Chapter 36
Goshiki, who had just lost a point due to his misjudgment, quietly hung his head.
After two seconds of silence, he shouted to his teammates while bowing ninety degrees.
"My fault!!"
"I'm truly sorry! Not only for abandoning my teammates with that predictive block! But also for actually hesitating for two seconds about whether to apologize to you all!"
"I'm sorry!"
Goshiki's loud voice and sincere attitude made his apology echo throughout the gymnasium.
But his earnest apology, after waiting three seconds, was met with his teammates' merciless mockery.
"What's this? Goshiki, are you getting full of yourself? After doing something like that, you actually considered not apologizing to us?"
"Real smooth! If you're going to apologize, you should apologize quickly—I don't accept late apologies!"
"Ahahahaha, Goshiki-senpai, you're being way too funny!"
"Goshiki, even your apology is hilarious! That's so you! Hahaha!"
His teammates were all laughing so hard they were falling over backward, and some were even crying from laughter.
"Bastards! If you make me laugh so hard I don't have energy to play later, I'll give you a Thousand Years of Death tonight!"
Hearing the laughter around him, Goshiki—still bowing with his face toward the ground—began trembling all over.
His eyebrows under his bowl cut were twitching, veins bulging, face flushed red.
Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore.
Goshiki suddenly straightened up, pointing at his teammates with his face red from anger and shouting:
"You damn bastards! I was being completely serious with that apology! Don't mock me!"
"At a time like this, you should all come over obediently, help me up, and say something like 'This is the ace's privilege'!"
After hearing Goshiki's outburst, his teammates, who were already laughing hysterically, froze for a moment, then burst into even louder laughter, all collapsing to the ground.
"Ahahahaha! I can't! I can't take it anymore!"
"Someone save me, I'm in a weakened state! Hahahaha!"
"That chuunibyou speech—are you really a third-year middle schooler? Goshiki!"
"'I'?!! Ahahahaha! 'I'!! Don't let your regional accent come out at a time like this to make us laugh!"
Shirabu's expression of wanting to laugh but not daring to, trying very hard to hold back his laughter, made the teammates watching him laugh even harder.
"Shirabu! What's with that expression!"
"Don't save face for him—if you want to laugh, just laugh!"
Shiratorizawa, thrown into chaos by Goshiki's antics, fell into complete disorder.
The coach, forced into a corner, had to call another timeout.
"Don't give up, Guren!"
Hinata Shoyo looked at the extremely 'harmonious' scene across the net and began speaking to Ichise Guren.
"?"
Ichise Guren responded to Hinata Shoyo with a question mark face.
"They're laughing so happily! We can't lose either!"
Hoshino Masaru suddenly appeared behind Hinata Shoyo and delivered a ghostly retort.
"Hinata, are you an idiot?"
"Who would compete with opponents over who laughs more happily during a match?"
"This isn't some laughing ball competition..."
"Pfft!" Hinata Shoyo couldn't help but laugh out loud at Hoshino's final retort.
Now it was Hoshino's turn to show a question mark face: "?"
"Shoyo's sense of humor has always been weird."
Hyakuzawa Yudai said as much.
Hearing this, Hinata Shoyo began to object.
"Hyakuzawa! Why are you starting to roast me too?"
Hyakuzawa Yudai looked apologetic.
"Sorry, sorry. I really couldn't hold back that retort. The fact that you can actually laugh at such a lame pun like 'laughing ball competition' is just too much to bear."
"What?! That was clearly hilarious!"
Hinata Shoyo retorted, then pointed at Kawashima, Suzuki, and Mori, shouting to them:
"You guys! Wasn't that funny?!"
The three underclassmen were speechless.
"..."
Returning from the timeout, both sides had completely collected themselves and prepared for the new round of offense and defense.
Yukigaoka returned with the momentum of their lead, their morale soaring.
On Shiratorizawa's side, the comedic flood triggered by Goshiki had completely laughed away all the pressure from the prolonged battle, and everyone began fighting with their backs to the wall.
In the stands:
"Oh? Both sides have very calm breathing now."
"Yeah, look at their eyes—every single one of them is concentrated to the max."
Tweet!
The referee blew the eight-second serve whistle.
On Yukigaoka's side, Suzuki delivered a serve aimed at placement, landing fairly precisely on the path where the opposing setter was running.
Unfortunately, the ball's speed and bounce weren't enough to cause damage, and the opposing back-row player didn't have much trouble getting the volleyball up.
'Damn it...'
Seeing that his serve hadn't caused any damage to the opponents, Suzuki felt a bit frustrated.
But he didn't dwell on it. He was well aware that he had only been seriously playing volleyball for a few months. Even practicing two hours every day, he was still essentially a rookie beginner.
He didn't have Kawashima's height or Mori's brains, but Suzuki's strength (barely) was his peaceful mindset and extremely clear self-awareness.
He wouldn't think he was worthless because of a mistake, nor would he think he was amazing just because of one successful spike or dig.
In Ichise Guren's view, steady and methodical Suzuki had development potential that wasn't inferior to the other two same-year students.
Withdrawing his attention, Ichise Guren began focusing on the upcoming defense.
'Sorry for the wait, everyone'
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