The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Chapter 324 Unstoppable! (IV)

"SHIT!" Hirano cursed when he realized the ball went out of control after hitting his hand. He was about to shout for someone to cover it up, but the impact was too fast, making the ball fly high to the stand. The crowd was too stunned to react. In the end, it was Tachi who broke the silence there with his roar that was piercing the sky.

"HELL YEAAAAAH!"

And right after that, all of the players with the yellow jersey jumped onto the muscular boy.

"Damn, that is what we are waiting for, Tachi!"

"Goddamnit, you gorilla! You scare me a bit here!"

"Hey, don't mock his strength like that! We are depending on it, you know?!"

Cheers and laughter filled Sumida High's side as they finally broke their deadlock, scoring their first point of the game. Even though they were still down by six points – the current score was 7 – 1 for Tsunemori, they didn't think about it for too much, knowing that this was their first step to get out of Tsunemori's shadow.

Meanwhile, on the home team's side, Hirano just bowed his head with a downcast expression on his face. The other players stared at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say. After all, it wasn't quite often for their quiet blocker to curse out loud like that, making everyone forget how passionate their silent assassin was for this game.

After a while, Asahi finally had enough and decided to act like a proper captain for once. "Don't worry, Rano! That is just one point, we can get them back later!" He patted Hirano's back reassuringly.

Hirano just stared at his own hand with a complicated expression before he finally sighed, saying, "Sorry." Then left to go back to his original position. Even though everyone had already known for a long time how stingy Hirano was with his words, they were still dumbfounded at his short answer even after the captain took his time to reassure him. However, Asahi who knew his friend well just shrugged, mouthing to the other 'Just leave him be.' Silently.

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A moment later, the game was about to be continued, and Sumida High was full of excitement as if they were just resurrected from their death. However, scoring from the last play didn't mean their problem was gone. They still didn't know whether Iguchi's quick instruction before was a one-time thing or if the setter really adapted to Yuki and Riku's rhythm.

"Iguchi, this will be the test for you. Don't lose your eyes on them, okay?" Hitoshi asked.

"Nice one, Riku!"

"Come on! Give me one more serve!"

"You can do it, Riku!"

"Riku-sama, look at here please!"

The cheers from the crowd were getting crazy with Riku's fangirls also joining the fun. However, with how wide the blonde boy smiled, Yuki was sure his friend was enjoying every second of this moment thoroughly.

The next few minutes turned into a nightmare for Sumida High's players. They were trying their best to fight against the wave of offense coming from the home team, yet anyone could see that it was a futile attempt. While yes, they managed to score here and there, but for one point they got, Tsunemori would always return it twice or three times worse than what they gave. Honestly, by then, everyone who knew a bit about volleyball could see that there was a huge quality difference between the two teams.

BAM!

"Oh, nice save, Kai!"

"Move, move, move! Get ready to attack!"

"Let's seal the first set now!"

It was almost the end of the first set with Tsunemori in the lead at 24 – 7. They just needed one more point to seal the deal, and now, they were determined to do so. Three players were moving at the same time, trying to spread Sumida High's blockers thin. They didn't care about the fierce gaze they received from their opponent, knowing full well that this was the result of them winning this game.

Amidst the chaos in the court though, with almost everyone rushing to the front, they forgot about Riku's presence, and the setter punished them all by stealing the limelight with a simple dump.

Thud!

And right after that, hell broke loose in Tsunemori Gymnasium Hall.