Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Conflict on the Street Tennis Court
Time flies and it’s Saturday.
In the past two days, Saionji Tamon has been living as relaxed and comfortable as usual, as if joining the Kyudo club has not brought any changes to her life.
The National Kyudo Championship opened in late April, and the first round was the regional preliminaries. With Hyotei's strength as a seeded team, it would be easy for them to pass even without Kanda Rei.
During this time, there was no need for Saionji Tamon to intervene; in other words, she could just as easily quit the club. So, until now, aside from the members of the Kyudo Club and Atobe, who happened to run into her that day, no one else in the school knew she had joined the Kyudo Club. Kanda Rei and the new club leader had both urged members not to spread the news, citing confidentiality, so the news never spread.
So while other sports clubs were busy gathering for training on Saturday, Saionji Tamon went out early in the morning.
Don't get her wrong, she wasn't going to the school for training, but to purchase food for the weekend.
The Saionji family, once a prominent name in Japan, has a long history, but Saionji Tamon's family is a humble one, possessing little beyond an ancestral shrine in Kyoto. Her parents, who moved to Tokyo to make a living, now travel frequently for work, often leave her home. Saionji Tamon eats all three meals in the school cafeteria, leaving her to fend for herself on weekends.
Fortunately, she was not really a fifteen-year-old girl. In other worlds, she had been an orphan more than once or twice, and she was very skilled in taking care of her own life.
Relying on the agility acquired through years of training, Saionji Tamon successfully snatched discounted ingredients from a group of housewives in the supermarket, and then embarked on a journey home with great satisfaction, carrying large and small bags.
"No, let me go!"
Passing by a street tennis court, Saionji Tamon suddenly heard a quarrel. What particularly caught her attention was the voice of a girl. Worried that it was street bullying, especially gangsters bullying girls, she turned around and immediately changed direction.
Before she could quickly walk to the scene, she heard a voice that couldn't be more familiar: "Hey, hey, it was you who agreed to go on a date with me~"
Saionji Tamon paused: No way... Why does this voice sound like her good neighbor?
She shook her head, then tried to convince herself: It doesn't have to be Atobe, right? Doesn't Senior Brother Chang's voice and Atobe's voice have a very similar quality? If it's just the voice...
Ah——I can't convince myself at all. Atobe's speaking tone is so special, it's impossible for others to imitate it, right?
With her heart tangled, Saionji Tamon walked to the edge of the street tennis court and saw Atobe Keigo grabbing a little girl's wrist and teasing her with a bully's smile: "You're quite cute when you're angry."
shock
Saionji Gyoon had only one feeling.
Atobe Keigo, you are such a person?!
Due to excessive shock, all the bags in her hands fell to the ground. They were originally filled with food, but the canned food and drinks were scattered all over the ground. Some of them rolled down the stairs around the tennis court.
This movement finally alarmed several people who were clashing in the center of the tennis court.
When Atobe turned around, he thought the enemy had received new reinforcements. It didn't matter. No matter how many people came, he was confident that he could defeat them. He didn't even need to do it himself, he only needed to send out Karasu...
Then he met Saionji Tamon's gaze, which was so shocked that she was speechless. Then, he watched Saionji Tamon's gaze change from shock to confusion, and from confusion to understanding, and finally she looked at him with a look of pity and understanding.
Atobe couldn't help but twitch his lips. What on earth did she understand?
He always felt that he couldn't delve too deeply into his neighbor's thoughts, otherwise it would be even more embarrassing than letting his classmates see this scene.
There was a moment of silence on the field, and even Atobe forgot that he was still holding the other person's hand.
"Let me go!" Ju Xing finally found an opportunity. While Ji Bu was distracted and struggling, he stood aside angrily.
Saionji Tamon cleared her throat twice to ease the atmosphere. She first quickly picked up the things scattered around, and finally looked at the several jars that had rolled into the middle of the four people with embarrassment.
It didn't take much thought for Atobe to understand what she was struggling with. At school, she never liked attracting attention in crowded places.
"Hua Di." With a snap of his fingers, Hua Di stepped forward, picked up several cans and drinks one by one, held them in his arms, and returned them to their original owners.
Saionji Tamon came forward with a bag in hand. She didn't like to bother others, so after accepting the items and thanking them, she pulled out a bottle of juice from her bag and handed it to the other person, "Thank you... Karachi-san."
