Though her thoughts had been seen right through by Zerozaki Hajime, Yukimura Seiichi didn't show a hint of it.
He was just about to open his mouth when he heard Zerozaki Hajime talking to herself: "That monster is flying so high, looks like I'll have to return to my adult form."
Adult form? Yukimura Seiichi recalled their very first meeting.
Zerozaki Hajime had reverted to her adult Order Officer appearance right in front of them, her long white hair fluttering in the wind, her exquisite figure wrapped in a white uniform, extremely sexy and alluring.
Before they could even marvel at it, with a burst of effort, she flung Yukimura Seiichi straight toward the monster.
"Cap... Captain?!"
"Yukimura!"
Watching Yukimura Seiichi get tossed high into the air by Zerozaki Hajime, the regular team members cried out in absolute heartbreak.
Zerozaki Hajime leaped onto the iron railing of the corridor, crouched, and then catapulted herself in the direction where Yukimura Seiichi was falling. The instant she grabbed his hand, she used a beam of light to annihilate the fleeing monster.
Then, leveraging the wall of the teaching building, she held Yukimura Seiichi close and bounced a few times, delivering him safely back to the entrance of the Class 3-C classroom on the third floor.
As for herself, she reverted to her teenage form, and before anyone else could gather around, she jumped down and returned to the classroom.
Meanwhile, space-time returned to normal.
The regular team members stood there dumbfounded. Standing in the corridor of the opposite building, Kirihara Akaya shouted with a face full of excitement, "So cool! A magician!"
Aside from the regular team members, no one else in the school knew what had happened. They looked at Kirihara Akaya as if he were an idiot.
Yet Kirihara Akaya was a regular member of the Tennis Club and held considerable weight in the school, so none of them dared to say a word.
Leaning against the wall, Yukimura Seiichi pressed a hand to his rapidly beating heart. He couldn't tell if the thrill came from a brush with death or from Zerozaki Hajime—he figured it was a bit of both.
"Yukimura! Are you alright? That Zerozaki-san is something else! Way too reckless!"
Sanada Genichirou looked at Yukimura Seiichi with deep concern, making a move to take him to the infirmary.
"I'm fine, Sanada. Just need a moment to catch my breath. It's almost time for class, you guys go ahead."
Seeing that Yukimura Seiichi was genuinely unharmed, the others headed back to their respective classrooms.
"Still, the way Zerozaki-san transformed was so cool, so badass, and so pretty!"
Marui Bunta exclaimed in admiration, while beside him, Niou Masaharu nodded in complete agreement. "Puri, as expected of an Order Officer who dares to lay hands on our captain, her strength is truly formidable."
After watching Yukimura walk into his classroom, Yanagi Renji headed upstairs to his own. Class F wasn't on the third floor; it was on the fourth.
The afternoon physical education class was tennis. As the sports representative, Ayanokouji Yumi brought Zerozaki Hajime, class monitor Urayama Shiita, and four or five others to the equipment room to get the tennis balls and rackets needed for the class.
While Zerozaki Hajime was counting the inventory with her classmates, she spotted a tennis ball rolling out from the corner of the equipment storage.
That tennis ball acted as if it had eyes; the moment it saw her, it rolled off in another direction, vanishing into a different corner.
Zerozaki Hajime frowned, thinking to herself that it couldn't possibly be the origin source of those monsters.
After finishing the count, Zerozaki Hajime opened the System interface, but seeing no monsters displayed, she pushed her doubts aside.
Along with her classmates, she carried the equipment over to the shared tennis courts, then found an excuse to slip away.
Zerozaki Hajime returned to the entrance of the equipment room, turned completely ethereal, walked inside, and began searching.
Sure enough, she discovered a tennis ball left out of the basket in a dark corner and reached out to grab it.
Suddenly, the tennis ball released five or six small, faceless monsters toward her. Zerozaki Hajime condensed a beam of light, intending to annihilate the little monsters, but taking advantage of the opening, the tennis ball jumped out the window and fled.
