The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

As all the players sat in the gymnasium, the live broadcast of the tournament drawing finally started on Akira's laptop. They all could see immediately four massive brackets with sixteen blank spots in every bracket.

The four teams who won the entire bracket would be in the semifinal and fight against each other to be the number one team in Tokyo this year, and the top three teams would also be the representatives of Tokyo in the next national tournament.

Unlike the first round where the team couldn't know their next opponent, this time, every team would be able to predict how hard their journey would be, and everyone prayed to not be placed in the same bracket as Konan or Matsukita. The same could also be said for Tsunemori too. While Riku might love the challenge, he wasn't crazy enough to want to meet a strong opponent too early.

It would be better if those strong teams killed each other first and let them win against an easy opponent quietly.

After waiting for a while, a person finally appeared on the screen, walking in front of the bracket. He had this brilliant smile that would light up the atmosphere in the room just by standing here, something that Yuki thought was impossible to do. However, it seemed everyone – even Riku knew who that person was as gasps echoed throughout the gymnasium.

"It is him!"

"Damn! I haven't seen or heard any news about him for a while! Would he be the one announcing the drawing?"

"Does that mean he would say our team's name too?"

"Who is he?" Yuki who was the only clueless person there decided to ask. Seeing the disbelief eyes directed at him, he raised his hands quickly. "Hey, a newbie in volleyball, remember?"

After realizing that Yuki was right, it was Koji who explained. "That person is Adachihara Ken, probably the most decorated athlete Japan has ever had in the history. He played for the country since he was 16 for about nineteen years and brought back so many achievements, including one gold medal and two bronze medals in the Olympics.

He retired two years ago, and after that, he hasn't been exposed to a lot of news up to now. Never in my dream I would see him standing there to announce the draw."

"Yeah." Asahi nodded enthusiastically. "He is my hero even now! It was him who made me train myself to be a left-handed player like him!"

"Hey, I tried that too! But I sucked, so I gave up quickly!"

"Same! Hahaha!"

Yuki blinked when he heard the excited conversation about the guy on the screen. Even the cold-blooded Hirano smiled a little, which just showed him how big this Adachihara Ken was in the volleyball community.

"So, how do you know about him too?" He whispered to Riku.

"Adachihara was a big name in Italy too." The blonde boy whispered back, still staring at the screen in awe. "He joined Sisley Treviso, a team based in a small city called Treviso in the northern part of Italy in 2001.

After that, he brought back the glory to the team by winning 6 Serie A in a row and being dubbed as the MVP of the tournament 4 times, making him one of the best players that had ever graced Italian volleyball."

That was when Yuki realized how much weight the person on the screen carried for the Japanese volleyball.

'Still, he is not playing anymore. He is there as the representative of the association for the drawing, so let's focus on that.'

After exchanging pleasantry with the people there and greeting the audience who watched the live broadcast, Adachihara finally started the drawing. Instead of calling every team one by one, the association used a randomizing program created for this, so the only thing the volleyball legend had to do was press the button, and all the teams would be placed all over the brackets randomly.

The moment he did that though, everyone held their breath unconsciously, leaning their body forward to search Tsunemori's name frantically.

"Where is our team? Do you find it?"

"No! We are not in the first bracket!"

"Hey! Don't push around!"

"It is you who push us! Don't blame the others!"

"Hey, I found it! We are on the third bracket!"

All the eyes suddenly turned to the third bracket to see the name of their school. It was easy to find since their name was placed in the second to top of the bracket. What they excited the most though, was the opponent they had to face next.

Tsunemori High – Tokamiyama High

"Tokamiyama? Is that a good team?" Yuki asked.

"I don't know." Kaede shrugged. "I have never heard about them until now." They all stared at each other for a moment to see whether anyone knew anything about their next opponent or not. Seeing that no one voiced any information, they all grinned, knowing Tokamiyama was just a no-name team.

"Yosh! It should be an easy game, right?!"

"Don't underestimate your opponent!"

"But Koji is right! It should be easier than Shimoyawata, right?!"

"It should be!"

"Let's see who will be our next opponent if we win the second round!"

"Hey, you are right!"

Their face lightened up when they read the names of the teams that were in the same bracket as them. The opponent they had to face in the third round if they won the next game… Another no-name team! In the fourth round… A decent team whose achievement kept going down in the last recent years! In the final of the bracket…. Konan High! Everyone groaned when they read the last name.

"Oh, come on! We are so close to entering the semifinal!" Okamura groaned.

"Yeah! Goddamnit! How could our luck be so bad we are in the same bracket as the best team in the country?" Kaede moaned.

"Well, at least we would face them in the top eight, right?" Koji sighed. "Our achievement should be higher than last year."

"Yeah! Last year, we lost immediately in the second round! Compared to that, this year should be better!"

"We should be able to get into the top 8, right?"

"Yes!"

As they chatted about the result of the draw, no one noticed the coach reacted badly to the result of the draw. His face went pale, and cold sweat suddenly rolled down his hands. It wasn't until he spoke that everyone finally turned their head on him.

"No, top eight is not enough."

All the eyes turned to him, looking at him with concern as bad feelings suddenly crept into their body when they saw their coach reacted so badly.

"What do you mean, Sensei?" Megumi asked softly, her tone was full of concern.

Akira went silent for a while, pondering for a moment about something. The team waited in tense anticipation for him to say something, starting to hate their coach for playing with their nerve. After a few seconds, Akira finally sighed, revealing the truth.

"There is an agreement made between me and all the teachers in the school, that if I cannot bring you to the semifinal this year, the team has to be disbanded forever."

Silence settled over the gymnasium for a while as everyone proceeded with his words. When everything sunk in though, they had their eyes widened, only one word could express their feeling right now.

"WHAAAAT?!"