Uneasy daily life

"You can't accept losing, so you take it out on others and make a mess of the tennis club—are you a three-year-old?!"

The tennis club president was speechless for a moment.

War drums thundered, as if shouts and cries came from the clouds, trying to lend power to the only and final challenger.

"High platforms crumble, then pavilions rise; the victor becomes king, the vanquished a bandit; I, with a pure heart, drink in the romance of life!"

The last warrior gripped his weapon tightly, strode into battle, and sang his death poem.

He charged headlong into the demons and gods, like cherry blossoms that only wither and fall to the earth after reaching their full glory. His tragic and resolute blade was aimed directly at his terrifying opponent!

Swords clashed, Red Hare neighed, and even with their hearts burning with passion, they could not bridge the chasm.

The outcome, already predetermined, was revealed, and the audience fell silent.

It was still a nightmare, a cruel and indifferent 7-0 score.

The tennis club was devastated. Something even more humiliating than defeating twenty opponents in a row was about to happen: defeating twenty opponents and then shutting them out.

“Ishida Mamoru, not bad.”

The winner should give a comment.

Time to go to work.

Bai Ying wiped the sweat from her brow, then turned and ran off.

Yukino Yukinoshita raised her hand to rub her temples... She actually lost. It's because she didn't do better.

Let Bai Jun take the first point.

Then there's the tennis club, which was completely outmatched. Although they were crushed by the tank, it was also an opportunity for change.

Or rather, Ishida's request has already been fulfilled, and now it's my turn to complete it even better.

Yukino Yukinoshita quickly composed herself and prepared to launch a sarcastic verbal attack on the tennis club.

clap clap!

Shiromaru sighed, clapped his hands, and stepped forward, saying, "The tennis club's situation is truly worse than I expected... To be honest, downgrading it to an interest club wouldn't be an exaggeration at all. Do you guys have anything to say?"

The tennis club president bowed his head and said, "I am very sorry, it was my fault. I failed to fulfill my duties as president and I am willing to resign from my position."

"Bai Ying is really as strong as a monster. I want to challenge him again sometime!"

Ishida clenched his fist, still shaken by the 7-0 defeat he had suffered, yet also eager to turn the tide and go from 0 to 1!

"Hmm—since you still have the fighting spirit, that's fine. Actually, the student council was already considering whether to cut the tennis club's funding... As the saying goes, shame is the mother of courage. The next month is a trial period. Whether the tennis club's funding will be reduced depends on your performance."

Shiromaru smiled, and the atmosphere at the scene immediately relaxed a lot.

...What kind of reaction is this? Has some strange energy altered the atmosphere? Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't help but retort.

Ishida Mamoru asked in surprise, "That Shirokage and his aid club..."

"The Aid Club—an organization that helps others in need. This is my request to the Aid Club. I want to confirm the mindset and thoughts of everyone in the tennis club. After all, the Aid Club is just an interest group and is not eligible to apply for funding..."

Cheng Huixun playfully clasped his hands together and added jokingly.

"Of course, if Bai Ying actually wins a trophy in a competition, that would be a different story."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Snapped!

A white figure stood on a chair and affixed a tennis racket-shaped sticker to the aid department sign.

Upon seeing this scene as soon as she reached the top of the stairs, Yukino Yukinoshita said with a hint of frustration, "It's two to one for now, but I'll catch up."

"Not being discouraged by defeat shows the spirit of a brave person."

The white figure jumped off the chair, grabbed him, and took him into the activity room.

Call me Yukinoshita.

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at the other person, then sat down in the chair by the window as usual, reached into her bag and pulled out a book, saying, "Three people in the tennis club felt ashamed and quit. Ishida-kun has become the new captain of the tennis club, but the original captain didn't quit..."

"Mmm, oh, ah."

Bai Ying sat in a chair, pulled over a desk, and took out several test papers, arranging them on the desk.

"This is the commission you completed; at least carefully check the results, right?"

Yukino Yukinoshita closed her book, unable to concentrate for the moment. She looked up and smiled, "How about showing some human manners? At least listen attentively when others are speaking."

"Hmph, then I'll talk about human manners!" Bai Ying put down her pen, raised her eyebrows and sneered, "Being ostracized by the whole class, you should reflect on whether you have a problem and show some politeness by admitting your mistake!"

"Human courtesy is not a personal attack."

Yukino Yukinoshita retorted, not one to tolerate someone so prone to outbursts: "Haku-kun, reflect on why your royalties have completely vanished?"

"Of course it's because of that scoundrel playwright!"

"That's because of those idiots in my class."

