Chapter 177 Tennis 65
The sun shines brightly in Tokyo in midsummer August. The leaves cast lush shadows, the ground is scorching hot, and the crisp sound of tennis rackets hitting the ball and the tireless buzzing of cicadas in the treetops combine to form a passionate summer rhapsody.
Today is August 18th, the day of the national competition between Hyotei and Seigaku.
Hyotei and Seigaku had already played the first few matches yesterday, but were forced to stop due to heavy rain. The organizers decided to hold the remaining doubles No. 2 and singles No. 3 matches on the sunny day of the next day.
Kurikawa Sana supported herself on the tree trunk with one hand and gasped heavily under the shade of the tree.
There was only a short distance left to reach the competition court, yet she had to take two steps and then stop. Such a short distance was so difficult, it was almost like her physical condition in the real world.
From the day the earthquake deducted 90 health points, Kurikawa Sana felt as if a big hole had been opened in her heart, and it was getting more painful every day.
This body is almost exhausted, it's time to leave... Kurikawa Sana knows this very clearly, but she is stubborn and refuses to leave.
She also wanted to watch their game to the end and didn't want to affect their mood in pursuing their dream of participating in the national competition.
Kurikawa Sana walked and stopped, panting, and when she finally arrived at the court, the doubles match No. 2 had already ended, with Hyotei's Houchotaro and Shishido Ryo winning.
The current score is 2 to 2. The match between singles No. 3 Atobe and Echizen will determine who will win the championship between Hyotei and Seigaku.
"And the winner is—"
Just as Atobe Keigo raised his hand high and was about to say his usual catchphrase "The winner is Hyotei/I"——
There was a "pop" sound.
Ryoma Echizen curled the corners of his mouth and snapped his fingers hard, and the whole audience fell silent.
"I am the winner," he said.
“………”
After a moment of silent silence, the entire audience erupted into heated discussion once again. The Seigaku students were practically stunned, and the Hyotei students stared at each other in shock, unable to understand why they had truly stopped cheering just because of a snap of the fingers from the first-year student across from them.
Seeing this, Atobe Keigo also raised an eyebrow, his face full of interest. The two of them stepped onto the court at the same time, ready to start a tit-for-tat battle.
In the main seat of Seigaku, Momoshiro Takeshi sighed, "Ahh, these two are going at it again."
Kikumaru Eiji: "Yeah, I always feel like when they stand together, they'll start bickering with each other."
But as soon as the two stepped onto the court, facing each other across the net, they both looked towards the outside of the court, as if looking for something.
Kawamura Takashi scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Strange, they didn't immediately provoke each other today. Are they looking at something?"
Inui Sadaharu adjusted his glasses and said, "There's only one truth. They're waiting for Kurikawa to show up."
Just as he said, Atobe and Echizen's gazes gradually converged in the same direction, and both of their eyes suddenly lit up visibly.
Everyone looked in their direction and saw Kurikawa Sana finally appearing at the sidelines.
The bright sunshine of midsummer shone on her face. The girl's extremely delicate and beautiful facial features seemed almost unreal under the sun that was like holy light. The sunlight made her skin color, which was already pale after she was discharged from the hospital, almost transparent, as if it would disappear in the next second.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her with concern in their eyes, Kurikawa Sana also smiled reassuringly, indicating that she was fine and nothing serious was wrong.
Kaidou Xun murmured, "Senior doesn't look like she's feeling well."
"Indeed, she seems to have just returned from a checkup at the hospital." Oishi Shuichiro sighed, "It's such a pity that Kurikawa-san didn't get to see Tezuka's second singles match."
Kikumaru Eiji was silent for a moment. It turned out that Oishi was the leader of the Kurikawa and Tezuka CP fans!
Tezuka Kunimitsu stared at Kurikawa Sana until her expression looked less painful, and then he slowly loosened his clenched fists.
The same went for Fuji Shusuke. His frown gradually relaxed after he saw Kurikawa Sana's smile, and his gaze returned to the game field.
On the court, the usual tit-for-tat duel between Atobe Keigo and Echizen Ryoma finally kicked off. Atobe Keigo curled his lips and suddenly said, "Let's make a bet, Echizen. If I lose, I'll shave my head."
