The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"You want me to accompany you to meet that old geezer?" Riku blinked, repeating Yuki's request with a confused expression.

"Yeah, please!" Yuki clapped his hands together with a pleading gaze. Riku was confused but nodded his head. "I don't mind, but can you tell me why?" he asked.

After that, Yuki spent about fifteen minutes retelling the conversation he had with Mattheo and the advice from Aiko. Riku—and Kato, who sat in front of them—listened carefully, and in the end, they both nodded thoughtfully at him.

"That… is a good idea, and I am ashamed to say I never thought about it before," Riku admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But why would you jump directly to that old geezer and not ask Akira-jiisan first?"

"Well, if you can find your uncle's whereabouts, I don't mind that. But whenever I go to the teacher's office, he's never there, and the other teachers don't know anything about him either."

Riku frowned, suddenly remembering something. "You're right, it has been a long time since I saw Jiisan. I wonder what he is doing right now?"

As their classmates' laughter and chatter faded into a soft, indistinct murmur, the two boys exchanged glances, their thoughts wandering to the unknown whereabouts of their volleyball coach. They didn't know when the only female member of their group left, but they were taken aback when they saw her return to the class, offering them two popsicles—one for each of them.

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"The weather is getting hotter, so it's not good to overthink things. Here, cool down your heads, or I might see the smoke rising from them," she explained humorously.

Yuki and Riku both snorted in unison, gratefully accepting the popsicles. The weather had indeed been rising for the last couple of days, and even though it was still the first week of July, the temperature had already reached 30 degrees. Yuki cringed at the thought that it would be the same or even hotter in the next two months, not looking forward to it at all.

For a moment, silence descended among them, punctuated only by the sound of slurping their popsicles and the chirping of crickets outside. It was a comfortable silence, with none of them willing to break it. In that moment, it was as if they were free from any worries, lost in their own thoughts with only the popsicles mattering.

"So, have you decided which club you want to join?" Kato finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Yuki frowned, staring at the blank registration form on his table. This was also part of his dilemma; all students were required to fill out the form and join at least one club before the week was over. The problem was that there was nothing on the list he was interested in. "I'm not good at hands-on activities, so robotic craft clubs are out. Art is not my passion, so I would never join a design club. As for photography or programming… I don't have the necessary tools for those, and I know how expensive they can be, so once again, I wouldn't do that. So far, I've crossed five clubs off the list, and I have to choose one out of the three remaining. But I still don't know what to pick. What about you guys?" he asked his two friends.

"I'm joining the craft club," Riku said matter-of-factly. His two friends were taken aback, not expecting his choice at all. He shrugged at their surprised expressions. "What?! Unlike Yuki, I enjoy hands-on activities, you know? I used to tinker with anything made of wood, fixing my study table until I even created a small bookshelf that I use in my room. I don't think the club would be difficult for me."

This was a side of Riku that his two friends had never seen before. While they knew he was always skilled with his hands, they didn't expect him to have a hidden talent like this. If not for this situation, they were sure he would never have told them about it.

"Anyway!" Riku raised his voice, feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his two friends. "What about you, Kato-san? Are you still going to join the science club? It's turning into a chemistry club, right? It's unfortunate since it's not an astronomy club, which you're most passionate about."

"Yes, it's a pity," Kato shrugged. "But chemistry is not that bad, you know? If the advisor is good at explaining everything, the subject can be fun to learn."

"Yeah, I'm sure it would be fun to learn," Riku snorted, not believing her words.

As those two bickered with each other, they didn't notice their friend was in a pensive mood and unusually quiet. Yuki felt embarrassed that he was the only one who hadn't thought thoroughly about which clubs he wanted to join.

'It seems it's time for me to think more about my school life too. I can't think about volleyball all day, after all.'

Even though he expressed it like that, by the end of the day, Yuki still dragged his two friends to Tsukumi University to meet Sekine. He didn't know when, but somehow, his priorities had shifted more toward volleyball instead of his studies. It might have been because he felt indebted to Mattheo's family or because he'd bonded well with Riku through this sport, but whatever the reason, Yuki didn't mind, as he enjoyed the game too.

Since they didn't have Sekine's phone number, the three of them went straight to the gymnasium to inquire about the old man's presence. Fortunately, he was there, so they didn't come in vain.

"So, you want to ask whether my offer still stands or not?" Sekine asked, his expression blank.

Yuki nodded, feeling a bit nervous at his cold tone. "Yes, Sensei. I still want to continue playing volleyball, and the situation at school makes it impossible for me to do that."

Sekine nodded, already aware of the purge at the school. Then he turned his attention to his former disciple. "What about you?"

"Me?" Riku grinned widely. "This sounds fun, so of course, I have to join!"

The old man then turned his attention to Kato, who shrugged nonchalantly as if it were not her problem. After pondering for a moment, he finally sighed, rising from his spot. "Okay, if you want to try, follow me."