It really was the origin source!
Without spare time to deal with the minor monsters, Zerozaki Hajime hurried off in pursuit of the ball.
The tennis ball bounced its way toward the regular team members' court—not the outdoor courts, but the indoor one.
Since everyone was in class, the indoor court was completely empty. The moment the ball entered, Zerozaki Hajime lost track of it.
Damn it!
Zerozaki Hajime wandered around, checking everywhere except the ball machines, but she simply couldn't find it.
She glanced at the time on the System interface; she had already wasted nearly half a PE class. She needed to get back to class quickly, or she'd have to spend ages explaining if anyone asked.
Yukimura Seiichi and Yanagi Renji, having just finished the first half of their PE class, were strolling around the campus. They happened to both have volleyball classes, which was why they were able to come out together.
As the two of them strolled over to the tennis courts, they saw Zerozaki Hajime phasing right out through the wall of the indoor tennis court.
"Zerozaki-san? Why are you coming out of the indoor court?"
Yukimura Seiichi looked at her in utter astonishment.
Looking somewhat surprised herself, Zerozaki Hajime materialized her physical form, raised her head, and said to the two of them, "The origin source is a tennis ball, but it slipped into your court and I couldn't find it. You guys... be careful. Contact me immediately if anything unusual happens. I'm heading back to class."
Having delivered the message, Zerozaki Hajime didn't linger and ran off toward the adjacent public tennis courts.
"Renji, what do you make of this?"
"The probability of the origin source getting mixed into the ball machine is 99.99%."
Zerozaki Hajime opened the System interface and saw that her energy was still a little over half full.
She thought to herself that if it had just been Yukimura Seiichi or Yanagi Renji earlier, she could have found an opportunity for a private encounter to recharge. With too many people around, it was really hard to make a move without causing misunderstandings.
"You're finally here, Zerozaki-san!"
Seeing Zerozaki Hajime return to the tennis court, Ayanokouji Yumi waved for her to hurry in and practice.
Zerozaki Hajime nodded, stepped onto the court, picked up a racket, and walked over to Ayanokouji Yumi.
This was Zerozaki Hajime's first time touching a tennis racket. The teacher didn't let them play matches yet, just asked them to practice swinging first.
"The teacher talked about some tennis theory in the first half of the class, we can practice our swings while we talk~"
After Ayanokouji Yumi taught Zerozaki Hajime how to swing, the two of them began swinging together.
When Yukimura Seiichi and Yanagi Renji walked past, they stopped to watch for a moment.
Rubbing his chin, Yanagi Renji couldn't help nodding. "Zerozaki-san's talent for tennis is as high as 100%. Her swinging posture is extremely accurate."
"Our Tennis Club just happens to be missing a manager. How about we have Zerozaki-san come be our manager? What do you think, Renji?"
Yukimura Seiichi narrowed his eyes slightly.
Yanagi Renji had no idea how Yukimura Seiichi's thoughts had leaped from a swinging posture to the Tennis Club manager.
What he could be certain of, however, was that Yukimura Seiichi's intention toward Zerozaki Hajime was also 100%.
......
While swinging her racket, Zerozaki Hajime felt as though she were being watched. Unconsciously frowning, she glanced behind her.
Yet behind her was only a chain-link fence, and beyond the fence stood a neat row of cherry blossom trees, completely devoid of people.
"What's wrong, Zerozaki-san?"
Ayanokouji Yumi looked at her in puzzlement.
Zerozaki Hajime shook her head. "I thought I saw someone."
Since PE happened to be the last class of the day, Zerozaki Hajime and Ayanokouji Yumi had also signed up for the Astronomy Club together, though there were no club activities today.
Therefore, after changing in the locker room, the two of them returned to the classroom to pack up their books and get ready to go home together.
The moment Zerozaki Hajime and Ayanokouji Yumi stepped out of the classroom, Yanagi Renji blocked their path.
