Chapter 25 How to Make a Man Grow Up
When Kudo Shinichi struggled to get up from a pile of clothes with his extremely uncoordinated body, he happened to see Suzuki Sonoko's expressionless face.
——It’s going to be bad!
In a thousandth of a second, before he could think of how to speak, Miss Suzuki Sonoko, with a serious face, suddenly took two steps forward.
Because the distance was so close, if Kudo Shinichi wanted to see her face clearly, he had to tilt his head back.
When he tilted his head back halfway, a soft, white hand rested flatly on the top of his forehead.
Kudo Shinichi tried to push away the hand that was blocking his view in confusion, but the hand only stopped above his head for a moment, then moved to the same height and slowly moved to Sonoko's legs.
Kudo Shinichi: Wait, what are you trying to do?
He frowned and twitched his lips. It couldn't be what I imagined...
really.
Suzuki Sonoko looked down at the gesture, which seemed to be even lower than her waist, and sighed long and exaggeratedly.
The ending of the sentence is full of twists and turns, and the regret seems to be very sincere.
“What a pity…”
Her eyes gleamed with elation and pride, but her tone became increasingly exaggerated and contrived as she lamented with deep sorrow, "If you had become like this earlier, you might have saved a ticket when you took Xiaolan to the park today!"
Kudo Shinichi slapped the hand next to his head. "No need to worry, judging by the visual angle, I must be over 1.2 meters tall now."
Suzuki Sonoko touched her bruised hand and angrily barked at him, "If you can't even get a free ticket, what's the point of becoming so small?"
When this was mentioned, Kudo Shinichi became even angrier: "Don't you see whose fault this is?"
"ha?"
"Ha what ha!"
When Kudo Shinichi and Suzuki Sonoko were arguing, his IQ was only a little over five years old. From a physiological point of view, this shrunken body gave him two more years.
However, his [IQ Drop] is a passive DEBUFF exclusive to Suzuki Sonoko, and it looks normal when looking at others.
When Kudo Shinichi saw that the person in charge and a group of accompanying personnel were not far away, he took Suzuki Sonoko's hand and ran to the lounge on the side of the medical center.
After he pushed the door and locked it, he turned around and quickly climbed onto the chair in the lounge. He snorted fiercely at Suzuki Sonoko, who looked confused, and slapped the wooden table.
Although his body became smaller, his aura was at least two meters wide.
Suzuki Sonoko was obviously shocked by him and just sat there quietly without moving.
Kudo Shinichi took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"Who's that man with platinum hair?"
Sonoko's first reaction was - "Why should I tell you?"
Kudo Shinichi stood on the chair and looked down at her without saying a word.
Sonoko looked at him quietly for a while, and unexpectedly felt a subtle discomfort with this child's face, and couldn't help wanting to avoid his sight.
Kudo Shinichi slapped the table again: "Don't turn your head!"
Suzuki Sonoko sighed and warned him earnestly, "Mr. Kudo Shinichi, please understand the current situation. I only need one hand to lift you up!"
Kudo Shinichi, who knew how much she neglected exercise, sneered: "Why don't you try to raise it now?"
The more Suzuki Sonoko looked at him, the more awkward she felt. Finally, she saw some strange cuteness in his chubby cheeks, so she gave up the confrontation as if she felt guilty.
Kudo Shinichi was surprised by her currently non-aggressive look, and at the same time he lamented his childish body with a mixture of laughter and tears, he asked, "Who was that platinum-haired man in the roller coaster waiting area?"
Sonoko resisted the urge to pinch his face and answered honestly, "I don't know."
"have no idea?!"
Seven-year-old Kudo Shinichi almost choked up, "How dare you hug him without knowing him? And for such a long time!"
"I wanted to let go," Ms. Suzuki, who had become weak in front of the child, pouted and argued, "That's because he pointed a gun at me..."
"He pointed a gun at you?"
Kudo Shinichi slapped himself on the forehead this time and exclaimed in frustration: "That's right, your posture at that time was obviously wrong. How could I mistake him for your bodyguard..."
In fact, according to Suzuki Sonoko's way of thinking, she could easily do something like "hanging herself on another person and covering herself with clothes because she doesn't want to be discovered."
