Chapter 26: He

“So strong! Can anyone really return a serve like this?”

“Is he really a middle school student?”

“Fudou Mine Middle School? I’ve never heard of a school like that before. Could it be a new tennis powerhouse?”

Without a doubt, the Yulin Middle School duo who had just crushed the Seishun Academy pair were now utterly powerless against Shengzai.

To be fair, Shengzai and Xiao Xing’s doubles skill was hardly better than that of Ryoma and Momoshiro before them.

Xiao Xing might have had a bit of doubles experience, but Shengzai was also playing doubles for the first time, so their pairing was riddled with gaps.

But so what? Even if only Shengzai was returning shots, the Yulin duo, Quan and Bu Chuan, had no way to fight back.

To be blunt, what they called “doubles” was really just Shengzai playing against both of them alone.

As for Xiao Xing’s role, it was essentially just serving the ball—always returned—right at the start.

Whether it was Xiao Xing or anyone else on the court, the outcome wouldn’t change at all.

“Your strength is truly incredible—we’re completely outmatched. But you won only because we’re too weak.”

“We will never accept that your tennis counts as doubles.”

Shengzai paid no attention to Quan and Bu Chuan’s bitter complaints—he never knew how to play doubles anyway.

After becoming the defending champion, Shengzai looked around and said, “Anyone else want to challenge me?”

The result was obvious—no one responded to Shengzai’s question.

Come on, the strongest pair here was crushed effortlessly by Shengzai. Who’d go up against him now but to get humiliated?

“According to the rules here, if no new challengers show up, shouldn’t the previous losers be allowed to return to the court?”

In response to Shengzai’s question, Quan and Bu Chuan nodded, confirming it was true.

On the other side, Ryoma and Momoshiro had already taken off their jackets, rackets in hand, clearly eager to get on court.

Clearly, Shengzai’s display of power had ignited their fighting spirit.

If before they were merely responding to provocation, now they truly wanted to play a match against Shengzai.

After all, they were both middle-schoolers, and now they’d met a worthy opponent—how could they sleep tonight without a match?

“Since no one’s stepping up, can we change the rules?”

“Change doubles to singles. Playing doubles with Momoshiro-senpai only hinders my performance.”

No sooner had Ryoma finished speaking than Momoshiro grabbed him by the neck, scowling: “You dare say that about me? The one who’s in the way is you!”

Compared to doubles, both Ryoma and Momoshiro clearly preferred to play singles against Shengzai.

Besides, they’d realized Shengzai was a singles player—because Xiao Xing was nothing but a merciless serving machine.

“Quan, Bu Chuan, everyone here—let them play singles. I don’t want to be a mascot anymore.”

“Besides, this kind of opportunity is rare. You all want to see a real clash between top players, don’t you?”

The rules of the street tennis court were set collectively by everyone present, and as a regular, Xiao Xing now appealed to the crowd.

“Your boyfriend’s strength is so overwhelming—I doubt anyone will dare challenge him while he’s on the court.”

“Then let them play singles, since that’s what they want.”

After receiving permission, Ryoma and Momoshiro were both thrilled and then fiercely played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first.

In the end, Momoshiro won two out of three rounds and stepped onto the court with an excited grin, stretching his arms.

“Rules follow standard tennis: who wins first?”

After both sides nodded in agreement, Xiao Xing tossed the tennis ball to Momoshiro, the challenger.

Hearing the standard rules, Momoshiro sighed in relief.

Honestly, if it were still one-point-decides-all, he didn’t think he had much chance of winning.

So far, he still hadn’t adapted to Shengzai’s movements or his speed.

Holding the tennis ball, Momoshiro tossed it high and leaned forward into his serving motion.

The instant he struck the ball, his body surged forward.

“It’s Momoshiro-senpai’s bullet serve—he’s trying to rush the net to better observe his opponent’s movements?”

Seeing Momoshiro’s move, Ryoma instantly understood his intent—and he had to admit, his senpai’s judgment was spot-on.

“Why does serving and rushing the net help observe the opponent’s movements better?”

As Ryoma muttered to himself, a sudden female voice beside him nearly made him jump.

When he turned, he saw it was Shi Sazori, the tennis magazine reporter who had interviewed during the Seishun Academy’s official team selection, and the middle-aged man, Inoue Mamoru.

“Serving and rushing the net means moving quickly to the net while serving.”

Momoshiro’s bullet serve is fast; trying to rush the net at the same time makes it even harder.”

“The advantage of serving and rushing the net is clear: using height to dominate the net lets you observe the opponent from a closer angle, suppress their baseline shots, and even apply psychological pressure.”

The one answering Sazori’s question was Inoue, who had come to the street court because while eating, he’d heard about an exceptionally strong middle schooler dueling nearby.

As a tennis magazine reporter, his job was to discover promising middle school tennis players.

He hadn’t expected that when he arrived, the “exceptionally strong middle schooler” would include Ryoma and Momoshiro, whom he’d just met recently.

Inoue knew well the strength of Seishun Academy’s official team—never mind the Kanto and National tournaments, they were always seeded in regional and metropolitan competitions.

But he’d never heard of Wenren Shengzai, the one dueling Momoshiro.

Just as Momoshiro served the ball, confident and ready to rush the net, his feet had barely taken a few steps when a yellow trajectory instantly shot past beneath him.

“What?! My bullet serve was just… so easily…?”

“Fifteen-love!”

When Xiao Xing announced the score, not only Momoshiro on the court, but even Inoue and Sazori—who had just arrived and hadn’t seen Shengzai’s strength—were stunned into silence.

“Bullet serve? Well, it’s definitely faster than normal, but if that’s all you’ve got, you won’t score a single point against me.”

(Many think my writing is bland and not satisfying enough, but I can only say: I could write an opening full of invincibility and instant triumphs.

But those kinds of overpowered, instant-OP isekai novels usually collapse before 200,000 words. I want to finish this book properly, so the early world’s power level won’t be absurdly high. To those who don’t like it, I’m sorry. (ToT)/~~~

(End of chapter)