BXBX NOVEL Chapter 251: 5.6
Chapter 251: 5.6
Sudō and Onodera, who had participated in many pair competitions as a duo during this sports festival, had advanced to the finals of the tennis mixed gender doubles as their tenth event.
"Yeah, sure."
Onodera continues, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the somewhat absentminded reply.
"But still, don\'t you think we make a great duo? So far, we\'ve won four out of four matches in the pairs competition. I\'m sure everyone in the class will be surprised."
In the two matches up to this point, there was one matchup between students in the same grade and one matchup between third-year students, but the Sudō/Onodera pair won without being pinned down, and they have now won five straight group matches. Moreover, Sudō has won nine straight matches, including individual competitions, and is on the verge of a 10-match winning streak.
Onodera, on the other hand, did not finish first in all nine rounds, but she also kept her high ranking.
While Onodera\'s words continued with friendly chatter, Sudō\'s gaze was on something else.
"Are you worried about that first-year student? You\'ve been watching him for a long time, haven\'t you?"
"Huh?"
"Hō...sen right? I can\'t believe that guy is a freshman, he\'s massive and has a terrifying vibe. Yeah, but, it feels like that\'s not all Sudō-kun is paying attention to. What\'s up?"
"It\'s nothing. Don\'t worry."
The Hōsen pair that was playing the game in front of them won with ease, and their opponents for the final were decided. Sudō was staring at Hōsen while talking with Onodera, who was in a happy mood.
Onodera looked up as she was talking and started staring at Sudō\'s profile.
Up until now, she had faced the competition without thinking about it, but her heart was clearly in turmoil. They had been working together most of the time, not only today, but also during the preparation for this sports festival. From practice to lunch to the morning commute to school, they had many meetings and practices.
That is why she had acquired the ability to recognize changes in Sudō\'s facial expressions. Even his athleticism has a few shortcomings. He has a very rough and tumble personality, and is quick to get carried away. He also has a tendency to lose his temper.
This has sometimes led to him dragging both of them down when they work together.
"You will now play the final game. Please get ready."
As they were sitting down to rest their tired bodies, one of the staff members approached them
"Well then, let\'s quickly decide on a winner and get some momentum going."
Pretending to be calm, Onodera emptied her mind as Sudō called out to her.
Even if there is something going on regarding that first-year, it shouldn\'t be a problem. As long as it doesn\'t turn into something troublesome, that\'s all that matters.
"Let\'s do this." Sudō grabbed his racket and threw one over to Onodera.
One by one, their classmates begin to show up at the gymnasium to cheer on Sudō and Onodera. Perhaps because adults also have a strong interest in the finals, people would stop in their tracks to observe the competition.
"It\'s kind of a tournament atmosphere, isn\'t it?"
"For real. It\'s a comfortable tension though I\'d say."
There is no need to worry about atrophy for the two, who are strong on the big stage, including in club competitions.
At that moment, a roar of laughter erupted from the other side of the court.
"Aha! I ain\'t ever thought I\'d be playing you in the finals, Sudō-paisen!"
"Hōsen!" The air changes as Sudō speaks to Hōsen across the net. "You don\'t think you can beat me at tennis, do ya? I\'m going to destroy you, so look forward to it!"
Doubles begins, with limited match time: a four-point, one-game, two-games-at-a-time, three-game match. The right to serve will not be rotated from one game to the next, but will go to the side that loses the point. There is no need for a change of serve within a team, and any team member can repeat a game.
The match started with an onslaught by Hōsen. His strong serve easily hit into the court. Meanwhile, Sudō\'s serve was very lackluster and was returned one after the other, and when he hit the ball in, they were driven back to 3 (40) to 0 (love) in less than a minute.
"What the... ugh! That guy is too fast! I didn\'t think he had experience?"
It was no wonder that Onodera panicked, as Hōsen\'s ball struck the court at a speed that made her feel fear.
"What\'s the matter, Sudō? You ain\'t no match for me, don\'t hurt yourself."
"Shit!" His fist clenching his racket forcefully, he swung up and tried to slam it into the ground.
"Sudō-kun, no."
"Ah!"
"Don\'t you know that you always fail when you get upset?"
"Yeah, but still!"
With no one left to vent his frustration on, Sudō was suddenly stressed out.
Hōsen, who was watching the scene from across the net, snickered.
"I can\'t believe you\'re so damn easy. What was all this high talk about ya? Your movements are way shittier compared to the last matches."
