The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Delay attack was a concept that Yuki learned pretty late compared to any other tactical attack. He had never seen someone doing that for the first three or four months he was with Tsunemori High. Hell, he even survived the Inter-high competition while also facing the best school in the country without seeing a single soul doing that, which showed how rare this was for a player in the lower level.

In fact, the first time he saw it was during the test to enter the Thunder team when he and Riku had to face Tondo and Kenzo – one of the Thunder's main players – in a 2v2 game. At that time, Kenzo used a lot of tricks like that to mess up Yuki's block timing, which also opened Yuki's horizon of how a hitter should fight.

Before that, he thought that the only way a hitter could play was to jump and wait for the ball to come, and if it happened, just try to aim at the opponent's weakest spot. Not a bad insight, but that definitely just scrapped the surface of it.

Since then, he started to see various ways for hitters to fight on his own. He witnessed a zero-tempo attack, a delay attack, hitting the ball after the blockers lost their momentum, hitting it early before the blockers could gather their strength, and so many other attacking methods. As he watched and experienced more, the thought of how to attack was also reshaped inside his mind.

However, out of all of the methods above, a delay attack sure was the thing he remembered the most. Not only because this was the eye-opener for him, but also because of how effective it was to be used in the game. After all, there was no way any sane attacker would sow down his momentum before jumping. That would only make the strength he generated from his run-up vanish instantly. But if the logic was reversed, by sacrificing strength, the attacker would mess up the blocker's timing, and what he faced next was just an open court. That was why for Yuki who was never a muscle-type player, this method was like it was designed for him.

That was why, when he saw someone attempting to do that, Yuki could see it immediately from a mile away.

'He is slowing down his momentum, a delay attack is coming. Wait, Tondo-senpai1 You move too fast!'

Realizing that the line of blockers in front of him was fooled, Yuki rushed without a second thought to back them up. However, he wasn't the only one who thought like that. Riku who was also behind the blocker also made a move, and as they both were in the front, they jumped simultaneously.

BAM!

"HELL YEAH!" Yuki grinned in joy after he felt the ball slammed his hand. He glanced sideways just to find out that his blonde friend also had a similar expression. "Good job, Riku! That is such a timely block!" He praised his friend.

"Yeah, you too."

By now, all the Fukushima Phoenix's players were numb as they looked at Yuki in a complicated mood. Just a while ago they wondered how capable Yuki was as a blocker after seeing his all-around performance, and now, as if wanting to rub it on their faces, Yuki showed them immediately that he was also a force to be reckoned in the front.

"Don't worry, Naka! He is just a rookie, so he wouldn't be able to do it for the entire game. Just wait patiently until he makes a mistake!" Mirai encouraged his teammate.

True to his words though, the net serve from Yuki was the worst one he showed today. Yuki tried to do another spin serve, yet the spot he hit the ball didn't sit quite right for him, and as a result, it passed through Tondo's face – which made the blocker wince as it almost hit him – and just hit the net. Continue reading on empire

"Oh! Finally!" A sigh of relief could be heard collectively from a lot of people on the stand. Hell, even some of the Phoenix's players also expressed a similar sentiment. "I am so glad that he can make a mistake too."

As for Yuki, he frowned deeply before apologizing to his teammates. "Sorry, everyone. I didn't hit the ball at the best spot." Even though he said that Yuki knew the true reason behind his failure. Coupled with his last serve which also failed to meet his usual standard, it seemed the timeout Phoenix took before managed to disturb his rhythm.

"Meh! Don't worry about it, Brat two!" Shou grinned, ruffling Yuki's hair. "I mean, really? Six points in a row from you? Shit, you put us senior players in an embarrassing spot here."

"Yeah!" Uehara and some Thunder players nodded in agreement.

Indeed, since the game started, the players who shone the most here were Yuki and Riku, but since this was Yuki's debut as a starter, everyone paid more attention to him. The fact that he had already proven himself as an all-around player put him in a new light.

"Come on, it is our turn now!" Mirai shouted, walking through the service line with a ball in his hand. "Where are your voices? Cheer for us!" He waved his hand exaggeratedly, encouraging the supporters to cheer louder. They didn't need to be told twice, as the once quiet arena after witnessing the horror of Yuki's serve finally came back alive.

"Come on, Mirai! Don't disappoint us!"

"Give me your best serve!"

"Don't hold back, Mirai! Kill them all!"

The new wave of cheers exploded from all around the building. It would be a lie for any other Thunder players to say this wasn't intimidating. However, when they saw the current scoreboard, they were relieved to see that they were still in the lead.

'4 – 7, huh? Kobayashi really did a good job on the service line. It would be a shame if we as the senior players couldn't follow it up.' Shou muttered.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A moment later, the referee blew the whistle, and Mira started his serve already. He tossed the ball pretty high, and after taking three big steps, he took off from the ground right a foot behind the sideline. It was an impressive display of his athleticism, and in the next second, he showed everyone why he was the team's ace.

BAM!

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