80. The Fortunate Chiseki Blessed with the Power of the Luck Emperor

"Forty-love!"

"Three-one! Evergreen wins!"

"Great, the two of them are finally turning the tide!" Chisaori beamed with delight.

"The situation is gradually improving. They're starting to display the tacit understanding and strengths they showed during the qualifiers," Sadaharu Inui said, smiling as he took notes in his notebook.

"I think it’s because their personalities are so at odds," Fuji analyzed, his eyes narrowing into a smile. "They’re not exactly a harmonious doubles pair, but they actually improve by constantly trying to outdo each other."

...

As Akutsu and Shishido’s momentum surged, Kaneya Banta’s usually unshakable smile suddenly vanished, replaced by a look of extreme discomfort. Beads of sweat began to form on his face.

Tezuka, arms folded, glanced at Kaneya Banta. "Mr. Banta, even if you focus all your efforts on Akutsu, his physical prowess isn’t something two people can simply suppress. What’s more, this is a doubles match. Seemingly simple tactics can be effective at first, but they’re also easier to counter."

Despite being a first-year, Tezuka’s abilities went far beyond mere skill. His powers of observation and insight were leagues above his peers. Noticing Kaneya Banta’s silence and his darkened expression, Tezuka couldn’t help but ask, "Are you alright, Mr. Banta?"

"Ugh..." Kaneya Banta’s wrinkled hand slipped from his neck to his chest, gripping his shirt tightly. He clenched his teeth, pain etched on his face. Sensing something was wrong, Tezuka immediately called out, "Referee!"

Clutching his chest in agony, Kaneya Banta cried out. Tezuka, startled, leapt to his feet and rushed over. "Are you alright, Mr. Banta?"

"Hey old man, if you really can’t go on, you’d better have your doubles team forfeit. Frankly, if you’re not around, there’s no way they’ll beat us," Matsubara Mei commented nonchalantly, grabbing the wire fence with one hand as Kaneya’s groans grew louder.

"What are you saying, Matsubara!" Tezuka was about to rebuke the boy’s rudeness when Matsubara pointed at Kaneya Banta—who suddenly smiled as if nothing had happened. "If it comes to that, wouldn't that just hand you the victory?"

"Then watch the match quietly and stop playing tricks, old man!" Oda Fuyuka, who had never liked Kaneya’s tactical games, bellowed through the fence.

"Alright, Fuyuka..." Iwamura Yuna quickly held back the fuming Oda, trying to calm her down.

"I just wanted to lighten the mood, Tezuka. Now that you’re fighting back, stop being so serious all the time. Smile once in a while." Kaneya Banta stuck out his tongue playfully at Tezuka, who had been about to help him up.

...

Tezuka’s hands trembled almost imperceptibly. The lenses of his glasses reflected a harsh white glare as he lowered his head. After a long moment, he quietly returned to his seat and said, "We can never afford to let our guard down. That’s our philosophy."

"What a pure child," Kaneya Banta mused with a gentle smile, watching Tezuka’s unchanged expression. He thought to himself, "But... he’ll surely grow into someone remarkable."

...

"Does Matsubara know Kaneya Banta well?" Fuji asked with a gentle smile, glancing at the boy’s look of disdain.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" Matsubara Mei blinked curiously.

"Because you saw through his feigned illness right away. It felt as if you were very familiar with him," Fuji said, looking at Kaneya Banta on the bench.

"Not really. It’s just that he’s never been straightforward, and his little act happened right when Shishido and Akutsu won their first game. He probably wanted to dampen our rising spirits." Matsubara shook his head, offering a plausible excuse. The real reason he saw through Kaneya’s act was that, in the original story, the old man had pulled the same Oscar-worthy stunt before Sumire Ryuzaki, a fellow old fox who had been fooled as well.

Who would have thought that not only then, but even years earlier, Kaneya Banta was already playing such childish tricks? Truly, villains only grow older.

"Still, Kaneya’s little trick didn’t have much impact on Shishido and Akutsu. Judging by their current performance, their teamwork is even better than during the qualifiers," Inui read from his notebook.

"And their serves are even sharper. Minami Kentarou and Azuma Masami have set their sights on Akutsu, but now Akutsu is showing all his strengths without reservation—it’s becoming harder and harder to contain him. Plus, the two of them now use eye contact and subtle gestures as signals. If Akutsu is blocked, Shishido strikes with his super-fast volley, giving the opponents no chance to respond," Yanagi Renji analyzed calmly.

