Burning Kawamura

Bang...

"Fault."

Bang...

"Double fault. Seigaku scores. 15–0."

"Stay calm, Chotaro. Don't let them intimidate you."

One Ball, One Soul had barely begun, and Chotaro had already made two consecutive faults. Meido thought he was nervous.

Chotaro tried One Ball, One Soul again, but the tennis ball clipped the net and went out once more.

Seeing Chotaro make one mistake after another, even Hyotei's cheer squad on the sidelines began to complain.

Even Mukahi was getting anxious watching Chotaro's mistakes, but Atobe was the only one who had figured out what was going on.

"Inui has even figured out a little habit of Chotaro's. Look—Inui's deliberately standing farther to the left than he normally would when returning the ball, trying to lure Chotaro into hitting it to the right."

"Whenever Chotaro tries to hit it to the right, his right wrist twists at the moment of impact. That increases the chance of One Ball, One Soul failing. The ball's already moving fast, which makes it even harder to control."

"Double fault. Seigaku scores. 40–0."

Just as Atobe had said, Chotaro's mistakes had brought the score to 40–0.

One more fault, and he would have lost his own service game.

"Chotaro, you don't have to go out of your way to hit the ball into an open spot."

"That's right. Even if you can predict my shots, you still won't be able to return them."

Chotaro stopped fixating on hitting the ball to the right. After making an adjustment, he finally served successfully, but the ball that should have scored an ace was returned by Kaitou.

Meido, at the net, saw this and hit the ball back to Inui's right. Inui didn't move, but Kaitou had already appeared behind him.

Kaitou hit another Spinning Snake Shot. Meido threw himself forward to chase it down in the backcourt.

The ball was successfully returned, and Inui watched it soar into the air.

He was about to hit it toward an open spot on Hyotei's side, but Chotaro unexpectedly moved to cover it.

Seeing his data disproved, Inui immediately changed his swing and smashed the ball in the opposite direction.

"Point to Seigaku. The score is 5–4."

The referee's call was undoubtedly a thrill for the Seigaku team. Everyone was delighted that Kaitou and Inui had broken Hyotei's serve.

But Inui walked over to the referee and said his smash had landed out.

After checking again, the referee changed the call. The game resumed at 40–15.

"What a stubborn stickler. Now they've lost a crucial point."

Horio thought Inui's choice was a little foolish, but he admired how Inui stuck to his principles instead of choosing victory at any cost.

Bang...

"Point to Hyotei. The score is 6–4. Hyotei wins."

Just as expected, Hyotei had already started doing things that went beyond Inui's data during that point.

Inui's analysis was no longer much help, and Hyotei, still holding serve, naturally won the first doubles match.

"Now it's power against power. Let's see how much you've improved, Senpai Kawamura."

"Next is the third singles match. Will both players please take the court?"

Kawamura and Kabaji stood on opposite sides of the court, both looking rather simple and honest.

One wore an expressionless face, while the other looked completely innocent. Horio couldn't help feeling awkward.

"These two really are... You can tell at a glance they're both power players."

As he stood on the court, Kawamura thought about how if they lost this match, the third-years would have no more matches to play. He gripped his racket even tighter.

"This is our last match as third-years. If we lose, everyone's hopes will be dashed. I have to win!"

"All right, let's burn with everything we've got. I'll show you what I can do."

"The match begins. Seigaku's Kawamura to serve."

On Seigaku's side of the court, Kawamura, fired up and burning with determination, tossed the ball into the air.

He served with his signature technique: Burning Serve.

The tennis ball shot across the court and landed quickly on Hyotei's side. As it bounced, it seemed to trail sparks.

Kabaji, his face expressionless, returned the ball with a simple, direct shot. Feeling the heavy force behind it, he put even more power into his return.

The two kept trading increasingly powerful shots, neither giving way. There were no complicated techniques.

It was a pure contest of strength against strength, enough to make anyone watching feel their blood race.

Atobe seemed to find the slow pace a little boring, so he snapped his fingers. Kabaji heard the sound from the court, and his expression changed slightly.

His muscles tensed even more, and he put still more power into his next return. Kawamura, who had been training specifically for this, wasn't intimidated.

After a few more exchanges, Kawamura took the stance for a Wave Ball, making everyone from Seigaku and Hyotei watch with bated breath.

"At last, we're getting to the good part. Let's show Hyotei just how strong Seigaku's power player is!"

Horio looked at the explosive muscles in Kawamura's arm and smiled faintly.

As the ball bounced, Kawamura swung his racket with all his strength.

A powerful wave surged forth, sending the ball flying toward Kabaji with tremendous force.

Without hesitation, Kabaji got ready to return it. But when he swung his racket, the result wasn't a returned shot.

The racket and the ball both went flying.

"Not bad. The results are pretty clear—the side effects have been reduced, at least."

"But Kabaji should be about ready to fight back, shouldn't he?"

Horio watched Kawamura win a point with the Wave Ball. He figured that copycat had had enough time to study it.

The second game continued. After Kawamura returned the ball once more,...

Kabaji took the same stance Kawamura had used for the Wave Ball, then sent a Wave Ball flying.

Caught off guard by the sudden shot, Kawamura couldn't return it. Thinking it was a coincidence, he served again, then hit another Wave Ball, unwilling to give up.

Across the court, Kabaji returned it with the very same stance. Kawamura was utterly astonished to have his own move used against him.

Stunned, Kawamura watched as his signature shot was copied with ease by his opponent. Kabaji's version was no weaker—in fact, it was even stronger—and Kawamura's determination to win flared to life once more.

Even as they continued trading Wave Balls, the score kept slipping away from him.

Feeling he couldn't keep going like this, Kawamura decided to stop holding back. He would win, even if it meant putting everything he had into a full-power Wave Ball.

He didn't care that a Wave Ball like that would put even more strain on his arm.

The muscles in Kawamura's tensed arm bulged, veins standing out as he unleashed all his strength.

Watching the ball fly toward him, Kawamura felt that he had finished charging his arm and swung his racket at it.

A wave of unprecedented force surged forth, astonishing everyone once again.

The single-minded Kabaji saw Kawamura unleash a full-power Wave Ball and didn't try to dodge it.

He copied Kawamura's movement and returned the Wave Ball. The already heavy tennis ball was imbued with even greater force and flew back toward Seigaku's side.

Kawamura had made up his mind to settle the match with Wave Balls. He took the same stance again and let out a shout.

His face contorted in pain as he stopped the Wave Ball, now empowered twice over, with a furious, unwilling roar.

The ball, which had only been surging with powerful waves before, now seemed to spark with flames as it flew toward Kabaji.