Love Tennis and Yumiko Miura

"Fight well, I look forward to the day when you become the champion." The consultant encouraged.

The champion here naturally refers to the national championship champion.

"I'll do my best." Zhixian didn't promise anything. After all, he didn't know if he would encounter any strong opponents. He had no contact with the players from Kansai before the national competition, so he had no idea what was going on there.

"By the way, are you still in touch with Miura?" The consultant suddenly changed the topic and talked about Yumiko.

"No." Zhixian replied.

"She came back to junior high school around noon and asked me to borrow the video of your junior high school national competition. I happened to still have it, so I lent it to her."

"......" Zhixian's expression suddenly became very complicated.

He originally thought that it would be enough for him to just keep these past events hidden deep in his heart and not tell anyone about them.

"Ju? Are you okay?" Seeing that Zhixian looked unwell, the consultant asked with concern.

"Ah! Sorry, Counselor, I have to prepare for the next game. I'll take my leave now."

"It's okay, it's okay. We must keep doing our best in the competition."

----split line----

Zhixian came to a vending machine, silently put in a few coins, and then inexplicably pressed the button for lemon tea - this was Youmiko's favorite drink.

Staring at the lemon tea in her hand.

a long time.

Zhixian sighed, and for the first time ever, he didn't even look at the calories in the lemon tea. He simply opened the pull ring and took a sip.

——It has a taste different from that of oolong tea. It is a little bitter at the beginning, but as the liquid spreads on the tongue, it gradually becomes sweet, leaving a long-lasting aftertaste.

It was very sweet. Zhixian hadn't had a drink like lemon tea in a long time. His ascetic self-discipline made him suppress his desires and impulses in this regard.

After a long time, he got used to the taste of oolong tea. Although the taste was very light, it still had a hint of sweetness.

Zhixian thought he might like oolong tea. Although it was bland, it wasn't as bland as plain water. It had a sweetness, but it was a sweetness that needed to be savored, unlike the overwhelming sweetness of lemon tea.

Zhixian finished the lemon tea in the can in a few gulps and threw the can into the recycling bin next to him.

It's a bit too sweet. After being used to drinking oolong tea, the sweetness of lemon tea is a bit hard to adapt to.

The time displayed on his phone told Zhixian he had about two hours left to kill. The singles final, the highlight of the event, had been booked as the final match by the organizers.

A doubles match was currently going on on the field—Zhixian had absolutely no interest in watching it—and even less interest after meeting the consultant.

Yumiko now has video recordings of past matches.

Those involved in the game may be confused, but those who are watching can see things clearly. Therefore, Zhixian believes that more than a year later, when Yumiko looks back at the game video, she will probably find out how aggressive she was and how much he struggled.

He didn't know why Yumiko had suddenly decided to borrow the videotape. Perhaps it was because of something Ebina said, or perhaps it was because of something else. Zhixian had no way of knowing.

And even if Yumiko realized her mistake, it would not change the current situation between the two of them.

After all, he fought harder, so strictly speaking, if we were to assign blame, he would bear a greater burden than Yumiko. She wouldn't feel guilty about him because of this. But that's theoretically speaking, and Yumiko's behavior can never be summarized in theory.

Yumiko is actually a very thin-skinned person, and although she seems strong, she is not actually that strong. It's just because she is not good at expressing herself.

Zhixian doesn't want Youmeiko to continue to be entangled in this matter. She is living a good life now.

Zhixian still finds it hard to let go of his past regrets, and he feels guilty towards Youmeko - he was disturbed by off-field factors, there is no doubt about that, and there is nothing to explain.

Athletes are judged by their performance on the field. Whatever happens off the field cannot be used as an excuse for failure. Failure is failure, nothing to be ashamed of.

This is what Zhixian thought. He admitted his failure, but this did not affect his difficulty in letting go. He still felt very regretful.

However, now that things have come to this, he can only move forward alone and continue his tennis dream. Although this dream is no longer the same as before, he still wants to persevere - even if it is just one person.

However, Yumiko's sudden action was indeed unexpected, and he didn't know whether Yumiko would change because of it.

Sure enough, I should continue to buy oolong tea in the future. Zhixian sighed softly and bought a can of oolong tea and stuffed it into his tennis bag.

46. ​​The hidden truth

On this day, Ms. Sato had a rare opportunity to spare some time. She and her son planned to have dinner together after his game.

After confirming with her son that he had advanced to the finals, Ms. Sato also came to the competition. She planned to celebrate with her son after he won the championship - although in Zhixian's opinion, such a victory was natural and there was no need to celebrate.

However, his mother was too enthusiastic and insisted on taking this opportunity to celebrate, so he had no choice but to agree.

Ms. Sato doesn't know much about tennis, so she thought winning the championship was a big deal - especially since Zhixian was only third place the previous year.

But Zhixian also understood that his mother just wanted to see him. Since his parents' divorce, his mother was busy with her business, and the opportunities for mother and son to see each other were not very many, so Ms. Sato cherished every opportunity to see her son.

"Zhixian." Ms. Sato waved and greeted her son when she saw him from afar.

Then, seeing her, Zhixian abandoned his original slow pace and instead quickened his pace and came to his mother's side.

"Come and give me a hug~" Ms. Sato opened her arms.

"......I'm already in the second year of high school, Mom." Although he said this, Zhixian still went forward very honestly.

"I feel like you've grown taller again, Zhixian."

"About one or two centimeters." Zhixian replied.

"He's already much taller than his mother." Ms. Sato smiled with satisfaction.

"The game will probably take a while, let's go to the venue and sit down and wait." Zhixian said.

"it is good."

The women's singles final is currently underway, and two girls in tennis skirts are playing back and forth on the court.

