The Calm and Impulsive Combination

"By the time we realized it, it was already too late."

Horio watched Oshitari and Mukahi on the court, who had only just reacted, but their stamina couldn't support a seven-game match.

"You've already served your purpose as whetstones; now it's time to test the sharpness of this blade."

The subsequent match was predictable. Kikumaru, now fully unleashed, toyed with Mukahi at the net.

At this moment, Kikumaru was more agile and jumped higher than Mukahi.

Meanwhile, Momoshiro at the baseline fully took on Oishi's role. It seemed Oishi had taught Momoshiro some secret.

"Damn it, how could this be? Kikumaru's Special Skill Shot was just mediocre before, how could he suddenly become so strong?"

Mukahi, drenched in sweat, held his knees with both hands, gasping for breath.

He couldn't believe how the player he'd considered mediocre had changed so drastically.

Oshitari at the baseline was also nearing his limit. To cover some of the balls Mukahi missed, his stamina consumption was no less than Mukahi's.

"This is bad. Those two weren't serious with us from the start. They only showed their true strength near the end, deliberately toying with us."

On the Seigaku side, although Momoshiro and Kikumaru were sweating, they weren't as distressed as Oshitari and Mukahi.

It was clear that the newly revised training plan was very effective.

"Heh heh, last point. Time to finish this."

"Momo, you've been defending the baseline all match, you must be itching to attack, right?"

Kikumaru at the net turned and gave Momoshiro a look. Momoshiro understood.

Then Momoshiro hit a Bullet Serve. After Oshitari managed a weak return, Kikumaru quickly moved to the net.

Instead of hitting the ball to Mukahi's blind spot, he dropped a Drop Shot not far from him.

Seeing the ball land neither too close nor too far, Mukahi summoned all his strength to barely reach it, flicking the ball high into the air.

"It's over. Bye-bye."

Seeing that the opponent had indeed sent the ball high as he expected, Kikumaru smiled at Mukahi and said, "Bye-bye." After he spoke, Oshitari and Mukahi saw a figure fly out from behind Kikumaru.

It was Momoshiro! Momoshiro, who had been held back at the baseline all game, finally got his chance on the last point.

Seeing the ball fly into the sky, Momoshiro charged forward with all his might, seizing the moment to jump into the air with a push off his right foot.

"Here comes my Vertical Smash!"

In mid-air, Momoshiro swung his racket with all his might at the ball.

Seeing Momoshiro unleash a Vertical Smash, Oshitari and Mukahi, unwilling to accept defeat, mustered their remaining strength and got into position.

"We absolutely cannot let you succeed, Seigaku!"

The two players' rackets overlapped as they struck the incoming smash.

The fiercely descending ball hit their rackets, and Oshitari and Mukahi's faces contorted in pain. It was clear that receiving this shot was agonizing for both of them.

Finally, after holding on for two seconds, they couldn't endure any longer.

Their grip loosened, and both their rackets were sent flying.

"Wow, he actually knocked Oshitari Senpai's and Mukahi Senpai's rackets away! His strength is terrifying."

"Yeah, I didn't expect Seigaku to be this strong this year."

The Hyotei students cheering from the sidelines unconsciously stopped. Now, apart from Seigaku's own team, no one else showed surprise. Even the calm Coach Sakaki and Atobe were taken aback.

"That Momoshiro and Kikumaru... we really can't underestimate Seigaku this year."

Coach Sakaki was very surprised to be dealt such a blow in the first match.

On the stands behind Coach Sakaki, Atobe stared intently at the court, his thoughts unknown.

"Seigaku scores. The score is 7:5. Seigaku wins."

"Hooray! Kikumaru Senpai, we won!"

"Yeah, Momo, we won! Hey, what are those on your palm?"

Kikumaru, celebrating with Momoshiro, suddenly noticed the writing on Momoshiro's palm. He then understood that Oishi had written down Kikumaru's own playing habits for Momoshiro, which was why Kikumaru could play so freely at the net.

"So that's how it is. I knew Oishi was playing with us the whole time."

"So that's how it is. This was a three-person match. But it was still too embarrassing to let them come back from five points down to win seven."

Hearing the surprise and joy in Kikumaru's tone, Atobe of Hyotei couldn't help but sigh.

"Next is the first doubles match. The opponents are players with a similar style to our first doubles pair."

Horio saw the two players Hyotei was about to send onto the court. He already had a rough idea of the match outcome.

"It looks like they'll probably lose. Oshitari Chotaro and Mukahi Ryo, although they're fairly ordinary, they're a well-coordinated pair."

"Kaitou won't be so easily swayed by Inui's commands. If they lose this match, the probability of Kawamura winning singles three probably isn't very high either."

He thought of Hyotei's singles three player, Kabaji, the one who could imitate others' techniques.

As a power-type player, it's good enough to force a draw.

"Kaitou, let's go, it's our turn to play."

Inui took his racket out of his tennis bag and looked at Kaitou, who was already ready beside him, before they walked onto the court together.

"The match begins, Hyotei's Ootori serves."

As the referee announced the start of the match, the players on both sides got into their zones.

"Come on, Choutarou, scare them with that move, the one you used to become a regular."

Looking at Ootori, who was preparing to serve from the baseline, Mukahi gave him a meaningful glance.

"O...ne...Ball,...One...Soul..."

Ootori then slowly tossed the ball up and swung his racket, unleashing his signature skill.

Inui, on the Seigaku side, was stunned by Ootori's super-fast serve and didn't return it.

"What a fast serve, even faster than my full-power serve."

Ootori continued to score points with his One Ball, One Soul serve for the next few shots, while Inui remained frozen in place.

Bang...

"Fault, 40:15."

After scoring several consecutive points with his serve, everyone saw Ootori miss two consecutive shots, realizing his serve wasn't 100% successful.

However, Ootori didn't seem too bothered by his service errors at this moment, clearly still confident in his serve.

"I told you they're all half-baked, they can't even serve consistently."

Horio watched Ootori's arm muscles twitch momentarily during his serve, affecting his control, and scoffed at it.

After a slight adjustment, Ootori served again, this time successfully landing the ball in bounds.

Bang...

"Hyotei scores, the score is 1:0."

"That serve was really powerful, it's understandable that we lost the first game, Kaitou..."

"What are you talking about, Senpai? I don't want to lose. What do you mean it's understandable? I'll shut them up."

Inui's calm analysis clearly didn't resonate with Kaitou, whose fiery temper had been ignited by the previous few shots.

His body began to sway, already preparing to counterattack.