Chapter 32: Daily Life

Tendo leaned over and peeled Goshiki off Ryosuke, pressing a finger to Goshiki’s forehead. “If you’re going to talk, then talk. Don’t get handsy with our Ryosuke, okay?”

Goshiki wilted again and shrank back into the corner, looking utterly withdrawn. Ryosuke let out a few muffled snickers.

Honestly, you couldn’t really blame Ryosuke for laughing. Goshiki really had gotten beaten up pretty badly by the ball.

Suppressing his laughter, Ryosuke jogged over to the corner to comfort the withdrawn Goshiki.

Tendo reached out, about to sling an arm over Ryosuke’s shoulders—only to grab thin air. He turned around, found no one there, and blinked in confusion.

Standing nearby, Yunohama felt like he could see a line floating above Tendo’s head:
Hey—where did big cat go?!

The corner of Yunohama’s mouth twitched. Better to stay away from these strange people—just in case the stupidity was contagious.

He tucked his water bottle under his arm and went to find Eita Semi. Among all these people, only Reon-senpai felt normal. That so-called senpai aura the others had was completely shattered.

In the corner, Ryosuke had his arms around Goshiki, starting a heart-to-heart between friends.

“Goshiki, are you feeling sad?”

Goshiki slowly turned his head to look at Ryosuke. His mind was being spammed nonstop with one word: genius.

He shot Ryosuke a glare. “No! A genius like you could never understand the sorrow of us ordinary people!”

Ryosuke’s face fell. He searched through the very limited vocabulary in his head, trying to find something comforting to say. “I’m not a genius. Goshiki is the amazing one. Goshiki is just… slow—no, no—the early bird catches the worm! Yes! That’s it!”

Goshiki looked even more aggrieved. What did it feel like to have a genius teammate? Don’t ask—asking just meant sadness.

A few days ago, Ryosuke had been learning how to spike. He’d gotten the hang of cross shots after just two days. Back then, Goshiki had trained for a whole month before managing it!!

Then there was Ryosuke’s ridiculous reach. Thinking about it only made Goshiki feel worse. He finally let out a pitiful sob.

Ryosuke panicked and tried to comfort him, hands flailing. “D-Don’t cry! It’s totally normal not to receive the ball! Who could catch a senior’s serve on their first try, right…?”

Goshiki’s sobbing only grew louder. Passing behind them, Kawanishi silently glanced at the two crouching on the floor.
Ryosuke—yes, you—caught Ushijima’s ball on your very first day…

From farther away, Reon was serving. Seeing the two kids squatting in the corner sharing their troubles, he smiled in quiet satisfaction.

Coach Washijō hadn’t shown up at this time today, and he probably wouldn’t. Everyone knew his style, so they were all training on their own initiative.

Everyone, that is, except for one red-haired man who was sneakily preparing to make a getaway.

Tendo hid in the shadows, trying to merge with them, edging along the wall step by step.

He glanced around. Perfect—no one was paying attention. Kawanishi was drinking water, Eita Semi and Shirabu were arguing, Ushijima was spacing out. Total success. Time to run!

In his excitement, he accidentally kicked over a trash can. Tendo stiffened, turned around, and met a row of condemning stares. Awkwardly, he backed away.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he said, guilt mixed with forced politeness.

He turned to escape again—only to be spotted by Reon, who had just come out of the restroom. Caught red-handed.

Reon roared, “What are you standing around for?! Wakatoshi, hold Tendo down! Don’t let him run! If Coach Washijō finds out, we’re all getting dragged down with him!”

Only then did everyone react. After Tendo had escaped last time, Coach Washijō had announced the rule: if they couldn’t keep Tendo under control, extra training was guaranteed.

No sooner said than done—Tendo bolted.

Eita Semi took the lead in chasing him, and everyone else rushed to stop Tendo from “escaping” again.

Ushijima caught up and pinned Tendo down in one move. Eita Semi lunged and piled on top of him, crushing him like Mount Tai.

Tendo struggled with all his might. Ushijima, who always looked like he was spacing out, actually got shaken off by him.

Eita Semi reached out to grab Tendo—

—and yanked down Tendo’s volleyball shorts. Caught completely off guard, Tendo tripped over them and slammed face-first onto the floor.

“Senpai, what are you doing?!”

Over there, Ryosuke—who had finally managed to calm Goshiki down—saw the commotion and brought his friends over to watch. What he saw left him completely stunned.

Eita Semi was holding Tendo’s volleyball shorts, and Tendo-senpai was sprawled on the floor. Th-This…!!

Before Ryosuke could recover from the shock, a trembling voice rang out, “Y-You… what are you doing?!”

No sooner had one wave settled than another rose. Coach Washijō—who shouldn’t have been there today—arrived with coaches from other schools.

The moment he opened the door and saw the scene, Washijō clutched his chest weakly. If he kept coaching like this, he was going to shave years off his lifespan.

The coach beside him spoke with an unreadable tone. “Your school’s… atmosphere is very friendly.” He even paused deliberately.

Tendo hung his head, cursing internally. I’ve completely lost face as the Miracle Child—ahhh!

Ryosuke and Goshiki, those two innocent kids, had blank minds now. They were genuinely traumatized.

Coach Washijō roared, “What are you all standing around for?! Get back to training! Tendo and Eita Semi, go stand over there!”

Eita Semi guiltily rubbed his fingers together, then looked up—only to meet Tendo’s murderous glare.

He slunk off to squat by the wall.

Poor Goshiki and Ryosuke still hadn’t recovered. Ryosuke couldn’t understand it at all—why had Eita Semi-senpai tried to pull down Tendo’s pants?
The cat was confused. The cat was shocked.

As for Goshiki, he was now convinced that Tendo-senpai was absolutely a pervert! He was wearing pink polka-dot underwear!

Even if they were boxers, no matter how you looked at them, they were definitely something girls would like. But girls usually wore…

His face flushed bright red.

Reon looked at the two poor kids, who were now standing there as blankly as Ushijima himself (Ushijima: don’t drag me into this), and stepped forward to comfort them.

After this incident, rumors about the volleyball club increased yet again. It was said that the red-haired boy in the volleyball club was actually a pervert.

There were also rumors that all the boys in the volleyball club liked other boys, that everything was handled internally.

When these rumors spread, a large number of underclassmen and upperclassmen girls found themselves heartbroken overnight.

That, however, was a story for another time.