Hayato walked to the edge of the court with his characteristic perfect smile—a smile that seemed to have been measured with a ruler. Behind him, Miura Yumiko, Ebina Hina, and the others each radiated the strong aura characteristic of upper-class social circles.
"Sorry, Darius-kun, Totsuka-kun." Hayato's voice was as gentle as an April spring breeze. "Our club activity time has arrived, so how about..."
His gaze swept the court, seeing the tape-wrapped racket and the panting Totsuka. A flash of confusion appeared in his eyes, but the smile on his face remained perfect.
Seeing Hayato, Yui reflexively tidied her hair and greeted him with slight nervousness: "Ah, Hayama-kun..."
Yukino only nodded coldly in return.
However, Darius's reaction once again exceeded everyone's expectations.
He paid no attention to Hayato's words, instead staring sharply at Hayato and each person behind him. His gaze, initially wary, slowly transformed into deep understanding, and finally into pity as if having seen a bitter truth.
"I see..." Darius murmured lowly.
"Eh? Darius-kun, what did you say?" Hayama asked with a smile.
"I said, I see." Darius repeated, his voice not loud but clearly heard by everyone. "I was wondering earlier why there are people in this world who are so perfect, so conforming to the 'standard template'. Now I understand."
He extended his index finger, pointing directly at Hayato.
"You're not human."
The air instantly froze. Yumiko standing behind Hayato's face immediately darkened. She was just about to explode in anger, but was stopped by Hayato's raised hand.
"Oh?" The smile on Hayato's face didn't change, he seemed to find this interesting. "Then what does Darius-kun think I am?"
"Mass Production Type Clone." Darius gave his diagnosis with an irrefutable tone. "Series codename 'Hayato'. Uniform blonde hair, standardized sunny smile, and pre-programmed 'Yasashii' (kind) personality module. You're not a club, you're a legion of troops."
He glanced at the people behind Hayato: "Different models responsible for different social functions. That drill-haired one is the 'Attacker Type'; the one with glasses is the 'Observation and Analysis Type'. You came here not to play tennis, but to retrieve the out-of-control 'Succubus' unit, right?"
Yumiko's face had turned bright red with anger: "What are you talking about, you madman!"
"Core secret exposed, causing logic module disruption?" Darius analyzed with a flat face.
"Darius-kun!" Yukino finally couldn't stand it anymore and stood up. "Apologize to Hayama-kun and the others!"
"Why should I apologize?" Darius retorted. "Is revealing the truth also a sin?"
For the first time, a small crack appeared in the smile on Hayato's face, but it quickly returned to normal. He sighed, as if indulging a fussy child.
"Alright, Darius-kun. Since you consider us a 'Clone Army', how about we settle this matter with tennis?" he suggested. "Let's have a doubles match. If you win, you can use this court entirely this afternoon. If we win, please hand this court over to us. How about it?"
This was a very fair and polite suggestion. However, in Darius's logic, this was translated as—
"Oh? The 'Clone' army commander wants to conduct a performance test and military demonstration for us?" Fire of war ignited in Darius's eyes. "Good. This challenge is accepted by the human faction!"
He turned around, patting the still-dazed Totsuka's shoulder.
"D-Class Personnel 'Succubus', prepare for combat. I, Darius, will be your partner."
"Eh? I-I have to compete too?" Totsuka asked nervously.
"Of course." Darius said seriously. "This is a real test of your evasion training results. Remember, your task is only one—survive."
Thus, a tennis match that in others' eyes was just an ordinary inter-club exchange, in Darius's definition, had been elevated to an existential war between "Human Resistance Army versus Clone Vanguard Forces."
The competing sides: Human Faction (Darius & Totsuka) vs Clone Army (Hayama & a background-faced tennis club member).
The match began.
The opposing side served. The tennis ball flew precisely toward Totsuka's defense area. Totsuka reflexively wanted to swing his racket to return it, but his ears heard a thunderous shout from Darius:
"Evade! That's a scout attack!"
