"So, is there anyone here brave enough to tell me what is going on?" Akira asked, giving his players a flat look that dripped with disapproval, making them all squirm on the spot.
It was the day when he finally went back to the school, and Akira was shocked when the first thing he saw Yoshi and Yuki were clashing against each other with fierce glares on their face as if they were ready to brawl. The only thing that prevented them from doing that was Megumi who tried her best to separate them.
Seeing the segregation that was shown clearly between the old members of the team and the two freshmen here, Akira sighed tiredly, knowing that a part of this was his fault.
"Well, if you both didn't want to say anything, let me be the one who speak." He coughed. "First of all, I want to apologize to everyone here for my negligence. I should have addressed this problem from the beginning rather than waiting until things got worse like this. So, for this failure, I am so sorry!"
Akira bowed deeply, making everyone uncomfortable. While some of them still felt unhappy with Akira, they all were good boys in nature, so to see the older man – their teacher nonetheless lowered his head to ask for their forgiveness, it made them unsure of what to do.
"However…" Akira suddenly narrowed his eyes, dark aura suddenly emerged from his body, making everyone gulp nervously. "My mistake is not a good enough reason to justify what you all did to your junior, right?!" Everyone flinched when Akira suddenly roared angrily.
"I don't want to point out my finger at anyone and judge them guilty without hearing the story from your side, but you all make it impossible! Just like today, what the hell are you thinking?! Trying to pick up a fight in the school like this, do you really want to get expelled or what?!"
Seeing no one dared to look into his eyes directly, Akira turned his attention to probably the only one who could explain this situation neutrally. "Megumi!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Everyone winced, feeling pity for the girl. She was probably the only one who was trying her best to separate the fight, yet still got yelled at by the coach. It seemed Akira also realized that as he softened his features immediately for the girl.
"Sorry for raising my voice, Megumi-san. But can you tell me what happened before I arrived here?" Seeing the hesitant look from the girl while she had her eyes looking around uneasily, Akira knew what Megumi thought and added, "Don't worry. No matter what you say, no one will blame you. Am I right?" He asked the last part while glaring at his players who nodded frantically.
"See? No one will bother you. So, please, enlighten us."
"Well…" Megumi was still a bit hesitant before finally telling the truth. "When Kobayashi-kun and Riku-kun entered the gym, everyone tried their best to ignore them. Some might give them glares from afar. Then, Kobayashi-kun mumbled about cowardly or something like that, and Yoshi-kun who overheard him snapped and pushed Kobayashi-kun to the ground. After that, Kobayashi-kun rose and wanted to retaliate, then you arrived to stop the conflict before it could get worse."
Even though it was just a simplified version of what happened and couldn't convey the emotion at that time, Akira could imagine how severe the situation was, especially if even now, Yoshi and several senior members still had this heated glare directed at Yuki for his comment.
"So, Kobayashi-kun, what prompted you to say that?" Akira asked.
"I don't know. Maybe because it is the truth?" Yuki shrugged nonchalantly, not caring how his comment provoked his senpai once again. Akira sighed, silently cursing God for giving such a talented player like Yuki a troublesome personality. However, Yuki wasn't over here. He continued speaking, "I mean, for all the talks and rumors they spread about me, they sure went silent and ignored me the moment I came here, not daring to confront me head-on. If that is not cowardly, then, I don't know what else fits into that category."
"Enough!" Yoshi finally snapped. "You keep sputtering that bullshit about cowardly, don't you know that is what we meant by disrespect?! And you still asked why we treat you like this? Really?! Never in my mind I have imagined a mere freshman like you dare to talk to us like that!"
Everyone was tense momentarily, ready to separate another conflict between those two. Yuki himself didn't back down. The moment he saw Yoshi approach him, he waited until his senpai was in front of him before meeting eye-to-eye.
"Well, if what you mean disrespect is standing on my own feet, then, sure, I will disrespect anyone here. Just because you don't have a spine doesn't mean I have to throw away mine too, 'Senpai'. Maybe, try to search where is yours first before talking?"
His words were full of venom, making Yoshi's face red, exploding in fury.
"ENOUGH!"
All the people there – even Akira jumped on the spot, not surprised by the shout, but rather by the one who did that. When they all turned around, they flinched at the intense glares that radiated from Megumi's eyes that promised them pain.
"I have enough! This childishness has to stop!" She roared. "Kobayashi, stop provoking everyone here! You are just making things worse! And Yoshi, don't look so smug! You are just as bad as Kobayashi!"
Silence settled over the gym as everyone had their jaws dropped, not expecting Megumi to take over the situation this way. They knew the girl had a temper, but it was probably the first time they saw her explode like this. This just proves that the current situation was bad though, and they had finally touched Megumi's bottom line.
Seeing the tension finally ebbed away, Megumi nodded in satisfaction. Her face still flushed red, yet she didn't have the intention to let the control go. "Good, you all can shut your mouth for once. Now, let's solve this situation like an adult. Only the one who I allowed to speak will open his mouth, understand?!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" For a moment, all of them acted like a bunch of trainee soldiers under the commander's eyes.
