Chapter 14  : You’re only at this level?

Judging by his expression, the tennis club captain’s intentions were obvious.

Seiji had never expected that one day he would receive enmity from other males due to his handsome appearance. He just didn’t know what to make of it.

Alright, he was already mentally prepared for it after seeing the boys’ attitudes earlier in class.

He should probably reject the invitation to play… but judging from the captain’s expression, as well as the hostility being emitted by all the other boys, Seiji felt like it wouldn’t be that simple to reject his invitation.

On the other hand, it was true that he wasn’t playing seriously with Mika. He was only having some light exercise with Mika. Since his physical ability stat had already surpassed 60, he was slightly curious to see the full extent of his ability if he played seriously, and he wanted to compare himself to the captain that had "almost made it to nationals."

After mulling over it for a few seconds, he nodded his head in agreement.

"I don’t know if I’m really all that talented… but I can’t go all out against a girl, so if the captain is willing to teach me some tennis, I’d be more than happy."

Aizawa was surprised that he had accepted his invitation so willingly.

The other boys watching this felt their enmity increasing even further!

"You should ‘teach’ him to the best of your abilities, Captain!"

"Show him what tennis is truly about, Captain!"

"It’s time to show him your real power, Captain!"

Many people got agitated to the point of shouting out loud before they immediately felt the hostile glares of the surrounding girls upon them.

"What are you saying to a first-year student that’s only a beginner?"

"Are you guys just jealous? How awful…"

"That’s why the boys in our club are…"

The girls made numerous negative remarks, which caused the boys to suffer yet another critical hit on their already injured hearts as well as rubbing salt into their wounds.

As Aizawa regained his senses, he looked at the other male members that had never been so energized as a team before, and he smiled faintly at them, giving a huge thumbs-up.

"Captain!!!"

The boys all felt like they were crying inside.

‘…It seems like I’m the bad guy here?’ Witnessing this spectacle, Seiji was speechless.

"Seigo, are you really going to play against the captain?" Mika was slightly concerned about him.

"Mm, it’s a rare chance for me… Don’t worry, I’m just trying this sport out—this isn’t a competition or anything." Seiji smiled at her confidently.

"But… I’ve never seen the captain looking so serious before…"

Upon hearing this, Seiji coughed awkwardly and remained silent.

Mika exited the practice field, while Aizawa entered the field, and they faced off against each other.

"You can serve first." Aizawa posed in a way that he felt was quite gentlemanly as he tossed the ball to his opponent.

Seiji had an average serve.

Aizawa chased down the ball, and as if he was performing, he swung his arm grandly, and his racket made a booming sound as he returned the serve!

The tennis ball arced upwards in the air, landing about three or four meters to Seiji’s side, instantly bouncing away.

"Perfect!" All the boy students were sighing in praise.

"Heh, Harano-san, how was that ball just now? If you think it’s a bit too difficult, I can go a bit easier on you." Aizawa tried his best to not sound pretentious.

"It was alright." Seiji said faintly as he caught the ball that Mika tossed back to him, "You don’t need to go easy on me, Captain—feel free to play however you like."

As he said this, he served again.

Aizawa returned it once more, and this time the ball landed even farther away from Seiji!

And then, just as everyone thought the ball would bounce unanswered again, Seiji suddenly increased his speed and accurately returned the ball before it flew out of bounds!

‘Ha, although he increased his speed, but… it’s still useless!’ Aizawa triumphantly shouted in his heart as he returned the ball beautifully yet again.

This time, Seiji wasn’t able to catch up to the ball, so Aizawa scored again.

"Ah, I apologize. I thought you would be able to keep up—it seems like I overestimated you. From now on, I’ll be careful to go easier on you." Aizawa’s eyes glinted with a mocking light as he spoke.

It was evident that he was trying to conceal his delight, but his words and attitude gave him away. This was obvious to everyone observing.

He was enjoying the feeling of beating a newbie!

