"Alright! Alright! Calm down. You all know about the buddy diving system, right?"
"Mhm, that's the rule where two people dive as a pair and must stay within monitoring distance of each other from start to finish, right?"
They knew the rule, but Miyazawa Yu didn't think playing tennis would help with diving, as the two activities didn't even share the same environment!
In contrast, he finally recalled what happened when Aina first joined. That annoying dark-skinned Kudou was the president of the tennis club.
Could it be that...
Watching the seniors continuously brainwashing Iori and Kohei, Miyazawa Yu quietly moved next to Azusa-senpai and whispered: "Azusa-senpai, who is my dive buddy assigned to?"
"Hmm? You want to know so early, Yu?"
"I just want to confirm one thing. Otherwise, I feel like I'll be pulled in as cannon fodder!"
Realizing that the two idiots were clearly being persuaded, Miyazawa Yu immediately stuck close to Azusa Hamaoka, finally getting to see the notebook in her hand as he wished.
[Aina X Chisa]
[Iori X Kohei]
[Kotobuki Ryujirou X Shinji Tokita]
"Hmm? Why isn't my name here!"
"Because it hasn't been added yet, of course..."
Gently pressing Yu head into her chest, Azusa Hamaoka chuckled mischievously, using his face as a writing board, and finally added the last handwriting: [Miyazawa Yu X Nanaka Kotegawa X Azusa Hamaoka]
"I was originally going to throw you over to Iori side, but consider this a reward for you~"
"Thank you sincerely! This means I should be safe, right? After all, neither Azusa-senpai nor Nanaka-san will participate in the competition!"
His face was tortured into a strange shape. Miyazawa Yu was relieved while enduring the humiliation, thinking that he had probably escaped this time.
"...Most importantly, you can also win a prize if you win the competition. Sounds good, right?"
"Oh! That sounds like a legitimate competition. I want to participate! But who is paying the prize money? The organizer?"
"No! It's Tinker Bell."
"Huh? Who?"
His face full of question marks. The cerebral cortex of guys who drank and played baseball-rock-paper-scissors all day was smooth.
After one or two months, Kohei and Iori couldn't remember who Tinker Bell was, and they were confusedly tricked into signing the participation agreement.
"...They're idiots."
"Hey! How can you say that, Yu!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
How slow were these two guys? They hadn't even realized they had been sold out by their seniors yet.
If their genders were reversed, they would probably have been lured home by bad people...
His eyes full of speechlessness, Miyazawa Yu sighed and hugged his arms, pointing at Aina. The latter was surrounded by the seniors against the wall like a little rabbit, firmly refusing to sign the contract of sale.
"Oh! This is the first time I've seen Aina resist so fiercely..."
"Even Azusa-senpai has joined the fight. It's truly tragic!"
"Of course. After all, she's going up against her former employer. It's normal to be completely resistant, both physically and psychologically, right?"
"Hmm? Former employer?"
Both Iori and Kohei turned their heads to Miyazawa Yu with shocked expressions. Dead memories began to assault their brains.
They desperately hoped Yu wouldn't utter that despairing answer, yet...
"It's President Kudou, the one we publicly humiliated at the Man-Rod competition. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
How could they forget! That dramatic turning point was the proud work of the three Pab club freshmen stooges, a glorious deed that had to be brought up at every drinking party!
But the problem was that Kudou guy was the president of the tennis club! Competing in tennis against the tennis club was an act of someone whose brain was completely undeveloped and whose cerebellum was incomplete.
They would definitely lose, no matter what!
"['We swear to hand over the prize money from the Miss Contest and the Man-Rod Runner-Up if we lose.'] That's what it says here!"
Chisa Kotegawa picked up the challenge letter that Azusa-senpai dropped while comforting Aina and read out all the clauses.
"It doesn't say at all what will happen if we lose. They seem quite confident..."
"That's a given, right! After all, these bastards just want to trick us this way!"
"Are they trying to get revenge for the previous humiliation! It's completely obvious what they're up to!"
Rushing to the seniors immediately to warn them, Iori and Kohei strongly requested that the competition be canceled, lest they be humiliated and their opponents turn the tables on them.
However, Kotobuki Ryujirou and Shinji Tokita looked like they had known all along and took it for granted.
"Isn't that obvious? Of course we know."
"Then why did you still..."
"But if you two getting embarrassed can potentially win us prize money, it's a perfect deal!"
Their faces were etched with 'greatness' and 'sacrifice.' Although he had already guessed this would happen, Kitahara Iori still pointed at Miyazawa Yu unwillingly.
"Then why doesn't Yu have to sign up? At least everyone should participate!"
"About that, since it's a three-round rotation, Tokita and I are starting, and we have a pair of girls. The remaining one is naturally you two and your dive buddies!"
"Mhm! That's very fair!"
Miyazawa Yu nodded in agreement, then immediately put on an arrogant smile, comforting them with the attitude of an uninvolved spectator: "Geez, it's just getting embarrassed. You two are already very familiar with that, aren't you~"
"You bastard!"
"Be that as it may, Yu, you still have to sign the form. After all, we need a substitute, and letting the older members play again would be a bit of bullying."
Smashing Miyazawa Yu spectator dream with a loud smack, Shinji Tokita slapped the exact same contract of sale onto the table. As seniors, how could they show favoritism!
"...Well, well~ it's just tennis. I'll sign!"
"Hmm? He's quite compliant. I thought we'd have to invite Nanaka-san to control this bastard!"
"I told you, you guys just don't get it!"
Waving his finger leisurely, Miyazawa Yu shook his finger indifferently and reminded them: "Those bastards in the tennis club just want to see you make a fool of yourselves! As long as I can absolutely crush the opposition, we won't be embarrassed regardless of the final outcome!"
"!!!"
That made a lot of sense! That meant Yu and the seniors were invincible! Then the remaining people who could be embarrassed...
The trio of unfortunate comrades reunited. Looking at Iori and Kohei, whose faces looked like they were attending a funeral, Aina, who was forced to sign the contract of sale, wanted to cry—
Why was she just a sideline observer, yet a random AoE attack splattered onto her!
"Eh~ Are you guys going to play tennis? That sounds interesting!"
Her eyes twinkling with the desire to go, Nanaka Kotegawa walked in, holding the remaining fried dumplings.
"Chisa, are you going to participate too? Sister will get your sportswear ready for you!"
"Mhm, thanks, Nee."
Completely unaware of the little hearts in Nanaka eyes, Chisa Kotegawa chewed on the fried dumplings, finding the slightly sweet taste quite appetizing!
"Uwaah... Chisa is going to be in trouble. Should we warn her?"
"Let's not. Nanaka-san will be unhappy."
"Yu, do you only have Nanaka-san in your heart! Poor little Chisa!"
"Why don't you go then?"
The three stooges gathered together and whispered, but the final result was that no one was willing to warn Chisa to be careful.
After all, Chisa emotions were easy to read and she was easy to appease, but they dared not imagine what Nanaka-san, as a twisted sister-complex, would do if she couldn't dote on Chisa!
"Hey! You guys should get going. Head to the tennis court first!"
"Yes!"
"Understood~"
"It can only be this way..."
Weren't these people going to resist more!
Aina originally planned to use Iori and the others' staunch refusal as an opportunity to escape her burden, but she didn't expect these guys to be so used to being tricked. They only put up a symbolic struggle before immediately complying with the seniors.
Helplessly, she could only reluctantly follow everyone to the tennis court, preparing to meet her former employer.