Doubles Two

After announcing his presence, Atobe returned to the Hyotei Academy's waiting area.

Watching Atobe's departing figure, Kamio Akira said somewhat resentfully, "That guy is the captain of the Hyotei Academy, he's so arrogant!"

The surging cheers from the Hyotei Academy's supporters were quite impactful for the first-year students at Fudomine, inevitably affecting their morale.

After all, this was the first time they had encountered such a situation.

Even for Tachibana Kippei, who had participated in the National Tournament once, this was his first time facing Hyotei Academy; he had only vaguely heard about them before.

This first encounter with Atobe left a deep impression on him.

But for Tachibana Kippei, that's all.

At any other time, Muneyoshi would probably have already stepped forward to calm everyone down.

However, he quickly realized that for Fudomine to withstand the cheers of the Hyotei Academy's support team, these first-year students must have grown a lot. So he didn't say anything and went straight to the rest area.

"Muneyoshi, aren't you going to say anything?"

Following Muneyoshi into the rest area, Tachibana Kippei hesitated for a moment before asking the question.

"Tachibana, Kamio, Shinji, and Ishida still need to grow. We can't always protect them. We should just do our part and trust them to do the rest."

"Besides, we're only facing Hyotei Academy now; there's Seigaku, Rikkai Dai... their strength is far greater than Hyotei Academy's. You don't actually think Seigaku's victory in the preliminaries reflects their true strength, do you...?"

Saeki Muneyoshi's words put Tachibana Kippei at ease. In fact, he had also noticed that the continuous victories had made these first-year students a little complacent.

Originally, he wanted to suggest resolving this issue before the Semifinals began, but Coach Hanamura Aoi rejected it. Now it seems that Muneyoshi's plan is even more extreme, wanting them to experience it firsthand.

A hint of worry flashed in Tachibana Kippei's eyes, but after hearing Muneyoshi mention Seigaku and Rikkai Dai, he understood.

Given Fudomine careful when facing these top schools.

It's better to detonate it now than to let it spiral out of control in the end.

Now that Fudomine and Hyotei Academy have both entered the Tokyo Metropolis's top four, both are excellent academies capable of competing in the Kanto Tournament, and all the other schools want to know about these two academies.

As the match time approached, more and more spectators gathered around the stadium.

"The Tokyo Metropolis Tournament Semifinals, Doubles 2, are about to begin. Both players, please prepare yourselves!"

With the referee in place, the match was about to begin.

"Shinji, let's go!"

Kamio Akira patted his teammate on the shoulder.

"Um!"

Ibu Shinji's eyes were sharp, as if he had returned to the time when Saeki Muneyoshi first took him to the streets to provoke him.

"Kamio, Shinji, this is your first time playing together, so I won't put any pressure on you. Just play freely and bring out your strengths."

Hanamura Aoi sat on the coach's bench with a gentle and intellectual air, looking at the two of them with a soft tone.

At this moment, two more familiar faces of Muneyoshi emerged from the Hyotei Academy athletes' area: Ohtori Choutarou, a first-year student, and Ryo Shishido, a second-year Shishido Ryo.

"I only have one requirement, and that is to win! Understand?"

Coach Sakaki's instructions were always so simple and direct. He held one hand outstretched on the back of the chair, his tone calm and steady.

"Yes!"

As soon as the players entered the court, the stadium erupted in thunderous applause.

"The second match of the Semifinals of the Metropolitan Tournament is now beginning. Hyotei Academy's Ohtori Choutarou and Shishido Ryo will face Fudomine Academy's Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira. It's a one-set match, Fudomine's serve!"

The referee blew the whistle, and both sides took their positions.

"Shinji, these people from the Hyotei Academy are making too much noise. Let's quiet them down!"

Kamio Akira, standing in the backcourt, pursed his lips. From the moment they stepped onto the court, the deafening cheers from the Hyotei Academy's cheerleaders had put immense pressure on Kamio Akira.

"Alright, Kamio, let's quiet them down!"

Kamio Akira, playing in the backcourt, swished the tennis ball a few times, found his rhythm, and then tossed it out.

Bang!

"Behold my Sonic Bullet!"

With a crisp sound.

