'How could I be dragged into this mess?!' Yuki groaned.
Currently, he was inside the gymnasium, surrounded by a bunch of sweaty dudes wearing volleyball jerseys, looking at him with their eyes shining brightly. Next to him was another boy with blonde hair, something pretty uncommon in Japan just like his cerulean eyes, receiving the same treatment as him. However, there was a hint of unwillingness and jealousy could be seen in the boy's eyes, and it was directed at him.
Yuki groaned, now regretting his decision to join the challenge just for the 10000-yen prize for the winner.
-A little flashback-
After the slow beginning, the bell finally rang once again, signaling the end of the day. Within a minute after the last teacher left the room, the room was buzzing with excitement. All the students there gathered together, planning on which club to visit next.
The exuberant spring air was filled with excited chatter as they milled about, eyes scanning the colorful posters and flyers plastered on the walls. The School Newspaper Club was boasting about their exclusive scoop on the latest celebrity gossip, while the Debate Team was promising to sharpen minds and spark witty banter. Meanwhile, the Music Club was luring in aspiring rockstars with promises of jam sessions and original compositions. Nearby, the Robotics Club was touting their cutting-edge projects and coding skills.
Yuki himself didn't have that much interest in joining a club. For him, as the oldest boy in the orphanage, even though he had only been there for a month, he also felt a responsibility to help the matron take care of the other children. So, rather than wasting his time joining any club, he would rather use his time wisely, whether by helping the children do their homework or searching for a part-time job outside. Unfortunately, it was mandatory for students to join the club, so, amidst the crowd, he was also strolling over the corridor unwillingly.
'Well, it is better to join a club that doesn't demand a lot of my time.' He thought.
That was when Yuki noticed the commotion gathered in the gym. Intrigued, he came inside to take a look. However, it was hard for him to see what happened there when he was behind the sea of students who were also curious. Fortunately, based on the information he caught from the whispers and chatters from the other, he knew it was the volleyball team making a challenge for the freshmen to complete a cycle.
What they meant by cycle was a full set of basic volleyball skills, from doing a service, setting a pass, spiking the ball, receiving the spikes, and finally blocking the spikes from the members of the volleyball team, and all of that had to be done at least three times each for the challenger to be declared as the winner. Honestly, it was a boring challenge to attract the students to join them. But the prize of 10000 yen was too big for anyone to pass the chance, and the same could be said for Yuki too.
Even though he had never joined any sports team in the past, that was because there were not a lot who were interested in creating it from scratch. As a student, Yuki himself was pretty good in the PE class, always at the top of the list for his grade. This was the boost of confidence he needed to join the fun as he entered the line.
He waited patiently on the line, observing how the other students went for the challenge. Some of them did pretty well, managed to go until the third challenge before their effort was stopped by their senpai who was really good at receiving the spike. However, most of it failed just in the first or second challenge, making the line get thin quicker than he expected.
"Man, this is so boring." Yuki heard the person in front of him mumbling. It was a student slightly smaller than him with unusual blonde hair that attracted everyone's attention. "A bunch of rookies, they are."
Yuki just rolled his eyes slightly, decided to ignore that boy. He didn't know whether the boy was good at volleyball or just all talk with no skill, but no matter what, he hated the type of person like that, always looking down on the other's effort just because he was good at it. If this was an anime or fictional story, he would be the first character to die from being too cocky.
However, after ten minutes of waiting, his patience started to get thinner. The line was still long, yet time kept tickling as the sun was already near the horizon. Fortunately, Yuki didn't promise to pick up Mai, or she would still be waiting alone while her other peers were already back home.
After a while though, the unexpected happened. As if listening to his complaint of how long the line was, suddenly, a group of students about ten people decided to walk away, their confidence died down after seeing no one was able to pass more than three challenges.
"Yosh! After this, it would be my time to shine!" The blonde boy in front of him clenched his fist.
Intrigued, Yuki decided to observe how this boy would go for the challenge. Like him, he might not, but Yuki was still a smart person. Until now, he had never seen a person who could challenge the volleyball team that seriously. Seeing how confident the blonde boy was, he wanted to see how the members of the volleyball club handled him.
"Next challenger!"
"Yosh!" The blonde boy rolled up his sleeve excitedly. "Riku Agostini, a freshman! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Senpai!"
Yuki blinked a few times, his brain noticing the strange name and the strong accent. 'A foreigner? Is that an Italian name?'
The blonde boy, Riku, didn't wait for too long before starting the challenge. And to everyone's astonishment, he decided to do it with a bang. He took a deep breath, focused on the ball, and let it sail across the net. Time seemed to slow down as the ball hovered in mid-air, and then - BAM! - it landed with a satisfying smack on the opponent's side of the court.
Almost all the volleyball club's members had their jaws dropped, couldn't believe what they just witnessed. Did a freshman hit them with an ace jump serve? That shit usually only happened in a fictional story. However, this was the reality. The handsome blonde boy stole the show with his amazing display of skill.
"Come on, Senpai! Get ready, because I will launch it one more time!"
The whistle blew one more time, and Riku sprang into action. His feet left the ground as he launched the ball into the air. This time, the ball soared even higher, arcing over the net and landing with a resounding crash on the opposite side of the court.
"OH! ANOTHER ACE!"
"Who is that monster?!"
"Is he really the same freshman like us?!"
"Damn!"
The blonde boy grinned widely as everyone was talking about him. Unfortunately, before he could continue once again, he was stopped by a middle-aged man who glared at him fiercely - a glare that promised pain.
"Enough, Boy!" He barked. "Don't you think it is time to stop showing off?!"
