268 Beach Volleyball

I watched as Zevin ran back and wade into the water before I continued on with my own business. Zevin had helped set up the shade umbrella for me, so there really wasn't much left for me to do except move the beach chair into the shade. After doing that, I am pretty much finished for the day.

I sat on the chair, leaning all the way back until I was pretty much laying down comfortably. Then, I gazed in the direction of the horizon, taking in the blue of the sky and of the ocean. In the distance, I could see a white cruise ship sailing as it left the port, probably carrying many passengers as they excitedly went on with their vacation. I turned my head slightly to the right and saw the pier and the Ferris wheel. That is where the fireworks festival will be held, so they are probably busy adding in the finishing touches for tonight's festival right now.

I closed my eyes as I leaned my head back and relaxed. There is no need for me to do anything other than lay here comfortably in the shade as I enjoy the ambiance noise of the beach and the cool ocean breeze. There is no need for me to touch the waters and no need for me to swim. Perfect.

I heard the faint sound of footsteps on the sand followed by what appeared to be cloth being flung open next to me. So, I opened my eyes to investigate, and what I saw was Emilia and Mura laying down a large towel on the beach floor next to my seat.

"You're the only one who brought a shade umbrella," Mura explained as she smiled and looked at me. "And we don't want to get sun-burnt."

"Um..." I looked at her in a defeated manner.

"You're not gonna let your two beautiful teachers stay in the sun and have their beautiful skin be damaged by the sun's harmful rays, are you?" Mura teasingly looked at me in a begging manner.

"I didn't say you couldn't?" I sighed and shook my head.

"Thanks, Alevian," Mura grinned happily as she acquired my consent.

What they are doing...well...it's not really much bother to me. I've already slept in the same bed as the two of them, so this slight intrusion isn't much compared to what I experienced last night. Besides, it's not like they are the type of people to be loud and inconsiderate, so I can still catch up on sleep in piece.

I did drift off to the lullaby of the ocean. Although the sun was hot, in the shade, it was rather alright and tolerable. In addition, the salty, ocean breeze would always cool me down if it became too unbearable. Combine that with the fact that I was already somewhat sleepy from a lack of sleep, that just made the formula for a great nap.

After possibly dozing off for a few minutes, I was woken by soft whispers calling out my name. I slowly opened my eyes little by little to the underside of the umbrella. Then, I lazily moved my gaze in search of who it was that was calling my voice until I found the culprits. Standing there while dressed in their bikinis, Irina, Luna, and Muria were leaning forwards, ducking their head under the umbrella as they looked at my face. Behind them stood Erith and Alvelyn.

"Are you just going to sleep the entire day?" Luna smiled as she saw me open my eyes. "You're drooling a little."

"Huh?" I brought a hand to my mouth and felt that there were, in fact, some saliva clinging to the skin on my chin which I quickly wiped off.

"Come on," Irina said, reaching a hand towards my arm and rested it there. "We came all the way to the ocean, don't just sleep all day."

"I'm a bit tired," I said, closing my eyes and yawning.

"But you didn't do anything yesterday!" I heard Zaksus shouted from wherever he was at, which is probably not that far from where I am.

"I did play in that basketball game," I answered.

"Come on," Luna said. "We're gonna be playing some volleyball."

"You don't technically need me, right?" I complained.

I glanced in Alvelyn's direction, hoping that she will help me out. However, she avoided my gaze in response, maybe trying to pay me back for not helping her when she was being taught how to swim.

"Fine," I said, sighing as I am pulled off of the beach chair by Luna and Irina.

I followed them over to the beach volleyball courts nearby where my beach chair was, leaving Mura and Emilia to watch the bags as they willingly stayed behind to let us do our thing. To be honest, I'm quite jealous of them right now.

"What're the teams?" Zaksus asked. "We got ten here, so five on each team?"

"How about Alevian, Loyd, Noah, Irina, and Muria against the rest of us?" Luna suggested.

