The Prince of Tennis: My tennis skills come from Naruto

Chapter 139 Guan Yuechu's Little Actions

After all, what if, by some chance, someone suddenly has a mental breakdown or the intelligence department fails to update its information in time?

In short, Taro stated that he wanted to both train his troops and achieve absolute victory!

After finalizing the preliminary roster for the semi-finals, Taro, as usual, asked Kamiya You for suggestions on whether he had any changes to the roster.

Upon hearing this, Kamiya You glanced at the list handwritten by Taro in front of him. His gaze paused for a moment when he saw the names corresponding to singles three to singles one, and then he said, "Okay, I think Coach, you have arranged it very well."

Even when facing St. Rudolph, whom they had complete intelligence on and who was practically naked in front of them, were they so composed?

That's good, at least this way we won't have a situation like in the original story where Hyotei was defeated early on by Fudomine's strategic horse racing.

Moreover, unless it's the first match of the first round, there's no need to play all five matches. The match is a best-of-five series, meaning Hyotei only needs to win three sets to finish the match. So, although he's on the roster, Kamiya You feels that the players ahead of him can handle the situation without him having to put in the effort.

A week later, on a clear and sunny Saturday.

The semifinals of the tournament will be held simultaneously on Court 1 and Court 3 of the Mingde Tennis Forest Park.

Both Hyotei and St. Rudolph teams had checked in early and arrived near the stadium for pre-match warm-ups. After warming up, Kiyosumi Sengoku jogged away from the Hyotei team and headed towards the restrooms marked on the park sign. On his way, he noticed a figure with short black hair, wearing a white and brown team uniform, leaning against a lush beech tree next to the road, with his hands casually in his pockets.

Kanzuki also noticed Sengoku Kiyosumi running over. He immediately stood up from his position leaning against the tree, looked directly at Sengoku Kiyosumi, and slowly said, "Sengoku-kun, I remember you were ranked seventh in Hyotei before, but now you're ranked ninth."

"6

His voice was like the finest silk, but Sengoku Kiyosumi inexplicably detected a greasy and malicious quality in it.

But Sengoku Kiyosumi's smile remained unchanged. He raised an eyebrow and said, "So what? You, captain of St. Rudolf, deliberately gave up your precious pre-match preparation time to wait on this path just to remind me of this fact? Or perhaps you came here specifically to mock me?"

"Mocking?" Kanzuki shook his head slightly and chuckled, "No, Sengoku-kun, you've completely misunderstood my intentions."

He took a graceful small step forward, closing the distance between them, his voice lower and more alluring, almost heartfelt, as he said, "I'm waiting for you here with the utmost sincerity, to extend an invitation—an invitation about the future."

"invite?"

"That's right." Guan Yuechu's smile deepened, a satisfied look on his face like a hunter watching its prey step into a trap. "I sincerely invite you to transfer to our St. Rudolph Academy tennis club."

Sengoku Kiyosumi's pupils contracted sharply; this suggestion was completely unexpected.

Over there, Kanzuki continued in a seductive tone, "Sengoku-kun, my invitation is very sincere. Because I have studied you, studied you very carefully."

Kanzuki looked sincerely into Sengoku Kiyosumi's eyes with an admiring tone, "You possess amazing, exceptionally good dynamic vision, as well as strong fundamental abilities."

"However, you are just an ordinary number one player on the second team at Hyotei, barely managing to maintain a place in doubles. It's a real waste of your talent."

"And once you accept my invitation and come to St. Rudolph, I can decide to give you the position of deputy minister."

"And one of the singles positions will always belong to you."

"Think about it, Sengoku-kun, you stand on the singles court and win all the cheers and glory with your strength, instead of being part of a certain 'combination' in doubles —"

At this moment, Kanzuki's voice became particularly captivating, attempting to elicit any regrets or resentment that might exist deep within Sengoku Kiyosumi's heart.

"No."

Over there, Sengoku Kiyosumi directly refused. The conditions and promises made by Kanzuki Hajime, the so-called vice-captain of St. Rudolf and the singles position, had no appeal to him whatsoever. After all, Hyotei would undoubtedly be the future champion. What would it mean for him to leave Hyotei and go to St. Rudolf, a defeated opponent?

After leaving those words, Sengoku Kiyosumi quickly overtook Kanzuki's position.

"Oh----"

As Kanzuki watched Sengoku Kiyosumi's retreating figure, a barely audible chuckle escaped his throat, tinged with a hint of gloom.

He calmly pulled his hand out of his pocket, gently smoothed out non-existent wrinkles on his jersey, and turned to walk towards the field.

Although Sengoku Kiyosumi rejected him decisively, a hint of "calculation without fail" appeared in Kanzuki's eyes.

Sengoku-kun, you verbally refused, but did your heart truly refuse?

Kanzuki was confident that his invitation to Sengoku Kiyosumi would be like a seed planted in Sengoku Kiyosumi's heart. With such a seed in place, when Sengoku stood on the court and his teammates overshadowed his brilliance, this seed he had just planted would begin to sprout. It would make Sengoku hesitate and slow his actions by a fraction of a second.

Guan Yuechu's smile instantly turned somewhat cold. If Qian Shi's condition became even slightly disordered as a result, then Saint Rudolf would have a better chance of winning.

As for why he chose to interfere with Sengoku's state?

According to Kanzuki, Sengoku Kiyosumi played the most matches in the first round of the Hyotei Tournament, which was the first time he played.

Therefore, the attempt to disrupt his state is highly likely to succeed.

Moreover, he wasn't exaggerating, because at the level of the Tokyo tournament, Sengoku Kiyosumi is mostly (three out of four matches) in doubles, let alone the Kanto tournament and the National Tournament.

Most tennis players would choose singles over doubles if given the choice. As for whether his actions violated the rules?

Guan Yuechu stated:

Please, he didn't bribe Sengoku Kiyosumi to throw the match, nor did he give him laxatives or anything to affect his physical condition, nor did he add performance-enhancing drugs to his mineral water so that he would be found out and disqualified from the competition. He simply had a "friendly" conversation with Sengoku before the match, explaining a "possible" future option to him.

Even when making trash talk before a competition, one should be gentle, right? In short, his behavior was completely compliant with regulations, wasn't it?