Love Tennis and Yumiko Miura

The green flame made Zhixian think of Youmiko's green eyes - and at this moment Youmiko happened to be looking at Zhixian.

Their eyes met and Zhixian smiled.

Youmeizi's gentle, emerald green eyes contrasted with the green flames of the fireworks in her hands, and combined with the starry sky in the dark night, formed a beautiful picture in Zhixian's eyes.

When the fireworks in her hand burned out, Youmiko walked towards Zhixian.

"As for Rumi-chan, this is all right, right?" When it came to Rumi, Yumiko was a little nervous for a moment. She felt that she was really fierce during the test of courage.

"Don't worry, Liumei doesn't blame you." Zhixian said, "She is a very smart child."

"Such a smart child, it really makes people feel sorry for her..." Yumiko sighed. She had been treated like that, but at the critical moment, she still helped those who excluded, isolated and mocked her.

Yumiko asked herself if she could be so tolerant. It was good enough that she didn't hold a grudge against what she said, let alone help them.

"Everything will be fine." Zhixian looked at the extinguished bonfire.

95. Studying in the United States and practicing tennis

After the summer camp ended, Liumei's mother brought Liumei to the club to register as scheduled. With Zhixian's help, they quickly completed the registration process. By the way, she also took Liumei to the club's related supplies store to buy a series of supplies suitable for Liumei, including racket protective gear, tennis bags, non-slip tapes, tennis skirts and tennis shoes. As for the racket strings, Liumei was not asked to buy them because the club provides free string changes.

Although she was a beginner, Liumei's beginner's equipment had cost her a pretty penny, but thanks to the intervention of Zhixian, the young master, she was able to get a good discount. Zhixian then took Liumei to greet the instructor of the training class. Since the training class didn't have classes every day, Liumei would still receive more targeted training from Zhixian when she wasn't in class. The training class would only help her practice her basic skills.

He was only in elementary school, and it was unknown how long he would continue playing tennis in the future. At least for now, both he and Mrs. Tsurumi were pursuing this as a hobby or to improve their health.

Learning tennis is a long process, and the results are slow to show. Even in a very professional club like this, it is difficult to achieve quick success - except for some monstrous geniuses.

Zhixian positioned Liumei as a skill-based player, meaning that her playing style was closer to his own. Therefore, the first thing he trained Liumei on was ball control.

Zhixian would use the field to control the ball's landing point in front of Liumei, allowing her to touch the ball and swing the racket more often to develop muscle memory. In addition to sparring, she would also have her practice against a wall, striving to keep the ball's contact point concentrated in the same spot.

The daily racket swinging practice will not stop. In order to learn two-way swordsmanship in the future, students studying in the United States now need to practice swinging the racket and controlling the ball with both hands.

The amount and time of training are more than those of her peers in the training class, but Liumei has no complaints. She has also made friends with several girls who also attend the training class. In addition to tennis, they also chat about other topics related to little girls.

Because Zhixian also had training tasks to complete, Yumiko sometimes coached her in the US. Although she didn't say anything, Yumiko still found all her old tennis equipment and sorted it out, buying new ones, changing strings, and applying non-slip tape.

In short, it looks brand new. No one would believe Yumiko if she said she hadn't played tennis for a year with this outfit.

Although her playing style is different from Zhixian's, Youmiko is more than qualified to guide Liumei. She is the person who knows his playing style best besides Zhixian himself and his coach.

Yumiko is a net-front player who loves to attack aggressively and habitually goes to the net. She excels at clean smashes and volleys at the net. However, she struggles with baseline rallies, long-range rallies, and defensive counterattacks. Consequently, in her match against Zhixian, the latter easily controlled the tempo. Once her offensive rhythm was disrupted, her play only became increasingly chaotic, with no real sense of structure or organization.

That's why the combination of the two is more harmonious, Yumiko often thought.

Although Zhixian's offensive skills far surpass hers, the two of them always rely on her as the main attacking force, even though Zhixian is still the core of the strategy. Zhixian's offensive desire has never been strong. Even in singles matches, Zhixian relies more on forcing the opponent to make mistakes or occasionally launching unexpected attacks to score.

Therefore, the reporters of Tennis Monthly emphasized the "Zero-style slice" and "two-wield flow" when writing articles. After all, most of the points scored other than these were sparse and ordinary points or mistakes made by the opponent.

Then there is serving. Zhixian has a very high first serve success rate and very few double faults. Even when he doesn't have the zero serve, his serving games are still very dominant.

When talking about serving, we have to mention the serving practice of studying in the United States.

When learning tennis, serving is far more difficult than receiving. You can play against opponents, but your serve isn't necessarily that good. Even professional players often make serving errors or even double faults. Compared to badminton and table tennis, serving in tennis is incredibly difficult.