There is also a high possibility that she will reveal a pair of shoes that can serve as a clue because she is too focused on the head and not the feet.
Kudo Shinichi was not wrong, it can only be said that reality is not controlled by reasoning.
"so……"
After listening for a long time, Yuanzi finally understood a little bit and tapped his palm: "He is the one who made you small?"
Kudo Shinichi began to recall what happened before he completely lost consciousness.
While he was semi-conscious, he clearly heard the man in black say before he poured the medicine into his mouth: It's a pity that this is to silence you, otherwise if I brought your body to your door, maybe I could get some extra reward from that little sparrow.
So he repeated what he had said exactly and began to reason as usual.
"Since they mentioned silencing me, their goal must be to kill me. The medicine they fed me should also have that effect. But now I'm not dead, but my body has shrunk. This means that the effect of the medicine has mutated to some extent."
Because it was indeed reasonable and well-founded, Yuanzi couldn't help but nod her head.
"As for the [Sparrow] he mentioned..."
The detective, who looked only seven years old, questioned him sternly, "Can you give me a detailed explanation of how you attempted to pay someone to kill me during the brief period you were held hostage?"
Although Sonoko hated him, she had never thought of actually killing anyone. She felt guilty the moment she heard this.
"Well," she began to talk about something else, "since we know it was him who did it, your problem is easy to solve. We can put a missing person notice in the newspaper, or offer a reward for the antidote, and when he shows up -"
"What are you thinking about..."
Kudo Shinichi sighed. "They rely on extortion to raise funds, which means they have other motives. The fact that they can get information that can be used to blackmail people proves that their network of information is definitely very wide. And after being discovered, their first reaction is to silence them, which means that their purpose may not be exposed to the public..."
"It's impossible to have a good communication with this kind of illegal organization that has a plan but unclear purpose."
"How about I donate some money to them?"
Ms. Suzuki, who had taken many courses on succession, said tentatively, "They're trying to raise funds, so they must be short of money, right? At worst, I can pay a little more and buy you back, right?"
If I give them money, can I buy you back?
These words were clearly written in her eyes.
To be honest, after these ten years or so, this is the first time that Kudo Shinichi has seen some traces of himself left on this person who always says he hates him.
——But what’s the point of you saying it now?
Even if it's the next day, the ownership is still in my hands. If you say you want to buy it, even if you only give me 5 yen, I won't sell it after considering it.
But now he has no say in it.
Kudo Shinichi leaned back on the high-backed chair and replied weakly, "I don't even know where the people are. What are you going to buy?"
======
In fact, saying not to buy does not mean that you really won’t buy it.
Now that Kudo Shinichi thinks about it, Sonoko was not safe either after meeting the blond man. Although he didn't know how she escaped, according to her own statement, the man obviously knew who she was.
Since [Suzuki] has been involved, instead of deliberately avoiding it, it is better to take advantage of this advantage.
So he got into the Suzuki family's car and set off for the Suzuki residence.
"Come to think of it," Kudo Shinichi said with some confusion, "How did you recognize me?"
He had actually been awake for quite a while before. If his clothes had not changed, he would not have recognized himself when he stood in front of the mirror in the medical center.
At this moment, Sonoko was in a subtle state of "I am happy to see him in trouble". Looking at his "childish appearance" which was one of the characteristics of bad luck, she was naturally not angry at all.
Hearing this, she blinked blankly and asked as a matter of course: "Who else could look so unlucky besides you?"
When they followed the dim light and sneaked into Suzuki Sonoko's private area from the side of Suzuki's house, Kudo Shinichi suddenly knew why this guy could recognize her.
Yuanzi's bedroom is in the middle. There are three doors on the two corresponding walls, connecting six rooms with different functions. The room in the corner is a small photo exhibition hall.
The theme is Xiaolan, Xiaolan, and Xiaolan.
Shinichi Kudo was facing Xiaolan against a wall, and he strangely felt a sense of crisis that his wing was about to be scratched by his wingman.
On the wall closer to the center, there was an enlarged kindergarten graduation photo. The area where Mao Li Ran was located was marked with a red marker, and Sonoko seemed to have drawn a circle of small stars next to it.
