Tachibana Kippei

I'm back!

Back in his familiar home in Tokyo, Muneyoshi habitually lowered his head and changed his shoes at the door.

Muneyoshi originally thought that only his mother was at home, but he didn't expect that his Old Man had also returned to Japan after finishing his business trip to Spain.

"You little rascal, you played quite well in this year's France U-17 World Cup!"

"Father? When did you get back?"

Saeki Muneyoshi was slightly startled at first, then raised an eyebrow.

"Besides, I didn't tell you I participated in the competition, so how did you know?"

"You brat, you still have the nerve to tell me about something this big? You didn't even tell your Old Man?"

"Father, you were on a business trip to Spain at the time. Even if I had told you, you couldn't have come to watch my match."

Muneyoshi didn't actually know how far he could go at the time.

Moreover, parents' expectations and concerns are always different from those of others.

If they saw themselves getting beaten up like that on the court, especially their mother Kannai, they would probably be heartbroken.

In addition, although his father did a good job, he was actually just an employee, not a boss.

If they wanted to watch Muneyoshi's match, a series of procedures were required, so they weren't notified.

After changing his shoes, Muneyoshi, carrying his golf bag, walked past him.

As he walked past his father, he subconsciously asked, "When you say you listened to others, who did you listen to?"

"Who else could it be but your principal!"

"The principal? The principal of Fudomine?"

"Who else could it be but him? After he learned about your abilities, he's been urging you to go back to class."

When Saeki's father said this, a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

"I'm still on leave of absence from school, how come everything's been settled so quickly?"

Muneyoshi knew that the vice principal had told him to go back and handle this matter.

But he truly hadn't expected even the principal to be like this.

"Then I can go back tomorrow?"

"Of course, you can come whenever you want. Your principal is so worried about losing you that even the representatives from the opposing sides haven't said anything yet."

"Okay, then I'll go back to Fudomine tomorrow."

At this moment, Muneyoshi looked into the room and saw his mother Kannai, craning her neck and looking at him with concern. When she saw Muneyoshi's disheveled appearance, she frowned with heartache.

"Mother, I'm back." Muneyoshi's voice softened.

Mother Kannai smiled gently, her face full of tenderness. "Yes, it's good to be back. Go take a shower, you're all dirty. You can eat after you're done!"

February 2nd.

When Muneyoshi stood at the main gate of Fudomine School again, he realized the passage of time.

Almost a year has passed since he left Fudomine and took a leave of absence. His first year of junior high school is now coming to an end.

Thinking back, he only stayed at Fudomine for less than three months after enrolling; I'm afraid many people have already forgotten about him.

Muneyoshi walked and stopped frequently along the way, and it wasn't long before he arrived at the classroom.

A class was in session when he arrived, and the previously noisy classroom suddenly fell silent.

After their initial shock, many students recognized him.

Muneyoshi underestimated the impact of his violent incident on his classmates; other grades or classes might forget about it in the blink of an eye.

However, many classmates will remember Muneyoshi clearly, after all, he was someone "around them".

The teacher who gave the lesson was their class teacher, also known as their homeroom teacher.

He immediately recognized Muneyoshi, then stopped his studies and walked straight out of the classroom. The quiet classroom became increasingly noisy, like a vegetable market.

Many people were whispering among themselves, passing on the "news" they had heard.

At this moment, next to Muneyoshi's empty desk, a tall boy with a fake shaved head and a small mole between his eyebrows became the focus of attention from the students around him.

"Ju, your deskmate is back!"

"Yeah, that legendary figure who ruined the Fudomine Tennis Club is back so quickly."

"Didn't the school make him suspend his studies? How come they allowed him to come back to class so quickly?"

"Yeah, I heard he beat up all the Regular in the Tennis Club, including the coach, and even smashed the court. The principal only allocated funds to repair it a few weeks ago."

"What grant? That's an atonement they paid a fortune for!"

"No, I heard that he personally went door-to-door, serving as a servant for several months, before they agreed to stop bothering him..."

