He Definitely Wasn't an Ordinary Middle School Student!

"So strong! Can anyone really return a serve like that?"

"Is he really a middle school student?"

"Fudomine Middle School? I've never heard of a school like that before. Could it be some newly emerging tennis powerhouse?"

Without a doubt, the Gyokurin Middle School pair who had previously beaten Seigaku's duo so badly they could barely fight back were equally helpless before Seiya.

To be fair, Seiya and An's doubles skills were not much better than Ryoma and Momoshiro's had been.

An might have had a little foundation in doubles, but this was also Seiya's first time playing doubles, so their pairing was just as full of openings.

But so what? Even if Seiya alone had been returning every ball, Izumi and Fukawa from Gyokurin Middle School would still have been completely unable to Parry him.

To put it bluntly, this so-called "doubles" match was really Seiya fighting the two of them by himself.

As for An's role, it was practically limited to serving the opening ball that was guaranteed to be returned.

Whether it was An or anyone else present, the outcome would not have changed in the slightest.

"Your skills really are strong. We're no match for you at all, but you only won because we were too weak.

We will never acknowledge that tennis like yours is doubles."

Seiya paid no attention to Izumi and Fukawa's loser talk. After all, he did not know how to play doubles in the first place.

Having become the court holder, Seiya looked around and asked, "Does anyone else want to come up and challenge me?"

The answer was obvious. No one responded to Seiya's question.

What a joke. The strongest pair here had been effortlessly defeated by Seiya. Wouldn't anyone else stepping onto the court just be asking to get crushed?

"According to the rules here, if there are no new challengers, then those who lost earlier should be allowed to play again, right?"

Faced with Seiya's question, Izumi and Fukawa nodded, indicating that was indeed the case.

Meanwhile, Ryoma and Momoshiro had clearly taken off their jackets again, rackets in hand, looking eager to get on the court.

It was obvious that the strength Seiya had just displayed had ignited their fighting spirit.

If they had merely been responding to a provocation before, now they genuinely wanted to play Seiya.

They were both at that hot-blooded teenage age, and now they had encountered a powerful opponent worthy of them. If they did not play tonight, wouldn't they be unable to sleep all night?

"Since no one else is coming on, can we change the rules?

Change the original doubles match to singles. Playing doubles with Momoshiro-senpai will only affect my performance."

The moment Ryoma finished speaking, Momoshiro beside him became unhappy. He hooked an arm around Ryoma's neck and said, "You've got some nerve saying that about me, brat. You're obviously the one getting in the way!"

Compared with doubles, both Ryoma and Momoshiro clearly wanted to play Seiya in singles.

They had also realized that Seiya was a singles player, because An was practically nothing more than a merciless serving machine.

"Izumi, Fukawa, everyone here, make an exception and let them play singles this time. I don't want to keep being some kind of mascot.

Besides, this is a rare opportunity, right? You all want to see a match between strong players too, don't you?"

The rules of the Street Tennis Court had been decided by everyone present, and as a regular here, An now spoke up to ask everyone.

"Your boyfriend is so strong that as long as he remains on the court, I doubt anyone will dare challenge him tonight.

If that's the case, let them play singles however they want."

After receiving permission, both Ryoma and Momoshiro were quite happy. They even had an intense round of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would play first.

In the end, Momoshiro won two out of three rounds. With an excited look on his face, he loosened up his arms and stepped onto the court.

"We'll use the standard tennis rules. The first to win six games takes the final victory. I'll be the referee. Any objections?"

After both sides nodded in agreement, An tossed the tennis ball to Momoshiro, the challenger.

Hearing that they would be using standard match rules, Momoshiro let out a sigh of relief.

Honestly, if it were still decided in a single game, he did not think he had much chance of winning.

Up to this point, he had not yet gotten used to Seiya's movements or adapted to his speed.

Holding the tennis ball, Momoshiro tossed it high into the air and leaned forward into his serving motion.

The instant he struck the ball, Momoshiro also Sprinted forward.

"It's Momoshiro-senpai's Bullet Serve. Is he trying to use Serve and Volley to get a better look at his opponent's movements?"

Seeing Momoshiro's actions, Ryoma immediately understood his intentions. He also had to admit that Momoshiro-senpai's judgment was quite correct.

"Why does Serve and Volley make it easier to observe the opponent's movements?"

Just as Ryoma muttered to himself, a female voice that suddenly appeared beside him nearly gave him a fright.

When he turned to look, he discovered that it was Shiba Saori, the female reporter from Tennis Monthly who had come to interview them during the Seigaku Regulars Selection Tournament, along with another middle-aged man, Inoue Mamoru.

"Serve and Volley refers to a technique where you quickly run up to the net while serving.

Momoshiro's Bullet Serve is extremely fast, so it is naturally even more difficult to rush to the net quickly after hitting it.

But the advantages of Serve and Volley are obvious. Using his height advantage at the net, he can observe his opponent from a closer perspective, suppress their baseline shots with overhead pressure, and even put a certain amount of psychological pressure on them."

The one who answered Shiba Saori's question was Inoue beside her. He had come to this Street Tennis Court because, while eating, he had happened to hear that some very skilled middle school students were competing nearby.

As a reporter for Tennis Monthly, his duty was to discover middle school tennis players with exceptional potential.

What he had not expected was that after arriving at the Street Tennis Court, he discovered that among these highly skilled middle school students were Ryoma Echizen and Takeshi Momoshiro, whom he had met not long ago.

Inoue knew the strength of Seigaku's regular players quite well. Setting aside the Kanto Tournament and National Tournament for now, Seigaku had been seeded contenders in both the regional qualifiers and the Metropolitan Tournament.

As for Wenren Seiya, who was playing against Momoshiro, Inoue had never even heard of him.

Having just served the ball and confidently prepared to rush to the net, Momoshiro had only taken a few steps when a yellow streak swiftly passed beneath his feet.

"What? My Bullet Serve was returned so easily—"

"15–0!"

When An announced the score, not only Momoshiro on the court, but even Inoue and Shiba Saori, who had only just arrived and had not yet seen Seiya's strength, were both stunned.

"Bullet Serve? Well, it is indeed quite a bit faster than an ordinary ball, but if that's all you've got, don't expect to score a point off me."

(Many people think my writing is too padded and not satisfying enough, but all I can say is that I could write a story where the protagonist starts out invincible and keeps having satisfying wins too.

But those multiverse stories where the protagonist immediately takes off and becomes invincible usually collapse before they reach two hundred thousand words. I want to finish this book properly, so the power levels in the early worlds definitely won't be that high. To those who do not like it, all I can say is sorry. (ToT)/~~~)