My love index is at its maximum.

[Lu Jian: Even if you come, I won't see you!]

[Lu Jian: And tell me where you are, I'm coming over right now to beat you up!]

[Tazaki: I'm queuing up at the entrance to get in. Have you guys gotten inside yet?]

[Lu Jian: I'm already inside. Never mind, I won't talk to you. My sister strictly forbids me from contacting you.]

[Tazaki: Come find me in the locker room later.]

[Lu Jian: I'm not going!]

[Tazaki: We're comrades now, and our goal is the same: to make our older sister happy. We need to be on the same side!]

[Lu Jian: You just wait until I get my hands on you (angry.jpg)]

After putting his phone away, Tsukasa Tazaki breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

For the past few days, he had been having that idiot Shikami try to coax his older sister to come to Fukuoka. Now that the two sisters had entered the venue ahead of schedule, he could finally relax his tense nerves.

As long as Hoshino Hanami is willing to accept news about him from the outside world, then he still has a chance to salvage the situation. Although it is still difficult, all his confidence finally has a solid foundation, and is no longer a castle in the air that he has forcibly built to comfort himself.

"Hey, student, we have a question to discuss..."

Tazaki Tsukasa looked up and found a beautiful reporter in a neat uniform standing in front of him, looking at him excitedly.

Strangely, she wasn't holding a microphone, and there weren't any cameras or microphones around. The other girls on the other side were watching coldly with their arms crossed, looking indifferent and not planning to say anything.

"No need to ask."

Tazaki Tsukasa spoke up, "My goal in coming here is to take the first step towards becoming the most amazing sixteen-year-old in the world!"

Reporter: "...I'd like to ask if I could buy you a cup of coffee?"

?

After a moment of stunned silence, Tsukasa Tazaki asked, "Miss, have you met your KPIs for this month?"

"Huh? Not yet."

The female reporter blushed and looked at him expectantly: "How about we do the interview while we have coffee?"

"Tsukasa Tazaki!"

Not far away, Kuriyama Sakura rubbed her temples and said, "You come over here and stand properly!"

"Hey, I'm coming right away!" Tsukasa Tazaki jogged over to the department head, casually criticizing their earlier behavior: "Those female reporters have no professional ethics whatsoever. How can they ask any handsome guy out for coffee?"

Kuriyama Sakura stared at him without any emotion: "Shut up!"

Even the usually steadfastly protective Kiki tilted her head and said in a disdainful tone, as if she were calling an otaku, "Kiki, in Shiori-chan's heart, you've been completely degraded into an incorrigible scumbag!"

"Listen up, you two," Qichuan Yui said proudly, raising her chin. "From now on, I'll take good care of him. You two don't need to worry about it!"

Tsukasa Tazaki sighed, feeling a headache coming on.

I couldn't help but think to myself, thank goodness I'm much better-tempered now, otherwise I would have punched them all and made them cry.

Chapter 201 National Competition (2)

Upon entering the stadium, Kana Shimamoto led the students through the registration process. The boys and girls then split into two teams and entered the locker room to put on their competition gear.

Just as Tazaki Tsukasa changed into his kendo uniform and was preparing to wrap his headband in front of the mirror, Murakami Mizuiro suddenly appeared beside him from somewhere.

"Tazaki-kun, please allow me to serve you!"

"what?"

"Watch me tie this headscarf in the Murakami style!" Murakami Mizuiro knelt beside him, tying the knot and folding the headscarf with remarkable dexterity, looking every bit the virtuous wife.

"..."

"Am I amazing?"

Murakami Mizuiro quickly folded the headscarf into a hat shape and personally helped Tazaki Tsukasa put it on: "Tazaki-kun, as the head of our school, leave these small tasks to me! Oh, by the way, I recently learned how to relieve fatigue by scrubbing people's backs, so let me give you a massage tonight!"

"...Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

"Aren't you excited?"

"No, I'll sleep somewhere else tonight!"

Murakami Mizuki's face was filled with disbelief: "You're actually going to abandon me?"

"I'm ready to kill you now." Tazaki Tsukasa put on his armor, drew his bamboo sword, turned around, and slapped him on the shoulder with the blade: "I'm warning you, from now on, you're strictly forbidden from coming within one meter of me!"

After putting on their competition gear, the group, led by Takumi Takeuchi, walked back to the athletes' area of ​​the stadium to wait.

The Fukuoka Dome, with its 30,000 seats, was almost completely full, a sea of ​​black as far as the eye could see. Media from all walks of life had gathered, from student reporters from school newspapers to professional teams from television stations, and flashes of various types of cameras were going off from time to time.

Tazaki Tsukasa looked around curiously, finding it hard to believe that a high school level competition could be on such a large scale. And this was for a niche sport like kendo; if it were a popular sport like baseball or soccer…

The next hour or so was a long and tedious process.

The opening ceremony included speeches from the organizers and representatives of the participants, as well as a display of the Jade Dragon Flag. After these events, the participating delegations left the venue, and the team leaders went to the draw area to draw lots to determine their group assignments.

While waiting in line for the lottery, Tsukasa Tazaki replied to her little cutie's messages on her phone.

The Jade Dragon Flag competition is divided into men's and women's sections, and the competitions are held in different areas.

