The Prince of Tennis: The Quincy of Rikkai University

Chapter 56 Testing

"The game begins. In the first set, Youth Academy serves."

The team that guessed correctly was Qingxue, so they served first.

The person responsible for the first serve was Eiji Kikumaru. After serving quickly, he immediately took a step forward and ran to the front court.

Facing the flying tennis ball, Marui Bunta, who was standing in the front court, did not move, but just glanced at the tennis ball.

Instead, Yanagi Renji, who was standing in the backcourt, took a few steps forward, easily caught up and hit back the serve.

The quality of this return ball was average, the speed and spin were very mediocre, not like the level that Yanagi Renji usually hits.

"Leave this ball to me."

The tennis ball fell in the midfield. Kikumaru Eiji retreated to fill the position, tilted his body to intercept the tennis ball, and threw it to the empty area in the front court.

Marui Bunta naturally would not let his opponent score like this. He moved sideways flexibly, caught the bouncing tennis ball, then adjusted the angle of the racket and hit back, hitting a backspin ball at an oblique angle.

“Oops, but I can catch up.”

When Kikumaru Eiji saw that his opponent was about to drop the ball, he immediately adjusted his center of gravity and ran straight towards the tennis ball that was about to fall to the ground.

The tennis ball hit the ground and flew sideways at a height far below normal, but was still caught up by the agile Kikumaru Eiji, who scooped it up like a goldfish.

The high ball that was hit back slowly rose into the air and fell towards Rikkai University's half of the court.

Yanagi Renji, who had been waiting in the backcourt for a while, raised his head slightly and locked onto the tennis ball in the air. When the tennis ball fell above his head, he raised his arm and swung it from top to bottom.

A precise flat shot went straight to the opponent's baseline.

Shuichiro Oishi reacted quickly, running to catch up with the tennis ball, and with a forehand drive, the tennis ball was hit back like an arrow, and it rushed straight into the opponent's half of the court again.

砰

砰

砰

……

In the stadium, the dense sound of hitting the ball was as dense as raindrops.

No one expected that after just the first round, the two sides would enter into a long tug-of-war.

0-15

15-15

30-15

30-30

As if it had been agreed in advance, the scores of both sides rose alternately, and the end time of each ball was very long.

This was something that many spectators outside the venue had not expected. They had thought that this match would be a crushing victory for the Rikkai University doubles team, or even if it was not a crushing victory, they would definitely have the upper hand.

However, as the number of rounds of fighting increased, they found that the two sides were actually evenly matched. Sometimes, Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro even accidentally gained the upper hand and took the initiative to control the offensive rhythm.

"Kikumaru and the others did a good job. They fought back and forth with the opponent." Fuji Shusuke in the preparation area looked at the situation on the field and praised slightly.

However, Inui Sadaharu saw all of this, but his thoughts were different from Fuji Shusuke's.

"Renji, what exactly are you planning?"

Inui Sadaharu's gaze was fixed on the direction of Yanagi Renji on the field. Looking at the other party's calm expression, he knew very well that the situation on the field was far from as simple as Fuji Shusuke said.

On the court, Yanagi Renji, who was standing in the backcourt, suddenly attacked. He seized the gap when Kikumaru Eiji's center of gravity had not yet stabilized after he jumped and landed. He held the racket with both hands and hit a backhand slice ball. The tennis ball fell over the net at a high speed and landed along the sideline.

Kikumaru Eiji had no time to defend, and although he tried hard to catch up, his outstretched racket still failed to catch up, and the tennis ball flew out of bounds the next second after it landed.

"Game, 1-0, Rikkai University is leading."

The first game ended with this ball, and the two sides shifted their offense and defense. The second game was Rikkai's generous serve.

"What a pity! We had a chance to win this game." Oishi Hideichiro said regretfully.

"Yeah, if I had reacted faster just now, I really can't say for sure." Kikumaru Eiji nodded regretfully and said, "It seems that the opponent's strength is not as strong as we imagined, Oishi."

