The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Chapter 13: The Kind of Volleyball that We Want to Play!

"So, do you understand what is your problem now?" Akira said in the 'I told you so' manner. "How does it feel to be bested and be looked down on by your kouhai like that?"

Hearing that, all the players looked down on the floor, rage and depression lingering around the air. It was the intermission before the second set began, and the coach gathered all but Yuki and Riku to give them a pep-talk.

Not only were they depressed about their loss in the first set – which was quite bad considering they couldn't score more than 12 points even after taking a quick lead at the beginning of the game, but also because they were disregarded, their presence on the court was completely ignored by their two kouhai. It was as if they didn't exist at all and those two decided to do it all by themselves.

The disrespect was real, and it stung so much straight in the heart.

"I have already told you all about this problem since Hisashi graduated, yet I couldn't see any chance up to now. It is as if you just nod at my words but you forget about it completely just a few seconds later. If I don't know you are a bunch of dunderheads, I would suspect you did it on purpose just to play with me."

All the players there clenched their fists and gritted their teeth at the insult, trying to hold back their rage. However, Akira ignored all of that and continued.

"This problem has been lingering around for too long, right? I let it happen for a long time hoping that having freshmen as your new teammates would force you to be more mature, yet it seems I was wrong on that. I think we need to resolve this matter right now. Start from you, Noriyuki-kun!"

"Me?!" The captain straightened his back immediately, was taken aback when his name was mentioned.

"Yes, you!" Akira nodded. "To be honest, while I respect Hisashi as my former student, I don't know what was inside his head when he chose you to be the captain. It is clear that Yori is a far better choice compared to you."

His words created a sudden heavy atmosphere on the team, with Noriyuki having his mouth gaped wide in shock at this blunt insult while Yori suddenly grew uncomfortable when he was pitted against Noriyuki. Inwardly, everyone there thought that Akira suddenly went crazy, tearing apart the team in the middle of the game.

"What, you don't believe me?" Akira raised one of his eyebrows. "I know you are a smart person, Noriyuki-kun. There is no way you didn't notice the lack of communication problem in the team. Yet you have never done your duty as the leader even for once! You stay passive, never dare to take responsibility for anything bad that happened!

You just stood on the sideline, watching the team crumble in silence, and walked away as if you didn't want to play volleyball anymore! Goddamnit, Noriyuki-kun, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Everyone winced, knowing their coach was pissed now. It wasn't often for Akira to raise his voice, but on several occasions when he did that, it was always scary.

"And you all are the same!" He turned his glare at the other players. "You all are here as if you don't want to play volleyball anymore! Is that what you really want? If so, I will not hold you back here! If you want to leave, just go!"

Silence.

Dead silence.

Following his roar, an awkward silence settled down in the gymnasium, even the players from Matsukita also looked at them curiously. All the Tsunemori players held their breath unconsciously, didn't dare to meet their coach's eyes even for a second.

This was the first time Akira was so furious he drove the players out of the team, and while most of them knew this was just a spur decision he made in anger, they still realized their coach wasn't kidding this time.

Akira just snorted, finally threw his body back to his seat while his face was still red from his hot temper before saying, "Think of what I said. Before the second quarter begins, tell me what do you want here."

-0-

"Woah, scary..." Yuki stared in awe at his coach. He was glad he wasn't in the position to be scolded like his senpai right now.

"You don't know half of that." Riku beside him mumbled, still wiping all the sweat on his face. "This is still moderate considering we are just students. When he faced professional..." Riku shivered as if he just remembered something that scared him.

Unlike their senpai who were held back by their coach to get scolded, after the first set was over, those two were dragged away from the bench by Megumi who had already known first-hand what Akira wanted to do. Honestly, they should sympathize with their senpai right now, if only they weren't that useless on the court.

However, Yuki was still taken aback by the outburst Akira showed, didn't expect the ever-calm coach to have it inside him.

"Wait, what do you mean professional?" Yuki suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Riku responded, yet Yuki could tell his blonde friend's head was not in this place right now. "Well, before going to Japan, he studied sports science and became a volleyball coach for the local team in Italy. Don't you know that?"

The corner of Yuki's lips twitched when he heard Riku's tone for the last question as if it were the most well-known information in the world.

"What was he like when coaching a professional team?" Megumi couldn't help but ask curiously.

Once again, Riku shuddered in fear as if he just remembered something bad that happened in the past. "You don't want to know the details, Senpai. When he was on the court, my uncle was a mafia even among the Italians."

