Final Begins

The final was about to begin. The two players came to the net and sized each other up.

Kannagi Shinichi looked at Yukimura Seiichi first. Yukimura seemed blessed by heaven itself. Not only had he been given formidable tennis skills, but also an exceptionally handsome face.

Across from him, Yukimura Seiichi was looking at Kannagi Shinichi with a smile.

With a height far beyond that of his peers, long silver hair, a cool and resolute face, and the aura of a powerful player, Kannagi Shinichi was flawless in Yukimura Seiichi's eyes, both in appearance and presence.

As they faced each other at the net, Yukimura reached out first. "Yukimura Seiichi."

"Kannagi Shinichi." As Kannagi Shinichi finished speaking, they shook hands.

"I hope we can play a great match." But Yukimura Seiichi's manner suddenly changed. His smile vanished, replaced by a hint of coldness. "I'll defeat you and avenge Genichiro."

Kannagi Shinichi paused, then smiled again. "Sanada Genichiro also said he'd defeat me. But in the end, I, Kannagi Shinichi, was the one who won."

Yukimura Seiichi's expression remained unchanged, but Kannagi Shinichi could still see a flicker of emotion in his eyes.

Were Sanada Genichiro and Yukimura Seiichi really that close? I'd only teased Sanada Genichiro a little, and Yukimura was already affected.

"Let's wait and see," Yukimura Seiichi said, then turned and headed to the baseline to prepare for his serve.

Kannagi Shinichi said nothing. He simply returned to his side of the court and waited for Yukimura Seiichi to serve.

"The national elementary school tennis tournament final is officially underway! Kannagi Shinichi versus Yukimura Seiichi. Yukimura Seiichi will serve first."

When the umpire made the announcement, the spectators along the sidelines fixed their eyes on Yukimura Seiichi, who was lightly bouncing the ball at the baseline. Even those who desperately needed to use the restroom held it in and stood quietly outside the court.

After all, neither player had dropped a single point in any match so far. The spectators had a feeling this match would be more exciting than they could imagine.

"Phew..."

Yukimura Seiichi took a deep breath as he looked at Kannagi Shinichi. Then he swung his arm, tossing the ball high into the air, and struck it with impeccable form.

Thwack!

The ball landed with a crisp sound, but it was moving fast, and its angle was extremely sharp. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared from the spectators' view.

"193 kilometers per hour," the same scout announced, holding a speed gun.

"Aw, I thought Yukimura Seiichi was really strong, but his serve's actually so slow. Not just compared to Kannagi Shinichi—even Sanada Genichiro was faster," said a spectator who had seen Kannagi Shinichi and Sanada Genichiro serve earlier. He looked disappointed.

The people beside him shot him a look. That's slow?

Once again, Kannagi Shinichi used his explosive power to reach the ball in an instant. He got into position, ready to use Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams.

"It's coming! The captain's Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams!" Many members of the Hyotei tennis club began cheering excitedly.

Even Kannagi Shinichi thought he was about to score with Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams.

But just as the ball was about to touch his racket, it shifted slightly to one side. That tiny change was enough to make Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams impossible to use.

Kannagi Shinichi hurriedly switched to a one-handed shot and returned the ball in a desperate attempt.

Yukimura Seiichi didn't smash it. Instead, he played a textbook drop shot.

"15–0, point to Yukimura Seiichi."

As soon as the umpire called the score, the whole court erupted.

"No way, Kannagi Shinichi actually lost a point!"

"It looked like he was about to use Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams. Why didn't he?"

The spectators outside the court hadn't noticed that the ball's trajectory had changed as it landed. But many skilled players had seen it clearly, especially Sengoku Kiyosumi, who had astonishing dynamic vision.

"Spin!" Sengoku Kiyosumi said, watching the purple-haired boy prepare to serve. "He put heavy topspin and backspin on the ball. After it landed, the spin turned into sidespin, and that was when the ball suddenly changed direction."

Only then did the spectators understand. Yukimura Seiichi had put powerful spin on the ball.