"What’s this, the captain had this kind of personality…"

"I already thought he was a bit too flirtatious. I never thought his true personality was even worse than that."

The girls kept muttering secretly to themselves—all of them were thinking how unfair it was for the freshman.

‘Captain, we’ll never forget your sacrifice!’ The boys, who could barely make out what the girls were saying, felt their hearts trembling.

Next to the practice field, Mika Uehara was already beginning to pout.

She had already felt before that the captain seemed unreliable, and this time her impression of him was utterly ruined.

‘Humph, he’s bullying Seiji—how despicable!’

"There’s no need to be angry—just watch the show quietly." Chiaki Wakaba, who had been watching silently up until now said, "That’s your hero—do you really lack confidence in him? I doubt he’s got all those muscles for nothing. In my opinion, he’s probably not even using half his strength yet."

On the field.

"I said there’s no need to go easy on me, Captain," Seiji enunciated each word clearly as he opened up the buttons on his western school uniform: "You can play however you like. I’ll… also treat you well."

As he spoke, he slowly took off his western school uniform and placed it outside the practice field before he opened up the buttons on his shirt as well, along with taking off his tie.

"Wow! So handsome!"

Upon seeing this scene, all the girls started shrieking madly, and their eyes sparkled with excitement as they repeatedly took pictures with their phones!

Mika Uehara’s face reddened as well, and she silently held up her phone…

Urgh! Aizawa felt like he had suffered a huge blow, and his mouth twitched. Not only was this guy milking his handsome face, now he was taking off his clothes!

‘Who cares if he’s tall? Is it really that amazing if he has good muscles!?’ Aizawa cursed inwardly.

While he was cursing inside his heart, Seiji served the ball for the third time.

‘Humph, it doesn’t matter how handsome you are—you still suck at tennis!’ Aizawa used his full power to return this serve.

This time, Seiji’s speed increased even more! He accurately swung and returned the ball.

Smack… smack… smack… The tennis ball kept going back and forth, and it actually seemed like they were equally matched.

Aizawa became increasingly astonished as they continued playing. Aizawa’s opponent wasn’t just showing off his looks after taking off his clothes, but he was actually going all out instead, and he had increased his speed to a level where he could return each ball!

Aizawa was using tennis techniques, while Seiji, a beginner, was returning all his balls purely with reactions and speed!

The tense rally continued for several minutes.

The tennis club members were also astounded as they kept watching, as they had discovered that Seigo Harano was keeping up with the captain purely with his astounding physical ability!

"You’re amazing, Harano-san!" The girls praised him enthusiastically.

"Who cares if he has good stamina? There’s no such thing as endless stamina, and the captain will win in the end!" The boys were all complaining.

But, unexpectedly for the boys, the first one to make a mistake due to fatigue was Hideya Aizawa.

After the stalemate situation persisted for around seven or eight minutes, Aizawa finally slipped and missed the ball. He could only stare helplessly as his opponent scored.

"He scored!" Cheers arose from beside the practice field.

Mika Uehara was so overjoyed that she started jumping up and down before she noticed that everyone was looking at her, which made her feel somewhat awkward.

Seiji smiled and looked at his opponent.

"Captain, should we still continue?"

"Of… of course!" Aizawa ground his teeth as he stood up.

It was only a slight mistake. Aizawa’s opponent had used up far more stamina than him, so his opponent would undoubtedly be the first one to fall!

And so, the tennis ball started flying back and forth again.

A few minutes later, Aizawa was the one who lost the point, and he had a look of shock on his face. His expression was unwilling as he wasn’t able to accept the outcome.

"This isn’t possible…"

A few minutes later, Aizawa lost a third point.

"This won’t…"

Aizawa lost a fourth, fifth, sixth, and finally a seventh point…

…

"Pant… pant… pant…"

Approximately half an hour later, everyone observed in silence as the sweat-covered Aizawa struggled to catch his breath. His expression was akin to a dead dog’s.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Seigo Harano wasn’t even breathing heavily.