It was a fact that Sudō had been thrown off due to being too preoccupied with Hōsen.
"I can\'t trust Sudōu-kun to serve now." With the ball in hand, Onodera instructs Sudō to defend and releases her serve.
She hits the ball with a sharpness that makes it hard to believe that she is a girl and has no experience in tennis, but Hōsen quickly closes the distance and shows beautiful technique, handling the racket like a hand finger.
Sudō stretched out his arm, but he could only hit the edge of the racket, and the first-year team took the first game without surrendering a single point.
"You don\'t really look like a player, man. You look like a loser."
Compared to Hōsen, who was really enjoying the game, the girl who was paired with him couldn\'t hide her frightened expressions. Hōsen handled almost all of the game by himself, and it was practically a two-on-one battle.
In the second game, Hōsen\'s one-sided onslaught was expected to continue, but it took a surprising turn.
Hōsen\'s swings were not as strong as before, and Onodera adapted and came forward to hit back.
Just when they thought he might be getting tired. Hōsen\'s arm swung wide. The smash that came out was as fast and powerful as a bullet. The ball rushed straight at Onodera, who was guarding the front, as if she were a target. Onodera looked in pain as the ball grazed her cheek.
Surprised and terrified, Onodera unintentionally dropped her racket to the floor.
"You\'re not doing that on purpose, are you?!"
"What\'chu on about? Ain\'t it natural to aim close to the opponent\'s body in tennis? If you drop it too far, they\'ll hit you back with the same point. Don\'tcha know anythin\' about that? You\'re arguing with me over just one ball... stop pissing ya panties."
"Damn it!"
Hōsen proudly asserted his legitimacy while Onodera hurriedly picked up her racket.
"Don\'t worry about it. It was just a little graze... Besides, like he said, isn\'t tennis supposed to be about aiming close to your opponent and returning?"
"That\'s something you can say to a guy who plays pro-tennis. This is a sports festival event, remember?" Sudō complains irritably.
The serve goes to Sudō again, but the first time it goes off course.
The second time, he saved and tried to go in, and was easily returned by Hōsen. The momentum wasn\'t as strong, and Onodera, who had caught up, hit back cleanly with her racket.
Two or three rallies followed, and that was when Onodera came to the fore again and hit back.
Hōsen, who had closed the distance, swung his arm down and the ball bounced back.
"Kya!" Onodera stiffened, unable to swing her racket at the hard fastball that had scared her just beforehand. The ball zoomed past her but Sudō was able to bite back and hit the ball back into the opponent\'s court, but then Hōsen\'s relentless volleys targeted only the area around Onodera. Hōsen seemed to be playing competitively.
The game came down to 3 (40) points for Sudō and 2 (30) points for Hōsen.
Onodera was struggling to get out of the way, but she was so upset that the ball came near her face again that she twisted her left leg and fell down on the spot.
"Onodera!"
As if to cover for Onodera, who could not stand up, Sudō bit down and returned the ball to Hōsen. Sudō\'s ball landed just short of the court, and Sudō\'s team took the second set. But that didn\'t make him happy, as Sudō became more agitated.
"That\'s enough! You can\'t even play fair!"
"How many times do I have to tell ya, you damn monkey brain? It\'s your lousy girl\'s fault, isn\'t it? Don\'t give me bullshit."
"Please, Sudōu-kun, you\'re repeating yourself." Onodera couldn\'t get up and shushed Sudōu as he slumped down on the spot.
"I know that, but come on! You can\'t allow this to happen!"
"Sure, the judges are suspicious. But Sudōu-kun\'s aggressiveness is also interfering with that, you know?"
It was clear that Hōsen had already won the tennis match and had changed his policy to torment Sudōu rather than win.
The aim was to instill fear in Onodera and even induce injury with a single mistake.
"Anyway, keep calm, Sudōu-kun." Onodera admonished him gently but forcefully, even though she was in pain.
Sudō, his head still burning, glared at Hōsen unbearably, but when he saw Onodera frowning in pain, he remembered what his priority should be. Hastily, medical attention was provided for Onodera\'s injured ankle.
"Hey, why don\'t you guys take it easy, don\'t go through hell anymore, aite? That sucks man. They up and lost the damn game, this shit is so boring." Hōsen yawned and looked at them briefly before addressing his partner, a first year.
"That bastard played with us on purpose with the intention of tormenting us to the very last minute..."
Sudō calls out in concern as he looks at Onodera\'s left leg.
"Are you okay?"
