Chapter 50: Hmph, We Were Looked Down Upon…
Chapter 50: Hmph, We Were Looked Down Upon…
After all sorts of happenings, this tennis match finally began.
The first match was Yukinoshita and Yuigahama versus the Miura Queen and one of her “handmaidens”. For convenience, let’s just call her “Handmaiden A”.
The “Queen and Handmaiden” pair took the first serve.
Swinging her gorgeous golden hair, Miura served first.
“You know,” she said, “I wonder if Miss Yukinoshita knows… I’m super good at tennis.”
Miura Yumiko, peak female normie, confidently smiled. She bounced the tennis ball on the ground and caught it, repeating the move skillfully like dribbling a basketball.
Her smooth movements looked impressive, enough to fool many – at least she didn’t seem amateur.
Yukinoshita offered no reply. She just stared at Miura coldly, silently urging her.
Get on with it.
Miura narrowed her eyes and smiled. Her smile was completely different from Yukinoshita’s. It was full of aggression and attack.
To describe it, Miura’s smile belonged to a lion!
“Well, if I accidentally leave a mark on that pretty face of yours… guess I can only say sorry.”
Wow, sure enough, she was a dangerous lioness…
A warning about a dangerous shot? That was a first.
“Accidentally?”
Yukinoshita was sensitive about that word right now. Hearing her opponent say it unexpectedly made the corner of her mouth curl up.
If Miura, with her flowing golden hair and full queenly aura, was a lion, then Yukinoshita was undoubtedly a tiger.
It was said long ago, that idiom—
Riding Yukinoshita… Wait, no! Ugh!
It’s riding a tiger and finding it hard to get off!
Anyway, when two queen-level clashed, one was bound to be trampled underfoot.
…
The show began—
Miura served!
WHOOSH!
A sharp, wind-cutting sound rang out sharply on the tennis court.
The ball flew fast towards Yukinoshita’s left side. For Yukinoshita, who was right-handed, this was outside her expected defense zone. The ball shot towards the outer edge of the left line.
Dangerous!
However—
“…Too naive.”
Facing the fierce incoming ball, Yukinoshita only uttered a cool, quiet murmur. Himekoji saw that the girl had already adjusted her stance for the counterattack.
THWACK!
Yukinoshita stepped out with her left foot, using it as a pivot. With a dazzling, waltz-like step, she spun sharply. Gripping the racket tightly in her right hand, she swung without hesitation, her backhand perfectly capturing the incoming ball.
A return shot that flashed before everyone’s eyes, splendid like an iaijutsu draw cut.
Yukinoshita scored!
“Wh… What?!”
Miura stared, dumbfounded, at the tennis ball bouncing at her feet. She gasped softly, unable to believe it.
A light, perfect point scored with the return shot, like waking her from a dream.
…
“I don’t imagine you’d know,” Yukinoshita said, casually flicking her racket and stepping forward calmly. “But I am also quite good at tennis.”
Miura still seemed dazed from the sudden loss of the point. Seeing her opponent advance, she instinctively stepped back. The look she gave Yukinoshita was undisguised: enemy, yet more than that – pure fear!
Wow. Making the queen-like Miura show that expression. Truly, Yukinoshita was terrifying…
“You… you actually returned that shot?! Impossible!”
Just one ball had already crushed Miura’s confidence?
Probably. The Fire Queen would always, without mercy, be frozen by the Ice Queen.
“Because your expression,” Yukinoshita stated, her thin, cold smile returning, “is exactly like my classmates when they wanted to embarrass me. I saw through those pathetic plans long ago.”
Without hesitation, she launched the next attack, even more dazzling and brilliant.
Yukinoshita, dashing across the court, gave Himekoji the illusion of an ethereal spirit. Her dancing steps became the best performance on the stage.
The audience outside the court was completely entranced.
In terms of popularity? Yukinoshita – flawless looks, outstanding elegance, top grades – was every bit Hayama’s equal.
She rarely showed her true self to others, so few knew her cold, sharp-tongued nature.
Yukinoshita was mysterious and beautiful, like a flower on a high peak – unreachable, intimidating. Or rather, an air of taboo seemed to surround her, forbidding closeness.
For guys, this was undoubtedly a deadly attraction.
Therefore, early in her first year, Yukinoshita had deservedly been voted into “Toyonoshi Academy’s Top 5 Most Popular Girls”.
But enough digressing. Back to the match—
With Yukinoshita’s incredible play, the gap in the scores slowly widened.
The audience, without exception, were utterly captivated by the girl’s dazzling, splendid technique. They watched, enthralled, occasionally letting out admiring sighs like “Ooh!” or “Ahah!”
Next, as if answering the audience’s expectations, it was Yukinoshita’s turn to serve.
She tossed the ball she was holding high into the air.
As if sucked into the sky, the ball flew higher and higher, far beyond the normal height for a serve. A mistake?
Just as everyone thought so…
Yukinoshita flew. Yes, flew!
Her right foot stepped forward, her left foot closely followed. In the next instant, both feet left the ground.
She danced gracefully through the air, light as if she’d spread wings.
That figure, soaring freely like a hawk in the sky, made every heart skip a beat. Her beauty and speed were such that everyone there forgot to blink, wishing to imprint the scene deeply onto their retinas.
THUD!
The sound of the hit rang out mid-air.
The ball spun, then shot towards the opposite side with unbelievable speed.
“…J… Jump serve!”
Someone in the crowd murmured in astonishment, mouth agape at the sheer spectacle of Yukinoshita’s technique.
Yukinoshita dominated completely—
The tension of the match was killed right then and there!
Though Miura Yumiko, having calmed herself down afterward, began to show the tennis skills that once got her selected for prefectural qualifiers, winning back a few points, the “Queen and Maidservant” team’s defeat against the “Demon King,” Yukinoshita, remained irreversible.
Yuigahama basically did nothing on the court; she was just there as a warm body.
Team Yukinoshita led 1-0!
Wait a minute! Just a moment ago, wasn’t this team called “Team Himekoji”?
…
“It’s alright, Yumiko. It’s only the first loss.”
Taking the racket from “Maidservant A,” Hayama stepped forward and offered soft-spoken words of comfort to Miura, still standing frozen in place on the court, looking utterly dejected. The girl, however, didn’t seem to have snapped out of the shock of defeat yet.
“Leave the rest to me and Tobe.”
“…No.”
Miura Yumiko, silent since her defeat, suddenly lifted her head and refused Hayama.
“Huh?”
Hayama was puzzled.
“I’m going to win it back. I’ll win it back from them!”
Miura stretched out her racket with purpose, pointing directly at the opponents who had just replaced Yukinoshita and Yuigahama—
Himekoji and Hikigaya.
Ah…
So the Queen felt unhappy about losing to Yukinoshita, and she wanted to wash away the shame, reclaim her pride, by beating Himekoji and Hikigaya, who clearly looked like total amateurs.
The unfairly dragged-in Himekoji Akito felt rather glum about this.
Honestly… we’re being looked down on…
Branch Choice!
Two versions of the tennis storyline exist. Please pick just one to read. Whichever version you choose will not affect the main storyline onward.
Please choose—
A: Branch 1 · Good Choice.
Triggers options, uses cheats, lighter tone.
Please jump to Volume Good Choice, Chapter 51.
B: Branch 2 · Bad Choice.
No cheats, grittier tone, victory for the loner.
Please jump to Volume Bad Choice.
(Note: If you feel uncomfortable at any point while reading, just skip ahead immediately! Just pick one branch to read. Also… please don’t flame this cute author. I’ll cry! Just warning you~)