Most of the serving errors in table tennis are caused by Zhang Yining playing against Ai Fukuhara, who would just throw the ball under the table. Even if the game was not shutout, it would make the porcelain girl cry.

Giving up points in tennis is much easier. The worst you can do is double fault! The faster and more spin the ball has, the more likely you are to make a double fault. Of course, there are also those times when you're lucky enough to score by hitting an ace. So, if you want to give up points, just make more unforced errors.

Zhixian's idea was to teach Liumei how to hit the ball from the corner if she was a quick learner. That way, she would definitely have a good chance of winning the finals at the training camp at the end of the holiday break. Then, after the second semester started, she could join the women's tennis club. With the events of the Test of Courage tournament unfolding, her situation on campus would definitely improve.

Even if things didn't work out, she'd made a lot of friends at the training class, so after elementary school, she could hang out with friends from nearby schools. And when it came time to choose a junior high school, she chose the same one as her tennis friends and joined the tennis club together. This way, her time in the US would become a celebration of youth and hard work, filled with beautiful memories.

A beautiful young woman who had already made it to middle school and even high school was bound to be the center of attention, and she was undoubtedly admired by others. Even Yukinoshita had to admit that there were many people of the same sex who admired her, but her personality prevented her from becoming friends with them.

In this regard, there will be no problem at all as long as you learn more from Yumiko. After all, Yumiko is also a girl who is at the top of the class.

...Of course, what I learned was proactive communication, not Yumiko's "Queen of Fire" temperament.

As long as you don't act too aloof, you won't be disliked by most people.

People like Zhixian, who threw a girl's love letter into the trash, weren't disliked by most people, but after getting used to his straight-man antics, people stopped complaining. At most, when freshmen were deceived by Zhixian's face during school, they would be reminded that this "Prince of Tennis" had once thrown a love letter into the trash, and if you like it, you can go ahead.

In short, both Hikigaya and Yukinoshita are minorities within a minority, valuable as references but not universal. Rumi should just follow her own path.

96. Some small things that happened during the summer vacation (Part 3)

"Ah! Long time no see, Tachibana-san!" When Zhixian walked into the studio, Xiao Chiyo, who hadn't seen him for a long time, greeted him happily.

"Good afternoon, Sakura." Zhixian sat down at the low table. Although it had been a while, it had only been about a week. The summer camp was three days and two nights, and after that, he took care of his studies in the United States and the club. Once everything was pretty much settled, he finally found time to report to Nozaki.

Not to mention Sakura who was very active in visiting Nozaki every day, but the fact that there were no classes during the summer vacation gave Nozaki more time to work. It also meant that the assistants had more free time. For example, Chiyo, she reported to the office every day as if she was punching a clock.

"How was the volunteer activity?" Nozaki asked as he brought over a glass of cold water. He was actually eager to hear about the summer camp experience, and it just so happened that the next series could refer to that content - in order to cater to the summer, the comics also entered the summer vacation.

Previously, because of the problem with the crazy editor, Nozaki was so angry that he skipped the summer vacation and started school directly. After all, it was a monthly magazine, and as long as the plot was solid, no one cared whether it was summer or not. Two books were published in one summer vacation, so it didn't matter if he didn't write about the summer vacation.

"Well, nothing much to say. Just some normal volunteer work, setting up bonfires and courage tests, cooking curry, that sort of thing."

"Bonfire party, test of courage, cooking curry..." Nozaki wrote quickly on the small notebook with a pen.

"Did anything memorable happen?" Chiyo asked. She knew that Yumiko had companions, otherwise Chixian would not participate in such an activity. She felt that this kind of training camp-like activity was the most suitable and likely place for something to happen.

"Hmm...if I have to say, does it count as me taking in a disciple?" After thinking for a long time, Zhixian felt that this should be the most impressive thing.

As for the moonlit embrace with Yumiko? Keep it secret for now.

"Huh?!" Chiyo was stunned. Although the answer was explosive, it didn't seem to be what she wanted to hear.

"There's a sixth-grade girl who's currently in the club's training class. If she's interested, I'll teach her everything I know."

"Wow!" Chiyo's expression became even more exaggerated. She had never expected this development! She had thought that something would happen between Zhixian and that "her", but she never expected that this "her" was not the same "her"!

"I see, well, maybe it can be used..." Nozaki didn't care about the matter itself. He was thinking about how to cleverly integrate this incident into the comics without appearing out of place.

"Actually, that child..." Zhixian briefly recounted his experience studying in the United States.

It not only satisfied Chiyo's curiosity, but also helped Nozaki complete the plot, killing two birds with one stone.

