[Net King] Pilgrim

The crimson dusk hangs over the city, leaving only a faint sliver of light in the sky.

The dome of the indoor tennis court is as open and bright as a paper kite, and clusters of overhead lights extend staggeredly.

Echizen Ryoma put his coat on the sidelines, raised his head, and saw Machida Kazu standing two meters away, looking over and over at the racket in his hand.

"Are you sure you want me to be your partner?" She looked up at him.

10 minutes ago, Echizen Ryoma said to her——Suddenly want to play tennis, come and play with me, and treat it as a gift.

...It was really sudden enough, otherwise she wouldn't have hired someone who hadn't even touched a racket a few times as a training partner.

"I've never played tennis."

"I'll teach you." Echizen Ryoma picked up the racket on one side and walked straight to the field.

"It's not a good deal for you to ask for this birthday present." Machida smiled, tied up his hair, picked up the racket and followed him.

He raised his eyebrows concisely, "My birthday, of course I have the final say."

She pursed her lips into a smile, and said "Hi—" in a drawn-out tone.

The indoor area is very large, and there is a standard-sized tennis court. There are no parallel courts built on both sides, and there are only two of them in the court.

From the most basic racket grip and swing, to the way of hitting the ball and the baseline pace, Echizen Ryoma demonstrated in turn.Generally speaking, beginners can practice sparring only after their technical movements are basically finalized, so Machida spent a lot of time practicing his swing and running.

Echizen Ryoma is very patient, but he does not slack in the standards, and he will point out any irregularities in her movements.

By the time she slowly found the feel of the ball and the swing line gradually stabilized, her arms were already sore.

"Is it the same when you first learned tennis, repeating these moves every day?" Machida took a bottle of water from him, unscrewed the cap and took a big sip.

The room temperature was suitable, but she was wearing a sweater, covering her body so hot that there was already thin sweat on her forehead and between her nose.

Echizen Ryoma stood casually on one side, bouncing the ball with his racket, "It should be. I have been playing since I can remember. It is the memory of my body."

Machida nodded, and looked at the tennis court with unfocused eyes, "Sure enough, no one can succeed casually."

She was exhausted after just practicing for an hour or so. It was hard to imagine how much hardship and hardship he had endured on this road to achieve such outstanding results.Talented, but also inevitably sweat.

So she is really happy, because he can have the opportunity to realize his shining dream, and because he has a promising future.

Echizen Ryoma suddenly reached out to catch the tennis ball in mid-air, and walked towards the bottom line of the court, "Let's start after you have rested." The next second came a hurried voice from behind: "Ah, good,"

She probably didn't know how long she was there in a daze, and he didn't know how long he stood by and looked at her.

In fact, Echizen Ryoma couldn't tell why he came to the tennis court with such a baffling La Machida. He didn't think he was a person who did things on a whim, and he didn't have the interest to teach a complete beginner to play tennis.

It's just that during the holiday days, maybe even earlier, the unreasonable thoughts in his head, involving the whole heart in his chest, are hanging alone, wobbly, and they can't be realized.

After leaving the fast food restaurant in the afternoon, she ran all the way like the wind, with a corner of her coat up and down, up and down, and finally stopped in front of him, only then did she feel at ease.

He raised his eyes and saw Machida Kazu standing on the opposite baseline, tiptoeing and waving his racket at him, "I'm ready."

Echizen Ryoma collected his thoughts, lightly tossed the ball in his hand, swung his right hand, and the bright yellow tennis ball flew to the other side according to the established track.

Machida tried his best to return the ball according to the practice just now, the brain has formed reflexes and muscle memory, and the returned ball can basically fall within the bounds.She was not in a hurry, on the contrary, she acted a little cautiously.

It is certain that Echizen Ryoma will let the water go, but there are also players who are playing very seriously, controlling the speed and strength of the ball, and hitting every ball to her feet.

After the baseline sparring practice continued for a period of time, he began to intentionally place the ball farther away.

As soon as Machida ran back and forth at the bottom line, he was short of breath, every pore was sweating, his whole body seemed to be soaked in water, and his clothes were uncomfortable.

Echizen Ryoma looked at her, put away his serving position, "Do you need a rest?"

She gripped the racket tightly, panted and shook her head, "It's okay." There are very few opportunities to stand on the tennis court and get to know you better and get closer to you, so I'm not willing to rest .

Echizen Ryoma held the ball that bounced off the ground, and was silent for a few seconds, "Don't think about tennis too complicated."

