Chapter 12
Yukimura's position is retained. As the meritorious captain who led Rikkai University to two consecutive championships, not many players in the Rikkai University tennis team have objections. The current regular players in the team are also given an additional opportunity to challenge alone. Strength determines everything and the winner is the king.
The first group to finish the game was Group D, where Kirihara Akaya was located. Kirihara Akaya was invincible in Group D and was the first to secure a starting position.
Except for Group D, Sanada and Masaharu Niou from Group A, Renji Yanagi and Bunta Marui from Group B, and Hiroshi Yagyu and Jackal Kuwahara from Group C all won in the end. There was basically no change in the main lineup of the Rikkai University Tennis Club, and now only the competition between the main players remains.
The main draw matches will be held in indoor tennis courts. Unlike the preliminary qualifying matches where many people can watch, the matches will be held indoors and only the players of the tennis club will be able to observe, thus preventing people from outside schools from gathering intelligence.
Rikkai University has many indoor tennis courts. One court is used as the competition venue, and the rest are used for spectators.
The order of the competition was shuffled. Since only one player, Akaya Kirihara, advanced to Group D, Akaya Kirihara, who was about to enter the second year, caught up with the time when the three giants of Rikkai University became regular players at the end of the first year. One was at the beginning of school and the other was at the end of the semester, but both became regular players in the first year.
The first to go is Group B, the match between Yanagi Renji and Marui Bunta.
There was no one within two meters of Sanada, and the members would rather huddle together to watch the game than endure the low pressure around the vice-chairman.
"Bunta, come on!" Jackal Kuwabara supports his partner regardless of who Marui Bunta's opponent is or how high the chances of winning are.
Marui Bunta gestured back at the Jackal Kuwabara and confidently took the court. "Let's make this a quick fight, Advisor. The rest of the match will be even more exciting."
"I'm afraid today's game won't end so soon." Yanagi Renji was already waiting in the venue.
Before the match, Yanagi Renji had a private conversation with Sanada. Since he couldn't guess what Sanada was thinking, Yanagi Renji chose to ask directly, "Why do you suddenly want to break up the doubles team?"
The Rikkai University tennis club's singles team has always been stronger than its doubles team. When first-year players entered the regular season, the team's doubles team wasn't always a fixed player, but rather a rotating singles team. At the time, the Rikkai University regular season team included Sanada, Yanagi Renji, and Yukimura, and all regular season players played both singles and doubles.
The official doubles combination was formed after Marui Bunta advanced to the next year of junior high school. Of course, Marui Bunta advanced through the singles competition at that time. Almost all schools' main selection competitions are in the form of singles.
Sanada didn't expect Yanagi Renji to ask, and the data could answer Yanagi's question. But Sanada forgot that the only thing missing from Yanagi Renji now was the data source that Sanada had experienced.
"For the championship." Sanada thought and said so. Rikkai University's championship victory required a complete transformation of the team, not just one person's victory.
Yanagi Renji nodded, understanding. Sanada was also worried, and the worry was greater than he had imagined.
Yukimura fell, and besides his good friend, he was also the flag of the Rikkai University Tennis Club.
Rikkai University's three unstoppable giants, Sanada, Yukimura and Yanagi Renji, were all together. Now that Yukimura is gone, Sanada is not absolutely sure.
The best example is Lion Music Middle School. Having lost the two heroes from Kyushu, Lion Music Middle School did not even make it to the threshold of this year's national competition.
Yanagi Renji knew that Sanada had lost to Tezuka before, and no one in Rikkai University had truly maintained a winning record except Yukimura.
Sanada favors Marui or Nioh over the newcomer Kirihara, as they have a higher chance of supporting Rikkai's victory. "So, Sanada heard what Yukimura said about Nioh. Otherwise, I'd probably be competing against Nioh right now."
In fact, Yanagi Renji knew clearly that without Yukimura, Rikkai University's winning rate would be reduced by at least one third. Even though Rikkai University suppressed Shitenhoji in three games during the national competition, the two most troublesome figures of Shitenhoji were actually suppressed behind. One was Shiraishi, the current captain of Shitenhoji, and the other was Hara Tetsuya, the former captain of Shitenhoji who had already graduated.
Team competitions are not measured by individual strength. In a best-of-five match, if there is no player with a 100% winning rate, the results will fluctuate more than a little. Players who were originally prepared to deal with Yukimura will be released to play against other players. Some schools may choose to deploy their troops to avoid the most difficult points, and more teams will face the challenges head-on.
The gap between the national-level strength and other players is more than a little bit, so let this game have the desired effect.
"Game Liu, 1-1!"
Marui Fumita knew that his chances of winning were slim, but he didn't intend to give up easily.
When he started the game, Marui Bunta understood what Yanagi Renji meant when he said at the beginning that the game would not end soon.
Now Yanagi Renji has the demeanor of one of the Big Three and is a prominent figure who can overcome the three-year time gap and surpass his seniors.
Data tennis can be used for more than just predictions.
"Yanagi's serious," said Niou Masaharu, a witness of the match. He remarked that Yanagi Renji was always the gentlest of Rikkai University's Big Three. Sanada was relentless, decisively finishing the match. Having witnessed Yukimura's annihilation of his five senses, no one dared challenge him. In reality, Yanagi Renji didn't need that much time to gather data; otherwise, his time would have been wasted. What was the point of preparing in advance? He was simply trying to keep his teammates' spirits in check.
