My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

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Unfazed by the crowd's enthusiasm, Ye Shan casually raised one hand in response, his composure utterly detestable. As for his opponent, he had long been completely ignored.

Judging from the atmosphere at the scene, it's quite clear who has the advantage and who has the disadvantage.

Once the match officially began, the outcome was decided incredibly quickly.

Hayama quickly grabbed his opponent's hand and won with a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw.

The entire venue erupted in cheers that nearly lifted the roof off, but Hayama walked back as if nothing had happened.

"That's how we advance!"

“Y-yeah…”

To be honest, I didn't even get a chance to participate, so I feel a little guilty about saying that, but anyway, advancing is a good thing.

Speaking of which, Hayama even knows judo, he's definitely a formidable character... Wait, someone beat him in a tennis match before! Although that person won the match, he was ignored by everyone... Wait a minute, I don't think I contributed anything in that match, right? So I can easily reap the rewards without doing anything, it seems I'm destined to never work.

Although I don't plan to go out to work in the future, I still have important matters to attend to at the moment.

"There's still time before your next appearance, so you can do whatever you want."

I told Hayama and Zaimokuza this, then turned and walked toward the seat of honor.

After the preliminary rounds, the semi-finals began. The first match was between the Judo Club and the Tobe team. Hayama joined the audience of Miura and others, while Zaimokuza couldn't find a place to stand, so he simply stood there.

The senior student sitting in the seat of honor was also watching the game, but he looked completely bored.

I don't know his name, nor am I interested in knowing it. Anyway, I have no direct relationship with him, and I don't consider him my senior. I'll just call him that for now, purely for convenience.

"Senior."

I walked up to the senior and spoke to him.

The senior student turned around impatiently, only to find an unfamiliar face, a look of confusion flashing across his face for a moment. But he quickly concealed that expression and gave a perfunctory reply.

"……Um."

After his response, I continued:

What do you think of the judo club's new approach?

"...Hmm, not bad, but we can only play like this until high school."

He kept waving his fan, as if trying to fill the gaps in the conversation.

I carefully considered each word of the answer. So that's how it is; he's that kind of person—after confirming that my impression of him matched what I'd seen before, I continued:

"Yes. When Shiroyama came to us for advice, we thought about it a lot and finally decided that entertainment value like this is also important, which is why we brought in so many people."

The senior student winked at me a few times after hearing that.

"...Oh, you went out of your way to gather so many spectators? But you won't learn anything just by playing around, so don't be too nice to Shiroyama. This society is much harsher than you imagine. If you don't study hard now, you'll only become a useless person in the future."

The senior student snapped his fan shut. Hearing this, I desperately tried to hold back my laughter, and then said:

"Yeah. By the way, senior, would you like to have a match too?"

"...What? Oh, I'll think about it."

"We're ready to go anytime."

I said this before leaving. The senior student was probably not satisfied with my response; I could feel him staring at me in surprise, but I ignored him and left.

It's almost our group's turn to compete. Although I guess Hayama and Zaimokuza will both win, it doesn't matter whether I'm there or not.

On my way back to meet up with Zaimokuza, I ran into Shiroyama, who had just finished his refereeing duties.

"...What did you say to your senior?"

It seems he noticed my actions. After all, I went to the VIP area, and Shiroyama was still worried about his senior.

"It's nothing, just discussing 'acting' with him."

""Performance"?"

Chengshan's head will tilt to one side like a large potato.

"Oh right, I should also tell you first. The final showdown will be between me and my senior, and I'll need you to be the referee."

"I have no objection..."

"Then, I'll leave the 'performance' to you."

"Um?"

He still couldn't understand what I was saying.

× × ×

I didn't get a chance to play in the semi-finals either. If you ask me what I did, all I did was give the judo club a mop to clean up the sweat from the wooden mats after the match.

Zaimokuza and Hayama once again used their slippery defense and over-the-shoulder throw respectively, easily securing their victory and advancing us to the finals. In the end, I still didn't contribute anything.

Their opponent in the final is the Judo Club, who unexpectedly defeated the Hubu team.

To add to the above, since Shiroyama is the president of the judo club, he did not participate in this match to avoid a significant disparity in skill between the two sides. Instead, Tsukui, Fujino, and another unnamed member took to the field. Since we don't know his name, we'll refer to him as "Yam" for now.

Seeing them start their warm-up exercises, we also began preparing for the competition.

At that moment, Yuihama and Yukinoshita, who had been watching from a distance, walked over.

"What's up? I don't usually initiate conversations with people before a match."

Ignoring the enthusiasm of the crowd, Yukinoshita made sarcastic remarks to me.

"So, you've been competing all year."

"That's mostly right. So, what's up?"

I dismissed Xuexia's cold remarks with a simple "yes," and when Yuihama raised a hand in greeting, I replied:

"We're here to cheer you on."

"Oh, thanks... if it's my turn to play."

I looked at Hayama and Zaimokuza, thinking that maybe they would continue their previous momentum and win the game.

"Definitely, otherwise we won't be able to handle the judo club's request."

Yukinoshita seemed to read my mind. Although I didn't know exactly how much she understood, I had to admit that her words carried a strangely persuasive weight. And she wasn't wrong—the competition couldn't end like this.

"……yes."

