Prince of Tennis: Shocking! Hyotei's Demon King is a Yukimura fangirl!

The buzzing of voices from the crowd mingled together, like the quacking of thousands of ducks echoing across the stadium.

Kanata Irie slid his sunglasses down a little, revealing a pair of smiling eyes. He rested his elbow on the railing, watching Fuji on the field, a playful smile on his lips.

He spoke slowly.

"Oh, so it really is the 'disappearing serve'."

"The ball is already spinning when it's served, and the spin continues after it lands. The friction from the ground is in a different direction, so the ball changes direction on its own. To be able to maintain such a strong change of direction after landing with that much spin requires such precision in the wrist..."

"Fuji Syusuke of Seigaku is truly a genius."

Tokugawa stood beside him, his jawline taut, his gaze cold and fixed on Fuji's wrist movements.

"Spinning deception".

He put it succinctly, "The timing of the instantaneous change of direction after landing was very precise."

Irie smiled and offered a different perspective.

"It's not just about technique. The timing of its release was perfect, coinciding with Shinobu's two-game winning streak and peak momentum. It caught his opponent off guard from the start, turning the tide of the entire match. That psychological warfare was brilliant."

Tokugawa nodded slightly, then turned his gaze toward the Hyotei coaching bench.

"Wang Yueling doesn't seem worried at all."

Irie followed his gaze and saw the blond boy with his head down, seemingly lost in thought, his posture as relaxed as a big cat napping in its own garden.

"Him?" Irie chuckled, a hint of knowing in his voice. "He probably saw through it all a long time ago. He's probably thinking right now that his own teammates will be able to receive the serve."

Tokugawa didn't say anything, but simply turned his gaze back to the stadium.

The fact that Mochizuki Ryo could remain so calm shows that the other party already knew what Shinobu's plan was.

This game will be very interesting.

-

On the Hyotei coaching bench, Mochizuki Ryo changed his posture. He lowered his left leg, leaned forward slightly, rested his elbow on his knee, and chin on the back of his hand. His azure eyes narrowed slightly as he followed the trajectory of the ball, mentally analyzing the movement.

The starting momentum, ball throw height, cutting angle, spin, and trajectory of the ball's change of direction are all clearly analyzed.

The initial momentum is well concealed, the cutting action is fast, and the side rotation is sufficient.

For a junior high school student, this shot was very well executed. In terms of effect, it is indeed comparable to Sanada's "invisible swing." One relies on speed to be "so fast" that it is invisible, while the other relies on spin to "deceive" that it is invisible. They are similar in their approach.

But the essence remains the same despite all the changes.

These are all "ball skills" that exploit the visual delay and predictive habits of the human eye to maximize the deceptiveness of the spin.

The solution is neither particularly difficult nor particularly simple.

It all depends on dynamic vision and predictive speed.

Atobe's insight is definitely not a problem. Jiro's change-of-direction interception shouldn't be difficult either. Kabaji's "complete imitation" can probably be countered as well, since that guy copies the moves and spins together, so he doesn't suffer from prediction at all.

If it's Shinobu...

Ryo Mochizuki's gaze fell on Oshitari on the field.

Shinobu stood behind the baseline, head down, looking at his racket, lost in thought. His back view was quite calm, showing no sign of panic after losing a point.

Wang Yueling nodded in satisfaction.

As a fellow technical player, Shinobu's dynamic vision has never been bad. Having practiced with Sanada so many times during previous training camps, he has some experience with this kind of visually deceptive serve.

This kid is adaptable; he should be able to adapt after a few more goals.

He accepted that move, hmm...

Probably. Just add power and topspin to push the ball back. Or, you can use their own method against them and return a slice shot to see who can spin better.

There are plenty of ways.

Ultimately, these techniques rely on precise wrist control and the deceptive nature of rotation; it's all about psychological warfare. While they can be a real headache for average athletes, those who have specifically trained their dynamic vision and rotational prediction skills are far less of a threat.

Thinking this, Mochizuki Ryo looked up and her gaze fell on the chestnut-haired boy opposite her. Fuji Syusuke's reputation as a "genius" was well-deserved; this move was clearly aimed at today's match.

But so what?

However, Fuji's move could be imitated by Kabaji later, so that the guys on the team can practice hair extensions. After all, anything can happen in the national tournament.

It's always good to have a backup plan.

"Quelle idée intéressante. (What a great idea!)" he muttered to himself in French, a faint smile playing on his lips.

He then casually looked away, glancing down at his hands, as if he wasn't worried at all about how things were going on the field.

