The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"Sir Driver, can you be a bit faster? Our boy's game should've started already!" A beautiful, blonde woman scowled unhappily as she kept checking the time on her watch.

"Ma'am, this is our fastest legal speed. A bit faster than that will land me in trouble, you know?" The taxi driver replied in perfect English, something rare to be found in a taxi driver in Japan.

The man in the front seat just snorted amusedly at his wife's antics. "Let him do his job, Maria. And it is not like we will miss Yuki's game a lot here. It has only been 45 minutes since it started. I am sure we will still be able to watch the second set."

"Yes, Mom. Yuki-nii will not go anywhere!" A teenage girl who sat next to her mother nodded.

Yeah, for those who were wondering, the family currently inside a small taxi cab was the Silvestri family, who was on the journey to Tsunemori. It had been about four hours since they landed in Tokyo, but due to jetlag, they overslept in their hotel, which made them late to go to the game.

Maria narrowed her eyes sharply at the two traitorous members of her family before she huffed, throwing her back to the seat. "I swear if we miss this, I will make sure you two pay the price." She pouted. "Ella, you are with me in this case, right?" The girl she questioned just turned her eyes away from her phone for one second before grumbling moodily at her, leaving the older woman to sigh in exasperation. "Come on, if you don't tell us what happened, we will not know why you suddenly have a bad mood!"

As the older woman was trying to grill her girl about what was wrong, the taxi moved at a steady speed, passing through the other cars and vehicles easily. Mattheo in the front seat had to give a hat off toward the driver who not only was able to ignore his wife's rambling but also showcased his driving ability. Even though the traffic in district Edogawa wasn't that bad, with how narrow the road was for a car to enter, it took skill and courage for a taxi driver to navigate his way through this area.

"So, Mister, what are you doing here? Edogawa is not the common district for foreigners to visit, you know?" The driver asked, starting a small talk.

"Oh, we are here to visit our protegee!" The patriarch, Mattheo laughed. "He is a volleyball player for Tsunemori High, and he has a match today!"

"Wait, Tsunemori?! Is that Kobayashi and Agostini's team?!" The driver widened his eyes in realization. It seemed he was a fan of volleyball too here.

"Yup! Kobayashi is our boy here!" Maria chimed in, happy that even a taxi driver knew about her boy.

"Oh, my son is a huge fan of him! He forced me to watch their game with the Thunder whenever they played!" The driver laughed boisterously. "Honestly, with how mature they played, I forgot that they both were still freshmen here! Good for them, at least they have a bright future!"

They spent the rest of the journey talking about volleyball, especially about Yuki and Riku. Maria couldn't help but feel happy when she heard those two were adored here. Even though she wasn't as close to Riku as she was to Yuki, she still knew that the blonde boy was Yuki's best friend, and she was happy to hear them both excel in the same field as she was in the past.

Without them noticing, five minutes had passed, and from afar, the sight of Tsunemori High could be seen from the back seat. "Finally, we are here!" One of the twins exclaimed happily.

The moment the taxi stopped in front of the school, the twins jumped out of the car immediately, rushing toward where the gymnasium was as if they were students from this school. Maria had to apologize to the driver for their rudeness, which fortunately the driver didn't mind at all. After paying the fee – and exchanging numbers since it was rare to find a taxi driver who was fluent in English – she and Mattheo followed their daughters to the gymnasium.

"… On, Yuki!"

"Come on, Yuki!"

As they were closer to the gymnasium, Maria could hear the subtle chant shouting her boy's name from afar. Getting curious, she speeded up – borderline running – so that she could see how Yuki was doing right now. To her surprise though, she couldn't even enter the building easily as it was filled with students who wanted to enter too.

"Merda! How could a high school game have so many audiences like this?!" Maria cursed in Italian, having her eyes bulged wide in shock.

Honestly, even during her time as a professional player, it was pretty rare for Maria to play in front of so many people like this. After all, women's sports weren't that popular even in Europe. The only time she played with so many eyes watching like this was when her team entered the semifinal or final of the tournament, and it wasn't something easy to achieve. That was why she couldn't believe a regular high school game could have so many audiences like this.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, are you the Silvestri Family who played together with Yuki and Riku a few months ago?" Suddenly, a beautiful girl approached them and asked with a pretty thick accent.

"Oh, yes, it is us!" Gabriella who gave up trying to enter the building answered. "You still remember that?!"

"Of course, I still remember that. The conflict itself was huge at that time and the headmaster also had to go down to solve this, you know?"

What they were talking about was of course the conflict between Yuki and the third-year players that drove the senior members away from the team. At that time, the Silvestri family acted as Yuki and Riku's ringers to fill up the team to play against the senior team. They didn't expect that there would be a student who still remembered about that.

"Anyway, I know you are here to watch them both. Come on, follow me!" The girl waved her hand, asking them to follow her. Find your next read on empire

Having no choice here, they four shrugged, deciding to trust the girl. To their surprise though, the crowd moved away one by one when they saw the girl's presence as if they wanted to give her space. Driven by curiosity, Isabella decided to ask, "Miss, are you someone special in this school or what?"

The girl in question was stunned for a second before letting out a pretty laugh at that. "No, I am not someone special. I am just an ordinary student like the others. Also, don't be too polite here. My name is Arina Sugawara, and you can call me Arina."