133. Cob Cannon

"What a robust physique..." said Shiba Saori.

"This match is truly unfavorable for Seishun. A power-based player is exactly what they are most lacking right now." Inoue Mamoru looked at Matsubara Narui and the others, then cast his gaze back to the court.

"Shiba, make sure to get good shots!" Inoue Mamoru turned his head to instruct her.

"Don't worry, Inoue-senpai, I'm already on it!" Shiba Saori pulled her camera from her bag and snapped a rapid ten-shot burst of Fuji, who stood on the court.

Squinting his eyes, Fuji looked up at the warm sunlight streaming down through the clouds, scattering into glimmers of radiance, and gently reached out to cradle the light with his delicate, fair hands.

"Wow..." Iwamura Yuna watched Fuji, a soft blush spreading across her pretty face.

"What's wrong, Yuna-oneesan?" Oda Fuyuka asked upon seeing this.

"Look, look! Vice-Captain Fuji is so handsome!"

"Fuji-kun looks like an angel descended to earth today; he's as beautiful as a painting!"

"That's an angel right there! Fuji-kun is mine!"

"He's my Fuji-kun!"

"Mine!"

"Mine!!"

"Mine!!!"

The Seishun girls, who had spontaneously formed a cheerleading squad on the sidelines, erupted into intense screams and cheers. They wished time would simply freeze so they could fully admire the beauty of Fuji Syusuke as he bathed in the light.

Amidst the clamor, one could faintly hear girls arguing and scrambling to express their adoration for Fuji. Matsubara Narui twitched the corner of his mouth. As expected, a handsome person is popular wherever they go, even if this school is worlds apart from elite institutions like Seigaku.

"One set decides the winner! Jonan's Kiryu to serve!"

"Don't be careless, Fuji, Akutsu," Tezuka said, arms crossed, to himself.

"Give me another brilliant match, Kiryu, Uehara. Although you aren't my creations, I still hold high expectations for you." Hua-mura Aoi rested her chin on her hands, a faint, seductive charm playing on her face.

Kiryu Hiromi tightened his brow, then bent down to serve. Watching the ball fly toward him, Fuji returned it with ease, but soon felt something was wrong—the light in front of him had suddenly dimmed!

"Are wa..." Fuji opened his blue eyes to see Uehara Makoto, who had been far from the net, suddenly standing right in front of it. Sensing the overwhelming pressure, Fuji froze in place!

*Whoosh!*

The tennis ball streaked by as a blurred flash. On the sidelines, Tanaka Yohei observed, "As expected of Uehara-senpai, a return shot full of destructive power. He’s already scared the opposing vice-captain into immobility."

"After all, with a body as slender as his, it would be hard to return such a shot, right?" Tanaka Kohei added with a laugh.

"Maybe he didn't even intend to return it," Wakato Hiroshi chimed in.

Watching the ball brush past Fuji and land in the backcourt, Akutsu assumed a crouched stance. His posture drew gasps of surprise from the Tanaka brothers and the others.

"What... what kind of stance is that?"

"It looks like he's at the starting blocks!"

With his limbs hanging loosely, Akutsu arched his back as his frame rose. Facing the ball below him, he tightened his right arm and swung with explosive force!

"Hah!"

"Well done, Akutsu! You hit it to a spot that big guy couldn't reach!" someone from the Seishun crowd cheered.

"Tch, he could have just hit it normally instead of showing off with that pose," Shishido Ryo muttered, feeling that Akutsu was deliberately trying to look cool.

"No, that stance might have been a habit for Akutsu before, but now he fully utilizes his body and playing style to produce tennis far more aggressive than before," Inui Sadaharu said, flipping through his notebook.

"That stance... it was just a cross-court shot, Inui. Is there really more to it than that?" Shibayama Kumakiri didn't see the trick to it.

"Uehara Makoto's shots have great power and speed. Fuji didn't react in time, let alone return it. Unlike their parallel formation, our team is positioned front and back. Akutsu was already prepared in the backcourt. Facing a return like that, a normal person would lower their center of gravity to ensure their arm can exert force at any time, but for Akutsu, a higher center of gravity is precisely the source of his explosive power," Inui explained.

