The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

He sighed speechlessly.

"You all had your own drinks prepared to quench your thirst, so how did you manage to take other people's water to drink?"

This could be used as a negative example in elementary school textbooks.

Kohei Iori, who rushed over, understood Hachiman's words upon seeing the situation, and his expression twitched.

During the third round, Tinker Bell undoubtedly took the lead.

"Looks like we're going to lose the first round." Senior Azusa looked at the two of them, who were even having trouble standing up, and had a headache.

"It seems we can only place our hopes on Chisa and Iori." Nanaka said helplessly.

Looking at the somewhat dejected crowd, Hachiman suddenly realized that this was a perfect opportunity to curry favor.

So, there are two ways to guarantee victory in the first round: one is to sober up the senior students, and the other is...

He curled the corners of his mouth into a smile, already having a plan in mind.

-

"Exchange venues!"

"That was so easy."

With the victory imminent, the two members of Tinker Bell smiled, took water from the tank, uncapped the bottles, and drank.

"Cool!"

As the chilled salt water entered their mouths, one of the members shouted.

"Hey, is this some kind of exaggeration?"

Another member also smiled, picked up a bottle, opened the cap, and drank. After finishing, he comfortably wiped the corner of his mouth.

"This is the first time I've ever drunk soda after exercising. You're so thoughtful, Fujii."

"What?" Fujii looked up at him after drinking the water. "I didn't prepare any soda. I thought you put it in there."

"What? Could it be that the club president planted it?"

“I did it.”

The two turned their heads and saw a handsome but dejected man wearing black-rimmed glasses shaking a bottle of salt soda.

"Is it good?" he asked.

"Hmm." The two members answered him instinctively, then realized what he meant and asked, "Who are you?"

"A passerby selling croton salt soda."

Hachiman pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cool, pale light. He hadn't expected that after getting his pants back and putting on his glasses, he would be pulled over by the female members of Tinker Bell before he could even say a few words, and they would successfully put the specially made drinks into their water tank.

He had even planned to let Iori and Kohei cause some trouble so he could take advantage of the chaos to throw the drinks into the water tank, but it seems that was unnecessary.

"Croton oil, salted soda—"

As Fujii spoke, a surge of urge welled up in his stomach, his face turned ashen, and he squeezed his legs together, repeatedly lifting his buttocks.

"Oh--"

His teammate, who had also drunk the salt soda, lay down on the ground with his buttocks raised, looking like he had been bent over.

"Wishing you a wonderful afternoon tea."

After saying that, Hachiman took off his glasses and left without looking back. At the same time, the female employee of 'Tinker Bell' discovered that the handsome young man she had just found was missing. After looking around, she only found a disheveled man wearing the same clothes.

"That's strange, has he left?" she thought to herself, feeling a little regretful.

Back at the 'Pab' rest area, Hachiman raised his hand, ready to give a high five to Iori Kohei, who was carrying out the plan with him, but was grabbed by the neck by the other man.

"You rascal! You were having a great time chatting just now, weren't you!"

"What's so great about that! That was just a necessary means. Hey, fighting is fighting, but can you give us some oxygen?"

Hachiman, who had managed to escape from his grasp, quickly took a deep breath. Jealousy was truly a terrible quality.

"You guys really have no sportsmanship at all," Yoshihara Mana said, looking at the Tinker Bell members who had temporarily left the field and forfeited.

"Ha, it's just giving them a taste of their own medicine."

Hachiman sneered; he was all too familiar with this matter.

Want to play dirty tricks? Can you outsmart him?

Be careful, he might say something like, "A world where no one gets hurt doesn't exist," and then unleash his "New World Ruler" ability to cause a massive explosion.

Boom! Everything was blown to smithereens!

So handsome.

It seems there really is such a thing as "sophomore syndrome" in people. Although he hasn't even reached his sophomore year yet, he's already suffering from it.

Okay, I've decided. Starting today, I'm giving up croton oil!

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Great shot! Maybe so.

With Hachiman's wisdom and courage, Pab won the first match without a doubt.

Next up is the women's doubles pairing, with Chisa and Yoshihara Aina taking the court. This match is crucial, since the one he played doesn't count.

"Then, I'm leaving."

Chisa stood up and walked towards the court. She gave up on asking her sister about the sportswear. She knew that her sister, who was eager to see her cute appearance, would not take out the sportswear at this time. The most likely answer would be that it was at home.

Sigh, I don't understand why my sister always likes to tease her. With her indulgence, someone has also started to act inappropriately.

"correct."

Chisa turned her head, her long eyelashes fluttering gently. She pointed at Hachiman, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"Don't look around!"

Hachiman was taken aback by her commanding words and awkwardly scratched his cheek, clearly still remembering his presumptuous praise earlier.

"I see."

Satisfied with his assurance, Chisa met up with Yoshihara Aina and they went onto the court.

At that moment, Iori's voice rang out softly.

