Staring at the deep ball mark left in the ground by his feet, Ishida Tetsu could no longer stay calm.
"How is this possible? He's just a first-year. How could he possibly return my Wave Ball..."
"Kawamura and Horio score, 15–0."
"Sakurai, move aside next time and let me take this. I refuse to believe he can keep returning my Wave Ball."
Having failed to score with his first shot, Ishida had already been provoked by Horio and completely forgotten Tachibana Kippei's warning.
"Ishida, have you lost your mind? The captain only allowed you to use it once. If you don't listen to him, the captain will..."
"Sakurai, we can't worry about that now. We have to win this point.
"Otherwise, we'll lose right from the start. We can't lose the first match. If the captain blames us, I'll take responsibility."
Hearing Ishida say he was going to use the Wave Ball again, Sakurai hurried to stop him. Before he could finish, Ishida cut him off.
In Ishida's eyes, if they didn't keep using the Wave Ball, they would lose the first game.
Little did he know that even if he broke his arm hitting Wave Balls, it wouldn't affect Horio in the slightest.
So, in the rallies that followed, Ishida ignored Tachibana Kippei's shouts from the sidelines and resolutely took up the Wave Ball stance.
Then another powerful wave of force shot out, but Horio on the other side didn't take it seriously.
After swinging his racket and returning the Wave Ball, Horio felt the tennis ball had more power than before, but he still wasn't satisfied.
"Still not enough. This isn't a Wave Ball."
Watching Horio return yet another Wave Ball that he'd hit with greater force, Ishida completely lost control.
"Sakurai, move!"
"Ah! Ishida! Stop!"
Although Sakurai on the court and the Fudomine team on the sidelines kept trying to stop Ishida, he faced the Wave Ball Horio had sent back.
Ishida once again took up the Wave Ball stance, and a Wave Ball heavier than all the previous ones appeared.
"Ishida's being reckless. After the match, I'll teach him a lesson.
"But... if I had to return that Wave Ball myself, I might not be able to."
Even Tachibana Kippei on the sidelines wasn't sure he could return the unprecedented Wave Ball Ishida Tetsu had just hit. That showed just how terrifying the shot looked to everyone else.
"Now that's a little more like it. Come on, let me see how much this one's got. Senpai, sorry, but I'll take this one too."
Horio, now a little more hopeful, swung his racket at the Wave Ball, which contained terrifying power. Everyone watching from outside the court fell silent as they watched him prepare to return it.
Suddenly, the heavy tennis ball collided with Horio's racket.
In an instant, the heavy Wave Ball seemed to have met an unbreakable wall.
The force coming from the ball slammed into Horio's racket again and again, but the racket didn't tremble at all.
"That's not bad, but it's still not enough."
Feeling the Wave Ball Ishida had hit with 120 percent of his strength, Horio still sent it back, to the amazement of the spectators.
Stubbornly, Ishida tried to return it with another Wave Ball, but how could he reach a ball Horio had put even more power into? The ball flew back onto Fudomine's side, bounced off the ground, and knocked Ishida's racket right out of his hand.
"Kawamura and Horio score, 30–0."
"Hey, do you even know how to hit a Wave Ball? Is this how Ishida Gin taught you?
"If Ishida Gin knew you were hitting his Wave Ball like this, he'd probably use one to cripple you."
After seeing Horio's Wave Balls again and again, even he was growing disappointed. At last, after one letdown too many, he couldn't hold back any longer.
"Looks like I'll have to try one of Ishida Gin's Wave Balls if I get the chance. As for you, all you've done is insult the Wave Ball."
Seeing his racket knocked away, Ishida Tetsu finally came to his senses.
Just as Ishida Tetsu was regaining his composure, he heard Horio bluntly put him down—and insult his older brother, Ishida Gin, who had taught him the Wave Ball, too.
The feeling growing in Ishida Tetsu's heart was no longer anger, but fear.
"Y-you... how do you know my brother? N-no... That's not it... I haven't insulted the Wave Ball at all. I've been practicing hard. You have no right to say that!"
"Ishida Gin... Was he the one who taught Ishida the Wave Ball? Going by the name, he must be his older brother. Just who is that first-year on the other side? How does he know so much?"
Seeing that Ishida was terrified, Tachibana Kippei furrowed his brow again. The rest of Fudomine were already too shocked to speak.
Over on Seigaku's side, the regulars didn't understand what Horio was talking about, or why he sounded so angry.
"Hey, did you hear that? What did the kid mean? Who's Ishida Gin? Is he Ishida Tetsu's older brother?"
"From what Horio said, that Ishida Gin can hit Wave Balls too—and they're even more terrifying than Fudomine's Ishida Tetsu's."
"How does this little kid know more than Agan at such a young age? He's a real mystery."
"Uh... sorry. I'll do my best to gather more information."
"But judging by how things are going, we'll probably win the Second Doubles match, right? Horio doesn't take the other side seriously at all."
Listening to the Seigaku regulars chattering back and forth, Coach Ryuzaki finally couldn't help commenting.
"What do you mean, he doesn't take the other side seriously? He doesn't take anyone seriously. We really did recruit two pretty distinctive kids this year."
Coach Ryuzaki's words struck a chord with everyone. At that moment, Ryuzaki had her own thoughts, too.
"Horio Satoshi and Echizen Ryoma: one is a super-genius whose abilities surpass his age, and the other is the successor to a once-prodigious Japanese samurai.
"What kind of exciting future will the world of tennis see? Echizen Nanjirou, maybe someone really will surpass you."
On the court, looking at Ishida Tetsu, whose heart was full of fear, Horio no longer felt like continuing the match.
"In my eyes, aside from your captain, everyone on Fudomine's team is nothing but useless.
"If you weren't going to make it to First Singles, I wouldn't waste my time dealing with you.
"You said you've been practicing your Wave Ball. Then I'll show you what a real Wave Ball looks like."
With that, Horio went straight to the baseline. Everyone thought he was about to score with another powerful serve, but instead, he tossed the ball forward.
"Was that a mistake? He tossed the ball so far ahead. How could he possibly hit it?"
Momoshiro said worriedly from the sidelines. Everyone else looked puzzled, too. After Horio's "mistake" sent the ball soaring forward, it reached a certain height. Horio bent his knees and leaped swiftly into the air.
Then he unleashed a serve much like a smash, sending the ball speeding toward Fudomine's side of the court.
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