Doubles really are easy

The tennis ball was tossed into the air. A blurry shadow of a racket flashed past, and the ball shot away.

Thwack...

"Horio scores, 15–0."

Thwack...

"Horio scores, 30–0."

Thwack...

"Horio scores, 40–0."

Thwack...

"Horio scores. Game, 1–0."

Horio took the point with four consecutive Bullet Serves. Kikumaru had no answer to a playing style he wasn't good at handling.

Even with his exceptional dynamic vision, being able to see the ball's trajectory didn't mean he had enough power to return it.

He could only concede the point to Horio, then look for a way to wear him down and hope his serves would lose power as he tired.

"Let me show you how amazing my Special Skill Shot is."

Then Kikumaru served, and the second game began.

Wanting to see the Special Skill Shot for himself, Horio hit the incoming ball toward the net. The moment it cleared the net, Kikumaru appeared at the front of the court.

He returned the ball with force, and Horio's lips curled slightly.

"Not bad. No wonder your athletic ability is off the charts, Kikumaru Eiji."

Horio immediately sent the ball toward another tricky angle. Suddenly, a shadow leaped behind it and, in a strange pose, hit the ball toward the left rear corner, which Horio thought was open.

"You really can't be underestimated. Too bad that unless you can beat me head-on, none of your tricks will work."

Horio planted his left foot toward the ball, and in the next instant, he appeared by the left baseline.

"To deal with your Special Skill Shot, all I need is the Inch Step."

It was a footwork technique Horio had learned through years of practice, and it demanded a great deal from the user's physical ability.

Horio adjusted the angle of his racket, gave the ball an enormous amount of topspin, and sent it high into the sky—higher than even the athletic Kikumaru Eiji could jump.

"That's so high! That ball's definitely going out, Horio's being so careless! Even if he wants to avoid Kikumaru-senpai's aerial interception, he should still think about keeping the ball in bounds!"

Katsuro and Katsuo watched from the sidelines, worried as Horio hit the ball so high.

"Did that kid do it on purpose? Did he hit it so high because he thinks Eiji-senpai can't jump that high? But won't the ball go out?"

Momoshiro, who had lost to Horio before, was puzzled as he watched him seemingly hit the ball sky-high on purpose.

Fuji Syusuke, the genius who was always smiling, saw the ball's unusual spin and suddenly remarked, "It might not be that simple. There's something strange about that ball."

The tennis ball kept flying upward. Just as it was about to go out, it suddenly changed direction and dropped straight down.

Thud...

"Horio scores, 15–0."

The spectators watching the match gasped in amazement as the ball, after reaching its highest point, suddenly changed direction and landed just inside the baseline.

"His ball control is incredible. Looks like my information is already outdated. This first-year is far more troublesome than that Echizen Ryoma."

"The important thing is... how did he suddenly appear at the left baseline? One second he was at the front right of the court, and the next he was at the back left."

"I think he said something just now... Inch Step? Is that the technique he used to get to the back left so quickly?"

"Exactly. Eiji's Special Skill Shot can't handle footwork that lets someone move that fast. In fact, that kind of footwork is a real counter to it."

"Look at him. He doesn't seem flustered at all, as if everything is going according to plan."

The regulars were astonished to see Horio effortlessly return Kikumaru Eiji's confident shot. They were impressed by his perfect ball control—and even more shocked by the Inch Step.

A tennis technique that let someone cover the diagonal distance across half the court in a single second could be called a universal answer to any opponent who wasn't a power player.

"Maybe his goal from the very beginning was to make Eiji use his Special Skill Shot."

Tezuka Kunimitsu, who had walked over from a distance, spoke to the onlookers. He watched Horio, who had his back to the group, his eyes glinting with a light no one could read.

"You helped Momoshiro overcome the shadow of his injury. What will you bring to Kikumaru?"

On the court...

After testing Kikumaru with the first ball, Horio didn't use any more advanced shots.

He simply relied on the fundamentals to return Kikumaru's Special Skill Shots. He didn't use the Inch Step again, either.

After all, his opponent hadn't pushed him to take the match seriously, so there was no need to show off too much.

With his perfect fundamentals, Horio kept pace with Kikumaru and never let the Special Skill Shot gain him any advantage.

In Horio's view, Kikumaru's Special Skill Shot at this point was more flashy than effective.

Aside from occasionally catching an opponent off guard, it didn't work very well—and it took a lot of stamina.

That was why Seigaku's Golden Pair had struggled or even lost whenever they faced a somewhat stronger opponent in the early days.

The match was only about halfway through, but Kikumaru was already out of breath.

"Kikumaru-senpai, I heard... you've always played doubles, right? Looks like doubles really is easy. You can barely last through half of a singles match, yet somehow you can play a whole doubles match."

Horio's words sounded like a joke, but Kikumaru's exhausted mind was beginning to grow hazy. The moment he heard them, he snapped back to his senses.

Kikumaru's memories returned to last year's tournament. He and Oishi Shichirou, hailed as the Golden Pair, had lost because Kikumaru ran out of stamina.

At the time, he had been upset, but he'd only thought that he and Oishi weren't strong enough yet.

Because they had both been exhausted when they lost, Kikumaru had never considered that he had run out of stamina first, putting extra pressure on Oishi in the defensive role and causing Oishi's own stamina to plummet.

Naturally, the other members of the team would never put it so bluntly. They had only suggested that Kikumaru work on his stamina.

And Kikumaru, who was always joking around, hadn't realized there was more to their words. When it came to stamina training, he still skipped it whenever he could.

Now Horio's lightly teasing words struck Kikumaru like the tolling of a warning bell. The regulars watching from the sidelines looked surprised, especially Oishi Shichirou, Kikumaru's doubles partner.

Horio looked at Kikumaru's complicated expression. Unlike with Momoshiro, he didn't continue serving. Instead, he waited for Kikumaru to come around on his own.

Kikumaru stood silently on the court with his head bowed. Horio waited for him, and everyone watching from the sidelines waited, too.

A few minutes passed. When Kikumaru finally lifted his head, he had returned to his usual carefree self.

"You really don't hold back, do you? But... that was actually helpful."

Kikumaru said with a smile, spinning his racket.

"Come on. I know I probably can't beat you, but I'll give it everything I've got."

"Then let's go. This match should've been over ages ago."

Thwack...

"Horio wins the game, 6–0. Horio wins the match."