Totsuka flinched, his body instinctively shrinking to the side. The tennis ball passed the edge of his shirt and fell outside the line.
Point for the opponent.
"Good." Darius nodded with satisfaction. "Successfully evaded the first attack. Next, it's our turn."
Darius's turn to serve.
He didn't use any standard pose, instead tossing the ball high up, then using the side of his "lightsaber handle"—like hitting golf—he struck the bottom of the ball hard.
*SWISH!*
The tennis ball flew with a strange backspin, flying close to the ground. When it was about to pass the net, the ball suddenly bounced awkwardly—not flying toward the opponent's court, but directly toward Hayato's face.
"The commander unit's face must be its weak point!" Darius shouted.
Hayato's pupils contracted, but his reaction was very fast. He slightly tilted his body and lightly deflected the ball using the edge of his racket. His entire movement was elegant and calm.
"Tch." Darius clicked his tongue. "System automatically performs damage avoidance. Seems he has a passive defense field."
The subsequent match completely turned into a farce. Darius completely ignored tennis rules.
The balls he hit sometimes flew into the sky then fell vertically, sometimes struck the ground in his own area then bounced to the opponent's area, some he even deliberately hit toward the boundary fence to utilize rebounds to attack the opponent's blind spots.
His target was never to score points, but Hayato personally. Each hit was accompanied by his tactical analysis.
"Attack his knees! That's the weak joint point!"
"Use a high lob to disrupt his optical sensor!"
"Totsuka! Use your cuteness to scramble his central processor!"
The only thing Totsuka did on the court was obey Darius's commands, running all over the court to avoid balls. Meanwhile, Hayato maintained his polite demeanor and broke down Darius's messy attacks one by one.
However, the more perfect Hayato's play, the more convinced Darius became of his assessment.
"You see that, Yukinoshita!" Between hitting balls, Darius didn't forget to provide explanations to the observers at the edge of the court. "Every movement of his is textbook standard, no emotion or excess movement. This isn't something a human can do! This is a program running! He's trying to correct the 'Logic BUG' I caused through verbal attacks earlier through perfect performance!"
Yukino had already buried her face in her palms. She didn't want to see, also didn't want to hear.
(Just destroy it all, hurry up, I'm tired.)
The score had reached match point for the Clone Army.
"Seems conventional attacks are no longer effective." Darius took a deep breath, his gaze becoming full of determination. "There's only one final solution."
He approached Totsuka and whispered: "Listen, next I will concentrate all energy on this attack. Once the ball is launched, you must drop flat. Remember, you must drop flat."
Although not understanding, Totsuka nodded firmly.
Darius's turn to serve. He tossed the ball far higher than before. He gripped the "lightsaber handle" with both hands, all his muscles tensing, assuming a pose as if wanting to hit a home run.
"For humanity's freedom—!"
He roared, exerting all his strength, and swung his handle with all his might at the falling ball.
*THWACK!*
A loud bang sounded, even drowning out all previous hitting sounds. The ball didn't fly toward the opponent's court, but transformed into black lightning that at a very low angle struck hard the iron pole in the middle of the net.
*CRAAACK—!*
In the pitiful sound of twisting metal, the iron pole functioning to tighten the net broke and bent from the ball's impact, causing half of the net to collapse.
The entire court fell silent.
Everyone gaped at the iron pole bent ninety degrees and the tennis ball rolling on the ground.
Darius maintained his swing pose, slowly straightening his body while panting.
"Physical... destruction successful..."
He turned around, staring at Hayato who also looked stunned, then announced:
"Although we failed to destroy your core, we succeeded in destroying your 'Energy Field Generator' (net). This battle is won by the human faction... with a bitter victory."
The match was forced to stop due to facility damage. Hayato ultimately said nothing, he only stared at Darius with a deep gaze, then led his group of still-dazed "Clone Army" away in silence.
In the club room, the way Totsuka looked at Darius was no longer fear or confusion like before. It was a gaze mixed with admiration, respect, and a bit of madness.
"Darius-kun..." he said in a dreamy tone. "You're amazing..."