"Congrattions on the first win, Akira-sensei!" The headmaster congratted Akira excitedly the next day. "I heard it was a tough and dramatic game thatsted for about one and a half hours! You deserve the win!"


    "Thank you, Headmaster." Akira nodded, hiding his pleasant expression. "It is all because of the students we won yesterday''s game."


    By the day after the game, the news that the volleyball team advanced through the second round had already spread in the school, and once again since the game between the senior against the freshman, the team became the trending topic of the day.


    Almost all the residents here talked about them, from whispers to the excited shootout to the yers from the students they didn''t even know existed in the first ce.


    When they were talking in the school hallway though, a tall figure wearing round sses suddenly appeared. He had a gloomy expression on his face as he passed through both Akira and the headmaster rudely without even greeting them, causing a frown on their face.


    That was Shiratori, the history teacher in the school. There were so many reasons why Akira didn''t like him, but the biggest one was because the history teacher was probably the one who was the most adamant about dissolving the volleyball team. In his opinion, the team that couldn''t even achieve anything should not exist at all since it was just a waste of money.


    "Why is he so gloomy this early?" Akira muttered lowly.


    He didn''t expect that the headmaster would hear hisint though, and was surprised when the headmaster whispered, "It is like this, Sensei…"


    "What? He had already asked to proceed with the disbandment of the volleyball team the moment he heard our opponent is Shimoyawata?!" He raised his voice deliberately so that Shiratori could hear that too, making the history teacher freeze on the spot. "Doesn''t he know not to count the chickens before they hatch?" Akira said it mockingly.


    A thick vein popped on Shiratori''s temple when he heard that jab.


    "Urgh… You are so childish, Akira-sensei…" The headmaster groaned embarrassedly.


    "Let me say congrattions for the win, Akira-sensei." Even though he didn''t appreciate the jab, Shiratori still showed his maturity by congratting Akira as well. "After ying against Shimoyawata High, the confidence of the team would be at its peak. Don''t let it get through the students'' heads and make them arrogant."


    Akira stared at his colleague intently before asking, "For one who wants the team to be disbanded, you sure know a lot of things about thepetition and yers'' psychology, Shiratori-sensei."


    Shiratori was taken aback, shocked while seeming to berate himself for the slip.


    Akira ignored that and asked his question, "Why does a person like you want to see the team disbanded more than anyone else?"


    Shiratori went silent for a moment before turning away, nodding at the headmaster while saying, "Excuse me." Before running away from the question, not giving any hint of an answer that could satisfy both the headmaster and Akira.


    -0-


    "Congrattion, Kobayashi." Kato said genuinely. "I heard from Megumi-neechan that you did amazing yesterday."


    "Thank you…" Yuki rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, still not getting used to being praised by the girl. "Anyway, thank you for your encouragement the night before the game too. It helps me beyond my expectations."


    This time, it was Kato who blushed, her cheek went red. "W-Well… I-I am happy to help!" She stammered.


    Yuki tilted his head confusedly before asking, "Why are you so shy? It is not like this is our first meeting, right?" He joked feebly. This was a yful callback to their first meeting where she would always have her face so red like a boiled lobster.


    "Of course, no, you idiot!" She pped his shoulder yfully. "It is just… I remember something not important Megumi-neechan said yesterday…"


    "Hey, Kato-chan, Yuki-kun sang so much praise for you earlier, saying he could perform really well because of your encouragement," Megumi said in a sing-song voice. "Is there anything you want to tell your big sister? Do I have to say anything to our handsome sses boy? Are you going to congratte him? Do you… Fancy him?"


    Kato blushed once again when she remembered being teased by her sisterst night. She didn''t know how could Megumi connect such a feeble gratitude from the boy for her encouragement to the topic of whether she fancied him or not, but Kato was sure she didn''t want to answer that question right now.


    "Hello?" Yuki waved his hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. "Earth to Kato-san, are you still with me?"


    Kato smiled a little before letting out a giggle. "That''s funny."


    "I know, right?" Yuki grinned, the expression that made her blush once again.


    "A-Anyway!" She cursed herself the moment she noticed her voice cracked. "Don''t you want to celebrate the win like the others?"


    "By the others, do you mean like our local lothario?" Yuki asked back wryly. They bothughed together, always loving to make fun of their friend behind his back. Fortunately, Riku knew that it was nothing personal and would always answer with a simr yfulness, so no harm was done here.


    But yeah, unlike Yuki who was a low-key student, Riku was the popr guy. The moment he entered the ssroom, he was surrounded by his fangirls who either wanted to congratte him or did something indecent toward the blonde boy that no sane teenagers would ever be brave enough to do inside the school.


    Even by now, the blonde boy was still being surrounded by five empty-headed girls who looked at him in awe. Yuki and Kato snickered when they received the pleading gaze from their friend, asking them to help him get out of his situation. They ignored the plea, knowing that Riku somehow enjoyed the attention too.


    "So, when will your next game be?" The girl asked.


    "I don''t know." Yuki shrugged. "The coach gives us two days off, so I think it should be a while before the next round begins. That is good, though. Even though it doesn''t look like that, thest game took a toll on us. I don''t know about the others, but I still have fatigue right now and I had already slept for 10 hoursst night."


    "That''s good." Kato nodded softly. "Let''s just hope that your luck will be better in the next round." She said with a teasing tone.


    Yukiughed and said, "Yeah, I don''t think I can survive the entire tournament if we have to face a tough opponent like Shimoyawata in every round. Let''s just hope that our luck will be better in the future."


    Little did he know though, that at that time, the Murphy''sw worked like a bitch against Tsunemori.