After the first game, Kikumaru Eiji's original fear had disappeared, because he found that the level of his opponent did not cause him much pressure.

"Don't be too careless. They might start to exert their strength in the next round. We should be careful."

Although Oishi Shuichiro had the same feeling, he was calm and reminded Kikumaru Eiji not to be careless.

"The second game begins, Rikkai University serves." After a moment, the referee blew the whistle.

Marui Bunta had a piece of gum in his mouth without him noticing, chewing it leisurely.

He got into a serving stance, threw the tennis ball in his hand with a raised arm, and then swung the racket down heavily.

At the same time as he served the ball, Marui Bunta also took advantage of the situation and quickly went to the net.

The high-speed flying tennis ball crossed most of the court in an instant and headed straight for Qingxue's receiving area. The person standing there to be responsible for receiving the ball was Kikumaru Eiji.

Eiji Kikumaru had excellent dynamic vision and instantly captured the flight trajectory of the tennis ball. After seeing where the ball would land, he swung his racket quickly and hit the bouncing tennis ball back.

However, just as the tennis ball passed the net, right in front of it, Marui Bunta had already taken position and was ready to hit the ball.

嗖

A light yellow shadow passed through Kikumaru Eiji's body and exploded beside his backhand foot.

A sudden change of direction of the ball in front of the net hit the blind spot of Qingxue who had not yet completely landed in position.

"15 to 0"

After seeing that he had scored, Marui Bunta nodded with satisfaction, chewed the gum in his mouth twice, and blew bubbles.

Then turn around and return to the middle and back court position to prepare for the next round of serve.

"What a quick volley at the net."

The ball just now made Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro both shocked.

It also made them immediately return to their tense state after having relaxed a little after the previous game.

The game continued, and Rikkai University's Marui Bunta served again.

Another dull sound of hitting the ball announced the start of the game.

However, compared to the situation in the first game, starting from the second game, Marui Bunta's active offensive moves became unusually numerous.

The occasional sudden interceptions at the net doubled the defensive pressure on Kikumaru Eiji, and the frequency of using stunt tennis became more and more frequent.

Many times, in a back-and-forth ball, he would be forced to jump continuously to receive some threatening return balls.

Shuichiro Oishi was not much better. He was in the backcourt guarding against the high-speed angled balls that Renji Yanagi would occasionally shoot from his blind spot.

In the blink of an eye, after the change of rhythm, Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro, who were unable to adapt, lost the second game.

This time, the second game took only 3 minutes.

Taking a slight breath, Oishi Shuichiro came to Kikumaru Eiji and reminded him: "Eiji, something is wrong."

Kikumaru Eiji naturally understood what he meant. He looked at the two people from Rikkai University opposite him and found that they still had a calm look on their faces, but he already understood the current situation.

"These two guys were just testing our strength in the first round, but now they are really starting to get serious."

While Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro were still preparing to discuss countermeasures, the referee blew the whistle, signaling the players to change sides.

Chapter 57: The Tenacious Golden Combination

The players from both sides changed sides and after a break the third game began.

After taking a deep breath, Shuichiro Oishi tossed the tennis ball with a determined look in his eyes, and then swung it down heavily.

However, the tennis balls served by Oishi Shuichiro, who did not have a powerful serve, posed no threat to Yanagi Renji.

He casually swung the ball, and the tennis ball, which was not very fast to begin with, was instantly hit back at a faster speed, flying diagonally towards Qingxue's front court.

The sudden change in speed startled Kikumaru Eiji, who had not yet fully settled into his position. He took a deep breath and accelerated, leaping forward two steps, and in a rather awkward position caught the tennis ball before it bounced off.

"You're too careless, Bounce Boy."

Just as Kikumaru Eiji had not yet adjusted his posture, Marui Bunta's figure appeared in front of Rikkai University's net, on the path of the return ball.

Facing the flying tennis ball, Marui Bunta adjusted the angle and lightly cut it with his backhand, instantly reducing the spin on the tennis ball to almost nothing.

