Chapter 19 Chapter 19 A Hero Saves a Beauty
Saionji Gyoon sat in the cafe for a while, and only left with her bag after she estimated that Gojo Satoru, Natsume and the others were probably no longer around.
Of course, the way back also avoided the commercial streets where there were izakayas, and before I knew it, I was near a park.
It was evening and the sun was about to set. From time to time, one or two people wearing familiar sportswear walked out of the park. Yuyin thought about it and it seemed to be the uniform of the Hyotei Tennis Fan Club?
She looked up at the words "Tennis Park" on the plaque and suddenly realized: "So it's today, the first match of the Tennis Club's Kanto Tournament."
Although both national competitions were held in the summer, the competition times for the various sports were not unified, and there were slight differences between them. Unlike other girls who would inquire about the tennis club's schedule, Saionji Tamon had no idea that the tennis club's competition was on the same day as the kyudo club's.
Today's kyudo competition ended a long time ago. While she was catching up on her sleep, Xingzi sent her a text message asking about her. Since she always likes to be alone, she didn't mind that she didn't go back to join the group.
By walking through the park, her return journey could be shortened by one-fifth, so Yuyin naturally chose to take the shortcut.
"By now, the tennis match should be over, and Hyotei should have won..." Yuyin took it for granted. This was the confidence that all Hyotei people had.
When passing by the tennis courts, there were still staff members tidying up the venues, and the scoresheets on the sidelines had not been taken down yet. Yuyin glanced at them casually and was suddenly stunned.
She suddenly raised her head and looked at the score sheet with an expression full of disbelief.
"Two wins, three losses, and one draw, and Hyotei lost? How is that possible?!"
Losing the first game of the Kanto tournament meant they'd miss the national tournament. Given Atobe's sense of responsibility... and if she remembered correctly, the tennis club played five games, right? This result clearly meant an extra game, so something must have happened during the match.
Yuyin took a few steps with a heavy heart, and suddenly stopped.
The breath of a cursed spirit wafted through the wind.
Even someone as good-tempered as her couldn't help but curse, "It never ends..." and then she quickly ran towards the direction where the breath came from.
*
Keigo Atobe watched the match between Hiyoshi Wakaba and Echizen Ryoma with an expressionless face.
The match with Tezuka Kunimitsu exhausted all his strength. On the one hand, he admired Tezuka for being able to sacrifice so much for Seigaku, but on the other hand, he could not lose for Hyotei.
In the end, God was on his side and Tezuka's final shot did not cross the net.
But he won and Hyotei lost.
Atobe Keigo didn't know what kind of expression to put on. His tennis summer, belonging to Hyotei, was over just like that...
After the game, Atobe did not leave in the tennis club's car. He told Coach Sakaki that the housekeeper had arranged another car to pick him up. The coach nodded and agreed to let him leave the team alone and go home.
But he lied.
There was no so-called vehicle arranged by the housekeeper. He just wanted to be alone and quiet. Even Huadi, who usually stayed by his side, was ordered by him to go back and treat his arm first.
He walked aimlessly in the park with a tennis club on one shoulder. Originally, this year was his last chance. His father would arrange for him to study abroad after high school, and tennis would slowly fade out of his world.
I am not willing to accept this. I am so unwilling to accept this.
He was so lost in his own inner world that he didn't come to his senses until he sensed danger and jumped away.
“Ouch!”
A black shadow pounced on the place where he had just stood, letting out a shrill howl.
"What the hell?"
I didn't expect that there would be an aggressive beast in the tennis park in the city. But when Keigo Atobe looked closely, he was shocked. The thing that attacked him didn't look like an animal at all. Instead, it was closer to the image of Cthulhu described in the novel by American author Lovecraft.
Atobe immediately took out the racket from the bag and stuffed four tennis balls into his pocket.
It was a mistake. I put all the big items on the special car and took them back. Besides the racket, there were only four balls left in the bag.
Atobe stared at the unknown creature, holding the racket in one hand and the ball in the other.
Not knowing his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, he only has four chances to attack and must be cautious.
Almost at the same time as the unknown creature jumped, Tebe instantly threw out a ball. The small yellow ball spun and hit the opponent heavily. Tebe heard another shrill howl.
The attack worked!
Atobe secretly breathed a sigh of relief. What he was most worried about was that the other party not only looked like Cthulhu, but also had the same characteristics as Cthulhu, making it difficult for him to be physically attacked.
At this time, Atobe didn't know that the creature attacking him, called the cursed spirit, was indeed immune to physical attacks. If he hadn't used a tennis ball as a weapon, he wouldn't have been able to hurt the opponent at all.
