The Prince of Tennis: The Quincy of Rikkai University

Chapter 17: The draw is over, the battle for the starting position begins

"Hey, hey, is it true?!"

At this moment, Niou Masaharu had opened his eyes wide, somewhat shocked by what was happening.

In his eyes, the fact that Yuuki Maya and Sanada Genichirō were assigned to the same group was no less than the same as two ministers being assigned to the same group.

Niou Masaharu's understanding is also the unanimous understanding of all members of their tennis club.

In the eyes of outsiders, Genichirō Sanada, the vice-captain of the Rikkai University Tennis Club, should be the strongest person after Seiichi Yukimura. However, everyone within the Rikkai University Tennis Club knows that this perception is extremely wrong.

Because, although the other regular candidates all know that if they have to choose the three most powerful people in Rikkai University, they must be Yuki Maya, Yukimura Seiichi and Sanada Genichirō.

However, they had no clear idea of ​​the strength of these three people.

Even Yanagi Renji, who is good at data analysis, is equally unclear.

The only thing everyone knows is that Yukimura Seiichi is stronger than Sanada Genichirō, because the two played a full game in a practice match in front of everyone, and the score was 6 to 4.

This practice match was also the only complete record of the two men's confrontation.

But on the other hand, they still had no idea about Yuuki Maya's strength, but they all knew one thing, that is, Yuuki Maya was very strong.

This is because, when Yuuki Maya was practicing against the other two people, she had never been at a disadvantage in the fight.

Neither Yukimura Seiichi nor Sanada Genichirō could win two consecutive games against him.

However, every time when the game was about to reach the fifth round, Maya Yuki would take the initiative to call a stop, and Genichirō Sanada and Seiichi Yukimura would stop tacitly, as if the three of them had agreed on it.

But this time, Niou Masaharu had a premonition that this subtle tacit understanding would be completely broken.

At least, they may know who is better between Genichirō Sanada and Maya Yuuki.

"I say, Sangyuan..." Marui Fumita swallowed his saliva and smacked his lips and said, "Who do you think will win?"

Although Marui Bunta did not specify the specific target, anyone who asked this question would know who he was asking.

"I think it should be Sanada... No, it could be Yuuki... Never mind, don't ask me, I don't know."

Jack Sangyuan hesitated for a long time with a tangled look on his face, then spread his hands and gave up answering.

On the other side, when he saw that Maya Yuuki was in the same group as himself, Genichirō Sanada first showed a look of surprise, but then the corners of his mouth slightly curled up.

He turned his head to look in the direction of Yuuki Maya, who happened to meet his eyes.

"Maya, it looks like this time, we have to decide the winner." Sanada Genichirō said in a deep voice, but there was a hint of fighting spirit in his words: "You know, I have been looking forward to this day for a long time."

"Really?" Yuuki Maya replied calmly.

At the same time, he said to himself, "It's time."

If he were to encounter this situation in the past, he might be able to win by a small score in the upcoming match without exposing his full strength.

But since returning from France, he has changed his mind.

Keeping hiding your weaknesses will only make your strength improvement slower and slower.

At the same time, he also discovered that the strength of his two childhood friends seemed to have slowly reached a bottleneck.

He had originally agreed with Yukimura Seiichi and Sanada Genichirō that he would not use his full strength in informal competitions.

But now, taking advantage of this opportunity, he decided to be a "catfish" and use external force to further stimulate them.

After a burst of noise, Yukimura Seiichi deliberately waited for a while, and continued to draw lots after the whole audience calmed down.

Because all 7 starters have been drawn, the remaining piece of paper is naturally blank for the bye.

Afterwards, the second lottery box was brought to Yukimura Seiichi, and the next ones to be drawn were the remaining non-regular players.

These people were finalized after Yukimura Seiichi, Yanagi Renji and Sanada Genichirō observed them in just two weeks.

"Team A, Takashi Sakakibara"

"Team B, Yasuhiro Tamaki"

"Group C, Chihiro Uno"

"..."

One name after another was quickly read out from Yukimura Seiichi's mouth, and the spaces in the battle list on the bulletin board were slowly filled up visibly.

"Team A, Mori Jusaburo"

Another name was called out, and this time, Marui Bunta and Niou Masaharu, who had originally looked relaxed, both frowned at the same time.

"Pfft, this is really a bit troublesome." Niou Masaharu scratched his head helplessly. He didn't expect that another troublesome person would join his group.

Marui Bunta's expression was no longer as comfortable as before. He did not pretend to be unaware of his only defeat at the national conference last year.

Looking at the sleepy-eyed Mori Jusaburo with a Kansai-style hairstyle not far away, Marui Bunta looked solemn.

The original opponent was only Niou Masaharu, but now with the entry of Mori Hisaburo, the competition for the first place in Group A has become even more intense.

If they suffer a slight defeat, they will most likely fall into the next round of the loser group round-robin tournament. By then, the variables will be much greater, and one careless mistake will directly lead to the loss of the starting seat!

"Ah, is it finally my turn?!"

On the other side, after his name was called, Maori Jusaburo yawned and muttered to himself nonchalantly, as if he didn't feel any pressure from being assigned to Group A.

After taking a quick glance at the list of Group A, he closed his eyes again and continued to sleep as if it was none of his business.

"Team D, Kirihara Akaya." Another familiar name was called out, this time it was a seaweed-headed guy.

When his name was called out, Kirihara Akaya immediately shouted in fear, "Nani!"

