Chapter 121 Tennis 09

“…Don’t touch my head.”

There was a hint of speechlessness in Echizen Ryoma's voice, and even his expression could be said to be a little angry, but he did not directly slap away the girl's hand that was covering his head.

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Kurikawa Sana reacted and immediately withdrew her hand.

It does seem a bit too familiar to touch someone's head directly when you are not familiar with them at all.

…But for some reason, at that moment, she really wanted to touch it. This head and height difference had an inexplicable magic: D

Feeling the touch of the girl's palm on his head disappear through the hat, Echizen Ryoma curled his lips and reached out to turn his white FILA baseball cap.

There was a moment of silence.

Kurikawa Sana: "..."

The young man in front of him didn't seem to be the talkative or chatty type, and he didn't know why he suddenly came over to talk to him.

Suddenly remembering his comments about her just now, Kurikawa Sana tilted her head, "By the way, classmate, you just said that I... ran away?"

"Just because Fuji-senpai said a few words to you, you decided to give up and leave. Isn't that just running away?" Echizen Ryoma stated the facts very bluntly.

Kurikawa Sana: "..."

The young man continued calmly, "You are not who Fuji-senpai thinks you are. If there is any misunderstanding, just open your mouth and explain it clearly."

Upon hearing this, Kurikawa Sana couldn't help but be stunned.

It seems to be true.

It was true that the system used her body to pursue many possible targets at the same time, but it really did not deliberately make Fuji's brother fall in love with her and then deliberately make him sad. The point that Fuji cared about the most was indeed a misunderstanding.

Kurikawa Sana sobbed a little, "I didn't expect that you could see through my kind nature at a glance. Thank you, classmate."

Echizen Ryoma: “…”

"But why are you telling me this specifically?"

Echizen Ryoma fell into an even deeper silence.

So why is that?

Helping her and giving her advice doesn't mean I really want her to succeed in pursuing Fuji-senpai or Captain Tezuka.

But if she gave up, she would never come to Qingxue again, and then she would never see him again.

That would be boring.

As far as he could remember, it was the first time he was attracted to something other than tennis.

"Because, unlike Fuji-senpai—I have a good impression of you."

Echizen Ryoma raised his head, and his amber cat eyes reflected the black-haired girl's beautiful face full of surprise.

“……!”

Kurikawa Sana was really shocked this time.

Good, very domineering, very seductive lines and speeches!

She had to admit that for a moment her brain was aroused as if fireworks had exploded. It was totally unlike the charm that a boy of his age could exude.

Wow...

Kurikawa Sana was so moved that she wiped away tears in her heart. What a pity, she finally met someone whose favorability was not negative, but he was not within the scope of the strategy.

If I remember correctly, there is a hidden target in this round, but the opponent's height doesn't make him look like a hidden target.

"Thank you, thank you?" Kurikawa Sana took a big sip of Ponta soda with emotion, and tears actually welled up in her eyes. "This is the first time I've met someone who doesn't hate me..."

Echizen Ryoma paused.

Is that so?

Can anyone really hate her?

At least in his opinion, Captain Tezuka didn't hate her.

"Thank you so much! I'm much happier today. Well, I'll be leaving now."

"Um."

Echizen Ryoma quietly watched her back as she turned and left.

After walking a distance, the girl suddenly seemed to remember something and turned towards him and said, "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what's your name?"

The evening sun illuminated the bright smile on the black-haired girl's face. Her curved eyes were so beautiful that it was hard to look away, and the air seemed to be filled with an aroma even sweeter than Ponta soda.

The boy's amber eyes stared straight at her, like a feline locking onto a target.

"Echizen Ryoma."

"I'll remember that, Echizen-kun." The girl smiled and waved, "My name is Kurikawa Sana, see you later."

I've known about this kind of thing for a long time.

Echizen Ryoma lowered the brim of his hat to hide the look in his eyes.

But before lowering the brim of his hat, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a familiar chestnut-brown-haired figure on the basketball court not far away. It belonged to someone who should have left early.

Under the brim of his hat, Echizen Ryoma couldn't help but twitched the corners of his mouth.

It seems that you are not as indifferent as I thought, Fuji-senpai.

…

*

Qingxue, tennis court.

"92% first serve success rate, 100% forehand slice success rate, 0% backhand slice usage rate, and the only time the backhand is used is when dropping the ball."

Inui Sadaharu, a third-year regular on the Seigaku team, closed the notebook in his hand. "I've finished collecting data on Tezuka today. As always, there are no loopholes."

It would be great if he could collect more data on Tezuka's backhand returns, but I'm afraid Tezuka doesn't use his backhand because he injured his left elbow.

But even with an injured arm, this man still led Qingxue forward with the strongest strength and attitude.

Inui Sadaharu continued, "It's a pity that I was away during the first half and didn't get to see your complete training data, Tezuka."

A young man with short brown hair parted in a 3:7 ratio had just finished training and was walking towards his training water bottle and tennis bag at the side of the court. It was none other than the captain of the Seigakuen tennis team, third-year student Kunimitsu Tezuka.