"This child is so cute!" After seeing the photo of Zhixian and Liumei on Zhixian's phone, Chiyo was overwhelmed with maternal love.

"Long straight hair?" Nozaki was considering the character setting.

"Um, um... Would Nozaki-san like petite girls like this?" Chiyo asked a little shyly, with a bit of a double entendre - unfortunately, it was still not a direct answer.

"Mamiko would definitely like a kid like this, right? Suzuki would also be happy to help this kid." In the end, the straight man Nozaki still failed to catch the ball thrown by Chiyo.

For a guy like Nozaki, let alone hitting a home run, it would be good enough if he didn't get struck out - unless you threw him a straight ball - but Chiyo just didn't throw a straight ball.

Isn't that infuriating? Although she wasn't the president and vice-president of a guild where they were showing off their low health and could win with just one attack, Chiyo was still just a tool and a friend in Nozaki's eyes if she wasn't more direct.

There are some things you hope that person can understand, but if you don’t tell him and let him guess, then he may not be able to understand what you mean even after a long time.

However, Zhixian could understand Chiyo's reserve and shyness as a girl. After all, it was very demoralizing for her to muster up the courage to confess her feelings and be mistaken for a fan's love for the author.

After all, it is entirely possible that one's initial momentum will decline and eventually become more and more cowardly.

Moreover, although Chiyo really wants to take things further with Nozaki, she is not dissatisfied with the current situation. Of course, dating would be better, but she is also satisfied at the moment. After all, the two of them can be said to be together day and night. Compared with many girls who have a crush on someone but no progress, Chiyo can already be secretly happy. Not everyone has the opportunity to maintain a good relationship with their secret crush. For example, some girls will just throw the love letter into the trash can, but Chiyo not only got an autograph but also became the secret crush's assistant.

"If you want to use it, be careful not to describe it too much. This topic is very sensitive." Zhixian added that school bullying is always a big problem that cannot be solved.

"I know." Nozaki nodded. He also knew that he was a girl cartoonist, not a congressman.

"But speaking of it, this child must have had a hard time before, being isolated and so on..." Chiyo sympathized with Liu Mei's situation. Although she had not had a similar experience, it did not mean that she had not seen it.

From childhood to adulthood, there have always been those students in my class who didn't fit in. While I wouldn't go so far as to bully them, I'd always let them be left alone, a form of cold violence that only feeds into a vicious cycle. They haven't done anything wrong, perhaps just because they're not good at speaking, yet they're left alone. Or because of this, gossipers will gossip about them behind their backs, and others will follow suit and spread the rumors, a vicious cycle upon a vicious cycle.

The problem lies in this so-called atmosphere, which is invisible and intangible, but extremely lethal.

As the saying goes, rumors stop at the wise, but how many wise men among students can discern the truth? Even if there were, would they be able to help you clarify the truth? Or would they even be willing to do so? What if they just stand by and watch in silence?

Not to mention others, Zhixian himself was the one who watched with a cold eye. Although he was not a wise man, he had stayed out of the previous workplace internship or anything else. However, he had not expected that even so, he would still be assigned to the same group with Ye Shan.

He did this because he had his own reasons, but he wouldn't share this with Liumei. People are selfish, but most of the time they are kind. Zhixian didn't just want to teach Liumei tennis; he also hoped that she wouldn't develop the same pessimistic mindset as Hikigaya.

He hopes that she can become a beautiful and kind girl in the United States and grow up healthy and happy.

97. Some small things that happened during the summer vacation (Part 4)

"Okay, let's take a break." Zhixian announced.

Hearing this, Liu Mei breathed a sigh of relief. She slipped to the bench and drank water in small sips.

"Isn't it too early for Liumei to learn the giant bear's counterattack now?" Yumiko asked.

"The power of elementary school students' smashes is not that strong, so it would be better to take this opportunity to learn the giant bear's counterattack." Zhixian said.

The Giant Bear Return utilizes the body's centrifugal force to control the force of the racket swing, counteracting the force of the smash. This essentially leverages the opponent's momentum to counter the smash. The goal is to return the smash before it lands, thus preventing the ball from experiencing strong spin after landing. This technique is specifically designed to counter smashes and high-pressure shots.

By using its own rotation to prolong the interaction time between the racket and the ball, it can return a powerful smash with relatively little force. However, this giant bear return requires good timing and is very difficult to implement in practice.

Zhixian's method of training Liumei is also very simple and straightforward. He just keeps hitting smashes and lets Liumei adjust and seize the opportunity by herself. He will remind her when necessary.

Yumiko was responsible for throwing high balls to Zhixian in Liumei's half of the court, creating opportunities for smashes, while Zhixian held back his strength to hit smashes for Liumei to practice the giant bear return.

