APTnovel Chapter 200: Treating Everyone Equally – The Responsibilities of Coaches and Captains
Chapter 200: Treating Everyone Equally – The Responsibilities of Coaches and Captains
Sanada's baseball cap was knocked forward a little. He rubbed the back of his head, turned around abruptly, and looked surprised, about to say "too relaxed," but when he saw it was Mochizuki Ryo, he swallowed the words back.
Kirihara immediately crouched down, clutching his head and hissing in pain. Looking up and seeing it was Mochizuki Ryo, he immediately swallowed his complaints, rubbing the back of his head with a pitiful expression, his eyes reddening. Hiyoshi turned his head to dodge, but before he could even raise his hand, he was struck. Frozen in place, still nodding, his back tensed even more.
Wang Yueling stood behind Sanada and the others with her arms crossed, having already withdrawn her hands. She looked down at the three of them with a gentle smile and a gentle tone.
"The three of you are having a lively conversation. What are you talking about? I'd like to hear it too."
Kirihara covered his head, too afraid to speak, while Hiyoshi pursed his lips, his ears beginning to turn red. Sanada's lips tightened into a thin line, his expression under his hat revealing neither anger nor embarrassment.
"So, in your eyes, the spirit of Bushido is simply trading your life's work for a middle school competition?" Mochizuki Ryo raised an eyebrow, her azure eyes devoid of any smile.
The three people, each with a bump on their head, froze in place.
Hyotei stood not far away watching the commotion. Ootori covered his mouth, while Shishido's shoulders trembled. Taki, holding a small fan, turned his head away, pretending to look elsewhere, but the slight smile on his lips couldn't be hidden.
Shinobu leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, adjusted his sunglasses, and glanced at Atobe in front of him. Atobe was sitting on the coach's bench, holding a tactics book, his eyelids not even lifting, but the corner of his lips twitched slightly.
Several students from Rikkai University watched the entire event up close. Marui popped his chewing gum with a "pop," his mouth twisted into a grin, and he squatted down with a laugh. Kuwabara covered his mouth and turned his head away, his shoulders swaying.
Niou finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. The lollipop almost fell out of his mouth, and he stammered between laughs:
"Puri~~~ The three representatives of the Bushido spirit are quite uniform in their posture as they get hit."
He gestured with his chin towards Sanada, his smile widening: "Vice-Captain Sanada, your hat's askew. A dignified samurai, getting tapped on the back... Pfft, hahaha~~~"
Yagyu picked up his water bottle, took a sip, and said calmly, "Masaharu, your smile is too obvious."
"Hiro... I can't control myself."
Liu stopped writing, closed her eyes, and a very slight upward curve appeared at the corner of her mouth: "Data shows that being hit on the head when you're hot-blooded increases the probability of sobering up by 83%."
"Senior Yanagi!" Kirihara cried, clutching his head and turning back to accuse him, "You won't help me!"
"Data can't help you."
Marui covered his mouth and turned his face away, nodding repeatedly, chewing gum and mumbling, "Serves you right! You guys were just being overly enthusiastic. You can't even play ball after your hands are ruined, so what's the point of talking about spirit?"
Jiro turned to look at the large bumps on Kirihara and Hiyoshi's foreheads, then at Mochizuki Ryo, blinked twice, swallowed hard, and then silently moved behind Kuwabara.
Yukimura stood a few steps away, holding Luna. He glanced at the bag on Kirihara's head, then at Sanada's reddened ears under his hat brim, and smiled, showing no intention of stopping him.
Luna was nestled in Yukimura's arms, intently watching the game, her little head following the ball's movements. Then, she heard three loud bangs, and startled, she quickly raised her two small, dark paws, tightly hugging her head. Her round, heterochromatic eyes peeked over, and she buried herself in Yukimura's arms, as if afraid she'd be the next one to be hit.
Because of the gauze wrapped around its right paw, it had secretly licked it several times while everyone was engrossed in the match. The fur around the edge of the gauze was all wet.
After waiting for a while, Wang Yueling came back. It tilted its head and twitched its little nose, as if confirming that its human only disciplined the two-legged creatures and not the kittens.
Feeling guilty, it hid its paws under its belly.
It lowered its head to nibble on the small fish. But its little paw, which was wrapped in gauze, was so itchy that it couldn't help but rub against the edge of the bagel and then reach out to touch Yukimura's hand.
Yukimura glanced down at it. Luna was looking at him innocently with her heterochromatic eyes, her little paws gently scratching at the outside of the gauze.
Yukimura sighed and gently pressed down on its paw: "Licked again?"
Luna tucked her ears back, quickly turned her head, and faced him with the back of her head, but her little tail wagged honestly twice.