On the other side of the corresponding photo, the real six-year-old Kudo Shinichi looks no different from his current self, with a blue X quietly on his forehead.
oh.
Kudo Shinichi thought coldly: This is how you look at me every day, right?
In the corner of the photo room, there was a small shelf with six three-inch color bareheaded photos on it. They were of her fiancés one, two, three, four, and five, whom she had already dated, as well as the sixth junior high school boy she was about to meet.
It's the one called Ken'ya Oshitari.
Before he could take a closer look at what the No. 6 looked like, Suzuki Sonoko, who had gone to report the situation to the parents, pushed open the door and walked in.
Perhaps because she noticed that Kudo Shinichi was not staring at her Xiaolan when she walked in, Sonoko's expression was still quite kind.
"I told my mom that you were the unlucky little bastard I picked up. My mom said as long as you don't have any infectious diseases, everything else is up to me."
Kudo thought that your family's painting style is as weird as ever. Picking up a child is such a serious matter, but you talk about it as if you picked up a stray cat.
Yuanzi scratched his head and said, "So, you go for a physical examination tomorrow. After you get the detailed report, you can stay in the room upstairs."
Kudo Shinichi thought that his body really needed to be examined, and the words of the Suzuki family calling a doctor should be trustworthy. At least they could ensure that his mouth was sealed, and they would not dissect him without any reason if there was any problem.
So he nodded and said, "Let's go together tomorrow."
"well?"
Yuanzi blinked blankly: "I'm not sick, why should I go to the hospital? Can't you just go by yourself?"
“…I’m seven years old now.”
"Then I'll ask the butler and the driver to take you there."
Miss Suzuki Sonoko was much kinder to children than to adults. She reached out and touched his head, which was not even as high as her waist, and said kindly, "Be good. I have a blind date tomorrow afternoon. If it weren't for the invitation from Superintendent Odagiri, I would have gone to meet Kenya today."
Oh, because he was the intended fiancé, Sonoko usually chose to call the corresponding candidate by name. Although she felt that Ken Oshitsuki was too young, she still gave him the basic treatment that all fiancés would have.
"But going on a blind date with a child is probably quite troublesome..."
Kudo Shinichi recalled the face in the photo and thought that based on his appearance, even if you find him troublesome now, you will probably change your side in a second when you see him in person tomorrow!
Thinking of this, the exhausted detective carefully asked her, "Where did you guys meet?"
"Fragglia Tennis Club."
Yuanzi finally couldn't help but reached out and pinched his face.
While she was enjoying a subtle sense of satisfaction, she spoke the truth in a good mood: "Kenya seems to be very good at playing tennis. I also played for a long time before, so we chose a place that we are both familiar with."
——Actually, Suzuki Shiro’s original intention was to have them exercise together.
The person who inspired Suzuki Sonoko to play tennis was Mr. Jirokichi Suzuki, who suddenly wanted to become a professional player at the age of 62.
After he gave up pen and ball, he worked hard for a few days and then successfully injured his waist.
He is old now, and if he sprains his waist, he has to stay in bed for several days. At that time, there were only two owners, Suzuki Jirokichi and Suzuki Sonoko, in the Suzuki house. The tennis coach who received a full year's salary felt embarrassed to stay there for nothing, so he simply taught the little girl to play tennis instead.
Suzuki Sonoko is starting to play tennis seriously because Maori Ran has fallen in love with the sport.
However, later on, Xiaolan concentrated on practicing karate, and Sonoko lost half of her interest in it. She has membership cards of various well-known clubs at home and abroad, but the one she goes to most often is Faragliana.
This place has some connection with the Suzuki family. It is said that the retired player second only to Echizen Nanjiro in the country is a coach here.
Suzuki Sonoko was one of his two main students, but Sonoko's long-term partner was her father-in-law, Mori Kogoro, and she had little interest in the old coach's other students.
During that time, Xiaolan kept saying that she wanted to lose weight, and Yuanzi accompanied her in eating vegetarian food for more than half a year. After she finished losing weight, she kept gaining it back. As a result, she gained more weight than usual.
To prevent obesity, she increased her tennis playing time.
