129. Two People Making Conversation on Purpose

“Beautifully done, Yohei! Kohei!”

The students of Jousei Shonan all cheered for the Tanaka brothers when they saw what had happened.

“That ability of theirs is really irritating…”

Shinya Yanagisawa gritted his teeth as he watched the excitement on the Jousei Shonan side.

Sadaharu Inui stared at the Tanaka brothers, seemingly lost in thought. As Renji Yanagi continued to serve, Yohei Tanaka hid behind his brother while Kohei rushed forward and called out confidently, “A ball like this is no challenge!”

Renji Yanagi sprinted to where the ball would finally land and sent it back with a swift Cicada Drop!

“Cough, Kohei!”

Yohei Tanaka appeared on the center line and shouted. Kohei immediately moved forward as well.

“Okay, brother!”

The two once again formed a parallel formation. Seeing this, Mamoru Inoue blurted out, “Another parallel formation! Yanagi’s drop shot is going to be returned!”

Just as many people began to worry over Renji Yanagi’s shot, Yohei Tanaka, who had rushed forward, failed to reach the drop shot.

Smack.

Scrape, scrape…

After touching the ground, the tennis ball did not bounce at all. It simply rolled toward the area behind the center line. A bead of cold sweat slid down Yohei Tanaka’s fair, youthful face as he stretched out his racket and said with difficulty, “A drop shot that doesn’t bounce…”

Kohei Tanaka stared in astonishment. How was that possible?

“Fifteen-thirty!”

“That must have been the opening you were talking about, Sadaharu.”

Renji Yanagi’s tousled hair swayed gently in the wind as he spoke in an even tone.

“As expected, your calculations are faster than mine. I still hadn’t worked out the exact amount of spin they would be unable to return. Now, it seems we have the answer.”

Sadaharu Inui adjusted his gleaming glasses.

“You noticed earlier that their return of my topspin lob looked somewhat unnatural, didn’t you?”

Yanagi turned his head and smiled.

“It was subtle, but I noticed it. Yohei Tanaka may not even have realized that, when returning your spinning lob, the angle of his wrist deviated by 3.6 degrees from that of a normal stroke. Once the force of the spin increased, his posture would become even more distorted.”

Inui neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he laid out everything he had observed.

“Then I suppose we are even.”

The moment Yanagi said this, Inui’s composed expression cracked. He froze for a second, then smiled.

“Let’s keep doing our best, Renji.”

“No wonder you’re known as the data-tennis expert. You even calculated the angle of my wrist…”

Yohei Tanaka had naturally heard their exchange. He lightly turned his pale wrist over and looked at Inui and Yanagi, his expression growing increasingly grave.

“Yohei, don’t let them confuse you. We still have the initiative.”

Kohei immediately soothed his brother’s wavering emotions. Up to this point, their coordination had been flawless. They could not allow the entire rhythm of the match to be ruined by a minor setback.

“Of course.”

Yohei Tanaka quickly recovered. He lifted the corners of his mouth and said, “Let’s use that move, Kohei.”

“Are we starting already? I’ve been ready for a while. I’ll cooperate with you with everything I’ve got, Yohei!”

Kohei immediately understood what his brother meant and nodded.

“The Tanaka brothers clearly anticipated the play and moved early, and they even used a parallel formation. So why did Kohei Tanaka still fail to return Yanagi’s drop shot, Inoue?” Saori Shiba asked, still puzzled.

“I think Inui and Yanagi have discovered some weakness in them. You noticed that drop shot, didn’t you? It looked like an ordinary one, but after landing, it didn’t bounce at all. It was like Tezuka’s Zero Drop Shot.”

Mamoru Inoue glanced toward Kunimitsu Tezuka, who was sitting on the bench beside the court.

“Yes, but unlike Tezuka’s Zero Drop Shot, that ball didn’t roll toward the net after landing. It stayed close to the ground and rolled backward instead.”

Saori nodded.

“Although the Tanaka brothers’ keen hearing allows them to know exactly what Inui and Yanagi are doing, we must not forget that Inui and Yanagi are also experts at anticipating an opponent’s shots and movements through data analysis.”

Mamoru Inoue offered the reminder.

“They actually disrupted Yohei and Kohei’s rhythm. That Seishun pair is no ordinary doubles team…”

Takahisa Kajimoto watched the court as he spoke.

“Most people would find it nearly impossible to escape the rhythm of those two brats. And even if they did, the match would already be over. I didn’t expect that squinty-eyed kid to have so many tricks.”