"Good. Then, let's start with either Noriyuki or Yoshi, or you both could just speak together." The two higher-ups of the team stared at each other for a moment before nodding simultaneously. "Now, please, explain to us the reason why you spread such a nasty rumor about your junior, nonetheless among the students in the school. You know that he would be a public enemy right after that, right? What do you want to achieve here?"
Having been under Megumi's intense stare for a while, Yoshi gulped nervously, didn't want to provoke the girl's ire anymore. Yet, he still felt he had to answer the question since all this commotion was because of him, not Noriyuki.
"Well, we just wanted for them to apologize for their remarks in the game against Matsukita, no more or no less. While I know there are some truths in their words, the way they said it was not right. I mean, have you ever seen a kouhai dare to disrespect his senpai as they did?"
"You should emphasize his usage of the pronoun 'they' here, Megumi-san, and not 'he'. That means his first target is not just me here." Yuki interrupted rudely.
While of course, everyone knew about that, Yuki just wanted to remind them all that they targeted him because they were too afraid of doing that to the other freshman who had a backer in the school. However, Megumi didn't appreciate his interruption as she turned her glare to him immediately.
"Shut up, Kobayashi! You will have your turn to speak later!" She retorted. Yuki shut his mouth immediately, knowing that the girl's temper was still on fire. Seeing that, Megumi nodded before turning back to Yoshi again. "Continue. Tell us why you think it is a good idea to spread that rumor." She asked bossily.
Hearing that question, Yoshi seemed to shrink on the spot that everyone thought if the ground could eat him alive, he wouldn't even fight to save himself. Still, no one dared to voice that thought loudly.
"W-Well… I didn't mean to do that!" Yoshi tried to defend himself. "I was just frustrated at that time and vented everything out to my classmates! I didn't expect it would spread wildly just in a few days!"
Megumi let out a deep sigh, finally figured out why everything happened. "So, with you causing this much trouble for Kobayashi, do you still expect him to apologize?"
Yoshi could only glance at his kouhai secretly, yet still kept his mouth shut. Megumi sighed once again, she even started to get tired of hearing her sigh. "What about you, Kobayashi?" She turned her attention to the freshmen. "Are you willing to apologize?"
"Why should I?" Yuki shrugged. "If it was before the rumors, maybe I am willing to do that out of respect to my 'senpai'." He quoted the last word in the air. "But now, after all of this shit happened, there is no way I would apologize for hurting his fragile ego."
"Why, you!"
"ENOUGH!" Megumi raised her voice again, making everyone step back in fright. "Kobayashi, speak your mind clearly, and no need to be sarcastic! No one appreciated that cheeky tone of yours here right now!"
Yuki shut his mouth immediately, inwardly taking a note to himself to not try finding out his senpai's bottom line. He could hear stiffened chuckles from behind, yet it died down quickly the moment Megumi glared at them too. Right now, Megumi was like a police patrolling around to catch anyone who dared to not take this situation seriously.
After everything was under her control, Megumi sighed once again before turning her head to Akira, silently asking the coach to handle the situation. Akira gulped, for a second thought he would be the next one to get scolded. Honestly, after more than two years they working together, this was the first time he saw Megumi snap. However, that was understandable, considering the team had never had a problem this severe.
"Well…" He coughed, trying to get everyone's attention. "It is clear that no one wanted to take the initiative to apologize, right?" Yuki and Yoshi nodded simultaneously. Akira grinned, then continued, "Since we are in stagnant here, how about solving everything in the most classical way?"
"Classical way?" All the players there turned around to the coach, parroting his words.
"Yeah." His grin kept getting wider, creeping the hell out of his players there. "Since we are a volleyball team, why don't we use a game to decide the outcome? Let's make it public for the school residents so that whoever loses the game, they had to apologize directly under the scrutinization of the audience! What do you think?"
Dead silence followed his words as everyone had either their jaws hanging or their eyes widened in shock. Honestly, even though it sounded outrageous, a public game was probably the best solution possible for this situation. With this, if Yuki won, he would receive the apology that would nullify all the rumors outside, while if Yoshi won, he would get the apology he wanted while Yuki would come as the bigger man in the end for daring to apologize in front of the crowds—a win-win solution for both parties.
There was only one problem, though.
"How about the team, Sensei?" Yuki asked wryly. "I am sure none of them were willing to work with me now. Should I play with only Agostini-kun as my teammate?"
Akira also realized that problem too. However, he didn't say anything first, wanting to see the other players' attitude. Seeing that no one was willing to fight for Yuki though, Akira sighed in disappointment before his expression lightened up.
"Don't worry, I have already thought of the solution for this. Ah, and speaking of which, here they are. Come in, you four!"
All the eyes turned around, wanting to see who were the people Akira greeted before. They were blinded immediately by the seemingly family of four gorgeous people who looked like they were descended from heaven. Hell, if they weren't distracted, all the players there would find out Megumi's face blushed red at the sight of the man in front of them, something that no one would ever believe if they didn't see it themselves.
"Well, let me introduce them to you. From the oldest to the youngest, the man is Mattheo Silvestri, my former student when I was in Italy. Next to him is his wife, Maria Silvestri, and then their twin daughters, Gabriella and Isabella Silvestri. I have already talked to them yesterday, and they are willing and excited to be a part of the team for one day. So, it seems the Silvestri family will be Kobayashi-kun's teammates. Any complaints?"