The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Come in, come in! Please, make yourselves at home!" Aiko greeted Yuki's two guests warmly. "You must be Arina Sugawara, right? Yuki-kun has told me so much about you in the past!" she said with a delighted expression, ignoring Yuki's complaining shout from the back.

"Oh? All good things, I hope?" Arina Sugawara replied politely.

Aiko just giggled merrily before replying, "At first, he always complained about you, saying you were rude and liked to flaunt your popularity. But as time went by, his opinion changed, and I like to think he is enjoying your company now."

"Obaasan!" Yuki, who was in the kitchen, whined when he heard that. "You're not supposed to tell her about our conversation!"

"I'm sorry, dear, but your rant at that time was just too cute!" she giggled again. "Anyway, where are my manners? Come in, please! You too, Kato-chan!"

"Thank you, Obaasan/Aiko-san!" the two girls bowed politely before following her into the building.

It was already 10, and the sun was high in the sky. Just as she promised in the chat, Arina came together with Kato to Yuki's place. Arina wore a lovely one-piece dress that accentuated her beauty and grace. It fit perfectly, showing just enough to look nice without being too revealing in public. Meanwhile, Kato entered wearing comfy jeans and a plain white shirt, which contrasted sharply with her senpai. Still, if any boys from school watched them walk side by side, they would undoubtedly be blinded by their beauty.

Unfortunately, Yuki wasn't like most boys, as he hung out with both of them pretty often. While he admitted he was charmed by the girls, he shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

"So, where is he?" Kato asked. "It's not like Yuki-kun to be rude and not greet his guests."

"Oh, that?" Aiko giggled in response. "You'll see in three… two… one… here we go!"

WHACK!

Kato was stunned when she entered the kitchen, greeted with a pillow straight to the face. There was an awkward silence as she processed what had just happened. All the children fell silent, and Yuki tried his best to hide his presence. After a while, she finally broke the silence with a question, "So, care to explain what is going on here?"

The tone in her voice was enough to send chills down everyone's spine. Without hesitation, Taro—the second-oldest child next to Yuki—immediately answered, "It was Yuki-nii's idea!"

"Hey! How could you throw the blame on me?!" Yuki cried when he realized he had been roped into this mess by the children. However, he wilted immediately under the glare that promised pain from his friend. "Care to explain, Taro-kun?" she asked with a scarily innocent tone.

Taro gulped for a second, sweat rolling down his forehead as he thought quickly and said, "Yuki-nii said that if we didn't attack you, he would take revenge on us later at night until we gave up, so we didn't have a choice!"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Yuki glared at Taro, scowling at the obvious lie. However, no one denied the boy's words, which made it clear that Kato would see him as the culprit here. The only thing he could do was offer an apology.

"… Sorry?" he said meekly.

WHACK!

Unexpectedly, his apology met the same pillow that had just hit Kato. He blinked, still confused about what had just happened. As for his friend, she grinned widely while picking up a pillow from the floor before asking the children, "Anyone want to join me in burying your older brother with pillows?"

Yuki's face paled immediately when he heard that. However, before he could say or do anything, everyone had already shouted together, "HELL YEAH!" And just like that, mayhem erupted.

"Is it okay to let them be like this?" Arina Sugawara asked hesitantly.

"Oh, don't worry about them. This is their way of unwinding after stressful days. They'll get over it soon and fix the mess they created afterward. They are good children," Aiko said fondly as chaos unfolded before her.

WHACK!

A wild pillow suddenly hit Arina Sugawara straight in the face. She was stunned, unsure of how to react. It was clear by her expression that she had never seen or experienced a pillow fight like this before. On one hand, she wanted to join the fun, yet she felt the need to maintain her image.

Fortunately, the children came to her rescue as one of them grabbed her hand and pulled her into the fray. "Come on, neechan! Let's join forces and defeat Yuki-nii!"

"Yeah!"

Hearing their childish declaration, Arina Sugawara's face softened, and she was finally compelled—willingly, of course—to join the pillow war with the residents of the orphanage.

-0-

"Man, what a mess," Yuki grumbled as he picked up the pillows from the floor. "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to their war invitation." Aiko and the children giggled amusedly as they helped him clean up the mess they'd created.

After fifteen minutes of playing around, when they all heard a stomach growling, they finally stopped the war. Unfortunately, the mess they had created was pretty bad, so it took a while to restore the kitchen to its former state.

After some time, everything was finally back to normal, and all the children sat in the kitchen, impatiently waiting for Aiko, who was preparing some snacks. Meanwhile, Yuki, Kato, and Arina Sugawara separated themselves and went to Yuki's room to talk. Discover stories with empire

"I didn't know playing around like this could be so fun! We should do it more often!" Arina Sugawara said, her eyes shining brightly.

"Yeah, and Yuki should be the target again!" Kato smiled teasingly.

Yuki just grumbled at them before getting down to business. "So, what do you want, Senpai?"

"Can I just say I want to visit my kouhai?" Arina Sugawara smiled playfully. At that, Yuki rolled his eyes sarcastically before replying, "I know you well enough to believe that you wouldn't come here just for a social visit. So, let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. What do you want, Senpai?" he asked again.

They engaged in a brief staring contest, with Kato watching in amusement. Finally, Arina Sugawara sighed. "Believe it or not, I'm here to return the favor."

"Favor?" Yuki raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Yes, don't tell me you've forgotten?" When all she received was a blank expression, the girl huffed annoyedly at the boy. "It's about the time I asked you to spread rumors about you and how you guided and saved us during the Maiko Pharmacy incident! Come on, do you really not remember that?!"

"Ah, that…" Yuki rubbed his head sheepishly. Of course, if he admitted that he had forgotten, he would never hear the end of it. So, his best option was to act as if he understood and move on to the next topic. "Don't worry about it; I'm not doing all of that just for a favor," he waved his hand nonchalantly.

However, Arina Sugawara had other ideas in mind, shaking her head immediately. "No, we can't do that here. I've already spoken to my father about this, and I'm sure you'll like what I'm going to offer."

"Oh?" Yuki leaned forward, showing interest. "Please, do tell. What is it that you're going to offer?"

Arina Sugawara paused for a moment before a small, mischievous smile formed on her face as she asked vaguely, "What if I told you that my father can help fix this orphanage's problems?"