The lunch break special tennis training, led by the Sobu High Service Club, has been in full swing for nearly two weeks now.
Excluding the two days when training had to be suspended due to weather, the rest of the time was basically spent on tennis training with guaranteed quality and quantity.
The main goal of this activity has been basically achieved.
Totsuka Saika's tennis skills, under the professional but not-so-humane guidance of Director Yukinoshita, have taken a quantum leap.
In a short period, he went from an upper-middle level player in the tennis club to a mainstay second only to the captain.
With the third-years about to retire, the position of tennis club captain will most likely fall to Totsuka Saika.
In fact, Totsuka Saika is extremely popular in the tennis club.
Even without his improved tennis skills, the members would have been very willing to support him as the captain.
In the words of the club members, there cannot be two suns in the sky; that old captain should have given up his position to our Saika long ago.
Club members: O/O/O/O/O/
Originally, Totsuka Saika was thinking of ending the request.
After all, he had been troubling the Service Club for two weeks, and he felt it was a bit much to continue troubling them.
"You mean this..." After hearing Totsuka Saika's words, Hikigaya's gaze fell on Mori Shinra and Yukinoshita, who were sweating on the tennis court. "Some things, once opened, can't be stopped just because you want them to."
"What Pandora's box are you talking about?" Yuigahama couldn't help but retort after hearing Hikigaya's description.
"So what exactly happened on the day I wasn't here?" Kawasaki Saki asked with a confused look. Last Tuesday at noon, she was called to the office by Hiratsuka-sensei to discuss a scholarship issue. A big star from the neighboring Minegahara High School had sponsored a scholarship for their alma mater, and even the surrounding high schools could get a piece of the pie.
As long as one met the conditions, they could receive a scholarship of 10,000 yen, and depending on the student's family situation, they could also apply for an interest-free student loan.
However, although it was said that all the surrounding high schools could benefit, due to the rather high conditions set for the scholarship, most of the students who could actually qualify were concentrated in the two key high schools, Minegahara and Sobu.
Those private high schools were not included in the scholarship's scope, and besides, the students from private high schools really didn't care for such a small amount of money.
Furthermore, Kawasaki Saki discovered that her current situation happened to perfectly meet the scholarship's conditions.
If even one of the conditions were slightly off, she wouldn't have been selected for this scholarship.
This situation gave Kawasaki Saki a strange feeling of being the chosen one.
"Well, those two just made another bet," Hikigaya replied. "It's been almost a week, haven't you noticed?"
"I thought they just really liked playing tennis." Although Kawasaki Saki had been present these past few days, she basically just came to eat her lunch and then sit in the shade to cool off, not participating in the training at all.
It had to be said that the tennis court was a great spot.
It was quiet with few people at noon, and there was shade to cool off in.
It was much better than eating in the classroom.
As a result, the members of the Service Club now unanimously chose this place for their meals.
Yuigahama occasionally had to accompany Miura and the others, so she was here about half the time.
Sigh, balancing relationships.
"Speaking of which, Mori-kun's progress is so fast. He only started playing tennis two weeks ago, and now he can already rally with Hikigaya-kun," Totsuka said with some amazement.
Hearing this, Hikigaya's face darkened.
He had originally thought that even if Mori Shinra's learning ability was off the charts, sports weren't just about how smart you are; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many 'bookworms'.
It was more about physical coordination, also known as athletic talent.
But who would have thought that when heaven opened a door for Mori Shinra, it also opened a window for him as well.
His athletic talent was also inhumanly strong.
In such a short time, he could already rally with him.
In a few more days, would the table tennis tragedy from P.E. class be re-enacted during lunch break?
Thinking of this, Hikigaya vaguely heard Mori Shinra's voice in his ear.
"Your backhand is weak, your forehand is clumsy, your footwork is sloppy, and your reactions are slow! And you still want to be my partner in P.E. class? Dream on!"
Guh, I don't want that to happen!
Noticing Hikigaya's gloomy and uncertain expression, Totsuka Saika asked with concern, "Hachiman, what's wrong? You look a little pale. Are you not feeling well?"
"No, I just feel that things can't go on like this."
"Huh?"
"I've decided. Starting today, I'm quitting tennis."
As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, you can still run, right?
Running away is shameful, but it's useful.
Besides, this wasn't running away, just a strategic retreat.
Yes, a strategic retreat!
Knowing the other person is a rock, should he, an egg, really insist on crashing into him?
"Is... is it my fault?" Totsuka looked at Hikigaya, his appearance as endearing as could be.
Could Hikigaya resist?
Not in the slightest.
"Of course not, it's my fault," Hikigaya immediately declared, then asked, "Can you be in my group for P.E. class from now on?"
"I can, but aren't you in a group with Mori-kun, Hachiman?" Totsuka asked, puzzled.
Hikigaya's expression was complicated, his tone filled with an indescribable gravity, "Between him and me... there is already a tragically thick barrier."
"?"
Totsuka didn't understand, but Totsuka was greatly shocked.
"Smack!"
With a powerful smash, Yukinoshita Yukino won again.
But her rapid breathing and the heaving of her chest all proved that her victory was not as easy as before.
Sweat had matted her hair to her cheeks, and her cheeks were flushed from the intense exercise.
"Water."
Perhaps because he had lost so many times, Mori Shinra, the loser, was acting completely unfazed at this moment, handing water to the winner, Yukinoshita Yukino.
Yukinoshita hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand to take the water Mori Shinra offered.
"Towel."
Seeing Yukinoshita take a sip of water and more or less recover, Mori Shinra handed over a clean towel as if by magic.
"Thanks."
Yukinoshita thought that since she had already drunk the water he gave her, it shouldn't be a big deal to take his towel to wipe her sweat, right?
Covering her face with the pure white towel, then wiping the sweat from her neck, Yukinoshita finally felt like she had come back to life.
She looked at Mori Shinra, who was acting as if nothing had happened and hadn't even broken a sweat, and sighed silently in her heart.
She had been able to beat Mori Shinra before entirely due to the gap in their technique.
Now, with the rapid improvement of his technique, she had to spend more and more stamina to compete.
But she knew very well how big the gap in their stamina was.
If things continued to develop like this, forget lasting until the end of the semester in July; she would probably lose the bet in another two weeks.
She had to find a way to put stamina training on the agenda.