Chapter 6: The Assessment Begins

May in Japan.

The sky is clear, spring is in the air, and masses of cherry blossoms drift down with the Wind.

Rikkai Dai Fuzoku Chugaku.

The atmosphere across the entire Court is tense.

Because today is the assessment for the first-year newcomers to the Tennis Club.

This assessment determines that only a portion of the excellent newcomers can stay, while the others must be ruthlessly eliminated.

And the yearning for the Rikkaidai Tennis Club is deeply rooted in the heart of almost every newcomer to the club.

Two consecutive years of winning the national championship, 15 consecutive wins in the Kanto Tournament.

This record, enough to look down upon the whole country, makes every member of the Tennis Club feel honored.

Besides this, they also have some secret, unknown thoughts.

Rikkai has already won twice in a row; will they continue to win this year and take the third consecutive victory?

With the Regular Members remaining largely unchanged, this is very possible.

And who wouldn't want to be a member of a victorious army?

Who wouldn't want to be worshipped by the masses?

Mentioning him, one has to say that he is part of the team that won three consecutive tennis championships.

What an honor this is!

In short, the harvest is far greater than the effort.

It is precisely these thoughts that motivate the newcomers to the Tennis Club.

Over the course of a month, only a small number of people chose to quit on the first day.

Most persisted to the end, arriving at this day that decides who is eliminated and who is not.

They endured painful basic training, insisting on practicing tennis every day without fail, regardless of the Wind or the rain!

They competed with each other over who practiced longer.

Everyone had a string pulled tight in their minds at every moment.

And today, their efforts over this month are finally going to have a result.

In, or, not in.

Everyone is incomparably nervous, incomparably excited.

Finally, under their eager gazes, the Rikkai Big Three walked into the Court.

"First is the endurance test: run 20 laps, time will be calculated, and the last 10 will be eliminated."

Following Yukimura Seiichi's words, every student acted as if they had been injected with chicken blood and began running laps!

"Next, 50 sit-ups; the last 10 will be eliminated."

"50 pull-ups; the last 10 will be eliminated."

Through a series of physical tests, batch after batch of students were eliminated.

In the end, only 20 people remained on the Court.

The students who were eliminated and left sighed with emotion as they departed.

"Sigh, just a little bit more; my arms really had no strength left at the end."

"What a pity."

"Me too."

"Although we were eliminated, we still put in the effort."

"Right, we lived our youth to the fullest!"

"The result is not the most important thing; the process is what matters most."

"At least we all worked hard this month, no regrets!"

"We can consider ourselves comrades-in-arms; let's go have a meal together!"

"Well said, everyone is a comrade!"

The various eliminated newcomers comforted each other and reminisced about the past, their emotions suddenly reaching a climax.

"Look, why is that slacker still in there?"

Suddenly, a surprised voice was heard saying.

"Am I seeing things?"

"How is that possible?"

"He slacked off every day, wandering and strolling around everywhere!"

"Right, he didn't put in any effort at all; how could he possibly stay?"

"When we were practicing, he was lying flat. When we were doing extra training, he was slacking off!"

"He's just a freeloader!"

For a moment, the crowd was indignant.

Everyone else had been eliminated and could still comfort and encourage each other.

But there was actually someone they all looked down upon who was still left there.

Everyone's mentality exploded.

There was no longer that indifferent mindset where the process was more important than the result.

Especially since this person often slacked off.

This was simply more unbearable than killing them!

"It must be just good luck."

"Right, he probably played basketball or some other sport before."

"But he has little tennis practice; relying solely on physical fitness isn't enough."

"We'll see him make a fool of himself in a moment!"

"No need to think about it, he'll be eliminated very soon."

"Absolutely!"

One by one, they gritted their teeth, no longer in a hurry to leave.

They all stayed behind, one after another, preparing to watch a good show.

Meanwhile, Takahashi Yanichi on the Court was completely unaware of this.

He looked around and saw the familiar Yamamoto Taro and Kimura Kojiro were both there.

Not bad, not bad!

The physical fitness is still pretty good!

It's just that he always felt the way others looked at him was a bit strange.

"Next, we will conduct the Serve test. Each person will hit the tennis ball to the designated position. Ten balls per person, one point per ball. A score of 6 is passing, and you may enter the next test."

As soon as the voice fell.

One could see on the other side of the Court, a team member used white chalk to draw a circle, with a radius of about 0.5 meters.

Every ball must be hit into the range of the white circle.

The new students on the Court all stretched their necks, secretly calculating in their hearts.

"What to do? It has to hit a designated position. I'd be lucky just to keep it in bounds and not hit the net."

Yamamoto Taro said with annoyance.

Seeing himself pass the running test, the sit-up test... having fought his way here, he felt very excited and fortunate, thinking victory was not far away.

But looking at the requirements for this round of assessment, he felt very unhappy.

It was like a cooked duck that was about to be in his hands, yet it flew away.

Like cooked dumplings that were broken before he could even eat them.

"This assessment has very high requirements for ball control, and the specified white circle range is not large."

"As expected of the Rikkaidai Tennis Club assessment; the rules are simple yet effectively screen for capable students."

"But for someone like me with three years of tennis experience, it's not hard; it's very simple. I can succeed just by hitting it casually."

Kimura Kojiro, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, spoke up, his tone full of pride, as if he had already become an official member of the Tennis Club.

"First ball, out of bounds, failure!"

Yamamoto Taro stood on one side of the Court with his racket, watching the small yellow ball land in front of the white circle, feeling very anxious.

Then, the second ball was outside the white circle.

The third ball and the fourth ball were also out of bounds.

Circling around the white circle, he just couldn't hit it in.

"It's so hard, even harder than I imagined!"

Yamamoto Taro's face was full of anxiety, and he was about to lose confidence.

"Ten balls finished, 1 ball scored, 1 point!"

The referee announced the score, and Yamamoto Taro was deeply disappointed.

Hanging his head, he walked slowly toward Takahashi Yanichi.

"It's really so hard. Too light, and it lands in front of the white circle; too heavy, and it lands behind the white circle. Hitting it into the circle is so hard!"

Yamamoto Taro complained in a low voice.

"Is this the assessment? It's really interesting!"

A burst of footsteps approached from afar, mixed with the sound of discussion.

Several people were seen walking into the Court.

One person had black hair with curly tips, like the kelp sold in the vegetable market.

One person had gray-white hair with tips that curled up, and was tall.

The other person had bright red hair.

They were none other than the official members of the Rikkaidai Tennis Club: Kirihara Akaya, Niou Masaharu, and Marui Bunta.

Hearing about today's new student assessment, they all came to join in the fun.

"Second ball, out of bounds, failure!"

At this moment, it was Kimura Kojiro who was being assessed.

However, the situation was not as he had imagined—that he could score simply and casually.

Both balls had resulted in lost points one after another.

The proud smile that had been on his face had disappeared, replaced by a look of anxiety.