"You're all wrong. I heard from my friend that he went to the Nara Juvenile Detention Center for further education for a period of time..."

Tachibana Kippei had just transferred to the school less than two weeks ago, looked completely bewildered.

He had no idea what his classmates were talking about.

However, as he listened to these people embellishing and exaggerating the events surrounding Saeki Muneyoshi, Tachibana Kippei began to imagine a vicious image of Saeki Muneyoshi in his mind.

He also learned the general background and consequences of his new deskmate incident.

It turns out it was because of tennis!

Oh?!!

Tennis!

Having already lost heart and prepared to give up on tennis to atone for his mistake of injuring Chitose, Tachibana Kippei suddenly lost interest.

He stopped paying attention to his classmates' discussions and quietly finished his homework.

Shortly after, Kazue Saeki and Saeki Muneyoshi emerged from the principal's office.

After changing his previous attitude, he became much more polite to Muneyoshi, and the two then returned to the classroom chatting and laughing.

Back in the classroom, he first gave a passionate speech, detailing Muneyoshi's situation, trying his best to salvage the image that had been portrayed so distortedly.

However, the results were not satisfactory.

However, with the school's official endorsement, the rumors about Saeki Muneyoshi will at least temporarily stop escalating.

Muneyoshi was too lazy to argue; rumors are troublesome to deal with anyway.

Moreover, given the mix of truth and falsehood, only when something new happens at the school can Muneyoshi's matter be covered up.

"Saeki -kun, your spot remains the same. Go on!"

Upon hearing this, Muneyoshi smiled slightly. Compared to clarifying the rumors, his deskmate at the moment clearly piqued his interest more.

Muneyoshi spotted him the moment he entered the classroom.

Although he now has black hair, he looks exactly the same as he did two years later.

However, it was during class time, so Muneyoshi simply nodded to Tachibana without exchanging any further words.

Tachibana Kippei, of course, didn't want to get involved with a "delinquent" so soon after arriving in Tokyo, so he just nodded politely.

Then the two fell silent.

After class, Tachibana Kippei left the classroom without saying a word, and no one knows where he went.

Muneyoshi neither chased after him nor immediately became acquainted with him.

If his estimation was correct, Tachibana was already prepared to give up tennis at this point, and going directly to him now would be completely ineffective.

Therefore, he needs a solution.

After arriving on the rooftop, Muneyoshi took out his phone, found a number, and dialed it.

"Hello, Coach Ashu?"

"I am Saeki Muneyoshi from Tokyo Metropolis."

"Haha, hello, hello! I haven't congratulated you yet on leading Shitenhoji to the top eight in the National Tournament!"

"Yes, yes... What's up? Oh, Coach Ashu, I wanted to ask if your Tennis Club has gained another National Level player?"

"Who else could it be but Chitose of Shishigaku? With him joining, Shitenhoji will probably achieve even better results in the second year!"

"Alright, let's settle this at the National Tournament! By the way, Coach Ashu, could you send me a photo of all your current Regular? I'd like to keep it as a souvenir."

"Okay, okay, no problem, we'll have a joint training camp then!"

"Goodbye!"

Muneyoshi hung up the phone with a smile on his face. Two minutes later, his phone beeped twice, and a photo Muneyoshi Regular members of Shitenhoji appeared on his phone.

Thousands of years and thousands of miles are impressively among them.

That's the purpose of making this call.

What could be more exciting than having Tachibana Kippei Chitose Senri in Osaka, helping him regain his confidence and rekindle his love for tennis?

"Hmph, with this, I refuse to believe that Ju will still be depressed!"

P. S.: "A new volume, a new beginning, please vote with monthly tickets~~ The writing style for middle school life is a bit different from that for the World Tournament and training camps, I need to think about it."

The writing style for junior high school life, training camp, and World Tournament is a bit different; it might be a bit more bland, and it includes more descriptions of the characters around me. I wrote a lot this morning, but I'm not entirely satisfied with any of it, so I'll revise it some more.