Toshiaki Honda rubbed his mask and coughed several times after speaking.

“Anyone capable of playing in the Kanto Tournament is far from mediocre.”

Hiromi Kiryu kept both hands in his pockets and spoke in a flat tone.

“Hey… do you know what just happened? Why couldn’t Yohei Tanaka return Yanagi’s Cicada Drop even though he had his racket out?”

Kumakiri Shibayama looked at Ryo Shishido and Jin Akutsu as he asked.

“I think it’s because that Cicada Drop falls farther than an ordinary drop shot after crossing the net. You saw that it didn’t bounce, didn’t you, Shibayama?”

Shishido explained.

“That’s right, but what you said isn’t the whole story. Shibayama, do you remember the topspin lob Yanagi hit at the beginning?”

Fuji smiled faintly.

“Yes, I remember. Yohei Tanaka returned it very naturally…”

Shibayama nodded repeatedly.

“It wasn’t actually that natural. I could see that Yohei’s posture became unnatural for a brief instant. It lasted only a moment, but compared with the rest of the movement, it was conspicuously out of place.”

Matsubara Nagi added.

“Could it be that you and Fuji both have excellent dynamic vision? Why didn’t I notice it?”

Shibayama was thoroughly confused.

“It has nothing to do with dynamic vision.”

Akutsu finally lost patience and spoke coldly.

“It comes from a lack of coordination within the body itself. Whether dynamic vision can detect it is irrelevant. That redhead becomes clumsy when dealing with difficult spinning shots.”

“So that’s how it is…”

Shibayama suddenly understood.

Renji Yanagi and Sadaharu Inui had both discovered Yohei Tanaka’s weakness: when facing difficult spinning shots, the awkwardness in his arm prevented him from making a perfect return. The same weakness had been confirmed in his younger brother, Kohei Tanaka.

The brothers did not merely struggle against spinning shots. Whenever they had to return a high-difficulty ball, a faint lack of coordination appeared between the joints of their bodies. That lack of coordination allowed Renji Yanagi and Sadaharu Inui to seize the opening and launch a counterattack.

But an accidental discovery was still an accidental discovery. Just as Yanagi was preparing to continue exploiting the Cicada Drop, Yohei Tanaka suddenly turned to Kohei beside him, smiled casually, and asked in a relaxed tone, “Hey, Kohei, how many points did you get on this month’s exam?”

“?!”

Yanagi’s movement faltered as he prepared to counter. To everyone’s surprise, Kohei also turned to look at his brother. He shrugged nonchalantly and said with a smile, “I got ninety-six. Luckily, I managed to hold on to first place. What about you, Yohei?”

“They’re chatting in the middle of a match!”

Yanagi refocused, but because his attention had been diverted, he did not use the Cicada Drop. Instead, he struck an ordinary forehand. Yohei Tanaka smiled sweetly, though he sounded somewhat dissatisfied.

“That’s not good enough, Kohei. I got a perfect score.”

Clack!

Distracted by the brothers’ conversation, Yanagi lost concentration and failed to return the ball. The referee called out loudly, “Forty-fifteen!”

“Ah… Yohei is still amazing. Another perfect score.”

Kohei sounded envious.

“Have you forgotten all the study techniques I taught you? Honestly…”

Yohei sighed.

“Humph… I’m not you, Yohei. Otherwise, I’d be the older brother.”

Faced with his younger brother’s carefree refusal to take responsibility for his poor result, Yohei lifted his chin and smiled meaningfully.

“Looks like I’ll have to tutor you properly—and straighten out that lazy attitude of yours while I’m at it.”

“Well, then I’ll leave it to you, big brother.”

Kohei smoothly played along.

“What are those two doing? Do they think they’re better than everyone else?”

The Seishun students erupted in dissatisfied murmurs as the Tanaka brothers continued chatting with growing enthusiasm.

“That’s an impressive tactic. They’re deliberately speaking loudly to disrupt Yanagi’s attack, while their excellent hearing ensures that their own play isn’t affected.”

A hint of gravity passed through Fuji’s blue eyes.

“Is that Seishun doubles pair really any good? We thought they were going to launch some kind of major counterattack against Yohei and Kohei.”

Some of the Jousei Shonan students began to lose faith in the Inui–Yanagi combination.

“One-zero! Jousei Shonan leads! Change sides!”

With the Tanaka brothers loudly chatting and disrupting Renji Yanagi, they once again scored with ease.