Chapter 7: Two cheek pinches. Risa-neechan, wake up! That's the club president! ...
The entire square was deathly silent.
Yukimura raised his hand and gently touched his flushed cheek, thoughtfully saying, "I see. So this is your standard for judging 'not bad'."
He took a step forward, casting a shadow over the room. "Matsuno-kun, you're the first one who dares to be this bold."
As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face.
Risa continued to chuckle sarcastically: "...If I said that the hand has its own thoughts, would you believe me?"
Yukimura's smile remained unchanged, even growing brighter, as if he had heard something interesting. But the oppressive atmosphere around him only intensified.
"Does the hand... have its own thoughts?" he repeated softly. "I think I can understand that feeling."
Risa: "...?"
She just made it up.
"Matsuno-kun's hands seem to be quite interested in me?" He tilted his head slightly, his iris-purple eyes shimmering with a captivating light.
Risa laughed awkwardly, "No, no, it's just that it's sometimes a little disobedient."
"Oh?" He asked with pure curiosity, "So, Matsuno-kun, how do you usually manage this 'disobedient' hand?"
Risa: "Uh..."
"is that so?"
Before she could finish speaking, Yukimura reached out his hand towards her. Risa thought he was going to pinch her back, and instinctively closed her eyes.
The expected pain did not occur.
She tentatively opened her eyes, her gaze following his arm upwards. His long, slender fingers casually withdrew from her hair, twirling a pink petal.
He lowered his gaze and stared at her, his eyes meticulously tracing her features, like a painter examining an unfinished sketch. With a barely perceptible pressure from his fingertips, the delicate petal crumbled little by little beneath his fingertips.
...It was as if he wasn't crushing flower petals, but rather her.
“Well then, see you next time, Matsuno-kun.” He paused slightly as he passed by her, leaning closer. His warm breath brushed against her ear, his voice dangerously tender, audible only to the two of them:
"I'm really looking forward to... what 'surprises' you and your hands will bring me in the future."
Then, he led the regulars, each with their own distinct expression, away, leaving Risa alone in the spot, feeling the mixed gazes of sympathy, awe, and curiosity from the surrounding classmates.
"Risa-nee..."
Kirihara tugged at her sleeve. "Are you... alright?"
"...It's nothing." She took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"Um..." Kirihara hesitated, "You might not know, but the captain just looks gentle..."
"Yes, I know."
Risa interrupted him, her gaze fixed on the direction Yukimura had left.
This brat is definitely not a good person.
It's very tricky.
Ruan Lisha, 25 years old, is the youngest triple-crown actress in the Chinese entertainment industry. On a day off, she went out for a walk and was hit and killed by a car driven by a crazed stalker. She was unexpectedly reincarnated into the two-dimensional world of "The Prince of Tennis" as Matsuno Risa.
For seventeen years, he had lived an ordinary and uneventful life. A week ago, he suddenly awakened his memories of his past life, and in his excitement, he offended the "Child of God" in the manga.
Risa raised her hand, and the setting sun shone through her fingers onto her face, warm and real.
This is my world.
She confirmed it softly in her heart.
She is not a borrowed body, nor a stowaway soul. She is Risa Matsuno. This is her life, from the past to the future, and it always will be.
A sense of peace welled up inside her, like a spring stream flowing over frozen earth, almost bringing her to tears.
-
The red light came on, and a group of teenagers stood at the intersection waiting for the countdown to begin. The setting sun cast long shadows of them, and Sanada, frowning, broke the silence first.
"Yukimura, this transfer student is really strange."
Yukimura raised an eyebrow.
“Something was wrong, especially the way she looked at us. We felt…” There was an indescribable chill down our spines.
Sanada didn't say the second half of his sentence aloud, but everyone clearly understood it.
Liu Lianer quickly flipped open her notebook:
Name: Matsuno Risa
Identity: Transfer student at Tokyo Metropolitan Seirin High School, Akaya's older cousin
Age: 17 (February 18)
Academic performance: E
Personality: Introverted, gloomy
Record of unusual behavior: First, unusual familiarity with tennis club members; second, intermittent daydreaming; third, pinching Yukimura's face twice.
The girl in the file photo had gloomy, empty eyes, completely different from the transfer student who dared to pinch Yukimura's face.
Tokyo Metropolitan Seirin High School
Liu Lian'er drew a circle on the line of text with the tip of his pen. He had heard about the school's reputation; a group bullying incident had been exposed last year.
Yukimura glanced at Renji Yanagi's notebook, quickly scanning the records. His gaze lingered for a moment on the line "pinched Yukimura's face twice," and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
"Twice?" he repeated softly, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.
Sanada's face darkened further: "Too lax! This person must be thoroughly investigated!" He then turned to the strategist: "Renji, what do you think?"
Renji Yanagi: "It's really strange. Every time she looks at Yukimura, it's like she's confirming something."
Sanada clenched his fist: "Could it be a spy sent by another school?"
Rikkai University's tennis club is a target of controversy due to its high profile. In the past, before the Kanto Tournament, there have been incidents of spies from other schools posing as cheerleaders or students from Rikkai University infiltrating the school.
Not to mention the crazy female fans—some have secretly sneaked into the locker room to install cameras, and others have followed and secretly filmed the players after school.
"Based on the current data, we cannot draw a conclusion at this time." Liu opened his notebook, his voice calm. "However, as a prestigious academy, Tokyo Metropolitan Seirin High School's tennis club is only slightly below average in strength, and in the tournament records of the past three years..."