Machida froze for a moment.

"Tennis is tennis, all you have to do is keep chasing and returning the ball."

The blazing light reflected in her eyes and flickered for a while.

Her breath gradually became smoother, and her hand that clenched the racket relaxed a little bit, and a fine wind blew across her wet palm.She nodded seriously, "OK."

The tight string slowly loosened, and I felt a little lighter in my body.

It was still the bottom line sparring, still running back and forth, and time passed silently.

The last lob, the bright yellow ball crossed the net and landed on the sideline with precision.

Machida let out a breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and ran to pick up the ball.

Echizen Ryoma's breathing was fairly steady, he raised his hand and pulled the brim of his hat, focusing his eyes on her through the white ceiling lights in the arena.

She was obviously exhausted, her cheeks were flushed due to a lot of exercise, but there was a lot of energy in her brows and eyes, as if she didn't feel that she was a novice and could teach him a lesson.

Machida had already returned to the bottom line, fanning wildly with one hand beside his head, as if to cool down.

Echizen Ryoma lowered his gaze, and saw her slender shadow stretched out by the light, quietly and tenaciously spreading on the floor.

Reason told him that the sparring should be over, she was tired and she needed to rest.

He knew that if he didn't stop, she would keep fighting him according to her character.

The remaining anxiety suddenly struck again, stretching all the way under his feet in a trance, without direction or node.

He tightened his grip on the racket, raised his eyes to look at the opposite side, and said in an uncompromising tone, "Hit the ball behind me."

Machida paused when he was preparing to serve, and turned to look at him in a daze.

"Hit the ball behind me and I'll let you go."

If it wasn't for Echizen Ryoma's serious and clear eyes, she would have felt that he was making things difficult on purpose.

She was really exhausted after running for so long, all the muscles wrapped around her bones were clamoring, and it was already very difficult to hit the ball over the net, let alone score from him.

The sky outside the window was getting darker and darker, and the room was empty and quiet, even the sound of the wind through the window was very clear.

Machida squeezed the tennis ball in his hand, took a deep breath slowly, and looked back at him firmly, "I know it's very difficult, but I will try my best." Just like when you stand on the court, no matter how strong your opponent is, , will still choose to go upstream.

Enduring the sore arm, he threw the ball and swung the racket vigorously, but there was no way to predict where the ball would land.

The ball brushed the net and returned to her side in no time.

Every ball landed at her feet.

There is not much strength left, and at this moment, only perseverance is supporting her.

Echizen Ryoma was sweating a lot, standing opposite him panting slightly, the sweat winding along his forehead to his chin, his eyes clear.

As soon as Machida picked up the ball that fell on the sidelines, the moment he bent down, the sweat drops from the corners of his eyes fell into his eyes, a hazy mist made his eyelashes tremble - have you always persisted like this?

In those pasts that belonged to Echizen Ryoma that she didn't participate in, he who was standing on the tennis court at that time must have experienced such a moment of exhaustion and could only be supported by faith.

For tennis, you have to be so happy and passionate that you can have such a strong belief, as if you hold the whole world in your hands.

Machida Kazu let go of the stiff fingers gripping the racket, and just before serving the ball, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, "Echizen."

The figure on the other side of the field paused.

She threw the ball up and swung the racket vigorously. The moment the racket touched the tennis ball, her lips curled up beautifully, "You must not forget your original intention and realize your dream!"

Echizen Ryoma was slightly taken aback.

The ball crossed the net, and it was still an unstable and unpredictable route. He regained his consciousness and chased the ball. For the first time, the angle of inclination of the racket deviated when he hit the ball.

The ball missed her feet.

Machida ran to the other side with all his strength, the soreness in his limbs went straight to his brain along the blood.

Chasing up the ball that fell in the distance, hitting back with all the strength left in his body, and shouting to the opposite side with emotions from the heart: "You look so handsome while living with your dreams in mind!"

Echizen Ryoma froze suddenly, his footsteps were firmly fixed on the spot, and he stared at her blankly.Still the same clear and tenacious voice, carrying encouragement and expectations, swayed around the empty stadium.

The bright yellow ball jumped into this side of the court, bounced slightly, and finally brushed his racket and fell behind.

He turned his head and looked at the tennis ball rolling down the court.

Hit the ball behind me and I'll let you go.

The words that came out of my mouth were completely subconscious, and I didn't go deep into it. All my unclear moods were returned to the sea, and all the tides ebbed.

