Blue Lock: I, Ryōsuke Kira, Start With Thunder Breathing

"Kira, Kira?!"

Everyone present noticed Ryōsuke's presence, with all eyes falling on him.

Theoretically, Blue Lock's schedule had already ended, and they should have left already. No one had expected him to appear at the school again.

"Kira! Kira!"

"Kira, I'm your fan!"

"Wow! Kira is back! And is he going to play tennis?!"

The girls who had just been paying attention to Kudō completely ignored his existence now, shouting Ryōsuke's name instead. Just by appearing here, he had caused Kudō's female fans to completely switch sides.

Not only that, hearing the commotion from this area, more and more people gathered around the court.

"Hey, that's Ryōsuke Kira, right!"

"Really?!"

"It's true, come quick!"

In a short time, the entire court was surrounded by spectators packed so tightly that not even water could flow through — and everyone's gaze was on Ryōsuke, with no one paying attention to Kudō, who had once been very popular at school.

"You seemed to have been talking badly about Blue Lock just now." At this moment, Ryōsuke looked at him with a smile.

Although he didn't appear angry, Kudō felt an extremely strong sense of pressure.

He never would have thought that Ryōsuke would still be here.

'Damn it... shouldn't the Blue Lock people have left by now? Why are they still here?' Kudō's brow furrowed; the current situation completely exceeded his understanding.

Not only that, after Ryōsuke's appearance, his own fans had all gone to support the other side instead, which made him extremely upset. His vanity was very strong, and he cared deeply about his popularity at school.

But no matter what, Kudō could never compare to Ryōsuke; he couldn't afford to offend him.

"Well, I was just joking earlier!" A smile immediately appeared on his face, with all traces of his previous contemptuous manner completely gone.

"His attitude changed, huh?"

"Just now he was being so arrogant, but after seeing Kira, he's a completely different person."

"Seems like he doesn't dare mess with Kira at all."

The Peek-a-Boo members whispered among themselves.

Kudō could only pretend not to hear anything. Clearing his throat lightly, he spoke loudly to his club members:

"Quick, go prepare some drinks for Kira!"

After all, Ryōsuke was now a world-class star, and he couldn't afford to offend him. Instead, he now seemed to be fawning over him like a sycophant.

"But we..."

The Tinkerbell members looked awkwardly toward the back where a box of water was placed.

These were actually drinks they had tampered with, all containing high-proof alcohol, just as a precaution. They knew very clearly that they absolutely could not give these to Ryōsuke now.

"Aren't those drinks over there?" Shinji pointed with a puzzled face toward the box of water.

"Haha, those are... bad-tasting drinks, that's right! We can't use those to serve you!" Kudō's mind went blank, and he could only come up with this somewhat lame excuse, "Y-you guys go buy some drinks for our diving club friends right away!"

"These drinks of yours don't have any problems, do they?" Iori, noticing the strange expressions on the tennis club members' faces, immediately asked.

"H-how could that be..."

"Then take a sip."

"I..." Kudō had no choice.

Caught in a dilemma, he reluctantly picked up a bottle and took a small sip. An unbearable burning sensation scorched his throat.

"Th-that's s-some g-good s-stuff!"

"Your voice is clearly hoarse... and why has your accent changed?"

Iori became increasingly suspicious, while Ryūjirō stepped forward, giving the tennis club members no chance to stop him, grabbing a bottle of the drink and downing it in one go.

"It's over, it's over..." Kudō sank into despair.

Once people found out that he had deliberately tampered with the drinks, it would definitely have a huge impact on his reputation. His brain spun rapidly, thinking about what kind of excuse he could use to get out of this.

But what he hadn't anticipated was that Ryūjirō would drain the entire bottle of drink in one breath.

That was an entire bottle of high-proof alcohol!

"There's nothing wrong with the drink!" Ryūjirō smiled and waved at the others.

"So there's no problem? Why make such a mystery of it?" Iori shook his head.

Kudō pressed his lips together; everything that was happening completely defied common sense.

How could the diving club guy drink an entire bottle of high-proof alcohol without even changing expression? Were they even human beings?

"Well, since there's no problem, let's get started quickly." Ryōsuke continued, "This is my first time playing tennis, please guide me."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem, friendship first, friendship first!" Kudō hastily apologized with a smile.

Ryōsuke walked to the side, picked up a tennis racket, and carefully felt it.

His understanding of tennis was basically limited to a certain tennis anime that bordered on supernatural abilities, where people could even emit sparks while running — in other words, he only knew most of the rules of tennis, but had never played it.

He wanted to play tennis mainly to see if his skills could be used in related fields.

His previous Thunder Breathing related skills could be used in basketball, and he wanted to see if they could be applied to a more distant area.

After all, basketball and soccer still have quite a few commonalities, while tennis and soccer are quite different; skills like Distant Thunder probably couldn't be used.

So what about Rumble and Flash?

In soccer, Rumble and Flash utilizes arm movements for positioning and motion restriction, but it actually allows for more precise control of hand movements, which might prove even more effective in tennis.

"Mmm, good! Kira, you serve first!" Kudō nodded and quickly smiled as he returned to his position.

