The day the challenge begins.
What a sunny day it is.
Each of these tennis-loving children was very happy, with smiles on their faces. Even Zizhou, who had been nervous for a long time, seemed to be much more open-minded in this weather. Your mind won’t be filled with thoughts about how to return the ball or how to receive the ball. Oh, it’s better to just lie down.
Yukimura was seen wearing a sports jacket, standing upright next to a chair, his eyes still focused on the situation on the court. Zizhou walked over.
"Yukimura, is it about to start? Why can't I see Sanada?" Zizhou did not forget to look around for the figure of Sanada. After all, Sanada and Yukimura are often inseparable.
"Xuanichiro, I asked him to go find Mori-senpai. Mori-senpai has been skipping training a lot recently and was not even seen for such an important competition today. So I asked Xuanichiro to find him based on the information provided by Yanagi." When he said this, Yukimura couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand, his face full of helplessness.
It can be said that the three giants of the tennis team really have no way to deal with this senior Mao Li who is often nowhere to be seen. You may say he is lazy, but he is very strong. You may say he is good, but he is never seen during training. As juniors, it is hard to say anything. Those older than him cannot beat him, so they are really helpless.
"By the way, how is Zizhou's preparation going? Are you confident?"
That’s right, Yukimura has started calling Zizhou by his name. It’s not that there’s anything special about Yukimura, but Zizhou doesn’t like people calling him by his surname, as it feels like they are calling someone else.
"Ah, Yukimura, I can only do my best. I've only been learning for a short time, so it's still too hard to beat others. Besides, the others are really hardworking and strong. They are all good kids. I find that the longer I stay here, the more I like it!"
Yukimura was amused to see Zizhou first with his head down and a look of "I can't do it" and then with a proud look on his face. At the same time, he also agreed with what Zizhou said. There is no treatment of seniors or juniors here, only respect and admiration from the strong.
Yukimura patted Zizhou's left shoulder and encouraged him, "Don't worry. Don't forget that your opponents during this period are us. You just haven't competed with others before, so your perception of yourself is biased. We all believe in you."
When Zizhou heard Yukimura's words, he felt a warm current in his heart and he couldn't suppress the smile on his face. This made Yukimura infected by this smile, and he couldn't help but laugh.
When the other players in the tennis club saw the harmonious scene between the captain and Sawara-kun, they couldn't help but admire them. As the only two gentle people in the tennis club, it can be said that everyone in the tennis club couldn't help but approach and praise them. Although most people in the tennis club are good-looking, there are different levels on the court, and Yukimura and Kozue are obviously among the top ones. They are also kind and approachable.
Zizhou didn't know all these things, otherwise he would have loudly refuted their definition of Yukimura's character, and would have shaken their shoulders and told them: Yukimura is a simple glutinous rice dumpling, don't be fooled by his appearance. In fact, Zizhou didn’t know.
Soon the competition officially began. Zizhou was assigned to the third game of the fourth group. The fourth group was led by Sanada. It can be said that there are one or two strong people in each group, and the strong ones are not grouped together.
Zizhou's opponent is the second-year senior Sato, who is considered to be in the second tier of the tennis club and is known for his strong physical strength. However, physical strength is Zizhou's difficulty, so he plans to win by skill and try not to use an overtime race.
Beep~, with the sound of the whistle, the main selection trial officially began.
Zizhou served an ordinary serve, and the opponent obviously planned to play an extra game, so how could Zizhou let him get his wish? So he swung his racket and hit a quick slice. As a seasoned player, Sato could easily hit back this kind of ball.
In this way, Zizhou repeatedly tried several types of serve and return, hoping to find the opponent's weakness. Both sides were capable of both offense and defense, holding on to the score tightly, neither wanting to fall behind.
Yukimura stood outside the court and watched quietly. Yanagi sat next to him with a pen and a notebook. He was writing something in his hands, but he didn't forget to ask Yukimura, "Yukimura, who do you think will win?" Even though Yanagi was asking Yukimura, he didn't look at him, but kept looking at the two people playing on the court.
"I believe him."
Yukimura did not answer Yanagi's question, but these four words said it all.
In fact, anyone who has practiced against Zizhou can find that Zizhou is very talented. In the learning process, Zizhou can not only master the playing skills as quickly as possible, but also stimulate his potential in training. He is not a rigid person, but very flexible. He will not attack rashly without being fully prepared. However, opponents are sometimes always caught off guard and cannot detect the mental power Zizhou exerts on tennis. It can be said that even without the bonus of physical strength, the mental power can almost instantly defeat the opponent. It’s just that Zizhou is very cautious and won’t take any risks.
