The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Aw, are you pouting, Riku-kun?" Megumi asked teasingly as she, Riku, and Yuki walked through the corridor to go to the gymnasium.

"I am not!" Riku answered immediately. However, the bratty attitude he showed clearly told them otherwise. "I just don't get it! This is the first day after we get back to school, right? Why would Akira-jiisan ask us to gather already? It is still two months away before the winter tournament begins, right?!"

Yeah, with Akira's order, Megumi picks the two boys up for a team meeting in the gymnasium. No matter how much they wanted to go home and be lazy since they just wanted to end this day as quickly as possible, the older girl didn't even bulge at their resistance and dragged their collars to the building next to the school.

Honestly, Yuki and Riku were a bit confused by this sudden meeting. Today was the first day of school, and Akira didn't say anything about meeting in their group chat. They even wondered whether Megumi was hallucinating or not, but the sweet smile on her face was enough to shut them up immediately. It was about 4 in the evening, and the school was almost empty. Most of the clubs hadn't started their activity yet, so this situation was to be expected. However, when they were in proximity to the gymnasium, Yuki and Riku could see the lively atmosphere there.

"Asa, left! Left!"

"Rano, keep your eyes on Kai! Don't let him spike so easily!"

"I got this!"

BAM!

"YOSSHAAAA!"

When the two teenagers entered the building, they were astonished to see the play. It wasn't the team's normal operation. However, without Riku and Yuki on the team, someone needed to step up to be a setter, and it seemed Asahi was the one who did that. But the most surprising part was Kaede, the team's defensive specialist who rushed forward to attack. Even though his movement was sloppy and made him unable to generate more power, the initiative was there, and by how confident he was, it was clear that this wasn't the first time their senpai did that.

Both freshmen kept observing the training session, and the more they watched, the more they were surprised. Not just Kaede and Asahi, but almost everyone also made a huge change to their style. Now, Hirano was willing to attack from the wing instead of just waiting for the ball in the middle, Koji developed a nasty cross to get through the blocker, Ogawa filled Kaede's position in the back row better, and hell, even Okamura, the team's libero also learned how to do serve and to be a setter. Yuki didn't even know whether the libero was allowed to pull something like that in the game or not.

Still, there was one thing for sure now. When Yuki and Riku couldn't join their training since they had to play for the Thunder, their senpai didn't stay idle, also working their asses off to catch up with them. Even though their level was still below a professional team like the Thunder, at least their quality was far better than the Tsunemori who were beaten by Konan High in the last inter-high.

It seemed the players on the court hadn't noticed their kouhai's presence yet since they decided to continue the game. Yuki and Riku decided to keep quiet for now as they wanted to see more of their senpai's skills after the summer break. They were shocked one more time when Koji pulled a stable powerful jump shot with confidence shining in his eyes.

BAM!

"Shit! I got this!" Ogawa gritted his teeth, leaning his body to the left side while also extending one of his arms far to reach the ball. His attempt was proven to be successful, yet the ball flew back to the other side of the net. "Sorry! That's my bad!"

'The power and accuracy are more refined than the last time I saw it.' Yuki thought. 'It seems whatever Hisashi-san and the other alumni did, it worked perfectly to bring the best out of him. Nice.'

The ball was flying back to team Koji's side, and Okamura was quick enough to pick it up. However, Yuki frowned one more time. 'Wait, should Oka-senpai be their setter? If he got the first touch, who will set up the attack?'

Well, it seemed his worry was unfounded, since Okamura set up the ball directly from the first touch. Koji who was on the back rushed forward, yet Hirano and Asahi were ready to stop it. Then, something completely insane happened. Yuki seemed to have a flashback of his time with the Thunder as he saw Koji suddenly slow down, and when the two blockers jumped to stop his attack, he hadn't even jumped yet.

'A delayed attack.' Yuki murmured in realization.

With the two blockers failing to read his jump timing correctly, it was easy for Koji to end the play. He didn't even need to aim where he should spike the ball, just a plain, straight hit to the back of the court.

BAM!

"OH! Nice spike, Koji-senpai!" Riku jumped excitedly, announcing his presence. "Damn, that is a nasty delay! Since when did you start to learn that?!"

Koji himself was stunned, surprised to see his kouhai here. Not just him, but almost everyone had the same reaction. They were so focused on their training session that they weren't aware of two new faces who just came here. When they turned around though, they could see Yuki also had the dumfounded expression on his face while Megumi nodded at them in approval. That was when they finally woke up from their dazed state.

"Oh! Riku! It's been a while!"

"Yuki too!"

"Hey, are you an idiot or what?! We saw Yuki two weeks ago, remember?" Explore stories on empire

"Damn, I forget about that!"

"But hey, it's been a long time since we saw each other! How come you both become taller and stronger?"

Indeed, even though they didn't notice it, for the other Tsunemori players who hadn't seen them for about a month, Yuki and Riku's physical improvement could be seen even with the naked eye. Yuki hit a growth spurt and became taller by a few centimeters, and while Riku didn't have a significant height change, those two had more muscles on their body compared to a month ago. Their hard work training in the gym seemed to be paid off now.

"Hey, don't touch my arms like that! You all are being weird here!" Riku struggled to get away from the crowd. After a while though, the excitement seemed to die down, or moved into Riku as it was the blonde boy's turn to get excited. "Anyway, what the hell is that, Koji-senpai?! Since when did you learn how to do a delay attack?! Also, Oka-senpai, you can set up an attack now?! You guys are awesome!"

Facing such genuine praise from their kouhai, all the Tsunemori players there just grinned goofily at each other. "Ha! Don't underestimate us, Riku!" Kaede encircled his arms around the blonde boy's shoulder. "While you and Yuki are fighting for a professional team, we work our asses off until collapse to improve ourselves! Just wait, you will bunch of useless, helpless guys anymore! Don't be surprised to see any of us are better than you now!"