The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

It was the end of the day, and Yuki was still confused about what happened. He thought that just like usual, a day after the game would always be a day off and he could go back early. However, before he could leave the class, he was roped in by Riku who said that there was something important that needed to be discussed in the club's room.

When they both arrived there though, there was an awkward silence, with all of his senpai either blushing madly, talking stutteredly, or in Hirano's case, grunting while ignoring the commotion in front of him. Meanwhile, in front of them, there was a pretty girl – probably as pretty as Megumi – accompanied by a presence he hadn't seen for such a long time.

"Yo, Riku-kun. Kobayashi-kun." Yori greeted the two freshmen cheerfully.

"Yori-senpai?!" Those two widened their eyes in surprise. "What are you doing here?!"

Yeah, the boy who accompanied the pretty girl was Yori, the former setter of the team who decided to retire early due to internal conflict in the past. Unlike the other third-year players, Yori was probably the only one who didn't have a grudge against Yuki and Riku. Even though they hadn't met for a long time, they still had a cordial relationship and could be polite with each other.

"Well, I was asked to accompany her to meet you guys, and I cannot refuse it," Yori explained helplessly. "So, here we are." Yuki and Riku's attention turned to the girl who sat gracefully as if she came from a noble family and their curiosity grew.

"So, who is she?" Yuki decided to ask bluntly. Although the girl was pretty, his best friend in the class was a beauty too, and his matron also had a mature air that made her look more gorgeous. There was no way he would be blinded by the girl who he didn't even know anything about.

However, Yuki didn't expect he would receive collective deadpanned stares from all of his senpai.

"I am sorry for his ignorance, Sugawara-senpai. He is just a freshman." Ogawa suddenly bowed apologizingly to the girl.

"Yeah, he doesn't know better about you, Sugawara-senpai! Don't worry, we will educate him thoroughly!" Okamura followed the gesture, then glared at Yuki who was still confused and whispered madly, "Come on! Apologize quickly!"

Yuki just stared blankly, didn't know why his senpai treated the girl as if she was some sort of royalty. Well, with how she acted, he wouldn't know about it for sure. He wouldn't bow and apologize out of nowhere though, especially when his only mistake was to ask her name.

Unexpectedly, the girl suddenly let out a small giggle, then smiled prettily at him. The people around who saw this had nosebleeds while clutching their chests dramatically as if they were hit by an invincible arrow. Yuki who saw that just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Is this some sort of a seduction technique?" He asked sarcastically. The others gasped, somehow feeling offended by his remark.

"Well, unfortunately, no. But it seems what Yori-kun said about you is true, Kobayashi-kun. You are an interesting person." The girl said.

"Oh?" Yuki arched one of his eyebrows at his senpai. "Because I am not falling into your seduction and I am not turning into a brainless lovestruck like the others?" He asked. Once again with a sarcastic tone. Yuki didn't know why, but he was irritated by how the girl spoke to the others. It was as if she looked down at the others and thought she had a higher status compared to anyone else.

"Unfortunately, the answer is still no." The girl said still with the same smile that made the others go crazy. "But it seems we start on the wrong foot here. How about starting over again? My name is Arina Sugawara, and I am the student council president from the class 3-C. Nice to meet you, Kobayashi.kun."

Yuki was stunned by the introduction. Student council's president. That was the words he hadn't heard for a long time. Suddenly, he was brought back to the memory of when he was in middle school. At that time, he was also a student council president, and while he didn't know whether he was a good one or not, he made a lot of memories with his friends.

But now, almost all of them were gone, died from the tragedy a few months ago.

"Yuki, are you okay?" Riku's question snapped him from his thoughts. When Yuki regained consciousness, he saw all of them, even Arina Sugawara stared at him with eyes full of concern. He shook his head quickly and gave them a pretty weak smile. "Don't worry, I will be okay."

Honestly, this was the first time since the school term began about two months ago that he remembered his past. Yuki couldn't help but feel hurt, as if his heart was tightened all of a sudden and he had a hard time breathing normally. However, he didn't want to show this weakness in front of his teammates.

Although no one knew why Yuki's face suddenly turned pale, Riku had a hunch that his friend might think about something heavy. His face turned solemn as he realized the only thing that could make his friend relapse like this was the earthquake that killed all of his family.

'It seems Sugawara-senpai's words triggered a memory from the past. Let's finish this conversation quickly and bring him back to the orphanage.'

With that thought, Riku asked straight to the point, "So, what brings you here, Sugawara-senpai?"

"Ohe, yeah!" Arina Sugawara straightened her body, went into business mode. "Before we delve into the topic, may I assume that you have heard the news about the Kendo team's disbandment?"

Everyone stared at each other, knowing it would be about the team's fate in the future. Almost all of them nodded at the girl's question while Riku tried to fill in for Yuki who was clueless about it.

"Well, as you might know, you are one of the clubs that still have hope to survive what everyone calls 'the purge'. However, not saying it for bad luck, but even though you lose the game, you still have a big chance to keep going since the headmaster has a soft spot for your team. You know about that, right?"

Even though they didn't want to admit it, it was hard to deny that the volleyball team was favored the most by the headmaster.

From only getting a slap on the wrist after a huge conflict between the senior and the freshman players in the past to the point of freeing the morning class so all the students could support the team against Kyoei, it was clear that the headmaster had a soft spot for the team.

"Is there still anyone who complains about that?" Riku asked, frowned. He remembered how the third-year players who resigned from the team seemed to spread a bad rumor about it, yet they were getting suppressed immediately after the game against Kyoei. He didn't expect someone would stir trouble again for them in this situation.

"Well, not really." Arina Sugawara shook her head. "I just want to ask for permission to take advantage of this to spread a rumor among the students. May I do that?"