"Well, sort of. But I\'m so pathetic. I\'m so afraid of the ball that I avoid it, and as a result, I fell and injured my foot." She laughed to herself and lightly tapped her taped foot.
"No wonder, man. He\'s annoying to death, but he\'s got great athleticism."
Sudō was also terrified of the high-powered volleys that he could deliver with his superior body. Unless you\'re an experienced tennis player or a club member, you\'ll be overcome with fear.
"You know, I\'ve always held a pretty good opinion of Sudō-kun ever since you entered the school."
"Oh? What the hell are you on about suddenly? Why don\'t you just rest and get some medical attention?"
"That\'s fine. It\'s a good thing I got hurt. It means you\'ve been given a little bit of time to cool down."
"You have a strong heart, I mean, I didn\'t know you used to think highly of me."
"Yeah, but you were the number one person I didn\'t want to deal with, given your brazen attitude."
"Oh..."
"People around me scold me for my bad behaviour and inability to study, but I always make sure to support people who work hard in club activities.
"What are you on about?"
"I understand you, Sudō-kun. When I\'m going home after a late night of club activities, I sometimes pass by the gym. Whenever I peek in to see if there\'s anyone left, Sudō-kun is always the only one left practicing until the end. He cleans up properly, and he\'s taking it seriously."
"What the heck, you were watching that?"
"But... as I thought, Sudō-kun will never be truly appreciated if things continue as they are now."
"What do you mean?"
"You were angry for me. It\'s not that I don\'t like that fact, but it still doesn\'t change the fact that you have a tendency to lose your temper. If you keep that up, one day you\'ll be in more trouble than ever before."
"Yeah, but-"
"You\'d better get over your habit of losing your temper."
"I know, I know."
"Even in sports, don\'t you make more mistakes when you\'re frustrated?"
"Well, yeah. Your shooting success rate, for example, might drop drastically..."
"Me too. When I\'m frustrated, I desperately try to improve my time, but I end up going slower than usual, and that doesn\'t do me much good."
"Yeah that\'s exactly what I mean."
"I\'ll tell you a story. One time, when I lost an important game once, I was so frustrated and disappointed that I went to change in the lockers and went wild. I injured my hand and it was very hard to recover." She stuck her tongue out a little as if she was nostalgic and ashamed of her old self. "I realized then that nothing good comes from being angry, it just comes back to haunt you."
"How did you manage to overcome not getting angry?"
"It\'s because my senpai taught me magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes. I\'ll teach it to Sudō-kun. A magic trick that can suppress anger."
"Well, how do you do that?"
"The peak of anger is actually surprisingly short, a few seconds at most. So when I feel like yelling, I yell once in my mind, then take a deep breath and count to ten."
"So you\'re saying to get angry after ten seconds? That\'s it?"
"Yes. I think that\'s enough to change things, you should try it."
"I see."
Despite his scepticism, Sudō memorized what she had just said so that he could engrave it in his mind.
"I wanted to team up with you because I appreciate your passion for sports. Don\'t betray that expectation."
"Onodera..."
With her wounds tended to, Onodera stood up to check on her condition.
"I\'m fine. Whether we cry or laugh, this one game will decide the outcome. If we lose, we lose. But if we try our best, we can still win. I know it."
"For sure."
The third game begins. Hōsen continues to relentlessly target Onodera, whose movements have slowed down due to her injured left leg. Even when he went too far and lost a point himself, he made no move to stop.
The Sudō team leads by 3 (40) to 1 (15).
Hōsen, who would have ended the match if he dropped the ball, fired another hard fastball at Onodera.
This time, she couldn\'t avoid it and the ball hit her right arm. Onodera crouched there in pain.
"This isn\'t how the game works, you fucking freak!"
Sudō then remembers the magic words Onodera taught him earlier, even though he is extremely angry to the point where his blood boils. He glares at Hōsen, who repeatedly continues to provoke him, but raises his voice of anger in his own mind.
Ten seconds of anger. Just hold it in for only ten seconds.
He counts the numbers one, two, three, and takes a deep breath to calm his emotions. Eight, nine, ten. The abusive words that he had intended to use against Hōsen receded into the back of his throat.
Of course, not all the frustration has disappeared, but he succeed in looking at the situation calmly and objectively. The suspicious eyes of the judges. Onodera\'s gaze. A game that must be won. Time remaining. If he lunged at Hōsen again here, he would naturally be stopped.
"Onodera, do you believe in my power?"
