unveil

✰1

My shirt drenches of sweat, my thighs and arms, shaking to the point of breaking. I lay on the hardwood with tears in my eyes. 

"Come now, rep " a familiar shout echoes once again. I look up: Coach Ukai is standing on a tall box used for jump training, holding 2 volleyballs in his hands with a face of steel. I push my arms, however they start to wobble with every step, and results me to fall on the ground again. I sniffle, teardrops staining the floor. I hear a large thump of feet hit the floor and shoes squeaking towards me. I look up once more to see grandpa Ukai take a seat next to me. 

"Reo, I know it hurts and your probably tired right now. But, if you persevere, it will build you. Remember, pain is only temporary. You have potential of something great. I am willing to help bring that out, but it's up to you to put the work in."  I see a hand being stuck out for me to grab. I wipe my rest of my sweat  and tears with my t-shirt and took his hand to help me up. 

"You will fly once more. Higher than you can ever imagine," he said flashing me a smile making his eyes disappear. I take a deep breathe and grab the ball off the floor and push it onto his chest with force.

"Hai! Please toss to me again." 

 Ever since that day, I never looked back. Seeing my weak, sweaty body shaking of fear that I won't get up. The feeling of defeat. It scares me. It's something that I never want to feel again. 

All my life, I was surrounded by volleyball. Specifically because I always hung out with my uncle when grandpa used to train him for school. It amazed me watching them play. I yearned for any pass, set, or hit: I wanted it all. So, at a young age, I asked by grandpa and he gladly took me in and taught me everything I needed to know. From tempo plays, types of passes, sets, hits, and even very intricate plays and hand signs that even high schoolers would only know. 

I trained day in and day out and strived until I took the top. I received almost 3 awards for best passer, setter, and hitter. I was essentially a triple threat, an all around player, I was known as the little beast. Ive been at it ever since middle school at Kitigawa First. My team was winning almost every title at junior nationals and was even given an invitation to play in youth world, where only the best in japan get to play. It was thrilling, shocking, I just wish I could get that back. 

But, that was middle school... I'm now a first year at tigersama high school. It's a pretty amazing school considering there curriculum and swim team. But, they couldn't fund for volleyball club, which I was pretty bummed about. But, I want to feel that again. I wanna be at the top in that big, gymnasium with everyone watching. Watching me.

 I push the button on the vending machine and reach for the banana milk. I poke the box with a straw, throw my headphones on, continue walking to my next class. As I sip on my milk, I scroll through my lofi playlist. It's my favorite. I reach the class and lay my head on the desk. 

"Hello class! My my name is-" I never really cared for school, most of the time I doze off  or stared off into space. Even if I really don't try, I manage to keep a 4.0 gpa. I don't even know how if I'm being honest with you. So, paying attention in class is the least of my worries. 

"Ding Dong" the bell rang. 

"Thank lord." I stood up, wiping my eyes tiredly. I yawned making my eyes water and stood up from my chair to leave school. I walked home because, well, I left my bike at home. 

Finally, I got to our family store, Sakanoshita Convience. Sadly my mom passed away after my birth and my father left me, no where to be found. I've had no immediate family of mine that took me in, until uncle Keishin. He took full ownership of me once everything came crashing down. He was always there for me and I appreciate that. He's kinda like my brother and dad in a sense. A slight ring jingled as I opened the door of the store. I was greeted with my uncle: feet up against the counter with his slippers, blonde hair slicked back in a headband, and none other than his infamous cigarette in his left and a reading a magazine in his right. With his 2 fingers, he took out the cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke. 

"Can you get that cancer stick away from me please?" I said rolling my eyes, covering my nose with the sleeve of my uniform. He chuckled, rubbing the butt end on the ashtray. 

"Sorry. Habits." He got up and went to the mini fridge to get a canned coffee. When he returned, he had a lemon ramune in his other hand. I smiled. 

"Thanks, uncle," I said popping it open. I took a seat in the back table to start my homework, which he followed to take a seat next to me as well. 

"So, how was school?" he shifted his weight onto his right hand, resting his head on it. I sighed. 

"Same shit different day," I said in a monotone voice while taking a swig of the ramune. His eyebrows furrowed together. 

"Ok what's up? Do you not like your school?" I leaned back on the chair, staring up at bright light on the ceiling. 

"There is no girl's team." I said, still staring at the ceiling. Uncle started rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Oh." What I didn't notice is that the view of the ceiling started to get watery. I feel tears run down my cheeks.

"It's so unfair. I was so ready for this season too." I feel a pad of a thumb run across my cheeks, wiping them away. 

"I know it sucks. But keep your head up, keep practicing and I know that an opportunity will be falling into your lap soon now."I hear the jingle of an open door once again. It's these 2 boys.

A/N: hey this is pretty long chapter and I procrastinated on it so hard because I was thinking of how the plotline would turn out. But, it's gonna be amazing trust me. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, i'm working on ch 2 right now. Have a great day :) -p