Later, because Ximen Sojiro and Jinguji Ren ran away one after another within three months, Suzuki Sonoko's etiquette course, as an important part of the successor training, was put on the agenda again.
The teacher in charge of body shape was more direct. She took a scale and asked Yuanzi to stand on it by herself.
In fact, Suzuki Sonoko's body shape has not changed at all, but she has gained a whole weight!
Want to ask why?
——Because the fat you eat later is converted into dense and heavy muscles through sufficient tennis training.
The teacher pinched her arms, the outline of which could be seen even when she exerted herself, and said with regret, "Ms. Suzuki looks very suitable for doing physical work. :-D"
Suzuki Sonoko was instantly pierced through the heart by an arrow.
In fact, that was her last time playing tennis. The body coach used a full set of machines to measure a lot of data for her, including details such as body fat content and bone density, but Suzuki Sonoko just stared at the weight column the whole time.
The next day, she simply went to the Fragglia Tennis Club and officially transferred her venue usage rights to her father-in-law, Kogoro Mori.
However, due to the different abilities of the genders, the rackets were not given away.
When she left, her tennis bag contained two sets of physical examination data with completely different weights, as well as the culprit that caused this situation.
She walked across the venue, through the atrium, and into the club's small garden for people to rest.
Looking at the face reflected on the water, which had not gained weight but had definitely become heavier, Sonoko couldn't help crying.
Because there was no one around, Suzuki Sonoko squatted there and howled for almost ten minutes. In anger, she smashed the medical examination form, which represented the cruel reality, and the tennis racket, which was the culprit, to the ground.
After anger, sadness became the mainstream.
Yuanzi looked at the racket that had been with him for a while, picked it up and started pounding it on the ground.
She dug a hole in the ground and buried the culprit and the cruel reality together.
Then she stood at the edge of the pit, wiped her cheeks generously, and after leaving three mud marks, she said goodbye to the tennis ball cheerfully.
Even though I haven't played in a while, I still have some basics. Besides, the whole point of meeting my fiancé is definitely the meeting!
That guy called Ken'ya Oshitari wouldn't drag her into the game right away, right?
Kudo Shinichi rubbed his chin and thought for a long time, then said, "I'll go with you tomorrow."
"…What do you want to do?"
The child detective suddenly laughed, but because his face was so cute, Sonoko didn't feel provoked at all.
He said, "Didn't you say you found him troublesome? I can help you get rid of him tomorrow..."
——He just didn't believe it. Even if he couldn't interfere with the situation with his IQ, as long as he had this body, if he called Suzuki Sonoko "Mom" during the blind date, the fiancé's face would not be very good.
======
The next morning, on the other side of Tokyo, at the Hyotei Academy Tennis Club.
The tennis club is one of the largest clubs in Hyotei Academy. It receives the most funding each year, occupies the largest venue, and has extremely low attendance requirements. It even has preferential policies for lower academic standards.
Unfortunately, even with such comprehensive logistical support, Hyotei still failed to win the championship for several years.
When he was in the first year of junior high school, Keigo Atobe felt that this was because there were too many idle people in the club, and Hyotei needed a complete evolution to become the most perfect state.
So this evolution took a whole year, and although the effect was immediate, in the final analysis, we only got second place.
For Keigo Atobe, standing on the podium as the runner-up was far from an honor - compared to the school representative who was excited about having won the honor, he was staring at Seiichi Yukimura the whole time.
Standing at Rikkai University Station is an honor.
To put it bluntly, the position where Bingdi stands now is just a high-end foil.
The first year was spent on evolution, the second year was spent as a foil, and if the third year, which was coming up in the blink of an eye, still yielded no results, then after that...
wrong.
Atobe Keigo wiped the sweat off his forehead calmly: If there is no result in the third year, he will have no future.
Of course, this doesn't mean that he will stop playing tennis, but the older he gets, the smaller the proportion of hobbies in his life will inevitably become. Even if his parents don't say much about his hobbies, those courses and work that require time will naturally squeeze tennis out of his life.
Keigo Atobe once experienced the pain of saying goodbye to dreams. When he actually had no clear understanding of the future, the sadness of having to give up as a result of growing up had really shocked him once.
