131. Wounded

“15–0!”

Sadaharu Inui had taken the point from the Tanaka brothers with only a single shot, leaving them momentarily at a loss. Fortunately, Yohei Tanaka recovered quickly.

“It’s all right, Kohei. Just keep playing the way we did before. We’ll be fine. That point was only a fluke.”

Inui continued to strike the ball according to Renji Yanagi’s instructions. When he noticed the Tanaka brothers watching the ball’s trajectory with their eyes, he abandoned his feints and switched to high-difficulty techniques. Before long, Inui and Yanagi claimed another point.

“30–0!”

“They’re incredible. Inui and Yanagi have left the Tanaka brothers completely helpless for two points in a row…”

Saori Shiba remarked.

“Yes. The feints were meant to deceive the Tanaka brothers, who rely heavily on their hearing. Once they began using their eyes to compensate for their impaired ears, Inui attacked their weakness with advanced data tennis. Since their fundamentals aren’t especially strong, it was a precise strike at their most vulnerable point.”

Mamoru Inoue nodded.

“What a brilliant two-pronged strategy.”

Kaede Kitajima gave an approving nod.

“Back court, Kohei!”

Yohei Tanaka wanted to force Inui to retreat with a lob. Inui was positioned near the net, and if he had to fall back in a hurry, he would be unable to put much strength into his return. That would allow the brothers to join forces and concentrate their attack on Yanagi.

It was a sound idea. When Kohei Tanaka sent the lob sailing high, Inui did indeed retreat rapidly toward the back court. Yet just as he should have begun his swing, he suddenly leaped into the air.

“A smash, Kohei!”

Yohei cried out. The brothers immediately formed a parallel formation and called out together:

“Come on… bring it!”

With Inui suspended in midair, the corners of his mouth lifted. But at the instant he swung downward, his arm suddenly slowed.

Tap.

The racket made only the faintest contact with the ball. The tennis ball drifted gently downward, and Kohei Tanaka’s eyes widened.

“What?!”

“It wasn’t a smash?!”

Yohei was stunned as well.

Thud, thud, thud!

Kohei rushed forward. Both what he saw and what he heard told him that he could reach the ball.

After Kohei beautifully lifted the short shot back over the net, Yohei appeared directly behind him. This time, surely, they would smash it.

“The trajectory is exactly as calculated.”

Yanagi remained calm and composed. Leaping high, he struck another short volley.

“Empty Cicada!”

The short ball came spinning toward them with an almost unnatural rotation. Horror appeared simultaneously on the Tanaka brothers’ faces. Yohei had never imagined that their opponent would forgo the smash and use the same tactic again.

Kohei gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and extended his racket.

“Don’t underestimate us!”

The previous time he had failed to return Yanagi’s Empty Cicada, it had been because the ball dropped faster than an ordinary short shot. But now he was standing right at the net. No matter what, he had to send it back.

“You think you can take my data so easily?”

Yanagi slowly descended. By the time his feet settled firmly on the ground, the ball had only barely caught on Kohei’s racket. After spinning for a moment, it slipped away, while Kohei’s follow-through struck nothing but empty air.

“40–0!”

“Yanagi’s Empty Cicada, like Tezuka’s Zero-Shiki, doesn’t bounce off the ground. When it comes into contact with Kohei Tanaka’s uneven racket face, its trajectory becomes even more erratic and impossible to predict. And since they have no effective way to counter a ball with such unusual spin, even perfect form can do nothing.”

Fuji smiled faintly.

“That’s right. Inui and Yanagi already have remarkable chemistry, and because they both excel at data tennis, they can easily anticipate each other’s thoughts. Yohei assumed Yanagi would smash, never realizing that Yanagi would win the point with another short shot.”

Ryo Shishido nodded. The exchange was truly a pleasure to watch. The two of them were playing their opponents like puppets in the palm of their hands.

With Yanagi directing the play and Inui leading the attack, the score quickly shifted from Jōsei Shōnan’s 2–1 lead to Evergreen’s 4–2 advantage.

The constant switching between feints and ordinary attacks caused the Tanaka brothers to make serious errors whenever they relied on their hearing to judge the situation. They were repeatedly caught off guard.

At this point, the brothers were in a sorry state. They could no longer rely entirely on their hearing to control the match. All they could do was create opportunities with their parallel formation, then use their combined double strike to try to reverse the tide.

But that tactic did not last long either. Inui and Yanagi not only adapted to the parallel formation, they even learned to imitate the combined double strike. Their physical advantages gave them greater explosive power than the Tanaka brothers. After scoring point after point, Evergreen had firmly seized control of the match.

“Game, Evergreen! 5–2! Change sides!”

“Beautifully done. Let’s finish the match in one breath.”

Tezuka praised Inui and Yanagi as they drank water.

“Of course.”

Inui and Yanagi answered in unison. They exchanged a glance, then smiled knowingly.