The tennis ball, which had lost most of its spin, slowly brushed past the edge of the net and slowly fell to the ground just a few steps away from Kikumaru Eiji.

However, these few short steps were like a chasm for Kikumaru Eiji at that moment. He had no way to twist his unstable body to catch up with the ball.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

The tennis ball touched the ground lightly a few times and then lay there quietly without moving.

15-0

With just a simple variation of the rhythm, Rikkai scored the first point.

"What an amazing ability to seize opportunities. That guy named Marui Bunta has a sense of smell at the net that can only be described as terrifying."

Fuji Shusuke recalled the ball in shock. From the beginning of this year to now, he had never seen such a powerful frontcourt player in all the doubles combinations he had met.

When the second ball was served, Kikumaru Eiji, who was on guard, immediately ran quickly to the front court, fearing that he would repeat the same mistake.

砰

砰

...

Kikumaru Eiji moved sideways in a large range. Facing the various tricky frontcourt balls continuously played by Yanagi Renji, he used his special skills to intercept the balls at all costs, not giving the opponent any chance to score easily.

His strenuous rescue efforts also helped Qingxue to keep the score close.

15-15

15-30

30-30

30-40

In the third game, the scores of both sides climbed alternately. Oishi Shuichiro and Kikumaru Eiji curbed Rikkai University's attack at all costs.

At this moment, seeing the ball flying towards the corner of the backcourt at a high speed, Oishi Shuichiro gritted his teeth and ran hard, holding the racket tightly with both hands and swinging hard at the bouncing tennis ball.

With his broad vision, he saw an unguarded area not far behind Marui Bunta.

The tennis ball flew high into the air, spinning at high speed over Marui Bunta's head, and then fell rapidly in a curve.

Did you succeed?

After hitting the return ball, Shuichiro Oishi stared at that direction. However, the next moment, the figure he didn't want to see appeared near the tennis ball.

Yanagi Renji in the backcourt did not react slowly because his vision was blocked by Marui Bunta. While Oishi was swinging the racket, his body was already moving towards the open space over there.

At the same time, he was muttering, "For this ball, the opponent has an 87% chance of hitting a topspin high ball and a 13% chance of hitting a diagonal through ball."

Yanagi Renji caught up with the tennis ball and saw the defensive gap of Qingxue at this time with his sharp eyes. He swung his backhand with one arm and hit a high-speed flat shot that instantly penetrated half of the court and flew to the boundary of the center line of the opponent's half.

"Oh no, I can't catch up." Oishi Shuichiro looked at the tennis ball with horror as it hit the ground and flew up along the sideline, about to fly out of bounds.

"Look at me!"

A blue and white afterimage entered Oishi Shuichiro's sight and quickly caught up with the tennis ball that was still in the air.

Kikumaru Eiji, who was about to catch up, stomped his right foot on the ground, bent his knee instantly to accumulate strength, and then leaped diagonally.

He stretched out his racket straight, and with extreme ease, he reached the tennis ball in mid-air, then adjusted the angle and hooked it.

The tennis ball was hooked back and shot out from mid-air outside the court like a sharp arrow along the outside of the tennis post and toward the bottom corner of Rikkai's half court.

This unexpected ball was not received by either Marui Bunta in the frontcourt or Yanagi Renji in the other corner of the backcourt.

The dull sound of the ball hitting the ground was heard in the Qingxue half of the court. Kikumaru Eiji, who had intercepted the tennis ball, fell heavily from mid-air. At the same time, the referee's voice sounded at the right time: "1 to 2, Qingxue scores."

Kikumaru Eiji's thrilling save allowed Seigaku to win the game with difficulty, avoiding the unfavorable situation of being led by Rikkai University by 3 points.

"Seniors Kikumaru and Oishi did a great job. They were able to get a point even in such an unfavorable situation." Momoshiro Takeshi's face lit up with joy outside the court. After watching the first two games, he thought this game was a sure loss.

"Idiot, are you blind?" Kaidou Xun on the side sneered coldly.