'Ding~ It has been found that the host's ability in this world does not match the plot. Now the auxiliary prop of this world - the Eye of Truth - is sent. I hope the host will work hard to complete the task. 『
When Zizhou was still accumulating experience in the game, this voice suddenly rang in his mind, causing Zizhou to lose focus and miss a ball. So he quickly controlled his emotions, ignored the voice for the time being, and focused on the current game. Zizhou was really helpless facing the system that liked to pop up from time to time to scare him.
But Zizhou didn't know that because he often ignored the system and didn't let it enter this world as a hamster, the system was bored to death in the space and didn't want to talk to him properly, so it often scared him when issuing tasks to relieve its anger.
Looking back, Zizhou found that compared with before, no matter how the opponent served and returned the ball, there were loopholes. As long as he was in the right position and with the right method, he could return the ball. Apparently this ability is what the system calls the Eye of Truth. It’s really useful. I must ask the system when I get back to see if there is a suitable way to complete the task.
Zizhou didn't think it was wrong to do so regarding the abilities given by the system. After all, he was just a tasker whose goal was to complete the task. If the task failed because of his stubbornness, it would be a loss.
Yukimura and Yanagi outside the court obviously noticed the difference in Zizhou. His playing style was still the same, but Zizhou seemed to have seen through all of his opponent's moves and flaws. For this reason, Yukimura and Yanagi were shocked by Zizhou's ability. After all, he had not shown it before. It seems that competition is an important way to improve. Good data, good data!
Seeing Liu's crazy look, Yukimura silently moved to the side, pulled his coat, and pretended not to see it. But he couldn't help but be curious why Zizhou didn't use his mental power. After all, Zizhou's mental power was stronger than his. It was just that he had learned tennis for too short a time and could not fully display it.
With the ability, Zizhou was like a fish in water in the following games and fought his way to the back smoothly. However, he lost to Sanada and Kuwabara in the end. After all, these two physical monsters made the game extremely difficult. His mental mastery and physical deficiencies could not make up for the gap.
Finally, Zizhou officially entered the first-tier position as a candidate. Three new players were also added to the regular season, namely Masaharu Niou, Bunta Marui and Jack Kuwahara.
The remaining one is the second-year senior who gave Yukimura and the others a headache - Mori Jusaburo. He is a relatively lazy senior, but his abilities are beyond doubt. However, Zizhou likes him very much because Maori is very kind to the juniors and often helps them improve their strength. It would be even better if he didn't skip training.
Just like that, Zizhou completely entered the training ranks, getting deeper and deeper into the exploitation and stimulation of potential every day.
After the end, Zizhou finally talked it out with the system. He also realized that it was his negligence that left the system lonely for so long. So after letting the system enter this world in the form of a hamster, he bought a lot of nut snacks for the system and gave it a nice name - Scorched Rice Fruit.
Jiao Miguo, who was finally able to enter the world and enjoy delicious food, stuck to Zizhou almost every day. Wherever Zizhou went, it followed. He had to go to school like a spy every day, afraid of being discovered and being looked at suspiciously by Sanada, which made him feel uneasy. But Jiao Miguo was also very sensible. He just stayed on Zizhou's shoulder or head, or in his pocket when there were people around. He didn't go anywhere.
But the more he didn't want others to find out, the more suspicious his behavior became. Eventually, it was Yukimura at the table in front of him who noticed it. Or perhaps many people in the class noticed it, but they just thought it was funny to see Zizhou looking guilty and thinking he was covering it up well, so they didn't have the heart to expose him.
It was Yukimura who told him that if pets did not breathe fresh air for a long time, they would easily suffocate to death. This scared Zizhou. Although Jiaomiguo was a system, he didn't know if it would suffocate as it was already a hamster.
After hearing Yukimura say that Rikkai University did not have an explicit rule prohibiting students from bringing pets to school, she held the scorched rice fruit in her palm and showed it to Yukimura quietly.
When Yukimura saw the little hamster chewing a nut in Zizhou's hand, it looked so soft and cute. He felt like his heart was pierced by an arrow and he kept calling it so adorable!
"Zizhou, what's its name?" As he said this, he did not forget to gently touch the little hamster's head with his hand. The little hamster did not dodge, but just held its nut and looked at Yukimura with its little eyes. Yukimura couldn't help but take the little hamster from Zizhou.
But he didn't know that the little hamster Jiao Miguo was screaming in Zizhou's mind, saying how handsome and gentle Xingcun was.
Zizhou was left speechless, and kept complaining, "I'm pretty too, why haven't I seen you so excited? 』
"But host, it's different. Yukimura is the top male god in "The Prince of Tennis". I'm a big fan of him. Oh, if the host hadn't forgotten me, I would have been in a relationship with the male god Yukimura long ago. 』
Yukimura, who couldn't see the battle between Jiao Miguo and Zizhou in his mind, noticed that Zizhou seemed to be in a daze, so he asked, "What's the matter, Zizhou, does it have no name yet?"
Zizhou came to his senses and quickly replied: "No, I was just thinking about something. It's called Jiao Mi Guo."