Chapter 96 How Long Will You Punish Me (Part 2) Until You Learn...
Shiroshi stood frozen in place, his light brown pupils trembling violently.
—What did he just hear?! Yukimura Seiichi, who is known for his elegance and restraint, actually said something so emotionally charged?!
Oh no!
"You're going to be late for morning training." Yukimura turned and walked towards the door, his voice as gentle as ever.
The morning breeze stirred the window curtains, and the sweet fragrance of eucalyptus wafted in.
Shiraishi stared at the now-closed door. He mechanically pulled out his phone and screamed in the "Shitenhoji Abnormal Human Research Center" group chat:
"Everyone! Yukimura Seiichi just said, in a tone that sounded like he was talking about the weather, that his girlfriend is the most wonderful thing in the world!!!"
-
Late that night, Yukimura had just returned to his hotel room after finishing a tactical meeting when his phone screen lit up.
Seeing the name on the caller ID, the weariness between his brows instantly melted away, and the corners of his lips unconsciously turned up. Sure enough, this two-faced guy still couldn't let go of his worries.
The content of the call was exactly as he had expected.
Risa asked about the weather in Australia in a deliberately casual tone, and the conversation circled around before finally mentioning yesterday's game in a seemingly unintentional way.
Yukimura pushed open the French windows and stepped onto the balcony, where the night breeze carried the sweet scent of eucalyptus trees.
He leaned against the railing, listening to her stammering on the other end of the phone, "...I was just asking casually, don't overthink it."
The city lights of Melbourne in the distance were reflected in his eyes, creating a gentle halo.
"Risa".
"Um?"
"Thank you."
There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the phone.
"...Why bring this up all of a sudden?" Her muffled voice came through the receiver.
"I just feel so good to have met you and to be able to talk to you like this."
Yukimura looked up at the starry sky, and as the night breeze brushed past his ears, he heard her soft reply: "Yes, me too."
"It's so great to meet Oichi."
The neon lights changed colors, casting shifting light and shadow on his profile.
“Ashi”.
"Um?"
"...Can you answer one question for me?" Her voice suddenly became serious.
"Go ahead and ask."
"After graduating from junior high, you should have received offers from clubs." She paused for a moment. "Why didn't you go straight to professional tennis like Tezuka did?"
The night breeze suddenly stopped.
Yukimura's gaze pierced through the flickering city lights, landing in the more distant darkness.
"I missed out on so much the year I got sick."
Those summer festivals we couldn't attend, the national tournaments we couldn't fight side by side with, all the youth stolen by illness—all leave pale silhouettes in our memories.
"Do you remember what you said about 'fleeting youth'?"
He chuckled, "Now that I think about it, we're surprisingly similar."
The distant city lights reflected in his eyes like an overturned palette. Yukimura gazed at the vibrant scene, his voice incredibly gentle:
"These three years of high school may be just a drop in the ocean in the long journey of life. But it is these insignificant fragments, these fleeting moments, that make up the most precious eternity."
"So I want to spend this time with the important people in my life. Training until I'm exhausted, the fireworks at the summer festival, the cafes and restaurants at the Umihara Festival, the coastline dyed red by the sunset on my way home... I want to cherish all these sparkling fragments."
At this point, Yukimura paused, "Besides... my physical condition at the time really didn't allow it."
"Click—"
The ear-piercing sound of fingernails hitting the table came through the receiver.
Then came rapid breathing, as if someone had grabbed her throat.
"Risa?"
"...I'm listening."
Her response had a moist, nasal tone.
“Don’t worry.” His fingertips traced the dew that had condensed on the railing. “I have no regrets. Participating in the ITF Junior Championships to accumulate points was just a planned transition.”
"Meeting you, however," he chuckled, "was a completely unexpected surprise."
"So blunt... This doesn't sound like something Oichi would say."
“Is that so? That’s probably because…” Yukimura said with a smile, “that little idiot is too slow-witted and tends to overthink things.”
"Who, who's the little idiot!"
He could almost picture her bristling. "I love you the most, Risa."
"!"
The other end of the phone went completely silent; you could hear someone breathing.