Precisely because he has accepted, or is even ready to accept, this fact, Atobe Keigo attaches great importance to the third year's competition schedule of the Hyotei Tennis Club. Although he still looks like he is in control, the cold flame is still a flame.
As long as it's fire, it will burn.
So, when he found out that it was just basic training like swinging the racket a hundred times, and some people were hiding in the team and looking at their phones from time to time, Atobe sneered, took out a new ball from his pocket, and hit it at his feet with a racket.
With a crisp sound, the tennis ball bounced on the ground as fast as a bullet and flew past Oshitari's ear.
Oshitari, who was standing in the corner of the team, pushed his glasses up in shock.
"...Were you trying to murder me just now?"
Atobe raised his eyebrows at him expressionlessly.
Oshitari quickly admitted defeat: "Okay, I was wrong just now."
Atobe's expression remained unchanged. He tossed a tennis ball in his hand and looked at him with his eyes slightly narrowed.
Taketo Mukaihi, who was standing on the left of Oshitari, and Ryo Xuehu, who was standing on his right, paused in place, and then quickly changed their positions with unconcealed large movements.
Now, except for Hou Chotaro who stood at the back because he was too tall, Oshitari Yuushi who was forced to the C position by his teammates was speechless to find that at this moment, there was only a bright empty space between him and Atobe Keigo who was holding the weapon.
"Atobe, put the ball down first. I want to file a defense."
Atobe snorted coldly without saying anything, and immediately prepared to serve according to the gesture.
Inuzuka turned quickly and shouted to the coaching booth 20 meters away: "Coach, I want to apply for a defense!"
Sakaki Taro, who was sitting on the sidelines, was holding a pen and writing something on a piece of paper. He was annoyed by his yelling, so he raised his head expressionlessly and snapped his fingers at Atobe.
“Tsk.”
A subtle smacking of lips echoed from the group: "I thought there would be something exciting to watch..."
Because the volume was so weak, I couldn't accurately identify who this gloating guy was even after enduring for a while.
So the tennis club began its intermission, and all the regular players sat freely in a circle on the court. The "defendant" Yuushi Ozawa, who applied for defense, had a tennis racket stuck in his collar as a shackle, and stood in the middle of the circle, trying to prove his innocence.
"But being lazy is an objective fact."
Yueren blinked blankly. "Just admit your mistakes and try to get leniency. What's so innocent about that?"
"Laws are nothing more than human feelings," Feng said, lowering his head slightly. "Perhaps Senior Inuzaka has something urgent to do?"
"If there was an emergency, Yushi would have asked for leave and ran home long ago."
Yue Ren snorted in disdain: "He's clearly trying to excuse himself, why are you cooperating with him like this?"
Hiyoshiruo sat on the periphery and turned his racket unhappily: Ah, I want to play ball.
"It's almost the national competition," Xuehu Ryo glanced at Oshitari and said, "Do you look worthy of the Hyotei uniform?"
Because Atobe was still holding the racket, Yuushi Ozawa, who had a tennis racket stuck in his back, had to lower his head in this stiff posture to show that he accepted the criticism.
However, we still need to defend what needs to be defended.
"It's precisely because the national competition is about to begin," he said, hesitantly and distressedly, with a perfectly appropriate expression of embarrassment, "that I feel even more regretful."
"ha?"
"The goal we've been working towards for a year is right in front of us, but we have to withdraw early due to an unexpected incident." Oshitari moved his shoulders, which were straightened by the racket. "This is probably the cruelest punishment for us, right?"
The Hyotei regulars gathered in a circle and fell silent at the same time.
About a minute later, Hiyoshi Wakaba frowned and hissed, staring at the defendant standing in the "judgment seat" with an expression of disbelief and unacceptability.
“Senior, you…”
It was rare for him to speak honorifics in such a calm voice. He cleared his throat first because he was not used to it. Before he could speak again, Xianghi Taketo slid up from the ground.
He nervously pulled Oshitari's arm: "Yushi, do you have a terminal illness?"
"Liver cancer, lung cancer, bone marrow cancer," he frantically guessed. He looked into Shinoba's eyes with deep sorrow and cautiously probed, "Or... leukemia?"
