Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

On a sunny weekend, a gentle breeze caressed my face, and the fragrance of grass and earth mingled together in my nostrils.

The young men holding bows on the left and right, dressed in pure white kyudo uniforms, entered their respective seats in the first and second dojos.

In the stands, Ikemoto, the advisor of the Michi High School Archery Club, sat with two substitute players from the school.

Under the bright light, the old advisor, Ikemoto, frowned and looked back and forth between the five members of the Kamikoshi Archery Club.

"Teacher," a substitute player named Hikaru called out to him.

"explain."

Do you think... Kamigo will be able to win this match?

He felt somewhat uneasy due to the strength displayed by the unexpected rise of the Turks.

The opponent not only has Sugita Sohei, a nationally renowned archery prodigy, but also Uesugi Kai, a rising star in archery who has reportedly only been practicing for two months.

Sugita Sohei was already an unbeatable high school student among his peers, not to mention that there was another player on their team who was even more outstanding in this tournament.

"What do you think?" Advisor Ikemoto asked without turning around.

"I think...it's not that easy."

After all, Michi High School has always been a powerhouse in archery, and the label of exceptional strength has always been attached to them.

This is the indelible impression that the winning streak has left on everyone over the long term.

Confidence is essential.

Ichijo Teru thought that Consultant Ikemoto would refute him, but to his surprise, he nodded in agreement.

The old man's voice was slow and deep: "In the last round, even that kid Ti became unusually serious, all for the sake of shooting an arrow that would bring momentum to everyone."

"But as you have seen, the transition rhythm has been disrupted."

He straightened his back, which ached from sitting for so long.

"Binlang is a very talented kid, but he is too easily influenced by others. This is probably due to his strong personality. I hope he can keep his composure."

Amidst enthusiastic applause, the shooting began.

Kai Uesugi, positioned at the front, spreads his feet apart, raises his hands above his head, and pushes and pulls the bowstring in a forward-facing position.

The movement of the opening gesture resembled a triple cross, with the body extending vertically and the upright posture subtly attracting the eyes of the girls in the audience.

She had a vague feeling for him, but was drawn in by his charm.

"So cool... Sakura-chan, I suddenly want to learn archery..."

"You said the same thing last time, but archery is very difficult, isn't it?"

"I know, but it doesn't matter how difficult it is. Just think about it seriously, what it would be like to stand with the upperclassmen in hakama and learn archery!"

"—He gently took your hand in his palm as you held the bow, his handsome face close to your ear, patiently teaching you your careless movements in a gentle voice."

The girl became more and more engrossed in her conversation, her hands clasped tightly together as she gazed at Uesugi Kai's captivating silhouette and his aloof face.

"A breeze blows, and your hair and his magnetic voice linger in my ears."

You exchange a smile with him, and the arrow in your hand leaves the longbow under his guidance.

"The pair of pristine white archery uniforms swaying in the wind at this moment exude an aura of love~"

The girl stared at Sugi Kai with such infatuation that she was practically dazed. Suddenly, she grabbed her best friend's arm and shook it violently.

"Ahhh—! Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, I can't take it anymore! I'm sooooo happy! I'm going to find him as soon as he finishes his match! I'm definitely going to confess to him!"

"Perfect love is something you have to strive for!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Sakura remained expressionless as her best friend shook her; she had already given up on the idea.

She stretched out her hand and pointed to Uesugi Kai.

"It may be cruel to you, but you have to accept reality sooner rather than later. Look at what your senior is wearing on his left hand."

"Cruel to me? With your left hand?"

The girl, her love burning like fire, looked in the direction of the sound, and upon closer inspection, her mind went blank as if a massive iceberg from Antarctica had crashed down on her.

My burning heart has turned completely cold.

"Why, why did this happen...?"

###Chapter 146 The Arrow That Knocks on the Heart###

Bang, bang, bang.

Each arrow, piercing the heart, flies out from the bowstring.

Each strike was accompanied by a beautiful chord sound emerging from the seventh section of the shooting technique.

The vibrating sound of the strings resonating in the air surged into the eardrums, and the brain was excited and accelerated by this pleasurable sound, and the blood boiled with the miraculous sound of hitting the target.

The repeated hits on the target made the atmosphere in the venue increasingly noisy and lively.

Guan Jingying meticulously drew the bow, carefully considering and sculpting every bit of force involved.

As the bow was drawn further, the four-inch-long bamboo bow, under his skill, displayed its beauty to the fullest.

He kept reminding himself of the breathing method taught by Norishi Ogasawara.

—Hold the bow with your left hand at eye level, extend your left arm outward, inhale gently and send the air down, and exhale slowly and evenly after your abdomen has expanded.