When he saw that his name was assigned to Group D where Seiichi Yukimura was, his expression, which had been eager to try, immediately turned pale.

Two weeks ago, he had just been taught a lesson by Genichirō Sanada, and had gained a preliminary understanding of the strength level of Rikkai University's regular players from Bunta Marui. Of course, he also clearly knew how terrifying Seiichi Yukimura was.

As a result, he never expected that he would face the minister of Rikkai University like this!

As the thought flashed through his mind, Kirihara Akari was already thinking about how to advance to the second round of the loser group.

First place in Group D? Whoever wants to take it can take it!

After a while, as the last name was read out, a total of 24 participating players were divided into four groups.

It is worth mentioning that Hiroshi Yagyu, who was brought by Niou Masaharu, was finally assigned to Group B, together with Renji Yanagi and Jack Sanzono.

After all the rosters for the group stage were listed, the subsequent game time and appearance order for the next day were also posted on the bulletin board. Starting next Monday, the group stage will officially begin.

……

Chapter 18: Fierce Fight! Battle Situation of Each Group

A week passed quickly, and today, after a day of classes, it was time for club activities.

Without any publicity, a large number of people have gathered around the Rikkai University tennis club's court.

As the champion of the national tournament, the internal group competition of the Rikkai University Tennis Club can be said to be no less than a small individual competition of the national tournament.

Without any delay, the group stage officially began as soon as the game time came.

In the Group A stadium, Bunta Marui and Masaharu Niou were already standing in their respective half zones.

The first match of Group A today is the much-anticipated match between the main players.

"Niou, since this concerns the elected seat, I will not show mercy!" Marui Fumita said seriously.

“Puff——”

Niou Masaharu smiled and did not respond to Marui Bunta, but his body was already in position to receive the ball.

"Bunta Marui vs. Masaharu Niou, the set ends, Bunta Marui serves"

As soon as the referee finished speaking, Marui Bunta decisively tossed the ball and served without hesitation.

"It's not a good idea to attack right away, Bunta."

Faced with the speeding tennis ball, Niou Masaharu reacted immediately, raised his racket and swung it, hitting back the opponent's serve and preventing the opponent from succeeding.

"Hmph, stop talking nonsense, you stinky fox."

As a player who is good at intercepting the ball at the net, Marui Bunta has an extremely keen sense of smell at the net.

He had already walked quickly to the net the moment the opponent hit the tennis ball back.

As soon as the tennis ball passed the net, he intercepted it, then adjusted the angle of the racket and swung it, and the tennis ball fell horizontally in front of Niou Masaharu's net.

At this time, Niou Masaharu was still in the back half of the court and had no chance to save the ball. He could only watch the ball hit the ground and bounce out of bounds.

"15 to 0"

After Marui Bunta scored the first point, he quickly returned to the serving area without saying a word, preparing for the next round of serving.

"Huh?! You're so proactive right from the start." Niou Masaharu raised his eyebrows.

In his opinion, Marui Bunta played too actively today, even more actively than in the national tournament.

Serving again, this time Niou Masaharu paid attention to Marui Bunta's small movements when receiving the ball. After seeing that the opponent was still serving and netting, he immediately hit the tennis ball high, forcing the opponent to retreat.

"Tsk~"

Marui Bunta had to retreat to receive the ball, but he was careful and held the racket with both hands to hit the tennis ball to the baseline in the opposite direction of Niou Masaharu's position.

Niou Masaharu originally wanted to try to volley the ball at the net, but when he saw that his plan was seen through, he took two steps forward and immediately moved sideways to get closer to the return position.

This time, because it was a backhand shot, Niou Masaharu's return shot lost some angle and speed.

Swish.

At some point, Marui Bunta had once again landed in front of the net. He swung the racket with one hand and quickly hit the flying tennis ball.

The tennis ball flew lightly to the top of the net at the center line, then stopped spinning and slowly rolled along the rope.

Finally, the tennis ball fell to the ground and landed in front of Niou Masaharu's net.

Secret skills, tightrope walking.

Marui Bunta scored again, and after retracting his hitting action, he made a scissors hand gesture.

30-0

40-0

...

Thanks to his performance in the first game, Marui Bunta successfully scored 1 point and the score quickly became 1-0.

"How about it, Niou? Are you shocked by this genius's magnificent ball skills?"

After winning the game, Marui Bunta was in a good mood. As long as he continued with the current momentum, it didn't seem difficult to win the game.

"It seems that I have to come up with something——"

Niou Masaharu sighed slightly. He originally wanted to hide it for a while longer. After all, he had just developed this move. But looking at the current situation, he was afraid that he could not hide it anymore.

Then, a black hat suddenly appeared in Niou Masaharu's hand.

"Bunta, don't be too lax~"

"Huh!? Why are you suddenly talking like Sanada—what!!" Marui Bunta wanted to complain about Niou Masaharu, but the next moment, his pupils were filled with shock.

There was no longer any Niou Masaharu in front of him. The person standing opposite him had become "Sanada Genichirō".

"Bunta, don't be so careless!"

"Sanada Genichirō" said in a deep voice, and then started serving.

boom.

A gust of wind blew past Marui Bunta, and the "Sanada Genichirō" opposite him had already completed his serve.

Hiss——Are you kidding me?!

Cold sweat flowed down Marui Bunta's cheeks, and he felt like he was hallucinating.

……

On the other side, Group C.