"So, do you understand what is your problem now?" Akira said in the 'I told you so' manner. "How does it feel to be bested and be looked down on by your kouhai like that?"
Hearing that, all the players looked down on the floor, rage and depression lingering around the air. It was the intermission before the second set began, and the coach gathered all but Yuki and Riku to give them a pep-talk. Not only were they depressed about their loss in the first set – which was quite bad considering they couldn't score more than 12 points even after taking a quick lead at the beginning of the game, but also because they were disregarded, their presence on the court was completely ignored by their two kouhai. It was as if they didn't exist at all and those two decided to do it all by themselves.
The disrespect was real, and it stung so much straight in the heart.
"I have already told you all about this problem since Hisashi graduated, yet I couldn't see any chance up to now. It is as if you just nod at my words but you forget about it completely just a few seconds later. If I don't know you are a bunch of dunderheads, I would suspect you did it on purpose just to play with me."
All the players there clenched their fists and gritted their teeth at the insult, trying to hold back their rage. However, Akira ignored all of that and continued.
"This problem has been lingering around for too long, right? I let it happen for a long time hoping that having freshmen as your new teammates would force you to be more mature, yet it seems I was wrong on that. I think we need to resolve this matter right now. Start from you, Noriyuki-kun!"
"Me?!" The captain straightened his back immediately, was taken aback when his name was mentioned.
"Yes, you!" Akira nodded. "To be honest, while I respect Hisashi as my former student, I don't know what was inside his head when he chose you to be the captain. It is clear that Yori is a far better choice compared to you."
His words created a sudden heavy atmosphere on the team, with Noriyuki having his mouth gaped wide in shock at this blunt insult while Yori suddenly grew uncomfortable when he was pitted against Noriyuki. Inwardly, everyone there thought that Akira suddenly went crazy, tearing apart the team in the middle of the game.
"What, you don't believe me?" Akira raised one of his eyebrows. "I know you are a smart person, Noriyuki-kun. There is no way you didn't notice the lack of communication problem in the team. Yet you have never done your duty as the leader even for once! You stay passive, never dare to take responsibility for anything bad that happened! You just stood on the sideline, watching the team crumble in silence, and walked away as if you didn't want to play volleyball anymore! Goddamnit, Noriyuki-kun, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
Everyone winced, knowing their coach was pissed now. It wasn't often for Akira to raise his voice, but on several occasions when he did that, it was always scary.
"And you all are the same!" He turned his glare at the other players. "You all are here as if you don't want to play volleyball anymore! Is that what you really want? If so, I will not hold you back here! If you want to leave, just go!"
Silence.
Dead silence.
Following his roar, an awkward silence settled down in the gymnasium, even the players from Matsukita also looked at them curiously. All the Tsunemori players held their breath unconsciously, didn't dare to meet their coach's eyes even for a second. This was the first time Akira was so furious he drove the players out of the team, and while most of them knew this was just a spur decision he made in anger, they still realized their coach wasn't kidding this time.
Akira just snorted, finally threw his body back to his seat while his face was still red from his hot temper before saying, "Think of what I said. Before the second quarter begins, tell me what do you want here."
-0-
"Woah, scary…" Yuki stared in awe at his coach. He was glad he wasn't in the position to be scolded like his senpai right now.
"You don't know half of that." Riku beside him mumbled, still wiping all the sweat on his face. "This is still moderate considering we are just students. When he faced professional…" Riku shivered as if he just remembered something that scared him.
Unlike their senpai who were held back by their coach to get scolded, after the first set was over, those two were dragged away from the bench by Megumi who had already known first-hand what Akira wanted to do. Honestly, they should sympathize with their senpai right now, if only they weren't that useless on the court.
However, Yuki was still taken aback by the outburst Akira showed, didn't expect the ever-calm coach to have it inside him.
"Wait, what do you mean professional?" Yuki suddenly asked.
"Hm?" Riku responded, yet Yuki could tell his blonde friend's head was not in this place right now. "Well, before going to Japan, he studied sports science and became a volleyball coach for the local team in Italy. Don't you know that?"
The corner of Yuki's lips twitched when he heard Riku's tone for the last question as if it were the most well-known information in the world.
"What was he like when coaching a professional team?" Megumi couldn't help but ask curiously.
