The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Chapter 59: Training Camp Starts!

"Oi! Kimura! You are here!"

Hearing his name called, a man in his middle age turned around, just to see his old friend waving at him. "So, you came, huh, Akira?"

"Yes." Akira nodded with a smile on his face. "Please, take care of us."

"Me too." The man named Kimura also nodded. Then, his eyes turned to Akira's back to see a bunch of students following his friend. "So, those are your boys? They look rather displeased."

Akira could only sigh helplessly when he saw his players had some sort of sour expression on their faces. He could still remember the conversation he had with them yesterday after the talk about the team's future; when he announced their training agenda in the golden week.

-A little flashback-

"Starting from tomorrow, we will have a training camp for one week," Akira spoke.

"Oh!" Excitement rose immediately. "Training camp? Where?" Ogawa asked.

"Are you an idiot?" Okamura rolled his eyes. "If you say training camp, it should be the sea, right?"

"So, in Okinawa?" Ogawa asked once again.

"Hey, I have never been to Okinawa before!" Kaede suddenly said.

"Me neither!"

"Ah! I need to buy trunks!"

"It has been a long time since I go to the sea! What should I bring there?"

By now, everyone was so excited at the prospect of the training camp, ignoring Akira whose face darkened as he was being ignored. Still, he didn't interrupt the conversation, letting their imagination run wild just to let reality slap them hard tomorrow.

'Let's see if you can still have the same enthusiasm when you see the place...'

-End of the flashback-

Akira didn't even tell them all their designation, just letting the excitement rise to the peak as everyone talked about the beach enthusiastically. It wasn't until they got off the bus that all of them realized the place was far from the beach. They arrived at Tsukumi University, Akira's alma mater in East Tokyo.

That was why even by now, they still glared at their coach who probably laughed his ass off when he heard their excitement about the beach.

"Anyway, where is Megumi-senpai?" Ogawa suddenly asked.

"She couldn't come." It was Yuki who answered the question. "It seems that Megumi-senpai's parents had some business to do outside of Tokyo and she was asked to stay at home with her grandma."

"Hoo..." All of them nodded in understanding.

Well... All of them... Except for the self-proclaimed number-one fans of the girl.

"How come you know that information?" Koji scowled. "Megumi-senpai doesn't even tell me anything."

"I got this!"

"So, the condition is to get into the best four in order to not abolish the volleyball team?!" Kimura stared in disbelief when he heard what Akira said. Somehow, their concentration wasn't on the court anymore. "That would be hard, you know? In Toyo, before getting into the best four, you have to face either Konan or Matsukita."

"I know." Then, a small smile suddenly formed beneath Akira's thick mustache. "That is why it is worth doing."

'Worth?' Kimura was getting more confused. 'Does he think this game would be enough for them to prepare themselves against the two teams that even our A team struggled to defeat?'

Kimura stared at his friend for a moment, trying to get a hint of emotion to show on his face. Seeing Akira's calm face, he couldn't help but ask, "Akira, why are you doing this?"

"Huh?" Akira tilted his head confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"You were a first-rate outside hitter at the university in the past, and if your knee didn't break, you should have been Japan's representative with Adachihara-senpai. Surely, there were many famous teams that asked you to coach them, right? Why did you agree to manage such a team?"

Akira scowled at his words. "Hey, hey! Calling them 'such a team' is a bit awful, don't you think? Even though we are from the same generation, what you said is a bit too much!" Seeing his friend was unfazed though, Akira sighed before saying, "I want the honor."

Kimura widened his eyes for a moment before parroting his words. "The honor? To be the leader who raises a youth team to a champion?"

"No." Akira shook his head firmly. Then, without explaining anything to his friend, he turned around and said, "The game is about to end. Let's separate our way first before we discuss how should we do the joint training."

Kimura was stunned for a second before he scowled, realizing what happened. "Akira Oi! Don't ignore me like that, Bastard!"

-0-

"25 – 9 and 25 – 7? It has been a long time since I saw this team lost with such a large gap." Akira smiled teasingly at his players.

He received the dirty gazes from everyone, yet nothing was said as all the players there collapsed to the floor with faces full of sweat. It was clear by their erratic breathing that they were far beyond exhausted.

"Well... This is still within my exhaustion." Akira said still with a smile, gaining his players' attention. "Our aim during this week would be massive physical strengthening. Endurance that cannot lose to any team would keep our chance open whenever the game is prolonged to the third set. From this point on, every day, you will have to do a lot of running.

Look!" He pointed his fingers at the other side of the court.

All the eyes turned in that direction, just to find the players they just faced in the earlier game didn't even sweat that much.

"They still look like they have energy to spare, right?" He asked.

"Damn..." The players growled in annoyance when they saw the sight.

"Those..." Akira continued. "Are the faces of you guys after this camp. Can you do it?"

Facing the challenge from the coach, determination suddenly burned inside them. They all stared at each other for a moment before nodding their head collectively.

"Hell, yeah!"

"Let's do it!"

"Let's show everyone the new Tsunemori after this hell is over!"