Chapter 57: King
"Kazama is really nice to his members." Yukimura said in a teasing tone with a light gray coat draped over his shoulders.
"Yukimura," Kazama was surprised, "Why are you here?"
"I'm a little sleepy," Yukimura straightened up, tilted his head and smiled at her, "Want to go for a walk?"
The Shirako Town Tennis Base was located in the suburbs, surrounded by dense trees. The sound of cicadas spread before the night. Only the lighthouse not far away was shining faintly on the dim runway, lengthening the shadows of the two people.
"How's your arm?" Yukimura glanced at her bandaged left hand. "I heard it's serious."
"Don't listen to their nonsense," Fengjian waved his hand, "It's just a few stitches, it will be healed soon."
Yukimura chuckled and shrugged, "That's quite Kazama's style."
"What is 'my style'?"
"Kazama's style is..." Yukimura deliberately kept her in suspense. Seeing her pretend frown, showing dissatisfaction, he smiled and said, "You like to save your best side for others. This is your style."
"Tsk, I thought you were going to say something," Fengjian snorted, "You are still the same, smiling at everyone, but in fact you have already decided where to bury the person."
"Well," Yukimura said, the smile on his face almost gone, "Kazama, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to say that? How can you say that to a good friend? After all, we are childhood friends who have been playing together since we were young."
"That's why I know this because we've been playing together since we were little~" Kazama stared at him with disdain, "According to Chiba, Yukimura, you're just a white-knife black."
Yukimura's voice was helpless, "I always feel like you've dragged the topic to the ends of the earth."
"What does it matter?"
Kazama swung his legs and took a few quick steps forward, then suddenly exclaimed, "Hey—there's a cicada here, Yukimura, come here quickly!"
Yukimura sighed, leaned over to take a look, and then in the dim light he could see that she was holding a dried cicada in her palm.
"It looks like summer is almost over," she said with regret.
"Yeah, this summer is really short," Yukimura agreed softly, "It's like an unreal dream."
"Yes," Fengjian responded vaguely, and his other hand had already skillfully stuffed the cicada shell into his pocket.
Yukimura, who had witnessed all her actions, slowly asked a question above his head, "Are you going to take the cicada shell away?"
"Yes," Fengjian nodded. "Sister Ling said that dried cicadas are very good Chinese medicinal materials."
"Oh, right, Yukimura," her eyes suddenly lit up, "Help me find other cicada shells."
“???”
Yukimura's smile froze, and he felt that the idea of taking her for a walk was ridiculous. He held his forehead with a resigned expression and quickly followed Kazama's figure.
Unexpectedly, Yukimura, who had to undergo high-intensity training during the day and was dragged to climb trees to look for cicadas at night, collapsed on the lawn. The driver even had to free up one hand to hold a flashlight for her.
Next time I encounter this kind of thing, I must call Upper Ichiro.
——is the only thought in Yukimura's mind at this moment.
"64, 65... 66 exactly, what an auspicious number," Kazama smiled until his eyes almost narrowed into slits, while poking Yukimura's arm with his right hand, "Well, Yukimura, take off your coat."
Yukimura raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Feng Jian pointed to the small pile in front of him and said, "It's for cicadas. My pocket is too small."
"...Kazama, are you a devil?" Yukimura sat up with a jerk, his forehead twitching, and his usually calm voice rose several degrees, "My coat is so..."
"Why not your coat... Hey, I can wash it for you for free, but I have to wait until my hand is healed."
Feng Jian didn't have time to wait for him to finish speaking, and took off his coat with swift hands and feet.
"Wait..." Yukimura looked at the other person with a dull expression as he spread his coat on the ground and placed the cicada shells mixed with mud on top of it, petrifying him instantly.
"Alright," Kazama moved his shoulder with his good hand and smiled brightly at Yukimura, "Thank you so much for tonight, Yukimura."
"Oh, by the way," she added, "I was so busy with my own things that I forgot you asked me to come out for a walk tonight. Is there something you want to tell me?"
Yukimura fell to the ground with a look of despair on his face and sighed deeply, "I've almost forgotten about it."
This guy always has a way of diverting the topic to the alien universe, but...
He turned his head and looked at her expectant face, with a slight curve at the corner of his lips, but this could also be considered her advantage.
"There are so many stars tonight," Fengjian looked up at the sky. "I heard from Yuan that there will be a meteor shower in a few days."
“That’s really something to look forward to.”
A faint sense of emotion came from beside me, and the chirping of cicadas came from all directions, swept away by the wind and blown to a farther place.
"Kazama, I'm leaving here tomorrow."
When the voice came, Feng Jian, who was still thinking about whether to drag Chiba to watch the meteor shower together, subconsciously thought he had heard it wrong, "Isn't there still four days left for the training camp?"
"I need to go for a follow-up examination," Yukimura sat up. "I had a checkup before coming to the training camp, and the doctor said..." He paused and turned away from her, "I need to go for another checkup."
"What's the meaning"
Yukimura smiled at her, "Maybe it's a good result. We need to confirm it again."
“If it’s a good result, why do we need to confirm it?”
Feng Jian's heart suddenly tightened. He turned too quickly and pulled the stitches on his hand. The pain was like an electric current. "Did something happen..."
"Well, Kazama, can't you just think of me a little?" Yukimura said half-jokingly.