There was a stark contrast between their current conditions.

Was he a monster!!??

This guy had been exercising strenuously for over forty minutes now, returning each ball accurately with various movements. Even though he had not missed a single ball, he wasn’t even breathing heavily. In fact, he had barely sweated either—just how monstrous was his stamina!?

All the boys couldn’t believe what they were seeing!

Seiji scratched his face awkwardly.

"I feel like we’ve been practicing for a bit too long. I’m getting tired—how about we stop now?"

Even though that was what he was said, nobody believed his words! It was apparent that this was nothing but an excuse to end the practice.

Although Aizawa was reluctant for it to end like this, he understood that there was no way to bridge the wide gap in points anymore.

His physical ability wasn’t even close to his opponent’s level.

While his tennis techniques that he held great pride in had helped him, his opponent’s overwhelming stamina had utterly crushed him!

No matter what techniques he used, or how much force he struck the ball with, his opponent always managed to accurately return the ball; it was like he was facing a wall, not a human!

Ever since he had learned how to play tennis, he had never felt such a sense of defeat.

But even if he didn’t want to admit it, a loss was a loss. If he acted like a sore loser, he would only shame himself even more.

After remaining silent for a long while, Aizawa finally gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.

"Let’s stop here."

"Captain—" All the boys were crying inside for their captain.

"See, like I said, you didn’t need to worry." Chiaki had an expression like she’d already seen through everything, but even she was taken aback by Seiji’s excellent stamina.

Mika’s face was slightly red as she nodded quietly.

And in the end, this was all that an almost-national-level player amounted to.

Seiji actually felt rather unsatisfied. He felt as if he hadn’t yet used his full potential, but unfortunately, his opponent had already fallen far behind him.

Seiji decided to forget about it. At least he had learned that his physical abilities were now significantly better than a normal person’s. If he received another opportunity in the future, he could test himself again.

After Seiji left the practice field, he accepted the towel and water Mika handed him, and he wiped his sweat with it and drank some water.

After that, he ended up being surrounded by all the girls!

"Harano-san, your stamina is amazing! What exactly is your workout routine?"

"Harano-san, your muscles are so strong—can I squeeze them?"

"Harano-san, join our club—this older sister can teach you everything!"

Seiji felt dizzy upon listening to their endless chatter.

*Ding!* Suddenly, there was a light sound, and he saw some words appear in front of him—

[There are now five females that have a favorability rating of over 90 towards you, and the [action points] system is now available. You can use various [actions] to obtain [action points]. The [items] system is now available; you may use your action points to exchange for various items and use them].

New system options!?

Seiji was shocked and felt the urge to check it out instantly, but it was inconvenient for him to do so at this moment.

After he had finally managed to deal with the gaggle of girls, with Mika escorting him, he broke out of the group and escaped.

After leaving the tennis club.

"Haha, their eyes were like wolves’!" Chiaki laughed, "Why didn’t you join right then and there? Judging from their actions, you could probably start a harem after joining tennis club!"

"Chiaki!" Mika glared at her as she caught up to them, "What nonsense are you saying!"

It wasn’t nonsense… Seiji could only smile wryly to himself. There were five girls that currently had a favorability rating of over 90 towards him! Apart from Mika, that meant that there were at least four female club members that were willing to have sex with him if he asked, and all he did was play some tennis there!

Should he say that there were many sluts in the tennis club, or was it that mega-handsome guys have always had it this easy?

"That was some pretty good exercise, but it doesn’t seem suitable for me." Seiji shook his head. Honestly, he felt some regret, but if he actually stayed in that club, he was afraid that…

"Sigh, what a pity…" Chiaki shrugged, "Then where would you like to go visit next?"

"Mm… how about the drama club? I’d like to check out your club, Wakaba."

"Ok!" Chiaki chuckled lightly, "Our club has many cute kids in it—I think you’ll love it!"