must love tennis

"The game is over! Qingxue won 6-4 and advanced to the semi-finals of the Metropolitan Conference!"

When the whistle blew, the girls on the sidelines cheered, and Pengxiang rushed over immediately and hugged her friend.

"It's great, Sakura! You are indeed the person who is favored by senior sister! Let me just say, you can do it, right?"

Just after a fierce match, the girl's face was flushed, and she felt even more embarrassed when she heard the applause and praise around her. Her overheated brain was dizzy, as if she had suffered from heat stroke.She breathed a sigh of relief and blinked vigorously to clear her mind a little.

When he opened his eyes again, the cold plastic bottle was suddenly pressed against his cheek.Pengxiang had expected it, she smiled at her while shaking the soda in her hand, wrapped the prepared towel around her friend's head, pressed it and rubbed it vigorously.

"Let's go and take a rest." Pengxiang was much more excited than her client, talking non-stop while walking, "We've been calling for almost 10 minutes, I almost thought... oh, I mean, it's all Is it similar to the men's tennis match?"

When mentioning the men's tennis club, Sakura's footsteps suddenly slowed down, and her thoughts flew away.

Today is the first day for the Men's Tennis Club to participate in the Kanto Tournament, and it will be a showdown with last year's champion Hyotei.According to the usual time, it should be over before they play the quarterfinals, right?But until Ying Nao came on stage by herself, she still hadn't received any good news from her grandma.

Against a strong enemy like Bingdi, although he had already guessed that it would be extremely fierce, but from this point of view, Qingxue encountered much greater difficulties than he imagined.I don't know what's going on now...

"Of course - I won!" Pengxiang handed over her mobile phone in the rest area, and said happily, "Mr. Longma is also on the field, as the last secret trump card! I have already asked Mizuno to record, and I can send it later coming!"

When Ying Nai heard this, she had a thought and pulled off the towel, but her movements were still very slow.

Did you win?

When she first learned that Ryoma was assigned as a substitute, she and Pengxiang were both a little disappointed and felt sorry for each other.However, at this time, the result didn't seem so surprising. Was it because she thought it was too natural for the boy to win the competition?

Even, they don't really care about the specific scores of the game, the length of the game, who the most important opponent is, how powerful they are... they don't know anything.

Sakura shook her head slowly, and looked up at Tomika.

"Ryoma is also playing, so that means... Minister Tezuka lost the game?"

Peng Xiang, who was still holding the mobile phone to share the double happy news with other female team members, staggered suddenly, and slowly lowered her raised arms.She turned her head, her eyes widened: "Yes...how could it be?!"

Looking at each other, they both saw each other's shock and disbelief.

It should have been more natural than Ryoma's taking the game for granted, so it became unbelievable.

"Minister Tezuka actually lost?" Tomoka's excited expression slowly faded from his face, and he bent down and sat down on the seat next to Sakurano, patted his chest, and then frowned, thinking, "The opponent is the minister of Hyotei, right?" .I remember, called Keigo Atobe?"

"right……"

"After all, he is a national-level opponent, and Minister Tezuka has suffered such a serious injury. There is nothing we can do about it." Tomoka sighed, trying to suppress the swollen emotions in his chest.

"Um……"

Sakura was stunned for a while, and was snapped by Tomaka after a few seconds.

"Okay, cheer up, today is the day we won the game!" She clenched her fist and swung it vigorously into the air, "You should be happy."

That's right, but——

Sakurano lowered her head, put the tennis racket across her knees, looked at the sweat-stained grip tape, and suddenly gripped the racket tightly.

"I was encouraged by others to participate in the competition," she said, raising her head again, meeting Pengxiang's eyes, and said slowly, "I thought I was not good enough, but Ryoma said... how would you know if you don't try?" ?”

Therefore, she accepted the advice of her predecessors and became a member of the main election.

Pengxiang looked at her quietly, took a deep breath, couldn't help but put his hand on the back of her hand, and squeezed it comfortingly.

"I think it is very important for me to have a goal to work hard for." Sakura continued thoughtfully, "Of course, I also know that they are not me who are beginners, so there is a big difference, but I think, The reason should be the same. The team needs a core, a pillar to carry heavy responsibilities, and everyone will move forward without hesitation under his leadership... If such an existence is lost..."

She paused, swallowed, and for a moment didn't know how to describe her inner thoughts.

But Pengxiang seemed to understand something, and took over the words: "But I think everyone in the tennis club is not so fragile!"

That's right, Sakura was a little relieved, thinking of the radiant, youthful and confident faces, she smiled, thinking that she might be a little too emotional.

"The support of the tennis team will definitely be there." Tomoka said again, as if trying to convince a friend, confidently said, "After all, that is Echizen Ryoma!"

Winning the first match is obviously something worth celebrating, but the tennis club seems to be covered by a cloud, and everyone's mood is a little low.

In order to relieve this unspeakable invisible pressure, Dashi suggested to the coach to play bowling to relax.

On Sunday, at nine o'clock as agreed, it was rare for a coach to participate in their activities. Everyone arrived on time and stood by the flower bed outside the bowling alley. Their handsome and tall appearance attracted frequent attention from the passing girls.

"Cough," the vice-minister looked around with sharp eyes, and said slowly, "Where is Echiqian?"