Echizen Ryoma also smiled and agreed: "Okay, if I lose, I will shave my head too."
Seeing that he agreed readily, Atobe Keigo's shoulders shook slowly, and a low, magnetic laugh came out of his throat, "Hehehe...hahahahahahaha..."
Echizen Ryoma also stared at the other person, not wanting to be outdone and uttered a low laugh: "Hehehe...hahahahahahahahahaha..."
Then, a strange sight appeared on the competition field where both of them started laughing towards the sky at the same time.
Atobe Keigo: "Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!"
Echizen Ryoma: "Haha ...!!!"
Everyone present: “………………”
The laughter of these two people seemed to be magical, and had the miraculous effect of silencing everyone in the audience.
"Their laughter is perfectly synchronized, with even high and low parts. It's even more in tune than a golden tag team."
"As expected of Atobe and Echizen, right? It's not surprising they would act like this."
“Hearing this makes me want to laugh along…hahahahahahaha!!”
Amidst all the complaints from the surroundings, Echizen Ryoma decided to retain some of his lung capacity for the competition and was the first to stop laughing towards the sky.
After glancing at Kurikawa Sana on the sidelines, Echizen Ryoma raised an eyebrow and suddenly said, "Hey, King of Monkey Mountain, if you ask me, shaving your head isn't a big deal. Do you dare to bet on something more important?"
Atobe Keigo also stopped laughing, raised his lips and asked, "What's the bet?"
Echizen Ryoma suppressed his smile, and the boy's amber cat eyes were filled with seriousness and extremely aggressive—
"Whoever loses today's match will automatically give up pursuing Sana-senpai."
“……!!”
There were collective gasps and uproars from all around.
What? !
You can eat this kind of melon when you come to watch a national competition?!
Hyotei's captain, Keigo Atobe, and Seigaku's striking first-year ace, Ryoma Echizen—they both have feelings for the same person, Hyotei Academy's own Sana Kurikawa.
After a brief moment of shock, no one thought it was strange.
After all, the other person is so beautiful.
Sana Kurikawa was already famous in Hyotei and Tokyo circles. After the earthquake in Nagano Prefecture not long ago, she became extremely famous throughout the country, and almost everyone knew her.
Stunning looks, wonderful character, and supreme quality.
Kind, strong, beautiful, selfless, all these beautiful words can be used to describe her, and no one can say "no" to her.
The whole place was silent, everyone was waiting for Keigo Atobe's answer.
How will Atobe respond?
Should he agree? Or refuse? With his famously confident personality, the young master might laugh and say something like, "Okay, the winner will definitely be me."
However, it was beyond everyone's expectations.
——He refused.
"I will not agree to this bet, and I will never agree to it."
Atobe Keigo frowned tightly, "It's not that I don't have confidence in this match, but I will never use her as a bet under any circumstances."
Echizen Ryoma was rarely stunned.
"I can't bear the consequences of losing her." Atobe Keigo said word by word.
Not only Ryoma Echizen was stunned, but Kurikawa Sana and everyone else present were also stunned.
A proud man like Keigo Atobe, who is in charge of a tennis club with hundreds of people and reigns supreme over the entire Hyotei, and is the powerful young master of the Atobe Group, would actually say such words.
Even for Atobe, there are precious things that even he cannot bear and cannot lose.
Echizen Ryoma lowered the brim of his hat and whispered, "...I understand."
Echizen Ryoma, who always rushed recklessly, also experienced the feeling of being outmaneuvered for the first time.
…All right.
Even he had to admit that in some ways, the Monkey Mountain King was indeed capable.
"I take back my bet." Echizen Ryoma raised his head again, his eyes bright, "Now, let's start the game."
…
"Bang", "Bang", "Bang"...
The audience was concentrating on watching the exciting game in front of them. The sound of the ball being returned one after another, mixed with the waves of cheers and support, swept the playing field of Hyotei and Seigaku with a sense of tension.
