The afternoon slump hit him hard, making it impossible to keep his eyes open. And, as soon as he let his eyelids fall shut, he slipped into an instant, deep sleep.
While he remained asleep, ti flowed away like sand through an hourglass— smoothly and undisturbed.
What was ant to be a brief nap stretched on, turning into a lengthy rest. And, by the ti he finally stirred and opened his eyes, the light in the room had changed; it was already evening.
"How long did I fall asleep?" he murmured in a state of sleepiness, glancing toward the window.
Outside the window, the sky had turned into a stunning display of red and orange, signaling dusk. Though it seed quite dreamy and serene to look at, upon noticing its shades, his eyes jolted awake.
"Shit... I overslept," he yelled albeit in a state of restlessness.
It was as if he had missed sothing.
"Why did no one wake up?" speaking such, he turned to look at the wall clock.
It was 5:55. He felt a little relieved upon seeing the ti for a brief mont.
"Huff!! There's still five minutes left for the eting," he murmured, "If I hurry up, I can still make it in ti"
Then he began to arrange those supplies scattered around him. After sorting them quickly, he quickly changed his clothes and headed out in a hurry.
Thud!!
He closed the door and stord away in a rush. Ti-pressed so hard on him that he didn't even check the lock twice. Right now, he had to be as quick as possible.
While rushing towards the eting room, he nearly bumped into one of the hotel employees. Yet, he didn't even have ti to apologize properly. All he could afford at the mont was a brief and hurried apology.
Finally, after sprinting like crazy, he arrived at the eting room. Panting heavily, he stood in front of the door, completely drenched in sweat.
"Huff!! Huff!!"
"I hope I'm... not that late," he mumbled as he tried to stabilize his breathing while standing in front of the door.
It might be due to the sound of his breathing but he couldn't audibly hear any sound coming from inside the room. Since they were going to discuss strategy for tomorrow's match, he should still be able to hear so kind of noise coming from the room.
But even after pressing his ear against the door, he still couldn't hear anything at all. This made him sowhat dubious.
"Has it not started yet?"
He couldn't figure it out. And, he possibly couldn't figure it out by remaining there either. If he remained there, he'd only waste more ti. Thus, instead of wasting any more ti, he decided to head inside.
Then after stabilizing his breathing, he wiped the sweat off of his face.
Knock!! Knock!!
He knocked on the door. But didn't hear any reply from inside which made him doubt if he had arrived at the wrong location.
To confirm his doubts, he once again checked the room number.
"It says seventeen...., so it doesn't look like I'm in the wrong room either. Then, why is nobody answering?"
Due to the lack of response, he felt quite perplexed for a while. For a while, he stayed still at his place; perplexingly staring at the door.
Knock!! Knock!!
Applying more force, he knocked even louder than before. Yet again, he didn't hear any response from the inside. It was still as silent as ever.
Finally, he could no longer tolerate the silent treatnt. Then, he decided to barge inside.However as he tried to push open the door, he found it locked.
This ant that either nobody was present inside the room or everybody was already inside the room. Though he didn't get the eting location wrong, there was still a possibility of a change in the eting place at the last mont.
And since he had slept until the last mont, he might not have been aware of it.
The forr seed the most feasible option than the later. After all, if they were present inside the room, why would nobody answer him?
"Is anybody in there? Hello...," while knocking continuously on the door, he called out.
While Akutsu continued to knock on the door, inside the room everybody was seated obediently in their respective spot while the coaching staff was busy setting up the projector.
"He's been calling out restlessly from a mont ago, why isn't the coach reacting?"
"Perhaps he hasn't heard it? Should I tell him?"
"Idiot..., how could he not hear it when it is so loud and clear?"
"Huh? What do you an?"
"What else would I an you idiot? He's deliberately ignoring him because he is late for the eting. Rember what he had said before?"
"Ahh right, he had sternly advised us to be on ti for the eting"
While Manager Haruki and the coaching staff continued to ignore the knocks from outside, players continued to gossip.
As of the mont, it was not that anybody hadn't heard those loud knocks or calls of Akutsu, they were simply ignoring it, fearing the wrath of their manager.
Finally, as the coaching staff finished setting up the projector, Manager Haruki's husky voice rung, "Sobody go and open the door"
As he gave that command, the player close to the door rose from his seat and walked towards the door. Then he twisted the doorknob and unlocked the door.
However just as he unlocked the door, Akutsu who had been pushing the door from outside ca flying inside the room, knocking onto his teammate who had opened the door for him.
Both of them tumbled as they crashed against the floor.
If only the mood in the room would have been lighter then most of them would have burst into laughter upon seeing this scene. But right now, the atmosphere in the room was quite heavy and damp.
Thus no one dared to laugh despite seeing their fall.
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