Bai Ying immediately rebuked, "It's very impolite of you to attribute all the problems to other people's actions."

"You're not exactly rude either... Wait, that's not what we're discussing." Yukino Yukinoshita rubbed her temples, steer the conversation back on track. "I meant the matter with this request. The outcome was alright, but were your methods sound?"

Bai Ying waved her hand and said, "The result is the most boring thing, it doesn't matter."

"The process is important... Hmm? You're saying the result is the most boring?"

Yukino Yukinoshita even wondered if she had misheard. Common sense tells us that when you use external pressure to achieve a certain result, shouldn't you focus more on the outcome?

"The result is a static description, something that does not change at all—the result can be a painting, containing the beauty of light and shadow, which evokes a sense of beauty in its tranquility; the result can be a poem, which is filled with the rhythm of words and sounds, which brings out the heartfelt emotions in the unintentional words."

"It's only when describing a certain situation or state that the result is very boring."

The white figure stood solemnly and murmured in a low voice: "Where is there an everlasting dynasty, where is there an eternally existing thought, where is there an unchanging soul? People grow colder and colder as they live, whether in body or soul. The ultimate coldness is death—even the final outcome is predetermined, so what is there to value?"

"So you don't care about the outcome... Ishida-kun wants to overthrow his superior and become the tennis club captain. Your method is to create chaos in the stagnant tennis club from the outside. Whether Ishida-kun becomes the tennis club captain in this chaos or the tennis club falls apart, it doesn't matter?"

Yukino Yukinoshita's expression was subtle; she realized she had thought too highly of this person before.

Bai Ying said with interest, "After training the tennis club for a few days, you must know the reasons why the tennis club captain is not doing his job, or what Ishida Mamoru is thinking and pursuing. Can you be sure what kind of person he will be in the future? Of course not."

"You can only be certain of a temporary outcome, and that outcome is very fragile in a constantly changing situation."

"The Demon King will not help anyone, but will only become a hardship and an obstacle. Those who are defeated by the Demon King are not necessarily supporting characters, and those who defeat the Demon King are not necessarily heroes... Stories will have an ending, but people are always on the road - the true warrior is the one who never looks back!"

Whether the tennis club can transform itself and achieve success, whether Mamoru Ishida can stay true to himself and persevere despite repeated defeats, and what the seemingly changed tennis club president will do—these are all things that have yet to happen. These things cannot be judged by the outcome; we are merely fulfilling Mamoru Ishida's request to achieve victory.

Yukino Yukinoshita seemed to understand something and said calmly, "So my method is better. By improving Ishida's tennis skills and raising the level of the tennis club, even without your external pressure, we can still help Ishida win the captain's position step by step."

"But in the end, I won."

The white figure smiled smugly, while Yukino Yukinoshita almost choked.

Didn't you just say the result wasn't important?

"Facts matter."

"What I said is true—"

"How can something that never happened be called a fact? Like the fabrications of Washington chopping down the cherry tree, seeing the Great Wall from space, or Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment, are you trying to put your fabricated stories, with the title 'Snow Under Snow, Snow Is Almost a White Shadow,' in my textbooks?"

"From the perspective of reason, objective reality, and logical reasoning, my method is better."

"you're right."

Bai Ying swayed happily in the chair, ending today's little rant with a single sentence.

Yukino Yukinoshita opened the book with a sense of frustration. She realized that her abilities were indeed limited. If she could be more capable and decisive, for example, if she could successfully integrate the tennis club and solve the problems caused by the tennis club president's negligence before the match between the tennis club and the White Shadow, then she would have the confidence to say that she had solved this request herself.

In fact, it was Bai Ying who broke the tennis club president's mentality, directly implementing a breakdown therapy.

If I had known, I would have broken the tennis club president's mentality during training, made him reveal his true thoughts, and then had Ishida correct him severely.

Unfortunately, when Mamoru Ishida had his first argument with the tennis club captain and heard him attribute everything to a single match loss, he had a bit of PTSD and immediately confronted the guy.

Failure is not shameful, and it is normal to feel discouraged after failure. However, as a club president, being concerned about saving face and then slacking off, and even trying to get others to slack off to prove that it's not that you're giving up but that there are real problems, will only lead to an atmosphere of seniority and hierarchy within the tennis club, making the situation even worse. That is what is truly unbearable.

Yukino Yukinoshita reviewed the request and felt a little regretful.

This small regret has now turned into anger.

"If it weren't for Shiromaru-senpai's intervention, someone would probably have ruined the situation and become the infamous solo demolition mastermind that everyone fears."

Yukino Yukinoshita turned her head and said, "So you knew Shiromaru-senpai?"