After half an hour, there were basically no successful examples, and the occasional similar counterattack was out of bounds.

"Watch this, Liumei! I'll demonstrate it again." Zhixian was about to demonstrate again while Liumei was taking a break. "Youyouko, you serve, and then I'll return the high ball, and you smash it with all your might."

"Okay." Yumiko nodded and walked to the baseline with the tennis ball.

Liu Mei, who was sitting on the bench, put down the water bottle and stared at Zhixian intently.

Serve, return, Yumiko goes to the net, Zhixian hits a high ball.

Yumiko took advantage of the speed of reaching the net to push off the ground with her toes and jump high. She bent her body backward into a bow shape. She did not hold her palms and the handle of the racket too tightly. At the moment the racket was about to touch the ball, she held the racket tightly, and her fingers and wrists burst out with force like a whip, smashing the ball out.

After smashing the ball, Yumiko landed calmly. Because she had prepared in advance, she was particularly satisfied with this smash.

But she had made preparations in advance, and so had Zhixian.

Just when Youmiko was satisfied with the smash she had just completed, which was quite similar to her peak 7-point style, the tennis ball passed by her - Zhixian on the opposite half of the court was still in a half-squatting position with his back to her - that was the completion of the giant bear's counterattack.

"As expected of Tachibana," the idle coach, who had come over to join in the fun, applauded. "That little girl's smash just now had a pretty high completion rate."

"Ah, hello, coach." Yumiko greeted the coach.

"Hello." Liu Mei also said. Although he was not the coach of her training class, she was familiar with this coach because she trained with Zhixian every day.

"Hello to you too." The coach waved at them with a thermos in his hand.

"...Why are you using a thermos in the middle of summer?" Zhixian asked. He felt that this thermos looked weird no matter how he looked at it.

"Oh, you mean this?" the coach said, with a look that said, "Don't mention it!" "The air conditioning in the office is too cold, and my tea has turned cold. I had no choice but to use a thermos."

“…” Rumi and Yumiko were speechless. Isn’t this coach too weird?

"Even a tennis coach needs to know how to maintain good health. A while ago, there was a sale on goji berries at the supermarket, so I grabbed a bag and started making tea." The coach came to the sidelines with a thermos. "It's not good to always be using the air conditioner, so I came out for a walk."

"Are you Wiggins?" Zhixian complained, "Playing health-preserving ball?"

"Hey! Do you believe that you can't catch my full-strength smash?"

"Come on! Coach Goji! Am I afraid of you?"

"Come on! Give me a racket, one with thick strings."

Because they were just out for a walk, the coach didn't bring his own racket.

Among the three rackets present, there is no doubt that Zhixian's racket can only be chosen.

Thinner strings allow for deeper penetration, which in turn adds more spin and control. However, these strings are less durable, making them more suitable for players who rely on power to hit the ball. Yumiko's strings are on the thin side, which is a bit off the average. Because she enjoys aggressive play, she prefers to play on the average side.

As for thicker racket strings, they are more durable and therefore suitable for baseline players who often actively exert force.

The coach suggested a racket with thicker strings because he wanted to hit the ball harder.

Although Zhixian is a baseline player, he prefers thin strings because he loves to control the ball. However, due to the need for multiple shots, strings that are too thin can easily break in a stalemate, which would be a shame to lose the game.

Therefore, the strings of Zhixian's rackets are of different thicknesses, and he usually chooses strings of average thickness.

The strings of the remaining rackets are getting thinner and thinner. At the most critical moment, the string master will take out the racket with the thinnest string, just like dancing on the tip of a knife. It is true that if you throw yourself into a desperate situation, you will survive; if you fall into a dead end, you will live.

After the two players are ready, the coach serves the ball.

Because he was a stronger reference, Liumei watched more seriously. She was also very curious about whether Zhixian could fight back against the smash of this tennis coach who looked big and strong.

In tennis, powerhouses are often referred to as "cannons," with the "cannon" varying depending on the country. The term "cannon" refers to their immense power and speed. A prominent example is French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, known as the "Mr. Ali of Tennis." This comparison reflects the immense power and skill of his players.

Although his career is not worth mentioning, the power of coaching is indeed very strong.

The powerful smash left Yumiko with a lingering fear - compared to this smash, her previous smash was like hitting someone with a hammer-shaped balloon, while the opponent's was a real big iron hammer.

But before she had time to worry about Zhixian, he had already successfully fought back.

"Hey! You're not fighting back like a giant bear!" Just as Yumiko was stunned, the coach on the field was already jumping up and down in anger.

"I didn't say I was going to fight back with a giant bear."