But Atobe still felt a little regretful. If he hadn't been so exhausted from the previous match with Tezuka, his serve would have been more powerful. Now it seems that this guy has good defensive ability. If he wants to defeat him, the spin of his serve must be stronger.
"I'm not...willing...to lose..."
At this time, strange sounds came from the mouth of the unknown creature.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" But to Atobe, it sounded like a jumbled mess of garbled text. "You're not trying to disrupt me on purpose, are you?"
The curse spirit suddenly jumped up, and Tezuka, who had never let down his guard, immediately served the ball towards the route he had determined, but the curse spirit used its claws to hit the tennis ball away in mid-air and pressed straight towards Tezuka.
Tebe could only roll away from where he was standing, but before he could get ready again, the cursed spirit came straight towards him. Tebe subconsciously swung his slap, intending to confront the enemy head-on.
"Get down!"
However, a familiar shout came to his ears, and Jibe subconsciously obeyed the order, stopping his hand movements and unable to hold back. He saw a bright light passing over his body and hitting the unknown creature.
"Oh--!"
As the bright light and shrill screams ended, Atobe Keigo covered his face and sat up. The surroundings were quiet, and he no longer felt the extremely dangerous aura.
Atobe completely relaxed, then turned to the direction of the voice that had just reminded him, narrowed his eyes and said: "You..."
He saw a figure walking slowly in the backlight. As she came closer, her appearance gradually became clear under the mottled shadows of the trees - it was actually his head waiter, Saionji Tamon!
"Saionji...?"
*
Finally caught up!
Although Saionji Tamane appeared calm on the surface, she was actually very nervous inside. If she had been a step slower, Atobe Keigo might have been dead.
She also noticed that Atobe was trying to attack the cursed spirits with tennis balls or even rackets. When she was running over, a tennis ball passed by her, and that ball had spiritual power.
Only objects with spiritual power or cursed power can cause harm to cursed spirits.
Only when ordinary people truly love and focus on something can they generate spiritual power and inject it into corresponding objects. For example, the works of art made by ancient master craftsmen are generally imbued with spiritual power because of this principle.
Just like last time at night in Building A of Year 3, Atobe seemed to be glowing. It was not only the moonlight, but also the spiritual power that he inadvertently generated when he was concentrating on tennis.
Yuyin was not sure how much spiritual power Atobe had condensed, and whether it could deal with the cursed power. She did not dare to gamble, so she let Atobe lie down and hide, and it was safest to let her deal with the cursed spirit.
"Saionji...?"
In response to Atobe's uncertain question, Yuyin first bent down and pulled out the arrow stuck in the ground, but as soon as she touched the arrow shaft, the entire arrow turned into powder and ceased to exist.
It seems that the spiritual power she injected when shooting the arrow in a hurry just now was too strong, and the arrow could not bear it, she thought and sighed. The consumption of arrows has been a bit high recently, and she needs to go to restock again.
"Saionji, why are you here? What just attacked me? Your archery skills...how did you do that?"
It can be heard that compared to usual, Atobe is still a little confused, but as a person who was attacked by a cursed spirit and almost died, his strong recovery ability makes Yuyin a little amazed.
Yuyin thought for a moment and replied, "I'll answer you one by one. I was passing by here on my way home. The one who attacked you just now was a cursed spirit. Well, just treat it as one of those supernatural creatures in urban legends. As for my archery skills, they're the result of practice."
Atobe Keigo wanted to ask more, but Yuyin waved her hand, stopping him from asking, and said, "If I were you, I would choose to go home immediately. There are cursed spirits causing trouble here, and they might be detected. The people who come to deal with it might erase the memories of ordinary people affected."
"Erasing memories?"
Atobe Keigo looked extremely grim when he heard this. Although he still couldn't figure out the whole cause and effect, and even had a lot of questions about why his ordinary classmates knew these things, he still understood the obvious meaning of Saionji Tamane's words. For Atobe, erasing his memory was absolutely unacceptable, even though in a sense, today was the worst day of his life.
Yuyin realized belatedly that, yes, why did she remind Atobe? If his memory was erased, wouldn’t he forget that she had destroyed the cursed spirit?
However, if her memory is erased, the sorcerer may come to ask Atobe about what happened and expose her. It is safer not to let Atobe have any contact with the sorcerer.
"I have a piece of advice for you, Atobe-san. Call your housekeeper right now and go back home. Just pretend that today's attack never happened and forget everything."
Yuyin took out a talisman to eliminate her own spiritual energy while smoothing out the traces of the arrow stuck in the ground.
"Also, when you go out in the future, try to be with other people and don't go alone."
