Chapter 8: 9 Points, An Unbearable Pain

The crowd outside the Tennis Club court pulled themselves together, ready to continue watching Takahashi Yanichi make a fool of himself.

However.

"Bang!"

"Third ball, in, success!"

"Bang!"

"Fourth ball, in, success!"

"Tenth ball, in, success."

"Assessment over, score 9 points!"

Following the referee's announcement, the mouths of Kimura Kojiro and Yamamoto Taro, who were standing nearby, hung open wide enough to fit an egg.

Since the third ball, their mouths had not closed once, and their eyeballs were practically popping out.

As for those hiding outside the Tennis Club court, they were completely numb.

Every single ball!

Every ball from the second one onwards!

Had actually landed inside the white circle!

This is outrageous!

It is simply outrageous!

It's actually 9 points!

Getting 9 points on a 100-point exam.

The shock they received wouldn't be as great as today's!

Silence!

A dead silence!

Quiet!

A complete quiet!

After a long while, a faint voice spoke up.

"Are we still going out for dinner tonight?"

"Go? Go where? Just go home and stay there!"

"He actually got 9 points."

"I feel like I can never look at the number 9 again!"

"The number 9 is a pain I cannot bear!"

"Heaven is unfair!"

"The heavens have no eyes!"

"But he won, what does that have to do with our dinner?"

"That's right!"

"So, are we still going?"

"Better not!"

"Perhaps this is what they call talent."

"Maybe hard work is worthless in the face of talent!"

One of them said softly.

Then he realized.

The atmosphere had turned eerily quiet once again.

Everyone was staring at him with fierce eyes...

Inside the Tennis Club court.

"Finally saw a decent guy."

"If they were all like this bunch of losers, I would be very troubled too."

"Ah!"

Kirihara Akaya said.

"You're worrying too much!"

Marui Bunta stepped forward, ruffled his curly hair, and said.

"Still, this guy really has some skills."

"Looks like the days ahead will be very interesting!"

Because this assessment eliminated 15 people, only 5 remained.

Captain Yukimura Seiichi waved his hand, canceled the subsequent assessments, and let all 5 remaining people officially join the Tennis Club.

"The difficulty of this assessment was set a bit too high!"

"The requirements for ball control are very high; I'm afraid not even every one of our second-year members could achieve it."

Yukimura Seiichi said calmly.

"They were too lax in their work!"

"I clearly set the circle radius to 2 meters, but they made it a 0.5-meter radius."

"A 0.5-meter radius is the requirement for second-year members; the requirement for the freshman elimination assessment is 2 meters."

Sanada Genichiro frowned and said with dissatisfaction.

"Although the requirements have been raised, there are still people who can meet them, which just helps us save time and screen out suitable people."

Yanagi Renji advised.

"However, this person named Takahashi Yanichi has exceeded my expectations."

"Except for the first ball, all of them landed inside the circle; this ball control!"

Yanagi Renji could not help but exclaim in admiration.

"It's not just that; look at every ball he hit afterward, they almost landed in the same spot."

Yukimura Seiichi added calmly.

The gazes of the other two followed Yukimura's finger toward the inside of the circle.

They saw that at the center point of the white circle.

A ball mark was faintly visible.

This was because the tennis ball had landed on the same spot multiple times, and the force of the landing was great enough to form a slight depression.

Such strong ball control!

Such strong power!

"This has already surpassed most second-year students!" Yanagi Renji said.

"Yes, indeed! Being able to accurately control the landing point to the same spot, this ball control is truly very strong!"

Yukimura Seiichi said.

"How rare! It's rare to hear you praise someone!" Yanagi Renji said.

However, unlike the good mood of the other two, Sanada frowned tightly.

"He is very difficult to discipline!"

"During training time, he is often nowhere to be found!"

"The president of the neighboring Basketball Club has complained to me many times, saying that people wearing tennis team uniforms often hang around outside their basketball court during training time, and their team members are starting to get upset."

Sanada said with dissatisfaction.

Yukimura chuckled and said, "People with talent inevitably have some quirks."

"And our Tennis Club is not lacking in geniuses."

"No matter how unruly, as long as their strength is inferior to others, will they still refuse to be disciplined?"

"Tennis is about strength!"

"Think about Kirihara Akaya back then!"

Hearing that the subsequent assessments were canceled, the 5 people who passed this assessment all officially entered the Tennis Club.

The few who passed smoothly were full of cheers and laughter, congratulating each other!

The few who were eliminated were like people who had eaten several lemons raw; people could smell the sourness on them from far away.

Among them, Kimura Kojiro's emotions were particularly intense.

The way he looked at Takahashi Yanichi was all wrong!

Why!

He had three years of tennis experience!

For this past month, he had practiced diligently and had not dared to miss a single time, even when he had a cold or fever!

Someone as hardworking and positive as him!

Actually failed!

And Takahashi Yanichi.

Often late and leaving early, disappearing from time to time!

Slacker, a campus loafer!

He actually succeeded in entering the Tennis Club!

Originally, he could have comforted himself by saying that there were over 100 freshmen, and he had passed through five levels and cut down six generals, eliminating many people, and successfully reached the final level.

But the difficulty of the final level was so great that even he, with three years of tennis experience, was eliminated. This could only mean that the Rikkaidai Tennis Club had very high requirements; it was worthy of being the victorious army that won the National Two-Consecutive Championship.

However, Takahashi Yanichi had only practiced for one month.

One month!

He stood out, became one of the top 5 out of 100 people, successfully entered the Tennis Club, and became an official member.

This made the words he used to comfort himself a joke!

A huge joke!

Did he really have to admit that his talent was insufficient?

No, he didn't believe it.

From childhood to adulthood, the education he received was that talent was unimportant, and hard work and struggle were the most important.

Only through hard work can one defy the heavens and change one's fate!

This belief had been deeply rooted in his mind since he was a child.

Now, it had been shaken by Takahashi Yanichi!

Kimura Kojiro was greatly struck and asked Takahashi Yanichi weakly: "Did you really start learning tennis only a month ago? Did you really have no foundation before?"

The tone of his question was completely devoid of his original confidence and pride; it was like a candle about to go out, desperately wanting to get the answer he hoped for, just like hoping for a drop of oil to help him come back to life and reignite the spark of hope.

Takahashi Yanichi failed to grasp his crumbling, fragile mood and just replied calmly: "Yeah!"

Kimura Kojiro could not accept this fact and continued to ask urgently: "Did you really not learn it? You didn't lie to me, did you!"

"No! I don't have the time to think about deceiving people!"

Takahashi Yanichi was a bit annoyed by Kimura Kojiro's repeated questioning.

"Deliberately belittling myself. Do I look like someone with a sick brain to you?"

His tone was full of impatience.

The words were like heavy punches, violently striking Kimura Kojiro's heart.

He would not give up and continued to ask: "There is only one month of time, so how are you so formidable!"

"Practice more, practice makes perfect!"

"Nothing else, just that the hand is skilled!"

Suddenly thinking of a phrase he learned in his past life, he was a bit mischievous and pretended to be an old pedant.

Kimura Kojiro felt a mouthful of blood about to gush out from within his body.

Anyone else saying this would be fine, but for you to say this, it is not!

If you touch your conscience, does it really not hurt?

It is too hateful!

Hearing the conversation between the two, Yamamoto Taro was also extremely speechless inside.

Practice more?

Every time there was free practice, who was the one whose shadow couldn't even be seen?

I want to find you for a sparring match every day; could I possibly not know whether you practiced or not?