This is the anti-theft seal.
"Ah,
Equality House -kun is one of the heirs of the master of the nearby Equality House Shrine. He is now cultivating here with us. "
The witch explained, "In fact, your questions will be better answered at the Equality House Shrine."
"Do you know me?"
"God has already given me guidance." The witch's smile had a mysterious flavor.
She opened the door of the tea room in the shrine. "Please sit down and have a cup of tea first."
In the clean and simple tea room, there was a soft cushion on the wooden floor, and a tea tray on the bamboo low table.
Prince Ren sat on his knees and waited for the witch to make tea.
The nearby window opened,
A hot wind blew in,
And the hot air was blocked out by the bamboo window.
Prince Ren heard the sound of hitting the ball. There was a rhythm,
It was very familiar,
One after another.
The witch was meticulously boiling the water.
And Prince Ren was listening to what was called the "Equality House" over there,
It was probably the sound of a "senpai" boy hitting the ball.
The sound was muffled,
It should be on the ground, probably still bumpy mud ground.
This reminded Prince Ren of Kazuyanagi Yukimura's idea two months ago in Hakone.
Although they had been rejected, the eight of them had still tried.
They really couldn't play on that kind of ground.
What about the Equality House?
Prince Ren remembered the blonde boy's arrogant posture at the door.
Although he didn't want to admit it,
Maybe the Equality House could really do it.
What's so great about it? He looks a few years older than me.
I could do it when I was in my third grade,
And the Equality House was still a high school student. Was it a high school student?
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Prince Ren blinked,
He reached out and took the witch's tea.
He wasn't particularly familiar with etiquette,
But surprisingly, the witch didn't mind.
But was the shrine such an approachable place?
Shouldn't the witch's status be very high?
"You should know,
Our shrine.
Worships the Inari God, "the witch said with a smile,
"You have the power of Inari God, but you don't know how to use it yet."
"… The power of Inari?" Prince Ren's eyes widened. "Previously, others said that I have the power of the stars."
Miko's expression stiffened for a moment. "Xing Jian?
… No … Eh? "
She looked at Prince Ren seriously for a while, and then said with a sigh, "I'm really ashamed that I can't see the whole truth with my ability.
But you have unparalleled potential to be unearthed. "
"That's exactly why I'm here." Prince Ren said, "My ability …"
"If it was your ability, you would definitely know how to control it."
Prince Ren thought, I don't intend to control it.
"How do I use it?" he asked.
Miko-sama smiled, "Follow your heart."
Prince Ren was confused.
Was the shrine actually such an idealistic place?
「 If you want to learn the basics of using spirit energy, the places that can teach you have already invited you 」 the witch told him.
Prince Ren thought of the so-called Government of the Time.
Inviting him over and over again, he should really be very sincere, right?
"I understand, thank you."
He bowed and drank the cup of tea, hesitated for a while when he walked out of the door, and decided to satisfy his curiosity.
He walked to the place where the sound of hitting balls was constantly coming from.
After bypassing the pillar of the shrine and walking for a short distance, he saw a very simple court in front of him.
It was not even appropriate to call it a court, it was just a road with mud and stones intersecting with white lines that marked the boundary of the court.
In the middle of the court, there were two small trees that had not yet grown, only about the height of a person and a half, and they pulled an old net.
The boy who stopped him outside the door just now had a head of blonde curly hair (Prince Ren felt that the hairstyle was very similar to his minister's, even the hairband was the same style), holding a racket and running on the simple court.
His aura was particularly calm, and with a domineering aura that could not be ignored.
From what Prince Ren had seen in the national tournament, no one was as good as him (after all, Tachikai was the best).
This boy from the Equality House was better than Sanada.
Prince Ren could come to this conclusion.
He was too familiar with Sanada's moves, and by far, he was most familiar with Sanada's moves in the tennis club.
To some extent, this was a failure, because his partner was Yanagi.
So he had been reflecting on this recently.
Then what about Yukimura?
How would he compare to Yukimura?
Prince Ren did not know, he had never played against Yukimura.
Or rather, they had a practice match, but it was obvious that Yukimura did not take it seriously.
The tennis ball hit a small stone on the ground.
But the change in its trajectory was clearly within the blonde boy's control, he only took two steps to receive the ball that rebounded from the opposite wall.
