Chapter 30 Victory
By the time Feng Jian arrived at the venue on crutches, the third singles match was nearing its end. Gan fell heavily to the ground, his glasses flying far away. The ball brushed the net but still passed. The referee's voice echoed on the scorching ground:
“0:40.”
The sun was blazing, and the scoreboard reading "2:5" in the stands was like a red-hot iron, burning her eyes.
The cheers of "the last ball" from the opposite field almost overturned the stadium. The Qingxue field was as quiet as a grave. Kazama glanced at several sky-blue figures by the fence. Gen's eyes were as red as cotton soaked in water; Momoshiro and Kaidou's shoulders were stretched straight; even the usually noisy Kikumaru pursed his lips and held the railing tightly with his hands.
She was leaning on a cane and about to go down the stairs when a spectator next to her suddenly stood up and accidentally bumped her left hand with his elbow. The cane tilted and she was about to fall face first to the ground...
The moment her back was suspended in the air, a hand grasped her arm, the strength so firm that she couldn't struggle. A familiar bass voice mixed with the faint scent of rose essential oil drifted over, "What are you doing?"
Feng Jian turned his head suddenly, and his sight met those gray-purple eyes. The dazzling purple hair showed a light golden color under the sunlight. Atobe frowned and glanced at her feet that were wrapped like dumplings. "Are you planning to rush over like this?"
She pursed her lips, drooped her head, and said in a muffled voice, "That's better than doing nothing."
"You're only causing more trouble when you look so disheveled," Atobe looked away and snapped his fingers crisply, "kabaji."
There was an extra chair under the parasol. He sat down at the other end and said in an unquestionable tone, "Just sit here and watch. You are not allowed to leave my sight until the game is over."
Kazama sat down obediently, pretending not to notice when the Hyotei people's gazes swept over her. Oshitari's gaze paused on her ankle, and he leaned over and then jumped away: "You're wrapped like a mummy, so ugly."
"Gakuto, it's not nice to say that to a girl." When Inuzaka's voice came over, Kazama was already staring at the court. She was concentrating on the game. The trend of the last ball was suddenly reversed, and the score on the court changed to "3:5".
"Collecting data by giving away three points is a gutsy move for Seigaku's data analysts."
"But the match on the field is still very dangerous. If we lose this round, Seigaku will lose the Kanto Tournament championship with a score of 3:0."
"Senior Gan won't lose," Fengjian continued to watch the boy on the court who kept falling and getting up. The cheers from the opposite court seemed to evaporate in the summer heat and blend into the air. Her tone was as firm as the crisp sound of the racket hitting the tennis ball when returning the ball, "Seigaku won't lose either."
That was the agreement between everyone and President Tezuka.
They agreed.
To win.
As the referee announced "7:6, Seigaku wins", the audience seats of Seigaku erupted in unprecedented cheers. The boys hugged each other, Kikumaru hung on Oishi, laughing with tears in his eyes, Momoshiro and Kaidou high-fived each other, but their ears turned red, and Gen had already rushed in, hurriedly stuffed the towel into the other's arms, but accidentally tripped himself.
Next up are Shusuke Fuji and Akaya Kirihara, the second singles players.
"I will completely defeat you, the so-called genius of Seigaku, Fuji Shusuke." Kirihara raised his chin, put the racket on his shoulder, and his tone was still as arrogant as ever.
Fengjian reached out to take the notebook, but only felt an empty pocket. Then he realized that he had left the notebook in the car. When he was distressed, a brand new notebook was handed to him.
His wide sleeves concealed his pale, powerful wrists. His gaze shot straight up to the profile of the woman staring intently at the arena. The teardrop mole on her right cheek was like obsidian gleaming with a cold light. Without even raising his eyelids, he glanced at her nonchalantly. "I'm just worried that someone might miss out on such important data while Tezuka's away."
Kazama was no longer surprised by Atobe's stubbornness and thanked him sincerely.
However, the game on the field exceeded everyone's expectations.
"Senior Fuji!" Yuan's exclamation pierced the scorching air, startling the white pigeons perched on the telephone pole.