Once again, Riku shuddered in fear as if he just remembered something bad that happened in the past. "You don't want to know the details, Senpai. When he was on the court, my uncle was a mafia even among the Italians."
-0-
Five minutes later, the break was finally over, and both freshmen went back to the court immediately. Since they were excluded from the bloodbath pep talk before, those two didn't know whether Akira set a new instruction or not. They just knew two players were coming in, Ren to replace Hirano as the middle blocker and Yori to replace Noriyuki as the outside hitter.
"Yori-senpai, you can play not just as a setter?" Yuki asked, surprised.
The one who was questioned just smiled slightly before saying, "Well, I have never done that before. But it is not like I have to be anything but a setter. Riku-kun, you are willing to be a hitter for us, right?" He grinned mischievously.
Riku groaned, clearly hating that idea. He loved controlling the game as a setter, but he knew this wasn't the ideal situation, so he had to give up that privilege to his senpai for now.
A few seconds later, all the Matsukita players also went to the court, ready for the second set. Amagi walked straight to the net to strike up a conversation. "Man, your coach sure is scary, right? His voice echoed all over the gym. Damn, he is not afraid of embarrassment for scolding his students in another school. That's awesome." He sent a thumbs up.
Yuki and Riku didn't know if it was a sarcastic comment or not, yet it was Yori who replied, "Sorry about that one. There was a huge mess in our team, and it seems our sensei had enough of it." He smiled politely.
Amagi blinked, not expecting he would be greeted this politely by a player who had just been scolded mercilessly by his coach. "You are not playing in the first set, right? What is your position?"
"Setter."
"Oh? Interesting." The smile spread from ear to ear on Amagi's face. "Please, help your two cute little kouhai to make this interesting, okay? I hate it when I have to play a game that is too easy."
After that, he walked away immediately, leaving those three Tsunemori players alone with their thoughts.
"Hate to play an easy game? He is really full of himself, isn't he?" Riku mumbled grumpily, eliciting chuckles from the other two.
"But there is one thing he got it right though. While we are not their opponent, we need to put up a fight, at least to make it not an easy game for them. Are you ready?"
The faces of those two freshmen suddenly lightened up, seeing hope that things would be different for the next set. It wasn't a baseless hope, since compared to the other senpai on the team, Yori was more willing to communicate with them, so they were hopeful it would be the same when they were in the game.
"Well, Yori-senpai, if you say so, maybe we could put up a better fight for the next set…"
-0-
"Ren-san, left! In my count, three, two, one, jump!"
*BAM!*
"Chance ball!"
"Osh! Nice block, Ren, Kobayashi!"
"Yori-senpai, left!"
*BAM!*
"YOSSHAA!"
Five minutes after the second set started, everything turned out far better than Riku and Yuki expected. It wasn't just Yori, but the presence of Ren to replace Hirano as the middle blocker was also a game changer for Tsunemori. While Ren didn't have the quick reaction and good game reading like Hirano, he was a team player and willing to listen and communicate even with their kouhai.
"Good job, Senpai!" Yuki gave a thumbs up at Ren. The third-year student just grinned foolishly, something that was so unsuitable with the 'David Beckham' cool hairstyle he had.
"Okay, good job, everyone! Let's keep it up!" Yori praised his teammates, making them all have this proud expression on their faces. "Kobayashi! Give us another good serve again!"
"Sure, Senpai!"
Yuki stepped outside of the court, yet his eyes were still on Yori. To be honest, he didn't know why it was Noriyuki and not the setter who was the captain considering how different their personality was. While he admitted that Noriyuki was a good player packing a powerful spike, he was too quiet and too awkward sometimes to talk to the others. As for Yori, the setter always radiated this warm aura that told everyone how 'approachable' he was since Yuki met him for the first time, the treat that was definitely more suitable for the leader of the team.
'Well, it is not my problem.' Yuki shook his head, trying to bring back his concentration on the game. 'Let's finish the game first.'
Yuki took a deep breath, sent a floater serve straight to the opponent's setter. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as one of their players suddenly came in to receive the ball, protecting Amagi from the first touch. While today was his first game against a proper professional team, Yuki was surprised to see the floater serve he was always proud of was rendered useless here.
'It seems I need to think of another way to serve later.' He mused.
