The Enduring Libero

Chapter 7

The next morning I woke up in time for school, eating breakfast with both my mother and my brother. "Pass the rice please."

My mother handed me the plate of rice with a smile. "So dear, do you have club today?"

"Yes," I said, scooping the rice on my plate. "After the training camp I can't imagine they would ever cancel today." The club was so crazy devoted that I doubted they ever voluntarily took a day off.

"Did they get any better?" Hajime asked, and I caught the mocking tone inside the question.

"Sorry, I can't give you any information about it." I grinned. "You'll have to wait and see."

"I guess that means they didn't improve."

How did he always know what I was hiding? I was smiling and everything. "You never know."

"Oh that's enough you two." My mother rolled her eyes. "But Kuho, how was the camp? Did you do well? Were you helpful?"

"Yep." I nodded. "Although, I overslept one of the days. The manager woke me up thankfully, but I had to rush to get breakfast."

I said it as a joke, but my mother's face instantly looked concerned. "Why did you oversleep? Kuho, did it happen again?"

My face fell as I set my spoon down. "Maybe just a little bit."

Hajime gave an exasperated sigh. "Not again."

"I'm fine!" I assured them. "It was just for a moment, and really, I was only kept up because the girls were snoring." What I didn't say was that my anxiety had made me hyper focus on the snoring.

My brother shook his head and pushed back his chair. "I'm going to be late. I'll see you later." He said gruffly.

I sighed. "Hajime, don't be like that."

"We can all tell you're lying!" He snapped. "But that isn't going to stop you from ignoring it. So, I repeat, I am going to be late. Goodbye." I watched my older brother storm out of the house, slinging his backpack over his shoulder on the way out.

I swallowed uncomfortably, looking at my mom with unease. The look on her face told me two things. One, she wanted to yell at me, and two, she was deeply concerned for me. I covered my face with a hand. Somehow I felt like if I acknowledged what was happening, then it would become so real it would swallow me up. It would suffocate me in the hopeless realization that I could break free from it.

My mom cleared her throat. "So," she said in a gentle voice. "Did anything else happen?"

I leaned on the palm of my hand, looking at her through my mental exhaustion. "Well, the coach asked me if I wanted to learn from him, instead of Mr. Takeda."

My mother raised an eyebrow. "You mean, learn coaching? Why would he offer that?"

"Who knows." I mumbled. Hajime had thoroughly squashed my excited mood. "He said that I was already doing part of a coaches job by analyzing the games."

For a moment my mother said nothing, just looked thoughtfully at me. Then she said quietly, like she was thinking to herself, "That sounds like a good job for you..."

"What?" I exclaimed. "I'm a libero!"

Her eyes focused from their hazed state, and she frowned at me. "You were a libero, dear. I know it's hard, but maybe this could be what you need. I've been around sports long enough to know that a lot of coaches were players first."

I gaped at her. "I can't be a coach! That's not, I'm not... I'd get in the way!"

"Obviously your coach doesn't think so." My mom pointed her spoon at me, and spoke seriously. "I'm not going to force you, Kuho. But I think you should do it. You love volleyball too much just to be sitting on the sides taking notes. I want you to use your time wisely, and I think this is best." She gave me another hard stare as I floundered for words, before standing up with her bowl. "You should head to school, or you're going to be late." She told me with finality.