How did he do it?
Moreover, the wall was more than a meter away from the baseline, making the ball bounce back and hit the baseline on this side, his control of strength …
Prince Ren subconsciously held his breath.
Then the Equality House's racket turned and retracted.
He stood up straight, letting the tennis ball bounce naturally on the racket.
Then he turned around and glanced at Prince Ren, revealing an expression that was half scornful and half proud.
He reached out, grabbed the tennis ball, gripped it hard, and threw it into the air.
It was a standard serving posture, the muscles on his arm bulging slightly as he accumulated strength.
Then he squatted, jumped, swung his arm, and swung the racket.
Pa!
Prince Ren's eyes suddenly widened.
He sucked in a breath of cold air.
It's coming!
When the tennis ball flew past his cheek, he could not help but shrink back, and then he reached out and touched his cheek.
Just now …
How many balls were there?
Two, or three?
How could there be a few tennis balls?
Or were some of the balls spiritual power?
He turned around. When the tennis ball landed on the ground, there was only a ball print.
But just now, both of his cheeks were indeed …
He retracted his hand, and his fingertips were stained with a little red.
He was bleeding.
"Hey, Imp." The Equality House walked over with the racket on his shoulder.
He was ten centimeters taller than Prince Ren, and his physique was much stronger. He did not mind when he was outside the door, but now that he looked at him, he was full of pressure.
"Are you a high school student?"
After he said this word, he did not seem to expect to get an answer. Instead, he smiled contemptuously. "Looking at your team uniform, Tachikai University?"
"I heard that Tachikai University won the national championship as soon as I graduated." He snorted. "But you'd better understand that tennis is not just a game."
Prince Ren opened his mouth and found his voice. "You haven't seen my games, how do you know that our tennis is just a game?"
"That's why, Imp, you're too inexperienced." The Equality House came a little closer, almost touching Prince Ren.
He lowered his head. "Your eyes just now expressed it very clearly."
Prince Ren was silent.
He could not refute.
"Forget it."
The Equality House stared at him for a while. It seemed that he did not get the desired reaction, so he took a step back dispiritedly.
He swung the racket down. When he stopped, he pointed it at the tip of Prince Ren's nose, no more than two millimeters away. "You also have spiritual power, right?
You came here for that, right?
Then grow up quickly. "
Prince Ren: "…?"
He did not think that this person was enthusiastic and liked to cultivate the temper of the younger generation.
The Equality House laughed loudly, like a shark opening its bloody mouth. "Next year, the U17 training camp will recruit high school students.
The international U17 competition has been discussing adding seats for high school students since last year, but it's probably too late this year.
If you can stand in front of me one day … I haven't seen someone like you play tennis in a long time. "
Someone like me?
Someone with spiritual power?
No, it shouldn't be. Everyone has spiritual power, it's just a matter of how much. At least, Prince Ren thought that the Sanada's knife and the grass he saw were the embodiment of one's spiritual power.
Is that someone who can realize that they have spiritual power and can use it subjectively to do something else?
Prince Ren looked at the Equality House.
He felt that this person was very strange and somewhat wishful thinking. "Are you so sure that high school students will be selected next year?"
On this occasion, he didn't think that being recruited by the U17 team was something to be happy about.
"I naturally have my ways," the Equality House said.
He turned around, took another tennis ball from the basket next to him, and ignored Prince Ren.
Prince Ren watched him play tennis for a while, but in the end, he still couldn't make an accurate judgment of his level.
This is because my strength is too far away from this level, Prince Ren thought.
He unconsciously clenched his fists.
The pre-set alarm on his cell phone rang. It was for him to rush back to Osaka to take the school bus.
Prince Ren hurriedly turned off the phone and looked up. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Phoenix of the Equality House." The blonde boy was still waving his racket. "Imp, you have to call me Senpai."
You're from the Vine of Shepherds, not Tachikai University.
Prince Ren thought.
He dragged out the word "oh" and said, "Okay, goodbye, Senpai."
He was very receptive to good advice.
He went back the way he came and walked out of the shrine. The witch stood at the door and smiled at him. She even opened the door for him.
After he was out of the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and touched the scab on his face.
Will that guy hit me with a ball if he doesn't agree with me?
Prince Ren really thought that the Equality House would hit him with a ball.