The Birth of A Volleyball Legend-Chapter 444: Kikugawa High’s Awakening! (II)

While all the Kikugawa players were in the middle of excitement from the last play, on the stand, Matsumoto spoke to those who were willing to listen no matter whether they were from Konan High or Matsuyama Kita High. "This will be the turning point of this set. If Kikugawa High can grab the momentum here, their road to win this game will be smoother."

However, Amagi just shook his head silently in disagreement, his eyes were on Yuki. After all, after spending time together with the boy during the astronomy camp last summer, he spent a lot of time studying Yuki's playing style, and one thing he found out from the boy – and Riku to some extent – was that the more dire the situation was, the more he would lock in, putting his probably 120 percent on the court. In Amagi's mind, Yuki was the clutch type of player who would always come whenever his team was desperate, so he still could see a timeline where the boy miraculously carried the team to win this game.

'Come on, Kobayashi-kun, don't you dare to lose this game. Not only do I want to face you, but I really want you to slap that bastard Matsumoto in the face. Prove them wrong!'

Of course, Yuki himself didn't realize that once again, he was being in the center of the attention of the two best teams in the country. If anything, currently, he was in the middle of a brief huddle, talking about how to handle this situation.

"Listen, we still don't know whether the other players finally can withstand our supporter's pressure or not, but we cannot take a risk here. We need to treat all of our opponents as if they are the biggest threat on the court, or something like the play before will happen again in the future." He said, gaining the nods of agreement from the other players.

"Still, with how excited they currently are, I can see that they want to grab the momentum decisively in the next play. If that is so, this will be a good chance for us to counterattack. So, for those whose area is not getting attacked, get ready to counterattack. I will not shout a command, so don't slack off and pay attention to me, okay?" Riku added.

The others nodded simultaneously, knowing that it was better to follow those two in this situation. There was no embarrassment of being led by their kouhai as they all knew that those two were their best players here. If anything, all the Tsunemori players knew that pride would only bring them disaster, especially in a critical situation like this. The closer they were to the end of the game, the more they had to put their pride away and work together for the team. If any of them could do better, even Yuki and Riku would be willing to listen to them.

After that, the referee blew his whistle, signaling that the game would be restarted again. This time, Akito came off the bench as a pinch server, replacing Ao who was not that good on the service line. Just like Kaito, he wasn't that affected by the boos from the crowd, sending a smooth floater toward Kaede's direction.

Thud!

"Oh! Nice save, Kai!"

"Rano!"

Seeing the ball coming in his direction, Hirano jumped immediately, gritting his teeth as he tried his best to reach the ball in the sky. It seemed that Riku really did what Akira asked, forcing the hidden potential coming out of his body. In the end, even though Tachibana and Ayane were there, he managed to achieve the feat that only Kaito could do, spiking the ball from above the blockers.

BAM!

"Yeah!"

"It is Hirano again! He has been on fire since the late second set!"

"Come on! Keep it up, Hirano!"

While Hirano was still enjoying the cheers and praises from the crowd, Kaito couldn't help but stare at him. 'Yeah, he has the same direct personality as me, not liking all the dirty and complicated tricks and always yearning for a head-on confrontation. Maybe, I need to start targeting him more.'

A moment later, the game was restarted again, and this time, Ogawa came off the bench to replace Asahi as a pinch server. The boy took a deep breath, tossing the ball in the air before delivering a powerful topspin serve that went down sharply right after it crossed the net.

BAM!

"Shit!" Suzuki cursed as the save that he made was too shaky. "Ayane, sorry!"

"Don't worry, Senpai! I got this!"

"Senpai, back attack!" Kaito yelled, asking for the ball. All of his teammates were deadpanned when they heard that, having the urge to beat the boy down for shouting their next action. Still, seeing that the boy was excited to attack, Ayane knew better, tossing a simple, high pass straight above the line that separated the front court and the backcourt, giving Kaito enough space to run up first to execute the ball. "Oh! Good pass!" The boy grinned excitedly when he saw that.

Of course, there was no way that someone from Tsunemori High wouldn't take action. Hirano and Yuki who were closer there waited for the right timing, knowing that the possibility of messing up the timing against a back attack was pretty high. In the end, after Kaito jumped first, they both finally followed, extending both hands in the air to create a big wall on the front line.

BAM!

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"Rebound!" Kaito shouted after deliberately aiming the ball at Hirano's hand.

"Tch!" Hirano clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Yuki, recover!" He yelled at his kouhai. Normally, Yuki would be surprised to hear his stoic senpai taking the command. However, in a confrontation play where even one second could make a difference, Yuki didn't dare to lower his guard, following Hirano's action to go back to his original position as quickly as possible.

As for Kaito himself, he fell back immediately, using the space in front of him to do another run-up for the second attack. Of course, Hirano wouldn't just let him do what he wanted. The middle blocker also moved, waiting eagerly to stop the attack. Seeing this, Yuki stepped back, letting the middle blocker deal with Kaito so that he could also help deal with the aftermath of the ball flying wildly outside of the court.

As they both jumped in the air, though, Kaito suddenly let out a small smirk. Hirano was confused, not knowing what the boy was planning. However, his eyes widened instantly as he realized that he jumped into a trap willingly, not knowing that the attack hadn't come in his direction yet. When he saw Kaito mouthing silently, 'I get you now!' That was when Hirano realized that he screwed up.

BAM!