He had to save that for later, as right after serving the ball, Yuki went immediately to the front, acting as a middle blocker together with Ren. Honestly, Yuki was more comfortable in the back, playing defense until no one noticed his presence before suddenly joining the offense out of nowhere. However, he couldn't help but do it. Since Hirano was subbed off by the coach, his position was pushed to the front considering Ren's terrible game-reading ability.
"Keep calm, Ren-san. Don't be fooled by the other's movement. Follow my lead!" Yuki kept talking while his eyes kept scanning all the Matsukita players' movements on the other side of the net. Right before Amagi tossed the ball to his teammates, he had already guessed where the ball would go and shouted, "Go right, Ren-san!"
Amagi scowled, unhappy that his move was predicted once again like an open book. However, he still set the ball to Gondo who acted as the outside hitter on the left. Facing the blocker coming from the middle in his direction, Matsukita's captain didn't hesitate to go for a straight spike to avoid Ren's wall. His spike was so close to the sideline that if anyone with bad dynamic eyes guarded that area, they wouldn't know whether the ball would land in or outside of the court. However, before it could hit the floor, a bald guy suddenly flashed there, diving forward to save the ball.
"OH! NICE SAVE, YOSHI!"
Yeah, it was Yoshi, the opposite hitter who suddenly appeared there. Even though he had been quiet since the bad scolding by the coach, that didn't mean he lost his spirit already. He had been pondering about Akira's words for a while and realized that he should be more active for the team.
"GIVE IT HERE, YORI!"
Seeing one of his teammates finally rise from the slump, Yori smiled, glad for his friend. Now with Yoshi joining the coordination attack, it would add his option to pass.
Or… That was what he thought before a collision happened on the left side.
*Brugh!*
Yori and Yuki had their face palmed when they both saw Yoshi and Riku on the floor. The first-year setter didn't expect that Yoshi would suddenly ask for the ball actively and cut off his route, making them crash into each other.
"Ouch!"
Having no other choice to pass, Yori set the ball to Yuki on the right side. The first-year player tried to play another trick with a dump, yet Matsukita had already anticipated that. They had already noticed Yuki would always go for a dump whenever he had a chance, so it was easy to predict his attack.
"Stand up quickly, you fool!" Yori shouted to the two players on the floor.
However, before both Riku and Yori could do that, Amagi had already tossed the ball to the middle for a quick tempo attack, and the player with the number 7 from Matsukita aimed his spike straight at those two.
"Shit! Duck, Blondie!"
"Get away, Agostini!"
Without waiting for Riku's response, Yoshi grabbed Riku's jersey and pulled the blonde boy down while Yuki jumped there to receive the spike. The bad communication between the three players once again made them all crash and fall on the same spot again. Fortunately, Yuki managed to save the ball at the end even though the ball flew again to Matsukita's side one more time.
"Damn! Sorry! That's a bad receive!"
"Don't worry about it! Just stand up quickly! You too, Yoshi! Riku!"
There was chaos for a moment on the Tsunemori's side as everyone's positions scattered randomly. And the situation was too good for Matsukita to not take advantage of. Amagi set the ball far to the left side where Gondo was already doing his run-up once again before hitting the ball hard, once again to a tricky direction close to the sideline.
Ren and Yuki who noticed Matsukita's captain was ready to attack one moment ago jumped at the same time. However, even though Yuki managed to block the ball, the power generated from Gondo was too much for him to handle.
*BAM!*
The ball flew away far outside of the court. Even though Yoshi tried to hustle and save the ball, it was a futile attempt as the ball bounced to the floor quicker than he could chase it. The moment the point was confirmed for Matsukita, Gondo roared wildly, celebrating another point by him.
"YOSSHA! GOOD PASS, AMAGI!"
Meanwhile, almost all the Tsunemori players fell on the floor, their chests moved up and down rapidly as they were too exhausted to get up after that chaotic play before. Their eyes were too blurry to see anything, the combination of the sweat that rolled down their eyes and the dizziness after crashing and falling to the floor over and over again.
However, even though after all of that, they still failed to save the ball, there were identical grins shared by all the players with green jerseys on the court, feeling blood and excitement rushed into their heads.
Inwardly, they all had the exact same thought, 'This is the kind of volleyball we want to play!'