The tennis ball, still going strong, slammed into the wire mesh with a crisp sound.

"Gudu."

Many members of the Persimmon Tree team swallowed hard.

It's hard to imagine what serious consequences such an impact would have if it happened to me.

Kuki's face paled even more.

But his defeat to Shibukawa spurred him to work harder afterward. Although he has had a bad start, he is not intimidated and has put away his contempt.

Afterwards, Kuki tried to assess his opponent's strength by playing defensive tennis. However, his opponent had excellent insight, and Kuki's seemingly solid defense was easily found to have weaknesses.

Bang!

Bang!

After losing points in a row, Kuki got angry.

He gave a low shout to bolster his courage and launched an attack. Unfortunately, instead of forcing his opponent to reveal his weaknesses by attacking back, he exposed his own weaknesses even more thoroughly.

finally.

Ibu's fierce counterattack tore through Kuki's defenses and landed precisely near the baseline behind him.

"The match is over."

"Ibu Shinji Fudomine wins, score 6-1!"

Pfft!

The words fell.

As if all his strength had been drained, Kuki knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"how is this possible?"

He stared intently at his opponent, his right hand gripping his racket tightly: "Even last year's Yamabuki Shibukawa was roughly able to suppress me six months ago. Just who is this Fudomine Ibu Shinji?"

"Fukaji."

On the other side, after winning, Ibu left the stadium. As he passed by a bench, a short-haired boy sitting there with his arms crossed looked up at him and asked, "How did it feel?"

"His strength is average."

Ibu bluntly stated, "With this level of skill, they wouldn't even be a starter on our team."

"Ah."

The boy with the buzz cut nodded slightly, then tapped the armrest of his chair and said in a deep voice, "Get some rest now. Seigaku isn't like Kaki; they're very strong."

"understood."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Even Mizuki was somewhat surprised by the perfectly synchronized response. Shibukawa could achieve this level of performance in Yamabuki, but who was Shibukawa? There couldn't be more than one team captain in the entire country who could compare to him.

"Jujuping?"

Guan Yue secretly narrowed her eyes.

He felt the name sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. But the face seemed completely foreign, and he couldn't match it with any face he could remember.

However, judging from the current situation, this person in charge of Fudomine named Tachibana has extraordinary leadership skills.

"It's a pity we didn't get to see him make a move."

"But it's okay, the finals are coming up soon. It would be interesting to see this guy face Fuji or Tezuka."

Guan Yue thought to himself.

The intelligence gathering yielded even greater results than he had imagined.

...

the other side.

The match in Yamabuki went very smoothly.

After the semifinals, they easily defeated their opponents 3-0 in the finals. The singles third place match was played by Minami, while the doubles first place match was played by Touhou and Niito Mi.

As for Doubles 2, it's arranged to be the lively duo of Yuta and Muromachi.

The two were classmates and knew each other well. However, they both had very individualistic tennis styles, almost always hitting the ball as soon as they could reach it, showing no intention of cooperating.

Their opponents, having advanced to the finals, were clearly no pushovers. They immediately seized upon any openings the two players made and launched a furious attack.

The two players struggled to keep up, but neither gave up nor admitted defeat. Through three rounds of practice, their teamwork gradually improved, and they easily defeated their opponents with their superior individual skills.

The doubles pair of Higashi and Shinto Mikoto are training their teamwork and coordination in different combinations. Essentially, it's about using real matches to practice and ensure that they can freely combine to play if either doubles pair is unavailable.

As it turns out, Touhou and Niido are indeed doubles masters. Although the two had hardly ever played together before, their playing style, especially their coordinated signal tactics, was flawless.

The opposing doubles pair was also quite strong, but they couldn't even last 15 minutes against the two of them.

In the final singles match, Nan entered the game.

As the vice-captain, his presence within the Yamabuki faction isn't particularly strong. He's also largely excluded from individual combat due to his perceived lack of skill, but whether he's strong or not depends on the individual.

At the regional qualifier level, Kentaro Minami is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.

finally.

Yamabuki finished the match in less than 50 minutes.

They advanced to the finals in first place.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

After a while.

Raindrops continued to fall from the sky, eventually turning into a curtain of rain, forcing the suspension of several ongoing matches.

at the same time.

On the other side, the match between Seigaku and Fudomine was just at the third singles match.

In the first two matches, the two sides won one and lost one.