I can't help but say, "Just keep pretending. If you really treat me like a patient, why don't you take out the racket that's holding me?"
However, the defendant has no human rights and he is still guilty.
"That's not me," Oshitari said, pressing his partner's shoulder. "It's my cousin, the singles player from Shitenhoji."
Xuehu Liang's expression was stern: "The first choice named Kenya Oshitari?"
"Ah~" Yue Ren also remembered: "That's the guy with fast legs, right?"
"What's wrong with you?"
Atobe Keigo pinched his brows and said, "Yukimura Seiichi went to the hospital a while ago, and now this situation has happened again in Shitenhoji..."
——While it seems like a happy thing to see powerful opponents voluntarily admitting themselves to the hospital one after another, since they can neither defeat Shitenhoji at full strength nor Rikkai University at its best, the only one left in the regular semifinals is Lions...
What value does winning this kind of championship have?
The corners of Tezuka's forehead couldn't help but jump: It would be better to take the runner-up as a foil, at least it's genuine!
"Wait," Oshitari waited until they all finished sighing before pretending to realize something belatedly and began to explain, "When did I say Ken was sick?"
The circle surrounded by the regular players of the tennis club fell silent again.
"But it's worse than being sick."
Ozuki sighed with empathy: "Being sick can only be said to be fate. I can't change it and I just accept it. But Qianye's current situation..."
He considered his words: "Apart from 'unlucky', I can't think of anything else that fits the description."
"Um?"
"To put it simply," Oshitari snapped his fingers, "Ken is also going to be arranged to get married."
"...I thought Ken Oshitani was also your cousin?"
"I didn't say she was my cousin," Oshitari spread his hands to Xuehu, "Who told you that boys can't get married?"
Just when Yue Ren couldn't help but wonder whether Ken Oshitani was going to marry a man or a woman, Atobe thought about it for a while and figured out the whole thing.
"Whose family is he going to marry into?"
"It's not even a question of marrying into the family yet," Oshitari raised his eyebrows. "His main task now is to secure an opportunity to marry into the family. Therefore, he was packed up and sent to Tokyo the day before yesterday."
Ninzu sighed with lingering fear. "According to my father and uncle, she'll either transfer to the nearby Hyotei or directly to the school her 'husband' attends. Instead of attending club events and practicing tennis on the weekends, her future schedule will probably be spent playing tennis with her fiancée."
"Eh..." Yue Ren couldn't help but sympathize: "It's too pitiful, isn't it?"
"What else?"
Oshitari took out his phone from his pocket and said, "My uncle is going to Shitenhoji this afternoon to handle the paperwork for him. Kenya can only strive for [Exchange Study] instead of [Transfer]. Otherwise, even if he fails to get married, he won't be able to find a chance to represent Shitenhoji."
"So," the cold-blooded Atobe Keigo asked, "what's the point of your defense?"
"I want to help!"
"Kenya is in Tokyo, so there's only so much he can do, but he bribed Shota to throw a tantrum on his behalf, crying and saying he couldn't bear to see his brother go," Ozaki answered without a trace of guilt. "So far, it seems to be working pretty well. Uncle only applied for a three-month exchange program, but after that..."
"What to do next?"
"Of course I'm going to find a way to cancel the engagement," Xue Huliang slapped Feng on the leg. "The national competition is about to start. Hurry and cancel the engagement. At least I can still make it to the finals!"
"Oh," the half-asleep Akutagawa Jiro understood what had happened, but still asked bewilderedly, "But... why should we help the people of Shitenhoji?"
"There's no difference between schools at this time!"
Xuehu Ryo had just finished beating Feng, and now he smacked Akutagawa on the shoulder again: "Even if he's an enemy, he's still a rival worthy of respect. Seeing your respected opponent have to miss out on his dream because of such a petty reason, even if you win the game in the end, can you feel at ease?"
Feng Ke cooperated and answered loudly: "No!"
Akutagawa covered his shoulder with a look of grievance and said "hmm" reluctantly.
"By the way," Feng Changtaro asked, "Who is the one that Qianye-san is going to marry, or rather, marry into the family?"