Hanamura Aoi, however, looked deeply troubled. Her creations… had flaws. More than one flaw, in fact. How was that possible?

“Explosive power… Our combination simply doesn’t possess enough of it. No—that isn’t quite right. We do possess it, but not completely…”

Hanamura watched the Tanaka brothers continue to lose points. To compensate for their lack of strength, she had specifically trained them in the combined double strike.

Although both boys were undeniably male, their physical development leaned more toward the feminine side: supple flexibility, relaxed and extended muscles, and meticulous, composed thinking, among other traits.

Yet even after calculating every possibility, Hanamura had never anticipated that the two Evergreen players, both experts in data tennis, would possess such extraordinary learning abilities. After witnessing the move only once, they had mastered the combined double strike that the Tanaka brothers had practiced countless days and nights to perfect.

What kind of experience did it take to reach such a level?

After the change of sides, the Tanaka brothers still showed no sign of discouragement despite having lost four straight games. Even with their techniques completely exposed, they continued searching for a breakthrough.

Crack!

Kohei Tanaka returned Inui’s shot. Seeing Yanagi leap into the air, the brothers quickly retreated in parallel. Yohei called out urgently:

“This time, it’s definitely a smash!”

“Right!”

Kohei answered. Yanagi had already used the same pattern to play two short shots. If he played another short ball now, he would only be wasting his energy.

“It’s yours, Renji!”

Inui looked toward Yanagi, who was waiting in position, and shouted.

“I’ve been ready!”

With that, Yanagi launched into a run and leaped high.

“Wait, Renji…”

As he watched Yanagi hurl himself upward with all his strength, Inui suddenly realized that something was wrong. But by the time he spoke, it was already too late.

When the Tanaka brothers retreated to the back court, both turned their feet outward in perfect unison. They might not be able to withstand the combined double strike of Inui and Yanagi, but against a single player, they could certainly return the ball.

“You’re far too naive.”

Yanagi’s loose hair fluttered in the wind as he hung in the air. He spoke softly, then gripped his racket tightly and swung down with all his strength.

Just as Yohei had predicted, Yanagi did indeed unleash a smash. However, as the Tanaka brothers prepared to combine their strength and return it, their two golden rackets flew out one after another, clattering helplessly beyond the court.

“What?!”

The brothers turned around in disbelief. Their combined double strike… had actually been unable to withstand even one player’s power?

Thump!

As Yanagi landed, the umpire called out loudly:

“40–0!”

Crack!

Yanagi’s face went deathly pale. His half-crouched landing immediately collapsed, and he clutched his left ankle in agony.

“Renji!”

Seeing that Yanagi was injured, Inui hurried over. Tezuka also rose from his seat and ran toward them.

“Yanagi! Stay with us!”

The moment Tezuka saw the swelling around Yanagi’s ankle, the calm in his eyes vanished. He turned toward the sidelines and shouted in a low voice:

“Get the medical staff!”

“Yes!”

Shishido and the others hurried to comply.

…

“I’m sorry, Sadaharu. To get injured at such a crucial moment…”

Yanagi apologized from the stretcher.

“It’s all right. I wanted to warn you when you began your approach and jump, but by then it was already too late.”

Inui had noticed earlier that Yanagi had failed to control the distribution of force through his body. Jumping at that speed to launch a smash gave him a ninety-seven percent chance of placing more than twice his body weight in stress on his ankle. The result was inevitable: Yanagi had fractured the bone and could no longer continue the match.

“Since Evergreen has withdrawn from the second doubles match, the victory goes to Jōsei Shōnan!”

Hearing the umpire’s announcement, Fuyuka Oda complained bitterly:

“How could this happen? They withdrew… when they were only one point away from winning.”

“There was no other choice. If it had been a soft-tissue injury or some ordinary sprain, a little spray and an ice pack might have been enough. But with a fracture, he can’t even stand, much less play. And the doubles rules don’t allow Inui to remain on the court and play the final point alone.”

Kitajima spread his hands, his voice tinged with regret.

“Honestly… winning like this is rather unexpected.”

Hanamura smiled in relief, then closed her eyes.

“Go get some rest, Inui.”

Tezuka patted the guilt-ridden Inui on the shoulder and spoke evenly.

“Yeah…”

Outside the court, the students from Jōsei Shōnan began laughing mockingly when they saw that Evergreen had withdrawn.

“They were only one point from winning, yet they gave up. He looked reckless when he jumped for that smash, and even their withdrawal was reckless.”

“Enough. Shut up.”

Yohei, both hands gripping a towel, glared toward the sidelines and rebuked them.

“But… that was really dangerous, Yohei. We nearly lost.”

Kohei sighed in relief.

“Yes. It seems the first light of victory finally shone upon us.”

Yohei gazed up at the sky over Wineland and spoke softly.

Purple Pen Literature