Chapter 283: Prince of Tennis (3)
If you had asked Ariel if he truly hated someone enough to wish for them to be incinerated by the sun a year ago, he would have said no.
Although he hated the Crouch family, it wasn’t to the point of wishing them death, just that they would leave him alone forever since they had ruined everything his parents had left him.
But ever since he met William, not only could Ari honestly say he hated somebody to death, he also wished every terrible thing in the world to happen to that person and only that person.
Each opportunity that he had, William showed him that he was just an all-around terrible person, and Ari sincerely wished that somebody would humble him and just get him out of his life.
So, although it wasn’t the brightest thing to do in front of everyone and would probably not work, when presented with the opportunity to openly beat William up and possibly get him off the show, Ari took it.
As another ball flew into his leg, Ari let it hit him while staring at William with a blank stare.
That was the third hit on his legs and the final time he would let William score.
Since Ari had generously given him two games and the blonde boy had had his fun, it was time for payback.
"The second game goes to Contestant William. The score is currently 2-0. Contestant William only needs one more game to win. The service goes to Contestant Ariel."
Areum announced neutrally as she glanced at William and then looked at Ari with a concerned expression.
Even though it was her first time meeting these contestants in person, in the brief time she had known him, she had come to dislike William and hoped that somebody would humble him.
Unfortunately, by the way things were going, it seemed that he was going to win after intentionally harming other contestants.
As her gaze met Ari’s, whose legs had to be hurting after he got hit by the fast-moving tennis balls, he gently smiled at her while waving his racket before staring up at the sky.
With a peaceful expression, Ari gauged where the sun was, seeing that the angle was at the perfect height to constantly be in Williams’ face before switching his racket to his left hand.
[Is this how you’re going to lose after confidently wagering me against my will?]
[I hope you know, I have no plans on going over to that boy.]
"Just be quiet and watch."
"What did you say to me?!" William yelled, but no one answered.
Bounce bounce bounce.
All Ari did was bounce the ball slowly as he ran through the serving motion in his mind.
It had been a while, and he was extremely rusty, but he was warmed up enough to attempt it.
Then, with a slightly different technique and more energy than before, Ari jumped, extended his arm in a fast motion, and hit the ball with all of his strength.
THWACK!
"I told you, I already know your silly tri-"
The ball bounced at Williams’ feet, and rather than curving to the side like it had all of the previous times, it bounced hard and flew up at his face with a crazy amount of speed.
The only thing William could do was jerk his face to the side, and as the ball brushed by his face, it left a thin line of red from near his mouth to the area below his eye.
Feeling the sudden stinging pain, William touched his face only to see his entire hand come back coated in red.
He was bleeding.
A lot.
Due to the speed, the tennis ball had sliced his face.
If it had been an inch or two higher, it would have hit his eye and then-
Maybe an irreversible incident would have happened.
With an angry shout, William pointed at the person who had injured him.
"You-. You did that on purpose!"
The catlike green eyes stared at him as if he were a bug before he heard the response.
"It was an accident. It’s been a while since I last played tennis, so I’m not sure how to control my own strength. I’ll try to be careful from now on."
At Ari’s clearly mocking tone, which showed that he wasn’t the least bit sorry, William’s face turned red from embarrassment as he gritted his teeth.
"I’ll get you for that!"
"Bonne chance. Hwaiting. Gambare. I believe in you."
A sarcastic cheer in 4 different languages came back, causing William’s face to turn even redder.
The contestants who were watching began muttering to each other as they saw half of William’s face become stained with blood.
- Isn’t that a bit much?
- Whoa, he’s really bleeding. And in the face too.
- he’s going a bit too far, isn’t he?
- he definitely did that on purpose.
Although some of them thought that William also took it a bit far with his previous hits, causing somebody to bleed in the face was just a bit too gruesome.
Areum also felt the same way.
An idol’s face was their life, so any injury needed to be taken care of carefully so that a scar wouldn’t remain.
Seeing that his cheek was really bleeding, Areum called out to William in concern.
"Let’s pause the match. Contestant William, please come and get your face treated. You don’t want to get a scar."
She put aside her personal feelings for him and tried to extend some goodwill, but unfortunately, the person she was speaking to was ungrateful at best.
"I’m fine!"
"But you’re bleeding-"
"I said it’s fine! Just do your job and continue the match! I don’t need your pity."
William scrubbed the blood from his cheek with his red track suit before looking back at Ari, who was rolling up his pants and exposing red circular marks that were beginning to darken on his legs.
They were clearly from when William had repeatedly sent the ball flying at him, and by how quickly they were getting dark, it was clear that the bruises hurt a lot.
Seeing this, those who had been feeling bad for William fell silent.
After all, it was clear both parties had been injured, and who was to say one was worse than the other?
"Shall I start, or will you go get your face treated? The court is pretty dirty, you know? Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you."
"Go ahead! That was a fluke anyway!"
"If you insist."
Bounce bounce bounce.
Jump.
THWACK
With the same motion, Ari hit the tennis ball across the net, and just like before, it bounced hard and flew directly at William’s face, causing him to duck down so he wouldn’t get hit.
"The point goes to Contestant Ariel. The score is 30 - Love."
"You’re not going to say anything about him targeting my face? What kind of biased umpire are you? Do your freaking job!" William turned to yell at Areum, who looked shocked before clearing her throat.
"Contestant Ariel, please be careful about your aim."
"Oh. Oops. I’ll try to do better, but he should just get out of the way next time. He has eyes, doesn’t he?"
At the response, which was the exact copy of what William had said moments ago, Areum hid a smile before blowing her whistle.
"Continue the match."
Bounce bounce bounce!
