Chapter 47 Staying Up Late

The orange sunlight climbed up the windowsill and streamed in, casting slanted shadows on the floor. The clacking sound of the keyboard keys sank into the dust.

When Kazama pushed open the door, Tezuka was sitting in front of the computer with his back to her. The bright white light poured down from his chestnut-colored hair, flashing a cold white color. Hearing the sound, he turned around and his eyes met hers in mid-air.

"President Tezuka (Kazama), why are you here?"

The two spoke in unison, and Kazama broke the silence, "Tomorrow is the match against Hyotei. I'll sort out the data. Where's President Tezuka?"

"Same as you."

"That shouldn't be the case..." Feng Jian glanced at the racket at his feet, and shut up when the other party's eyes swept over. He put his backpack on the sofa, put his hands behind his back and stood there for a while before walking over lightly, "Let me help."

"That's all," Tezuka said, clearing a space on the table and handing her a pile of documents on the far left. "It's relatively basic data, so it won't be difficult to organize."

"yes."

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the time.

Fengjian stretched lazily, and when she lowered her head, she noticed a water cup placed not far from her hand. She was stunned. The boy sitting next to her was holding a densely packed data sheet in his hand. The side of his face was faintly shadowed by the light of the desk lamp. His long and curly eyelashes trembled slightly, casting a dense and fine shadow on his side face.

She blinked, and until Tezuka turned around and asked her "what's wrong", she quickly turned her face away and scratched her hair, "Ahem, no, nothing..."

"Um, President Tezuka," Kazama pointed at the clock above his head, "why don't you want to go back and rest first? After all, there is a match with Hyotei tomorrow."

"Well, finish reading these first." Tezuka stared at the data in his hand, then looked up at her. "If you feel sleepy, you can go back first."

"I, I'm not sleepy yet," Fengjian shook her head hurriedly, afraid that if she answered even a second late, her professionalism as a recorder would be questioned. She slapped herself twice in the face, "I'm a night owl, so this is nothing."

Tezuka adjusted his reflective glasses.

However, when the clock struck the hour, Fengjian's eyelids began to twitch. She held her chin with both hands and pinched her thigh hard. The pain made her sober temporarily, but her brain was soon occupied by sleepiness again.

The data in front of her seemed to be dancing. She finally couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell asleep with her head resting on her arms.

The muffled sound of "dong" was particularly prominent in the silent night. The evening breeze climbed up the windowsill and blew in slowly. Tezuka turned his head and saw the girl leaning on the table. Her thick long hair covered half of her face, and her long and curly eyelashes were like a brush, like some kind of soft little animal.

His eyes were slightly blocked, and when he glanced away, data jumped uncontrollably in front of his eyes. He took off his glasses, and the evening breeze carried a sigh as light as a feather and blew into the night.

…

"How's the review going?"

Dusk, accompanied by the evening breeze, drifted in from the windowsill. A young man with iris-purple hair sat by the window, gazing at the setting sun hanging over the treetops outside. When he heard the voice, he simply turned around and smiled at her. "Don't worry, the follow-up examination went well. The doctor said I can return to the team soon."

"After all, I made a promise with Sanada to win the Rikkai Championship for the sixth time in a row."

"That's great," she heard herself sighing with relief. "I'll treat you to chicken hotpot when you recover."

"Well," Yukimura tilted his head in thought, then smiled, "Can I do it now?"

"Absolutely not. Your surgery has only been over for a few days."

Yukimura just smiled with his lips pursed.

However, when she remembered that she had forgotten something in the ward and went back to get it, she heard him say to the doctor, "Don't let them know about this."

Through the reflection in the glass window, his face seemed to be embedded in a gray fault line, with his head lowered, and his fine hair covering half of his face.

Yukimura's smile is always without shadow.

Because the shadows are all in our hearts.

…

A crisp "dong" sound shattered her dream, and Fengjian suddenly woke up, and the pen she had been holding in her hand fell to the ground with a clatter. She rubbed her eyes and bent down to pick up the pen, only to find that she was covered with a sky blue sports jacket, the collar of which exuded a faint soapy scent.