Yukimura Seiichi served again. When the ball landed in front of Kannagi Shinichi, it changed direction once more.

The previous serve's topspin and backspin had turned into sidespin this time. When Kannagi Shinichi's racket met the ball, all he could do was send up a lob.

Will it be a drop shot or a smash? Kannagi Shinichi kept his eyes fixed on Yukimura Seiichi. But this time, Yukimura neither played a drop shot nor smashed the ball. He returned it straight in front of Kannagi Shinichi.

The shot put Kannagi Shinichi in an awkward position. It was easy enough to return, but the ball was so close to his body that he couldn't use his signature Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams.

So Kannagi Shinichi settled for a simple close-range drive.

Although Kannagi Shinichi's return was powerful, Yukimura Seiichi used spin to take much of the force off it.

The ball went back and forth between them.

Thwack!

Thump!

Thwack!

With every return, Yukimura Seiichi cleverly sent the ball right in front of Kannagi Shinichi, leaving him no chance to use Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams.

Thwack...

That was the sound of Kannagi Shinichi hitting the ball.

Thump...

That was the sound of Yukimura Seiichi hitting the ball.

Thwack...

Thump...

The sounds of their shots rang out one after another as both players swung their rackets with all their strength.

Then, suddenly, Kannagi Shinichi sensed something was wrong. A disturbance stirred in his mind.

His vision began to blur. Kannagi Shinichi knew Yukimura Seiichi was trying to take away his sight.

As a "weakling" whose skill level was only 1, Kannagi Shinichi knew that if he lost his sight, he wouldn't be able to beat Yukimura Seiichi, even with strength no one else possessed.

So Kannagi Shinichi decided to stop returning Yukimura's shots before his vision disappeared.

When Yukimura Seiichi sent the ball in front of him again, Kannagi Shinichi simply closed his eyes and let it fly past him.

Yukimura Seiichi was surprised to see this. Kannagi Shinichi had actually given up on returning the ball.

"30–0, point to Yukimura Seiichi."

When the umpire called the score again, the spectators outside the court were in an uproar.

"That rally finally ended. My eyes were starting to hurt from watching."

"Idiot, that's not the point! Didn't you see Kannagi Shinichi lose two points in a row? Maybe this guy named Yukimura Seiichi really is stronger!"

"That shot looked easy to return. Why did Kannagi Shinichi give up?"

"Why did Kannagi Shinichi close his eyes? Is he not planning to return Yukimura Seiichi's next serve?"

Chitose Senri, Sengoku Kiyosumi, and Sanada Genichiro, who had faced Yukimura before, all wondered whether Yukimura had taken Kannagi Shinichi's sight away too.

But when they saw Kannagi Shinichi open his eyes again, they realized that although his gaze was a little unfocused, he hadn't lost his sight. In fact, his vision was gradually recovering.

Could he have figured it out?

Yukimura Seiichi looked at Kannagi Shinichi, his expression grave. He had seen Kannagi Shinichi's serve before and knew he couldn't return it. To avenge Sanada and shut Kannagi Shinichi out, his only chance was to completely take away Kannagi Shinichi's sight and sense of touch during his own service games.

Meanwhile, Kannagi Shinichi had realized that Yukimura Seiichi was playing dirty and planning to catch him off guard with Metsugokan. So Kannagi Shinichi decided that for the rest of the match, he wouldn't return Yukimura Seiichi's serves, giving Yukimura no chance to take away his sight.

Then he would rely on his own serves and Two-Handed Thunderclap Eight Trigrams to hold his service games.

Kannagi Shinichi was confident those two moves would be enough to take the match to a tiebreak.

Once they reached the tiebreak, Kannagi Shinichi planned to play dirty too. He'd catch Yukimura Seiichi off guard with the full-power Thunderclap Eight Trigrams, end things in one go, and take him down.

So when Yukimura Seiichi served again, the spectators outside the court saw that Kannagi Shinichi didn't move at all.

"40–0, Yukimura Seiichi leads."