Chapter 130 Chapter 130 National Competition Opens
In the blink of an eye, it was the opening day of the national competition.
Saionji Tamon sat outside the court with her chin in her hand, gazing at the high-spirited teenagers from afar. She had to admit that although the national competition was the ultimate dream of these tennis teenagers, this opening ceremony was really boring.
Especially compared to the previous Japan-US Youth Friendship Exchange Tournament held at Japan's largest tennis stadium, where idol groups were specially invited to sing and dance, the scale of the national tennis tournament for junior high school students could even be said to be a bit shabby. The leaders gave speeches in the front, and the 24 teams lined up below to listen attentively. After the speeches, there were no fancy activities arranged, and the first round of the competition began directly.
Tamane has good eyesight, and although the distance is a bit far, she can still clearly see the location of the Hyotei team. Behind the staff holding up the sign is the team leader, Atobe Keigo. As soon as she saw Keigo, she couldn't help but think of the sudden confession under the fireworks that night.
After receiving this confession the night before, she left a message asking Atobe to wait for her to consider it, and then ran away with her senior brother.
That night and the entire next day, she was busy coordinating the cooperation between her senior brothers and Scepter 4 and Gojo. After all, the enemy had been lurking in the dark for a long time and might attack at any time, so they had to prepare early.
For example, the search for "Geto Suguru" is ineffective due to the Scepter 4's advanced [Consciousness-Only] system. Instead, Deba-san can use tracking techniques to trace the enemy, so the task naturally falls to him. Unfortunately, his techniques require items related to the target as a medium, and neither the fake Geto nor the original Geto-san currently possesses any of their possessions (Geto-san's possessions were secretly disposed of after his death, fearing a curse). Therefore, even if there were tracking methods available, they would be unable to deploy them for the time being.
Therefore, the tracking of the opponent can only be delayed for the time being. Scepter 4, who has the greatest authority, will keep an eye on them first. When the opponent who is collecting cursed spirits reveals a flaw first, they will take countermeasures and launch a counterattack.
So there is no important matter that requires her, Saionji Tamon, to help recently. That is why she still has the free time to return to the stadium to continue her mission of protecting Atobe and watch their national competition as agreed.
When she was leaving the Dechang Mansion this morning and preparing to come here, Senior Brother Dechang jokingly asked her, "Have you thought about how to respond to Master Atobe's confession?"
She rarely waved her fist threateningly at her senior brother, made a face, then picked up her things and quickly rushed to the opening ceremony venue.
Thanks to the preliminary procedures and the long speeches by the leaders, she did not miss anything. She arrived at the scene at the end of the opening ceremony and did not miss the beginning of the competition.
Yuyin felt a little nervous now. Just as her senior brother joked in the morning, she had not yet figured out how to reply to Atobe.
Refuse or accept... now doesn't seem to be a good time. Yuyin sighed silently. The game is about to start. Although it is said that Hyotei's opponent in the first round is not very strong, she does not want her own reasons to have any adverse effects on Keigo and the outcome of Hyotei's game.
While she was lost in thought, everyone around her stood up and began to move. Yuyin looked up and saw that the opening ceremony was over. Now the teams that needed to compete in the first round had to enter their respective venues, submit their competition rosters and warm up before the first round began.
The only people waiting outside to watch the opening ceremony are naturally the die-hard fans of the major teams, many of whom are students from the schools to which the teams belong.
Students from participating teams in Tokyo and the Kanto region are relatively well-off, given their proximity. However, students from schools in Kansai and even Hokkaido face a significant challenge. Not only do they have to take the Shinkansen all the way to Tokyo to watch the games, but they also have to find accommodations in Tokyo, a city known for its high cost of living. While teams typically provide accommodations for both players and their own support teams, individual fans who aren't even part of the support team or cheerleading squad are left to fend for themselves and find their own accommodations.
Due to these factors, the local team Hyotei's support team of 200 people is so large that it is eye-catching.
The Kanto teams were fine, as they had often met each other in previous matches or practice games, and they were somewhat accustomed to the flamboyant style of Hyotei and Atobe Keigo. However, some foreign teams that came from afar, especially some teams that had entered the national competition this year, were a little surprised by this.
Echigodaira Second Junior High School from Niigata Prefecture is just such a team.
As she walked from the audience toward the Hyotei cheering area, Yuyin heard a girl whisper, "...There are so many people! This cheering group is ridiculously large! Are all the teams in Tokyo so flamboyant? A game isn't about the number of people cheering in the stands."
She paused, turned around, and said to the girl wearing the Echigodaira Secondary School uniform, whose stance was obvious, "My dear classmate, our Hyotei isn't boastful; it's powerful. And you'll soon see Hyotei's strength."
After saying that, without waiting for the girl's reaction, she walked straight to the Hyotei audience seats.
