The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Yuki could feel his jaws drop at the sight of some of the players grumbling while handing some coins to Megumi who had a smug smile on her face. Riku, though, was not amused at their antic. "You are betting on whether we will be here or not?" He cried incredulously.

"Yup! The easiest yen in my life!" Megumi smiled smugly, collecting the money

"Oh, don't be like that, Riku!" Ogawa spoke when he saw his kouhai pout. "It is just a mall bet between friends! No harm done here, you know?"

"Yes! Even Akira-sensei joined the fun too!" Kaede added the fuel.

Riku snapped his head quickly, looking at his uncle in disbelief. The coach himself just shrugged, pretending that it was not a big deal. While usually, he wouldn't join this kind of shenanigan, he would admit this kind of a mini-game was the best way for the players to bond with each other, and joining it occasionally wouldn't hurt his reputation at all.

"So, why are you all here? I thought today is a sabbath day, right?" Yuki asked, curious.

"Well, yeah, today is a day off, but I don't want to go home this early!" Ogawa whined. "It is not like I have anything to do at home! At most, my mom would only scold me for being lazy, and I don't want to hear her nagging me right now!"

"Same here," Koji added wryly. "Some of my friends invited me to play an online game, yet the spirit is not there, you know?"@@novelbin@@

When he saw the others also nodded in agreement, Yuki knew that everyone felt the same here, still feeling the adrenaline of the game yesterday and didn't want to lose momentum just like that.

"Well, it is good that you all are gathering here." Akira finally spoke, accessing his laptop. "Even though you have to take a rest, that doesn't mean you cannot spend your time productively. There are so many activities that we can do that don't need you all to move your body."

"Oh? Like what?" Asahi asked, curious.

"Well, like this!" Akira turned his laptop around, showing it to the players. All of them leaned forward, wanting to know what their coach was up to. They didn't expect a volleyball game to be played there, let alone the familiar faces on the screen. Before anyone asked any question, though, the old man explained, "We are so lucky that a game of our future rival is being broadcasted by the local television even if it was still the fourth round of the tournament! So, for today's activity, let's watch together the game between Matsuyama Kita High and Hibiya High!"

All the ten pairs of eyes there locked into the screen immediately, watching as the second-best team in the country was playing. Yuki himself also did the same, his eyes never left one Matsukita player with shoulder-length hair who was smiling while guiding the other players confidently.

'Amagi!' His memory suddenly brought him back to the astronomy camp he joined together with Matsukita's setter about three months ago. Seeing the boy, Yuki couldn't help but smile. 'He is still the same, always so carefree and full of confidence even in the middle of the game like this. Good for him.'

"So, is there anything special about this Hibiya High?" Asahi asked, sitting on the floor. By now, all of the people there had already been making themselves comfortable, some even had snacks in their hands.

"Well, there shouldn't be anything special about them," Riku commented. "I mean, look at that! 12 – 3? That is a complete blowout! Matsukita shouldn't have a problem dealing with this school." The blonde boy added nonchalantly.

When all the Tsunemori players noticed that, they couldn't help but feel disappointed. While they realized that Matsukita's quality was way above almost all the schools in Tokyo, they still wanted some of the schools to make a problem or two so that the second-best team in the tournament would reveal the trick they saved for the game against Konan High.

However, while everyone didn't have a high hope for this Hibiya High, Akira had another opinion. "The score gap might be big, and indeed, this looks bad for Hibiya. But if you noticed it, the game had already been running for about thirty minutes, you know?" Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

For that, everyone widened their eyes in shock. Volleyball was not a time-based sport when the game was over after the time determined by the rule like any other mainstream like football or basketball. That was why, more often than not, they forgot how long time had passed since the game began, and before anyone knew, one hour passed quickly.

However, volleyball was also a fast-paced sport, especially for a high school level. Usually, in thirty minutes, one of the teams would've already been close to winning the set or had won already. So, for Matsukita, the second-best team in the country, to score less than 15 points in thirty minutes was definitely a shock for everyone.

"So, they are a defensive-oriented team, huh?" Okamura asked, somehow feeling familiar with the scene he watched on the screen.

"Yup!" Akira nodded. "While there might be a slight difference, their playing style is pretty much the same as us. They used their resilience defense and unlimited stamina to drag their opponent to hell, forcing the game into an endurance contest. A very annoying team, I tell you."

"That's why I feel so familiar with the scene on the screen!" Ogawa widened his eyes in realization. "They all sweat so crazily even if they had only been playing for thirty minutes! If Hibiya High is similar to us, they would force Matsukita to run all over the court to wear them off, just like us!"

Now that Ogawa pointed it out, they were intrigued.

"While this Hibiya High is not as strong as us, this will be invaluable information for us. At least, we can see how Matsuyama Kita High deals with the kind of opponents like us so that we know what to expect when the time comes for us to play against them. So, observe carefully, okay?"

"YES, SIR!"