Although encountering a powerful cursed spirit, no matter how many ordinary people there are, it is still less likely than being attacked by an ordinary cursed spirit when alone.
"That's it, I'm leaving now, bye!"
Saionji Gyoon waved her hand and was about to leave.
"Hey, wait, I'm with you."
Atobe Keigo patted the dust off his clothes and hurried to catch up with her. Just kidding, he didn't want to stay alone in a place like this. Who knows what he would encounter next.
"But I'm going home, are you going to follow me?"
"Stop talking. I'll call the housekeeper to pick you up later. Besides, what's wrong with going back with you? Last time in Building A in Year 3, I was the one who sent someone to take you back."
Yuyin nodded and said, "Yes, yes, including the last time, that's already two times, so my saving you today is even. But you have to promise me not to tell anyone else."
Atobe muttered quietly: "...I have to tell it so that people will believe it."
"What are you talking about?" Yuyin asked, turning around.
Atobe quickly turned his head away: "Nothing!"
The two walked side by side all the way, and before they reached the Saionji family, the car sent by the Atobe family had already stopped by the roadside.
Before they parted, Yuyin called out to Atobe: "Atobe."
"What's the matter?" Atobe asked, turning around.
Yuyin warned again: "Listen to me, go back and have a good sleep tonight, pretend nothing happened today, and forget everything that happened in the forest."
She had a reason for being so cautious. Many people, after being attacked by cursed spirits, would suffer from serious psychological trauma even if they managed to survive. This was also the reason why the Spellcaster Association would erase the memories of ordinary people involved in most cursed spirit attacks, not just to keep it secret.
Atobe paused, remained silent for a moment, and suddenly said, "I understand what you mean, but I won't forget it."
The best way to eliminate fear is to face it rather than avoid it.
Besides, escaping is too unglamorous.
But he was still grateful for Xiyuanji's concern for him.
"Um...thank you for saving me today. I'll repay you later."
After saying thank you without looking back, Tobe walked to the car, opened the door and got in.
"Master Jingwu, are you okay?"
The butler sitting in the front passenger seat asked worriedly. Although he didn't know that Atobe Keigo was attacked in the forest, he saw the young master's love for tennis and his hard work in practicing. He also felt the pain of losing.
Atobe shook his head slightly: "It's okay, let's drive."
How could he forget? Not only did Hyotei lose the game today, his last obsession with tennis was shattered, but he also encountered this attack that shattered his worldview.
Thinking of something, Atobe suddenly said, "I remember you once said that you knew a few talented people who knew about Feng Shui and exorcising evil spirits."
The housekeeper was stunned for a moment before he said, "Yes, I have dealt with some people in this field before. Master Jingwu, why are you suddenly asking about this?"
"Nothing." Atobe looked outside the car. As the car moved on, it was impossible to see Saionji Tamane. "Please sort out their contact information and give it to me later."
"Yes, no problem. I'll pack it up and send it to you right after I get back."
Keigo Atobe thought to himself that it was not just about not avoiding, but taking the initiative to understand, which was his brilliant style.
*
Some time after Saionji Gyoon and Atobe left, two more people came to the woods behind the tennis park.
One of them felt the dissipating aura in the woods and said, "The aura of the cursed spirit has disappeared..."
Another person complained, "It's all because of your dawdling that you're late."
"I don't know if anyone was harmed... According to intelligence, a junior high school tennis tournament was being held in this park today, and there were quite a few students and staff present."
"We haven't received any reports of murder yet, and there's no blood at the scene. However, if the cause of death is such that no remains are left, we need to examine the traces to find out. We can't be sure at this point."
The two men were talking and exploring at the same time, and one of them suddenly slipped.
"Ouch!"
"You're too careless," another person pulled him up helplessly, "How could you fall down like this?"
"No, I think I stepped on something," the wrestler groped on the ground for a while, suddenly picked up something, and said happily, "Look, this is it!"
The other man looked at the tennis ball in his hand speechlessly and waved his hand, saying, "That must have flown out during the match. Let's go, as long as we check there are no cursed spirits nearby, the mission will be over. Maybe a passing sorcerer solved it. We made a wasted trip."
The usually dazed sorcerer was about to pocket all the tennis balls and return them to the staff when he was suddenly stunned.
"etc!"
"What's going on?" the companion said impatiently, "We still have five exorcism missions to complete today. We don't have time to waste here..."
"There's residual spiritual energy on this tennis ball!"
companion:"!!!"
The author has something to say:
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It was so funny. Afterwards, passersby sorcerers A and B went to the tennis park to investigate and were stunned to find that the entire basket of tennis balls was filled with spiritual power.
Ahem, trying to explain superpower tennis with science~
*
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