The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Unbeknown to all the Tsunemori players, it wasn't Nitta who was the most excited player on the opposite side right now. No, it was Ito, the captain of the team who just executed the attack perfectly who clenched his fist secretly, celebrating his play in silence. He tried his best to look nonchalant, trying to divert the attention to Nitta who was grinning cockily at their opponent.

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'Good. Keep irritating them, Nitta, and let me do the rest.' He mused.

Yeah, unlike Nitta who had a loud personality, Ito was quiet by nature. But that didn't mean he wasn't less dangerous. As the second-best hitter on the team, he always managed to take advantage of Nitta's distraction to score and also shared the burden the ace had to bear for the team.

Even though their personality clashed, they worked perfectly like a well-oiled machine, complimenting each other like a light and its shadow.

Ito took a deep breath, grabbing the ball on the floor while waiting for the referee to blow the whistle. He stood on the service line, spinning the ball playfully while trying to clear his mind. The sound of the crowds seemed to disappear from his ear for a moment, all the thing he had in his mind was one particular spot on the other side of the court.

'I need to send it…. There!'

*BAM!*

As he unleashed his serve, the ball traveled with a high speed, crossing the net in a blink. Kaede who saw the serve went straight to Yuki's direction stepped forward to take it over. However, Yuki shouted immediately.

"KAI! DON'T MOVE! IT'S MINE!"

Kaede was taken aback for a second. Unfortunately, he had already moved, and all of a sudden, due to its rapid rotation, the ball suddenly curved sharply into the spot he stood in the first place. Yuki clicked his tongue, diving his body to try to save the ball. He extended his arms far, trying to reach the ball before it could fall to the floor.

Unfortunately, the spin kept getting faster, and the ball's curve movement was getting sharper in a second as if wanting to run away from his grasp. As a result…

*Thud!*

"YEAAAH!" Ito roared wildly, celebrating the first-ever successful serve he made in this game.

"Sorry about that one, Yuki." Kaede apologized quickly.

"Don't worry about it." Yuki waved his hand nonchalantly. "But he has a nasty spin serve, so don't move too fast and wait until the ball breaks before you react, okay?"

"Sure."

The hardest part of dealing with a spin serve was to figure out where the ball would break. It required patience to wait until it started to change direction, and if players reacted too fast, they would get caught off guard by the ball's movement. Just like Kaede before, he moved even before the ball crossed the net. In the end, he was deceived, as the ball went to his previous spot and fell there.

But it was easier for anyone to receive the end of it when they knew that a spin serve was coming. What they had to do was wait, and with good eyes, they would be able to pick the ball up thoroughly.

*BAM!*

"Nice save, Kai!"

"Follow it up, Riku! Follow it up!"

As the ball was saved by Kaede, Ito rushed forward to the front line to join the blockers. He had already known that his serve wouldn't be able to produce a lot of points since Kaede and Yuki were both defensive masters in the backline. But he had already decided to be more active in this set, so he didn't hesitate to step forward next to Haruo to block the opponent's next attack.

'Listen, Ito.'The pep talk Saito gave before rang through his ears. 'Have you forgotten what they said? If we lose this game, you will have no chance to prove them wrong, you know.'

Unlike Nitta who had a long instruction on what to do, Saito only threw a question toward the captain. However, it was enough to shake him up as Ito's face paled gradually.

Yeah, unbeknown to the others, Ito had some sort of knot inside his heart that hadn't been untied for a long time. When he was in middle school, he was one of the members of a strong team in Oita whose all the players went to strong teams when they graduated. He was the only one who went to Kyoei that a few years ago was just a no-name team, and everyone knew the motivation behind his decision.

'What a greedy person.'

'What do you expect from a money-grubber?'

'Yeah. It seems we are wrong about him. He doesn't love volleyball as much as we do and only cares about money.'

'Don't worry, we will never meet him again. There is no way his team would be able to advance through the national!'

'That's right!'

'That's what that bastard gets for choosing money over passion!'

He could still remember all the insults thrown at him on that day as if he just heard about it yesterday. He wouldn't care too much about the insult if it came from anyone else since he himself admitted that he chose Kyoei for the money they offered. He had his own reason, of course, and he didn't need to justify it to the strangers outside of his life.

However, it suddenly mattered when the insult came from his former teammates. Those who fought side by side with him, shed blood and tears to climb to the highest spot in the country… He didn't expect they would join strangers to insult him too, even questioning his passion for his volleyball.

For him, that was the biggest betrayal someone could've ever done to him, and it still haunted him until now, which showed how much their action affected his mentality.

That was why getting through the national tournament became an obsession for him. Not only because of his ambition to dethrone Konan and Matsukita from their position as the top two teams in the country, but also to prove to his former teammates that even if he joined the team for money, that didn't lessen his passion for the game.

'No, I cannot lose this game.' He greeted his teeth. 'Saito-sensei is right. If we lose right now, I cannot do anything to their words. We need to win this!'

*BAM!*

"Oh! Nice save, Aki!"

"YAMADA!" To everyone's surprise, the shout this time didn't come from Nitta like usual. No, in fact, it was Ito who was on the right wing who raised his hand, asking for the ball. "QUICK!"

He only said one word, but the setter knew what he wanted. In a second, the ball flew to the right side with a high speed, Ito's favorite way to attack. He rushed forward with a high speed before taking off from the floor, ready to spike the ball. Koji and Hirano who were on the other side of the court jumped in unison, prepared to block his attack.

However, when he was in the air, Ito showed off his flexibility by adjusting his body slightly, changing from going for a straight to a cross spike.

"SHI – !"

*BAM!*

Even though Hirano managed to react in the last second and moved his hands to try to block the cross shot, he wasn't quick enough. The spike went sharply to the opposite side of the wing, and Asahi who was guarding that spot was frozen on the spot, couldn't even react at all.

"YOSSSHAAAAAA!" Ito roared immediately, venting out all the frustration that was built inside him. Inwardly, he thought, 'Sorry about this, Tsunemori. Nothing personal here, but if I lose this game, I will never be able to forgive myself. So, you have to lose today!'