After a long pause, her muffled voice finally came through: "...I-I know!"
"Honestly, you don't have to keep repeating those kinds of things, it's so embarrassing..."
(So cute...)
Yukimura couldn't help but smile, his eyes brimming with joy. At that moment, he desperately wanted to cross those eight thousand kilometers and witness with his own eyes the sight of her flushed cheeks and trembling eyelashes.
This association made him itchy and he started to have bad ideas.
Yukimura brought the phone to his lips, his voice lowering: "Every day... I want to see you more than yesterday..."
"I...I have to go to class! Bye-bye!"
Before he could finish speaking, a busy signal suddenly rang out.
Yukimura gazed at the dazzling Melbourne nightscape and pressed his hand to his chest. There, an unprecedented heat pulsed.
-
In mid-December, the sycamore leaves on the Rikkai University campus began to turn yellow.
Besides Risa, the other three members of the Tennis doujinshi club have also been busy.
The three of them were busy designing chibi cards and postcards. After the club activities, they would meet at Yuzuki's house, surrounded by manuscripts, markers and tablets until 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, Yukimura and his teammates traveled between various competition venues. His phone's photo album was filled with pictures of the city sky from different angles—morning, dusk, and after the rain.
Each busy with their own "careers," the two, separated by time differences, can only exchange messages occasionally during their free time.
-
Yukimura's screen (22:17)
[Photo] Four-leaf clover growing in the cracks of the practice field
Liu said the probability of a four-leaf clover is 0.0001%.
(Read 22:17)
Risa's screen (22:18)
"He's the miracle himself, yet he says things like that!"
(Types in progress... 17 seconds)
"...Was I too lax during training? →_→"
(Read 22:19)
*
Risa's screen (15:13)
[Photo] A stray cat in a corner behind the school, its tail tip stained with brown paint.
"The doujinshi club has adopted this new member, named 'Karubin No. 2'."
(Read 22:55)
Yukimura's screen (22:56)
"Karubin? I remember... that's Echizen's cat."
(Read 07:12)
*
Yukimura's screen (05:02)
[Photo] A vending machine in the morning mist, with the grape-flavored Ponta showing a red "sold out" light.
"They beat us to it."
(Read 07:12)
Risa's screen (07:44)
[Photo] A refrigerator in a convenience store, holding a can of grape-flavored Ponta.
"I'll avenge you!"
(Read 12:23)
Yukimura's screen (12:25)
"It's chilled."
"Drinking it in the morning will cause stomach pain."
(Read 12:25)
(The other party is typing... for 1 minute and 12 seconds)
*
Unsent drafts
Risa: "If I had a stomachache, would you fly all the way from Melbourne to yell at me?"
Yukimura: "Tomorrow is the semi-final, against Germany."
-
The semi-final has ended, with the team narrowly defeating Germany 3-2.
Yukimura played singles match 2 against Tezuka and won 7-5.
On the night the match ended, around 11 a.m. on Saturday in Kanagawa, Risa received a phone call from Yukimura.
"If that hadn't been the last shot, I might have been the one who lost." A slight gust of wind came from the other end of the phone, and Yukimura's voice was lower than usual.
"At the moment the ball grazed the net, I even saw its possible trajectory—"
He paused for a moment before continuing, "...shifted 0.5 centimeters to the left, the rotation weakened by 10%, and then it was finished off by Tezuka's 'Zero Style'. Isn't that ridiculous? The person who claimed to control the entire field was gambling on that 1% of luck."
A sigh came through the receiver on the other end of the phone.
It wasn't exhaustion, but rather a kind of emptiness, like surviving a catastrophe.
He won the game, but he didn't seem very happy. This perfectionist boy is always like this, ruthless and demanding of himself to the point of cruelty.
"Victory requires strength, but strength does not necessarily equal victory."
The words of a professional player from her past life flashed into Risa's mind.
The replay on the screen froze at match point. Yukimura's return grazed the net, and Tezuka's racket missed by a hair's breadth.
A fierce battle lasting 5 hours and 53 minutes.
The deciding set lasted 88 minutes, during which the two players ran a total distance of over 8 kilometers.
