Encountering Yamabuki

When the shop door opened, the celebration of the Yamabuki regulars paused, their movements and voices stopping abruptly as they looked with surprise at the newcomer outside the door.

At the entrance stood eight youths, dressed in gray and white uniforms. Seeing this, the Yamabuki regulars immediately recognized them as the current regulars of Hyotei.

The scene was extremely quiet, with dozens of eyes meeting, staring at each other without anyone speaking first.

Taiwan Novel Network, t̆̈̆̈w̆̈̆̈k̆̈̆̈̆̈ă̈̆̈n̆̈̆̈.c̆̈̆̈ŏ̈̆̈m̆̈̆̈ Read anytime

As the biggest rivals in the Tokyo region, the sudden encounter, especially during a celebration, created a sense of inexplicable awkwardness.

Fortunately, the silence didn't last long. Kawamura Takashi, putting down the sushi he was making at the counter, looked enthusiastically at Akutsu, "Akutsu, why are you here?"

Akutsu ignored Kawamura's enthusiasm and coldly replied, "We're here to celebrate today."

Hearing Akutsu's words, Kawamura took off his gloves, scratched the back of his head, and smiled, "Akutsu, congratulations to Hyotei on winning the regional tournament."

Kawamura's tone was sincere, but Akutsu merely nodded indifferently.

Kannagi Shinichi and the others beside him didn't say much, following Akutsu into the shop.

Once inside, Kannagi Shinichi surveyed the Yamabuki members with his gaze. Then, a smile appeared on his stern face as he addressed the Yamabuki regulars, "Congratulations to you too, Yamabuki, for winning the regional preliminary championship."

Kannagi Shinichi did not refuse Fuji Syusuke's invitation, nodding in thanks, "Then we'll be imposing."

After speaking, Kannagi Shinichi led the Hyotei regulars to find empty seats.

At this moment, Fuji Syusuke moved from his seat to sit beside Kannagi Shinichi.

With a scrutinizing gaze, he looked at the youth hailed as the strongest of the new era. The youth had a head full of silver hair, a handsome face, and a maturity that didn't belong to his age.

Fuji Syusuke had always been curious about Kannagi Shinichi.

After all, in others' words, this youth's tennis skills were already considered superior to all middle school students, the pinnacle of middle school tennis.

Even his close friend, Tezuka Kunimitsu, had personally admitted that he wasn't confident of defeating this Hyotei captain.

And now, this was his first time interacting with Kannagi Shinichi so closely. Although he had seen Kannagi Shinichi once during the regional tournament, at that time Kannagi Shinichi and the others were sitting in the spectator stands, and he could only catch a glimpse from afar.

"Fuji-kun, is there something you need?"

As he spoke, Kannagi Shinichi shifted his body slightly, trying to move further away from Fuji Syusuke.

Sensing Kannagi Shinichi's reaction, Fuji Syusuke smiled slyly and leaned closer, his eyes narrowing into slits, "Everyone says you're very strong, Kannagi-kun. I just wanted to find an opportunity to have a match with you."

"There will be opportunities. Perhaps we can play against each other during the prefectural tournament."

Kannagi Shinichi pulled away again. Although he could tell Fuji Syusuke was doing it on purpose, he still couldn't accept being stared at so closely by another man.

"Prefectural tournament?" Fuji no longer teased Kannagi Shinichi. He turned back, his mind drifting to the bespectacled, ice-cold youth, his expression becoming very serious as he muttered, "I wonder if Tezuka will be back by then?"

Hearing Fuji's muttering, Kannagi Shinichi also spoke up, "I hope he can come back. At least for the match between Hyotei and Yamabuki, I don't want Tezuka Kunimitsu to be absent from this showdown."

In fact, Kannagi Shinichi had some estimations about Tezuka participating in the prefectural tournament. Perhaps Tezuka wouldn't be able to participate in the first few rounds, but if Hyotei and Yamabuki both reached the prefectural finals, considering Tezuka's recovery time, he should still be able to make it.

"Yes, he definitely will."

Hearing Kannagi Shinichi's words, the serious expression on Fuji Syusuke's face bloomed into a smile once more.

The two stopped talking, and Kannagi Shinichi picked up a piece of sushi and ate it silently.

While Kannagi Shinichi and Fuji Syusuke were in silence, the other regulars from both schools became lively.

"Damn it, that was mine! Why did you take it..."

Mukahi Gakuto was displeased that Kikumaru Eiji had taken the sushi in front of him.

"What's the big deal? Here, you can have mine."

Kikumaru Eiji, however, was unbothered by Mukahi Gakuto's displeasure and placed another plate of sushi in front of him.

"Uh... Eiji..."

Looking at Kikumaru's actions, Oishi Syuichiro could only chuckle awkwardly, unable to say anything.

"Hey, that plate you're holding is mine. Please give it back."

"Who are you?"

Shishido Ryo didn't recognize the spiky-haired youth in front of him.

"I'm Yamabuki's vice-captain, Minami Kentaro. Hurry up and give me back my sushi..."

On the other side, Atobe had only eaten two or three pieces of sushi from the shop before stopping. He then noticed a pot of coffee nearby and walked over to pour himself a cup.

"I didn't expect to be able to drink coffee at a commoner's shop like this."

"Stop it, no..."

Oishi Syuichiro saw the cup Atobe was holding, his eyes widened in horror, and he shouted loudly.

"Hey, don't drink that...!"

Seeing this, the other Yamabuki regulars also started shouting to stop him.

However, everyone's shouts were too late. At this moment, Atobe had already sat down and lost consciousness.

"Atobe..."

No matter how much the Hyotei members shouted, Atobe showed no signs of waking up.

Just then, a hedgehog-haired boy with glasses floated over quietly, holding a notebook. A light flashed on his glasses, and a lewd smile appeared on his face. "Hyotei's vice-captain? Looks like I can gather some good information again..."

And so, time slowly passed, and the first gathering of the Hyotei regulars ended hastily due to Atobe's loss of consciousness.

At this point, Akutsu had already returned to his home, while the other regulars carried Atobe back to Hyotei.

It wasn't until it was completely dark and they arrived at the school that Atobe slowly woke up.

"What happened? I only had a cup of coffee..."

Thinking of that cup of coffee, for some reason, Atobe shivered all over.

On the other side, Fuji Syusuke was making an international call. "Tezuka, those Hyotei players are very interesting. For the finals of the Grand Tournament, you must get better and come back..."