Everyone looked around one after another, then shook their heads tacitly.

"Ah, that..." Only Taocheng swallowed nervously, and raised his hand weakly while speaking in a low voice.

Seeing his stammering appearance, he pushed his glasses dryly, and keenly sensed that something was wrong.

"You seem to be hiding something from us?"

"Oh~ Is that so?" Kikumaru hooked Taocheng's shoulders, and brought his face closer, expressively, with a cadence, "I'm very guilty, A Tao, is there any little secret?"

"Y-not really." Taocheng scratched his head, wiping off a cold sweat, "But, how should I put it..."

With a slumped face in distress, he finally became cruel and said loudly——

"Echizen said he has a date, so he won't come!"

Hey!

Everyone was shocked.

Even Haitang, who had been sitting coldly by the side, was shocked, as if bitten by a reptile in the flower bed behind him, he straightened his back suddenly, almost jumped three feet high, but he controlled it in time before getting up She stretched her body, but her shoulders were still twitching slightly involuntarily.

"Well, it's like this." Taocheng was stared at by their terrifying eyes, feeling more guilty, rubbed his hands, and said awkwardly, "It seems to be the Atobe of that Ice Emperor..."

puff--

Coach Ryuzaki spit out a mouthful of water, almost choking to death.The other young people became more emotional, and shouted directly: "Trace—Trace Department?!"

"..."

There was an eerie silence all around.

A few seconds later, Gan returned to his senses in a trance, numbly took out a pen, opened the notebook and wrote down: "I didn't expect that our opponent still has a guy—"

Everyone stopped in unison with one voice.

"This kind of thing doesn't need to be recorded?!"

"..."

Gan hurriedly pushed his glasses, trying to hide his shocking behavior, and coughed dryly: "That's right, this kind of privacy may not respect others too much."

Oishi's body shook, feeling some signs of heat stroke. When he came back to his senses, he licked his dry lips and said tremblingly, "Why Atobe?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked at Tezuka in a panic, his eyes were full of worry, and his mind was even more confused: Tezuka had just lost to Atobe, and he must have felt very uncomfortable. At this moment, he suddenly learned that his junior came out of the closet!The target is to defeat your opponent, it will definitely be more uncomfortable!Ahhh, what should I do...

Tezuka glanced at Oishi inexplicably, not understanding why his eyes were so full of emotion.However, he didn't think much, and soon turned to Taocheng.

"What's going on?" He frowned slightly, feeling that this matter was a bit strange.

Ryoma and... Atobe?

Why does it sound so weird?Unless Atobe he...

Perhaps it was the minister's calm voice that made Taocheng calm down a little. He collected himself and said with difficulty: "I wanted to pick up Echizen this morning, but when I called him, I didn't expect him to be up, and then Say sorry to me, I can't come because of something at the moment."

"Oh?" Bu Er also raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, "Isn't that like his style?"

"That's right." Kikumaru touched his chin and agreed with approval.

The bowling appointment was made by Oishi after he got home the day before. Although he sent the message a little late, it was not time for bed, so Ryoma should see it too.If the appointment had been made long ago, it would naturally be explained to Dashi in advance...

Unless that date is important, or yes, the person you are dating is important.

However, as far as I know, according to her insensitivity to feelings, she would not push down the scheduled tennis club activities for someone, right?

Oh, by the way, that person seems to be Atobe.

This is even more unreasonable.

"Yeah, I thought so too, and I was surprised to ask why at the time." Taocheng said with a sad face, "Then Echizen said that the 'Bastard Minister' of the Ice Emperor insisted on betting with him before, and he lost, so I just able……"

The faces of several people changed slightly.

"What bet?" Qian put down his notebook with a solemn expression.

Taocheng dodged his eyes, avoiding everyone's gaze, and lowered his head to look at the toe of the shoe.

"That's right, yesterday's game..."

？ ！！

Kikumaru reacted quickly, pressed Kaitang's trembling shoulders, and said calmly: "But didn't we win the Ice Emperor yesterday?"

Without waiting for Taocheng to answer—of course, I don’t know if he can answer this question—Fuer has already guessed the truth: "However, Atobe won that match."

"..."

It was like a cold wind passing by.

Dashi shivered for no reason, couldn't help but lifted his collar up, and looked up at the still dazzling sun above his head.Although it is midsummer, it feels the cold of winter.

wrong!

He suddenly came back to his senses, his face turned pale: Isn't this more exciting to Tezuka? !

Dashi turned his head anxiously, and the other candidates were also silent, but they all watched quietly from the corner of their eyes.

Tezuka: "..."

Under the attention of everyone, this iceberg-like leader was also silent.After a long time, he raised his hand and straightened his cuffs.

Today is a rest day, and everyone is wearing casual clothes. Because of the hot weather, they all wear the coolest and thinnest T-shirts. Tezuka, who has always paid attention to rules, still wears a white shirt similar to the school uniform. In the sunlight like a focused lamp, he looked thin.

Looking at the tearful eyes of the team members, those who didn't know might think that this minister was terminally ill and would die in a blink of an eye.

Tezuka sighed softly.

"Let's go." He finally spoke.

Kawamura blankly turned his neck, which was as stiff as a machine without lubricating oil: "Where are you going?"

Tezuka gave them a meaningful look.

"Aren't you curious?"