The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Chapter 292 Stupid Provocation

when all the players – including the thunder's – went back to the bench, the first thing shou did was smack tondo's head hard to get his point. "what the hell, tondo?!" shou hissed furiously at the middle blocker. "why in the hell did you decide to be a lunatic and provoke the fans?! you will not be able to go home in one piece, for god's sake!"

"ouch! sorry, sorry! that's my fault!" tondo apologized quickly, didn't want to be at the end of shou's ire. the blocker gulped nervously when he saw the coach was looking at him with a blank face. "i cannot help it, though! they acted so domineering and arrogant that i wanted to shove those words back into their mouth! they deserve it!" he said, trying his best to justify his action.

well... except... it only made things worse.

"you idiot child..." kawaki sighed tiredly. "how could you diminish all of your one-year experiences playing in this league and break the most important rule in an away game? never provoke the home team's supporters, for god's sake! no matter what the outcome the referee decided, things will be ugly after the game."

tondo gulped once again at the coach's words. after calming down from whatever adrenaline rushed into his head before, the blocker was calmer now and could see why his action was stupid. still, things had already happened, and no matter how much he regretted it, he couldn't turn back time to fix his mistake.

"so, what is going to happen now?" riku couldn't help but ask.

"well, a lot of things can happen, but it mainly depends on how well the referee and the phoenix's players managed to calm down the people there," kawaki said, his eyes staring at the other side of the court. read new chapters at empire

currently, the coach was in discussion with the phoenix's coach while all the players wearing orange jerseys rose from their seats and tried their best to talk to the supporters. the thunder players winced unconsciously when they saw some of the supporters arguing with the phoenix's players while glaring ferociously at them. the situation seemed to get more heated as time went by.

yuki could see the hesitation on the blocker's face. then, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through his head. "sensei, can i come with him too and be the moral support?" he asked out of nowhere.

this time, not just kawaki and tondo, but everyone who heard that – hell, even the referee – turned their head at yuki as if he was crazy. tondo's expression also changed quickly from confusion into a hopeful one, wishing that yuki indeed wanted to accompany him. curious, kawaki asked, "why do you want to join?"

"i... don't know." yuki shrugged. "maybe, because i am a fukushima native too and i want to communicate with them directly, i guess?"

kawaki's face softened at yuki's words. he knew the glasses boy's background. he was one of so many victims of the tragedy a few months ago that killed more than thousands of people before he had to go to tokyo and live in a small orphanage. the story of his time in the volleyball world was inspiring, rising from zero into a player his caliber in just six months. that showed how talented yuki was for the game, and today's match was just an emphasis on that.

however, with all the talent inside the boy's body, kawaki forgot that yuki was one of the victims just like most of the people on the stand. even though he didn't know about them at all, at least he would want to connect himself with the people who suffered from the same fate. so, with that thought in mind, kawaki finally relented and agreed with yuki's request.

"okay, you can join, but i will supervise you both." decided the coach.

"really?!" yuki's eyes shone brightly. of course, he wasn't going there to do all the things kawaki imagined at all. no, he wanted to go there to search for his friend with a better view. however, what the coach didn't know would never hurt him, or so that was what yuki convinced himself after hiding it from the old man.

"yeah. come on, let's do it now. we don't have all the time in the world, you know?"

"yes, sensei!"