-0-

'It seems I need to think of another way to serve later.' He mused.

He had to save that for later, as right after serving the ball, Yuki went immediately to the front, acting as a middle blocker together with Ren. Honestly, Yuki was more comfortable in the back, playing defense until no one noticed his presence before suddenly joining the offense out of nowhere. However, he couldn't help but do it.

Since Hirano was subbed off by the coach, his position was pushed to the front considering Ren's terrible game-reading ability.

"Keep calm, Ren-san. Don't be fooled by the other's movement. Follow my lead!" Yuki kept talking while his eyes kept scanning all the Matsukita players' movements on the other side of the net. Right before Amagi tossed the ball to his teammates, he had already guessed where the ball would go and shouted, "Go right, Ren-san!"

Amagi scowled, unhappy that his move was predicted once again like an open book. However, he still set the ball to Gondo who acted as the outside hitter on the left. Facing the blocker coming from the middle in his direction, Matsukita's captain didn't hesitate to go for a straight spike to avoid Ren's wall.

His spike was so close to the sideline that if anyone with bad dynamic eyes guarded that area, they wouldn't know whether the ball would land in or outside of the court. However, before it could hit the floor, a bald guy suddenly flashed there, diving forward to save the ball.

"OH! NICE SAVE, YOSHI!"

Yeah, it was Yoshi, the opposite hitter who suddenly appeared there. Even though he had been quiet since the bad scolding by the coach, that didn't mean he lost his spirit already. He had been pondering about Akira's words for a while and realized that he should be more active for the team.

"GIVE IT HERE, YORI!"

Seeing one of his teammates finally rise from the slump, Yori smiled, glad for his friend. Now with Yoshi joining the coordination attack, it would add his option to pass.

Or... That was what he thought before a collision happened on the left side.

*Brugh!*

Yori and Yuki had their face palmed when they both saw Yoshi and Riku on the floor. The first-year setter didn't expect that Yoshi would suddenly ask for the ball actively and cut off his route, making them crash into each other.

"Ouch!"

Having no other choice to pass, Yori set the ball to Yuki on the right side. The first-year player tried to play another trick with a dump, yet Matsukita had already anticipated that. They had already noticed Yuki would always go for a dump whenever he had a chance, so it was easy to predict his attack.

"Stand up quickly, you fool!" Yori shouted to the two players on the floor.

However, before both Riku and Yori could do that, Amagi had already tossed the ball to the middle for a quick tempo attack, and the player with the number 7 from Matsukita aimed his spike straight at those two.

"Shit! Duck, Blondie!"

"Get away, Agostini!"

Without waiting for Riku's response, Yoshi grabbed Riku's jersey and pulled the blonde boy down while Yuki jumped there to receive the spike. The bad communication between the three players once again made them all crash and fall on the same spot again. Fortunately, Yuki managed to save the ball at the end even though the ball flew again to Matsukita's side one more time.

"Damn! Sorry! That's a bad receive!"

"Don't worry about it! Just stand up quickly! You too, Yoshi! Riku!"

There was chaos for a moment on the Tsunemori's side as everyone's positions scattered randomly. And the situation was too good for Matsukita to not take advantage of. Amagi set the ball far to the left side where Gondo was already doing his run-up once again before hitting the ball hard, once again to a tricky direction close to the sideline.

Ren and Yuki who noticed Matsukita's captain was ready to attack one moment ago jumped at the same time. However, even though Yuki managed to block the ball, the power generated from Gondo was too much for him to handle.

*BAM!*

The ball flew away far outside of the court. Even though Yoshi tried to hustle and save the ball, it was a futile attempt as the ball bounced to the floor quicker than he could chase it. The moment the point was confirmed for Matsukita, Gondo roared wildly, celebrating another point by him.

"YOSSHA! GOOD PASS, AMAGI!"

Meanwhile, almost all the Tsunemori players fell on the floor, their chests moved up and down rapidly as they were too exhausted to get up after that chaotic play before. Their eyes were too blurry to see anything, the combination of the sweat that rolled down their eyes and the dizziness after crashing and falling to the floor over and over again.

However, even though after all of that, they still failed to save the ball, there were identical grins shared by all the players with green jerseys on the court, feeling blood and excitement rushed into their heads.

Inwardly, they all had the exact same thought, 'This is the kind of volleyball we want to play!'