Limitless Scattered Flowers

"If your foot's injured, I'll let you serve first."

"Hmph, no need. I want to see that Outer Spin Serve as soon as possible."

Hearing Momoshiro Takeshi say that, Echizen didn't hold back. He tossed the ball high, pushed off lightly with both feet, and swung his racket with his right hand. A fairly fast serve flew toward Momo's side of the court.

Thwack... "Service fault."

Inoue, pulled in to act as referee, kept his face calm as he watched the court.

"A Slice Serve is fine too. Just don't hold back on your moves."

"Shut up."

Finding Momo a bit annoying, Echizen bounced the ball on the ground a few times, then sent a powerful serve flying toward him.

Watching the tennis ball come at him, Momo gripped his racket tight and swung at the ball after it bounced. He clearly hadn't expected the force behind it—the racket he'd held firmly was knocked out of his hand by the rebound.

Only then did Momo get truly serious. Inoue, sitting in the referee's seat, was also stunned by that shot. A first-year middle schooler actually hitting a ball like that? Shaking off his shock, Momo went a few more rounds with Echizen, neither gaining the upper hand.

Until Echizen switched his racket to his left hand. Momo immediately called it off. He knew Echizen wasn't going all out, and he'd finished his probing.

Packing up to leave, Echizen got cornered again by Katsuro, Katsuo, and then Sakuno and Tomoka, who showed up later. That was when Horio, who'd been hiding in the distance all along, made his timely appearance.

"Echizen, how about we find a place and have a match, just the two of us?"

Seeing Horio suddenly appear, Echizen—who'd been shocked by Horio's skill earlier—agreed without hesitation.

Katsuro and Katsuo, who'd been pestering Echizen, immediately swarmed around Horio instead, while the two girls nearby watched him curiously.

In the original story, Horio was a little monkey with chestnut-colored, choppy hair. But now, thanks to the system's transformation since birth and his constant exercise, he looked no worse than Ryoma at this point.

"You two know any public courts around here? If you take us there, you can watch for free."

"Really, Horio? We know a court nearby. It's usually empty."

"Can we come too? We want to watch too."

Hearing Horio say Katsuro and the others could spectate, Tomoka got excited and looked at him.

"No. Only those two can go."

"Huh, why? What makes them so special?"

"Because I think you're annoying."

At that, even Echizen shot Horio a surprised look. Echizen wasn't a fan of trouble either, but he couldn't just say something like that outright.

Tomoka, hearing those words, acted like her tail had been stepped on.

"Who do you think you are? Don't you think you're being rude? Fine, I don't care about watching anyway. Who'd want to? You're obviously no match for Ryoma. I bet you're just afraid of losing too badly."

With that, she dragged a disappointed Sakuno away. Before Horio had shown up, she'd greeted Ryoma, but he couldn't even remember who she was. Then Horio and the others headed for the court.

Outside the court's equipment shed, Momo, who'd been on the court earlier, was now talking to a woman in a pink tracksuit.

"You okay, Momo?"

"Ah, Coach. What are you doing here?"

"I've been here the whole time. If you keep this up, you'll be looked down on by a first-year rookie."

"Haha, maybe."

"You sure talk big. If your right foot weren't sprained, you might have had a chance to win."

"He knew all along. Before the match, one of the first-years spotted it right away—the one next to Echizen Ryoma. He said he didn't want to play someone with an injured foot."

"Looks like there's more than one interesting rookie this year. You regulars are going to have to step it up."

...At a public court

Echizen Ryoma, breathing hard, ran back and forth. Beads of sweat glistened brightly under the sunlight.

Across from him, Horio's breathing was a little quick, but there wasn't a single drop of sweat on him. He looked relaxed instead.

Katsuro and Katsuo, standing at the edge of the court, had gone from surprised to shocked to completely speechless. They never imagined Horio would be this good.

They'd thought Ryoma was already impressive, and Horio would be about the same. But from the very start of the match, Ryoma was being crushed. No matter where Ryoma sent the ball on the court, Horio would appear like a ghost at the landing spot and return it with even greater force.

Watching Horio on the court, gripping that purple racket, the two on the sidelines felt like they were seeing something extraordinary. They even forgot to call out the score.

"Hey, you two. Call the score."

"Ah... oh! Okay, Horio 40:0 Echizen, score 5:0."

"Last ball, Echizen. Let me show you what a real serve looks like."

Across the court, the panting Echizen Ryoma heard Horio's words and immediately raised his concentration to its peak.

Horio assumed the same starting stance as the Outer Spin Serve. Just as the tossed ball began to descend, he swung his racket sharply.

A serve identical to Echizen Ryoma's Outer Spin Serve appeared. Ryoma positioned himself at the ball's landing spot in advance, tightening his grip on the red racket in his left hand.

The moment the ball bounced, Ryoma—his focus entirely on it—suddenly saw the rebounding ball gain a violent spin, and at the same time, eight balls appeared, scattering in different directions.

"Horio scores... score 6:0, Horio... Horio... Horio wins."

After Katsuro stammered out the announcement of Horio's victory, Ryoma stood frozen in place, his expression hidden by his cap, lost in thought.

Seeing the stunned Ryoma, Horio didn't want to crush a genius's confidence, so he spoke up.

"Echizen, that's my serve—Limitless Scattered Flowers. Pretty strong, right? But it's still just a prototype; I need to keep perfecting it.

Still, that's a technique I created myself. It belongs to me.

Your playing style feels familiar. I once saw someone's match by pure chance.

You play a lot like that person, only you're more immature. That person also shares your surname—Echizen."

As Horio said this, Echizen Ryoma's eyes suddenly widened.

"Ryoma, I think you're strong, and your future will take you far. But right now, both you and I need to get even stronger.

I hope that someday, we'll meet on the world stage and have a match where we go all out."

Hearing Ryoma's barrage of motivational talk, Echizen Ryoma found it hard to accept the reality of his crushing defeat.

Even though he'd never won at home either, losing so badly to someone his own age cut deeper.

"I'm heading home first."

Watching Ryoma pack up to leave, Horio smiled.

He knew Ryoma had taken his words to heart. He'd give him time to think.

"Alright, see you at school tomorrow."

With that, Horio left too. Katsuro and Katsuo, following along, had practically become Horio's underlings.

"I'm home."

Back at home, Horio greeted his mom and went straight to his room, replaying in his mind how he'd learned Echizen Ryoma's Outer Spin Serve today and evolved it into Limitless Scattered Flowers.

"What a blast. Can't wait for tomorrow—wonder what faces the regulars will make when they get beaten by their own signature move."