Having successfully defended himself and diverted everyone's attention, Oshitari was now stretching his waist in an unsightly posture, trying to pull the tennis racket out of the collar at the back of his neck.
Upon hearing this, he replied, "Which other family? The famous Suzuki family. I remember their eldest daughter was promised to the Tozawa family. The one they're looking to marry into is... I think her name is Suzuki Ayako?"
Everyone present was waiting for Oshitari to provide some detailed information, but the one who spoke was Keigo Atobe who was standing aside.
"The one who's going to marry Tozawa is Ayako."
He fiddled with the unfired "weapon" in his hand with an unclear expression, and corrected indifferently: "Ayako is the eldest daughter, and the Suzuki who is now seeking to marry into the family is called Sonoko."
Because his expression was really hard to describe, the atmosphere in the venue became a little off.
In the blink of an eye, Yue Ren quickly made an expression of "I've learned a lesson" and said as if he suddenly understood something: "Atobe, you're amazing!"
Then he quickly turned to look for his partner and changed the subject, "So, Yushi, do you know where they're meeting? How can you help?"
"Where is the meeting?"
When Oshitari was peeking at the text message earlier, he was busy with training and didn't see it clearly.
"It seems to be a tennis club called Flushing or Farragut. According to reliable sources, my fiancée also played tennis before and was one of the earliest customers of that tennis club."
"What the hell is that? Is that a name?"
"Wait a minute, let me see what the law is—"
Before Oshitari could open his cell phone in broad daylight in the training ground, Atobe Keigo's calm voice rang out, bringing another mysterious silence.
He said, "Fraglia."
Taketo Mukai frowned, hesitating whether to pretend to be stupid and praise Atobe again.
Because of this hesitation, the opportunity was missed.
Because of Mukai Taketo's inaction, Oshitari Yuushi had to take on the responsibility of easing the atmosphere: "Atobe, do you know this club? I thought you only played at your home."
Atobe Keigo didn't say anything.
When he just came back from the UK, he wanted to find the best player in Japan to be his coach, but he came back a little late. All the top tennis coaches in Japan had been poached by Jiro Suzuki a few years ago.
So after many twists and turns, he finally found Faragliana, a place where a great god was hidden.
In other words, Atobe Keigo is the tennis player second only to Echizen Nanjiro in the country, and the "other" among his two most important students, excluding Suzuki Sonoko.
Before he officially joined the Ice Emperor, he spent a lot of time in Faraglioni, sweating for his tennis wholeheartedly.
To be precise, he was less than twelve years old at that time, so when his mother asked him which school he wanted to go to and what he would do after entering, he put the tennis club first without hesitation.
For a moment, the observant boy saw a flash of sadness in his mother's eyes.
Then he realized belatedly that what he said seemed too naive.
In fact, he has always been very clear about what a sense of responsibility is, but he clearly and truly feels that there is still a hurdle called "growth" that he needs to overcome.
Atobe Keigo did have some awareness at that time, but he couldn't explain what exactly he was aware of.
Then one day, the coach who was helping him practice serving had to go out for a while because of something urgent.
While serving, he heard some vague news that another student under his charge seemed to be ready to give up training, but she had transferred the course, so she hoped the coach would go and handle the paperwork together and get to know the new and old students.
So Atobe simply stopped for half an hour to rest, and then walked around the green area in front of the venue.
In fact, the environment of Faraglià is quite good, with excellent privacy, viewing experience, and comfort. Many precious flower species that require careful care have been transplanted into the garden.
It was at that place that Keigo Atobe saw the daughter of the Suzuki family.
He had not been back for long, and the daughter of the Suzuki family had not often appeared before. If they had not had the same coach by chance, it would have been basically impossible for them to know each other.
Everyone knows their own business. Shiro Suzuki wanted to marry into his family because he was worried that his daughter's "mental retardation" would relapse, but he couldn't tell anyone about it. He could only say that the child was spoiled and couldn't do such things.
So to an outsider who doesn't have a clear understanding of the situation, Suzuki Sonoko's situation is probably quite complicated and difficult.
Marrying a son-in-law means that one's ability is not recognized by one's elders.
Taking in a son-in-law means that one's future rights may be restricted by someone from another family.