This cycle continues indefinitely.

The bow's arrows were half-hidden by folded vines, obscuring the target on the earthen ground.

With the right demeanor and a stable mindset, one can achieve the so-called "hit-or-miss" effect.

With a "click," the arrow left the bowstring and, as expected, pierced the target, embedding itself in the soil behind.

Then, amidst the cheers of the audience, he breathed a sigh of relief, took the arrow from the ring and little fingers of his right hand, nocked it on the bowstring, and faced the dojo with the wind blowing across the green field, ready to unleash his next arrow.

Yuzhi High School remains as strong as ever.

Seemingly having learned from the previous round, they sped up their shooting pace—a team's rhythm and speed must be controlled by its own members.

The wind blew across the faces of the five people in turn.

The strings resounded in succession, and the sound of their shots hitting the target carried by the wind made the audience's hearts beat in unison.

Shimokawa Akira, a shooting instructor, took a step forward with his left foot toward the shooting range, steadying himself while pressing down on the bow with his left hand, and simultaneously drawing the bow.

The archery system emphasizes power; a strong and swift arrow can bring extremely high accuracy.

The actions of preparing the bow, raising it, drawing it apart, and pulling it back are already skillful.

The taut bowstring emitted a dull, intense buzzing sound as the bow was released. The sound of the string could not be described as beautiful, but the sound of the arrow hitting the target as it pierced the air dissipated into the sky.

Shimokawa Akirou suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, and his narrowed eyes began to waver.

Although they hit the target, the members of the Michi Archery Club were not very happy.

—The arrow pierced the soil from the outside of the target.

Arrows shot through the target frame like these do not count as hits, so there is a big "X" on the scoreboard at Michi High School.

Yuzhi actually fell behind by one point.

Viewers who have long supported this prestigious high school couldn't help but sigh in despair.

Why is this happening?

Putting down his bow and staring blankly at the result, Shimokawa Akirou couldn't help but glance at Uesugi Kai, who had returned to his seat.

Both of his arrows hit their mark, and the emerald green arrows mixed with the sweat stains on his cheeks made the flying arrows more dazzling than anyone else in the venue.

Although I tried my best not to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye, my heart and lungs still couldn't help but clench when his beautiful and clear notes entered my eardrums.

He recalled how he had mocked him at the opening ceremony for having only two months of archery experience before participating in the competition, and his narrowed eyes trembled involuntarily.

Two months? He simply couldn't believe that he was a so-called two-month-old archery novice.

That kind of posture with three interlocking crosses, that first arrow that never missed the target and amazed the entire audience, how could a so-called novice possibly produce such a thing?

Even though Sugita Sohei is a renowned archery prodigy, his current strength and status are the result of his early training and hard work.

Like Feng Yeti, he was a genius who surpassed his peers.

He himself grew up in this kind of environment, and countless teachers and practitioners had boasted about his movements and accuracy. He should have had a bright future.

I'm only a first-year student, and I should be on par with them in the future.

But why are they suffering repeated defeats now?

With hesitant steps, he returned to his seat behind him and glanced at Uesugi Kai, who was retrieving secondhand arrows from the shooting range next door.

I was actually much weaker than the people I used to look down on?

The bow—the emotion it hates most is stubbornly insistent on being strong.

Yagi Eijin, who was drawing his bow, had already anticipated this outcome, and the principle of "a straight shot will always hit the target" in archery had already explained his mistake.

However, as a teammate, he could only accept his teammate's mistake and try his best to make up for the loss caused by that arrow.

There was a brief moment of silence in the audience.

“It seems that there are indeed problems within Michi,” Ogata Asaka said. “It’s clear that they’re speeding up their shooting to break free from the rhythm control dominated by Uesugi and Sugita, but things haven’t gone as planned. This seems to have exacerbated the anxiety of their forward shooter.”

Chitose Mai glanced at him. "I always feel that the guy with the squinty eyes is weird, hmm... I can't quite put my finger on it. The things he said when he suddenly appeared last time didn't seem to have any good intentions."

The competition was intense, and the bustling crowd was filled with noisy discussions.

But as the archery club suddenly missed the target, the atmosphere abruptly changed, becoming quiet, with everyone's attention focused on the person who had missed.

Hirata Masanobu, who was in the front position, felt the pressure of the gaze. He put down his bow and tightly gripped the second arrow, which was not yet nocked, with his right hand.

My Adam's apple bobbed, and I instinctively wanted to say sorry.

Click...!

Beside me came the steady, gentle string music of Sugita Sohei, like the brass section of a symphony orchestra, with a warm and intimate quality when playing soft passages.

The two did not exchange words; a single note on a string was enough to convey what he wanted to say.