Kurai takes a perfect step to the right. Properly planting his feet and jumping. Setting the ball perfectly in front of Liam, slightly shocking him. He spikes the ball as it hits the court and the two land. Liam smiles brightly.
"I can still spike like I used to!" Owen looked over shocked, having been unable to block or even react to the quick set. Kurai exhales.
"You're not bringing out your full arm or leg strength" Liam looks over.
"Hmm? What do I do then?" Kurai grabs the ball and bounces it in his hand.
"There's no point in training if you don't challenge yourself, you can only grow if you struggle at something new… next time, try and point your feet towards where I'm setting from and jump with all your might" Liam nods.
"Owen" Owen looks over silently. Kurai tossing the ball to him.
"Next time. Instead of watching my feet, try watching my eyes. And run to block based off that and what your gut tells you" Owen nods and tosses the ball over the net. Carlos dives forward and receives the ball. Kurai takes a step forward and jumps up with near perfect form. Owen focuses his eyes. Liam ran up to the net and slammed his feet on the court with a loud echo. Jumping higher than he's ever jumped. He swings his hand to spike as the ball lands behind him with a bang. Owen had blocked him as they all landed in awkward silence. Kurai smirking. 'Exactly what I expected from these guys.'
------
Kurai takes several large swallows of water as he goes on his early morning jog after practice. Exhaling as he stops. Finding Carlos sitting on a bench with his face planted into his knees. Kurai takes out his earplugs and walks over. Silently sitting beside him. Carlos stays silent for a minute before speaking from behind his legs.
"Hey, Kurai…" Kurai exhales and looks up at the blue sky. Fluffy clouds float past as a calm breeze blows through their hair.
"Mental health… or family problems… I take it?" Carlos removes his face from his knees.
"Not sure… I just… I don't feel it's fair that I'm playing on the same team with such amazing people… You're part of the monster Generation… Owen is super smart… and Jaden is such an amazing leader… and i'm just… it's not fair for someone like me to be on a team with people like you…" he plops his face back into his knees. Kurai patting his back.
"Back in my Freshman year of High School… one of the Seniors had the exact same thought process… he told himself 'why am I so gifted to play with all these players from the monster generation'... he thought it wasn't fair for him to play on the same court as us Monsters" Carlos looks up at Kurai as he continues.
"When I was going through hard times, he saw that as 'if such amazing players loose motivation and stop playing, then what am I to do'?'... and he also quit volleyball…" Carlos relaxes his shoulders.
"What did he do?" Kurai smiles calmly.
"When he made the decision to return. Despite us being monsters of the sport, he was welcomed back into his second family with open arms… now if I can assure you of one thing Carlos?" Carlos perks up a bit as Kurai genuinely smiles while looking at the clouds.
"Monsters aren't born… they're built upon the talents they refine while no one is watching"
------
Kurai walks down the hallway with his backpack. Preparing for his math class with Professor Haruki. He exhales and focuses as he turns down the hallway. Opening the door to the lecture hall. Prof Haruki turned around and smiled.
"Kurai, you've made it to class early, how was volleyball practice?" Kurai calmly smiles.
"Pretty decent, the team still needs a bit to return to their former glory, but you can see the talent they used to wield" Haruki smiles brightly.
"Really! Is that so? Well I'm glad the volleyball team is in such great hands with you, Kurai" Kurai nods.
"But that's not why I came early…" Haruki looks over confused while setting up the projector she'd just got. A glow pours from Kurai's eyes.
"The Qualifiers are coming up soon, and with me, we only have 6 players… so we'd need a Coach, which we don't have" Haruki is slightly shocked, rushing to stand. Slamming her foot into her desk, doubling over in pain. Before rising to her feet once again. "I'm okay" Kurai is slightly disoriented.
"A-are you sure…??" She nods as Kurai clears his throat.
"W-well… would you like to be our coach?" Haruka sat down in her desk chair. Rubbing her ankle which had a brace on.
"Sorry Kurai, I just… I can't… My ankle…" Kurai's eyes widened.
"Sorry for bringing up a bad memory…" Haruki calmly smiles.
"Don't worry about it… Kurai…" Kurai gulps.
"Is it… a bad memory… or an injury… b-because I have knee arthritis and a burn scar that limits some movement-" Haruki smiles.
"I appreciate your concern Kurai… but it's just a bad memory is all" there was an awkward silence between them.
"But I'm willing to tell you what happened since you're such a good student"