And the repeated failures in finding a son-in-law is probably a big blow to a girl.
Suzuki Sonoko, who gave up tennis training, made Atobe Keigo realize for the first time: when the reality of the situation affects herself, even if tennis is a hobby she has persisted in for ten years, she has to give up.
He didn't see the girl crying clearly, but the sadness from the bottom of her heart nailed him to the spot. Atobe Keigo stood in the corner and watched her crying for a long time while holding her tennis bag. Then she sobbed and dug a hole in the ground and buried her beloved racket in the soil.
At that moment, he felt like he was witnessing a great farewell.
——A girl who was dragged by reality to overcome the hurdle of growing up is saying goodbye to the hobby she has pursued for ten years.
The next moment, he felt that he saw his future self again.
——The girl scattered handfuls of soil, not only burying her tennis racket, but also giving Keigo Atobe a preview of his future three years from now.
Keigo Atobe said that he had experienced the pain of saying goodbye to dreams, the sadness of having to give up when growing up, and he had also been deeply shocked by real crying.
To sum it up in one sentence, he once saw the Suzuki family's daughter cry.
Because he watched the daughter of the Suzuki family cry, and since then, he seemed to have no intention of being sad or confused about the future.
He entered Hyotei normally, joined the tennis club normally, and did what he had imagined he would do normally, including challenging the starting lineup and reforming the campus.
But his purpose also became clear.
While I can still do these things, I will do my best to do my best.
What is the point of youth? Isn’t it to avoid regrets?
A few days later, my mother's foreign classmate came to visit our home. He looked at him for a long time unexpectedly, and suddenly laughed softly.
"In my hometown, there's a saying," she said with a smile, "If you want a boy to grow up, either the world gives him a war, or a girl gives him love."
The lady patted the young man's shoulder gently and said, "But I see that you have easily completed this transformation without going through these two things."
Under his mother's gaze, Keigo Atobe made a formal thank you according to etiquette, but did not take it seriously.
Perhaps, he really crossed that hurdle invisibly, but it was not without reason.
And for him, it was not easy.
——He also got a girl and watched a huge funeral.
=====
However, no matter how much Atobe thought, the Hyotei regulars, who had already studied the battle plan under the leadership of Xuehu Liang, were enthusiastically arranging the afternoon's affairs.
Once the research is almost done, it’s time for lunch.
Xiangri Yueren squatted on the spot and stretched out his body. "So, do we have a day off this afternoon?"
Akutagawa answered dazedly, "Today is the weekend, and we should have the afternoon off."
"In that case," Oshitari Yuushi concluded the meeting: "After today's training, except for Hiyoshi, everyone else..."
etc.
Oshitari turned his head and waved,
"Atobe, are you going?"
After all, he is the minister of their family. No matter whether he goes or not, he still has to ask the questions that need to be asked.
Mukaito had already made his stance, and after Atobe finished his refusal, which included some sarcasm, he rushed to the restaurant to find something to eat!
It was almost noon, the sun was shining brightly, and on the clean and tidy tennis court of Bingdi, the minister's usual irresistible order rang out.
Atobe Keigo said, "Everyone, gather at the school gate at 1:30 in the afternoon. Jiro is not allowed to be late."
The author has something to say: I am sorry for the delay due to the plot change and word count.
Kudo Shinichi's height is the average height of a normal seven-year-old boy. After all, the original work is a comic, and Conan is not even as high as Mouri Kogoro's knees.
My sixth blind date will officially begin tomorrow.
Known: The woman will bring a high-IQ suitor larva with a death buff.
The man will lead a class of super-powered tennis boys. When the Shinigami elementary school students are ready to fight to the death, how can we prevent the boy's teammate [Atobe Keigo]'s youthful heart from being broken by Conan's word "Mom"?
There are prizes for correct answers.
I changed the way Atobe appeared and added a long paragraph. After the serialization of the new Prince of Tennis, there was indeed a plot where Atobe had to choose between tennis and family business. To be honest, the scene where he was kneeling on the tennis court was a little handsome...
But you can try to feel sorry for him a little bit :-D
For the sake of more than ten thousand, please don't be careless and leave a message to praise me!
Corrected typos
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