"Ah!" Uehara Makoto let out a shout, taking heavy strides to reach Akutsu's diagonal shot in a few steps. Watching from the sidelines, Hua-mura Aoi curled her lips into a seductive smile. "As expected of Akutsu, who has the best physical fitness and reflexes in Seishun. To be able to return the ball with such power from that stance... but you won't be able to reach the next one."

"Amazing, just like before, he reached the ball in one step!" Shiba Saori exclaimed.

"Fuji looks prepared!" Inoue Mamoru said, seeing Fuji gripping his racket with both hands.

"The right!" A glint passed through Fuji's blue eyes. Since Uehara Makoto is so good at running, then let him run again.

However, just as Fuji's racket lost contact with the ball, Uehara Makoto had already arrived at the right side and smashed it back with a heavy strike!

"Huh?!" Fuji rushed to receive Uehara's shot, but because the ball landed between the singles and doubles lines, despite his best efforts, he failed to reach it.

"15-0!"

"Such power... it feels like the ground of the tennis court is shaking..." Oda Fuyuka couldn't help but say.

"This guy, despite being so big, is surprisingly agile," Fuji thought, squinting at Uehara Makoto, who stood like a wall of copper and iron.

"Tch, he's run back and forth a few times, and he's not even panting," Akazawa Yoshirou remarked, looking at Uehara's "demon muscle" physique.

"I imagine the 'Enhanced Human' training helped him compensate for that weakness, allowing him to counterattack with minimal movement. Combined with his naturally tall and strong build, he can reach any ball in two or three steps," Inui said.

"Only two or three steps... that's truly terrifying..." Yanagisawa Shinya imagined it; if it were him, he would need at least five or six steps, right?

"He utilizes the advantage of his height and reach, which is something we ordinary people simply can't do. Unless it's a high-level technique like Tezuka's or Matsubara's 'Domain,' where the ball moves to you without you even having to walk, no one else could reach a diagonal shot in just two or three steps."

"But with those big black sunglasses on, can he even see the ball? I suspect he's just swinging blindly..." someone in the crowd questioned.

"Those must be sports sunglasses. But compared to the glasses, that little tail-like braid he has is weirder; it doesn't look coordinated with his whole body at all..." another person countered.

Inui Sadaharu nodded.

"It seems their number one doubles pair isn't much stronger than the number two," Uehara Makoto said, feeling unsatisfied as he stood parallel with Kiryu Hiromi again.

"Vice-Captain, are you alright?" Akutsu asked coldly, seeing that Fuji seemed to be struggling.

"He's a bit tough to deal with, but you need to keep a close watch on the one named Kiryu. He hasn't made a move yet," Fuji said with a squinted smile. Seeing that Fuji didn't intend to ask for help, Akutsu said nothing more and focused on Kiryu Hiromi, who was preparing to serve.

Fuji returned Kiryu's serve easily, but Uehara Makoto at the net quickly countered it. Realizing he couldn't score by attacking the flanks, Fuji opted for a lob to the backcourt!

"I see, that way he can bypass Uehara Makoto and strike directly at Kiryu Hiromi!" Inoue Mamoru realized.

"Uehara!" Kiryu Hiromi stepped aside and shouted.

"Got it!" Uehara Makoto turned around and leaped into the air!

"That guy... he actually jumped?!"

"And his reaction speed isn't slow at all!"

"Are the guys from Jonan... all monsters?" The Seishun students were in an uproar seeing Uehara jump into the air to receive the lob backhand.

"It doesn't matter who receives this ball." Fuji opened his sapphire-like eyes, watching Uehara's backhand smash. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he stretched his arms and bent his knees!

*Whoosh!*

A yellow gale was followed by a blue light sweeping out. As Fuji turned his back to Uehara in the air, the ball rebounded off his racket, drawing a beautiful parabola in the sky toward the backcourt!

"Damn it... I can't reach it!" Uehara Makoto, in his descent, desperately tried to reach Fuji's return, but no matter how he struggled, he was helpless. Kiryu Hiromi was startled and ran toward the back, but before his racket could touch the ball, it had already flown past.

"15-15!"

"It's here, one of Vice-Captain Fuji's Triple Counters, 'Brown Bear Drop'!" Shishido Ryo was the first to exclaim in ecstasy.

"So that's the Brown Bear Drop... truly a shot that only a 'Genius' can hit," Hua-mura Aoi murmured to herself, watching Fuji's back.

...

"Corn Cannon!"