The reason is simple: the match between Keigo Atobe and Ryoma Echizen was simply too exciting. Every ball was filled with tension, and both sides fought for every point and refused to give in to each other.
From the very beginning, Echizen Ryoma used the state of selflessness, constantly alternating between the special skills of the opponents he had seen, and his moves were gorgeous and dazzling.
Atobe Keigo is no less impressive. Even without reaching the state of no self, he can still replicate moves that only someone in the state of no self can imitate and return the favor to his opponent with just one glance, which shows his solid tennis skills.
"Is this all you can do? Is the state of no self just this much?" Atobe Keigo sneered and easily performed the "Pirate's Horn" move that Yue Qianqian had just used. "At this level, it should be easy to do!"
"Really?" Echizen Ryoma jumped high with a smile, "Then come and experience my new moves—"
In the audience at Seigaku, the atmosphere trio, Horio Satoshi, Mizuno Katsuo, and Kato Katsuro, who were all first-year students with Echizen Ryoma, exclaimed at the same time, like a trio: "New moves?! Echizen invented a new move!!"
Echizen Ryoma leaped forward, his left arm swinging forward in a huge arc. The trajectory of his body and arm formed a circular arc. He shouted loudly: "S-shaped shot!"
With a "bang" sound, the yellow ball hit the ground with astonishing force, and then immediately bounced back in the opposite direction, forming a huge circular arc again!
"Score!" Katsuo Mizuno exclaimed excitedly.
Horio Satoshi clapped his hands, "I understand now. Echizen's jumping action and the trajectory of the ball's rebound form the shape of a capital 'S', so it's called the 'S-shaped shot'!"
"Amazing! How does it bounce like that?" Katsuro Kato asked curiously, "The ball doesn't bounce straight up, nor does it bounce left or right. Instead, it bends into an 'S' shape like a crescent moon!"
Inui Sadaharu adjusted his glasses again and replied in a mysterious, all-seeing tone, "By giving the ball a powerful backspin when you hit it, you can make it rebound incredibly when it hits the ground. That's the true nature of the 'S'-shaped shot."
The three first-year students of Seigaku suddenly understood, their eyes gleaming with admiration, "I see! As expected of Echizen!"
Upon hearing this, Inoue and Shiba Saori, reporters from the Tennis Professional Monthly, stopped taking notes and Shiba Saori stopped filming the match with her camera. Both of them fell silent.
Is it an illusion?
I always feel that this group of junior high school tennis players, no matter how much their shots violate the principles of Newtonian mechanics, can justify themselves by saying "giving the ball incredible spin."
The press release in which Inoue and Shiba Saori analyzed the incredible basketball skills of this group of junior high school students had been rejected several times by the editor-in-chief.
The editor-in-chief was in disbelief and angrily scolded them, "Your manuscript has mentioned 'giving the ball incredible spin' ten times! If I send you another manuscript, my position will also produce incredible spin. Rewrite it now!"
Just when Inoue and Shiba Saori were feeling overwhelmed, they came across a colleague from the Kanagawa branch analyzing Rikkai's captain's basketball skills. Regarding Yukimura Seiichi's ultimate move, "Nil Five Senses," the colleague's comment concluded, "It's magic. Yukimura-kun has added magic."
In comparison, Inoue and Shiba Saori thought that their manuscripts were relatively reasonable. I wonder what kind of mental state the colleague in Kanagawa was in when he wrote such a brilliant review.
Returning to the court, after using his newly developed signature move, the "S" shaped shot, Echizen Ryoma continued to use his long-standing signature move—
"A-shaped draw!"
Then, he continued to attack, and this time he still jumped high, but this time he did not take any running-up action, but jumped directly on the spot, like a vertical "I" shape.
With a "bang!", Echizen Ryoma swung his racket and smashed the ball. The ball quickly cut into Atobe Keigo's court in a straight line at an acute angle to the net, and then the ball bounced straight up! It formed a shape like the letter "N"!
Echizen Ryoma landed steadily, curled the corners of his mouth into a smile, lowered the brim of his hat and whispered the name of the move.
"-N-shaped draw."
After scoring consecutively, there was another round of intense cheers from the sidelines!
