Dominate the floor

Chapter I: Dominate the Floor

June, Japan

Ren liked to think adulting is nothing but becoming boring and uneventful. He always watched their neighborhood. Every day, a bakery near their house would open at exactly 6o'clock in the morning; the newspaper every day would be dropped by 7AM by a young man on a bicycle; the man who lived at their house would leave at quarter to 8, always in a hurry. When the sun rose completely, everyone was up and began their brunch routine. It was fascinating at first, how these people do their work cooperatively and skillfully. It was fascinating until it became dull and repetitive. Ren stopped getting up to watch them silly.

Adults repeat their duty every day. Isn't it a pain for them too?

It was the same for his parents. They would say the same reminder every day before leaving the house, the same set of rules, the same time he was supposed to be a babysitter would come— it had already been decided and so he stopped expecting,. It became boring, being an only child didn't satiate his yearn for a company his age. The aunt who looks after him is either getting him to sleep most of the time or ignores him when needed.

"... we'll be home late so don't give her a hard time putting her to sleep, okay? I promised to get you a gift tomorrow. Take care honey, be a good boy and wait."

When the door closed, he padded towards the living hall to seek entertainment from the television. Toys were forgotten. What's the use of it when you can't share a role with a playmate?

Surfing the channel eaten more time than watching, the big screen offers nothing but old cartoons and movies they had watched. What else is there to get him excited? As a kid, he loved to play, he loved attention and liked to be around someone he shared the same favorites so they could fawn over, loved.

The clock hits 11AM, it's starting to become warm. There was a faint knock before the door opened, indicating that she had arrived. He didn't even dare to look at the entrance as her footsteps became clear. She didn't fuss about not having a proper greeting every time she arrived. In short, she is not as demanding as others. Ren thinks Ms. Irene is quite cool.

" What's doing, kid?" the couch near his back dipped and her presence became solid against his back. "Eh, that's a documentary, it's boring!"

He didn't argue when she grabbed the remote from his lap and looked for a decent TV show to watch.

She eventually gave up the search.

" Nothing' appealing. Let's go to N*****x, you okay with horror & thriller, Ren?" He shrugged, honestly, when his mother is around there are always the weird cartoons who always sing because it was appropriate for his age. She always turns off the TV every afternoon, because according to her, telenovelas are not a good way to learn moral things. "It's a shame Harry Potter isn't on N*****x but they at least have Lucifer Morningstar.. wait lemme' see.." she murmured. "That musical show isn't here either.. was Inception here? Ren, do you understand deep theories?"

Ren agreed to everything, she has a wide variety of movies and series she watches, while his is limited to 10 years old and below consent.

"Do you like detectives? I knew Sherlock Holmes was here.. there! I watched it repeatedly because it was so cool!" she exclaimed and, honestly, Ren thinks she spent more time looking for a possible movie to watch than actually watching the show. "Ah there's some anime here.. geez, we should choose carefully."

The afternoon rolled and Ren found himself waking up after a short nap. Irene was sprawled on their couch, the TV left unattended. What a waste of electricity, but Ren feels better than being with his previous babysitters. They were awful, if not, opportunities. Irene is only 17 years old. Her parents were skeptical of accepting her, but her persuading personality and bubbly character accepted them to accept her application.

The whole house was silent. The AC cools the living hall. Ren felt his stomach growl, he would wake Irene up if there wasn't any food available in the kitchen.

The small tap of his feet became too loud. He pulled the chair and helped himself up to look at the table, holding to the edge of the hard wooden surface for support. There were three plates covered with a cling wrapper, each containing a dish that Ire had cooked when she took a nap.

Not following the order and without being under the eyes of his mother, Ren ate the candied maple bacon on a smaller plate first. He slightly shivered at the first bite and continued until he emptied the plate. He looked at other dishes and found steamed vegetables, mashed potato and a fish for the main green and some sort of green stalks for a side dish.

"Let's do one more lap!"

"Yes!"

He flinched from his seat. The deep voices startled him late at lunch. It took him seconds after pushing the solid down his throat with water and he scrambled off his feet to glance at the nearest window.

Below is a group of young men, who must be high school students because they are tall. All of them wore the same plain white t-shirt with a small imprint on their left chest, they wore different colored shorts and all of them were in running shoes.

"Captain!" one of them ushered, out of breath. The group halt from running, sweat cascading down from their foreheads to their necks. Definitely the Summer more than Ren. "Please let's take a break!"

Ren watches cautiously. This was the first time he had seen men in the neighborhood. The aunt would usually start talking if there was a guess in their street but there was actually none.

Eagerly, he shot up his feet and dragged the chair for a better view. There, a slightly shorter man than the rest with neck-length hair looked back. He must be the Captain for how he ran in the center, the eyes of everyone drawn to him and his aura speaks a lot.

He took a look before deciding. "3 minutes and then we started running the last lap." Everyone agreed.

Ren took his fascination. Why are they running in such heat? Remedial classes? Or is this a punishment for them? He doesn't want to be judgemental, but a few of them might be delinquent from appearance.

He took the liberty to watch from above, his mind wandering who those new faces were around. He hasn't gone outside in a while, the community lacks children playing outside and the nearest park is across the highway he doesn't have a heart to take a leap into.

"Don't you think the coach is working us out early? Tomorrow's the practice match and this is a 3-week training camp."

"I'll be skin and bones if we continue to run in this humidity."

"I never liked Summer."

"I just want to practice in the gym."