"That's right! That's right! Let's do our best for the judo club!"

Yuihama, the optimist, raised her fist, but I simply couldn't bring myself to agree.

"I'm not doing this entirely for them."

"what?"

Yuihama asked with a puzzled look, "So, who is it for?" But before I could answer, the match time arrived first.

× × ×

The final match was fraught with controversy from the very beginning.

After both sides bowed and the match began, only five seconds had passed...

“Guuuu!”

Thump—With a strong impact, I heard a muffled groan, like the sound of a character hitting a wall in "Dragon Quest".

I rubbed my eyes and looked closely to see what had happened. It turned out that Zai Muza had been thrown by his opponent from the judo club and was lying motionless on the ground, just like a sea lion that had been washed ashore by the waves.

The referee loudly announced, "One win!"

"Someone like that, the 'materialist,' has lost..."

I can't believe it. Zaimokuza, who was said to be invincible, was defeated so easily... It seems he shares the same fate as Yam (Note 46: A character from Dragon Ball who often loses his first battle to highlight the opponent's strength).

"The judo club should be quite used to that kind of opponent."

I don't know when, but Yukinoshita was already sitting next to me.

"Damn it! Did the slippery tactic fail?"

“How disgusting…”

Meanwhile, Yui, sitting on the other side with her knees drawn up, added a mental attack. "She's already unconscious, please stop rubbing salt into her wounds, okay?"

The judo club members rolled the motionless log off the mat and threw it outside. The saturated log looked just like a slug.

At the same time, the audience stirred. They must have been shocked to witness the decisive defeat of the woodworker. However, once the next match was ready, the commotion was quickly drowned out by loud cheers.

Amidst cheers for Hayama, the impact of the previous battle had long since dissipated.

The second midfield battle is crucial; we absolutely cannot lose. This is different from the games where commentators often emphasize during broadcasts, "This is a game we absolutely cannot lose," but in the end, we either suffer a defeat or a 0-0 draw. This is a truly unwinnable battle. If we lose this game, I'm out of the game.

The cheers from the audience were even louder than before. Ebina maintained a smile throughout, loudly cheering for Hayama; Miura excitedly declared, "If Hayama wins, I'll take off my clothes," filling the boys with anticipation. Oh, and Tobe was still the same as always, incredibly annoying.

"Compared to penguins."

Hayama's voice remained very clear amidst the cheers.

"What?"

"You'd better warm up first."

Hayama tossed out those words and turned to leave. Though he phrased it subtly, it was undeniably arrogant. This declaration of victory seemed tailor-made for him, fitting him to the point of being utterly detestable. I was furious, but he was truly going to win, so I didn't know how to react to him.

The Hayama whirlwind that drove the audience into a frenzy reached its climax when he stepped onto the playing field.

I noticed Ebina's voice suddenly disappear. Turning around, I saw her lying on Miura's lap, a wet handkerchief covering her face. Could it be that she saw something again and had some strange thoughts?

Ye Shan positioned himself to face his opponent directly.

Suddenly, someone opened the gate to the judo hall.

"Ah~ Hayama-senpai, I've finally found you! Please hurry back to the club~"

The person who opened the door was a girl wearing a pink sweatshirt and with shoulder-length flaxen hair. Her slow, deliberate voice was clearly out of place with the tense atmosphere. Ignoring the fact that the match was halfway through and the fact that everyone had paused their actions because of her appearance, she walked towards Hayama without hesitation.

When Ye Shan saw her, he was unusually moved.

"I...Iroha..."

"Hayama-senpai hasn't come back yet, and the first-year students don't know what to do~"

"Ah, oh... but I'm a little..."

Hayama was about to continue speaking when the girl named "Iroha" wouldn't listen and grabbed his sleeve.

Huh, who is that person?

Just as I was wondering what was going on, the Minister of Revenue stood up from the audience and spoke to her.

"I'm sorry, Iroha. I need to go back now. Could you please let Hayato go?"

"Ah, it's alright, Senior Hubu."

"Whoa whoa……"

The Ministry of Revenue was given a polite rebuff by the other party with a smile, and without saying much, he obediently sat back down.

"Does Hayama know that person from the Ministry of Revenue?"

I asked Yukinoshita and Yuihama. Yukinoshita shook her head to indicate that she didn't know, while Yuihama seemed to know something.

"Ah, it's Isshiki, a first-year student. She's the manager of the soccer club."

So her name is "Iroha Isshiki", right? Okay, I got it. She's a dangerous person.

...That woman is a ruthless character, no doubt about it. My soul is whispering: "Beware of seemingly kind and gentle beautiful girls." (Note 47 is a line from "Ghost in the Shell".)

The cute female manager of the soccer club, who exuded a dangerous aura, grabbed Ye Shan and dragged him outside. Her behavior was quite like that of a capricious little princess, and no one dared to utter a word of rebuke.

"Wouldn't it be better to stop her quickly?"

Only Yukina still had the ability to move, but she didn't know what to do, so she asked me for confirmation in a questioning tone.

"No need, you can just ignore her."

"Really?" She was surprised by my response.

But under the snow, you yourself sat there the whole time, without moving an inch...

Fine, even if the Ice Queen sits idly by while the princess causes trouble, there's another queen who will step in.