Knowing This, Muneyoshi Would Probably Curse
Let's return to the competition.
"The Kanto Tournament Semifinals match between Fudomine and Rikkai Dai's doubles team will now begin. Players, please enter the arena."
As soon as the referee finished speaking, Yanagi Renji put down his drink, picked up his racket, and walked onto the court.
"Niou, it's our turn!"
"Phew! I hope you all like the surprise I brought, but there's still too little material."
Picking up his racket, Niou Masaharu tugged at his silver-white braid, chuckled softly, and followed Yanagi Renji's steps.
Kirihara, who hasn't yet had a full chance to play, was waving his hands excitedly.
"Senior Liu, Senior Niou, you must win!"
Kirihara was very confident in the combination of these two. In his view, what Fudomine matter? The honor of the king, Rikkai Dai, would be unmatched.
On the other side, in the Fudomine players' area, Keith and Lin Xiu, having returned from warming up, walked out together.
"Go for it, Keith and Lin Xiu!"
Kamio Akira placed his hands in front of his mouth, cupped them into a megaphone shape, and shouted loudly.
He felt guilty about the loss in doubles two, but he still stood up to cheer for the two players.
As his voice rang out, the other first-year students from Fudomine, including Mori Tatsunori, Uchimura Kyosuke, Sakurai Masaya, and Makihara Shuichi, also began to cheer him on.
On the field, the two sides greeted each other and decided to coin toss.
After the coin toss ended, the referee's voice rang out again.
"The doubles match will feature Keith and Lin Xiu from Fudomine Junior High against Yanagi Renji and Niou Masaharu from Rikkai Dai High School! Rikkai Dai has the serve!"
"Yanagi Renji, Niou Masaharu..."
After the two doubles players from Rikkai Dai came out to compete, Muneyoshi scratched his hair slightly.
Although the roster of Rikkai Dai players was the same as Saeki Muneyoshi and Hanamura Aoi had expected, Muneyoshi still couldn't help but sigh when the two actually took to the field.
Leaving aside the fact that Yanagi Renji's current strength is almost truly at the threshold of the National Level.
Moreover, due to his expertise in Data Tennis, Yanagi Renji often has the potential to turn the tide of a match.
Even Muneyoshi himself was unsure how much information and data the other party knew about Keith and Lin Xiu.
As for Niou Masaharu...
The last time Muneyoshi saw him, he could already feel the other's surging spiritual power, but after this period of time, the spiritual power that was constantly dissipating from the other's body had disappeared.
This shows that Niou has begun to control himself and has truly embarked on the path of spiritual power.
"I wonder where Niou is now..."
The threat level of Niou varies greatly at different stages.
The initial stage is simple imitation; going a little deeper, it becomes complete replication.
Moreover, as the opponent's strength and mental power increase, the number of people he can copy becomes increasingly terrifying.
In the end, he was even able to imitate and replicate the Byōdōin Hōō, which alone is enough to demonstrate how terrifying Niou Masaharu was.
Furthermore, Niou, who can copy, can Synchronization with everyone in doubles, provided that the person he Synchronization with has already entered the Synchronization field.
Or it requires that he truly understands the mind of the person he is copying.
But these facts alone are enough to illustrate how difficult he is to deal with.
This is why Hanamura Aoi really wanted Keith to split up for singles, while Muneyoshi requested doubles.
Because Lin Xiu alone has no chance of dealing with them.
But...
Muneyoshi was unaware of Rikkai Dai's initial plan to pair Sanada and Mouri in doubles.
If Muneyoshi knew this, he'd probably curse!
"The match begins, a decisive first set!"
As soon as the referee announced the start of the match, Yanagi Renji raised the ball in his hand and served it.
Bang!
This shot looked unremarkable; apart from its high speed and precise ball control, it didn't seem to have anything particularly outstanding.
But from that point on, the clash between Yanagi Renji and Keith against Lin Xiu had already begun.
For Data Tennis players, the most important thing is to collect data on their opponents, especially accurate data.
Yanagi Renji learned Data Tennis from Mitsuya, and it was precisely because of Mitsuya's guidance that Mitsuya Yanagi Renji clearly understood that Data Tennis was not as simple as it seemed.
In particular, the match between Saeki Muneyoshi and Mitsuya Akito showed him a deeper path and greater possibilities in Data Tennis.
From the Fudomine tournament, Yanagi Renji started collecting various materials.
Among them, the information on Lin Xiu was the most abundant and complete that he had collected.
Compared to Lin Xiu, there is much less information available about Keith.
However, he still managed to extract Keith's various habits from the limited information available.
"This is?"
After Yanagi Renji's serve, Lin Xiu clearly felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
It seems that Yanagi Renji's playing style is something he's not used to!
"Could this be the Data Tennis that Muneyoshi was talking about?"
Lin Xiu became secretly on guard, and at the same time gave Keith a hand gesture.
Faced with Yanagi Renji's simple and straightforward serve, Lin Xiu was wary, but since he hadn't figured out Yanagi Renji's tactics, he still chose to respond in the conventional way.
Compared to the passion of Doubles 2, it seems that Fudomine and Rikkai Dai both opted for a more stable approach at the beginning of Doubles 1, with both sides engaging in rallies at the baseline.
Bang!
Bang!
The match seemed somewhat dull, but some viewers found it quite entertaining, such as Mizuki and Inui Sadaharu.
"This is terrifying, Renji! Your Data Tennis has surpassed mine!"
Inui Sadaharu closed his notebook and said softly.
"Xiu, I'm going to make my move!"
Seemingly bored with the monotonous match, Keith quickly caught up with the tennis balls that were hitting towards the corner, and swung his racket to return both balls at the same time.
Gemini!
The ball had incredible power and speed, but Yanagi Renji, who knew Keith's habits, instantly judged the landing point of the tennis ball.
Thump!
Snap!
"Fudomine Keith, 15-0."
Yanagi Renji stood motionless, seemingly sensing the power of that shot. He pressed down on his slightly numb wrist and looked up at the opposite half of the court.
He then quietly picked up the racket.
"Niou, pay attention! That pose you just saw is what I meant by the Gemini or Three Star Combination!"
"Pfft! I see."
Niou Insight was also exceptional, had a glint of light in his eyes and smiled.
However, Keith is not the kind of person who gets complacent just because he scores; his composure can often be quite unsettling.
Gemini!
Following Keith's move, Lin Xiu also stopped holding back, the golden Light Ball tracing an arc.
Niou's pale blue pupils gleamed, taking in the trajectory of the ball and the Light Ball.
Swish!
He strode forward, raised his racket, and immediately after completing the movement, Niou turned around, dodging the first pale gold balloon, before his racket struck the real tennis ball with great force.
"That's interesting!"
A flicker of emotion crossed Keith's indifferent eyes as he watched the tennis ball fly towards him.
He then took a large step forward, extended his right hand, and a ball of light larger than a regular light blue balloon enveloped the tennis ball, which he then powerfully struck back.
Boom!
The tennis ball touched the ground, and the air mass exploded instantly, like a rushing water flow. Before Niou and Yanagi Renji's rackets even touched the ground, they were blasted away.
"Game, Fudomine, Score 1-0."
P. S.: "Please give me some monthly votes!"