"Yo, women fighting," a sudden voice said from behind Hachiman Hikigaya and Hayato Hayama. It startled both of them.
"Katsuragi, do you want to die!" Hachiman Hikigaya yelled angrily when he saw it was Ren.
"Katsuragi, when did you get back?" Hayato Hayama asked. He did not expect Ren to come back after leaving.
Hayato felt a headache when he saw Ren's face. Ren looked like he was just watching a show and had no plan to stop them.
With Yukino Yukinoshita and Yumiko Miura in this state, they might get truly angry. Hayato worried they might hit each other with their rackets.
"I just got back. I wanted to see how your training was going," Ren said.
He threw his empty drink bottle into the trash. Ren put one hand on Hachiman's shoulder and watched the match with interest.
His fiancée was still very shy. When they woke up, Mahiru Shiina realized she had been sleeping with her head on Ren's.
She immediately ran away like a scared rabbit. Since Ren had finished his nap, he had nothing to do.
He wanted to see if the tennis match was over. He did not expect to see two beautiful girls fighting.
"Hikigaya, this does not happen often. You should watch carefully," Ren said to Hachiman in a serious tone.
Hachiman Hikigaya rolled his eyes at him. He knew that already, so why did Ren have to say it out loud?
"Are we really not going to stop them?" Hayato Hayama asked.
He was much more normal than the heartless Ren and Hachiman. The two girls were playing too seriously.
Hayato was even a little afraid. One was his childhood friend and the other was his good friend. He did not want to see either of them get hurt.
Not just the three in the rest area, but even the boys' group stopped their practice. Everyone looked at the girls' match.
"Of course we have to stop them," Ren said.
"Yukinoshita, Miura, your match time is up," Ren called out toward the court.
Yukino Yukinoshita stopped her serve and turned to look at him. "Katsuragi-kun, what do you mean?" she asked.
She knew Yumiko Miura had used up most of her energy. But Yukino was stubborn and did not want to give up.
In fact, the word "quit" was not in Yukino's dictionary.
"We agreed to take turns. You have been playing too long. It is Yuigahama-san and Ebina-san's turn now," Ren said.
Yui Yuigahama was surprised to hear her name, but she quickly nodded. "Yes, yes. Katsuragi-kun is right," she said.
Hina Ebina stood next to Yui and followed her lead, nodding along.
The two girls also saw the tension on the court. Since Ren spoke up first, they were happy to help him stop the fight.
"I see," Yukino Yukinoshita said.
Since there was a good reason, she accepted the excuse to stop.
Yumiko Miura also saw Yui's pleading eyes. She wanted to keep fighting Yukino, but she calmed down, took her racket, and walked off.
Yui Yuigahama and Hina Ebina went onto the court and started a friendly match.
"Katsuragi, do you want to try?" Hachiman asked with a mean look.
"You came to the tennis court, so you should hit at least one ball, right?" Hachiman said.
He remembered Ren saying he could not play tennis. Hachiman had wanted to make fun of Ren for a long time.
He had not found a chance before. Now that the chance was right in front of him, he would not miss it.
"Do you want to beat me that badly?" Ren asked. He felt amused because Hachiman was not even hiding his plan.
"What are you saying! As your good brother, how could I want to beat you!" Hachiman said.
"You said you can't play, so I want to teach you," Hachiman said with a bad smile.
He wasn't afraid anymore. He took the racket from Hayato's hand and forced it into Ren's hand. He didn't wait for Ren to say no and walked onto the court.
"Katsuragi, should I go instead?" Hayato Hayama asked.
He wasn't mad that Hachiman took his racket. He just looked at the smiling Ren with worry.
Ren had said he couldn't play, so Hachiman was making things difficult for him. Hayato offered to take the challenge for him.
"It's fine. I know a little bit about tennis," Ren said.
To Hayato's shock, Ren spun the racket with a fancy move. He walked toward Hachiman, who was waiting to win.
He had been waiting for the fish to bite the hook for a long time.
[Oh no, I've been tricked.]
Hachiman Hikigaya saw this and felt cold sweat on his forehead. He gripped his racket tightly.
Ren said he couldn't play? Someone who could spin a racket like that definitely knew how to play.
Hachiman thought that if Ren couldn't play, he would pull his own head off and use it as a tennis ball!
Ren tossed the ball to Hachiman and said kindly, "Hikigaya, you serve first."
Hachiman had no choice now. He looked at Ren with a serious face. A cool breeze started to blow.
The wind was picking up...
Hachiman paused and then gave a bright smile. Sorry, Katsuragi. Even the weather is on my side!
Hachiman tossed the ball high and hit it. The cool breeze was the same sea breeze he was used to during lunch.
Thwack!
The tennis ball zoomed past Hachiman. The fence behind him shook slightly.
"Why are you standing there, Hikigaya?" Ren asked.
"I am still waiting for you to beat me," Ren said with a slight smile.
Ren had hit the ball back even though the wind made it move strangely. Against real power, tricks do not work.
"Katsuragi, you bastard!" Hachiman yelled.
His trick failed, and he realized Ren had lied to him. Hachiman's face turned bright red from anger.
The ball Ren hit back bounced off the fence and rolled to Hachiman's feet.
Don't get mad, don't get mad, Hachiman told himself. If I get mad, I fall for his trap.
"..."
Forget that! This was a total insult!
"Katsuragi, die!" Hachiman yelled.
He quickly grabbed the ball and hit it directly at Ren. He wanted to catch Ren by surprise without following the rules.
Thwack!
There was another sound of the racket hitting the ball. The ball rolled to Hachiman's feet again.
The loud sound of the hits attracted everyone's attention. Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Ren with a serious expression.
How did Ren hit that surprise second ball back? It was because of Ren's amazing...
Muscle reaction.