"Sensei!" All the volleyball members reacted quickly when they saw the man. It seemed he was the head coach of the team.
"What?! Come on, Akira-sensei! I just started to have some fun here!" The boy whined.
"Do you want me to say that to your dad?" The coach glared. Seeing that, the blonde boy folded like a wet paper, trembling under the threat. It seemed by how close they interacted with each other, the blonde boy and the coach were relatives. After that, the coach turned around and bowed apologizingly to his players as he said, "Sorry about him, everyone. He is still new here and just finished his paperwork to join the school. He is my nephew, so he will probably be your teammate in the future. Is that alright?"
"Oh, don't worry, Coach! If his skill is as amazing as his serve, we are happy to welcome him!"
"Yeah! Maybe, with him, we can go further in the next tournament!"
Yuki furrowed his brows, unhappy with his words. It was a blatant nepotism, yet since he was the coach here, no one was able to refute what he said. It didn't help that the boy himself was indeed very good at volleyball. If only the coach didn't say that last word, he would have no problem with the current situation. However, just by saying that, the impression he had toward the club dropped significantly.
'What the hell am I thinking about?' Yuki shook his head. 'It is not my problem if it is considered as nepotism or not. Let's just finish this challenge first and go back home as soon as possible.'
Yeah, the 10000-yen prize was already forgotten by basically everyone, including Yuki. The challengers saw no hope to do that after the first thirty students failed to pass the third out of five challenges. Now, they were still here to join the fun and showed some respect to their senpai.
"Okay, next challenger! Come in!"
Yuki stepped forward with full of confidence. One of the members of the club just handed him the ball casually, not even glancing at him. Well, it was understandable. After seeing such a powerful display from Riku before, no one was in their right mind to see the next performance they had already deemed as another disaster just like the others even before he could start.
Yuki didn't mind, though. He was here not to attract the other's attention, but to grab the prize. He took a deep breath before launching the ball high, doing a small runup and jumped a little before tapping the ball gently in the air. The ball flew slowly, and everyone with good eyes would be able to see it had no rotation while still flying in the air.
The coach and Riku who were still there raised their eyebrows slightly, intrigued especially when they saw the ball wobbling in the air. It was a good floater, sending straight to the back left. If a defender was standing there, he would have a hard time handling that ball.
"Nice serve!"
The praise given by the members of the volleyball was hollow. It seemed they were tired already after seeing a bunch of rookie serves for the entire afternoon so they would judge every serve that went in as a good serve. They didn't notice their coach staring intently at this new challenger.
Unfazed by the treatment, Yuki continued doing the same. To the coach's surprise, the next two serves were done in the same manner, landing on the same spot on the court.
'This boy has a good talent in serve!' The coach marveled. 'If cultivated properly, he could be a good pinch server for us!'
However, the surprise from Yuki was not over. He did the setting challenge flawlessly, sending the ball perfectly to the spot where the hitter would usually be there. By now, all the eyes finally turned to him, giving Yuki the respect he deserved.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know, but his performance is not bad."
"Well, it is still too early to judge. Let's see how he handles the third challenge."
The third challenge itself was to spike the ball to the opposite area. His main purpose was to score while three defenders from the regular members would defend him properly. Since this was just a challenge, there would be no blocker standing in front of him.
This was the challenge that everyone couldn't get through. However, Yuki was confident, especially after observing how his predecessor failed to do the challenge. They all just wanted to hit the ball as hard as possible without thinking of the route, making it easier for the defenders to anticipate. He didn't want to repeat that mistake, so while in the air, he kept his eyes open, observing the whole movement of his defenders.
'Huh? This should be easy, right?'
Seeing the three defenders were far on the back, Yuki didn't hesitate even for a second before tapping the ball gently just like what he did in the serve challenge.
'A dink?!'
The three defenders were not expecting Yuki to hit the ball softly. They ran forward frantically, yet it was too late as the ball dropped faster than their recovery speed. The moment it bounced to the floor, everyone stared at him like he was an alien. This was the first time in the day someone managed to break the volleyball members' defense in the third challenge, and now, he had all the eyes on him.
"Damn! That's a good dink!"
"He has a good head! Twice more!"
"Don't be naïve! The senpai wouldn't allow him to score again after this!"
"Come on!"
Unfazed by the cheers from the outside, Yuki tossed the ball once again to the setter. Once the ball was returned in a good height, he started to run and leaped through the air, coiling back his arms as his eyes moved quickly, scanning where the ball should go.
Seeing one of the defenders wanted to cover the front area, Yuki hit the ball directly at him without hesitation, catching the defender off guard. Seeing the ball zooming into his face, the defender could only raise his hand, trying to cover his face from the hit.
"OUCH!"
"Oh! Another point for the freshman!"
"I wonder who is his name and from which class is he?"
"He is amazing!"
The coach who watched from the sideline crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes were dead-serious. "Recruit him." He said. "He has a good IQ and knows how to handle the sudden change of situation on the court. His basic is also very good. With a decent amount of training, he would be essential for our team this year."
Even though all of them were surprised to hear their coach praise a freshman that high, all of the members of the team knew Yuki deserved that. Once was a coincidence, but what about twice? And now, seeing Yuki fly for the third time to greet the ball in the air, everyone held their breath unconsciously.
*BAM!*
"An untouchable spike!"
"The senpai couldn't handle his spike! He will go through the fourth challenge!"
"Another monster emerged in the volleyball team!"
"What a beast!"
Amidst the cheers from the audience, Yuki smirked amusedly at the members of the volleyball team who were staring at him in astonishment. "So, what should I do next? Come on, I still have that 10000-yen waiting for me!"