Even Princes Have Flaws
While sitting on the bench during the 5 minutes break, Mira and her friends began discussing.
"Wow. We actually won." Mira said while looking for a face towel to wipe her sweat with.
"Here." Mira looked to see who was offering a towel to her.
Eugine waited earnestly for her to take the face towel.
Heart in stormy conflict, it took 5 seconds before she took the towel from him.
"Thanks." Mira muttered while staring somewhere else.
"Hey Eugine, you'll have to play for this set. Are you ready?" Luigi asked before chugging water from the bottle.
Eugine blinked and stared at them blankly.
If it was another person making the same expression, they would look stupid. But with Han Eugine's face, it ended up making him look stupidly adorable.
Question marks appeared above the heads of everyone.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jamie asked him.
Eugine finally snapped out of it and nodded but deep inside, his stomach is churning. He looked at the obviously tired Mira and shut his mouth.
"We have to win. We can do it. I'd like to see their faces when they got beaten in their own sports by people who are not even volleyball players." Ever the bad boy, Justin glared at the other bench consisting of volleyball team.
Sophie pinched him. "Why are you always looking for trouble?"
"Oww. It's the fault of those volleyball bastards who always look smug. They feel like they are the best team in ISOA."
Luigi laughed. "You're still not over that?"
"What what. Is there anything we're missing out? What's that all about?"
Luigi and Justin told them then that apparently, the relationships between the four sports club weren't that good. These clubs had a huge fight slash rivalry before and that fight got passed from seniors to juniors and was still ongoing right now.
Because of that, the Volleyball and Baseball club hates each others guts. The Swimming team got pulled into the fight too while Tennis club remained neutral by ignoring the fight.
Justin was going to tell them the reason for the fight but Jifaar suddenly informed them that the second set was about to start. They had no choice but to temporarily abandon their topic.
"Anyway, I agree that we have to win." Luigi was smiling but competitiveness could be seen burning in his eyes. Perhaps the love for competition is in his blood.
Kang Jun scoffed. "I already spent so much energy in this match, it would be really really annoying if we lose."
Mira and Sophie watched them enter the court again while telling them 'goodluck, feeling like they would really need it.
Eugine quietly followed while having a serious face. He wanted to stop them to say something.
The combination of Luigi, Justin, Kang Jun, Eugine and Jamie sent frenzy among the audiences. Girls started cheering madly while calling their names.
Wow. Mira thought. Seeing her friends like that, wearing black t-shirts and with slightly sweaty skin, eyes focused on the gamr... It was truly a visual treat, especially the boys. Not that Jamie is out of place. Despite being the only girl in court on their side, her presence is something no one could ignore.
"Sophie, I feel like if you are there, It will be more complete and amazing." Mira said to Sophie.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Mira shook her head.
Now that she think about it, none of her friends are ugly. In fact, its like the brightest stars in ISOA decided to be friends together. It was totally unfair for everyone. Sometimes, Mira thinks that it was truly miracle that she could be friends with them.
Jifaar blew the whistle, signifying the start of the match.
All the while, Eugine was feeling tense. He saw Kazu looking at him. He got a bad feeling about this.
He wondered if its not too late to tell his friends what he wanted to say earlier.
It was now Kazu's turn to serve. He clicked his tongue before moving steps backwards and then proceeded to throw the ball high before jumping to hit it.
The smacking sound of Kazu's palm against the ball made Luigi realize the power behind the serve. It was something that even an official Volleyball player would have a hard time to receive.
"Eugine, watch out!" Jamie yelled.
It was too fast. Eugine saw the ball coming to him before he realized it. Although he wasn't athletic, his are sharp. He could cleary see the ball spinning while coming straight to him. Kazu had accurately sent it to Han Eugine.
To his credit, Eugine's fast reflexes kicked in.
But instead of receiving the ball, his did something else.
Under the watch of everybody, Eugine's body moved, not to receive the ball but to avoid it and get out of the way instead.
"..."
"..."
...
For a moment, there was only silence.
Jamie and the others stared at Han Eugine, dumbfounded.
"Did you just-?"
"Pfffttttt. HAHHAHAHAHAH." Kang Jun suddenly guffawed. "Did you just avoid the ball?"
Eugine scratched the back of his neck in apology. "Well, that's what wanted to tell you. I've never played volleyball before."
Jamie facepalmed herself, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.
"You're definitely a ML material, yet why are you like that?"
"Huh?" Eugine only looked her sheepishly, not understanding what she meant.
Mira could no longer bear to watch. Seeing Eugine like this, she suddenly felt her heart in turmoil but despite that, a laughed escaped her lips. She also saw Sophie quietly laughing beside her. In the end, she smile helplessly while watching Eugine.
Meanwhile, Luigi sighed before calling Jifaar.
"Sir, I think we need a Time-out."