Yukimura didn't pursue the matter further, merely rubbing its ear with his fingertip. He then looked up at the three still-stunned boys in front of him, his tone gentle yet somewhat solemn: "Akaya, Hiyoshi-kun, Genichiro."
Sanada and the other two were a bit deflated after being knocked on. Kirihara squatted on the ground, rubbing the back of his head, muttering under his breath, "The former vice-captain also said he would fight to the very end..." Before he could finish speaking, Sanada glared at him, and he quickly shut his mouth.
The three people turned around at the same time upon hearing Yukimura's voice.
Yukimura shifted his gaze from Luna to their faces, his voice soft but clear: "I understand what you mean by 'Bushido.' Standing on the field without retreating, without admitting defeat, without bowing your head. These qualities are not wrong."
He paused, glancing down at Luna in his arms. The kitten was pawing at the little fish's tail with its uninjured paw, completely unaware that it had become the center of attention.
"But that spirit is for the battlefield, and this is the arena." Yukimura raised his eyes and smiled. "Using those qualities to harm yourself isn't courage, it's foolishness."
Kirihara blinked, as if he wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.
Sanada frowned, and his lips moved slightly: "Seiichi..."
"Genichiro, let me finish." Yukimura's voice remained gentle, but that gentleness carried an unyielding force. "Kawamura's choice was his own decision. He had his reasons, and I won't judge whether they were right or wrong. But the three of you..."
As he spoke, he gently rubbed his wrist with his fingertips. He knew better than anyone the feeling of struggling to even hold a racket during his hospital stay. He didn't want his teammates to experience that panic of possibly never being able to stand on the court again.
He glanced at Kirihara and Hiyoshi, finally fixing his gaze on Sanada's face. "If I ever do the same thing on the field, I won't just give him a quick tap like I did before."
The words fell softly into the air, yet carried the weight of lead. No one dared challenge authority anymore, but one particular kitten clearly failed to sense the danger.
Luna had somehow tossed the little fish aside and was now clinging to the edge of a bagel, laboriously placing her injured paw on it and secretly licking it. After licking it a couple of times, she looked up warily at Yukimura.
Yukimura was still training the two-legged creature and didn't look in its direction.
Luna licked it again.
Then it raised its paw and licked it again.
When it licked for the third time, Yukimura suddenly reached out and tapped it lightly on the forehead. The spot was exactly the same one where Mochizuki Ryo had tapped Kirihara and the others earlier.
"Thump."
Luna was stunned for a moment, then tucked her head down, covered her forehead with her two front paws, and stared wide-eyed at Yukimura, then at the little fish that had appeared, and then back at Yukimura. She let out a soft "meow" in her throat, full of grievance.
"You too." Yukimura wasn't buying it. He pinched the tip of its little ear with his fingertips, his voice soft but firm, "Don't lick your wounds."
Niou, who had seen everything clearly from the side, laughed so hard he bit his lollipop into pieces: "Hahaha, Minister, you really are... fair to everyone!"
Luna glared at him, turned her head away, and turned her whole little bottom towards everyone. She also picked up the little fish and dragged it under her belly, looking like she was saying, "I'm angry, don't talk to me."
But its little paw, which was wrapped in gauze, was still sticking out, and a small patch of the gauze was wet at the edge.
Yukimura glanced down, gently took the paw from it, fiddled with the edge of the gauze with his fingertip, then took out a clean roll of bandage from the cat carrier next to him and began to rewrap it, circle by circle.
Luna tucked her legs in, initially trying to pull them back, but Yukimura gently pinched her paw pads, and she calmed down. She nestled on Yukimura's lap, tilting her head to the side, watching Yukimura bandage her, occasionally letting out a soft "meow," as if to say, "This time I really didn't lick for very long."
Yukimura didn't look up, only hummed in response.
Watching this scene, Mochizuki Ryou turned her gaze back to Yukimura and glanced at the three who were reflecting on their actions after being reprimanded.
"Manly spirit? Bushido spirit?"
He repeated the two words, raising the final syllable slightly, "He risked his arm for two points, and now he can't even hold a sushi knife. What kind of Bushido is that? Even when committing seppuku, at least he knows to choose a good knife. You guys, on the other hand, chose a good grave for him."
Kirihara opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but the aftershock from the blow above his head still lingered, and he subconsciously shrank back, not daring to talk back.
Sanada adjusted his hat brim, his expression darkening, and said, "I don't agree with his actions. It's just..."
"You just admire his unwavering stance," Mochizuki Ryou finished for him, her voice calming down, the previous languid air gone. "Genichiro, admiration is one thing. Competitive sports are about technique, tactics, and what you practice regularly. It's not about who dares to abuse their body more. If you really want to compete on who can endure more pain, just compete in self-harm, why play tennis?"