They complained, though, Ren couldn't piece together what they were up to.

"This is good for our stamina. If we reach the National, there will be longer sets. But don't get ahead of yourself, everyone's gearing up for the Preliminaries and they all want to be the last group on the court." the same Captain spoke. "Ignorance will get us nothing but a defeat.

"I heard Muramoto High practiced with their colleges. They don't accept any practice matches either."

"And LIS, I heard they have new crazy first years."

"Eh? They will put them in court already?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

"With their 3rd years possible last match, I bet the 2nd years are now trying to build a strong foundation within the new generation of their team. Their power lies with their forward, setter and middle blocker— who are all expected to graduate soon. They are trying to create a connection as early as this."

"Won't it be risky though?"

Everyone shrugged.

"Break time is over! Stand up!"

Ren released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding throughout their cryptic discussion. He didn't know who and what they were talking about, but the oozing seriousness in their voices was enough to send him on thrilled.

He wants to go to that training camp.

"Ren— what are you up there!"

He stepped down when Irene scolded him for it and when she noticed that the candied bacon was before the main dish.

"You dive in for dessert first?! Come here, I'll feed you!"

Sometimes Irene has a tendency to lose her coolness.

                                       ...

Ren hesitated for a mere second before he took a glimpse of what his afternoon could be versus what it would be if he snuck out and saw what those cool guys were up to. It was easy, whether he wanted to rot inside or see something amazing. Of course it would be the latter.

It's the same pattern that day. His parents left for work, Irene would come before lunch and they would both take an afternoon nap— except that he would pretend to be sleeping in his room.

It is easy to fool Irene when he starts to yawn and he had a reason that he kept shifting in bed last night because of a nightmare. He demanded at least more than 2 hours of nap. She was skeptical at first but agreed half way because it meant longer free time for her.

The afternoon came and Ren became a small man on a mission. His first struggle is to find where those guys are staying, not that he would bar inside their current inn. He was halfway somewhere when he also realized he didn't know their school, aside from a small imprint on their shirt— he was hopeless.

The neighborhood is eerily silent. He wondered how these people spend their time at home doing nothing, with their boring TV shows and boring stories. He will never get used to it and he does not want to.

He took himself along a short crosswalk. Ren did not falter, maybe a little, but there was someone close by to hold onto just in case—

"Say Misha, did you see those guys yesterday?"

"Who?"

"Those hot guys jogging every morning! I heard they will be here for the next 2 weeks!"

The girls next to him squealed, clasping their hands together as they recognized who those were quickly. He took the opportunity. It might not be those guys, but the chances still stand. They are the only ones whose presence is unknown here and he hadn't heard anyone aside from them.

"Can we watch them?!"

"I hope so! I bet they're also so athletic! I mean, have you seen their muscles?"

"I bet!"

Ren chooses carefully what he wants to hear.

"... Torimo? Torino? Eh, something like that. I'll just ask my brother!"

Barely having enough lead, Ren decided to check every school on the way until he found something close to the name.

He took a lot of turns, their district is as tricky as a maze. If you don't know the houses and streets, you will be as good as a lost small kitten. He knew this neighborhood, Ren knew he could find a shortcut somewhere, as long as no one saw him wandering alone and reported it to his parents. He will be damned.

"I'm betting on a new coming—Ah!" Ren yelped from the collision. He almost went to his knees if it weren't for the wall beside him.

He looks back at the person who bumped into him, he automatically freezes to see such a guy. He has an irritated scowl on his face and is surrounded by his concerned minions.

Ren takes advantage of the sudden large crowd and runs away, uncaring of apologies. He was sure those thugs would beat him up and extort money, like from movies he and Irene watched.

"Woah! Did you see that?! That was fast!"

" Those guys are amazing!"

"He touched it!"

"It's on the air again! Come on! Score!"

"Slammed it down— that was a chance!"

Another ear cheer came inside the gymnasium. Ren covered his ears and tried to make sense of his surroundings until his eyes saw the banner hung outside. Welcome to Torino High School!!!

His eyes widened as he looked down again, searching for the entrance, and was overwhelmed to see a lot of the audience blocking the entrance. Another cheer erupted so that he could almost feel his heart leaping out of his ribcage. Ren hurries inside, his small frame squeezing through the crowd and slightly pushing their legs out of his way. There was a little oxygen and a yelp from someone whom he touched the hem of his shirt to balance.

He did not know if he was gonna make it, but when he almost stumbled on what looked like the first step of the stairs, he held onto the railings and made his way. Ignoring the irritated scowl of some and confusion when a kid shows up there.

Trying to get to the front row is another level of difficulty. Ren doubts all these people study here or staff, they just come in like him to watch whatever those young men play. Considering the sea of admirers left and right, Ren came to the conclusion that they must be that amazing because everyone here was amazed..

A loud huff was heard and Ren saw a rather slow motion of the floor dive. His hand was flat on the wooden floor, his chin almost touching it the same. For a while, he doesn't know what is happening, but everyone cheers and he sees a ball spinning in the air. Their eyes were drawn to the curve of the ball but Ren couldn't take his eyes off the same man he saw yesterday. Neck length hair tied in half, sweaty but looks incredibly cool in their training shirts. Above all, his eyes did not falter, more so, he looked proud as the fight continued. This guy is amazing..

“Touma nice saved!"

"Captain!"

"Say, say, isn't he Misaki Touma? He was rewarded the Best Libero Award..."