[Ninomiya: ┭┮﹏┭┮Why are there only five girls in the kendo club? Shiori-chan doesn't want to go on stage.]

[Tazaki: The women's final is a day earlier than the men's final, so Shiori-chan will be able to see the most exciting part.]

[Ninomiya: Do you really think we can make it to the finals?]

[Tazaki: Based on the competition rules, Kikawa-kun has a very high probability of winning the championship.]

[Ninomiya: Kiki, do your best! My dad will be coming all the way from Hokkaido to cheer you on in the last two days!]

[Tazaki: Your dad?]

[Ninomiya: Hahaha~ I'll let you ride in his Toyota that he uses to haul fertilizer!]

"Please begin the lottery, student."

The staff member's voice rang in his ears, and Tazaki Tsukasa quickly put away his phone, reached into the large cardboard box with the words "Jade Dragon Flag Event Draw Box" written on it, grabbed a slip of paper at random, and handed it to the staff member.

“Group A, number 38… Let me see, someone has already drawn Group A, number 38.”

The staff member, a man in his thirties, looked up at him after searching through the computer spreadsheet: "Your first-round opponent is Tokyo Kamiyama High School. The match venue is... All teams in Group A are at table 10. The match starts at 10:00 AM sharp. Do you have any further questions?"

"no problem."

Tsukasa Tazaki shook his head slightly and returned to the kendo club.

"How's it going?" Ueda Masanami, carrying a bamboo sword, was the first to rush over, asking anxiously, "Which group are you in? Who's your opponent in the first round?"

"Group A, Kamiyama High School."

"Huh? It's those guys..."

Takeuchi Takumi's ugly face turned cold again: "Fine, let's settle the score from last time together this time!"

"Haha~"

A laugh drifted from the outside. The big guy turned around and immediately clenched his fists, making a cracking sound.

Kamiyama High School's captain, Minamino Sawahei, parted the crowd and walked up to Kitagawa's group with a forced smile: "How interesting. I didn't expect our first-round opponent to be your old neighbor."

"Sorry, you're not welcome here!"

Takumi Takeuchi stood with his hands behind his back, striking a pose of a reclusive sage, perfectly capturing the aloof and ugly demeanor.

"Is this the attitude you have when you see old friends?" Minamino Sawa raised an eyebrow with amusement, glancing around at the Kitagawa students who had surrounded him. "There are quite a few of you. Are you planning to compete for the Jade Dragon Flag? It's not that I look down on you, but as rich kids who only know how to study, can't you just stay in Tokyo? What's the point of going through all this trouble to come here? You'll just be eliminated in the first round anyway."

Ueda Masanami, his face dark, led all the Kitagawa students to surround them.

"Trying to make a move here?" Minamino Zehei raised his chin and snorted disdainfully.

Both being high schools located in Yotsuya, Kamiyama harbors a long-standing grudge against Kitagawa.

This is normal. Beichuan is the top-ranked private high school in the country, while Shenshan is just a public school with a deviation score that ranks in the middle.

Those who can enter Beichuan are either exceptionally intelligent or have wealthy and powerful families. The rest are either exceptionally intelligent or have so much wealth and power that it's frightening.

In Minamino Sawahei's words, the existence of schools like Kitagawa is disgusting, especially the last type of people; they simply don't give ordinary people a way to live.

"Alright, alright, calm down." Takeuchi Takumi, with his hands behind his back, scolded the Kitagawa students. Then he raised his head slightly and looked at the high ceiling of the gymnasium: "We Kitagawa came to Fukuoka this time for the Jade Dragon Flag. Why get angry over a team like Mount Kami that will be eliminated in the first round?"

Where do you get the audacity to say such things?

A question mark slowly appeared above Minamino Sawahei's head.

Takumi Takeuchi had a cold expression and an unusually loud voice that echoed throughout the area.

"Remember, the strong always maintain the mindset of the strong! When faced with provocation from the weak, we should not be angry, but ignore it. We must not let external things disturb our sword heart. Do you understand?"

"Understood," the dozen or so boys from the kendo club answered in unison.

"I can't hear you, speak louder!"

"Senior, we understand!"

"Great, very energetic!"

The students from Beichuan instantly became the focus of attention as their clear and loud voices resounded throughout the gymnasium.

"These people from Kitagawa are crazy..." Minamino Sawahei shook his head and slunk off to station number 10.

Takeuchi Takumi watched him leave with a nonchalant air, his gaze sweeping over the team members in front of him, watching their enthusiastic expressions, and he felt very pleased with himself.

That was a very successful performance!

He wanted to maintain his cool and aloof image, but the corners of his mouth kept slowly turning up in a darn way.

If Ninomiya-kun saw this, maybe he'd change his mind... Takeuchi Takumi thought smugly, slowly turning his head, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the expressionless Tazaki Tsukasa...

What?!

I was so busy showing off that I almost forgot about this old man.

"Ahem, Tazaki-kun..." Takeuchi Takumi walked towards him in a cold and aloof manner.

Tazaki Tsukasa asked in a cool and aloof manner, "What is it?"

"Please, do your best!" Takeuchi Takumi came to his side and said politely, "You are our leader, and we will do everything we can to protect you from now on!"