"Of course. I believe in you, that\'s why we\'re playing a match together."
After catching his breath, Sudō threw the ball into the air and made the best serve of the day. Hōsen, who had no time to lose, returned the ball as if to catch up, and from that point on, Sudō and Hōsen began to battle it out in a rally. Both of them did not back down and continued to return strong blows, but Sudō, who did not miss the sweet return of Hōsen, was losing his patience, and smashed the ball into the opponent\'s court.
"Haaaaaaaaa!" Gripping his racket, Sudō lets out a yell that echoes throughout the gym.
"Shit, shit!"
Despite his overwhelming advantage, Hōsen, who had been licking Sudō\'s chops until the end of the game, became annoyed that he had lost the game and slammed his racket into the court, snapping it in half.
"We won, Onodera! Thanks to you!" Sudō ran over to Onodera in excitement and hugged her vigorously, sharing his excitement.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Onodera panics, unsure of what just happened for a moment. "Wait, it hurts, it hurts, Sudōu-kun!"
Sudō regains his composure as his thick arms tighten around her and she lets out a painful sound.
"Woah, calm down there!"
Happy that he was able to control his anger in addition to his victory, Sudōu smiled his best smile of the day.
"Congratulations on all your wins, Sudōu-kun."
"Thanks Onodera, if it wasn\'t for your magic trick, I would have definitely lost this game."
"That\'s not true. In fact, I dragged you down-"
"Shut up. It\'s not a good thing to get hurt, but I think I lost when I got hurt and lost my temper. And you brought it back up."
"I see. Then we\'re.... good partners, I guess."
"Yeah. It was very easy to work with you, and I could rely on you. It\'s really great, Onodera. Oh, I hope Suzune saw what we\'re doing somewhere."
There were so many guests and students that it was hard to find Horikita right away.
"Suzune, is that you?"
"Um? Who are you?"
"Oh no, uh, sorry, wrong person."
"Well maybe she\'s outside."
"Let\'s go out for dinner sometime after club activities, Sudō-kun."
"What? Yeah, that\'s fine. But I need your help to find Suzune. Where\'s Suzune?"
"Aha. Absolutely not."
"Yo, bitch. Don\'t you get carried away just \'cause ya won this one game. You know you woulda lost if I had taken ya seriously, right?" Despite the fact that the match was over, Hōsen approached him with a nasty look on his face. "I wanna take you \'round back for a playdate. Come so I can re-arrange your face."
"Listen here..."
Sudō quietly restrained Onodera, who was about to confront the entangled Hōsen.
"There was a mess with this guy a while ago. I can\'t blame him for trying to get me involved like that."
"Yes, but..."
Sudō laughed, understanding Onodera\'s feelings as he tried to protect her from getting into trouble. Then he turned to Hōsen.
"I\'m sorry, but I\'m not going to fold to your cheap disses."
"Fuck are you talking \'bout? You\'re my bitch boy from now on."
"That\'s why I ain\'t gonna do it.
As soon as Sudō refused, Hōsen pressed his shoulder into Sudō, pretending to walk past and let out a powerful clenched fist into his abdomen. The force was so powerful that Sudō fell to his knees, even though Hōsen hadn\'t swung.
"Sudōu-kun!"
Sudō stopped Onodera with his hand and slowly stood up.
The teacher comes running up to him, but Sudō replies that nothing has been done to him and the teacher walks away with nothing more than a suspicious look in his eye.
"You know what? I\'ve already figured out that you\'re a strong fighter, and I ain\'t gonna complain because last time was my fault too. But if you want to go further, I\'ll have the teacher come in."
"You\'re fucking lame. I\'m not even as strong as I was then, I swear I\'ve gotten weaker. Come and I\'ll show you."
"Maybe. Onodera, let\'s go."
"Uh-huh."
"You boring son of a bitch, don\'t ever bother tryna mess around with me again."
Sudō felt rather relieved when he was told not to get involved. As long as he didn\'t go at it himself, he wouldn\'t spread any more trouble. He knew that if he just didn\'t let his anger get the better of him, things would turn out much better.
"I guess I should also thank Hōsen for that. Seeing him like that, I realized how lame I really was. It\'s hard to put it into words, but when I tried the method you taught me, something just fell into place. I thought, why was I so angry before? I guess it\'s like a curse was lifted off of me."
Sudō was grateful for the 10 consecutive victories that he had been able to pick up, but he was equally grateful for this sports festival, and to have Onodera as his partner.