"That's not fair," Noah complained as he pointed at Zaksus. "You got that freak on your team!"

"Hey, I'm not a freak!" Zaksus barked back.

"Your team has three boys while our team only has two. That's only fair, isn't it?" Erith backed Luna up.

"Still," Noah continued on. "It's not fair with him."

"Let's just play a match and see how it goes," Zevin said, trying to calm the situation and progress the game.

After doing a quick match of rock-paper-scissors, it was decided that Zaksus's team will serve first, so as he walked to the outside end of the court with the volleyball in hand excitedly, the rest of us on my team weren't so excited. Rather, there was a depressing sense of defeat that already permeated everyone.

"Let's just try our best," Loyd said as he smiled weakly as he lacked confidence in his words. "Besides, his sport is basketball and not volleyball."

Zaksus then performed a jump serve that caught everyone by surprise as the volleyball slammed against the sand as if a bullet after zipping past Noah's face. Noah seemed to be the most surprised and disturbed by this serve, as he rigidly turned his head and at the impact spot on the sand.

"Zaksus you bitch!" Noah turned his head and shouted at him. "You almost killed me!"

"My bad," Zaksus smiled and apologized. "I didn't know how hard to hit the thing."

"That's one to zero," Luna smiled as she kept score.

"This is gonna suck," Noah sighed as he tossed the ball back to the other team.

"We'll get the serve," Loyd said to Irina and Muria, probably to ensure that their face will not get injured if the ball accidentally hit them.

With that said, I also tensed my body in preparation as Zaksus once again prepared to serve the ball. This time, he did control his strength, but he still smacked the ball hard, causing it to shoot rapidly toward our court. However, since I was preparing for this, I lunged to my side and received the serve, knocking the ball into the hair as my wrist turned red from the impact. Blood vessels in my wrist probably popped from the impact, because it stung like hell.

"Here it comes, Muria!" Irina hit the ball up once again into the air as the ball had flew over to her direction to begin with. Irina's intent was probably to set it up for Muria, but for some reason, Muria appeared somewhat nervous as she held her hand before her chest.

Like I had observed, Muria appeared rather passive and tentative, almost as if she didn't want to jump at all. That is rather weird because I had taken physical education with her before, and in my memory, she's actually rather decent at sports, although she lacked the necessary stamina and endurance to play for long periods of time at once. Maybe she injured herself? That does not seem like it...

The first match ended in our devastating defeat. We lost twenty-five to eight, which is...rather horrible.

"I say we need to make things fairer," Loyd suggested.

"I think so too," Luna smiled in an awkward manner as she looked over at Zaksus, who was without a doubt their MVP for the game as he scored twenty points by his freakish athleticism and strength.

As they talked and discussed how to separate the teams, I looked over at Muria. Her face was slightly red as she breathed deeply for air. As she did so, she still had a hand that seemed to hover before her chest as they moved due to her breathing motion. Upon looking at her, I figured out the reason for her odd behavior.

I walked up to her and began stripping myself of this light zip-up hoodie I had on.

"Here," I said, handing it to her.

She appeared rather surprised as she looked at me with widened eyes of astonishment. Her shy hand slowly reached up and grabbed the white hoodie from my hands. However, before she took the hoodie, she looked up and into my eyes, as if trying to confirm once again if she could really borrow it. Her eyes seemed to sparkle somewhat, which was due to her eyes being naturally watery.

I turned and walked away without saying anything after handing her the hoodie. As for the reason why, it is because it'll be a bit awkward. The reason why she's reluctant to jump, that is because...she's not wearing a sports bra and is wearing a bikini top. Therefore, if she were to jump, her breasts would bounce...In fact, I did see them jiggle a bit. Therefore, if I were to tell her the reason for me lending her my hoodie, then...it'll be awkward for the both of us. But...I think she knows that I know, because otherwise why would I hand her a hoodie for no good reason? But...her facial expression when I handed the hoodie to her, it's rather cute to be honest. I can't believe that someone like her was my wife from a previous life...