83. The Thunderous Serve

"Thirty-love!"

Sengoku unleashed his Tiger Cannon, scoring point after point, leaving the Evergreen students wide-eyed in amazement. "He keeps serving with that technique—won't he get exhausted?"

"The Tiger Cannon may seem like a serve that drains stamina, but it must be said, it allows a player of less imposing stature to bring their power to the fullest. By striking the ball at its highest point, it crashes down at the shortest distance, breaking through the opponent's midcourt—provided, of course, one has exceptional jumping ability," Yanagi Renji explained.

"Forty-love!"

"As expected of Sengoku—no one has managed to return his Tiger Cannon yet," Nitobe Inokichi exclaimed with delight.

"Sengoku! Go for it!"
"Sengoku! Go for it!"

The cheers from Yamabuki's students instantly soared.

"The Tiger Cannon isn't just a devastating finishing move; the psychological blow it deals to the opponent is severe. Right now, Matsubara Mei might already be trapped in inescapable panic," Minami Kentarou grinned.

"That first-year forced Sengoku to use his Tiger Cannon—he's got real strength, but this is as far as he'll go," Takahashi Ryuseki commented.

"With the continuous Tiger Cannon serves, Matsubara's confidence must be badly shaken..." Shiba Saori noticed the panic on Matsubara Mei's face and had a bad feeling.

"Matsubara..." Oda Fuyuka gripped the wire fence in worry, her voice tense.

"First, he switched rackets, and now he's using the Tiger Cannon for an entire game straight—is this the tennis coached by Yamabuki's Banta Ganya?" Inoue Mamoru, watching Banta Ganya, the smiling old man with narrowed eyes, suddenly felt a surge of respect. Indeed, the older, the wiser!

"This game—I will take it," Sengoku declared, glancing at the flustered Matsubara Mei with a smirk. As he tossed the ball high, his body once again soared.

Thud!

The Tiger Cannon, roaring with the sound of splitting air, shot toward Matsubara Mei. The boy, however, intercepted the ball just before it hit the ground, using repulsion to neutralize the impact, then immediately enveloped it with attraction!

Smack!

As countless spectators watched Matsubara Mei effortlessly return the Tiger Cannon, nearly all of them wore expressions of shock at the same instant. Among them, the Yamabuki players looked utterly bewildered—Sengoku's Tiger Cannon... was just returned like that?

"Forty-fifteen!"

Caught completely off guard, Sengoku landed back on the court, staring at the tennis ball rolling back from the wall, then at Matsubara Mei's relaxed expression. His own face darkened.

"Doesn't seem so hard to return after all. Maybe your serve is called the 'Bluff Cannon' because you're better at scaring people than actually scoring?" Matsubara Mei said with a smirk.

"Here we go again..." Sadaharu Inui, seeing the boy once more taunt his opponent, rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"Matsubara always likes to pull off these surprising and unexpected counters at the most critical moments," Fuji couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Hiding his real strength, that brat..." Akutsu commented as if it were nothing new.

"No way, Sengoku's Tiger Cannon... just got returned?"

"This can't be real... I must be dreaming..."

"You want to play mind games with me? Sorry, but if you want someone to blame, blame your luck for running into a cheat like me," Matsubara Mei thought to himself, watching Sengoku refuse to believe it and unleash the Tiger Cannon again.

With a shout, Matsubara Mei once more used repulsion to negate the Tiger Cannon's force, then applied attraction to the ball. The spinless shot flashed across the court like a rainbow, and before Sengoku could regain his footing, the ball landed and bounced out of bounds!

"Forty-thirty!"

"Matsubara actually countered Sengoku's Tiger Cannon..." Higashino Miyabi confirmed in disbelief.

"And he waited for the right moment to counter; otherwise, it's impossible to pull off a shot like that," Minami Kentarou said gravely.

"That first-year... is he a monster?" Takahashi Ryuseki said with a shudder. He had thought Matsubara Mei would stop here—was he just acting all along?

Sengoku stared at the boy's light smile. At that moment, Matsubara Mei spoke: "Your mind games are good, but my acting isn't bad either. Looks like I'm a step ahead."

