Chapter 24: Another Invitation

"Match over, Echizen wins!"

It was just as Takahashi had expected.

Singles Two was won by Echizen Ryoma.

With this, Seigaku has secured three victories.

Successfully advanced!

And Tachibana Kippei, as Singles One, didn't even get a chance to play.

What a pity!

Seeing that it was getting late, Takahashi prepared to walk to the bus stop to take a bus home.

However.

"Takahashi, wait!"

Tachibana Kippei suddenly appeared and called out to him.

Following behind were the other members of Fudomine.

"Hm?"

Facing Tachibana Kippei, Takahashi was a bit hesitant.

Should he express regret for Fudomine's defeat today?

Or should he congratulate Fudomine on becoming the runner-up of the Regional Preliminaries and successfully advancing?

At the same time, Takahashi was also curious about his intentions.

"It's still about yesterday's matter; consider joining our Fudomine and let's make it to the National Tournament together."

Tachibana Kippei got straight to the point and directly stated his intentions.

Today's match against Seigaku made him even more determined in this resolution.

Fudomine's doubles were a major source of anxiety for him, as their strength was not sufficient.

Contrary to the two doubles pairs, the three singles players were something Tachibana took pride in.

He believed the strength of his singles was enough.

Yet he hadn't expected both singles matches to be lost to Seigaku.

This made him very anxious.

At the same time, he thought of the powerful and unaffiliated Takahashi.

According to his younger sister Tachibana An, he had fought one against two and suppressed Yurin's two doubles players the entire time.

Although Yurin's doubles were trash, fighting one against two and still winning was extremely difficult.

After all, a doubles court is larger than a singles court, requiring a greater range of movement.

And being able to suppress the opponents the entire time without letting them score a single point—that strength was quite impressive.

Tachibana Kippei's preliminary assessment was that Takahashi's strength should be on par with Ibu Shinji, and his speed was also quite good.

For someone with such good strength to refuse to name their team meant they had no team.

A strong piece of evidence to support this view was:

These past two days were the Tokyo Regional Preliminaries.

Yet Takahashi was merely a spectator, not a participant.

This showed he hadn't joined any team.

As for the reason, it was nothing more than being ostracized or bullied.

Tachibana Kippei had a lot of experience in this regard because he had a similar painful encounter.

And since Takahashi had taken the initiative to come watch the preliminaries, it proved that he also yearned for the National Tournament in his heart.

The possibility of recruiting someone who still held hope in their heart was very high.

As long as he, Tachibana Kippei, as Captain, could demonstrate sufficiently formidable strength.

And make him acknowledge it from the bottom of his heart!

Furthermore, Fudomine had achieved second place in the Regional Preliminaries and successfully qualified.

This was also a very favorable condition.

The only thing Tachibana Kippei was worried about was:

Takahashi might prefer to join Seigaku.

After all, in today's match, Seigaku had taken first place.

So, after the match ended, he had hurried over to intercept Takahashi.

Facing Tachibana Kippei's invitation once again, Takahashi felt a bit overwhelmed.

A second invitation was enough to show Tachibana Kippei's sincerity.

A Tennis Club Captain extending an olive branch to the same person twice in a row.

If it were anyone else, they would surely be grateful and join immediately.

Especially since Takahashi also acknowledged Tachibana Kippei's ability as a Captain.

However.

Takahashi Yanichi was a member of the Rikkaidai Tennis Club.

His own tennis club's strength was famous and second to none in the entire middle school world.

They had already won the national championship twice in a row!

To abandon such an excellent team to come to the obscure Fudomine was absolutely impossible.

Moreover, based on Takahashi's observations, the gap in strength between the two teams was vast.

Rikkai's ability to maintain such excellent results for so many years is inseparable from its highly skilled team members.

Rikkai's Regular Members, whether in singles or doubles, and especially with the addition of Takahashi, can be said to have no blind spots.

If he were to join Fudomine, the burden on his shoulders would be very heavy.

The National Tournament is a competition of a team, not the strength of an individual.

Then he would be very busy in the future, busy with improving the strength of his teammates.

Takahashi is inherently a lazy person; he will never stand if he can sit, and he will never sit if he can lie down.

His ultimate goal in life is to win by lying down; he can win just by lying flat!

Therefore, Takahashi does not want to abandon the easy-mode Rikkai to choose the higher difficulty level of Fudomine.

Moreover, in the few months at Rikkai, he has also developed feelings for the people at Rikkai.

Especially for Vice Captain Sanada Genichiro.

Every time he sees Sanada's helpless expression toward him, he feels extremely delighted!

Thinking of this, Takahashi spoke helplessly: "I really do have a team."

Tachibana Kippei did not give up and continued: "Then let's use tennis to speak!"

"If I win, you must transfer to Fudomine!"

"If you win, it's up to you."

Takahashi pondered and replied: "Fine!"

"Time is limited, let's play three games!"

Although this bet has no benefit for Takahashi.

However, Takahashi was just feeling a bit regretful for not having seen Tachibana Kippei's strength, and he didn't expect the opportunity to deliver itself to his door.

How could he have any reason not to agree!

……

As a reporter for Tennis Monthly, Inoue Mamoru is very interested in the Fudomine Tennis Club that competed today and wants to conduct an interview with Captain Tachibana Kippei.

After the match ended, he did not leave the venue, but instead pulled Shiba Saori along and followed closely behind the Fudomine team members.

Then, the scene of the conversation between Tachibana Kippei and Takahashi was captured by his eyes.

Instinctively sensing that something was going to happen, they quietly followed them to an empty court.

At this time, the Regional Preliminaries had already ended, all the teams had left, and the courts were all empty.

Shiba Saori expressed her confusion about this, saying: "The match is already over, why did they come back?"

"There is someone wearing a white T-shirt in the middle of the Fudomine team; that's not their team member, right!"

"This person wearing a white T-shirt looks a bit familiar!"

Inoue Mamoru said: "Don't guess so much, let's see what happens next."

……

Inside the empty tennis court.

The Fudomine team members stood on one side.

Kamio asked: "Tachibana An, is that Takahashi really that amazing? The Captain invited him repeatedly, yet he refused repeatedly; it's simply too much."

Ibu Shinji was very self-reproachful and said: "It's all my fault; if it weren't for me losing, the Captain wouldn't have lost the chance to play!"

"If it weren't for me losing, the Captain wouldn't have had to lower his stance to invite Takahashi!"

"If it weren't for me losing, Fudomine wouldn't be in second place!"

"In short, all of this is my fault!"

Everyone: ……

Tachibana An spoke with some indignation: "Takahashi's strength is indeed not bad, but refusing twice in a row is really too much. It's quite good for my brother to teach him a lesson with tennis; it's just right to deflate his arrogance!"

"Right, this kid is too ungrateful!"

"The Captain should teach him a good lesson."

"Although we are in second place today, today's failure is the fault of us team members; the Captain was only dragged down by us. His strength is far superior to those at Seigaku."

"Right, let this Takahashi also witness what true strength is!"

"Don't ever underestimate the Fudomine Tennis Club Captain!"