The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"YOSSH ~ !"

"~ SHAAAAA!"

Right after the referee blew the whistle, the first one – well, two – who celebrated the win were Yuki and Riku. They looked at each other for a moment, then did a high-five with a big grin on their face. All the players there were confused, not knowing why those two acted like this was something big. Even though they knew the Thunder just won against their rival, but it was just one of the seventeen regular games of this season, not something so decisive as a playoff or God forbid a final game.

However, not a lot of people realized – or remembered – that this game was far more important for those two than just a regular game. This was their debut; their first ever game wearing the Thunder's jersey. Although it was just a U-19 game, the two teenagers didn't think about it too much and celebrated their first win like crazy.

"We did good, right?" Riku grinned with the feeling that only those two could understand.

"You tell me," Yuki replied with the same expression. "Damn, your control of the game is crazy. I am sure that no one will be able to forget about you."

"As if you have the right to say that to me." Riku scoffed, shoving his friend's shoulder playfully. "You being on the service line is enough to leave a strong impression, and when you baited their ace to come to you, it was like the last nail in the coffin. I would be surprised if any of their players don't have a nightmare about you."

The other players just looked at those two with weird faces. At first, they were worried that Yuki and Riku would fight here. But after listening to their bickering, they noticed that the two teenagers were trying to praise each other. Honestly, if they didn't know better, they would think that Yuki and Riku were an old married couple.

'Hiss….' Yuki suddenly felt a shiver down his spine, turning around to figure out the cause. 'Is there anyone imagining something creepy about me?'

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"What happened, Yuki?" Riku asked, noticing his sudden silence.

"No, nothing." Yuki shook his head immediately. "Just feeling like someone just thinking of something rude about me."

"Oh, I get that quite often." Riku nodded in understanding.

Before their conversation could go further though, Shou wrapped his hands around their shoulder, dragging them into the others. "Come on, don't just celebrate by yourself! Share with us!"

"Yes, Kobayashi! Agostini! Don't be too rude to your senior!" Tondo nodded while enjoying a bag of potato chips, which no one knew where they came from.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Tondo! That is disgusting!"

"Yeah! Act like a senior player for once!"

"I am a senior player!"

"Are you?"

"Oh! Burn!" Laughter erupted more as all the players there saw the affronted look on Tondo's face.

From the sideline, Kawaki just shook his head fondly, a smile spreading across his face as he watched his players get along well with each other. He knew that this was all due to the win against their rival, and once they started to lose, the atmosphere would be reversed 180 degrees instantly. Still, that would be a problem for his future self. Now, he wanted to cherish this situation more as it wasn't often to see two rookie players being the center of the celebration.

"Okay, everyone! You can continue your celebration later! For now, let's make a line first!" Kawaki shouted when he noticed the gaze he received from the referee.

"Damn, I forget about that!"

The players didn't need to be told twice as they scampered over the middle of the court to form a line. Even though this was just a formality, no one dared to treat this as anything but serious. There was some sort of sense of ritual in this that all the players – no matter if they won or lost – wouldn't want to be left out for this.

As the players from both teams gathered in the middle of the court, the glaring difference between the cheerful and depressing atmosphere could be seen instantly. Yuki and Riku themselves didn't bother about it, as right now, in front of them, stood Haruo from the Giant Bear's team. For a second, there was an awkward silence among them before Riku finally let out an infuriating smirk and said, "We got you again, Bastard!"

Haruo was stunned, but then let out a small, genuine laughter at that. "Yeah, you both get me. But don't think that this is over, okay? Once I have more influence on this team, I will come to kill you. When that time comes, don't cry and run away, right?"

"Ha?! As if!"

Yuki sighed in relief when he saw his two blonde friends bickering with each other like their usual selves. He would never admit it out loud, but when he saw Haruo asked to get subbed off, he was worried about the middle blocker's mental state. However, when Yuki saw him now, there was no depression or frustration from losing the game, and by how Haruo challenged Riku blatantly like this, Yuki knew that the boy was okay.

After the players from both teams chatted with each other for a moment, the referee finally blew the whistle, and without having to be commanded by anyone else, all of them bowed in unison, shouting, "THANK YOU FOR THE GAME!"

-0-

"Yuki-nii! You are back!" The moment Yuki arrived at the orphanage, he was greeted by the little girl who launched herself toward him like a missile. "You are so cool today! It is like, 'Bwaah!' And your opponent is like, 'Gyaah!' And then you win! And Riku-nii is also cool too! Where is he, by the way?" The little girl looked over his body to search for his friend.

Yuki just let out a small chuckle as he saw the other children also come and launch themselves at him. "Welcome home, Yuki-nii!"

It was the night after the game, and Yuki had to drag his exhausted body to come back to the orphanage. Fortunately, he was friends with Riku, who just called home and asked for his driver – that bastard had a personal driver and never used it apparently – to pick them up. The adrenaline after winning the game wasn't enough for them both to ignore their exhaustion, so Yuki just accepted his friend's offer without any second thought.

Still, all the fatigue disappeared immediately when he entered the building and heard the squealed sound from his little sibling. Surrounded by the children, looking at Aiko and the three girls who chaperoned his little siblings today – they waited for him too – and noticing the warm food on the table, he felt his heart warmed, somehow feeling content.

Still with both hands around the children, Yuki finally murmured, "I am home…"