She usually paid no attention to Atobe and the tennis club, and was unaware that Karaichi was a second-year student and her junior, and she treated him as her peer.
Hua subconsciously looked at Atobe.
Atobe quickly put aside the embarrassment and said with a smile, "Since it's a thank-you gift from Saionji, you can take it.
Huadi nodded slightly: "Yes."
In fact, Jibu had always hoped that Kachi would communicate more with others, but most people were intimidated by Kachi's tall stature, let alone talking to him. In addition, because he was bullied as a child, Kachi rarely took the initiative to pay attention to outsiders except at his command.
Atobe thought that if it was Saionji, she should not be approaching him intentionally with any ulterior motives. As his neighbor for the next year, it would be easier for Karaichi to get to know her.
He was thinking about the birch field when suddenly a bottle of mineral water was handed to him.
"Here~"
He looked up following the water bottle and saw the smiling face of Saionji Gyoon.
"Um, Atobe-san, thank you too." Saionji Tamon knew the tall classmate's help was Atobe's idea; it seemed the young master had a soft heart. She wanted to express her gratitude, but she didn't know what Atobe liked to drink. If she had known, she would have listened more to the girls' discussions in class. In the end, she compromised and chose mineral water.
Atobe stared at her smiling face for a second, uttered an "ah," and shrugged as he took the water bottle. "Even though it's not the imported brand I usually like to drink, I'll reluctantly accept yours..."
"Um, Atobe-san..."
Unexpectedly, Saionji Tamon looked at him hesitantly for a few times, and then said with an appearance of finally making up her mind: "Although it's not too shameful for you to like to play this kind of play, you shouldn't just hit on girls from other schools, especially when they are wearing the Hyotei Tennis Team uniform... If you really can't help it, you can find girls from the fan club or classmates from the drama club. I believe they will be willing to cooperate with you-"
Atobe Keigo took a deep breath and finally couldn't hold it in any longer: "What the hell are you thinking about in your head?! What play? Who do you think I am?"
"Hey, isn't it?" Saionji Tamane blinked, "But just now you..."
"You forgot about it, don't mention it again!"
Momoshiro Takeshi, who was standing by, couldn't help but ask Kamio Akira, "Did they forget we're still here?"
Kamio Akira clenched his fists. "Damn it! I'll make him pay for disrespecting us and bullying Miss Xing!"
A competition was born.
Saionji Tamon learned the whole story from observing the conversation. It turned out that when the young master Atobe passed by, he mocked the weak teams on the street tennis court. The little girl Anju was so angry that she used a date with him as a bet to encourage Atobe to come down to the court to compete, but he slaughtered the whole court.
Now the little girl's friend has arrived, determined to stand up for her and make Atobe withdraw his date.
This is a doubles match.
If she remembered correctly, Tezuka was the only one who could do it all the time?
Sitting on the sidelines, Saionji Tamane thought, who had never taken the initiative to learn about the tennis club, but still passively learned a lot of information about Atobe due to various discussions.
And the reality also proved that her memory was correct. As soon as Master Atobe came on the stage, he sat on the ground (Yuyin OS: He didn't even think that sitting on the ground was not gorgeous?), leaving the tall student Karaichi to deal with the two opponents alone.
"Damn it! Who are you looking down on?"
Tamane noticed that the little girl who had just been "teased" by Atobe was standing on the sidelines and yelling, "Kamio, Momoshiro, come on!"
She touched her chin and thought about it. After all, she was a student of Hyotei, and it was her duty to maintain the image of her alma mater.
Kiyomi was cheering for Kamio and Momoshiro when she saw a hand holding a glass of juice dangling in front of her. She turned around and said, "You are the one who just..."
Yuyin smiled and handed the juice forward. "Freshly squeezed, no additives, peach juice." She looked down at her handbag. "We also have strawberry and orange, or would you like a different flavor?"
"Um, thank you. Don't bother." Ju Xing hesitated for a moment, but still took the juice. "Are you here to apologize on his behalf? Are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Yuyin was stunned when she heard this, and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "How could you have such an idea? Atobe and I are just ordinary classmates."
"Is that so..." Ju Xing felt a little embarrassed for having guessed wrong. She unscrewed the bottle and took a sip as if to cover up. "I'm sorry, I saw that arrogant young master was treating you well, so I thought..."
"That's not the case," Saionji Tamon also opened a drink and turned her gaze towards the tennis court. "Do you think he casually judges others and belittles their efforts? Do you think he's disrespectful to his opponent by sitting still during doubles?"
