After understanding Koku’s situation and guiding a few first-year students on their training postures, Fuji Shusuke leisurely returned to the third-year training grounds. Just as he appeared outside the court, he saw Tezuka Kunimitsu walking towards him with a racket in hand.
“Fuji, is Koku okay?” Tezuka Kunimitsu was genuinely worried that his younger brother might have been scared by those second-year juniors. However, as the captain, he couldn’t show too much concern for his brother in front of the team members, or else Koku’s situation in the club might worsen. To protect his brother, Tezuka Kunimitsu had to ask Fuji Shusuke to check on him. But he didn’t expect Fuji to take so long to return.
As Tezuka Kunimitsu’s mind was filled with various pitiful images of his brother possibly being bullied, Fuji appeared at the court entrance. Tezuka quickly went up to him.
“Of course, he’s fine~” Remembering what he had just seen, Fuji raised an eyebrow and gave Tezuka a teasing look. “Tezuka, I just realized that even you can have a day when you misjudge someone.”
Misjudge? Tezuka Kunimitsu didn’t quite understand what Fuji meant, so he looked at Fuji’s smiling face with a puzzled expression.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you missed out on a little genius!” Fuji said with a hint of disappointment. “Koku’s talent is so strong, and you didn’t notice it before!”
Thinking about how Koku had never been exposed to tennis all these years, wasting such great talent, Fuji felt a bit sorry for him. If Koku had been like Tezuka, exposed to tennis from a young age, his fame might be quite significant by now!
Tezuka Kunimitsu: “???”
“Fuji, are you joking with me?” Why would he say Koku has strong tennis talent?
Having watched Tezuka Koku grow up, Tezuka Kunimitsu knew very well how weak his brother’s body was, so he never associated the “little genius” Fuji mentioned with his brother. He always thought Fuji was talking about Echizen Ryoma, the son of the famous Echizen Nanjiro, whom Coach Ryuzaki had mentioned to him before.
Knowing Echizen Ryoma’s true identity, Tezuka Kunimitsu didn’t stop his brother when he expressed a desire to learn tennis from Ryoma. Instead, he let Koku happily learn tennis with his friends. Tezuka Kunimitsu had even planned that during the day, Koku would learn from Ryoma, and at night, he would give his brother extra lessons. This way, he wouldn’t have to worry about Koku falling behind the other new members.
In order to make his brother happy in the tennis club, Tezuka Kunimitsu had really prepared a lot. He even had contingency plans for his brother being a tennis novice and had prepared many solutions. But he never considered the possibility that his brother might be a genius. “Koku’s body…”
“Koku’s body is fine,” Fuji knew what Tezuka was implying, so he didn’t take it seriously and patted Tezuka’s shoulder. “You know, Koku can hold the racket with both hands, and his serving posture is quite standard.”
“He even learned the twist serve just by watching it once.”
“Really? That’s the twist serve!” While Fuji and Tezuka were talking, the Seigaku regulars, who were closely listening, perked up their ears to catch more gossip from their conversation. So when they heard about Tezuka Koku learning the twist serve, Kikumaru Eiji couldn’t help but speak up, “Captain, did little Koku really never play tennis before?”
“How is he so amazing!” Kikumaru Eiji was genuinely impressed. He had been learning the twist serve for so long but couldn’t master the ball’s spin, so he still couldn’t deliver a truly aggressive twist serve. But according to Fuji, little Koku had already mastered the twist serve just by watching a demonstration once!!!
Is this the world of geniuses? As expected, the genes in the captain’s family are insane!!!
Kikumaru Eiji thought to himself, but he didn’t dare say it in front of Tezuka Kunimitsu, so he just pestered Fuji to tell him about Koku’s tennis talent. However, Fuji, who was usually easygoing, refused his request, “Eiji, I promised little Koku to keep it a secret!”
Oh well, he thought Fuji would tell him! He didn’t expect little Koku to ask Fuji to keep it a secret!!! Kikumaru Eiji knew that Fuji Shusuke valued promises with others the most. Since he said he would keep it a secret, no matter how much Eiji begged, Fuji wouldn’t reveal a word to him!
But Kikumaru Eiji’s curiosity was too strong, and he really wanted to know how high little Koku’s talent was. So he turned to the captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu, “Captain, why don’t we call little Koku over and let everyone see how amazing he is?”
After all, everyone wanted to know how high Koku’s talent was to be praised by Fuji. So why not let him play a match with the captain in front of everyone, so they could all see his true strength? Kikumaru Eiji suggested, and his suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by the eavesdropping regulars, who all looked at Tezuka Kunimitsu with hopeful eyes, hoping he would agree to Kikumaru Eiji’s suggestion.
But unfortunately, Tezuka Kunimitsu didn’t want to fulfill everyone’s wishes. Upon realizing that the genius Fuji mentioned was his own brother, Tezuka Kunimitsu had already decided in his heart that he would test Koku’s athletic ability thoroughly when they got home. But at school, he still hoped Koku could remain low-key, so he definitely wouldn’t let his brother do something so high-profile.
Even though he knew the regulars were curious about his brother’s true strength, Tezuka Kunimitsu resisted the pressure from the regulars and stuck to his principles. He didn’t plan to respond directly to Kikumaru Eiji and instead changed the topic, “Have you all finished your training?”
“The regional preliminaries are about to start. Are you all so confident? Then adding some training volume should be okay, right?”
“All regulars, run 10 laps around the field immediately!”
“After 10 laps, start pairing up for matches. The losers will be responsible for today’s cleaning duties.”
“Yes!”
Due to Tezuka Kunimitsu’s authority, the regulars had no choice but to obediently start running laps. While running, they continued their discussion.
“Why do you think the captain doesn’t want everyone to know little Koku’s true strength?” Momoshiro Takeshi couldn’t understand his captain’s thought process. In his view, talent should be fully displayed because, in the world of tennis, only the strong are more respected.
“Maybe he’s worried about Koku getting hurt!” Oishi Shuichiro, who understood Tezuka’s intentions better, said, “After all, there are many people in this world who can’t stand others being better than themselves.”
“Indeed, the captain’s brother is quite short!” Kaido Kaoru silently compared Koku’s height to his captain’s and concluded that the captain’s brother was really small.
“Tezuka Koku, naturally weak, prone to injury, went abroad for treatment multiple times as a child, with poor physical fitness…” Hearing the discussion, Inui Sadaharu adjusted his glasses and recited the information he had recently gathered.
With that, the regulars understood Tezuka Kunimitsu’s intentions.
“Is little Koku’s body really that weak?” Kikumaru Eiji scratched his head in shame. He thought the captain disapproved of Koku joining the tennis club, which was why he kept Koku’s identity hidden from the regular members. He didn’t expect the captain was actually protecting little Koku.
“Yes, Tezuka is actually an excellent brother!” Much better than himself, Fuji Shusuke silently thought.