Machida lifted the corners of his mouth and heaved a sigh of relief, he lay down on the ground recklessly, his chest was heaving, his eyes were blurred and shining brightly.

The next moment, she raised her racket high up, pointing directly at the sky, and covered her eyes with her other arm, "The more you move forward, the stronger you will be!"

My favorite boy, you have to become stronger.

After a long time, the buzzing in my ears gradually faded away, and in the silence, I heard Echizen Ryoma say—"Definitely."

-

On New Year's Eve, the Kawamura sushi restaurant was packed with a group of third graders from the Seigaku Tennis Club... and Machida and her brother.

It is not open for business, but it is more lively than usual.Although it is indeed sad to practice for Echizen Ryoma, but no matter what, everyone present here hopes that he can have better development and a broader sky, so gatherings are really better than laughter. Can be icing on the cake.

Coach Ryuzaki and Minister Tezuka gave him instructions, chatted and laughed for a while, and everyone gave him presents one after another.

A-gan handed over a thick book: "Collector's Edition of various data." By the way, a recipe for making vegetable juice was also included——Everyone: "..."

"Ah, this is the latest album of my favorite group Chocolate!" Kikumaru stuffed the CD into Echizen's hand with a serious face and seemed reluctant: "Listen to it when you miss me!" ——Everyone: "... ..."

……

Machida looked quietly at Echizen Ryoma at the table and thanked everyone with heart, with a gentle smile on his proud face.

After playing ball with him on Christmas Eve, she rested at home for several days before recovering from back pain. Her own birthday was also sloppy...but this may be her most special birthday. The machine pressed a bottle of plum-flavored soda and threw it to her, but she was so tired that she didn't even want to open her mouth, so she didn't drink the soda until the next day.

"Hajime only has you." Fujisuke reminded with a smile.

Once Machida came back to his senses, he happened to meet Joechizen Ryoma's eyes through the pale white light.

"Ah," she lowered her eyes, and got up to pick up the guitar standing aside under the curious eyes of the room.

Sitting casually on the high chair in front of the bar, he lowered his head and rolled up his cuffs, "I think, I may not be able to take so many presents before, so let's just sing a song and give it to him."

Adding some timely joking tone, the room burst into laughter immediately, followed by applause.

Machida picked up the guitar and adjusted it, then raised his head and saw Echizen Ryoma bent his mouth towards her, "Thank you."

After a moment of silence, she smiled.

Then slightly shifted his gaze to everyone, "Seniors in the third grade, I also want to give this song to you, I hope the entrance exam goes well."

Everyone paused, and the room slowly fell silent.

She cleared her throat in a low voice, exhaled lightly, and the next moment the dancing strings sounded.

There is no sad parting tune as imagined, but with her voice, it is full of healing pleasure——

"On behalf of わり敬えしないいつものClassroomに

Although it is an ordinary classroom as always

かけがえの无い大切な中间がいる

but have irreplaceable important friends

"Give Food のパンte どうして

"Why is the bread for lunch

こんなにけサついてるんだろう! ? "

It's so unpalatable! ? "

そんなこと言い合えるのも

The chance to talk to each other like this

もうlessしでfinal わってしまうんだね

it's almost over

変わっていこうぜ

go change

どうせなら一から涂りえせせしまおうか

Just start anew from scratch

weeping itemoiindake

it's okay to cry

I tachi wa my tachi wo graduation しないから

Because our friendship won't graduate

我たちのNowを駆け抜けろ

Let's enjoy our present moment to go beyond the present"

……

The light in a room casts on the floor and walls.

Qingyue's guitar and singing floated in the quiet and warm room, and everyone's moving faces and smiles were in front of them.

At such a moment, she didn't really want to cry, and she kept smiling at the corner of her mouth.

It may be because I just drank a glass of soda, and the residual sourness has been swirling in the mouth. After precipitation and fermentation, there is only a strong soreness, which spreads from the throat to the heart, and then to the limbs.

In fact, there are many things I want to say to you, but every time I say something, it has nothing to do with romance.

Probably compared to other things, I still want to see you fighting all the way for your dreams now.

It is a great honor to accompany you through such a journey. Whether you are successful or famous, I still remember this year from late autumn to early winter. I witnessed the moment when you had light in your eyes and believed that the road ahead was bright. [1]

I wish you, forever smooth sailing, forever young. [1]

——Volume One·End——