-

At Hyotei's halftime, Oshitari stood still.

He glanced down at the edge of his racket; a faint white mark remained where he had just grazed the ball. He reached out and rubbed it, but the mark wouldn't come off.

He raised his head, his gaze falling on Fuji's racket face.

He saw three things from that last shot:

First, the initial internal rotation angle of Fuji's wrist when serving is about 25 degrees greater than that of a normal serve.

Second, the ball's trajectory in the air did not show any obvious abnormal rotation at the beginning, indicating that the rotation was mainly released after landing.

Third, the ball changes direction to the right after landing.

These three pieces of information lined up in his mind, like puzzle pieces embedded in the model he was building.

"Um."

He uttered a syllable in a low voice, then walked back to his receiving position, lowered his center of gravity again, and flattened the racket face a little.

It landed on the ball that Fuji was holding.

He had already seen the ball's change of direction and trajectory; the next step was to find the triggering condition.

The timing of each ball's release is determined by the ratio of ball speed to spin intensity. If he can determine the intensity of the hidden spin from the ball's initial trajectory, he can predict the magnitude of its change in direction after landing.

This involves one more step than a regular serve. But one more step means one more variable that can be read.

So... what is it?

Renji mentally went through this logic, then slightly adjusted his stance, shifting his weight half an inch towards his backhand position.

Fuji watched him adjust his stance, but didn't rush to serve.

He realized that Shinobu was rebuilding the reading system. The first ball was just a sample; the second ball added variables to verify the hypothesis.

Therefore, he cannot give the same thing for the third ball.

When the third ball was tossed up, Fuji rotated his wrist inward, adding three degrees of spin to this ball and increasing its speed by half a degree.

When the ball flew out, it looked exactly the same as the previous two balls; the trajectory, height, and position over the net were all the same.

This time, Shinobu did not start the operation ahead of schedule.

Instead, they stood still and waited for the ball to land.

In the fractions of a second after the ball hit the ground, his eyes caught a detail: "The ball's spin changed after it touched the ground." It was a very slight lag, like the initial spin of gears before they mesh.

After the ball bounced, its trajectory was the same as the previous ball, not fast but with an unpredictable direction. It darted around rapidly, but changed direction to the left in mid-air.

Shinobu's center of gravity was biased towards his backhand side. When the ball suddenly turned to the left, his center of gravity was not enough time to fully adjust back.

He took a step to the side, extending his racket face, reaching the predicted landing point half a second before contact. This time he finally reached the ball, but the timing was wrong. At the moment of racket face contact, the ball wasn't fully within his reach, and the return shot went astray.

The ball flew out of bounds, grazing the outside of the sideline.

"40-0."

Someone in the audience gasped.

"He touched it! Oshitari touched the ball!"

"Even though it went out of bounds, he still touched it! He couldn't even touch the ball the second time!"

"They've already met in less than a game, will they be able to return the next ball?"

Fuji looked at the ball that landed in his half of the court, his expression unchanged, but his grip on the racket handle tightened slightly. He adjusted the landing point of that shot, changing the angle of the ball by almost ten degrees compared to the previous two shots, but Shinobu's prediction was still much more accurate than the previous shot.

From swinging the racket in the air to being able to catch the ball.

The other party adapted faster than he had expected.

The Seigaku regulars weren't surprised that their opponents received the ball; in their opinion, Shinobu's shot just now wouldn't have scored no matter what.

Kikumaru, perched on Oishi's arm, his shoulders twitching, mumbled, "Fuji's shot isn't so easy to break, meow!"

Oishi looked at the ball that had gone out of bounds, his expression relaxing considerably. He patted Kikumaru's arm, then turned to Inui beside him: "Inui, do you have the stats for this ball?"

Gan's pen hovered over the notebook for a long time, and a small section of what he had just written down appeared on the paper: "This kind of serve practice data has never appeared in the previous training records. He probably practiced this move alone in private, and no one in the team has seen it before."

He adjusted his glasses. "It's also possible that he only decided to bring it out today. I need more information..."

Oishi nodded and looked back at the field. "No matter what, Fuji is finally getting serious."

Momoshiro then swung his fist, which he had been holding up for so long, and slammed it into the air: "Fuji-senpai is amazing! A series of crossovers! Who can catch that! Give me another one!"

The three first-year students squeezed at the front, Horio held his flagpole straight, and Katsuro and Katsuo shouted "Go Fuji-senpai!" on either side of him.

It got quieter at Hyotei.