Feng Jian looked at him directly, his voice trembling imperceptibly, "Yukimura, you know this is not a joke..."
"I know."
The smile on Yukimura's face was like the setting sun slowly sinking into the horizon, casting fine shadows on his handsome face. His iris-purple hair fell on both sides of his cheeks, obscuring his expression. His voice was duller than the air, like sour lemon juice bursting, "...The checkup a few days ago, the results were not ideal."
Feng Jian's breathing became tense, and he heard his own hoarse voice, "If the situation is not ideal, there will be..."
"There's a possibility of a relapse." Yukimura smiled faintly and continued what she was about to say.
Her heart felt like it was being torn apart, and the pain was even worse than when she had stitches herself.
"Well, don't worry, it's just a possibility," Yukimura said soothingly, "but I don't think I'm such an unlucky person."
"...That's right. After all," Feng Jian clenched his right hand, but smiled at him with a casual expression, "Beautiful people don't have bad luck."
Yukimura curled his lips and responded softly.
The wind on the court seemed to have been paused, and the hot air was so stuffy that it made people feel uneasy. Yukimura's voice came again after a long interval, "Kazama, it's your time now."
Kazama turned around, and Yukimura smiled faintly. "The era of our third years is over, including Rikkai University's six consecutive championships, and..." He was a little slow, looking away, and a hint of sarcasm slipped into his tone, "Son of God."
The wind rustled in the playground, and sighs were blown away by the wind, drifting into the night.
Feng Jian stared at his quiet profile and suddenly said, "Xingcun, I want to ask you for something."
"What"
"Can you give me one of your sweatbands?"
Yukimura was stunned, "Of course you can, but in the dormitory."
"No need to go through so much trouble, just this." Fengjian pointed to the light green sweatband on his head.
"This," Yukimura took it off and handed it to her, "Although it was just replaced, it's only appropriate to give you a new one. And what do you want this for?"
Feng Jian just clenched his sweatband tightly, looked up at him, and said in a firm tone:
"Because this is the glory of a king."
Yukimura's eyes were still filled with astonishment as she continued, "The era of the third graders will never end, because their dedication to victory will be remembered by everyone."
"The glory of kings is immortal, including the Son of God."
The evening breeze blew across her face, rustling the trees on the side of the field. Her voice was picked up by the wind and blew straight into her heart.
Yukimura looked at her without saying a word, then he held his forehead with his hands, lowered his brows, and laughed muffledly, "Kazama, you, as expected..."
The remaining half of the sentence was like an unfinished period at the end of an article. Before Feng Jian could ask anything, the boy had already stood up and stretched out his hand to her, "Let's go, it's getting late, and the patient should also get some rest."
"I'm not a patient."
Feng Jian pursed his lips, used the force to stand up, and when he brushed off the grass debris on his trouser legs, he suddenly had an idea, "Well, Yukimura, since I'm a patient, can you not wash your coat?"
"No," Yukimura replied expressionlessly, "If you don't wash it clean and return it to me, you're done for."
Feng Jian curled his lips, "Stingy guy."
Yukimura pretended not to hear. When he was near the dormitory building, he suddenly stopped and pretended to think: "By the way, Tezuka was very worried about you the day you were injured."
"President Tezuka takes good care of every member." Kazama didn't take it to heart.
"Really?" Yukimura smiled. "But that was the first time I saw Tezuka so anxious. He didn't even have time to put down his racket before rushing all the way to the hospital. Is this normal concern for the members?"
"Isn't it?" Fengjian asked back.
"No." Yukimura narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a few seconds, but did not continue speaking. He walked past her to the dormitory door, and a sigh came from afar.
"Some relationships, while it's best to let nature take its course, are really slow suicide for a wooden man like you."
"Yukimura—" Kazama gritted his teeth, "Who are you calling a piece of wood?"
The third floor of the dormitory building.
A tall figure stood by the windowsill, Tezuka half-crossed his chest, his eyes fixed on the figure running on the first floor. The moonlight shone through the pure white curtains onto his body, and the tips of his chestnut hair glowed with a faint white light.
"Tezuka, what are you looking at?" Fuji was wiping his dripping hair. Seeing that he was looking out the window, he was about to walk over to see, but the other party had already pulled the curtains.
"nothing."
Tezuka stepped past him and went into the bathroom.
Bu Er glanced at his departing figure, then looked out the window. There was no one on the cement ground in front of the building. Just as he was about to lower the curtains, a black shadow flashed and disappeared at the door on the first floor.
He was stunned for a few seconds, but curled his lips slightly.
"I see."
——
The next morning, Momoshiro and Kaidou, who were waiting at the first-floor door before the sun rose, stared at the yen handed to them by Kazama and fell silent.
"Well, Kazama, what does this mean?"
"What I need your help with today is to go to the supermarket with me to buy groceries. But I'll leave it to you to decide what to buy and tonight's dinner."
"No way," the two of them widened their eyes and leaned close to her head, "Kazama, are you sure? Let's cook..."
"Hey, didn't you say you would help me? Why don't you go back on your word?"
Taocheng and the other man looked at each other and turned away at the same time, "Well... I will never regret it, but..."
"Then hurry up and go, two boys," Fengjian poked them on the back and pushed them out, "Vegetables are fresh in the morning."
"You must be kidding—"
The three of them left the training camp in the morning light, with only the young men's shouts lingering in the air for a long time.
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