The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

In life, there were two common reasons why someone usually enjoyed something. One was that they could see their improvement from being bad to better progressively, and the other was that they excelled in that thing, feeling the admiration of others toward them. At least, that was what Yuki remembered people saying on television a few years ago.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At first, Yuki thought it was just an empty statement uttered by celebrities to gain more engagement. However, at this moment, he was forced to believe that theory as he basked in the praises from others, and he had to admit that he enjoyed the attention.

"Damn, Kobayashi! Are you a machine or what?" one of the players said, shaking his head in admiration.

"Hey, Yuki, this is clearly because of my training plan! Don't let your head get too big, okay?" Riku chimed in teasingly, a hint of pride in his eyes as he watched his friend become one of the best, even among the most talented players in the prefecture.

"A-Ano! Kobayashi-san, can you watch my serve and tell me how I can improve?" Sawada raised his hand, trying to make his presence noticeable.

All of this sudden attention was, of course, due to Yuki's excellent performance in the last two exercises. In the first drill, no matter which circle Sato asked him to throw the ball into, he always managed to hit the target perfectly. Out of 14 attempts, he successfully landed all of them. The closest competitor was a boy named Takeda Hari from Kodokan High—the same school Tanaka attended—and he could only land ten balls perfectly before Sato challenged him to throw to the more difficult spots.

This alone was enough to put Yuki at the top of the list for this training session.

In the second drill, Yuki had even more freedom, aiming for spots that were not in the middle back. He didn't hold back and targeted tricky locations that would definitely put an opponent in trouble if it had been a real game. From the look Sato gave him, Yuki knew the old coach was satisfied with his performance.

It wasn't until the alarm rang that everyone stopped what they were doing, turning around to notice that it was already 4 in the evening.

"Okay, you have thirty minutes for a break, and Minase-chan has already prepared some healthy snacks and drinks for you all, so go find him. Don't be late for the next training session, okay?" Sato instructed.

"Yes, Sensei!" everyone replied in unison.

-0-

"So, is it enough to satisfy your boredom?" Yuki asked sarcastically while peeling a banana.

"Well, not really. But I can't complain," Riku replied. "I've always thought that my serve accuracy was decent enough, but today is a reality check for me. Excluding you, there are about six other players who are better than I am, and I definitely acknowledge that."

Out of 14 serves that Riku threw, he only landed six perfectly where Sato had asked, putting him in seventh place. Not a bad rank, but considering that Riku had always been proud of his serve, the fact that his accuracy was below 50 percent was disappointing for him. From his expression alone, Yuki could tell that his friend would push himself harder in the next session to hide his embarrassment.

"Can I sit with you guys?" a familiar voice suddenly greeted them. When they turned around, they were surprised to see who had just asked to join them.

"Haruo-san? Sure, come here," Yuki said, moving slightly to give the new boy enough room to sit comfortably. "Is there anything wrong?" he asked.

The boy in front of them was Haruo, Kyoei Gakuen's middle blocker. Yuki felt ashamed that he had somehow forgotten about Haruo's presence, but it was understandable, considering Haruo hadn't performed well in the mini-tournament yesterday since he was unlucky enough to be paired with another middle blocker.

"Oh, no, there's nothing wrong. I'm just here to greet you," Haruo said with an innocent smile.

Yuki rolled his eyes in disbelief while Riku scoffed incredulously. While they didn't know Haruo well enough, after playing a full three sets against him, they both knew that behind his innocent facade, Haruo was a thoughtful guy who wouldn't act without purpose. There was no way the boy would come over without a reason.

"Well, I misjudged you before, thinking that you both were just ordinary players. So, I'm here to rectify that and try to get to know you better," Haruo finally admitted. "After all, you both caught my interest, and I want to know my future rivals better!" he exclaimed.

Riku snorted at Haruo's arrogance as if being noticed by him was a privilege, then said, "While we are in the same prefecture, there are around 150 teams competing here, so I don't know where you get the confidence that we will meet again in the future."

However, Haruo smiled cryptically as he replied, "Oh, how wrong you are, Agostini-kun. I'm sure we will meet quite often in the future."

-0-

"Okay, everyone! It's good to see you again!" Sato's voice boomed as all of the players gathered in front of him. "We have two and a half hours before dinner time, and we will continue our serve training. The next exercise is the service ace challenge. You will each have ten minutes to get a service ace against another team. There are fourteen of you, so let's divide into two teams. Seven boys, go to the other side of the court while the others stay here."

While there was confusion among the players, no one questioned it, and some moved quickly into position. Yuki was among those who moved to the other side of the net while Riku stayed back to see what would happen.

After everything was settled down, Sato continued his explanation. "Many people think that to get a service ace, you need to hit the ball with power, but that's not true. As long as you know where to aim, you can get a service ace. For example, Kobayashi-kun, come here!"

"Me?!" Yuki exclaimed, taken aback when he heard his name called.

"Yes, you! Come here!" Sato affirmed. With no choice, Yuki stepped forward to join the coach. "Listen, Kobayashi-kun, I know I'm asking a lot here, but can you show them your serve to the crowd trick?"