With Echizen Ryoma’s explanation, Tezuka Koku quickly got the hang of the tennis match rules. In his understanding, tennis was just about hitting the ball over the net with a racket, making it land in the opponent’s court so they couldn’t return it. Not hard at all!
But when he actually started swinging the racket, he realized that getting the ball to land where he wanted wasn’t that simple. Even though he knew in his head where the best spot was, his hands couldn’t keep up with his thoughts, so he couldn’t even hit the ball.
After several attempts and still missing the ball, Tezuka Koku began to doubt his hand-eye coordination. Watching Ryoma and the regulars play seemed so easy, so why was it so hard for him to even serve?
So he turned to his friend for help, “Ryoma, why can’t I hit the ball?”
“Because it’s your first day learning!” Echizen Ryoma looked at the frustrated Tezuka Koku, who was frowning because he couldn’t hit the ball, and found it quite adorable. But he didn’t want Koku to be upset for too long, so he decided to teach him in a different way.
“It’s like this when you first start tennis. When I first learned, I couldn’t hit the ball either, always swinging and missing.”
Really? Tezuka Koku was a bit skeptical of his friend’s words, but seeing Ryoma’s serious expression, he believed him.
So it wasn’t that he was uncoordinated, but that everyone was like this when they first learned tennis?
“Then how can I hit the ball?” Tezuka Koku asked.
“It’s simple,” Ryoma said, taking a spare tennis ball from his pocket and demonstrating with his actions. “Just like this.”
He tossed the ball into the air, his body turning and jumping, and when the ball reached the right height, he swung the racket.
“Bang!” The crisp sound of the ball being hit was followed by the ball landing perfectly in the basket nearby.
This magical scene left the second and third-year members practicing nearby stunned. They had only seen such precise control from the regulars, and now a first-year could do it too? Truly hidden talent!
Everyone suddenly remembered when Tezuka Kunimitsu mentioned that first-year students could sign up for the regular selection matches. Could this first-year be the one he was talking about?
While everyone was still speculating, Echizen Ryoma took another ball from his bag and handed it to Tezuka Koku. “Did you get it? Want to try it yourself?”
Taking the ball from Ryoma, Tezuka Koku replayed the actions in his mind, simulating them and realizing he could do it. He confidently replied to Ryoma, “Yeah, I got it.”
He gripped the racket with his right hand, mimicking Ryoma’s actions, tossing the ball, crouching to prepare for a jump, then raising his hand to hit the ball, perfectly replicating Ryoma’s actions and precisely landing the ball in the basket.
“Ryoma, I hit it.”
When the ball went into the basket, Tezuka Koku was thrilled because he finally hit the tennis ball with the racket instead of missing. But he didn’t know that as the ball went into the basket, the surrounding second and third-year members who had been watching them fell silent.
If Ryoma’s control was surprising, then Koku’s learning ability as a beginner was truly shocking.
Are first-years this amazing now?
If they weren’t mistaken, the second person to hit the ball into the basket was a complete beginner, right? He just started learning tennis today, was just learning how to hold the racket, and kept missing, right?
How did he suddenly become so good, with such precise control?
Was it just luck, hitting the basket by chance?
Curious about the true abilities of the two, some seniors walked over to them. “Hey, kid, those two shots were just lucky, right?”
“If you’re really capable, do it again.”
“Just a first-year, how could you have such good control?”
“Yeah, yeah, just a fluke, right?”
“Don’t even know tennis yet, and you want to teach others? Know your place!”
When the seniors approached, Ryoma initially didn’t want to cause trouble, planning to take Koku to practice elsewhere. But when he heard them questioning his ability to teach Koku, he stopped in his tracks, chuckled twice, and served another ball right in front of them.
This time, he didn’t aim for the nearby basket but hit the ball into the farthest basket.
After the ball went in perfectly, Ryoma looked at the surrounding seniors expressionlessly. “Is this okay?”
“Just getting it in the basket, not that hard, right?”
“You…” Arai, angered by Ryoma’s indifferent expression, was about to rush over and hit him.
But a rational friend stopped him. “Did you forget what Captain Tezuka emphasized about club rules?”
“It’s just a serve, calm down.”
“Yeah, yeah, just first-years, don’t take it too seriously.”
While others were calming Arai, Tezuka Koku stood there, still not understanding the situation. He couldn’t quite grasp why these people came over and why Ryoma was talking to them.
Although the unfamiliar seniors didn’t seem very friendly, it seemed like they wanted to see Ryoma’s serve again, so Koku just stood there quietly.
But after seeing Ryoma serve to the far basket again and the seniors still not satisfied, Koku thought they wanted to see him demonstrate the serve too.
So he mimicked Ryoma’s actions and served a straight shot to the farthest basket.
After hitting it, he ran over to Ryoma and stood beside him, looking at the surrounding seniors with a good-natured smile. “Seniors, this serve is simple. Do you want to learn it too?”
Uh…
Seeing Koku innocently asking the seniors, Ryoma felt a bit helpless. He knew Koku was just genuinely asking if they wanted to learn the serve, but his words were too easily misunderstood.
The seniors would definitely think Koku was provoking them!
Should he take Koku and run? Before the seniors got angry and wanted to fight, risking Koku getting hurt!
“Brat, do you think you’re so great with that serve?”
“Do you know what respect for seniors is? If not, I’ll teach you today!”
As Ryoma expected, after Koku spoke, Arai, who had been calmed down, exploded again. If Ryoma’s demonstration only made him a bit angry, Koku’s question successfully hit his already weak senior pride.
Originally just annoyed by the first-years’ arrogance during practice, Arai now had only one thought: to teach these two first-years who publicly challenged him a lesson, showing them the seniors’ strength.
So Arai, holding his racket, angrily walked towards Tezuka Koku.
“Brat, do you really think you’re great? Just a serve, and you want to teach seniors?”
“Looks like if I don’t teach you a lesson today, you won’t know your place!”