There was no expression on Tezuka Kunimitsu's handsome face like an iceberg, and his breathing was not rapid. Only a fine layer of sweat covered his jade-white forehead, showing the intensity of the training he had just done.

As always, he chose to ignore Inui Sadaharu's mumbling.

Gan Zhenzhi: “…”

Although it's not the first day that I've known that Tezuka has this kind of personality, and I'm also aware of his taciturnity, I still feel a little angry every time.

In that case, then if you have the guts, just continue to show no interest in the next topic.

Inui Sadaharu adjusted the reflective glasses on his nose and suddenly said, "Kurikawa Sana—she just came to Seigaku."

“…”

Kunimitsu Tezuka was silent for a moment, and the way he put the tennis racket into his bag seemed to be no different.

But because of what he had discovered, Sadaharu Inui was so excited that even his fingertips couldn't help trembling.

——Tezuka, as expected, reacted to this matter!

Although it was not obvious, and although Tezuka's pause was very slight, so slight that it was only a pause of 0.1 second, it could not be hidden from Sadaharu's eyes.

Just like the last time he drank his specially made mixed vegetable juice, Tezuka pretended to be as calm as ever on the surface, but in fact, the hand holding the cup of vegetable juice was shaking slightly.

Inui Sadaharu suppressed his excitement at discovering something unusual about Tezuka, the iceberg, and continued slowly, "I went to see her in the first half and collected some good data. This time, Kurikawa came to Seigaku and only visited Fuji."

What this means is that this time she didn't come looking for Tezuka, but only for Fuji.

After a slight pause, Tezuka Kunimitsu calmly stuffed the tennis racket into his bag and said, "Really?"

"Fuck, if you have a lot of free time, go run ten laps."

Inui Sadaharu almost laughed out loud.

Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo.

As a hypocrite, Inui Sadaharu was really looking forward to seeing the iceberg's defense break...oh no, the way the ice was broken.

Although Sadaharu Inui also doesn't think that Tezuka has any feelings of liking or caring about Kurikawa Sana now.

But if the people or things that used to revolve around you suddenly disappear, and instead you only cast your enthusiastic gaze towards other people, then the sudden sense of gap will make you involuntarily start to care about the other person.

Inui Sadaharu opened the notebook used to record data on Tezuka and Fuji and wrote down his new observations.

Recording personal statistics outside of tennis is also an important part of winning against the opponent. Yes, that's right.

Perhaps, he could also share and synchronize the latest data with Renji who was far away in Kanagawa. Inui Sadaharu closed the notebook with satisfaction.

…

*

The other side.

Kurikawa Sana went home, took a shower, and began to think about what to do next.

Among the conquerable targets, you have already met Atobe, Yukimura, and Fuji. You can meet the Oshinobi who is also in Hyotei when you go back to school.

Before clearing up Fuji's misunderstanding, it's not a good idea to approach Tezuka, who is in the same school with Fuji as Seigaku...

Then, the only one left was Shiraishi Kuranosuke, who was studying at Shitenhoji Junior High School in Osaka.

But how would I meet him? Shitenhoji sounds like a temple-style school. I wonder if it's closed-door? Then I wouldn't be able to enter openly like I could at Rikkai University or Seigaku...

System: [This isn't a big deal. The only person whose contact information I've obtained is Shiraishi Kuranosuke. Feel free to send him a message and see if you can arrange an appointment. Furthermore, Shitenhoji Temple isn't as strictly governed as you might imagine. On the contrary, it's known as a "famous family of showmanship."]

"What? It's actually added to the contact information?"

Kurikawa Sana opened her phone and saw that Shiraishi's contact information was indeed in her Line contact list. Shiraishi Kuranosuke's Line nickname was "Golden Holy Book," which was so chuunibyou that the system had already changed his name to "Shiraishi."

"Eh, I actually have Shiraishi-kun's contact information..."

She had never fought such a wealthy battle since she came into the world of tennis.

System: [Yes, when I used your image to contact them, I also felt that Shiraishi Kuranosuke was indeed the one with the easiest personality to get along with among them. He was gentle and approachable.]

"I see..."

Since she has a gentle personality, why not try playing it straight?

Kurikawa Sana thought for a second and tried to send a message.

[sana: Shiraishi-kun, good evening~ (sweet smile emoji)]

[Sana: Um, I'm visiting Osaka tomorrow. I wonder if Shiraishi-kun is available to be my guide? I'm not very familiar with Osaka... (crying emoji)]

Not long after the two messages were sent, Kurikawa Sana was so embarrassed that she couldn't help but close her eyes, a mask of pain.

Help, this is so embarrassing!

Not to mention that the "Good evening" at the beginning to start the conversation was already very awkward, what's more, when you don't know the other person very well at all, you suddenly ask if you can play with yourself... Kurikawa Sana felt so embarrassed that she almost built a Disney castle with her feet.

But she had only been twisting for less than a minute when her cell phone rang.

was Shiraishi Kuranosuke's reply.

“……!!”

Kurikawa Sana suddenly jumped up from the bed.

On the mobile phone screen, the other party's reply was simple and refreshing, and almost came instantly.

It seems as if I can see the boy’s handsome and hearty smile through the screen.

Shiraishi: Okay.