"That guy is amazing! Is he really a first year?!"
"Another score! This time it's a new move I haven't seen before... N-shaped shot!"
Almost immediately, Keigo Atobe realized something.
S-shaped ball, A-shaped ball, N-shaped ball, what will be the next ball? It's so hard to guess.
——SANA, Sana, her name.
Atobe Keigo was almost laughing out of anger.
This kid really is...
Who taught him this? Is this all you learn in school in the US?!
As expected.
The next second, the dark green-haired boy swung his racket with great force, and the trajectory of the ball and the ground once again formed the shape of a capital letter "A"!
"A-shaped draw!"
"GAME ECHIZEN! The score is 3-3!"
After spelling out the last letter of her name and winning the game, Echizen Ryoma turned his head to look in the direction of the black-haired girl on the sidelines. The boy's amber eyes burned brightly in the midsummer sun as he rushed forward.
The people in Bingdi seemed to realize something and were stunned for a moment.
"S, A, N, A..."
"Isn't the shape of these four balls the sum of Sana's name?"
"Damn it! This kid is really good at it!"
"Our captain, please change the names of your special moves! Stop calling them 'Rondo to Destruction'!"
Kurikawa Sana also opened her eyes slightly wide in surprise and understood.
Facing the boy's unwavering gaze, she was once again almost unable to tell who was the one to be conquered.
The feeling of the sunlight falling on her face was warm and hot. Kurikawa Sana felt that she should be blushing, but she couldn't tell whether the heat on her cheeks was caused by the sunlight or by her blushing.
On the other side, Qingxue's side.
"Great! The score is tied!" The Qingxue trio cheered again!
"That little guy is really good! His opponent is that Atobe!" Kikumaru Eiji touched his chin. "But why did he use the 'A-shaped shot' for the second ball instead of that new trick 'N-shaped shot'? In that situation, using the N-shaped shot would have been more likely to score..."
Fuji Shusuke had already seen through everything and said calmly, "Because then, these four balls will become 'SNNA' instead of 'SANA'."
Everyone: “……!!”
"So that's how it is..." Momoshiro Takeshi was shocked. "So that's true! Is this guy the king of picking up girls?"
He looks cool and arrogant in daily life, but he is also naturally romantic. Who can resist him?
Oishi Shuichiro was also deeply shocked, feeling that the status of his CP was threatened. He anxiously pulled Tezuka Kunimitsu over and asked, "Tezuka, do you have similar moves? Echizen is really about to surpass you in this aspect and become the pillar of Seigaku——"
Tezuka Kunimitsu: “…”
Everyone: “…”
Oishi, is this how the pillars of Seigaku are used? And with Tezuka's stern personality, there's no way he could possibly answer a question like that! Even if he were willing to answer, they couldn't imagine Tezuka using tennis to coax people!
To everyone's great surprise, Kunimitsu Tezuka actually answered.
“I have tried,” he said.
“……!!”
"Tried what?!" Except for Fuji Shusuke, the members of Seigaku asked almost in unison.
Tezuka Kunimitsu: "After Sana was discharged from the hospital, the doctor recommended that she do appropriate rehabilitation exercises and not stay in bed all day. So I played a very low-intensity game with her and created a new move."
"What moves?!"
"I control the ball's spin so that each return ball lands precisely at her side, allowing her to enjoy the sport and recover properly without running too hard." Tezuka Kunimitsu said in a low voice, "I've named this technique 'Sana Domain'."
“………”
A silence also fell over the Qingxue regular election seat with equal precision.
Wow, the move that makes all the opponent's balls fly to your side is called "Tezuka Field".
Tezuka himself named the move that allows all the balls to be precisely controlled and fly to Kurikawa Sana "Sana Field".
This is also possible?! ! Don’t be so indulgent!
That serious, iceberg-like Captain Tezuka actually tried hard to make girls happy!
Everyone in Seigaku was instantly in awe, feeling that Captain Tezuka's move was similar to the "SANA" extraction that Echizen had just used on the field.
As expected of the current and next pillars of Seigaku, they have maintained a high level of inheritance in this regard, which is admirable.
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