At the same time, he carefully observed his opponent, whose movements indeed looked somewhat amateur, confirming that he was truly a novice.

This wasn't so bad after all. Even though Ryōsuke had completely stolen the spotlight, he thought he could still show off his tennis skills.

Showing off in front of this guy might be a good opportunity!

Then he could pretend to teach Ryōsuke tennis techniques, further closing the distance with him and gaining his favor. Perhaps he might even be discovered by the media and scouted by a higher-level tennis association!

Thinking of this, Kudō's smile grew even brighter.

"I'll start now." Ryōsuke said as he tossed the ball up.

❖ Sixth Form ➠ Rumble and Flash! ❖

He gripped the racket tightly, with power gathering in his right hand.

'He really does look like an amateur; his serving motion isn't standard.' Kudō thought to himself.

At that moment, Ryōsuke saw the ball falling and struck it forcefully!

The power that had gathered in his arm instantly channeled into the yellowish-green ball, causing it to distort immediately!

Simultaneously, when Ryōsuke's racket made contact with the tennis ball, it produced an extraordinarily loud sound! That familiar thunder sound erupted once again in the middle of the court!

The tennis ball, like a small cannonball, traced a yellow straight line through the air.

BOOM!

Another sound rang out, and the previously noisy court instantly fell silent, with only faint murmurs emerging after several seconds.

"What happened?"

"What was that?"

"What was that sound just now?"

On the court, Kudō's mind went completely blank.

What just happened? Did he just hit the ball?

A tennis ball? That was more like some kind of cannonball!

Kudō turned around and looked behind him — the tennis ball was completely embedded in the chain-link fence beside the court.

Was this level of power even humanly possible?

Kudō's entire body trembled. During the livestreamed match earlier, he had witnessed Ryōsuke's terrifying power, but he had only thought his soccer strength was extraordinary.

He never imagined this guy's tennis power would be equally monstrous...

Monster... This level of existence was completely beyond what he could possibly teach.

"Sorry, I'm not very skilled since this is my first time playing." Ryōsuke rubbed his head somewhat apologetically.

As he had predicted, the arm strength provided by Rumble and Flash could indeed be effective in tennis, even more so than in soccer — though because his Rumble and Flash level wasn't high enough, his control over direction and power was still insufficient.

Nevertheless, it was a good start. Ryōsuke realized his abilities could be applied to a much broader range of fields.

"It's... it's fine..."

Kudō swallowed hard, seeing that the tennis ball was completely ruined, and had to ask one of his club members for a new ball.

'I can't... miss this opportunity...' He thought to himself.

With so many people watching the match between him and Ryōsuke, he had to seize this chance to gain more attention!

Soon, the two began a somewhat more normal match.

During the match, Kudō showed off as much as possible, displaying all the tennis techniques he had mastered, trying to capture everyone's attention...

But what he hadn't anticipated was that after just a single glance, Ryōsuke could replicate the exact same techniques.

This was the effect of his Divine Reflection.

Although Kudō's tennis level was considered good at the university, it was still far from professional level, so the negative effects of fatigue from the Divine Reflection were minimal.

Despite being a beginner, Ryōsuke performed the same techniques better than his opponent, drawing the attention of everyone present.

"Kira is so cool!"

"Ki-ra! Ki-ra!"

"Kira is better than the tennis club president on his first try!"

The crowd chanted Ryōsuke's name, completely ignoring Kudō's existence.

Kudō could feel the immense pressure he faced in this match. His opponent's skill seemed to be growing rapidly before his eyes.

At first, Ryōsuke was truly just an amateur, but now he had imperceptibly reached at least Kudō's own level of skill. And in terms of physical ability, that guy surpassed him by several levels.

In the end, Ryōsuke won by a significant margin.

"Thank you for the match."

He smiled at Kudō and shook his hand, while the latter remained in a daze, completely unable to believe everything that had happened today.

Ryōsuke, however, smiled as he looked around, "Now for a new problem... how do I get out of here..."

The area around the tennis court was packed with people.

Among the crowd, Aina stared intently at Ryōsuke.

"So cool... Kira!"

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

A few hours later, Ryōsuke and Ashito finally escaped from the crowd with the escort of Iori and the others. Thanks to Iori and his friends, who even resorted to running naked on the field to scare away the onlookers, Ryōsuke was able to leave smoothly.

The earlier statement about risking life and limb for him was no exaggeration.

After two days of activities, Ryōsuke and his group were about to return to Blue Lock.

Before leaving, he exchanged contact information with the Peek-a-Boo people. The interactions over these few days had been quite enjoyable.

Ryōsuke experienced diving for the first time, something he could never have done before, and it felt truly unique.

Because of him, the diving club became more widely known, and Grand Blue's business boomed, with even more celebrities choosing to experience diving there.

The diving shop also prepared a special diving suit for Ryōsuke and promised him free diving for life.

Now, he sat in the car returning to Blue Lock, gazing intently out the window.

The rest period was over… It was time to prepare for the next match.

Italian Ubers — they might be the strongest opponents they would face in the Neo Hero League!

❖❖❖

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