The One I Promised to Play Tennis With

Baiyuan Hexia first met Yukimura Seiichi in fifth grade.

While practicing the two-handed backhand, a technique he wasn't good at, he noticed a boy behind him wearing a green headband and watching his practice intently, a racket in his arms.

The boy looked so earnest and focused that Hexia couldn't help wondering if he was practicing the wrong way. But the result surprised him...

That encounter was the first time fifth-grader Baiyuan Hexia met sixth-grader Yukimura Seiichi, his senior.

After that, Yukimura Seiichi was not only his senior in fifth grade.

He was also his senior in sixth grade, and later in middle school.

When elementary school ended, Baiyuan Hexia, as his junior, was invited to attend Rikkai University Junior High School. He accepted and joined the Rikkai tennis club...

Their shared goal was to win the championship together.

But Baiyuan Hexia chose Rikkai and the Rikkai tennis club not because the club was strong and renowned, but simply because his senior was Yukimura Seiichi.

"I came to Rikkai because you were here, Senpai. I joined the tennis club because my senpai is Yukimura Seiichi, not because it's the Rikkai tennis club."

[Coming Soon]: "Was My Father Really This Chuunibyou in Middle School?"

Atobe Seiichi is the second son of the Atobe family, one of Japan's three top conglomerates. His father is Atobe Keigo, and his older brother is the next heir to the Atobe Group, whose business spans the entire world.

Before he was in a car accident while rushing to gather for a competition, he was no different from the other ordinary students who aspired to become professional table tennis players.

The only difference was probably that his family was rich, his father was Atobe Keigo, and his older brother was the next heir to the conglomerate.

As the younger son, he didn't need to be groomed as an heir from childhood like his older brother. Without the need to inherit the family business, the expectations placed on him weren't as strict. But he had an ambitious goal: to follow in the footsteps of Uncle Yukimura, the world's number one, and become the world's top professional table tennis player.

As for why he didn't choose tennis, perhaps it was because all the uncles around him were either professional tennis players or professional tennis coaches. Even his father had been tennis club captain. If he chose tennis too, it wouldn't be much of a challenge.

So he chose table tennis, a sport much like tennis, yet completely different.

But after waking up from the car accident, he discovered that he seemed to have traveled back to his father's middle school days. Following his memories, he found Hyotei Academy, where his father had studied, and saw a miniature version of his "father" standing on the stage, snapping his fingers and proudly declaring to everyone that he would become the emperor of Hyotei Academy.

Looking at his "father," who was about his age, then at the face that resembled his own by about sixty percent, Seiichi couldn't help touching the beauty mark by his eye and falling silent.

His father always seemed mature and dependable, and so did his older brother. How had his father been such a chuunibyou in middle school?

To get to the bottom of his father's such a "split" personality, Seiichi decided to join the tennis club for a while. He knew that in middle school, his father had been one of the Four Great Captains, as renowned as Uncle Yukimura. In popularity and skill, he was second to none, but he gave up tennis in high school for his studies.

Although his goal was to become a professional table tennis player, he had also learned tennis, taught by none other than Uncle Yukimura, the world's number one. He should be able to earn a spot on the tennis club's regular team.

But during the three years he spent exploring the "truth about his father's personality," after becoming a regular known as "Little Atobe," he seemed to understand why his father had been so chuunibyou, especially after meeting Uncle Yukimura and the others, as well as Uncle Tezuka.

Featuring: The Prince of Tennis, table tennis, Stand My Heroes...

Tips: (1) OOC and unrealistic tennis!!! There will also be crossovers with Rokuhodo and My Roommate Is a Cat!

(2) Yukimura knows they once lost the Kanto title. (No one has been reborn.)

(3) Baiyuan Hexia joined the tennis club solely because his senpai is Yukimura Seiichi, not because it's the Rikkai tennis club.

(4) To Baiyuan Hexia, Yukimura Seiichi matters more than anything, even more than the championship.

(5) They will win Kanto. They will win Nationals.

(6) There will be angst in the story, including painful losses for Sanada and the other members of the tennis club during matches. Read with caution if that bothers you!!!

(7) Not sure yet whether I'll write the U-17 arc!!

Idea and blurb screenshot saved: 2022.8.11

Theme: Some words aren't promises. They were simply remembered as promises because they sounded like promises