Chapter 79: The Second Tennis War (1)
A certain Master stood by the river and said: "Time passes like this, never ceasing day or night."
Although Luke was nowhere near as impressive as Confucius, after sleeping and waking, he still felt the passage of time.
It was already third period. Having slept through two classes, he felt strangely dazed.
Luke flipped through his Japanese textbook and happened to land on the page about The Analects. He could not help rubbing his sleepy eyes.
Falling asleep during class was very easy, but the sleep quality was terrible. Even if no one disturbed him and he rested through the whole day, he would not fully recover his energy.
As a result, when he climbed into bed at night, he could still fall asleep early anyway.
Mm. He had experienced that before.
Hiratsuka Shizuka-sensei was still teaching, her beautiful handwriting forming stroke after stroke on the blackboard.
Below, he flipped through the classical literature textbook to pass the time.
And because it was classical literature class, he did not need to worry about Hiratsuka-sensei randomly calling on someone to read aloud.
Like that, time quickly passed.
"Hikigaya~"
During the break, Totsuka Saika, with his head of silver-gray hair and gentle, delicate voice, walked over. His soft and frail appearance really could make people mistake him for a girl sometimes.
"Mm, Totsuka?"
Hikigaya raised his head.
"Could you keep helping me train tennis at lunch?"
Totsuka Saika asked directly.
"Tennis? You train at lunch too?"
Hearing the word tennis, Luke stopped turning the page and looked up at Totsuka, joining their conversation.
He did know that Totsuka-kun was in the tennis club, but generally speaking, athletic clubs did not train during lunch, right?
"Ah, yes."
Hearing his voice, Totsuka rubbed his hands together in surprise and explained.
"Our club is very weak, so I repeatedly asked the school if I could borrow the tennis court during lunch for training too. I only recently got permission, so… so I want to use lunch break to train as much as I can."
Luke felt slightly tempted.
"Oh. Um… can I join too?"
He decisively proposed and asked.
After several tennis classes, he had become quite interested in tennis as a sport.
Tennis was a sport that involved muscles throughout the whole body, making it very good for exercise.
And compared to badminton, tennis was heavier and carried more force. The feeling of releasing strength through the racket was incredibly stress-relieving once you experienced it, giving both mind and body a pleasant sense of release.
"Ah, of course. If that's the case… I'd be very grateful."
Totsuka Saika said happily.
"Then I'll wait at the tennis court during lunch…"
At the same time, he did not forget to tell Hikigaya.
"Hikigaya-kun, you should come too."
"Oh, sure."
Hikigaya responded.
Totsuka Saika happily left the classroom.
Luke continued flipping through the classical literature textbook, passing the time.
Before long, lunch break arrived. He closed the textbook after reaching some pages.
"Want to go together?"
He asked Hikigaya. After all, neither of them had brought lunch.
"Oh, sure."
The relatively quiet Hikigaya answered.
"By the way, is there anything good you recommend for lunch?"
"How about tuna rice balls, or a hot dog?"
Hikigaya named the combination he usually ate.
"I haven't tried tuna rice balls before. I'll give them a shot."
The two casually bought some food at the school store. Luke chose the rice ball and hot dog Hikigaya recommended.
Speaking of which, what exactly was the difference between a hot dog and stuffed bread?
The tuna rice ball was pretty good. Although it was not especially delicious, it was not bad either. The layers of flavor were fairly rich, and at least it was easier to eat than bread.
The blend of sour, sweet, and salty flavors was handled well, making it appetizing and easy to keep eating.
In his heart, he silently added this rice ball to his lunch menu.
He quickly finished the food in his hands, casually soothing his hungry stomach, and the two set off for the tennis court.
Totsuka Saika was already training energetically on the court, hitting the ball against the wall. He skillfully chased the rebounding ball and struck it back again.
Bang, bang, bang.
The rhythm was very steady.
"Hi~ You're here."
Seeing the two of them, Totsuka Saika stopped swinging his racket. He easily caught the tennis ball and greeted them.
"Hikigaya… how about I go first, and you eat?"
Luke looked at Hikigaya, who still had not finished his rice ball.
"Mm, sure."
Hikigaya answered casually, then sat under the shade of a tree nearby and started gnawing on his rice ball.
"Wait for me a bit. Totsuka-kun, I'll warm up first."
Because he had trained in the morning, his body had only just recovered. If he was not careful, he could easily pull a muscle, so a proper warm-up was very necessary.
"Mm, okay. I'll rest a bit too. I'm going to wash my face."
Totsuka wiped his face.
Luke clasped both hands behind his back, lifted them lightly, and stretched the muscles around his shoulders.
He began warming up.
He continued until Totsuka came jogging back with his face still wet.
Then Luke picked up the racket and walked toward the court.
"Let's start, Totsuka."
He said that to Totsuka-kun.
After resting through the morning, he had mostly recovered. For the sake of exercising at lunch, he had even deliberately eaten only until half-full, so it would not interfere with his movement.
"Mm, okay."
Totsuka Saika gripped the tennis ball and began serving.
Totsuka Saika was part of the tennis club. From Luke's amateur perspective, his technique was quite good. He could accurately receive every ball and perfectly return it to the space right in front of Luke, feeding him easy shots.
The two of them went back and forth, completely in the spirit of friendly exercise. As a game between friends, it was very nice.
But…
"This won't really count as training! Be careful, Totsuka-kun…"
Luke was the first to break the stalemate of their polite match.
Although he was not very experienced, thanks to Totsuka's perfect ball feeding, he still managed precise control. He swung with strength and sent the ball to the corner near the edge of the court.
Totsuka Saika desperately rushed forward. He stretched out his slim, straight arm as far as possible and barely managed to reach it, forcing the ball back.
Unfortunately, Luke had already prepared for that. Facing the weakly flying tennis ball, he struck it hard and sent it to the other side.
Totsuka no longer had time to chase it. He could only let the tennis ball smash into a spot far beyond his reach.
Point scored.
Totsuka's arm dropped as he held the racket, and he began breathing heavily.
"Are you okay, Totsuka-kun? Can you continue?"
Luke looked at Totsuka, who had started panting hard.
"Do you want to go back to the earlier pace?"
"I'm fine."
Totsuka Saika shook his head and tightened his grip on the racket again, looking at Luke with firm eyes.
"This level is fine… Only by facing serves I can't return does it count as real training."
"Then fine."
Luke lowered the racket he had been tapping against his shoulder.
Since Totsuka-kun, as a hot-blooded young man, had already made up his mind, Luke would not hold back either.
…
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