'How could they play so good? It should've been their what? Third of fourth performance, right? The youngsters nowadays are getting scarier…'

Still, he couldn't help but wonder though. 'Is it because their performance exceeds all of our expectations that I am starting to get affected too? Am I really getting pressured by two rookies?'

Even though it was just another one of his pathetic attempts to excuse his poor performance, the more Uehara thought about it, the more he believed that this was true. He knew he wasn't the only one who felt the same. Miyahara's position as the defensive specialist was even replaced by Yuki right now, and if Shou's reaction when he saw Riku was in charge of the offense gave Uehara a clue, he knew the captain was also threatened by Riku's leadership ability.

'Should I talk with the others about this?' He pondered. Then, he shook his head immediately, throwing away that idea as far as possible. 'No, if the coach catches a wind about this, he would be furious. Also, I should be grateful to have two more capable players helping the team. It would make everything easier in the future.'

Still, even though he tried his best to convince himself, there was something that still bothered Uehara. Unfortunately, he had no time to think about it since the whistle from the referee woke him up from his daydreaming.

"Number 8, if you are done with your adventure to the dreamland, do your job to serve quickly! We don't have all the time to wait for you here!" The old man who acted as the referee scolded the Thunder's ace.

Uehara felt his face warm, and even without looking at it, he knew his cheek was reddened. He bowed his head quickly, apologizing, "I am sorry, Sensei! Thank you for your reminder!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Well, just start the game again, will you?" The referee grunted annoyedly.

Uehara took a deep breath, trying to regain his focus. However, his mind was wandering afar, and he couldn't concentrate on doing his job. As a result, his attempt to do a jump serve like usual failed spectacularly, with the ball flying far to the stand.

"Bahahaha! What the hell is that?!" Laughter exploded from the people there. "Is he trying to do a home run?!"

"It is a good shot! You should've joined a baseball team!"

"Come on! Give us one more home run!"

If before, Uehara just felt a slight embarrassment, now he was sure that his face could resemble a tomato. "Sorry, that is my bad." Uehara apologized weakly.

"Eh, that is just one point. Don't fret over it." Shou waved his concern nonchalantly.

Still, Yuki and Riku couldn't help but furrow their brows. It wasn't just a point. They got it with a lot of hardship after a few consecutive plays of not being able to score. For them, regaining their confidence to score was the most important thing now, and they should've taken advantage of every point they scored to strive for a better performance. So, how could the captain diminish it as just one point as if they could just get it back at any time?

Of course, they would never voice that thought. Even though they performed well, they were still rookies who just entered the team for a few weeks. Even if Yuki had the experience of tearing down a not-so-serious club, he learned his lesson well from his experience with the third-year players from Tsunemori. He didn't want to go down that road again if not necessary. As for Riku, he didn't have a strong backup like Akira on this team, so of course, he would also restrain himself from doing anything stupid.

However, a silent disagreement like this was the most dangerous thing for the team's stability.

"Okay, let's forget about this. Come on, let's prepare ourselves and continue the game!" Shou clapped his hands, snapping everyone from their thought.

A moment later, everyone was back in their original position already and the referee was about to restart the game. Surprisingly, unlike the first set when Mirai – the team's captain – took the second turn to serve, this time, it was Amano who had the honor. All the Thunder players were tensed, expecting something exceptional from the handsome boy. Read exclusive chapters at empire

'Come to think of it, he hasn't taken any serve yet since he entered the court, huh?' Yuki thought. 'Well, based on his playing style, he shouldn't pack a lot of strength inside his body, so it would be more of a technique-based serve compared to a brute force. I need to be careful of the direction change of the ball.'

With that thought in mind, Yuki steeled his stance firmly, planting both feet on the floor. He stared intently at Amano, getting ready to react whenever the ball was coming close to his direction.

BAM!

To Yuki's surprise, the ball moved like a bullet, rocketing through the air before it was about to fall on the spot between him and Shou. But just as he predicted, right before it went past him, the ball curved sharply in a movement that Yuki was familiar with.

'A sidespin serve?! Damn, what a coincidence!'

Even though the curve was pretty sharp, Yuki was very familiar with this serve. He didn't even flinch as his body moved instantly, leaning forward while extending one of his arms to reach the ball. Just before it met the floor, the ball fell onto his hand first and then flew away to the right wing.

"Oh! Nice receive, Yuki!" Riku grinned, rushing to pick up the ball.

"Agostini! Here!" Uehara raised his hand, asking anxiously for the ball.

Riku could see why the ace was excited. Two of the Phoenix's blockers were out of position, and if the pass was quick enough, Uehara could attack without any interference. However, the blonde boy knew it was bait laid by the opponent. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Mirai and Amano eyed his ace intently, ready to be a guillotine to kill the ace instantly the moment they saw the ball come at him. It seemed that all the Phoenix players knew about it since they were moving away from Uehara to cooperate with this operation.

Knowing this though, it was a no-brainer for Riku to send the ball to the opposite wing.

"Kojima-senpai!" He called out.

Kojima who didn't expect the ball was coming at him was startled for a second. Fortunately, he managed to react quickly enough as he jumped to reach the ball first before it could fly outside of the court.

BAM!

"YOSSHAAA!" Kojima clenched his fist tightly as he saw the ball was unstoppable. He was surprised to see the Phoenix players didn't react at all as if they didn't expect his attack to come. Nevertheless, he was happy with the point and was about to celebrate it with his teammates. "Nice pass, Agostini! You – Eh? What is going on?" He blinked his eyes confusedly when he saw Uehara standing tall in front of Riku.

Not just him, but almost all the players were confused to see this. After all, they just scored a point, so should they celebrate it?

For a moment, Uehara didn't say anything, just staring down at Riku who was shorter than him. Riku himself didn't back down. Even though he didn't know what was his senpai's problem, he wasn't a coward by nature. He returned the stare with the same intensity, waiting for his senpai to speak up about what was inside his mind.

After spending a moment in silence, Uehara finally uttered his question. "Why don't you pass the ball to me?"