The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

"What is there to discuss?" Yuki scowled at the piece of newspaper in his hand, his eyes filled with disgust. "This is just rubbish! Can you even call this coverage? I don't even know how Tokyo Shimbun could pass such a crappy article on their front page!" he ranted.

The reactions he received surprisingly varied: an amused chuckle from Riku, a dumbfounded stare from Mitsuki, and blank expressions—with hints of worry—from Kato and Arina Sugawara. However, not a single person spoke up, knowing that while Yuki's words were harsh, they were also direct and to the point.

While the article from Tokyo Shimbun appeared to cover the incident, anyone who read it carefully would find nothing of substance. There was no mention of the volatile solvent that was the source of the disaster, no name for the spokesperson of the pharmacy company, and no specific details about the cause of the leakage. Hell, they even presented him as the sole victim in this incident, downplaying the severity of the situation yesterday.

But the worst part of all of this was that no one knew the name of the pharmacy company.

Yes, the article deliberately left out the pharmacy's name, attempting to protect them from public scrutiny. Of course, in the current internet era, some savvy individuals who wanted to know would be able to find out quickly. All they had to do was search for the location of the incident and cross-reference it with the addresses of all the pharmacies in Tokyo, and voila! They'd have the information!

However, this was likely already part of the pharmacy's calculations. They didn't care about those clever individuals, as their numbers weren't significant. The most important thing was to maintain public opinion in their favor so that the majority of people would remain unaware of the details and shrug off the incident as if it were nothing.

This was the highest level of public opinion manipulation that Yuki had ever witnessed in his life.

"Did the other victims not feel bothered by being excluded like this?" Riku couldn't help but ask. "I mean, this isn't right, is it? They should be angry about this, not just silent as if nothing happened yesterday."

"Oh, but you forget something, Riku-chan," Mitsuki said softly. Yuki raised an eyebrow at the nickname, wondering when his blonde friend and Kato's mother had become so close. It seemed that after just one day in the hospital, he had already fallen out of the loop on many things. Your next chapter is on empire

"Oh? What is it, Mitsuki-san?" Riku asked, curiosity evident in his voice. What the older woman said next surprised not just him, but left everyone else dumbfounded.

"Besides the Tsunemori students who were on the study tour, all of the victims from yesterday were employees of the company, and they likely have contracts prohibiting them from disclosing any confidential information. It wouldn't be difficult to suppress their opinions. Just mention how much damage they would face if they spoke out, and they'd willingly keep everything to themselves."

Yeah. Oh. Shit.

The situation became quite awkward at Mitsuki's reminder. Initially, some of them—mainly Arina Sugawara, who was determined to uncover all the dirt on the Maiko Group—had felt excited when they read the article, thinking it was the opportunity she needed to dig deeper. In her mind, as long as she could press the right buttons, all the victims from yesterday would be willing to tell the truth and push the conglomerate to the edge.

However, she overlooked one crucial aspect. Unlike her, all the victims from the incident were already members of society, relying on their jobs to make a living. While they could be idealistic and desire justice, they all had families to care for, and once they became enemies of the conglomerate, their fates would be sealed.

Arina Sugawara broke out in a cold sweat at the thought. Fortunately, Mitsuki had reminded her before she could act impulsively. Although there was a possibility that someone would be willing to expose what happened yesterday to the public, she couldn't bear the consequences for the unfortunate individuals involved.

However, that raised a question.

"So, we really can't do anything about this?" Riku asked, pointing at the newspaper with an incredulous expression.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh, no. Not really." Arina Sugawara—bless her quick thinking—had already found a solution to the problem. "We can still do a lot, but we need to be more subtle. We have to find a reliable ally and investigate who wrote the article, how much they were paid to publish it, who is compromised, and who is not, how—"

"Woah! Hold your horses, girl!" Yuki raised his hand, snapping Arina out of her thoughts. It wasn't just him; everyone was looking at her strangely. "While what you say is valid, before we go all out with our detective agency, shouldn't we ask everyone for their opinion to see if we're all on the same page?" he asked.

"Eh?" They all looked at him, confused.

Yuki sighed, realizing he had to clarify. "Well, there are two questions everyone needs to answer before we proceed. First, are you all willing to join this group or whatever it is?" He ignored the snickers from his blonde friend. "I mean, we discuss a lot of things here, but Mitsuki-san is basically a stranger to our group! No offense, Mitsuki-san, but while you are concerned about the incident since it involved Kato-san, I doubt you will want to engage in all our antics. Kato-san and Riku, you've both never shown any concern about the purge, so do you really want to be a part of this?"

THAT! Was a valid concern—something Arina Sugawara should have considered before entering the room. Seeing the blank expressions on the others' faces, however, she was relieved that she wasn't the only one who was clueless.

Yuki was glad that she thought about it seriously. He didn't blame her though, for almost dragging everyone in the room to her cult. It was just a spur of excitement that kicked in after finding the opportunity she had been searching for almost a while. However, she had to make sure that those who followed her was on the same page, or it would hurt her more in the future.

"Second!" Yuki suddenly raised his hand, making a 'V' gesture. "Before you dig further, you need to think about your purpose in doing this."