The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Time seemed to pass pretty quickly, especially when Tsunemori players were given a day off to cool off their heads. Yuki himself spent the rest of his rare free time with the Silvestri Family, hanging around the Roppongi District where rich people usually lived. He had so much fun during that time, enjoying experiencing the life of a wealthy man.

Unfortunately, just as time went by, all the good things would be over eventually, and while Yuki himself still didn't want to go back to the gymnasium for at least three or four more days, he didn't have any choice here. Akira called the team over, wanting to discuss their next opponent.

"Man, is it just me or do we all feel a bit lazy to come here?" Okamura asked, yawning big.

"Oh, don't worry, Oka, it is not just you," Kaede answered wryly. "I had to drop my movie marathon immediately when Akira-sensei called, and I have half of my mind telling myself to not go." He didn't tell why the other half of his mind won the argument here since everyone knew the consequence of ignoring his call. Some of the players shuddered, remembering their bad memory when they tried to test Akira's bottom limit.

"But this sucks! Why do I have a hard time mustering my energy right now?!" Okamura whined.

"Oh, I have a theory here." Asahi chimed in. "First, this is Sunday morning, which usually allows us to wake up a bit late. Also, we have just won an easy game against a team that on the paper should be on the same level as us. I think it gets through our head a little."

Well, they couldn't deny that. Even though they knew Akira didn't call them for morning training, having to go to the school on Sunday morning sucked. This was probably the only day they could oversleep, and now it was ruined by their own coach. They also selectively ignored the second argument since they didn't want Akira to catch wind of it. If their coach heard something about it… They shuddered at the thought, not wanting to meet Akira's wrath.
Your journey continues at empire

"So, where is Jiisan?" Riku who arrived last asked with a big yawn. "He should've been here fifteen minutes ago. I know because he had already gone when I woke up before."

The other boys looked at each other before shrugging. "I don't know. Megumi-senpai is not here too. It is concerning that they both come late."

Fortunately, it didn't take a long time before the two adults in the team arrived. They asked all the players to follow them immediately to one of the classrooms nearby that they usually bought when they were about to analyze something.

"Okay, everyone! Welcome back!" Akira greeted while letting Megumi handle the technical part like turning on the LCD and something like that. He scanned the entire room for a second, nodding in satisfaction when he saw none of them were missing. "Good. I am glad that everyone is here."

'Well, you will hang our head upside down if one of us doesn't come.' Ogawa muttered, and everyone in proximity snickered their laughter at that.

Not giving any hint whether he could hear that or not, Akira continued, "I know you all think you deserve to have more day-offs here, thinking that you've just won a game brilliantly, and to some extent, you are right."

All the ears perked up when they heard that.

"Unfortunately!" Akira continued, eliciting groans from his players. "Even a winning team like Konan High or Matsukita High keeps working hard during this time, so what right do we have to slack off here as a team that is still far below them?"

This woke them up instantly. Even though he didn't show it, Akira was happy with this reaction. He didn't know how and why things developed to this point, but every time Konan or Matsukita's names were mentioned, all of them were fired up immediately. He didn't know whether it came from the grand illusion that they could beat those two juggernauts in the future or they just wanted to use this as motivation since everyone here had the experience of playing against those two, but even if he knew, he wouldn't say a word to stop it.

"Okay, the good news is that our opponent would be at the same level as Sumida High, which while I don't want to underestimate the opponent, should be a walk in the park for us." Excitement was buzzing when they knew the prospect of meeting an easy opponent once again. "Unfortunately, we will play away this time, and you know by the name of the school where we have to travel."

Indeed, collective groans could be heard when they read the name of their next opponent. Setagaya High from Setagaya district, far in the West Tokyo, in the completely opposite direction of Edogawa in the East. The journey from one station to another itself would take about one hour and a half, and they still had to count the distance between Setagaya station to Setagaya High too. The journey itself would be exhausting for the players here. Not only that, while Setagaya wasn't like Roppongi, it was still one of the wealthiest districts in Tokyo. They all felt dreadful imagining having to play against players with a stick in their asses. (They would never admit most of them had this prejudice for the rich kids there.)

"We have no chance to forfeit, right?" Koji sighed in resignation.

"Unfortunately, no, young man." Akira chuckled at their sour expression. "Well, fortunately for you, Setagaya High doesn't have a strong volleyball team in the future, so I think we will have no problem putting them down and going to the next round. However, there might be a few things you need to be careful of, such as this player…"

Akira spent the next hour analyzing the opponent, from their player's composition and each specialty, their normal tactic, their weakness, and even their habit on the court. Honestly, Yuki didn't believe they all would need this for the next game, especially since he believed most of the players here would be able to handle the game easily. However, he knew that Akira wanted to show his professionalism here by treating every opponent the same, and if the coach had already given this example, who were they to not follow it?