More Training
"Okay, that's all for today!" The coach said after he blew the whistle.
Hinata and I turned to the man in one and bowed, "One more set, Coach! Please!"
"Please, Coach!" Kageyama seconded.
Coach Ukai frowned. "You guys shouldn't push yourselves too hard just to make progress. Captain, why don't you talk them out of…" but stopped short when we all looked up at him with determination. "For crying out loud." I only heard him mutter this because of my enhanced hearing. "One more set and that's it! I have to return to the store to take over from my mom."
"Hai!" We all enthusiastically answered.
I participated with my team at the volleyball inter-high games. Unfortunately, Karasuno lost on the day that I couldn't participate. The day before our match with Aoba Johsai was a full moon. I was scheduled to visit the mediwitch overseeing me, and my sealing bracelet needed 'recharging' the day before. This meant people around me would be in danger, so Harry had to pull me out. He spoke to Takeda-sensei about it and reasoned a 'medical emergency' back in England that cannot be postponed. The team was disappointed but understood why I could not participate. The fact that we lost made me feel awful.
I apologised profusely the day I came back, but the seniors only brushed it off, saying that it wasn't my fault. Still, I cannot help but feel guilty.
We stopped practising to take a fifteen-minute break. I was stretching when the gym door slid open, and our volleyball teacher Takeda-sensei stumbled in. He landed on his face when he slipped. We all scurried towards him to try and help him up, but the figure behind him made us all pause.
"Harry?"
He waved at the team, and his eyes landed on me last. "Yo!"
I rolled my eyes at my godfather. Ever since meeting one of our laid-back neighbours, he's greeted everyone with a "Yo!" instead of his usual greeting. I tried teasing him, but he only said it helped him blend in.
"Eh?" the whole team stared at my godfather.
I cleared my throat. "Everyone, this is my godfather, Harrison Potter-Black—"
"Call me Harry, please," he interjected. He removed his shoes before coming inside the gym. He helped Takeda-sensei to his feet and then closed the door.
"What are you doing here?" I asked my godfather in English, ignoring my teammates' gawked expressions. I saw the coach staring at Harry with his jaw hanging on the floor. After a few seconds, he regained his composure and grabbed Takeda-sensei by the arm, whispering frantically in his ear.
He only raised an eyebrow. "I want to talk to your teacher about training, but someone beat me to it. However, it's not late for me to offer additional help."
"What do you mean—"
"We're going, right?" I heard Takeda-sensei ask the room.
"Going where?"
"Your nose is bleeding!" Kageyama announced.
Takeda-sensei doesn't look like he cares, but I saw Shimizu-sempai produce a first aid kit out of nowhere and handed our advisor several wads of tissues. He gave his thanks to her before he turned to us and continued, "Tokyo!"
"Tokyo?" Hinata asked, puzzled. Then, his face morphed into a wide grin. "Then, that means… Nekoma!"
"Nekoma? We’ll be practising with them?" Kageyama added.
Takeda-sensei nodded. "Yes, but not only Nekoma this time. Fukurodani Academy Group," he explained, "is a group that consists of Nekoma and a few other schools in the Kanto region. I heard that these schools often have practice matches with each other. I got a call from Coach Nekoma yesterday, and thanks to him, we are invited into their training camp."
Sounds of awe and excitement went around the room. Tanaka-sempai and Yū were the loudest.
"Groups like this are mostly created through good relationships built over the years," Coach Ukai added. "Usually, you can't join them if you aren't well-connected. We must thank Coach Nekoma for the invite and Takeda-san, who kept pushing them to do this."
Takeda-sensei shook his head. "Oh no, I didn't do much. Besides, you should thank not just me but Black-san too."
The whole team turned to look at my godfather. "What does he mean?" I asked, switching back to Japanese.
"Well, I've been planning this ever since you told me your volleyball team will join the inter-high games," Harry said. He walked towards the group and stood between Coach and Takeda-sensei. "I told Bill about you joining the volleyball team, and he's been asking me all sorts of questions that are just jargon to me, so I decided to invite Bill into one of your practice games for a consult. I came today to ask your teacher and coach for their permission. Maybe Bill can help with your training."
"A consult?" I asked. "What? I don't understand."
"Mikusa."
Everyone looked at Coach Ukai. However, the coach only has his eyes towards Harry. "You're him, right? Harrison Potter-Black, Mikusa's Chairman and youngest board member of the International Volleyball Federation," he got the whole room's attention when he picked up one of the volleyball balls we were using earlier. He spun it in his hands and showed us the brand. "Mikusa is one of the official sponsors of FIVB and the official balls for all FIVB worldwide competitions, including the Olympics." Jaws were all hanging open as everyone, including me, stared at Harry, who only smiled at our Coach. "In addition to that, he's also the President of UNIGO Scholarships."