"I don't know her. I just felt that the student council president should be quite capable and someone who is willing to actively seek trouble, so I just let her get involved in the situation."

Bai Ying was practicing her exam-taking skills when Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at her from a distance. Judging from the dense text, it was most likely a Japanese literature question. She said casually, "No wonder you chose to hold the competition on the weekend, had the student council president participate, and didn't hold back at all. You've definitely thought things through more than I have... Your Japanese literature grades aren't good?"

"Otherwise, how could you have gotten first place?"

The white figure snorted proudly, "Just wait for the final exams, hero—for victory, I will offer my soul!"

Offering one's soul to victory... wait, considering someone's devilish writing style...

Yukino Yukinoshita tentatively asked, "You didn't write the essay for the Chinese literature section, did you, Haku-kun?"

Bai Ying gave him a look of pity for his intelligence: "How could I be second if I didn't write it?"

"..." Yukino Yukinoshita also realized that she had asked a stupid question, which was really underestimating the third place. So she coughed and said, "I remember the essay topic for the entrance exam was to describe something that happened to you and what your thoughts were about it. What did you write?"

To be honest, she had great faith in the other person's writing ability, but she also had great faith in his ability in other areas.

If you lose a lot of points in Chinese, it's definitely because of something else—for example, the essay's main theme is too negative, the essay suddenly stops halfway through, or the content is completely unrelated to the topic...

Bai Ying pondered for a moment and said, "About the entrance exam essay that asked me to write about an event and express my feelings."

"I didn't ask you to summarize your experience—wait..."

Yukino Yukinoshita realized, "This is the topic you chose for your essay?"

"That's right! Based on the connotation of the question, I deeply praise the teacher who set such a question, allowing students to express their true feelings! Based on the social situation, I criticize the fact that most students have developed fixed thinking patterns, and tend to beautify or fabricate themselves when choosing topics! Based on true feelings, I expressed the pain and difficulty I faced when choosing a topic, analyzed whether I should follow the mainstream for the sake of scoring points, profoundly reflected the conflict and separation between the self and reality, and thus transformed the self-conflict into a short story, expressing the beautiful theme of the protagonist sticking to his original intention and finally being killed by difficulties!"

Bai Ying wiped away non-existent sweat from her forehead, her face filled with emotion as if she could still see that arduous battle.

Yukino Yukinoshita remained silent. She wanted to say something, but found herself lacking the energy, and could only murmur, "It's a wonder you got second place..."

"Hmph! It must be the examiner targeting me!" the white figure chuckled. "Hero! You must have fabricated a story to generate an idea that caters to mainstream expectations, right? Heh heh! How ridiculous!"

"I never did anything like that." Yukino Yukinoshita scoffed, still quite pleased with herself for having unwittingly won against her. "Everyone has a few memorable moments... Don't you have any?"

Bai Ying shook his head and sighed, "This moment is the most profound."

"...Are you harassing me?"

Yukino Yukinoshita casually smoothed her hair.

"Aren't you the one harassing me?" the white figure asked in surprise. "You're what Hachiman calls an excessive sense of self-awareness—wake up, hero! Have you forgotten the painful memory of being humiliated by the Demon King?!"

"You're the one who got humiliated. I'll never lose next time."

"The roar of the loser is truly delightful."

Yukino Yukinoshita smiled kindly and asked, "Is Shirakami's manuscript finished?"

"It's nighttime now, and I'm fearless. I can even sing and dance—the scenery is so beautiful under the bright sun, with red flowers and green grass~"

Amidst the arguing, Hikigaya and Yui Yuigahama entered, walking like crabs, carrying a long reception table.

"Xiaoxue, Xiaobai, stop arguing, help me out... I'm so tired, I'm going to die..."

"Gurgle—this table is heavier than I thought..."

Chapter Twenty-Four Study Session

A reception table was placed across the empty classroom. Yukino Yukinoshita sat by the window reading a book, while Shiroki sat against the wall writing furiously.

Hachiman Hikigaya and Yui Yuigahama sat on the long side of the table.

Hachiman Hikigaya flipped through the palm-sized paperback, remaining motionless like a wooden sculpture except for the occasional page turn by Dongdong's finger, enjoying the quiet yet comfortable atmosphere.

Yui Yuigahama held her phone, her thumb skills having reached a high level of mastery. She tapped, pressed, dragged, and swiped with lightning speed, and could even multitask to start a conversation.

"Has Xiaobai not brought his computer recently?"

"It is the natural order of life to be active during the day and rest at night; it is nighttime now."

"Ahem—Won't there be any problems? Like, just quitting the job or something..."