On the second day of the sports festival, everyone once again arrived at college right on time.
At the tennis courts, Ichin looked at Yukino—already dressed in her tennis outfit—and said:
"Today's first match—the quarterfinals—is still just one short set. But once the semifinals begin, you'll have to play a full set. It'll consume a lot of stamina, so be careful with your pacing. When it comes to endurance, Yukino, you really can't compare to those tennis club girls."
Among the top eight, aside from Yukino and two other ordinary students, the remaining five were all from the tennis club—and none of them were weak.
Yukino nodded seriously. "I know. I won't underestimate any opponent."
At this stage, no one could be considered "easy." She had to take things seriously.
Soon, Yukino's match began.
Her opponent was a girl from the tennis club. According to intel Ichin had gathered from classmates, she was one of the club's main players—though mainly in doubles.
Since this tournament was singles-only, she and her usual doubles partner both entered separately. Unfortunately, her partner had already been eliminated—by another tennis club member no less.
Well, doubles specialists often struggle in singles; it happens.
This match didn't take long. Yukino played at full strength from the start, overwhelming her opponent and quickly securing the win. With that, she advanced into the semifinals.
Forty minutes later, the semifinals began. Yukino's opponent this time was the club's top singles player.
Since it was now a full-set match, Yukino didn't go all-out immediately. Instead, she started using actual strategy.
Outside the court, Haruno was recording everything with bright, excited eyes.
Not far away, Yagami Kou watched Yukino secure her first service game and said in surprise:
"Not bad! Yukino's better than I thought. She could play against the University of Tokyo's main team."
Utaha smiled. "Yukino's always been strong. As Haruno-nee says, if it weren't for her natural stamina issues, she could reach professional level in tennis or aikido."
"True. Her stamina really is a problem," Kou agreed. "But since this is only one set, the strain should still be within what she can handle."
Back when they all played tennis together at the tennis center, Kou already learned Yukino's physical limits. As long as the movement wasn't too intense, she could hold out for a while.
But today, facing an actual main player, even a single set would be tough—especially if the score dragged on. A close match would clearly put Yukino at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, Yukino's serve was excellent. She held her own service games with ease, broke one of her opponent's serves, and finally won the match 6–4, advancing to the finals.
When she returned to the bench afterward, she was drenched in sweat.
Ichin immediately handed her a towel and sports drink.
"Thanks."
She wiped off the sweat, drank nearly half the bottle, and finally recovered a bit—though she still looked tired.
After observing her condition for a moment, Ichin asked, "How's your body holding up? Can you still play this afternoon?"
"No problem," Yukino nodded. "The final starts at two. I have more than enough time to recover."
After Yukino rested a bit, they met up with everyone else.
Following lunch, Haruno drove Yukino home to shower and change before coming back to college for the final.
Her opponent in the afternoon final was slightly weaker than her semifinal opponent. With her stamina mostly restored, Yukino had no trouble taking the match and became the women's tennis champion of the sports festival.
Once the tennis event ended, the remaining events of the college festival wrapped up one by one. The two-day sports festival concluded successfully.
That night, the group went to a yakiniku restaurant to celebrate Yukino's victory with a feast.
With the festival over, life returned to normal.
Ichin resumed his routine of shuttling between classes and work. Besides Dark Souls DLC2 development, his main focus was following up on Tales of Berseria's progress.
Apex had remained at the top of the charts ever since release, without a single major issue. Its Season 1 battle pass sold extremely well, and along with the existing loot box microtransactions, the game had already generated massive revenue for the company from its September 15 release to the end of October.
Aside from Apex, the company's main titles were Dark Souls and the highly praised Persona.
Persona had been out for a long time now, with sales surpassing 15 million units. Still, every time it went on discount, sales jumped up again.
Dark Souls needed even less explanation—still not yet a full year since release, and DLC2, Ringed City, was coming out at the end of the year. The game's lifespan still had at least another year or more.
Hardcore players, after clearing multiple playthroughs using all kinds of builds, had shifted to online PvP, seeking new fun through player-versus-player combat.
PvP, however, was nothing like the main game. Some builds that excelled in the main story became weak in PvP.
For example, straight sword builds—which were extremely strong in PvE—were mostly weak in PvP aside from a few specific swords. Meanwhile, spears, halberds, and certain curved and ultra greatswords became stars of the arena.
Of course, "good" is relative. Weapon matchups all had their counters—you only knew what worked once you saw your opponent.
PvP was still in an early stage; much was still being discovered.
Ichin even began considering adding a new dedicated PvP area to both Ringed City and the base game—no monsters, just a space for duels, or even chaotic 4v4 matches.
If he really did that, though, it meant extra development work.
After thinking it over, Ichin felt it was worth a try. So he decided to start prototyping it himself—create a test version, run internal testing, and then decide whether to release it as an official update.
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