"The data has been verified."

The flat voice shook the stagnant air. Kazama paused in picking up the pen and slowly looked up. Only then did he notice the figure sitting next to him. Tezuka was wearing a sky blue short shirt and holding a densely packed data sheet in his hand. When he lowered his head, the desk lamp cast a shadow on his profile, and his soft hair was shrouded in light golden light.

"President Tezuka," Kazama stuttered, his brain temporarily shutting down, "Why are you still here?"

He tapped the whiteboard in his hand without further explanation and pointed to her notebook: "The serve angle on the last page was wrong. Corrected it."

Feng Jian grabbed the data sheet and glanced at it, his face immediately flushed. "Sorry, I'll recalculate these data."

Not only did she fall asleep in front of President Tezuka, but she also miscalculated the data. She felt her cheeks burning and almost didn't dare to look up at him.

"That's the only thing that went wrong," Tezuka looked up and nodded slightly as his eyes landed on her, "everything else is fine."

As he breathed a sigh of relief, Feng Jian caught a glimpse of the clock above him and stood up abruptly, almost unable to believe his eyes. "It's already five o'clock!"

She scratched her head, looking annoyed. If the workload fell on President Tezuka because she had secretly fallen asleep and caused him to perform poorly in the game today, then she would be the culprit.

"I just took a rest on the sofa over there." Tezuka lowered his head and flipped through the documents in his hand, his tone calm.

Feng Jian was startled and subconsciously turned his head to look. The black sofa was slightly sunken and covered with a neatly folded gray blanket. It really looked like someone had been lying on it.

"You don't need to be present at today's match," Tezuka stood up and stuffed the documents in his hand into the bookshelf, "Go back and have a good rest..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Feng Jian immediately followed up, "But I want to go with President Tezuka." When his surprised eyes glanced at her, she realized that her previous words were ambiguous and quickly added, "Senior Gan said that as a recorder, I can't miss any of the team members' games, especially at such a crucial moment. I can't be absent."

Tezuka said nothing, just looked at her and nodded slightly.

The morning light shines through the window. Summer mornings always come especially early. On summer weekends, the subway is packed with high school girls in sailor suits, their heads huddled together like sparrows chirping on telephone poles.

"Kazama, you're actually worried about the confrontation between Seigakukai and Rikkai University, right?"

Kazama was drawing grid lines on the record book. When Tezuka's voice came, her hand stopped and she looked up. He was looking at her, and her stunned expression was reflected in his calm eyes, as if the clear lake had already reflected everything.

"I know you have a good relationship with Yukimura and Sanada from Rikkai University, so maybe that's why you were so worried last night."

She lowered her head and stared at her tightly clasped hands.

Yukimura sent her a message yesterday, but she hasn't replied yet.

She hopes that Seigaku will win, because this is the agreement between them and carries everyone's dream, but she also doesn't want Rikkai to lose badly, because she also knows what this game means to Yukimura.

If Seigaku wins all the way, they will definitely face Rikkai University in the end.

"The finish line on the field is never the difference between victory and defeat; giving it your all is the whole meaning."

The vibration of the iron rolling over the rails reached my palms, Tezuka's voice was blown away by the wind coming in from the platform, but the words "giving your all is the meaning" were like a stone, circling in my heart.

She suddenly remembered when she went to the hospital to see Yukimura last week. He was sitting by the window looking through the tactical plan, the sunlight falling on the tips of his hair, and the purple color flowed quietly: "Kazama, do you know what I want to win most? It's to defeat the disease, to be able to stand on the same field with everyone."

There is also what Atobe said at the Kanto Tournament, "I will try my best so that you can also give your all."

It turns out that what she was worried about was never 'who wins and who loses', but she was afraid that her selfishness was not worthy of the clean playing field in their eyes.

Fengjian lowered his head, and the grid lines drawn by his fingertips on the record book suddenly became straight. The angles that were always crooked just now seemed to be ironed out by something.