"Eh?! Why is Yanagi-senpai here?"
Recognizing a regular member of the Tennis Club, Ayanokouji Yumi spoke in a somewhat excited tone.
Yanagi Renji nodded to Ayanokouji Yumi, then looked toward Zerozaki Hajime. "Hello. I have something to discuss with Zerozaki-san. Do you have a moment?"
Before Zerozaki Hajime could answer, Ayanokouji Yumi chimed in with a hint of envy, "I never expected Zerozaki-san to know the regular team members!"
Zerozaki Hajime smiled at her, then looked up at Yanagi Renji. Having just seen him during PE, she guessed these guys probably made a discovery. "Yes, I do, Yanagi-senpai."
Turning back to Ayanokouji Yumi, she said, "Sorry, Ayanokouji-san, Yanagi-senpai and I have something to talk about. You should head home first today."
Ayanokouji Yumi glanced back and forth between Zerozaki Hajime and Yanagi Renji.
A young girl's heart is always full of romantic notions, and Ayanokouji Yumi sensed the undeniable scent of gossip in the air.
Still, since Zerozaki Hajime had put it that way, she couldn't very well tag along. Feeling a bit regretful, Ayanokouji Yumi smiled and said, "Alright then, Yanagi-senpai, Zerozaki-san, I'll be heading off first."
Once Ayanokouji Yumi had walked some distance away, Yanagi Renji spoke up, "Let's go, Zerozaki-san, we can talk at the tennis courts."
Zerozaki Hajime followed Yanagi Renji to the tennis court reserved for the regular members.
The other members of the Tennis Club were training on different courts, leaving only eight regulars on this one.
On the court, Marui Bunta and Sanada Genichirou were playing a doubles match against Niou Masaharu and Kirihara Akaya.
Watching Kirihara Akaya's eyes turn red like that while playing tennis, Sanada Genichirou unleashing various special effects shots, and Niou Masaharu shifting into Yanagi Renji one moment, Yagyuu Hiroshi the next, and then Jack Kuwahara after that, Zerozaki Hajime frowned. She thought to herself that it was no wonder this world was being invaded by monsters—these people's way of playing tennis was simply too mystical.
Though her own setup as an Order Officer was pretty magical too.
As they entered the court, Yanagi Renji noticed that Yukimura Seiichi wasn't standing inside the court watching and coaching as he usually did, but was instead sitting in the spectator stands.
His mind turning, he could easily guess that Yukimura was waiting for Zerozaki Hajime.
Noticing Zerozaki Hajime and Yanagi Renji, Yukimura Seiichi waved at them, gesturing for them to come sit with him.
The players in the match were completely focused and didn't notice Zerozaki Hajime outside the court at all.
Zerozaki Hajime saw that, just like their previous encounter at the tennis court, Yukimura Seiichi still had his jacket draped over his shoulders.
"Did you ask me to come over because of something?"
Without standing on ceremony, she sat directly beside Yukimura Seiichi, watching the match on the court while directing her question at him.
"Didn't Zerozaki-san say that the monster's origin source slipped into our court? I was thinking, wouldn't it be much easier to deal with if Zerozaki-san joined our Tennis Club?"
Yukimura Seiichi offered the suggestion with thoughtful consideration.
Zerozaki Hajime was slightly taken aback. She had to admit that Yukimura Seiichi's proposal was quite constructive. She nodded and said, "If it doesn't disturb you all, of course I'd be willing to join. But doesn't your Tennis Club not take female members?"
Yukimura Seiichi turned his head and smiled at her. "We don't take female players, but Zerozaki-san can come be our club manager."
"Manager? What does that do?"
Zerozaki Hajime was somewhat puzzled; she hadn't really looked into the specific roles of these clubs.
Even after entering the Archery Club, she simply finished her training tasks and went straight home, never once thinking about learning the details.
Following Yanagi Renji's explanation, Zerozaki Hajime fell into a thoughtful silence.
"So it's basically a handyman, huh."