Chapter 15: The Regretful Sanada, the Envious Crowd

It was rare for Takahashi to appear at the Tennis Club, drawing not only his classmates, Yamamoto Taro and Kimura Kojiro, but others as well.

Everyone else also cast their gazes surreptitiously toward him.

Only, there was a different flavor to those gazes.

"Have you heard? That's the one who was specially approved by Vice Captain Sanada to train on his own."

"Is that him? He's quite handsome, I wonder how his strength is."

"I heard he shut out Kirihara Akaya on his first day at the Tennis Club."

"Is his strength really that powerful?"

"It's said he's only been practicing tennis for a month and has his own unique secret techniques, which is why Vice Captain Sanada treats him specially."

"Is he that much of a genius?"

"Am I the only one who envies his treatment?"

"He can decide for himself whether to come to training or not. This treatment is even more impressive than Kirihara's!"

"I'm jealous too, so envious; I also want to receive special treatment from the Vice Captain."

"Then you first need to demonstrate your own powerful strength."

"Don't envy him; his strength grew so fast in just one month. Perhaps the training plan he made for himself is even stricter and more exhausting than ours."

"You have a point; there is no harvest without effort. With such a great harvest, there must be astonishing effort behind it."

"Now that you put it that way, I'm not envious anymore. This amount of training is enough for me to handle."

"Although I'm very unwilling to accept it, thinking about it this way, I suppose I can only be content with mediocrity."

"Then why is he here today!"

"Perhaps his arrival today is also part of his own training plan."

"Let's observe carefully and learn from the genius's methods; maybe it will be effective for us too."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"……"

Sanada, who was currently instructing Kirihara, also sensed the change in everyone's gazes.

Following their line of sight, Sanada also saw Takahashi walking into the Court at a glance.

His eyes narrowed.

Instantly, his killing intent was laid bare.

Beside him, Kirihara felt a chill of Shadow wind.

As the Disciplinary Committee Chair of the school, Sanada Genichiro had a very close relationship with the security guards at the gate.

From the security office, he learned that Takahashi arrived at the school gate right on time every day, never a minute or second early.

After school, he was also among the first batch to leave the campus.

School ended at 3:30, and at 3:31, the security guard would see his figure appearing at the gate.

For a week now, it had been like this every day!

This made Sanada extremely furious.

For someone so casual about his studies, could one expect him to actively and proactively engage in tennis training after returning home?

Wasn't that just wishful thinking?

Sanada also realized that when Takahashi made the one-month agreement with him, it was likely a provocation, just a high-sounding excuse to avoid coming to training.

And he, Sanada Genichiro, had actually failed to see through his trick and fallen into the trap he had dug.

Now, even if he wanted to properly discipline Takahashi, he could not.

Because that would violate his own promise.

And Sanada would absolutely never allow himself to violate the words he had spoken or the things he had promised.

This was his consistent principle for conducting himself and doing things!

Therefore, watching Takahashi wantonly waste his time and his talent, Sanada felt deeply pained.

Takahashi had talent not inferior to Kirihara's; if he could be properly nurtured, in time, he would be a super trump card for Rikkai and a super new star in the R Japan middle school tennis world!

However, he could not nurture him now!

He could only watch as Takahashi, a talented genius, failed to receive proper guidance and education during his puberty, picked up the bad habit of skipping training, and gradually faded into the crowd!

This was simply forcing him to watch the fall of a genius with his own eyes.

And he was helpless!

The blow this dealt to Sanada can be imagined.

On one side was his principle of conduct for the past 14 years, which absolutely could not be changed.

Once changed, he did not know how he would face life in the future.

On the other side was a genius going astray, feeling smug and complacent over a small achievement, and wasting his prime years!

He, Sanada Genichiro, did not know how to choose for the first time!

Choosing either was wrong!

This was driving him crazy with worry!

Yukimura, seeing him so anxious and worked up, had also advised him that it was at most a waste of one month, so there was no need to be this anxious; he could just give him special training during the winter break to make up for the wasted time.

But this could not dispel Sanada's concerns.

That was a whole month of time!

In a person's life, how much time of one month can there be!

So much so that every time he recalled his conversation with Takahashi at the Tennis Club, he wanted to slap his past self.

If it weren't for his foolish self at the time, how could he have fallen into this current dilemma?

So, seeing Takahashi arrive at the tennis Court so leisurely now, one can imagine Sanada's mood!

It was just unfortunate for "Little Seaweed" Kirihara, who took the blame for Takahashi.

He felt the air pressure from his Vice Captain becoming increasingly low and heavy.

The training volume was also becoming increasingly heavy.

The atmosphere slowly began to turn terrifying.

……

On the other side.

Takahashi, however, did not know that everyone's internal thoughts were actually so complex.

He was seen taking a comic book and a bottle of iced cola out of his backpack.

He found an empty spot and sat down.

He even specifically chose an empty spot that wouldn't affect everyone's practice.

Look, he simply couldn't be more considerate!

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

With the rhythmic sound of tennis balls being hit constantly ringing in his ears, Takahashi happily narrowed his eyes.

It was nearly four in the afternoon, and the sun's warm rays shone on him; it was neither cold nor hot, the temperature was just right!

Nearby him was a group of people training diligently.

And he, enjoying the sunshine, was reading his comic book in a carefree manner, accompanied by everyone else's involution.

This was simply a heavenly enjoyment!

Especially when others were frantically involuting, while he was enjoying life!

Such a sharp contrast made him feel incomparably joyful and incomparably happy!

Happiness, as expected, still relies on comparison!

Playing games and reading comics alone at home—how could that compare to the pleasure of being here now!!

Takahashi savored his cola all by himself, the golden light of the sun shining upon him.

He looked the picture of peace and tranquility!

……

But the others on the tennis Court didn't think so.

They stared at Takahashi in astonishment, their minds no longer on their practice, and their training efficiency dropped significantly.

"Could this be the effective training he developed himself?"

"Can this really make one stronger?"

"Isn't this just coming here to enjoy life?"

"I'm envious!"

"I'm envious too!"

"I want to go rest for a while."

"Me too."

"Let's go, let's go get some water!"

One by one, they were all restless!

However.

Just as they were preparing to leave, they discovered something.

Their Vice Captain, Sanada, was glaring at them fiercely.

……

"I can still continue training."

"Me too."

"Training is neither bitter nor tiring."

"I love training!"

"I love it too!"

Just kidding, with that sharp gaze from the Vice Captain!

Even if they were given ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare go get water or rest!

They only dared to sneakily cast looks of immense envy toward Takahashi.

Who told him to be strong?

Didn't they see that even Vice Captain Sanada dared to be angry but didn't dare to speak?

This group of small fry like them dared even less to act out of line.

……