The Birth of A Volleyball Legend-Chapter 494: Another Strom Strikes Tsunemori High (II)

Meanwhile, in a high-end apartment not far from Tsunemori High…

"Takata-kun, are you sure you want to join us and move to Hokkaido?" An old man with thick glasses asked his teenage son about the decision that he thought his son made hastily. "I mean, your volleyball team is currently thriving in a good direction, right? It has been the conversation in the neighborhood for the last couple of days, or so that was what your mom said. Do you really want to leave that straight away?"

The boy in question stiffened instantly at the mention of the volleyball club, before putting a neutral expression on his face and nodded. "Yes, Dad. I know that the volleyball team is in good shape, but your job is more important. If I insisted on staying here, it would be hard for Mom to take care of both of us. She would be in a dilemma about whether she has to stay here with me or she has to stay there with you, and I am sure it wouldn't be good for his health. So, yeah, don't worry about me." He smiled forcefully.

The old man – the boy's dad – stared at his son for a while, and when he couldn't find any hint of emotion there, he heaved a sigh, giving up pestering his son about what was going on here, and went back to the living room. He knew that there was something bothering his son's mind, yet the boy himself didn't want to open up even to his parents. Somehow, this distressed the man more compared to the process of moving to Hokkaido that had to be done in the next two days.

"So, how is it?" Suddenly, a beautiful woman in her late thirties came out of one of the rooms, her face was full of worry.

"Still nothing." The man shook his head helplessly. "Takata-kun really inherits the stubbornness of my family. He would never say anything, thinking that it would either be too embarrassing or he would think that confessing would reveal his weakness. Just let him be like this for now."

The woman followed his action before, heaving a sigh before huffing a little, complaining, "You men from the Koji family are all the same, always thinking about something so trivial like pride and face even in front of your family. What is the problem with showing some emotions to your family? Even if you lied to the whole world, your family is still going to be the first people who back you up! Start learning how to trust your family!"

The man himself could only rub the back of his head helplessly when he heard his wife's rant, knowing full well that she needed to vent her emotions right now.

Yeah, the boy who was mentioned here was Takata Koji, Tsunemori High's player who was about to follow his parents to move to Hokkaido. Currently, the Koji family was in an awkward situation where just a few days ago, their boy was so enthusiastic for his volleyball team, but now, he was so apathetic toward it, asking the adults of the family to join them and was ready to leave all the volleyball matters behind. Of course, this made his parents worried.

At first, the plan was simple. Since Koji's father had just been promoted in his job, the increase in his salary also helped them a lot, to the point that the father could just buy a plane ticket to go back to Tokyo on the weekend and go back to Hokkaido in the next few days constantly every week without damaging their financial situation. That was the plan, with the father going to Hokkaido for the first five days of the week before going back at the weekend while Koji and his mother waited here in Tokyo for at least the next two years until Koji finished his high school and the family was ready to move completely to Hokkaido. However, this situation changed right now, and nobody knew why Koji acted differently.

Of course, Koji himself knew the distress he caused for his parents. He couldn't help it, though. Currently, he was in a deep slump, and this was a way to get out of this embarrassing situation, so he took it without hesitation.

As for the cause of his frustration?

Well, Koji knew that out of all the Tsunemori players, he should be considered the least talented one there. He couldn't set up an attack like Riku, couldn't do anything that Yuki did, couldn't be as good as Asahi at supporting his teammates, and couldn't defend as well as Kaede did on the back row. Hell, in terms of attacking, something that should be his strongest point, he was blown away by miles by Yuki, and now, Ogawa also stepped up his offensive game too, leaving him to the dust.

The insecure feeling of getting left behind like this, coupled with the bad performances in the last few games and the harsh scolding he received from Akira really broke the poor boy's mental state. Right now, the mere mention of a volleyball team was enough to drag his mood down into the mud. He also felt neglected by his teammates, feeling that no one cared about him. It was like the universe really tried to go against him, making him suffer in the worst way possible to make him give up the sport.

In the end, he had enough and decided to leave.

Oh, Koji knew that it was a cowardly act. He ran away from the problem here, not even daring to face it directly. Hell, he didn't even have the guts to tell the others that he would be moving. However, whenever he imagined the team in high excitement even without his presence, his mood went south, not wanting to think about volleyball anymore.

'Hah… Maybe, I should've joined Noriyuki-senpai and the others to resign in the past. In the end, this sport is not for me…' The boy sighed tiredly.

He spent almost all day in a dazed state, staring at nothing while doing almost everything in autopilot mode. Hell, even when his parents called him out and tried to strike up a conversation, he would only nod with a blank expression. Finally, his mom had enough of his state and called someone to come to the apartment.

"Yes, please. One of your boys should've known about this place."

"No, no, I remember that Takata-kun invited some of his friends here several times in the past."

"Yes, thank you! I will leave everything to you."

Honestly, Koji should've been concerned that his mom called someone that he knew here, and if his mind was clear enough, he would have been able to figure out that his mom was calling the volleyball team's members. However, in his current state, his mind was too cloudy to think about it, and fifteen minutes later, when all the Tsunemori players had already gathered in his apartment, he could only widen his eyes in shock.

"Everyone? What are you doing here?!"