Jackal Kuwabara watched the match with concern. Even the Rikkai University regulars knew Marui Bunta's physical weakness. So far in the match, Marui Bunta hadn't used a single secret technique; it was a purely basic contest. "Yanagi is dragging out the match; it doesn't look like he's going to fight a war of attrition."
The indoor tennis court was filled with the sounds of rackets and tennis balls hitting each other, as well as Yanagi Renji's calculations. The members of Rikkai University who were watching the game stared at the court, afraid of missing a single match.
"Bunta, the probability of you wanting to hit a diagonal ball is 67, and the probability of a smash is 18..." Yanagi Renji walked slowly in the center of the court, returning Marui Bunta's shots with ease.
Is the fear of data tennis due to predictable ball paths? Or is it the pressure of intelligence? Or is it the ability to exploit weaknesses? None of these things. Data tennis is a unique style of play. This time, Marui Bunta gained a deeper understanding of Yanagi Renji's data tennis.
It’s not that Marui Bunta doesn’t want to use the secret techniques. Tricks like walking on a tightrope, hitting the iron pillar, and time difference hell have all been sealed by Yanagi Renji.
Marui Bunta couldn't find the opportunity to use his special move, which was due to the suppression of strength. In normal practice or previous matches, Marui Bunta had only seen Yanagi Renji and Sanada fight like this in the game.
Yanagi Renji is not in a hurry at all. Weaknesses are caused by habits. They can be compensated by skills or created by skills. Ultimately, it is still a gap in strength.
Yanagi Renji calmly accepted Marui Bunta's attack and fought back at a steady rhythm, finding positions that Marui Bunta usually didn't like, as well as positions filled by Jackal Kuwabara during doubles.
Marui Fumita is good at net skills, and was repeatedly pressed in the backcourt by Yanagi Renji during the game.
Yanagi Renji was not in a hurry to score. In fact, he could easily score by changing his ball skills.
The two sides started the tug-of-war with the most basic return of the ball.
Yanagi Renji is famous for his unique data tennis, but data tennis is not all Yanagi Renji is good at.
Sanada is the one who has the deepest understanding. In terms of chopping ability, Yanagi Renji's control of tennis is no less than Tezuka.
Yanagi Renji felt the evolution of Marui Bunta during the pressure test.
If Yanagi Renji could show this level of skill on an outdoor court, his record would probably be the same as Sanada's.
Marui Bunta did not give up because of the huge score gap and kept looking for ways to break through.
First of all, he couldn't let the game end like this. Marui Bunta didn't miss any ball, overcoming the shots he didn't like. Finally, he found the opportunity to counterattack.
The ball hit by Marui Bunta hit the net and landed on Yanagi Renji's court.
Yanagi Renji's counterattack was affected by the net and went astray, and Marui Bunta went to the net. "Secret technique, tightrope walking."
"Game Marui, 4-5!"
The jackal Kuwabara on the sidelines encouraged: "Well done, Bunta."
"Are you an idiot? Yanagi didn't use any of his own moves this time." Marui Bunta didn't even say his catchphrase during this game. Thinking about how to avoid being scored against Yanagi Renji took up most of Marui Bunta's energy, and the rest was spent on finding opportunities to counterattack and score.
Half a day had passed since the match began. Seeing that Marui Bunta's movements began to slow down, Yanagi Renji won the game with a smash.
"Game Liu, 6-4!"
As soon as the game was over, Marui Bunta walked out of the arena and collapsed on the Jackal Kuwabara's uniform. "I'm so tired~"
Marui Wen, who was sweating all over, was very tired but satisfied. Military Advisor Liu rarely played in this way. He usually pointed out the problems directly and suggested areas that needed attention or improvement.
Niou bent down. "How's it going, pure data tennis?"
"I don't want to fight again." Marui Bunta had a good harvest this time and even got some inspiration for new moves.
When being completely blocked by Military Advisor Liu, Marui Bunta didn't want the game to end like this. He thought that he should just ignore the others and hit all the balls back to buy time.
Thinking about it this way, doubles matches are much more comfortable. Kuwahara will take the initiative in many things, and he is the most suitable person to assist Marui Bunta.
During normal practice, no one at Rikkai University would think of challenging Yukimura to a match. The same goes for Sanada. His teammates would see what Yanagi Renji was in charge of and would not easily disturb him.
Among the remaining opponents, Jackal Kuwabara is too familiar, Yagyu Hiroshi is a newcomer, and Niou Masaharu's style naturally won't allow him to give his all in a practice match.
In the inter-school competition, Marui Bunta played doubles.
In fact, Marui Bunta rarely has a sensory experience like this competition.
The first game took up a lot of time. After lunch, the members of the tennis club returned to their seats one by one to wait. Watching high-level games can also be a good experience.
The next match was Group C, with Hiroshi Yagyu and Jackal Kuwahara standing on both sides of the field.
The jackal Kuwabara was performing the shaving ceremony before the game, while Yagyu Hiroshi was waiting like a gentleman.
Marui Bunta said he disliked his partner, but in reality he was on his partner's side. "The winner will be Kuwabara."
Niou Masaharu retorted with a smile. "While I appreciate Bunta's help with the recording, Biluo won't lose the match just because he's a step behind in the team."
Yanagi Renji ignored the sparks of bickering and stood quietly by, recording data. Marui Bunta truly possessed outstanding potential; now it was all up to Nioh to show it. Perhaps Yagyu Hiroshi and Jackal Kuwahara would perform exceptionally well in this evenly matched match.
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