The first round of the tournament would be held with one of the teams acting as the host. This would be the case for at least until the third round, and after that, everything would be held in the Tokyo Gymnasium. Unfortunately, Tsunemori's luck on the draw was bad enough that they had to be the guest for this round.
Yuki and the other Tsunemori players had to gather at the school first before they went together to catch the subway in the Edogawa Station, continuing their journey to the Naka Meguro Station for about twenty minutes. It took five more minutes for them from the station to go to Shimoyawata High by walking, and the moment they arrived there, they already felt exhausted.
"Man, the home advantage is unfair," Kaede commented, stretching his body after couldn't move freely on the subway.
"Well, it is what it is. If we win the game, the second round will be on our home court." Okamura said.
"Yeah, if we win," Kaede said gloomily.
The atmosphere turned heavy as once again, they were reminded of how strong their first opponent was. Akira sighed, knowing that this couldn't be helped. Usually, he would try to encourage his players, knowing that coming to the opponent's home court with this spirit meant they had already lost half of the battle. Still, no matter what kind of encouragement he had in his head, the coach knew it would be futile right now.
What the players needed right now was to experience it themselves, letting everyone know the opponent was beatable.
"Okay, everyone! Let's go!"
-0-
The moment they entered the gymnasium, all the Tsunemori players were greeted by the sight of Shimoyawata's players warming up. Several of them were intimidated by how hard their soon-to-be opponent's players spiked the ball. Still, Yuki didn't have that feeling at all. It wasn't like he was calm or arrogant, but when he compared them to Matsukita's hitters, it seemed they lacked something in it.
"Okay, everyone! Gather up!" Akira commanded after talking for a while with the opponent's head coach. "Before warming up, I will talk for the last time, so listen carefully."
All his players nodded solemnly, having their attention full on the coach.
"First, our starting players," Akira announced. While he had already announced this yesterday, the coach still repeated his words. "Hirano-kun, middle blocker. Riku, Setter. Kaede and Kobayashi-kun, opposite hitters. Ogawa-kun and Koji-kun, outside hitters. Okamura-kun, be ready for rotation whenever we need a libero. Asahi-kun, you will be our weapon in the second set, be prepared to replace anyone who is exhausted first, okay?"
"Yes, Sir!"
Akira sighed in relief, feeling lucky that in such a messed-up team, there was someone like Asahi who had a team-oriented mind. Even though two freshmen played over him, Asahi didn't make a fuss, supporting everyone while always getting ready to play at any time. Akira didn't have any intention to take advantage of his willingness, though. He still planned to give Asahi the minutes play he deserved later.
"Lastly, I will not talk a lot about strategy." Akira turned solemn. "You have been in the hell training I design, so you should know how I want to approach the game. Stay connected, keep communicating, and don't let the ball fall. No matter how hard the opponent attacks us, as long as we can still return the ball, we haven't lost yet. Do you understand?!"
"YES, SIR!"
"Good! Now, give me your best out there!"
-0-
After warming up for the next fifteen minutes, the official referee finally arrived. He called the Shimoyawata's captain and Koji who acted as the temporary captain for Tsunemori to have a coin toss. After a quick coin toss, Koji won it and asked to serve the ball first. He gave it to Riku who knew what his duty was here.
'Riku, Kobayashi, listen to me.' Akira called the two freshmen before the game. 'Our morale is low right now, and no one here believes we can win today. So, when the opportunity knocks in, I need you both to raise the morale of the team, making everyone think that our opponent is beatable too. Can you do it?'
Both Yuki and Riku stared at each other before asking, 'How?'
'It is easy.' Akira grinned widely. 'Just do it with a bang!'
Riku took a deep breath, glancing at Yuki who gave him a nod of encouragement. After seeing how the opponents prepared themselves, the blonde boy knew this was the opportunity that Akira talked about.
'They underestimate us. If we cannot score with such a nonchalant opponent, we might as well give the win to them.'
The moment he threw the ball in the air before starting his run-up and jumped, all the Shimoyawata players had their eyes widened in shock. They didn't expect there would be a player who could do a jump serve in the Tsunemori squad.
"Fall back!" One of them shouted, commanding the others to get ready.
Riku had no time to care for all of that. The moment his hand contacted the ball, he unleashed a powerful serve that sailed towards the opponent's side.
*BAM!*
There was a panic for a moment in Shimoyawata as they didn't see this coming. In the middle of the chaos, one player suddenly moved, taking over the serve. However, he could only receive it, not able to control the ball as it flew back to Tsunemori's side.
"Sorry! Bad receive!" The one who did that apologized immediately.
"Don't worry! Get ready to defend!"
"Chance ball!"
"Mine!" Yuki shouted immediately, asking everyone to take a step aside.
All the Shimoyawata players moved already to their base position, ready to stop Tsunemori's offense. All the eyes were on Yuki who received the ball and Riku, the setter of the team. They wanted to know how the blonde boy would initiate the first attack of the game.
Unfortunately, they didn't know it wasn't just Riku who could set a ball.
As the ball flew in his direction, instead of receiving it to the setter like a normal player would do, Yuki did the opposite. He received it with an overhead pass, initiating the attack directly from the first touch. He tossed the ball perfectly to the middle front, and within a second, a yellow hair flashed like lightning. The blonde who had just done his serve suddenly appeared in front of the net, and as the ball was above him, he jumped, slamming the ball hard to the opposite side of the court.
*BAM!*
All the Shimoyawata players could only stare at the ball blankly. From the serve to the spike, it only took Tsunemori five seconds to attack. No one from their side would expect that their opponent wouldn't go for the regular three-touch attack to set up the tempo first, but quickly pull out their gun from the beginning. When they stared at the two main actors of the play, they felt shiver down their spine as both Yuki and Riku stared back at them hungrily.
That was the stare of a predator hunting their prey.