This kind of extremely long competition is the ultimate test of willpower and physical strength, a mutual gaze between two souls in the abyss.
Physical strength, mental strength, endurance... and the adaptability of equipment.
The outcome could be reversed in an instant if one is not careful.
“Ashi, you’re the winner,” she said softly.
"Only a god-like being who sees tennis as himself can remain clear-headed under such extreme conditions."
"You may not even realize it yourself, but compared to two years ago, Yukimura Seiichi's mental strength and endurance have improved by more than one dimension."
Risa continued, "In my previous world, a legendary tennis champion once said something like this: 'A long set isn't about technique, but about who can endure hell the longest.'"
There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.
Yukimura gripped the phone tightly, the receiver pressed against his ear.
The Melbourne night breeze swept across the hotel terrace, carrying Risa's voice and breaths into his eardrums. Even though they were 8,000 kilometers apart, it was as clear as if she were right beside him.
He looked down at his left hand.
Five hours have passed since the match ended, and my fingertips are still trembling slightly.
This isn't fatigue, but something more complex.
When she spoke of the changes in him compared to two years ago, Yukimura felt a strange, indescribable feeling welling up in his chest.
A certain realization washed over him like a tide: in her eyes, he was never some "son of God," but just an ordinary boy whose vulnerability could be seen through and who needed comfort.
She saw through his stubbornness beneath his elegant exterior and discerned the loneliness beneath his perfect facade, yet she pretended to be oblivious, offering him a way out in a casual tone, seemingly unintentionally.
Is this what she meant by "the weight of the soul"?
The eight-year time difference, the gap in time, experience, cognition and thinking, allowed her to both calmly analyze his growth trajectory like an outsider and gently protect his pride like a guardian.
Just like right now—
She knew better than anyone that his "self-doubt" wasn't a genuine wavering, but rather the almost obsessive post-match review instinct of a perfectionist.
So she affirmed the value of this victory for him, telling him in her own way: You are the winner, you are strong enough.
As the "son of God" of the reigning champion Rikkai, he should have been the one in control of the entire situation.
—I'm not reconciled.
He was unwilling to be looked down upon like this, unwilling to be so easily seen through by her. Yet at the same time, he couldn't resist the understanding and tenderness she gave him, and even... began to crave this feeling of being completely understood.
When did he become so contradictory?
...How cunning, Risa.
He sighed silently, but the corners of his lips involuntarily turned up.
"......Thanks."
A relieved sigh came from the other end of the phone, followed by a sudden lightness in her voice: "Well then, this counseling session has successfully concluded! The consultation fee was 150,000 yen!"
"Oh......"
Yukimura paused for a second, instinctively covering his mouth, but the laughter that escaped his throat slipped through his fingers.
His shoulders trembled slightly, and even the knuckles holding the phone turned white from suppressing a smile.
This outburst of emotion was something he himself didn't recognize. When had the once-sophisticated Yukimura Seiichi ever so easily broken down by a joke?
"Are you sure it's 150,000 yen?" he asked.
"That's right! Honest and fair to all, young and old!"
"That's equivalent to 10 times that of a top expert, right? Risa is a heartless doctor."
"Inflation, you know."
The girl on the other end of the phone said confidently, "And this is an international call, plus a famous quote from a tennis player from another world."
Yukimura chuckled softly, his fingertips lightly tapping the railing.
The bright stars in Melbourne reminded him of that night when he waited for her to go home together; she looked like a heartless, unscrupulous businessman.
“But I don’t have that much money. Is there another way to pay?” Yukimura asked.
For example?
“For example…” Yukimura paused slightly, “After we go back next month, I’ll take you to see an Impressionist art exhibition?”
"...Is this a date invitation, My Son of God?"
She deliberately dragged out the last syllable, uttering each word of the name that made his heart flutter, as if she were breathing into his ear.
Yukimura smiled and said, "It's just to pay off a debt."
"My consultation fees are very expensive~" she said playfully, "They probably wouldn't even cover a fraction of the cost of a single date."
"How many times would that be enough?"
"Hmm..." she hesitated for a moment, "Until you learn to be gentler with yourself?"