Seigaku's golden duo easily defeated their opponents. However, Fuji and Kawamura, the doubles pair, had to withdraw because Kawamura injured his wrist while trying to catch a wave ball.

In reality, with Fuji's strength, he could easily fight two opponents and win.

The problem is that, according to the rules of the game, for the game to continue, both teams' players must be on the field at the same time, and even if Kawamura is not participating in the game, he cannot leave the field.

This would inevitably delay the treatment of his wrist.

Despite Fuji's considerable strength, he chose to forfeit the match and focus on treating Kawamura's wrist first.

As a result, Fudomine and Seigaku were tied with one win and one loss. The match then went to the crucial singles match 3. As expected, Kaidou from Seigaku ultimately defeated Kamio, who played rhythmic tennis, thanks to his stronger willpower.

2-1, Qingxue takes the lead.

The match then moved to singles 2, with Echizen facing off against Ibu.

"I never imagined that a relatively unknown second-year student from Seigaku would possess such a level of willpower!"

Guan Yue sighed inwardly.

At the same time, he also became very interested in the upcoming duel between Echizen and Ibu. Neither of them were weaklings, and their moves immediately piqued Mizuki's interest.

In the first two games, both players scored points using sidespin and topspin serves respectively.

After the match, both Echizen and Ibu became serious.

Especially for Ibu, who is at a disadvantage against Fudomine and has been pushed to the brink. For the team to advance, he can only win, not lose.

Therefore, he took the initiative to attack. With various sharp skills, he once gained the upper hand and led his opponent 2-1.

But Echizen was not to be outdone.

He was already very strong, and after transferring to Japan, his defeats to Fuji and Akutsu shattered his arrogance, making Echizen's playing style more consistent.

That's why he keenly sensed Ibu's trap.

"Ok?"

Outside the stadium, Mizuki also noticed Echizen's unusual behavior.

"He paused noticeably when he received the ball."

"why?"

Guan Yue fell into deep thought.

He quickly noticed that Ibu was repeatedly hitting both topspin and backspin shots. After some analysis, he found the reason why Echizen was being suppressed.

Bang!

At this moment, Echizen made a powerful move.

He was also aware of the pattern in his opponent's shots. But instead of acting recklessly as in the original story, he proactively employed a two-handed attack.

By switching hands, you can easily counter your opponent's special move.

Not only that.

After adapting to his opponent's style of constantly switching between up and down spins, Echizen began to use alternating left and right hands to counterattack with the same two different spins.

"This kid?!"

Ibu also sensed that something was wrong.

He hadn't expected his signature move to be so easily countered. Just as he tried to change the rhythm of the game by maneuvering his opponent left and right, his racket froze in place.

Bang!

The tennis ball grazed the front of Ibu's racket and landed precisely on the string.

"game!"

"Aogakusho Echizen, 4-2!"

"Can't move?"

Ibu's eyes widened instinctively.

Kamio, Ishida, and others watching from the sidelines also wore expressions of disbelief.

"Instant paralysis?"

The short-haired boy, who had been calmly standing with his arms crossed in front of him, also showed a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Unexpectedly, this first-year student from Seigaku not only neutralized Shinji's special move, but also imitated it on the spot!"

genius!

When the short-haired boy, Tachibana Kippei, the captain of Fudomine, looked at Echizen, his gaze immediately changed.

It's not that he hasn't seen geniuses before.

But geniuses like Echizen, who can continuously learn and improve in matches, and even quickly find their opponents' weaknesses in such intense battles, are extremely rare.

Bang!

finally.

Echizen delivered a fierce smash, completely tearing apart Ibu's defense.

"The match is over."

The referee on the high chair glanced at the dark-colored spot where the smash landed behind Ibu and announced, "Seishun Gakuen's Echizen Ryoma wins, score 6-2!"

"Oh."

Outside the stadium, Fuji, who had accompanied Kawamura back after he finished bandaging up, couldn't help but smile with satisfaction upon seeing Echizen's performance.

"This kid played really well."

Ryuzaki smiled too.

She had always worried that Echizen was arrogant and complacent, especially given his four-time North American junior championship title, which might make him underestimate his opponents.

But now it seems that the practice match with Fuji a month ago has tamed Echizen's ferocity.

"Ah."

Tezuka, who was standing next to him, nodded in satisfaction.

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