The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Uurgh…" Yuki groaned, feeling sore after the difficult training yesterday. However, he still forced himself to get up from his bed, especially considering the sun had already filled his entire room through the transparent veil covering the window.

"Yuki-nii, are you okay?" A small, adorable voice greeted him, peeking through the door with a concerned expression. "It's Monday; shouldn't you be preparing for school by now?"

Yuki narrowed his eyes, checking the time on his phone. It was 6:30, and indeed, he would usually be ready and helping the other children prepare for their day by this time. However, the soreness he felt from yesterday's training was still lingering, causing him to oversleep unconsciously.

"Don't worry, Hina-chan. I'm okay, just feeling a bit sore in my shoulder." Yuki smiled, rolling his shoulder to prove his point. "See? Everything is good here."

Judging by the skeptical look in the girl's eyes, Yuki knew she didn't believe him. Well, it was his fault for waking up late, so he decided to change the subject to ease her worry. "Have the others had breakfast already?" he asked.

"Yes, and everyone is also worrying about you." She crossed her arms while staring at him sternly. "So, if you're not feeling well, don't be stubborn and force yourself to wake up, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Yuki rolled his eyes exasperatedly at her nagging. "But you can see that I'm okay, right? Now go back to the kitchen! I'll take a shower and get ready before I join you and the others. Shoo! Shoo!" Hina stuck out her tongue before scampering off, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the corridor.

Yuki sighed fondly at her antics, wincing as the soreness returned once again. Unlike the training sessions with Akira and the Tsunemori team, yesterday's training with the Tokyo Thunder U-19 team had targeted his weakness directly: his strength. He could still remember what Kawaki said after the coach reviewed the results of his physical test.

-A flashback-

"Endurance, okay. Speed, above average. Reaction, outstanding. Strength?" Kawaki stopped talking, turning his attention from the paper detailing Yuki's condition to the boy squirming under his gaze. "Your strength is abysmal, Kobayashi-kun. It's quite surprising to see you healthy like this, considering you have the strength of an 11-year-old."

Yuki couldn't help but blush when he heard that, especially when he noticed the others stifling their laughter upon hearing that particular information.

"I'm not telling this to embarrass you, but to make you realize the severity of this," Kawaki sighed. "You only weigh 51 kg, Kobayashi-kun. For a growing boy with a height of 177 cm, you are far too thin to be a normal teenage boy, let alone an athlete. Without even considering your fat percentage or muscle mass, this alone is enough for me to conclude that."

Yuki could only nod helplessly as Kawaki explained this matter. He had known for a long time that he was too thin compared to his peers. His parents—bless them wherever they are right now—had also noticed this and urged him to eat more. Unfortunately, he was naturally a small eater, which made it harder for him to gain weight.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We can still fix this," Kawaki said nonchalantly. A bit too nonchalantly, in fact, for Yuki's liking. He had a bad feeling that the coach would do something extreme to fix his problem. True to his thoughts, a second after the coach said that, Yuki saw a terrifying grin spread across Kawaki's face, sending chills down everyone's spine.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! This is going to be fun!" Kawaki declared, his tone giddy. "First, let me introduce you to the best building that humankind has ever constructed in history: the gym."

-End of the flashback-n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yuki still shuddered at the memory of the torture Kawaki had inflicted on him in the name of training. While he had done a lot of physical training with Akira in the past, everything paled in comparison to what he had experienced yesterday.

'Still, Kawaki-sensei is right. I'm too thin compared to the other boys. I need to gain more weight, not just for volleyball, but also for my health,' Yuki muttered.

After pondering for a while, he finally rose from his bed, stretching his body one last time before heading straight to the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, he finished his morning routine and got dressed in his uniform.

"It's good to see you join us, Yuki-kun," Aiko smiled. Even though there was no warmth in it, Yuki still blushed a little when he heard the matron speak, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, sorry. I overslept," Yuki admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't be," Aiko reassured, still smiling. "I know how hard you worked yesterday, so I didn't want to wake you up earlier. It's also nice to see you act like a normal teenager for once, not the mature older brother for everyone," she said playfully.

"Well, yeah," Yuki nodded awkwardly.

The next ten minutes were spent in silence, the only sound being the spoons hitting the plates. Though Yuki felt like he had woken up late, it was actually the normal time for a high school student to wake up. That was why he could still enjoy breakfast peacefully while watching the other children start to leave one by one. After a while, he finished his breakfast and left too, not wanting to be late.

"Morning," Yuki greeted Kato when he arrived in class.

Usually, Kato would greet him back shortly or just nod to acknowledge him. However, to Yuki's surprise, a second after his words left his mouth, all the other students nearby suddenly turned their heads to him.

"Kobayashi-kun, you're back!"

"Hey, here's the hero!"

"Have you recovered already?"

"Hey! Don't push me around! I want to hear his story, too!"

Yuki was dumbfounded as he found himself surrounded by the others. This was the first time he had attracted his classmates' attention in a positive way, and he didn't know how it had happened. Seeing his confused expression, Riku, who was outside of the crowd, looked at him triumphantly and said, "Welcome back, our hero!"