The score on the field is 3:3.

"Oh, these two girls are really amazing." Ms. Sato exclaimed. What she just witnessed was a stalemate that lasted for several rounds, and it took nearly 20 rounds to decide the winner.

Zhixian took out his cell phone from his pocket, pressed the button on the side with his fingers, took another look at the situation on the field, then pushed the phone back into his pocket when the screen went out.

"Speaking of which, there was a little girl in the store today."

It's not normal for young girls to come to your women's clothing store, Zhixian complained in his heart.

"That little girl is really pretty, her golden hair is amazing."

Yes yes, your son I really like blonde hair too.

"The most coincidental thing is that she is Zhixian's former classmate!"

"My classmate?" Zhixian suddenly had a bad feeling - there were not many blonde girls among his classmates.

"That's Yumiko-chan! You two always play tennis together, right? I didn't expect her mother to be a regular at my shop! Ah, good shot!"

Zhixian held his forehead with his hand. His mother was a little rough and her speech rhythm was very imaginative, but he still grasped the key points.

"Did you say anything to her?"

"Huh? We just chatted briefly about you..." Ms. Sato stopped paying attention to the game, "...and about me and your dad."

“…” Zhixian was silent.

"...Did I say something I shouldn't have said?" Seeing that her son was not in a good state, Ms. Sato asked cautiously.

"You're not wrong."

Yes, the mother was just stating the facts, and he was the one who hid it from her.

"But, but, I didn't tell her that your arm was injured!" Ms. Sato's tone was a little urgent.

"It's nothing, it's all over." Zhixian looked at his left arm, "There's nothing wrong with my arm now."

His arm was only slightly injured and had recovered a year ago. In addition, with his dual-wielding fighting style, the burden was not particularly heavy.

Because of that accident, Zhixian sealed some of his skills to ensure that the burden on his arms would not be too heavy.

At the doctor's suggestion, the skills that were originally intended to be used in the junior high school competition were forced to be discontinued before they were officially released. Zhixian did not tell Youmiko about these things.

Because his arm injury was related to her.

He didn't want her to feel too guilty and affect her state, so he kept silent. Originally, he didn't think it would have much of an impact on him, but later the conflict between his parents intensified like a storm.

The combination of the two factors led to Zhixian's poor performance in the game.

Zhixian doesn't want Youmeiko to know this, but the situation is obviously out of control.

The game on the field was still in full swing, but Zhixian's mind was not on the game at all.

----split line----

Miura's house.

Mr. and Mrs. Miura were not at home today, so Yumiko studied the pile of videotapes she borrowed by herself.

First up is the Kanto tournament round of 16 and quarterfinals.

Yumiko operated the remote control, constantly fast-forwarding or slowing down, and pausing from time to time.

The opponent in the quarterfinals was not to be underestimated, but they still advanced to the semi-finals with a score of 6:3.

Although Zhixian was distracted on a few balls, his overall performance was normal.

Then came the Final Four.

Yumiko frowned - she found that her attack seemed more urgent than before, and the flaws revealed were more obvious - and Zhixian, who was responsible for protecting him, was obviously a little stretched.

After watching several replays, this tendency became more and more obvious.

Yumiko paused the video.

In the past, when she showed this overly strong desire to attack, Zhixian would always take the initiative to communicate with her and remind her to stay calm.

However, in these games, the two of them just followed the routine and there was no communication or restraint that should have occurred.

Yumiko thought, "Is it because of my parents' problems that I can't concentrate?"

Kanto Tournament Finals.

Yumiko remembered the match as extremely difficult, but they eventually won narrowly 7:5 in the tie-break.

Yumiko decided to watch it carefully over and over again.

The first few games went smoothly, with the score at 3:1. The two players had a very obvious advantage, and at this rate they should not be dragged into a tiebreak.

However, the turning point came in the fifth game.

Yumiko sped up to save a ball she had misjudged, and her stumbling steps seemed as if she had lost her balance and was about to fall.

At this time, Zhixian gave up his position and rushed over - in his eyes, Yumiko might not only fail to save the ball but also fall heavily to the ground, so he wanted to pull Yumiko.

The ball was indeed not caught, and Yumiko was caught by Zhixian's left arm at the moment of her fall - as a result, Zhixian landed on the ground with one arm protecting Yumiko.

Zhixian quickly helped Youmiko to her feet, so after asking a few questions, the two continued the game.

This game is Zhixian's serving game.

So Yumiko saw through the video what she couldn't see during the game - there was obviously a problem with Zhixian's arm when he served, so that the serve was easily returned, and the landing point was also different from the tactics.

And Yumiko discovered that in that match, Chixian completed the entire tie-break with his right hand.

47. The past finally known

The Kanto Tournament finals are over.

Yumiko was barely controlling the remote control with trembling hands.

The video came to the national competition.

In the first round, the opponents were a pair of players from Okinawa Higako.

His special skill is shrinking the earth, his reaction is fast enough, his save success rate is very high, and his lateral movement speed is very fast.

The score of this game was 6:4, which was not particularly difficult, but not easy either.

It consumes a lot of physical energy.

In this match, Zhixian changed hands only a few times, which is generally his specialty.

Use Yumiko's movement to provide cover, change the racket hand at an angle that the opponent cannot observe, and hit the ball in a way that catches the opponent off guard.

The Zero-style slice appears very rarely. Some balls would obviously be better handled with the Zero-style slice, but Zhixian did not choose to do so.

Yumiko rewound the tape repeatedly, hoping to figure out why Zhixian didn't use the Zero-style slice.

She felt that the Zero-style slice, which did not bounce when it landed, was very suitable for dealing with the opponent's "Shrinking the Earth".

Yumiko still didn't find the answer in this game.