Chapter 25: Shengzai: Finally, It

His arm sank into a softness, and the scent of citrus drifted from the girl’s body.

Yet Shengzai felt no joy—only a desperate urge to pull his arm away and distance himself from the cute girl beside him.

Come on, this isn’t a school romance anime or some underground adult flick where you can freely get intimate—it’s a sports Rexue anime.

And the two standing before them, Echizen Ryoma and Momoshiro Takeshi, are unquestionably the main and secondary protagonists. To openly mock them like this? Isn’t that just asking for death?

Everyone knows: in a mainstream Rexue anime, who ever opposes the protagonist ends up with a bad fate?

And what they’re doing right now? It’s exactly like a third-rate villain—running up to the protagonist, jumping around, only to become his sidekick and experience-granting NPC.

“Hey, aren’t you a man? Standing behind a girl and letting her face us—is that really okay?”

Shengzai and Xiao Xing argued back and forth, but clearly, both Momoshiro and Ryoma chose to believe Xiao Xing.

The reason was simple: Shengzai and Xiao Xing were both wearing the same school uniform, and their behavior was clearly intimate—nothing like Shengzai’s claim that they had no connection.

Worse still, because of Shengzai’s timid behavior, Ryoma and Momoshiro now looked down on him.

They thought him a coward who hid behind a woman and refused to take responsibility.

Seeing the contempt in the Kiyomizu duo’s eyes, Shengzai sighed deeply: “Since you’ve said it this far, then let’s play.

But before that, I have to defeat the current defenders first.”

After defeating Ryoma and Momoshiro, Quan and Bu Chuan from Yulin Middle School became the defending pair.

According to street tennis court rules, even if Shengzai wanted to challenge Ryoma and the others, he had to defeat them first.

But the rules here were doubles, so Shengzai needed a partner.

As Shengzai scanned the surroundings, preparing to pick the tallest among the short ones, Xiao Xing stepped beside him holding her pink tennis racket: “If it’s doubles, chemistry matters too.

Better to have me than a stranger—I’m the ace of the Budong Peak Girls’ Tennis Club. I won’t hold you back.”

In tennis matches, men’s and women’s events are held separately; men clearly have physical advantages.

Yet Shengzai didn’t refuse Xiao Xing, who looked eagerly excited.

Because for this doubles match, he’d planned to win it all by himself anyway—whether his partner was Xiao Xing or someone else made no difference to him.

Per street tennis court rules, the challenger serves first. After drawing his racket, Shengzai tossed the tennis ball directly to Xiao Xing behind him.

“You’re serving?”

Seeing the ball tossed to her, Xiao Xing froze.

Normally, when you can choose the server, you give the serve to the stronger server.

As a girl, Xiao Xing’s serve speed and power were far inferior to Shengzai’s—yet he’d given her the serve. That’s why she looked utterly bewildered.

“I’m letting you serve so you feel involved—otherwise you’ll just be a mascot.”

Xiao Xing was annoyed by Shengzai’s condescension, but she assumed he might be hiding his true strength, so she obediently served.

Watching Xiao Xing’s ordinary serve, Bu Chuan of Yulin Middle School returned it easily. From their court positioning, he instantly realized these two were doubles novices.

Shengzai and Xiao Xing were both positioned far left on the court. If he hit a high lob to their far right corner, they’d never reach it in time.

“Xiao Xing, you should practice doubles with your boyfriend. I thought he was tough, judging by his big talk.”

Watching his partner land a perfect high lob, Quan grinned excitedly: “Point! Another pair of doubles rookies—this is too easy.

What do they even think doubles is? Do they think we’re just easy opponents?”

The tennis ball arced high and landed deep in Shengzai’s court. Watching it descend, Ryoma and Momoshiro, standing nearby, both shook their heads.

At this distance, even they couldn’t reach it—so surely that guy named Shengzai…

“Wait—when did he get over there?!”

In the instant before the ball touched the ground, Shengzai appeared out of nowhere at the opposite corner. With a lightning-fast swing, a yellow streak shot into their court.

“Fifteen-love!”

“You’re right—that point was scored, but it was ours, not yours.”

As Shengzai spoke, everyone present snapped out of their shock.

Especially Ryoma and Momoshiro, who were stunned. Momoshiro stared at Ryoma in disbelief: “Did you see his movement? Is that even human?

His swing speed and return velocity were insane—even I couldn’t have reacted to that shot.”

Ryoma didn’t answer. He stared intently at Shengzai.

With his superior dynamic vision, he’d clearly seen Shengzai’s movement. But the way Shengzai moved didn’t feel like tennis—it felt like another sport entirely.

“Thirty-love.”

After Xiao Xing’s second ordinary serve, Quan and Bu Chuan returned it—only for Shengzai to smash a lightning-fast return and score again.

Just like before, Quan and Bu Chuan had hit the ball to the farthest point from Shengzai—yet he reached it in an instant.

And returned it at a speed they couldn’t even track.

They didn’t miss the shot because they didn’t try—they simply couldn’t see it!

They’d barely seen Shengzai swing, and the ball was already on their side. How were they supposed to return that?

Now they finally understood why Shengzai had made Xiao Xing serve—and why he’d said that.

If Shengzai had served, they wouldn’t have even touched the ball.

In a true doubles match, Xiao Xing wouldn’t have gotten a single chance to hit it.

At least now, she could enjoy serving!

(End of Chapter)