The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Unfortunately, the higher-ups of the school were something unreachable for them. No matter how much they scolded secretly, no one dared to voice their dissatisfaction directly to the teachers. They didn\'t know what kind of punishment would they get and they also didn\'t want to test the school\'s bottom line.

As a result, they turned their dissatisfaction into the other subject of the rumor, which was the volleyball team.

Under the students\' scrutinization, days passed slowly for the volleyball team. No matter where they would go, someone would always whisper at them and look at them with hostility. Hell, even some teachers scolded them without any good reason. Apparently, they were fed off by the rumor too.

This, of course, affected the players\' mood. Even Riku who seemed not to care about it in the beginning started to get annoyed, couldn\'t concentrate on the training. That was understandable, since he suddenly lost the fangirls he was so proud of. Even though it sounded silly, for Riku who was used to the attention, suddenly not receiving it would make him uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, they couldn\'t protest about it at all.

Of course, some wanted to do that, wanting to clarify that it was Arina Sugawara\'s plan to smear their name. Unfortunately, comparing Arina Sugawara\'s flawless reputation with them who created so many commotions in the past, it was clear who the students would believe it. If anything, the more they resisted, the worse their reputation would be.

Now, they all regretted agreeing to Arina Sugawara\'s outrageous request.

It seemed Akira also noticed his players\' distraught, as he stopped the training earlier than usual.

"It seems your mind is not in here at this moment," Akira commented casually without any heat in his tone. His players couldn\'t help but bow their heads, feeling guilty about it. "Unfortunately, I cannot help you guys about it. This is the consequence of your stupidity, and you need to learn that whenever there is an action, there will be a reaction from the other side.

I hope this will be a lesson for you all to not act recklessly in the future. But for now, we can end the training today!"

Everyone left with a depressed mood as they were dismissed by the coach. However, Yuki hummed slightly, feeling curious. He knew Akira cared so much about the team. No matter what kind of rumor they were suffering from, he would always make sure the team trained their best to prepare for their next game. However, this time was different.

The coach was too nonchalant as if he didn\'t care whether their condition for the next game was good enough or not.

He also noticed the glance exchanged by Akira and Megumi secretly before the other players were dismissed, and Yuki was sure they both planned something. Unfortunately, before he could ask about it, those two left the building as quickly as possible.

Not long after that, the sky started turning its color into bright red, as only a small part of the sun was still above the horizon. Almost all the students were already back, and in the gymnasium building, only Yuki and Riku were left to clean up the mess after the team\'s training. Usually, everyone would be willing to work together to do this.

Unfortunately, in the last couple of days, the seniors were not in the mood to stay in the school longer, so they used their seniority to bully their kouhai.

"Man, this sucks," Riku complained after he put back the mop he just used. "It is so unfair they could get away with everything just because they are our senpai! Even those bastards never treated us like this before they left the team, right?"

Of course, Yuki knew who the bastards Riku just mentioned. It was the third-year players who resigned a month ago. And indeed, when they were still on the team, they didn\'t treat their kouhai badly. However, Yuki knew it was only because they still didn\'t know each other really well.

He was sure after they got along with each other for more than a month, his senpai would show their fang and start to order them to do some chores.

"Oi, Yuki! Why are you so quiet? Don\'t you feel this is unfair?!" It seemed Riku wanted to rope Yuki into his complaining session.

"Well, welcome to Japan, where the seniority is so strong." Yuki chuckled wryly.

Riku just grumbled, knowing about it already. They chatted for a while to distract them from their tiredness after cleaning up the mess, not noticing another presence waiting for them outside of the building nervously. Looking at the two boys who were so carefree, she didn\'t want to interrupt them. However, after a while, she mustered her courage and finally raised her voice.

"A-Ano!"

Yuki and Riku turned their head instantly at the voice. They were stunned, didn\'t expect to see Arina Sugawara, the source of the mess the club was in to be brave enough to come at them.

"Wow, the princess finally graces us with her presence. What can we peasants do for you, Your Highness? Do you need another lamb to be sacrificed again?" Yuki\'s tone was full of sarcasm, making the girl wince unconsciously. Normally, Yuki would never do that, especially to a girl. However, this was a special case.

He needed to vent out his dissatisfaction, and the culprit behind everything was already in front of him.

"Isn\'t it a bit harsh, Yuki?" Riku frowned. Although he didn\'t turn into a lovestruck like their stupid senpai, Riku was always polite to girls, so to hear the venomous tone from his friend, he couldn\'t help but feel the need to reprimand him. "After all, it is our mistake too for trusting her too much."

Riku didn\'t know about it, but his words hurt Arina Sugawara more than Yuki\'s sarcastic remarks.

"I…" The girl hesitated, as if there was a lump on her throat. "I want to apologize!" She bowed quickly, shocking both Yuki and Riku. "I know it is unacceptable, but I don\'t expect the situation would be this bad. I thought before that I could control it, but everything spread like wildfire, and you are the victim of my operation. I am sorry for causing so much trouble for your team!"

Yuki and Riku were stunned, not knowing how to react. They wanted to say it was okay and everything was forgotten, but they couldn\'t do that. The damage was already done, and the team hadn\'t recovered from it. After a while, it was Yuki who reacted first, showing a bitter smile.

"It is useless, right?" He asked. "If apologizing could restore our reputation, then there wouldn\'t be so many people who got ruined from unfounded gossip, is that right?"

Yeah, no matter how Arina Sugawara regretted her decision, nothing could be changed. It was just like the members of the volleyball team who could only feel resentful whenever they heard someone talk shit about them, yet they couldn\'t do anything about it.

"Anway, what is the result of your scheme?" Riku decided to change the topic, didn\'t want to think about the rumor too much. "Have you achieved what you want?"

"Yeah." Arina Sugawara nodded softly. To Yuki and Riku\'s surprise, there was a trace of tears on her face. "However, it is not worth mentioning when you are suffering because of my actions. I promise I will try my best to restore your honor!"

She bowed deeply, then ran away immediately from the building, leaving Yuki and Riku who felt complicated about her. They still couldn\'t help but feel resentful toward the girl, since everything was because of her. However, by the tears of regret on her face and the determination she showed in the last part, they knew she was serious about restoring their honor.

This made them confused about what to think about her.

"Do you think she will be able to do that?" After a while, Riku finally broke the silence with his question.

"I don\'t think so." Yuki blurted the brutal answer quickly. "Although her determination to fix the mess she created is admirable, the rumor has been spread so wildly. There is no way people would believe our explanation. Hell, even now, the third-year students still look at me in disdain, thinking I am a disrespectful brat. So… Yeah… You know there is no solution to kill a rumor."

Riku nodded helplessly, knowing what his friend said was true. For a moment, a silence fell among them as the two boys stared at the sky that started turning dark. In their mind, they couldn\'t help but think of the same thing.

\'The future looks so bleak for us. I wonder what kind of miracle we need to fix this up.\'