"This guy..." Beads of sweat slid down Sengoku’s cheek. Was his Tiger Cannon... truly useless?

"Two-love! Evergreen leads! Matsubara to serve!"

With the alternating use of Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in, Sengoku lost his service game. Now it was Matsubara Mei's turn to serve.

Whoosh!

"Here it comes—the spinless serve!"

Shishido Ryou, seeing the lightning-fast tennis ball with no spin, called out urgently.

With a flicker in his eyes, Sengoku directly intercepted the spinless serve!

"He actually returned it..." Shishido Ryou had expected Matsubara Mei to score outright.

"Tch..." Feeling the power and speed on his racket, Sengoku had a thought, then sent it right back.

"Fifteen-love!"

Matsubara paused, stunned that his spinless serve was returned.

"Let me see—this surprised look on your face can't be acting anymore, can it?" Now it was Sengoku's turn to laugh. Outside the court, Shibayama Kumakiri couldn't help but shake his head. "That pure-hearted Sengoku... actually returned Matsubara's spinless serve and scored..."

"Sengoku has excellent dynamic vision. I think that's how he countered Matsubara's spinless serve," Inui Sadaharu said, flipping open his notebook.

"But is superb vision alone really enough..." Shishido Ryou wanted to say more but held back.

"Sengoku's strength is by no means mediocre, and he's an all-around player," Yanagi Renji remarked.

"But doesn't Matsubara have that incredible Matsubara Domain? If it's a shot like Sengoku's return just now, it should be much simpler than a lob. Plus, it's his turn to serve—if he adds spin, he could just stand still and wait for the ball to come back to him, right?" Shibayama Kumakiri posed a sharp question.

After considering carefully, Inui replied, "I think if he adds spin, the speed would drop. Sengoku's dynamic vision is excellent—even the fast, spinless ball can be returned, so adding spin would make it even easier to counter. Matsubara probably doesn't want to get dragged into a drawn-out rally."

Watching Matsubara Mei's spinless serve, Sengoku's eyes narrowed again and again, and he returned the ball with ease.

"Thirty-love!"

"Forty-love!"

"Two-one! Sengoku to serve for Yamabuki! Change sides!"

"They took a game from us..." Shiba Saori felt a pang of anxiety.

"I think Matsubara is in a tough spot. His once-proud spinless serve should have secured his service game, but against Sengoku's dynamic vision and solid skills, that advantage vanished instantly. If he doesn't come up with a good strategy, the score will continue to close..." Inoue Mamoru analyzed.

"Both sides broke serve..." Oda Fuyuka's star-bright eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Score: two-all! Evergreen's Matsubara to serve!"

Sengoku took another game. Seeing this, Oda Fuyuka couldn't help but say, "Why does it seem like Sengoku can return every kind of shot Matsubara throws at him? He's like chewing gum that just won't come off."

"That's thanks to Sengoku's dynamic vision—he can see the trajectory and landing point of every ball Matsubara hits. Combined with his own solid skills, he can claw back the score with strong singles fundamentals even after his Tiger Cannon fails," Inoue Mamoru explained.

"Dynamic vision means being able to see moving objects clearly, right?" Iwamura Yuna asked in a daze.

"That's right. To someone with extremely sharp dynamic vision, no matter how fast Matsubara's shots are, they're like slow-motion replays. Maybe not frame by frame, but compared to the average person, who can barely catch a glimpse of the tennis ball, Sengoku's dynamic vision is his second deadly weapon, right after the Tiger Cannon," Inoue Mamoru nodded.

"Score: four-two! Sengoku leads for Yamabuki!"

With a baseline shot that broke through Matsubara Mei's defense, the umpire called out as Sengoku finished his swing.

"Dynamic vision like the Sharingan... what a nuisance," Matsubara muttered to himself as he listened to the score announcement.

"At a time like this, he still has the mind to talk to himself?" Sengoku was taken aback, watching Matsubara Mei pull a tennis ball from his pocket.

"If the spinless serve isn't working, let's try my power serve, shall we?" The boy parted his legs slightly, lowered his face, and tapped the ball lightly in his hand.

Zibi Literature