The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

It took three days for the doctor to declare that Yuki was okay, and after listening to Aiko's worry, the boy agreed to take it easy and add one more day for him to rest. However, four days without anything to do was a bit torturous for him. It might be okay for any ordinary person, but he was an athlete who was always running and doing a lot of physically demanding activity, so it was a bit hard to let himself stay still in the orphanage.

He could feel his hand was itchy for action, especially whenever Riku visited and told him about the team's progress. He knew his friend meant well, telling him the latest update so that he wouldn't feel left out by the team, but for Yui, it looked like the blonde boy was gloating over his misfortune here.

Fortunately, those four slow and boring days were finally over, and Yuki was back in action.

He felt touched when he was back at school, a lot of students – hell, even some who he didn't know anything about greeted him and asked about his current condition. This was the effect of the current winning streak that the volleyball team just achieved, so they had been in the spotlight for the last few days. However, Yuki himself was not someone who was comfortable being crowded by strangers, so, it was a bit hard to keep the polite façade all the time.

"So, how is our superstar today? Is he good enough to grace us with his presence?" Kato asked, deliberately using the archaic words that made the conversation grander than how it was intended to be. The teasing smile on her face made Yuki roll his eyes sarcastically.

"Haha, that is so funny, Kato-san. If I don't know better, I will think you are a comedian."

"Oh, but I can be one!" Kato replied still with the same mischievous smile.

Yuki just rolled his eyes once again before he finally slumped on his desk tiredly after being surrounded by the other students all morning. "Seriously, though, I didn't expect that the team will get this famous right now."

"Well, you cannot blame them." Kato turned around to face Yuki's desk, looking at the boy with pity on her eyes. "This is your second time reaching the top 8 stage in the prefecture tournament this year, something that has never been done by any sports team from this school in its entire history. Moreover, unlike last summer when you had to face the best team in the country, right now, your opponent has a similar strength to your team, and there is a huge chance that you can enter the top 4. Once you are there, the third place will be enough to bring you to the national tournament, something that the school has never achieved before. So, you have to win only two more games to make history for the school, and that is why everyone is crazy about you guys."

Yuki fell quiet after hearing the explanation, knowing full well that Kato had a point here. He didn't know that in the last few days when he was still sick, the other players also had the same treatment. Well, not all of them, per se. Riku who was the blonde exotic boy and Asahi who was tall and handsome were of course bound to be popular. Those two were unfazed by the sudden rise of attention they received, having been experiencing something like that before. The other players also didn't have any jealousy toward them – well… Maybe a little – since they all knew those two were destined to be in the spotlight.

However, what the other players couldn't accept was the fact that Ogawa also started to receive more attention. Hell, the boy was far from the kind who could attract any good attention. He was a plain, ordinary boy with average height and didn't stand out too much. The only plus point from his appearance was his sunny personality, and coupled with the good performance he had in the last game, those were enough reasons for the girls in the school to start having a decent conversation with him.

"Goddamnit, Ogawa! You fucking traitor!" Yuki raised one of his eyebrows in amusement when he heard Koji's curse as he entered the building.

"So, we are back to Ogawa again? What is happening with Jimmy?" He asked, amused.

"Nah, that bastard doesn't deserve that name." It was Kaede who answered that, his face was serious. "He has already betrayed the brotherhood, so he doesn't deserve that nickname."

"Oh, suck it up, Bastards! You are just jealous of me!" Ogawa retorted smugly.

"As if we are jealous of you!"

Yuki just stared blankly as his senpai were bickering like this before turning around to Megumi and asking the manager, "So, what is going on?" He knew that Megumi was the most reliable person on the team, not only because she was the oldest, but she was also the only female member here, so everyone tended to listen to her words.

"Oh, it is nothing. Just that yesterday, two girls from the 2-A class suddenly appeared here, blushing like a mess before shouting loudly, 'Good luck, Jimmy!' and scampered away. Also, since Jimmy is a foreign name, some girls also get attracted by it and think that his nickname is cool. Well, you have the gist here."

Yuki's mouth twitched a little when he heard that. No wonder his senpai went crazy. Who knew that the nickname Sekine gave casually to highlight Jimy's ordinariness was turned into the way Ogawa climbed into the higher society?

As they were chatting around while waiting for Akira to come, though, they didn't notice two strangers suddenly entering the building. It wasn't like they did it sneakily, but the gymnasium was pretty crowded right now, so it was difficult to pinpoint a stranger in the middle of Tsunemori's students.

However, it seemed the strangers were either stupid or came to make a ruckus, as one of them suddenly shouted, attracting everyone's attention.

"OI, TSUNEMORI VOLLEYBALL TEAM! I CHALLENGE YOU TO PLAY AGAINST ME! LET'S HAVE A YOUTHFUL DUEL AND PROVE WHO IS STRONGER BETWEEN US!"