Fengjian stood up suddenly, but fell back into his seat with a grimace because of the pain in his feet. Tezuka glanced at him and sneered.
Fuji, whose right eye was hit by Kirihara's violent ball, became temporarily blind. He could only rely on the sound to barely identify the direction of the ball and dodge it, but the sharp wind still grazed the corner of his eye. With a "clang" sound, the ball shot into the audience seats behind, scaring the crowd to shrink to the side.
"Don't you trust your teammates?" When Atobe's bass voice sounded, Fengjian noticed that the pen in her hand was almost broken by herself, and the red mark on the palm of her palm was almost condensed into blood clots. She lowered her head and looked at the blank notebook.
"They're not just teammates, they're friends. Seeing their friends beaten like that…" She paused, clenching her pen as she stared at the ball that had fallen on the court. "Even if they win in the end, they'll still be sad."
Atobe stared at her for a few seconds, then looked away, "Then make your friend stronger, strong enough that no one can hurt him."
The wind on the court was still strong, blowing through the boy's wet hair. The tennis ball hit the wall and bounced back, making a crisp sound.
The boy still maintained the action of swinging the racket high, and the only eye exposed was a clear indigo blue, like the surface of a lake after the snow melted in early spring, with flowing tenacity hidden under the ice.
"6:4, Aigaku Fuji Shusuke wins."
"Well done, Senior Fuji!"
"Fuji, good job, meow~!"
"Buji, thank you for your hard work!"
The teenagers on the sidelines shouted loudly to the teenagers on the field. Everyone's face was filled with bright smiles, and the smiles were even warmer than the sun above the field.
Fuji put his racket behind his back and looked at everyone with the same gentle expression. His bluish-white team uniform was covered in dust, but his smile was as clear and clean as the clear sky after a spring rain.
He caught a glimpse of a familiar figure at the highest point of the audience. When Fuji looked up, he saw Fengjian raising his hands to his face, trying to hide his red eyes, but he was caught red-handed.
Fuji tilted his head and smiled, and the other students of Qingxue looked up and saw the girl sitting next to Atobe with her sleeve raised to cover half of her face.
"The probability of it being Kazama is 100%." Gan flipped through his notebook calmly.
"Hey, why is Kazama's foot injured?"
"Hey, Kazama-senpai actually came to watch the game without telling us."
"Kazama, I'm sorry--" It was not until this moment that he suddenly remembered Momoshiro who had abandoned the person on the road.
"April--"
If the game wasn't still going on, Fengjian had no doubt that Yuan would rush over and hug her.
With the referee's final voice, the Kanto Tournament finally came to an end.
"3:2, Seishun Gakuen wins."
Kazama originally wanted to sneak away while the Seigaku people were celebrating the fruits of their championship, but before he could take a few steps, he tripped over his unstable legs and fell straight to the ground.
"She's really not a gorgeous woman." Atobe's complaint came clearly through the air. The hand he stretched out was a little slow, paused in the air for a few seconds, and then was retracted calmly.
Fengjian had just stood up with her hands covering her forehead when a figure rushed out from the crowd and hugged her for the last time. Yuan's voice with a hint of tears pierced her ears.
"In April, we won."
Yuan nuzzled her neck and buried his head deep in her hair.
Feng Jian's hand hovered in the air for a few seconds, and then he gently patted her shoulder a few times. The cicadas in the distance were chirping loudly, but her voice was very soft, as if she was afraid of disturbing anything:
"Well, we won."
We did not break our promise.
——
When Fengjian rushed to the hospital, he was told that the operation in Ward 306 had already ended and the result was successful.
But when she arrived at the ward, she only saw the boys standing outside. Kirihara sat in the corner, his heels scraping against the gravel of the corridor; Sanada had his hands hanging at his sides, the brim of his hat casting a fine shadow on his face...
Everyone lowered their heads, like a silent film repeating over and over again in a movie. The cries coming from the room seemed like the last sorrow of the spring cherry blossoms before the arrival of summer, or like the last despair of the summer cicadas before the end of their lives.
The sharp smell of disinfectant in the corridor rushed straight to her nose. She pressed herself against the cold wall, slowly clenching the sunny doll in her hand, but ultimately did not let it go.
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