The tennis ball had already transformed into a streak of light, like a precise missile or arrow, heading straight for the apex of the inverted triangle in the left half of the service court where Hyotei Academy was located!

Under Tachibana Kippei's special training, Kamio Akira's ball Power and Technique have greatly improved compared to the beginning.

His serve now looks quite decent.

However, such power was still insufficient against Shishido Ryo.

"Oh, this first-year student from Fudomine is actually pretty good~~"

In the Hyotei Academy's backcourt receiving area, after seeing Kamio's serve, a glimmer of light finally appeared in Shishido Ryo's cold eyes.

He seemed slightly surprised that Kamio, a first-year student, could hit such a serve, but this feeling did not last long. He took a step and moved in an instant.

"It will land here!"

Shishido Ryo didn't stop moving at all, and in an instant he arrived at the doubles sideline, directly lifting and slicing back Kamio's Sonic Bullet.

"The first-year students at Fudomine are quite interesting."

"Hey, too bad you're still too green against Shishido!"

In the Hyotei Academy's rest area, the second team players casually commented on the performances of Kamio and Ibu Shinji on the court.

The Hyotei Academy fans watching talked without restraint.

This infuriated Tachibana An, who was standing nearby. She frowned and was about to confront the group of people.

"An, come back!"

"Brother, what they said was awful!"

Sometimes even Tachibana Kippei couldn't do anything about his younger sister, and at that moment he looked at Muneyoshi.

"An, let's go buy some soda!"

"No, I want to go and yell at them!"

"Why are you cursing them? Don't worry, the game might turn around after we get back from buying soda."

"Really?"

Upon hearing Muneyoshi's words, Tachibana An's eyes lit up, as she had great faith in Muneyoshi's abilities.

"Of course! Let's go, and buy some for everyone while we're at it."

Muneyoshi nodded without hesitation, then stood up and the two left together to buy soda.

However, Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji on the court were having a tough time.

Their strength is actually similar to that of Ohtori Choutarou, who is only a first-year student at the time. However, with the addition of Shishido Ryo, the scales of victory began to tip in the Hyotei Academy's favor.

Besides Munehiko, Tachibana Kippei and Keith Linsh also noticed it.

The defeat in doubles 2 was inevitable; it wasn't as casual as Muneyoshi made it out to be.

At this time, the two players from the Hyotei Academy were not yet the powerful doubles team that would later become famous throughout the country. Neither of them had any particularly impressive skills, and Ohtori Choutarou had not yet started practicing his serve, but they had a solid foundation.

At the start of the match, they capitalized on a small mistake by Kamio and Shinji, scoring a point after just two goals.

15-0.

In the ensuing matches, he gradually lost his advantage in these exchanges.

This match was not only a training exercise for Hanamura Aoi against Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji, but also an attempt by Sakaki Tarou to assess the compatibility between Ohtori Choutarou and Shishido Ryo.

It seems that Sakaki Tarou has won now; their chemistry is excellent.

"As expected of the advisors, Shishido and Ootori's teamwork is indeed becoming more and more seamless. Although their individual strengths aren't particularly high, after just a few rounds of teamwork, they seem to be of one mind, with the other perfectly covering for them when one makes a move."

"It seems we can indeed develop a pretty good doubles combination!"

Meanwhile, Atobe, who was off the field, also activated his Ice World, observing the Hyotei Academy duo with great detail.

Bang!

Hyotei Academy's score: 30-15.

Bang!

"Fudomine's score, 40-30."

"Game, Hyotei Academy wins this round, score 6-3."

"The doubles match 2 is over. Hyotei Academy wins this game, with a score of 1-0!"

Shishido Ryo and Ohtori Choutarou lived up to their reputation as a pair. Although it was also an experiment for Sakaki Tarou, even he didn't expect the duo to work so well together.

Meanwhile, their rivals Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji, were in a very bad mood.

They could clearly sense that their opponent's strength was not much different from their own, but whenever it came to crucial moments for scoring, Shishido Ryo of the Hyotei Academy would always step up.

Either neutralize their offensive or break through their defense.

This near-defeat at such a crucial moment was a significant blow to both players, and the pride they had felt from their previous victories vanished.

P. S. "Please vote with monthly tickets~"