The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

The team should leave for Fukushima on Friday. However, Yuki decided to go a day early, on Thursday, to deal with his emotional state. Even though he knew he would be in turmoil, he didn't want to show it to the team he still barely knew. In the end, since Aiko was worried about him, she asked for Kato and Riku to accompany him, and fortunately enough those two were willing to do so.

Instead of taking a train, the three decided to use the bus to go there. Even though the journey was a bit longer and inconvenient, it was still far cheaper since the train from Tokyo to Fukushima was still pretty limited after the disaster.

The journey itself took about four and a half hours. Usually, this kind of trip would be fun and filled with laughter. However, the atmosphere among those three was awkward since Yuki spent most of his time staring at the window while Riku and Kato didn't know what to say.

Yuki knew he acted like a jerk right now. His friends were kind enough to be his moral support, yet he completely ignored them for whatever inside his mind was. However, he couldn't help it. The thought of striking up a conversation would always be blocked by the haunting dream of having to face his old home, and when he imagined the road he usually passed through to get to the school was completely different, the spot that his old house was placed in the past now being replaced with another building didn't sit quite well in his mind.

"Oh, new faces!" A raspy voice suddenly attracted their attention. When they turned around, they could see an old man with a huge backpack greeting them. "It is not often to see younglings like you here. I am sorry for your loss."

Riku and Kato looked at each other confusedly while Yuki immediately understood what the old man said. Still, since he didn't say anything about it, Riku decided to ask, "What do you mean by loss, Jiisan?"

This time, it was the old man's turn to look surprised. Then, as if he realized something, he asked a question, "Wait, you are not here for searching? Are you here for vacation or what?"

"Well, not really." Riku answered awkwardly, ignoring the 'searching' part he didn't understand. "We both," He pointed his finger at himself and Kato, "Are here to accompany our friend here, but currently, he is…" The blonde boy trailed his words, glancing subtly at Yuki. If he was in the mood, Yuki would just roll his eyes exasperatedly to his friend. However, right now, he didn't even turn his head around, eyes still looking at the scenery outside of the window.

"Ah, so that is the case…" The old man nodded in understanding as if Riku's vague explained a lot. Except, for the old man, it was. "Young man, you should be grateful for having two wonderful friends here. The first time would always be hard, but having moral support would help, you know?"

At that, Yuki finally reacted, turning his head around and nodding, acknowledging his words. Riku who was still confused finally shrugged it off and decided to change the topic. "So, Jiisan, what do you mean by sorry for our loss? Do you think we are here for a specific purpose?" He asked curiously.

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Instead of going direct though, the old man decided to be vague with his answer. "Do you know that Fukushima is the third largest prefecture in Japan?" Now, even Yuki was attracted by whatever would come from the old man's mouth. "People would only know the city of Fukushima when we talk about this prefecture, sometimes even not knowing the difference between the city and the prefecture itself as a whole. That's why a lot of people are confused about how could the disaster have so many victims when it only hit one city?" The old man chuckled.

Riku and Kato stared at each other for a moment before the former asked, "So, how is it related to my question before?"

"Be patient, young man." The old man chuckled more. "The thing is, the disaster not only hit the big cities but also the small ones there. In fact, since the help was focused more on the big cities, you can say that the people from small cities suffered the most from the disaster. Don't you know that a local university here has already published data that say 78 percent of people missing from the disaster are those who lived in small cities?"

Kato was stunned, starting to get what the old man was trying to say. Riku who was still clueless widened his eyes in shock. "Really?!" Asked the blonde boy.

"Oh, it is real, young man. You can see it on the Internet later." The old man smiled sadly. "And unfortunately, even though the SAR team had already worked their ass off for a few months to recover the missing bodies, the area hit by the Tsunami and the nuclear leakage from the aftermath was too wide, and the speed was too slow. That is why most of the people who have relatives who are still missing decided to take this into their own hands and search for themselves. The fact that this bus's route passed so many areas that couldn't be reached by train or any conventional transportation is enough for me to guess that you should be one of us. It seems I am wrong here!" He boasted laughter at the end of the explanation, hiding the pain on his face well.

"Wait, one of us? Do you mean that you…" Riku widened his eyes as he just realized the point of the conversation.

"Yes, young man. I am here to search for my wife." When the words slipped through his mouth, it was as if a door had been cracked open, followed by a wave of sadness briefly resonating from the old man while his face gained a faraway look. "I was on a trip to Osaka with my colleagues when I first heard the news about the disaster. I could still remember my legs felt like jelly, my head was dizzy, and even now, my consciousness still won't believe that my wife is gone. So many 'what-ifs' thoughts keep flying around my head. What if I was there when the day happened? What would I do to save my wife? Can I even save her? Honestly, that guilt is eating me alive, and I am sure if not for my wife still missing, I would die a long time ago."

Listening to an old man's suicidal thoughts was definitely not on top of the list for the most surprising thing that could happen on the trip. For a moment, Riku and Kato – and even Yuki were confused, not knowing how to handle this situation.

It took a few silent moments before the old man shook off the sadness, his smile returning to normal as he waved a hand in the air. "Ah, I am so sorry! It seems that I slipped through that state again! Don't worry, I am not suicidal! I know that my wife is dead already and I have been receiving so many condolence messages from a lot of people, so you don't have to worry about me!"

Even though he said it like that, the awkward atmosphere was still there. In the end, Kato decided to ask the question lingering through her mind hesitantly. "Then, why are you still searching for her?"

Just after the question was thrown, gone was all the goofy smile on the old man's face, replaced by the unwavering sadness there. "Well, not only because I need closure, but it is also because she doesn't deserve to be rotten in whatever her body is right now. She deserves a proper burial, not be forgotten as another meaningless person that would only be noted as a part of statistic in the future."

The answer ended the conversation as they spent the rest of the trip in silence, only the sound of the bus's engine could be heard from their seat.