The night breeze has stopped.
Yukimura vaguely heard a faint cracking sound. Perhaps it was a withered branch of the eucalyptus tree outside the terrace, or perhaps it was the wall he had built around his heart.
Her voice, like vines creeping through cracks in April, gently shattered all his defenses.
"Until you learn to be kinder to yourself?"
Yukimura pressed his hand to his chest.
The heart felt as if it had been split in two, one half soaked in honey, the other half submerged in acid.
The moonlight cast trembling shadows beneath my eyelashes.
The blood surged and trembled within her body, each drop screaming as if it wanted to embrace her.
“Risa,” he called to her in a hoarse voice.
"Um?"
"Next time we meet," Adam's apple bobbed slightly, "may I hug you?"
A silence lingered in the air for three seconds.
After a long pause, her feigned surprise finally came through:
"This patient, even if you throw yourself at me, I won't give you a discount!"
Yukimura: "...?"
In such a pleasant atmosphere, she suddenly became a drama queen?!
Yukimura smiled wryly, agreeing to play along.
"What should we do, doctor?" he asked, deliberately lowering his voice. "Right now... I'm a penniless student."
He had barely finished speaking when he heard her gasp.
Sure enough! He's bad at the game but loves to play.
"...Then I'll punish you." A muffled voice came, carrying a hint of anger and embarrassment.
"What should the punishment be?"
"Hmm... I'm punishing you by making you tell me a story every night before bed."
It was clearly a punishment, but it felt like a pleading wish.
"But all I can do is tell scary stories. What if I scare the doctor and he has nightmares in the middle of the night?"
"Who, who would be afraid!"
After a while, she weakly changed her mind: "How about we change the punishment?"
"Um?"
"You're punished by having to go shopping with me when you get back."
“Okay,” he agreed readily. “However, if I get tired, Risa will have to carry me back.”
"Huh?! You're a professional player who just won a five-hour match!"
"Yes, that's why I'm so weak right now."
"......"
"I also have Plan C! An interior design project, you won't have anything to say now, right?"
"Oh? Tell me about it?"
"For example, be my model for a week, the kind where you don't wear clothes~"
Before he could respond, a panicked attempt to cover it up came through the receiver: "I...I was just kidding!"
Yukimura chuckled.
This bluffing little cat, before it could even properly extend its claws, was already turned into a fur ball by shame.
“Sure,” Yukimura readily agreed.
Then, while she was slightly taken aback, she retaliated without mercy: "However, are you sure that Risa can maintain the composure of a 'professional painter' the whole time she's drawing me?"
"......"
The silence seemed to possess a warmth. Intense and lingering.
He could almost see the smoke rising from her head, and even the air he was breathing seemed to warm up.
"What?" Yukimura continued to tease her, "Is Risa going to admit defeat?"
"Hmph, don't even think about it." Her voice held a stubborn, childlike edge, "Who knows who'll be begging for mercy later..."
“Okay, I’m really looking forward to it…” He paused deliberately, “Looking forward to Risa using her paintbrush… to measure my…”
"Shut up!"
The sound of fabric violently rustling came from the other end of the phone, followed by the dull thud of a pillow hitting the ground.
"Pervert! Pervert! Eccentric Demon King!"
With each word she swore, her tone rose an octave, until she almost cracked her voice.
"I'm going to report you to Sanada Disciplinary Committee Chairman!"
beep--
The call was abruptly cut off, and a clear tone sounded.
Yukimura looked down at the darkened screen, the cold light reflecting the lingering smile on his lips.
As expected...
His girlfriend is still so easily provoked.
Like the leaves of a mimosa plant, they fold up in panic at the slightest touch.
If that day really comes, when he no longer speaks over the phone, but personally tells her what a real "pervert" is through his body heat, breath, and fingertips... her mind will be filled with inappropriate fantasies.
With his knuckles pressed against his brow, Yukimura chuckled softly.
......Oops.
It seems I've really become the "pervert" she described.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you so much for the generous VIP donation and nutrient solution! I wrote a bit more today to express my gratitude. [hugs]
Brother Cun is going back to China tomorrow!
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