Harry could only chuckle. He raised his hands in defeat. "I've been found out. Guilty as charged."
"UNIGO?" I heard Sawamura-taichou exclaim. "That company sponsors any graduating student to any university to any country for any athletic sport!"
"But I heard they, I mean you, stopped giving out scholarships five years ago," Azumane-sempai said.
Harry nodded at Sawamura-taichou. "In exchange, anyone invited to the program becomes a member of a sports team I own. Dad and Sirius are really into other sports besides Quidditch, you know." He said that last bit to me. “Remus was their business manager at some point.”
The rest of the team exchanged puzzled looks, wondering what Quidditch was.
"The board members were very ‘cooperative’ five years ago," he said as he sat cross-legged on the floor and loosened his tie. All of us followed and listened to him. However, instead of addressing the group, he turned to me to explain. "The board members have voting rights on an individual they think will benefit from the program. Since its founding forty years ago in England, the company has looked at the individual's skills— both athletics and academics— equally. The company receives millions of applications from hopeful students worldwide and only one hundred thousand students under twenty are accepted in the first stage. The number would gradually decrease as the year progresses and would only end up with ten percent of that number through various selection processes. However, I decided to stop the scholarship five years ago because they would only invite those on 'acceptable' status but doesn’t actually need the scholarship," he frowned. "I'm not supposed to tell this outside the board meeting, and I hope nothing will come out from this gym?"
All of us gave him a nod of promise. Yū and Hinata nodded enthusiastically.
"Six years ago, the scholar was the only son and heir to a real estate mogul in Singapore." Harry elaborated. "He was only accepted because three board members are good friends with his father and exchanged the scholarship for a piece of real estate. Because of that, I decided to cancel the scholarship until I can do a thorough review." He sighed dramatically but perked up immediately. "I just returned from Tokyo and made major changes with the scholarship committee."
"Er," I started. Knowing my godfather and his dealings with Gringotts, I got the gist of what he did, but my curiosity needed to be fed. "What did you do?"
His smile looks manic. I panicked a little bit because it was borderline psychotic. He reminded me of Ganduk, his Gringotts Bank Manager. "Let's just say they are not happy with me. But they can't do anything anyway, even if they joined forces to overthrow me. I own 60% of the company."
I shivered at that. Hinata and Kageyama did the same on either side of me. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi scurried towards the Coach, who blinked at Harry questioningly.
"This year, only fifty students per country will be allowed to enter the first stage of the selection. UNIGO partnered with the International Sports Federation to select worthy students worldwide who are worthy of the full scholarship. Of course, to not show bias, I won't be selecting the students myself but members of the newly formed scholarship selection board. Each representative is bound to attend all sports competitions, from Figure Skating, Track Cycling, Swimming, Track and Field," he paused, as he glanced up to all of us challengingly, "And also includes the known sports of Basketball, Football, Tennis and Volleyball."
Harry's grin widens even more. I glanced around and noticed everyone looking at Harry seriously, especially the seniors. Their backs straightened, and a look of complete determination showed on their faces.
"But wouldn't it be showing favouritism if you offer additional training to us?" Coach Ukai suddenly said. All volleyball team members, including myself, looked at him as if to say, 'What the hell are you doing?'
All heads bounced back to my godfather to wait for his answer, but he only shook his head. "Nope," was the only thing Harry said, but he didn't explain further, his grin still plastered across his face.
Coach looked like he wanted to ask more, but I remembered something Harry mentioned earlier. "Wait, what do you mean by Uncle Bill and a consult? What happened there?"
Harry blinked at me. "Ah, well, I did mention to you that Bill is now part of the training team, right?" I can only stare blankly at him. "Right," he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "He's helping the Olympic team to get in shape in time for the games." I heard Kageyama exclaim, and Hinata squeaked. The others let out an exclamation when they heard the Olympics part.
"Bill is officially off duty from work because of his leg. He broke it during the earthquake two weeks ago. The volleyball team was in the gym getting some training when the hoist machine tilted and landed on him."
I responded with a frown. One dose of Skelegrow, and he should be right as rain. Why must Bill be off work for a broken leg that a potion can quickly mend?
"The other coaches and the volleyball team managed to get the hoist off from his leg before the ambulance came," he explained further, enunciating keywords for me to understand. I understood immediately. The incident was witnessed by other people. I'm guessing muggles. Harry mentioned an ambulance, so muggle doctors are involved.