"I've felt something's off ever since, Hachiman, what exactly happened between you and Chisa just now?"

His words drew a crowd to Hachiman; it was clear they were also curious, but Chisa had been too embarrassed to speak up.

Under the intense, piercing gaze of Nanaka Kotegawa, which seemed to be afflicted by a curse, Hachiman knew he would have a hard time coming up with a plausible excuse. He could only recount what had just happened, since, in his opinion, it wasn't a big deal.

"After Chisa changed her clothes, she asked me what I thought. I said it suited her well. She asked where it suited her, and I said it suited her in every way. Normally, we should have ended there, but Chisa could tell I was just being perfunctory and insisted that I be specific. I've never really complimented a girl's outfit before, so on a whim, I said something that accentuated her figure."

After he finished explaining, everyone looked enlightened.

"No wonder Chisa is so concerned about her dress." Hamaoka Azusa looked at the girl who kept placing her hand on the hem of her dress, and suddenly realized something, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

"How about we cheer for Chisa and help her focus on the competition?"

"Alright, all we can do now is try our best." Hachiman nodded, completely unaware of her increasingly wide smile.

"Then, shout after me."

Hamaoka Azusa cupped her hands into a megaphone shape and shouted loudly.

"Nice buddy! Chisa!"

"Nice buddy! Furukawa!"

"Chisa! Such a nice buddy!"

Led by her, everyone else shouted encouragement. Just as Hachiman was about to do the same, he noticed a commotion coming from above the stands.

Have the seniors woken up?

After a second of hesitation, he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"It looks like there are some girls with great figures competing!"

"real or fake?"

They have great figures? How did they get that information before even seeing the person?

"Hachiman, let's all shout together!" Hamaoka Azusa urged, her voice filled with impatience.

Something's not right. Something's very wrong here!

Logically, when cheering someone on, you'd usually say "good shot" or "excellent," so why would someone say "nice buddy"? And what does "buddy" mean?

Although humanities subjects have always been his forte, he still couldn't memorize the vast vocabulary of English.

Looking at Chisa, whose face had darkened after being cheered on by the crowd not far away, a bead of cold sweat trickled down his cheek.

You can't shout that out. Others might be fine, but he, who just said something strange to Chisa, will definitely be killed.

"Chisa! Good shot!"

After a mere fraction of a second of thought, he blurted it out.

As he finished speaking, Chisa Kotegawa's deadly move shocked the entire audience.

-

Guessed it.

As Hachiman sat down, his tense nerves relaxed. When he said "Good shot," he keenly noticed the regretful expression on Hamaoka Azusa's face. This woman was definitely trying to trick him.

The saying "You can never be too careful" is really fitting for this place. Every step you take that you don't pay attention to could be a deadly move.

With a whistle, the match ended. Although Chisa's individual skills overwhelmed the two opponents, unfortunately, she had a partner who dragged her down. In the end, she lost the match to Tinker Bell.

As Chisa slowly walked towards him, Hachiman went to the water tank, took a bottle of water, and prepared to hand it to the girl. Just as he turned his head, Chisa was standing in front of him.

"Qiansha, this is for you..."

Why don't you shout the same things as everyone else?

Before the water could be handed out, the girl asked a question.

Hachiman paused, staring at the strange-looking girl in front of him, his mind racing. Wasn't this a trap? But looking at Chisa, something seemed off.

"I……"

"Forget it, no need."

He was about to answer when the other person interrupted him, took the water from his hand, and hurriedly left to sit down in the rest area.

Hachiman looked at his empty hands, somewhat confused about the situation. Had he shouted the right thing or the wrong thing? Unfortunately, there was no answer to that question.

Back at the rest area, Chisa listened to everyone's encouraging words. Her throat was parched, so she unscrewed the bottle cap, turned the plastic bottle upside down, and poured the water into her mouth.

She was a little annoyed, but couldn't quite put her finger on why.

In short, I'm just not happy!

So annoying.

When Hachiman returned, he saw the girl with slightly puffed-up cheeks for some reason. He, who prided himself on his emotional intelligence, was at a loss. If he knew the reason, it would be easy to solve, but he didn't know what he had done to upset her.

Isn't "good shot" also a form of encouragement? Does that mean "nice buddy" is stronger?

Confused, he moved closer to Hamaoka Azusa, who had first mentioned the word, and asked her in a low voice.

"Senior Azusa, what exactly does 'nice buddy' mean?"

"It just means it's great."

Isn't that strange?

Hamaoka Azusa sighed softly as she watched his bewildered expression. Sure enough, this blockhead didn't know how to win a girl's heart.

Hachiman is in for a rough time.

However, this is none of her business, since she and he are currently in a fake "love rival" relationship.

Chapter Thirty: The Unlucky Child Who Time-Traveled

Due to the loss in the second match, the final showdown has finally reached the match point. Iori and Kohei are on the field, facing a key member of the opposing team plus the president himself. Well, when Hachiman saw this situation, he seemed to think they could surrender early.