Having conceded a point, Uehara Makoto strengthened his defense at the net. After a powerful smash, Fuji attempted to receive it with both hands, but as the ball spun against his racket, he felt unable to control his wrist's force, forced into a stalemate by the vibrations. At a certain moment, unable to hold on any longer, Fuji's racket was knocked out of his hand.

"30-15!"

"That is the power of the Corn Cannon." Uehara Makoto walked back.

"Corn..."

"Cannon?" Akazawa and Yanagisawa said in turn.

"It's like using a flyswatter to swat a fly..." Shishido Ryo sighed at Uehara's immense power, seeing that Fuji simply couldn't handle it head-on.

"I see, 'Corn Cannon'," Inui Sadaharu quickly recorded Uehara's move in his notebook.

"Hey Inui, can you stop collecting data? Vice-Captain Fuji and the others are in a tough fight. Is there any way to get them out of this one-sided situation?"

Inui adjusted his glasses and said calmly, "I understand your anxiety, Shishido, but as of now, there is no good way to restrict Uehara Makoto. I don't think even Fuji's Brown Bear Drop can return a Corn Cannon executed with that height and power."

"Why is that?" Akazawa Yoshirou asked, confused.

"Watch Uehara Makoto's smash. Since he switched to his forehand, his power has increased several times over. It's as easy for him as a smash in badminton or table tennis. Although the Brown Bear Drop was created specifically to counter smashes, it has a maximum limit it can withstand. Clearly, the Brown Bear Drop cannot handle the Corn Cannon." This was why Inui was frantically recording data; the power of this move could perfectly suppress the Brown Bear Drop. In other words, the amount of force Fuji could handle for a smash was roughly equivalent to three of his own full-power strikes.

"A brilliant match, Uehara," Hua-mura Aoi couldn't help but laugh softly. The reason she didn't put Uehara, Kiryu, and Honda Toshinori through 'Enhanced Human' training was that they were already perfect; intensive training would only hinder their established strength—unless it was like that child, where she had discovered it in time...

Thinking of this, the woman cast a quiet glance at Kamishiro Reiji, whose facial expression was as rigid as Tezuka's.

"The front line is hard to break through," Akutsu said unhappily, seeing them thwarted repeatedly.

"That 'Corn Cannon' from before, the Brown Bear Drop couldn't return it... and there's no wind today." Fuji looked up at the sky. When he entered the court, he had reached out to feel the air, hoping for wind. Now it seemed none of his triple counters could be used.

"40-15!"

"Game Jonan! 1-0! Change sides!"

Fuji had no way to fight back against Uehara Makoto. In this game, he had relied on the Brown Bear Drop to score his only point.

"Fuji-kun and Akutsu, with his explosive natural talent, only managed to score one point against them..." Kitajima Kaede couldn't believe it.

"The students from Jonan are very loud..." Kitajima Sara frowned slightly as she heard the deafening cheers next to them.

"Truly wonderful. It seems we will win this match as well, Tezuka-kun." Hua-mura Aoi leaned back in her chair comfortably. Her gaze, filled with mature charm, flashed a seductive smile toward Tezuka.

"Damn it... if only we weren't lacking power-type players, we wouldn't be in such a pathetic state," Shishido Ryo said, clenching his fists.

"That guy Kiryu Hiromi hasn't really made a move yet," Matsubara Narui said, looking at the boy with upturned hair and a slightly arrogant expression.

"A wall of defense composed of unparalleled height and super-strong jumping ability—that is the terrifying existence that is Uehara. Added to that is Kiryu's calm personality; their combination is not at all inferior to those two children," Hua-mura Aoi thought. She was very satisfied with the doubles pair she had arranged. The day before the match, she had been conflicted about how to pair the Haizuka trio. She had originally intended to pair Kiryu Hiromi with Honda Toshinori, but because the latter caught a cold, she had directly paired Uehara Makoto with the former.

Since Wakato Hiroshi, Kamishiro Reiji, and Kajimoto Takamasa in the team all had to play singles to unleash the power of their 'Enhanced Human' training, Hua-mura Aoi could only place the Haizuka trio on the doubles list.

It seemed that, in the end, she could only show Seishun one beautiful singles masterpiece. She had hoped to show more, but a weak team is a weak team; even if they had luckily escaped being eliminated in the first round, they couldn't avoid it in this second round.