*
In fact, Yuyin has heard many similar words from time to time. The original words may not be the same, but the general meaning is similar.
Keigo Atobe is confident and outspoken, and he naturally likes grand scenes. These behaviors are even considered a bit too rebellious by the traditional Japanese people who are conservative and introverted. Many people even often misunderstand that he came back from the free-spirited America instead of the gentlemanly and aristocratic Britain.
And Keigo Atobe has never cared about the gossip of outsiders, and just used his strength to shut them up.
Yuyin still remembers the opening ceremony of the first grade of junior high school when Atobe just started to speak arrogantly. At that time, many students were dissatisfied with his arrogance. It was he who later conquered everyone bit by bit with his absolute strength, making them sincerely worship him and call him the Ice Emperor.
At that time, she had no relationship with Atobe, and while she admired his style, she did not care about the rumors she heard.
But now it's different. She can no longer remain indifferent when she hears irrelevant outsiders slandering and misunderstanding Atobe and the Hyotei Tennis Club, which Atobe has poured countless efforts into.
“Manager!” “Manager Saionji!” “Senior Saionji!”
Hearing the cheers, Yuyin came back to her senses from her thoughts and met the enthusiastic smiles of her own cheering group.
During this period of time, due to some handover work, she has become familiar with the fan club, so it is not the case that she appears in front of the fan club members and they are still completely clueless about who she is.
The cheering group of the Hyotei tennis club and the personal cheering groups of the members are two completely different things. Although there are occasional overlaps in members, the number of people is small. Girls who can enter the tennis club cheering group from personal cheering groups must have undergone strict screening, have no bad records, and have never been involved in school bullying like she had encountered before.
They are a group of people who sincerely cheer for the tennis club, so the manager, Tamon Saionji, who is accepted by the tennis club and loved by the regulars, will naturally be liked by them as well.
"Manager, why are you late? I just heard Senior Xiangri asking you something."
Someone made way for her to pass, "Xiyuanji-senpai, please go to the front row. The seniors have been waiting for you."
The front two rows of the audience are by default the seats for the team's starting players. After the game officially starts, no unrelated personnel except the coach are allowed to enter the court. Therefore, other players who are not participating in the game will sit in the front two rows to watch the game.
In the past, Yuyin would naturally sit in the front row after thanking the support group, but that was not the case today.
She just wanted to sit in the back row and watch the whole thing quietly without being noticed. Is such a wish difficult to achieve?
But the aisle had been cleared, and if she didn't go, it would definitely arouse everyone's suspicion, which would then be difficult to explain.
Yuyin hesitated and moved slowly to the front row.
"Manager! Over here!"
Before she could move to her right place, she was spotted by Xiangri Yueren who was looking around. He jumped up and waved at her.
When she finally reached the destination, she heard Yue Ren's complaints firing like a barrage of cannonballs: "Yuyin, you're so mean! Not only were you late for the temple fair, but you even left early! You've been absent since then. I almost thought you weren't coming to our game anymore."
"How could that be? I promised that I would not miss your national competition."
After comforting Yueren, Yuyin slowly shifted her gaze to Keigo Atobe, who had been focused on her since she appeared.
How should she greet them? Everyone in the tennis club was here, so if anything unusual happened, it would definitely be noticed. But she couldn't speak to them normally, and she couldn't do it yet.
Atobe Keigo naturally took his place in the first row. When he turned to look at her, the morning sunlight slanted across his short, purplish-gray hair, casting a warm golden glow on it, softening his sharp, deep features.
His expression was calm, almost frank. Seeing her looking over, he touched the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye, put on his usual flamboyant smile, shrugged, and said, "I explained it to Xiangri, but he insisted on seeing you before he believed it. He was just now yelling that he was worried you'd miss his doubles match."
"No, I never said anything like that."
Mukai Taketo retorted instinctively, but was slammed down by his partner. Oshitari Yuushi pushed up his glasses and said, "Just now in the queue, who was so bored that he was looking around and kept muttering why the manager hadn't arrived yet?"
"Yushi!" Yue Ren rushed over and tried to cover his mouth, "Can't you just say less?"
This familiar cheerful atmosphere made Yuyin relax a lot.
Atobe Keigo stood up, put his hands in his pockets, took a big step over the step, and stood beside her.
Yuyin moved her fingers, wanting to distance herself but worried about being too abrupt. She tried to appear as natural as possible, then she heard Atobe, beside her, continue to joke as if no one was around, "Not only that, but Xianghi has been muttering about the two goldfish you took away yesterday."
"Yes! Manager, where did you take those two goldfish? Did you take them home?" Hearing the topic of concern, Yue Ren no longer cared about playing with Ozuki, and directly leaned over to ask.
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The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2022-08-10 22:34:59 and 2022-08-10 23:56:24~
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 1 bottle in the north and south;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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