The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

It didn't take a long time before Akira who was busy with the line of spikers in front of him noticed Yuki's presence. Their eyes met for a second before the older man gave a nod of acknowledgment, which Yuki returned respectfully. Shortly after that though, the older man blew the whistle on his neck, stopping all the activities inside the building. "You get a visitor here, so, let's take a break for ten minutes."

At first, everyone was confused, not knowing what the coach meant. However, Ogawa's excited scream attracted attention, and all eyes suddenly turned on him. "What do we have here? Our local celebrity!" The second-year outside hitter grinned mischievously.

Yuki could feel his cheek warmed for a moment at the teasing tone of his senpai, still not used to getting praised like this. He coughed a little, fixing the non-existent collar on his shirt awkwardly before trying to play it cool. "So, you've read the newspaper, Senpai? I don't know you are the smart cookie here."

Not only Ogawa, but almost all the team's players – not alumni – were dumbfounded, shaking their heads to make sure that they just heard it correctly. For half a year they knew Yuki, they would always associate him with someone who was strict and kept everyone on the line – and had a sharp tongue when he was annoyed. So, to hear that he returned the teasing from Ogawa without any heat in it, they all were so proud of the boy.

"Oh, does the little puppy dare to talk back to his senpai?" Kaede grinned, encircling his arm around Yuki's shoulder.

"Puppy? I am far from that, you know?" Yuki scoffed, shoving his senpai playfully. "And if you talk about dogs, should Riku be one? I mean, he is the perfect embodiment of a golden retriever, right?"

"Damn, that is a good one!"

The laughter followed there was like music on Yuki's ear. While he admitted he wasn't as close with his senpai as they were with Riku, he still enjoyed their company. And after about a month of not meeting them and having to play with so many different players – from the training camp to the Tokyo Thunder – he had to admit that he missed this atmosphere.

*Cough!*

The sudden cough from behind interrupted their conversation. When Yuki turned his head to find its source, he could see Hisashi standing awkwardly with a bunch of alumni next to and behind him. "So, Kobayashi-kun… Long time no see."

Yuki snorted at the awkwardness. "Yeah, long time no see too, Hisashi-senpai. Sorry for the trouble last time." Of course, he talked about the clash between the senior and junior players in the past. Even though Yuki never thought he was on the wrong side, he still felt the need to apologize since he basically tore apart Hisashi's legacy in this school.

"Eh, don't fret about it. I should know something like that would come." Hisashi shrugged it off nonchalantly.

"So, you are the one who kicked Noriyuki and Yoshi's asses, huh?!" A boy with the same height as Yuki but with pretty long and spiky, anime-like hair suddenly jumped on Hisashi's shoulder. "Good for you! I know those spineless bastards are pricks and someone needs to knock down their ego, but Hisashi-chan never believed in me. Now, I have the pleasure of giving him my best 'I told you so' whenever we talk about it. Oh, the name is Kozuki, by the way. Hoshi Kozuki. Nice to meet you!"

Yuki blinked, trying his best to proceed with the ramble coming from the boy. In the end, though, the only response he managed to pull was an idiotic one. "Yuki Kobayashi, nice to meet you too."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Okay, Hoshi, no need to overwhelm the poor boy with your hoarding." Another boy came with an exasperated smile before offering Yuki a handshake. "I am Tanigawa, nice to meet you."

Your next chapter awaits on empire

The next few minutes turned out to be an introduction session, as all the Alumni were eager to get to know Yuki. The glasses boy himself was still overwhelmed by the enthusiasm shown here, and he also had a hard time remembering all the new 11 names inside his brain.

"So, where have you been?" Tanigawa suddenly asked, snapping Yuki from his thoughts. "We have been here for a week and we have never seen you before. Oh, and the freshmen should be two, right? Where is the other one?"

Yuki blinked, realizing that Tanigawa didn't know his other occupation. "Well, this is our day off, and Akira-sensei has already given us permission to not join the summer training camp here since we have to play for Tokyo Thunder U-19."

Silence followed his explanation, and the atmosphere turned awkward out of a sudden. Yui swore he could hear his own heart beating for a second before the first boy – Kozuki looked at him with eyes shining. "You mean to tell me that you are a professional already?!"

Well, I won't say that. I am still in the junior team." Yuki explained, trying to get away from the boy who started to make him uncomfortable.

"Dude, that is still awesome!" The other boy exclaimed in awe.

"Yeah! Is that what the boys are talking about when they mention local celebrities?" The other chimed in.

"Oh, yeah, Senpai! You might not know about it, but our kouhai here is in the newspaper again. Just read the Tokyo Shimbun on the last page, and you will see the article!" Koji – the ever traitor he was – revealed the secret with a smug smile as if he were the one in the newspaper.

"Holy shit, really?!" Some people widened their eyes in disbelief while the others glanced at Yuki in astonishment. "Damn, you should be really good, then. Never in Tsunemori's history has someone from our team managed to get under the newspaper's radar."

"Yeah! That is a feat that not a lot could achieve!"

Yuki's face reddened more as he was basked under the praise. Even though he was no stranger to attention, this was the first time he was being the center of it because of volleyball, and no matter how confident he usually was, this was a bit too much for his first time surrounded by fans. Taking pity on him, Kaede shook his head before changing the topic. "Anyway, speaking of a professional team, you should also be in one, right, Hisashi-san?"

"Really?!" Yuki snapped his head toward the former captain in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah," Hisashi smirked when he saw the competitive spirit burn in Yuki's eyes. "Just like you though, I am still climbing from the U-19 team. Unfortunately, our teams have already played against each other this season, so we won't meet again except if you somehow manage to sneak into the playoffs. But when that happens, don't forget to look at me in Nagano Eagles, okay?"