The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Konan's coach nodded in a satisfied manner when he saw the game was back on track again. This was the reason why he put Genzo on the court. It wasn't to stabilize the game's tempo since Sawada was definitely better in that particular aspect. No, what he wanted from Genzo was to stabilize the team's mentality.

He knew that even though the team seemed perfect from the outsider's perspective, it still had some flaws. They tended to fall into their bad habits as the game progressed. Matsumoto would be far more aggressive than necessary, Lucas would start to get lazy, Akihiro became more reckless, and Shimada sometimes lost his concentration in the middle of the game.

But once Genzo entered the court, those bad habits disappeared immediately, and once they behaved more properly, the better they would play.

To put it in a metaphor, if Lucas, Matsumoto, and the other players were the big guns that sent the opponents into despair, Genzo was the one who made sure the opponents would stay dead for a long time and would never be able to come back to life again.

Sawada who was on the bench had his jaws dropped, staring at his senpai in awe. "This is amazing…" He muttered.

Honestly, even though he inherited the position from Genzo, Sawada had never seen his senpai played before. He only heard the story about how amazing Genzo was, yet he came to the team as Genzo's replacement after the third-year setter suffered from the accident.

That was why although he felt bad and at first didn't want to grab his senpai's position, being treated as Genzo's replacement irritated Sawada sometimes.

However, when he witnessed it with his own eyes, how Genzo orchestrated everything like a veteran conductor in the game and how much better all the players were all of a sudden, Sawada finally convinced that his senpai was a really amazing setter.

"You don't have to compare yourself with him, you know?" The coach suddenly spoke. He had already noticed his rookie setter's dazed state a few minutes ago and knew why. "I know the others have been pushing you to act like Genzo, more controlling and willing to take initiative. However, you have a completely different playing style here.

You treat the game far more delicate than Genzo would ever be, and you also care about how you could make the others better. I am not saying that Genzo doesn't care, but sometimes, he expects the others to do what he wants because he can see the game clearer than anyone else. He is like a dictator, while you are like a leader."

Even though this was the coach's attempt to reassure Sawada, the rookie setter became more confused. "Isn't being a dictator a bad thing? Why would you let Harada-senpai play then?" He asked.

The coach barked a laugh when he heard that. "Yeah, you are right! Being a dictator is not a good thing." Then, he turned his eyes and stared at his players fondly. "But it is necessary to have someone like him when all the players we have are talented and full of arrogance."

Sawada still didn't understand what the coach meant by that. He decided to ignore it and put his attention back to the court. The score was 22 – 13 for Konan, and since Genzo came to the court, Tsunemori hadn't been able to score a point even once. They who just gained the momentum got suppressed once again by Konan who suddenly became different since the setter came.

This showed how important Genzo's role is for the team.

"Man, we are fucked." Riku chuckled dryly.

Even though Akira had deemed the game unsavable and only gave them one last mission to make an impression on their opponent, he couldn't help but feel a glimpse of hope sparked when the team scored five points in a row. However, the hope evaporated quickly as the game went by, and what was inside his mind right now was how to end the game properly.

"Let's get over this shit quickly, Riku." Yuki patted his friend's shoulder. It seemed he also had enough and wanted to end this game soon.

However, even though all of the players were exhausted already and wanted to get over the game as soon as possible, that didn't mean they would make it easier for Konan. They had their own pride, and since the coach asked them to drag the opponent to hell, they wouldn't die without finishing the mission.

The game was restarted again with the serve coming from Matsumoto. The captain threw another powerful serve straight to Tsunemori's backline. Yuki and Ogawa reacted at the same time, trying to save the ball from falling to the floor. In the last second before they crashed into each other, Yuki stopped quickly, letting his senpai handle the ball.

*BAM!*

"Nice save, Jimmy!"

"Come on, start moving!"

Since it was Yuki who was the closest to the ball, Riku abandoned his role as a setter pretty quickly, joining the others to attack. Koji and Hirano also did the same, trying to divert the blockers' attention. However, it was clear Akihiro wasn't fooled by this, and just a second before Yuki passed the ball, he moved quickly, predicting where the ball would go.

"WHAT?!" Koji widened his eyes when he saw Akihiro was already in front of him.

Yuki clicked his tongue, knowing that the Konan's blocker predicted his attack easily. Unfortunately, even though he was good as a setter, he wasn't proficient enough to change the target of the pass in the last second. As a result, he could only shout an order to his teammates to cover this up.

"KAI! MOVE FORWARD! IT IS A BLOCK!" Your journey continues at empire

Kaede didn't need to be told twice. He also saw Akihiro move and knew that the boy would be able to block the ball. That was why he followed Konan's blocker immediately, knowing the ball would fall back to Tsunemori's area.

*BAM!*

"YEAH! Nice save, Kai!"

"Riku! Cover!"

Riku moved from the right wing to the left to pick up the ball. By now, the situation on Tsunemori's side was chaotic as no one stayed in their position anymore. This was their desperate attempt to confuse their opponent and avoid the blockers, and for a moment, it looked like this would work.

However, the moment Riku was about to toss the ball, he could hear the monotonous tone from the other side of the net ordered Akihiro to move.

"Take, middle, quick! Two seconds!"

Riku widened his eyes in shock when he realized his attack was also predicted by the opponent. Unfortunately, he couldn't change it all, and as a result, when the ball was sent to Hirano, Akihiro who had recovered his position already jumped once again, blocking the spike for the second time in a row.

*BAM!*