"He's been confined in bed and then on the recliner for a week, and he's getting bored," he winked at me when he knew I understood. I couldn't stop laughing. Either Aunt Fleur gave Skelegrow to Uncle Bill but had to wear a cast to keep up with the pretence, or Uncle Bill is not given any Skelegrow and must wait for his leg to heal the muggle way.
"He's been calling me every day to ask if I could put in a good word for him to join your team as a training coach. He tried to leave the house five days after the incident, and the housekeepers saw him sneaking out," he chuckled. "So they threatened to call me if he didn't go home and rest. That didn't deter him until the housekeepers threatened to call Fleur." The housekeepers Harry referred to must be Dobby and Winky. I couldn't help it. I clutched my stomach as I tried not to collapse from laughing. "Fleur found out", my eyes widened, tears forming at the corners of my eyes. "She then proceeded to threaten him that if he didn't behave and follow the doctor's orders, she was going to call her."
Harry and I let out belly laughs after that. All the while, the others are watching us with confusion.
After all this time, a son would still be frightened of his mother. Who could blame Uncle Bill, though? Grandma Molly is scary even if she's not angry. Just imagining Grandma Molly's furious face at Uncle Bill made us laugh harder.
“Ah, sorry,” I tried to calm down, wiping tears from my eyes as I let out a few more chuckles. “Inside joke. Uncle Bill's mother, Grandma Molly, is super scary.” I explained to the others in between hiccups of laughter. “Even Grandpa Arthur doesn't have the guts to contradict her. The only ones who can annoy her and not care for consequences are my Uncles Fred, George, and Aunt Ginny.”
“Ha,” Hinata reacted, though the others still looked at me like I'd lost my head.
“Nekoma is having the Inter-High Preliminaries this week, so we can't go right away,” Takeda-sensei said. “Besides, we're only invited. We still have to get permission and do some paperwork. I'll tell you the details afterwards. Anyway, are you guys up for it?”
“Of course!” Sawamura-taichou answered.
“We're going!” We all exclaimed, Hinata and Tanaka-sempai's voices louder than the rest.
All three adults smiled at us until Takeda-sensei exclaimed, “I have a staff meeting. I have to go. I'm leaving the rest to you, Ukai-kun.”
“Sure,” Coach answered.
“Let me escort you. There is something I have to tell the Vice Principal anyway,” Harry said. He waved goodbye to me and the team before following Takeda-sensei out of the gym.
We all bid him farewell with a last “Thank you!” as the rest of the team returned to practice.
“All right!” Coach yelled, “Clean up before you leave.”
“Yes, sir!”
I felt two hands slam at my back. I would have tumbled to the floor if I wasn't holding the mop. I turned around and saw Yū and Tanaka-sempai grinning down at me. “You didn't tell us that your father is famous!”
“I honestly didn't know,” I answered. I saw the rest of the team stop what they were doing and turn to our group to listen. “And he's my godfather, not my father. There's a difference. I know he has a store in Tokyo and goes to meetings, but I have no idea it was that extensive.”
“You haven't been to Tokyo?” Azumane-sempai asked.
“I have. Harry inherited a house in Tokyo. Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur lives there with my cousin Victoire. Well, before she moved here to Miyagi, I guess. That house is so big, it’s awkward to live in with just the two of us so Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur and Victoire moved in with us. Aunt Fleur manages the store for Harry, so it’s only logical to live at the Black Residence in Tokyo.”
“Wow,” everyone turned to Ennoshita-sempai. He's looking at his phone with a blush on his face. “Is this your Aunt Fleur?”
Everyone scrambled to see, but Ennoshita-sempai turned his phone screen to me, and I could only nod. “Yep, that's my Aunt.”
“Wow, CEO of Mikusa. Must be nice working at your godfather's store, Ted.”
I've seen that picture before, and I rolled my eyes as an answer to Tanaka-sempai's remark. Being a Veela, Aunt Fleur took a unique company photo to ensure anyone can still feel her allure, even in 2D. Instead of the usual two by two pictures, my Aunt opted for a full-body photo wearing a white shimmery dress. Her hair is braided to look like a crown on her head, and she’s wearing a playful smirk and a wink.
Azumane-sempai, Sugawara-sempai, and Sawamura-taichou stared at my Aunt's picture in awe, their cheeks red, while Hinata and Kageyama are trying to peek behind them. I saw Yū and Tanaka-sempai drooling at the photo.
“Stop drooling at my Aunt's photo!” I yelled.