"Isn't it?" When mentioning these two things, Ju Xing became a little excited.
Saionji Yuyin slowly shook her head: "That's because you don't know how much effort he put in in invisible places to achieve his current achievements. No one is born a genius."
When she said this, she was not only talking about Atobe, but also about herself. The people in the Kyudo Club thought she was a Kyudo genius. In fact, in addition to the strict training she received in her childhood which laid a good foundation for her, it was because in several worlds, in order to survive, she had to practice to become stronger, so the title of genius never fell from the sky.
But Jibei is different from her. She was born a weakling and was forced to become strong, while Jibei made his own choice. He could have lived a comfortable and leisurely life, but he chose a more difficult path.
"Atobe is a bit reckless and does things his own way, but he's also a very gentle person." He would place homework books on the table ahead of time to make it easier for her to collect them, and would ask someone to help if she dropped something and it was inconvenient to pick it up. "He has high standards for others, but his standards for himself are a hundred times higher. Tennis is something he loves, and he has higher expectations for people who play tennis. When he sees results that don't meet his expectations, he naturally..."
"You can't say that about everyone," Ju Xing said angrily, "Everyone has worked very hard."
Saionji Tamane turned around with a smile: "But tennis is a sport, right? Being a bad player is a sin."
Ju Xing was speechless.
Although she said she was not convinced, she knew in her heart that no matter how much effort she put in, the final result would be the result of the competition. If she lost, she would have nothing to say.
"And if I'm not mistaken, you were the one who brought up the idea of a date first, right?" she asked casually.
"Ah, yes," Ju Xing finally realized what she was asking, "That's right."
Saionji Tamon took two more sips of juice, watching Karaichi hitting all the balls on the court. She said slowly, "Atobe is a young master, yes, but he's not the usual idle young master. At this age, he's already involved in the family business. For businessmen, the most important thing in a contract is integrity. Since he proposed a date after losing, he should be mentally prepared to fulfill the date after losing. Don't you agree, An-san?"
She turned to Kikyo and smiled.
Anzu Kiyomi was extremely embarrassed when she heard that. When she heard Atobe insulting everyone in street tennis, she didn't think too much about it. In order to encourage the other party to play against her, she blurted out a date as a condition. She really didn't consider what she should do after losing.
She's still a little girl. Am I being too bullying?
Seeing Tachibana An's face flushed with shame, Saionji Tamane thought.
After understanding the whole story, she quickly understood why Atobe insisted that the other party fulfill the date. There were obviously a lot of girls in school who wanted to date him but were unable to because it was he who proposed it. He was deliberately teaching her a lesson that since he had the courage to propose it, he should have the courage to stick to it.
Ah, he is really a petty man who is unwilling to suffer any loss.
"Hey, Saionji, what are you still doing there?"
Saionji Tamane came back to her senses and saw Atobe walking towards her with his hands in his pockets. She glanced around and asked, "Are you guys done with the competition?"
"No more fighting," Atobe curled his lips, like a child who had found a toy that interested him, "Wait until the official regional competition, and then we'll fight to the death."
"Is that so?" Saiyuanji Yuyin tightened the screw on the half-drunk drink bottle and stuffed it back into the bag. "Then I should go home."
Atobe coughed lightly: "Karachi."
"Yes." Huadi responded and took the food bag from her hand.
Saionji Tamane was confused: "Huh?"
Atobe turned his head awkwardly: "Where is your home? You have so many things to carry. I'll ask the driver to drive you."
"No need, my home is nearby, just a ten-minute walk."
"Nonsense, Huadi, let's go."
"Wait, Atobe."
All the things were taken away, and Saionji Tamon had no choice but to follow, "You're not trying to bribe me to stop me from telling anyone about what happened today, are you?"
"Am I such an unglamorous person, huh?"
…
Momoshiro Takeshi, who inexplicably won because his opponent conceded, walked to the sidelines with a puzzled look on his face. He touched his head and handed his racket to Anzuki, saying, "Are those two really not boyfriend and girlfriend?"
The author has something to say:
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This chapter is the dark history of Atobe~
After some research, I found out that this famous plot should have happened on a weekend in mid-April, because Haitang was running outside in casual clothes, and the sky was not the evening after the usual training, so it should not be a school day.
Note: The three lines of dialogue between An and Atobe that the heroine first heard in this chapter are from the original novel.
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