Jiro squatted by the railing, his curly hair covering half his face, watching the field through the gaps in his hair without saying a word. Mukahi stood beside him, ignoring the bandage on his head, holding an unopened bottle of water, the cap sweaty from gripping it.

Shishido stood in the back row, arms crossed, lips pressed into a thin line. Feng stood beside him, wanting to say something, but hesitated and remained silent.

Shinobu stood on the field and lowered his head slightly.

The second serve changed direction again. This means that Fuji can add directional variables to this serving framework, and it's not visible at all from his starting motion.

Now, the direction of the ball's change of direction is unpredictable.

Renji mentally settled this conclusion, not rushing to push it further. He glanced at Fuji's hands, then at Fuji's stance.

The opponent's preparation before serving was exactly the same for the last two balls. The height of the ball toss, the angle of the body leaning back, the timing of the wrist pronation... all the readable information indicators were accurate.

Fuji was deliberately maintaining the consistency of his movements, preventing him from gleaning directional information from his preparatory actions.

As he pondered this, Shinobu slowly turned the racket face a little.

Not urgent.

He needs a fourth ball.

……

In Seigaku's half of the court, Fuji stood behind the baseline and spun the fourth ball in his hand halfway around. He didn't rush to serve, but instead looked down at the seam of the ball, his thumb slowly running along that line.

Just now, Shinobu's foot was off-center by half a step, but the opponent adjusted his stance about a quarter beat faster than he did with the second ball.

The change is small, but it's still noticeable.

Fuji mentally reassessed Shinobu's system rebuilding speed and adjusted the plan for the last point of the service game to the optimal solution.

He raised his head again.

His expression remained gentle, but the faint smile in his eyes had completely disappeared, revealing the truest look in his brown pupils.

He took a deep breath.

The ball loosened.

The height, the angle of the body leaning back, and the timing of the wrist pronation were all the same as the previous two balls, with no changes whatsoever.

The ball's trajectory was the same as the previous three times, but at the moment of impact, Buu's racket face was slightly more upright than before. The ball's rotation speed remained the same, but the direction of rotation had an additional axial component, resulting in a small turning point in the trajectory after landing.

Shinobu didn't rush to move.

He stood at the receiving position with his center of gravity low and the racket face flat, without leaning in any direction beforehand.

He waited for the ball to land.

The ball landed.

This time, the change of direction was to the right, and the angle was greater than the previous few balls.

At the moment the ball touched the ground, Shinobu took a large step back, about half a step. This half step gave him a tiny bit more time in the ball's flight path after it changed direction.

As the racket face moved forward, he hit the ball's center of gravity. A clear tactile sensation came from the handle the instant the racket made contact with the ball.

He received it.

There was a moment of silence, followed by gasps and exclamations from all over the stands.

"Received!"

"Shinobu caught the ball!"

"My God, how did he do that?"

The ball was hit back with a "bang".

The return shot wasn't high, but the trajectory was stable, and the landing point was aimed at the corner of Fuji's backhand area.

Fuji hadn't expected him to regain the rhythm so quickly. His brown pupils contracted, and he rushed over to receive the ball. By the time his racket face met the ball, he didn't have time to make a full adjustment of his power, and the return shot was too short, landing in the mid-court area.

Shinobu was already waiting at the net, racket face sideways, and hit a topspin shot with force.

The ball landed and bounced twice.

"40-15."

The referee's voice trailed off a beat later than the previous ones.

Mukahi finally unscrewed the water bottle he had been clutching for so long. He didn't drink it, but just shook it a couple of times and muttered, "Good job, Yuushi." Jiro raised his head from the railing, tossed his curly hair back, his eyes brightened, and the corners of his mouth turned up. He didn't shout either, but just relaxed his shoulders.

This time, it was quieter at Seigaku's side.

Fuji stood on the field, watching the ball land on his side of the field.

Has the "disappearing serve" been cracked so quickly?!

To his surprise, Shinobu caught the ball not by dismantling his movements, but by using a "dumber" but more direct method: before the ball hit the ground, he didn't judge the direction, stabilized his center of gravity, and then chased after it with his reaction after landing, using a topspin to push the ball back.

This method sounds simple, but it requires two things: a fast enough reaction time and enough confidence in your own footwork.

Shinobu's two steps just now were a retreat followed by a chase. The retreat delayed his judgment, while the chase made up for the time difference. This rhythm shift took less than half a beat, and he had already moved his "anticipation" from before the ball hit the ground to after it hit the ground.

"Hmm. What a troublesome guy."

Fuji reached out and picked up the ball, holding it in his hand and sighing softly.

I've decided to go all out this time.