He suddenly stopped, and the rustling sound of the papers turning abruptly ceased.
"What?" Sanada asked in a deep voice.
Liu frowned: "Interesting. After the Seirin Tennis Club finished the national tournament last year, they hired a psychology consultant named Matsuno. And Matsuno Risa's father was a psychiatrist."
"Impossible, right?" Marui popped a bubble and put his arm around Jackal's shoulder. "She's Akaya's cousin, there's no reason for her to do this."
Liu calmly closed her notebook: "The premise is that she is indeed Akaya's cousin."
"What do you mean by that?" Sanada asked sternly.
"Based on behavioral pattern analysis, the current Risa Matsuno's personality differs from her Tokyo-era personality by 88.9%, making her almost a completely different person. Besides that..."
He paused briefly, as if to whet the appetite, before continuing, "She had a slight speech disorder when she spoke, like a child returning from abroad. According to Yagyu, her handwriting was also different from before, and she seemed to be quite proficient in Chinese."
"I have contacted Mr. Gan to assist with the investigation. I will keep everyone updated as soon as there are any new developments. In short, we should be a little more cautious during this period."
"This matter must be kept strictly confidential." Yukimura gazed at the burning sunset on the horizon, his eyes deep and unfathomable. "Especially to Akaya."
The tennis club members nodded in unison.
“Matsuno Risa…”
Yukimura murmured the name, his purple eyes unfathomable.
"Really..."
"This is getting more and more interesting."
-
On the train home, Kirihara enthusiastically talked about the tennis club.
Risa responded absentmindedly, and perhaps sensing that Risa wasn't interested in tennis, Kirihara changed the subject.
"Risa-nee, I passed the English quiz today!" Kirihara bounced around Risa.
"Akaya is really amazing." Risa smiled and ruffled his seaweed-like hair.
Kirihara noticed that Risa was still wearing slippers and asked curiously, "Risa-nee, why didn't you change into indoor shoes?"
"Oh, my little leather shoes got dirty," Risa said casually, her gaze sweeping over the entrance of a convenience store outside the tram.
The tram had just stopped, and across the tracks, Yukimura Seiichi was standing outside the convenience store, quietly watching them.
The setting sun cast his shadow long, like a net that was gradually tightening.
Their eyes met in mid-air, and he narrowed his eyes slightly, smiling broadly.
Risa's heart skipped a beat.
Kirihara followed her gaze and asked, "Risa-nee, what are you looking at?"
Risa was startled, then smiled and said, "It's nothing, I was just thinking..." She paused, "Your tennis club's training is really rigorous."
Kirihara shrank back slightly: "The vice-captain's iron fist is no joke. By the way, there's a practice match this Saturday, do you want to come watch?"
Risa smiled and politely declined, saying, "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to disturb your tennis club's training."
As the tram started moving, Risa subconsciously looked towards the convenience store.
The boy had disappeared.
Before going home, Risa went to a shoe store in the shopping street and bought two pairs of school uniform shoes, one black and one brown. Then she went to Don Quijote and bought a lock for her cabinet.
-
That night, Liu Lian'er's phone screen lit up in the darkness.
The email from Sadaharu Inui had the subject line: "[Supplementary Investigation Regarding Risa Matsuno's Situation at Tokyo School]"
The email content was concise and to the point:
[Confirmation Items]:
Photo comparison results: 100% match. It is undoubtedly the person in the photo.
In the second half of 202X, I took a long-term leave of absence from school due to health reasons.
During his leave of absence from school, his father, Seicho Matsuno (a psychiatrist), was briefly hired as a psychological consultant for the school's tennis team.
Speculated motive: It is suspected to be to better understand his daughter's situation at school.
Related event: In November of the same year, the bullying instigator, Yuki Yoshida, transferred schools due to "family reasons." (Note: Her father's company was involved in a business dispute around the same time. There is currently no evidence to suggest that it is related to Seicho Matsuno, but the timing is coincidental and questionable.)
Current Status:
In January 202X, Seicho Matsuno immigrated due to an overseas job opportunity. Risa Matsuno transferred to a school in Kanagawa and stayed with the Kirihara family.
[Points of contention/Remarks]:
Campus reputation records show that before transferring schools, the student was introverted and showed signs of being isolated by classmates.
Key contradiction: There is a significant discrepancy between the existing personality (bold, calm, and highly retaliatory) and the file record (withdrawal and conflict avoidance), with a discrepancy rate as high as 88.9%.
(Sender: Sadaharu Inui, April 10, 202X)
Liu Lianji's finger paused on the screen for a long time.
Data shows that Risa Matsuno is just an ordinary transfer student with very little connection to the tennis club "spies".
Was his conjecture and speculation wrong?
Liu Lian'er's gaze lingered for a moment on "doubt" and "coincidence".
Seicho Matsuno is a psychologist. Did he provide some kind of psychological intervention or trait training to his daughter, leading to her current drastically different behavior? Or is it simply a case of stress hitting rock bottom and causing a rebound?
What exactly happened during the six months she was on leave from school?
He recalled Matsuno Risa's calm, even somewhat mocking eyes after she openly provoked Yukimura during the day. This radical shift in her personality…
Liu Lian rubbed her temples; the data analysis master had experienced a rare system crash.
A note from the author:
----------------------
I explained why the tennis club was paying attention to Risa =_=.
As always, please add this to your favorites! ★ is my motivation! [cheering emoji]
9/6 Minor Repair Details
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