He paused, then went on to analyze what he had said earlier: "You just said, 'Giving your all is the only way to respect your opponent.' But if your opponent wants to win fair and square, and you try to beat them with a crippled arm, are you respecting them?"
Sanada pursed his lips, remaining silent. His gaze met Mochizuki Ryo's from under the brim of his hat, and after two seconds, he looked away, his chest heaving slightly, without offering any rebuttal.
Hiyoshi also lowered his hand from the back of his head, straightened his back, and stood up straight like a bamboo pole. He didn't say anything more, and the "subordinate overthrowing superior" momentum he had just displayed had dissipated by about 70-80% after that knock.
Kirihara was still muttering to himself, clutching his head. Mochizuki Ryo glanced at him, and he immediately fell silent.
Yukimura, holding the still sulking cat, looked at Kawamura, who was bent over panting on the field, with a hint of regret in his eyes.
"Ling is right." His voice was soft, but clear. "You must remember, the first red line in teamwork is that you can't trade your health for points. Whether it's Rikkai or Hyotei, no match is worth risking your entire athletic career for. Winning or losing doesn't matter, but if you're ruined, you have nothing."
Marui popped the bubble in his chewing gum and quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Niou stopped laughing, took the lollipop out of his mouth, and listened quietly.
Kirihara opened his mouth, glanced at Sanada, then at Yukimura, then shrank back and whispered, "I understand."
Hiyoshi stood ramrod straight, the bump on his head still red, but he nodded: "Understood."
Seeing that Sanada was still stubbornly arguing with Yukimura, Mochizuki Ryo sighed softly, took a step forward, and gently helped Sanada straighten his slightly crooked hat brim.
He withdrew his hand, his voice lower than before: "Genichiro, you're the vice-captain of Rikkai. If you play injured, the younger players will think that it's okay to play even when injured. You drew the line yourselves, so you have to protect it first."
Yukimura glanced down at the kitten in his arms, gently touching Luna's little paw with his fingertips. When he looked up again, his eyes held a depth that others couldn't decipher: "When I was lying in the hospital bed, what I wanted most wasn't to win a championship, but to be able to stand on the court again. Nothing is more important than being able to play. It's such a pity to lose a game and never be able to play again for the rest of your life."
He spoke softly, as if he were talking about something ordinary. But those who know him know how many days and nights he had endured behind that phrase, "to be able to stand on the court again."
Sanada's lips twitched slightly. His eyes, hidden beneath the brim of his hat, stared at Mochizuki Ryo for two seconds before he turned to Yukimura and responded softly, "...Understood. It was my oversight."
Mochizuki Ryo walked to the empty seat next to Yukimura and sat down.
"That was pretty ruthless." Yukimura smiled at him and said softly, "They probably won't recover for a while."
"We have to let them recover, even if it's not a full recovery." Wang Yueling shrugged, picked up her water bottle and took a sip. "It's better than really crippling their hands later. They're still growing, and an injury like that could last a lifetime."
He paused, his gaze falling on the half-empty field, his tone slightly subdued: "The allure of competitive sports has never been about winning at all costs. It's about fighting to the very last moment while holding the line. Trading a player's health for victory is fundamentally a departure from the original purpose of competition."
Yukimura recalled his time in the hospital, nodded, and gently scratched the kitten's chin with his fingertips. The little guy immediately purred contentedly, forgetting all his earlier unhappiness: "You're right. People on the field are easily blinded by victory or defeat. But the coach and captain can't let themselves be blinded by it."
"On Seigaku's side, nobody stepped in to help." His voice softened. "Coach Ryuzaki didn't say anything, and neither did Tezuka. Everyone assumed the sacrifice was worthwhile, and in the end, all the pressure fell on Kawamura alone."
"Tezuka, as the pillar of Seigaku, has been stubbornly enduring it all along." Mochizuki Ryo scoffed, his tone carrying an undisguised disappointment. "Naturally, he thinks it's normal for others to be stubbornly enduring it too. He thought he was respecting his teammates' will, but he was actually just pushing all the responsibility onto them and bearing it all himself. Someone who has been injured should understand this kind of pain better, but instead, he became the one who tacitly condoned it."
As he spoke, his gaze swept across the direction of Seigaku's rest area. Tezuka stood by the railing, his back ramrod straight, but his left hand remained hanging at his side, his fingers slightly curled.
"He has his obsessions." Yukimura glanced at him and said softly.
"Obsession is no excuse." Mochizuki Ryou withdrew her gaze. "The primary responsibility of a coach and captain is to protect their players. If you can't even do that, what are you talking about winning?"
"Wow, you're having such a deep conversation."
A cheerful voice came from behind, its tone lazy, like a summer afternoon breeze.