THWACK
"The point goes to Contestant Ariel. The score is 40 - Love. Contestant Ariel, please try to be careful with your aim."
"My hand slipped. I’ll try to do better, but he should just get out of the way next time. He has eyes, doesn’t he?"
Without any hesitation, each time he served, Ari made sure the ball would bounce directly at William’s face, giving him no choice but to avoid it or get hit again.
No matter where on the court he moved, Ari accurately targeted him with ease, making him feel like a mouse being swatted by an evil cat.
And all the while, rather than getting it treated, William kept wiping his bleeding face with his sleeve, dyeing the red material a deeper red color.
With his usually coiffed hair getting messed up, fury in his eyes, and a red smudge on his face, William started presenting a crazed image, especially in contrast to Ari’s relaxed one.
Whistle.
"The third game goes to contestant Ariel. The score is currently 2-1 with Contestant William in the lead. Contestant William, it’s your serve."
"Prepare to lose, fish boy!"
With his anger fully apparent, William threw the ball up and hit it with all of his strength.
Thwack!
As William’s powerful serve boomed across the net, with a horizontal slicing motion that looked clumsy, Ari returned the ball with a left-handed drop shot that snagged the top of the net and neatly fell to the floor with a tiny bounce.
- a drop ball?
- Is he secretly a professional tennis player?
- What the heck.
As William stared at Ari incredulously, Ari only looked at the umpire with a small smile.
"Miss Areum, the score?"
"The point goes to Contestant Ariel. The score is 15 - Love."
"Thank you. Feel free to serve again. I’m ready for you."
THWACK!
Thinking that it was a fluke, William served with all of his strength, but with that wide, lazy movement, Ari chopped the return, and just like before, it hit the top of the net before dropping to the ground with a tiny bounce.
"The point goes to Contestant Ariel. The score is 30 - Love."
THWACK!
"The point goes to Contestant Ariel. The score is 40 - Love."
THWACK!
As Ari performed the same drop shot movement that he had before, already used to the pattern, William ran forward with a diving run and lobbed it across the court, and not one to miss an easy opportunity-
Ari immediately smashed it past William’s face.
"The second game goes to Contestant Ariel. The game is currently at 2-2, with the winner to be decided in this final game. Service goes to Contestant William."
At Areum’s announcement, William’s expression darkened as he stared at Ari with new eyes.
Anyone can learn a trick serve, but switching it up, hitting continuous drop serves, all while staying at the baseline, while switching hands?
"You-you know how to play? You made the bet fully knowing how to play?"
Ari just looked at him as if he were stupid.
If he was only just now realizing it, then he was a dummy, no?
Just prepare your resignation letter with ease.
Without bothering to respond, Ari simply bounced the ball repeatedly before serving.
THWACK!
"Your trick won’t work anymore!"
After experiencing the face-hitting serve 4 times in a row, William had prepared his response and preemptively put his racket up.
But-
Rather than bouncing toward his face like William expected, it bounced all the way to the right, making his efforts useless.
He stared at the ball rolling away before staring at Ari, who was already bouncing another one.
"Ah? Did you forget already? Shall I remind you? I’ll hit it to the left this time. Do your best to get it."
THWACK!
As William dashed to the left in preparation to hit the ball, instead the ball bounced upward and almost hit his face again.
Ari laughed while switching his racket to his right hand.
"Why would you listen to me? I’m your opponent. Ah, my bad, my bad. Let’s try it one more time. This time to the right. Promise. Scouts honor or something."
THWACK!
Not willing to fall for the same trick, as William prepared to guard his face, the ball really flew to the right, just like Ari said.
Seeing the blond boy’s completely red face, both from blood and embarrassment, Ari openly laughed at him while others giggled.
"I told you the direction this time. Why didn’t you listen? At this rate, aren’t you about to lose? I feel a bit bad."
"You’re just using tricks because you can’t match up with me in power!"
"Is that what you think?" Ari asked him curiously.
"Clearly! You’ve avoided going head-to-head with me this whole time!"
"Of course. Originally, I’m a very lazy player, so I prefer winning my service games and making my opponent run around so I don’t have to. But to say I lack power?"
Switching his racket back to his more dominant left hand, Ari began bouncing the ball hard.
Bounce bounce bounce
"Well, I might not be in the gym like HulkJamie and HulkJamin over there-"
- Oi!
- I heard that.
"But I’ve never had the issue of being too weak to do the things I need to do."
[Didn’t you get overpowered by him twice?]
Shut up and let me have something for once.
I’m trying to look cool!
"And going head-to-head? Rather than me not going head-to-head with you, I think it’s you that can’t go head-to-head with me."
With more force than he had used the whole game, Ari served the ball, focusing on putting as much power as he could into the swing rather than worrying about the technique to make sure the ball spun properly.
With all of the force of his body behind it, the ball smashed into the court and flew several feet behind William before he could even raise his racket.
The court was silent until Ari spoke while stretching his aching arm.
"Owwwww, I really hate serving like that; my arm hurts. Wow, look at it go. It’s going down, I’m yelling timberrrrrr"
Whistle!
Whistling as he watched the ball fly away, Ari playfully twirled his racket before resting it on his shoulder.
"Miss Umpire? The score?"
"That’s the game. Contestant Ariel wins with a score of 3-2. Thank you both for a great game."
Patting her chest as the tense yet exciting game finally ended, Areum began clapping hard along with the rest of the contestants.
Unfortunately for her, the two people who had just had the match had no intentions of listening to her.
With eyes full of mischief, Ari let out the happiest smile as he stared at William.
"So, Mr. Prince, when are you quitting? Shall we go tell the PD together?"