A battle of signals and tacit understanding, combined with technical prowess and physical strength that matched Minami Kentarou and Azuma Masami—it wasn’t long before the score reached 6-4!

"Match over! Evergreen wins! Six-four!"

"Fantastic, we’ve taken the No. 1 doubles as well!" Oda Fuyuka and Iwamura Yuna cheered joyfully.

"Their coordination has improved so much since the qualifiers—they’re constantly growing!" Inoue Mamoru nodded in affirmation.

As Shishido ran over to share the joy of victory with Tezuka and the others, Kaneya Banta stood up, hands behind his back, and smiled at Minami Kentarou and Azuma Masami. "You both played very well, Minami, Azuma."

"The reason you lost was due to rigid thinking. You probably believed that taking down Akutsu would disrupt their formation, but as the match went on and they continued to pull ahead, they adapted to the intensity. That’s why you lost."

Kaneya Banta looked at Tezuka Kunimitsu, whose face was expressionless but exuded a leader’s presence. The old man’s lips curled into a higher smile. Indeed, as Tezuka had said, simple, direct tactics may work quickly—but they’re just as quick to be countered...

Watching Kaneya Banta leave the court, Minami Kentarou, though disappointed, pulled himself together and said to Azuma Masami with a wry smile, "Let’s keep working hard, Azuma. Next time, we’ll have our revenge."

"Yeah, Grandpa Banta is right. We need to adapt more on the fly." Azuma forced a smile and nodded, glancing at the aloof Akutsu, then at Matsubara Mei, who smiled and waved from outside the fence. Azuma couldn’t help but sigh, "You really did dig up a treasure, Matsubara."

"The next match will be the third singles between Yamabuki Middle School and Evergreen Academy. Players, please take your positions immediately."

As the announcement echoed, Sengoku Kiyosumi, looking somewhat disgruntled, scratched his head. Taking his racket from his bag, he glanced at the short Matsubara Mei on the court and muttered as he removed his jacket, "Today’s really not my day. Not only are there no pretty girls, but we’re down two games already. Yamabuki, usually so proud of its doubles, has fallen so low..."

Walking onto the court, Sengoku gazed at the much shorter Matsubara Mei and sighed, "Not drawing first singles to play against Tezuka... I can’t tell if that’s good luck or bad."

"I don’t know whether not facing Tezuka is lucky or not, but drawing third singles to face me is definitely unlucky," Matsubara replied with a small smile, looking up at Sengoku.

"Please decide who will serve first," the umpire called.

"Maybe this will show if I still have a bit of luck left," Sengoku said, flipping his light blue racket handle-down onto the ground. "Which side?"

"Heads," Matsubara answered without hesitation, but quickly added, "Um... could you stand a bit further from the net?"

"Oh? Any particular reason?" Sengoku obediently took a step back, curious.

"It’s nothing... I’m just worried you’ll get unlucky and hit the racket against the net, and we’ll have to redo it," Matsubara explained, scratching his cheek. In truth, he only wanted to avoid the awkward scene from the original story, when Momoshiro lost the serve despite having it in hand, just because the racket hit the net and Sengoku got the serve instead.

Honestly, Matsubara wasn’t one for showing off and didn’t want Sengoku to steal the spotlight. He didn’t mind the guy himself, though.

"If it were up to me, I’d choose to serve," Sengoku declared as he spun the racket, a knowing smile on his face.

"Oh? You’re that confident you’ll get to serve without even checking which side is up?" Matsubara raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. I’ve never lost when it comes to deciding serve. Since you chose heads, I’ll go with tails," Sengoku replied with a grin.

"Your forced ‘lucky charm’ routine doesn’t work on me," Matsubara muttered, watching as the spinning racket slowed and began to fall towards the side with the emblem facing up. He was inwardly ecstatic—until, at the last moment, the racket bounced and landed with the design side down!

"What the... seriously? That can happen?" Matsubara’s eyes widened in disbelief, staring at the shorter end of the ‘S’ pointing down. His mouth trembled.

"The longer side of the ‘S’ is tails, you know. Don’t try to fool me just because the letter looks symmetrical—the store clerk made sure to mark it when engraving," Sengoku’s blue eyes sparkled with cunning.

Matsubara’s eyebrow twitched as he looked at him. "...Unlucky..."

"Whoa, scary look!" Sengoku exclaimed, backing away from Matsubara’s dangerous gaze.

Purple Pen Literature