Chapter 16: Echizen Ryoma Playing Doubles?

For many consecutive days, after school, Takahashi Yanichi headed straight for the Tennis Club.

For the afternoon training, he was never late and never left early!

He showed up on time every single day!

However, he never trained, and he didn't even take his tennis racket out.

Every day, he would hold a manga book, carry a bottle of drink, and leisurely spend two wonderful hours.

Finally, on this day, Takahashi Yanichi had a change of heart.

He felt that the gazes the Tennis Club members directed at him were full of longing, full of envy, and full of jealousy...

He felt that if things continued like this.

It would be very bad!

Others were practicing painstakingly, while he was openly slacking off on the sidelines.

This was not good!

It was easy to cause negative emotions.

It affected the practice efficiency of everyone in the Tennis Club.

Moreover, it was not good for the management of the Tennis Club either.

Especially when he looked at Vice Captain Sanada, whose brows were tightly locked every day, the wrinkles on his forehead were furrowed into the shape of the character 'river'.

It was very worrying!

He was clearly only two years older and two grades higher than him.

That weathered face—some people would even believe it if you said he was Takahashi's uncle!

He couldn't let him continue on the path toward becoming an old man and never return!

Caring for the Vice Captain is everyone's responsibility in the Tennis Club!

Therefore, for the sake of the Vice Captain and for the sake of everyone else in the Tennis Club.

He decided to sacrifice his own small self to achieve the success of the entire Tennis Club.

After school, he walked straight out of the campus.

He was almost moved to tears by his own such kind-hearted action.

How could he be so kind?

With the world going downhill, where else could you find a person as good as him, Takahashi Yanichi!

However, where to go next.

Takahashi Yanichi was stumped.

Going home, boring!

Go stroll around the basketball court?

Forget it, it wouldn't be good to affect other people's training.

Bored to death, he finally decided to take the bus.

Try his luck!

Wherever the bus took him, he would wander around there to kill time.

Tokyo.

As soon as he got off the bus, Takahashi Yanichi suddenly had a sense of destiny.

It really was the world of tennis; even the heavens wanted him to come to Tokyo for a stroll.

Tokyo had several famous schools from the original story.

Seishun Academy where the original protagonist Echizen Ryoma was, Hyotei Academy with a Tennis Club of 200 people, and the big dark horse that emerged this year, Fudomine...

I wonder how my luck is today; will I be able to run into them?

As Takahashi walked along the road, he looked forward to it all the way...

As expected of the capital of Japan, it was indeed much more prosperous than Kanagawa.

There was a manga shop every few steps here, with a complete variety, reasonable prices, and everything one could wish for.

The shops selling game consoles were also dazzling.

Takahashi soon forgot his thoughts and plunged headlong into the world of games and anime.

By the time he came out of the manga shop, the sky had already turned dark.

Clutching the full haul in his hands, Takahashi prepared to head home with satisfaction.

However.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

A familiar sound of hitting a ball caught Takahashi's attention.

He followed the source of the sound and walked to a street tennis court...

This was a tennis court with simple facilities, yet it was surrounded by many people.

"Bang!"

The tennis ball shot out rapidly, crossed the net, and spun at high speed after landing.

Then, the ball headed toward the opponent's face at an incredible angle.

"Slap!"

That person hadn't expected the tennis ball to come only toward their body, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

The scene was suddenly too ghastly to look at...

"Twist Serve!"

Takahashi recognized this as Echizen Ryoma's signature move.

He looked closely and saw two people standing on one side of the Court.

One tall, one short.

The short one wore his iconic white cap, making it impossible to see his eyes beneath it; he wore a white T-shirt with red sleeves.

The other, taller one wore a yellow T-shirt and blue pants.

It was none other than Seigaku's Echizen Ryoma and Momoshiro Takeshi.

Only, at this moment, they were both standing inside the tennis court.

There were two people on the opposite side as well.

Doubles?

He hadn't expected that, with Echizen Ryoma's unruly personality, there would actually come a day when he played doubles.

Suddenly, he recalled the anime he had watched in his past life.

At the very beginning of the anime, during the Regional Preliminaries, Momoshiro Takeshi and Echizen Ryoma decided to have a match to compete for the third singles spot.

However, the Street Tennis Court they chose, while free to use, required doubles play.

This was that very tennis court.

The person next to Takahashi heard his words, leaned over, and asked, "Do you know this Serve?"

"Yes! The biggest characteristic of the Twist Serve is that the ball bounces toward the body, catching people off guard, so it's a difficult ball to return."

Takahashi said indifferently.

But the spin of the tennis ball in the air and upon landing already indicated the direction the ball would bounce.

By carefully observing the spin on the tennis ball and adjusting one's position accordingly, it could be returned smoothly.

It wasn't that difficult either.

Takahashi added silently in his heart.

Everyone was very surprised by this serve from the short Echizen.

"This serve is actually so powerful; I never expected to see such a serve."

A girl with orange hair wearing a blue skirt said.

"To win this game based solely on the serve, it really cannot be underestimated!"

These two people lost very quickly.

The next two people to take the court also lost very quickly, as they couldn't return the balls served by Momoshiro and Echizen at all.

"Truly amazing, especially that shorter one; his potential is limitless!"

The person beside Takahashi exclaimed from the heart.

"Although they won another game, there is absolutely no coordination between them, and they are full of holes; if a pair with tacit understanding in doubles came along, they would definitely lose."

Takahashi said indifferently.

The person beside him raised his head in surprise and looked at Takahashi.

That look seemed to be saying, how is that possible?

If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense.

"Playing tennis relies on real strength, not just moving your lips to act like an expert."

"Young man, you should be down-to-earth and humble; admitting that others are better than you is nothing to be ashamed of."

Sure enough, similar words came out of his mouth.

Takahashi was speechless for a moment...

After all, it was a Street Tennis Court, so one couldn't have too high of an expectation for their skill.

However, the situation on the court immediately underwent a shocking reversal.

A boy with dyed yellow afro hair and a black-haired boy with a small braid appeared.

Takahashi remembered that this seemed to be some cannon fodder doubles team from a random school.

"The two of them are the strongest team here."

Others nearby exclaimed.

Oh, it was Izumi and Buchuan from Yurin Junior High.

After the boasting of others, Takahashi finally remembered these two people.

"Bang!"

"15-0!"

The tennis ball landed in the area between Momoshiro and Echizen.

Neither of them returned it, and they even broke into an argument over who should have taken the ball.

"30-0!"

"40-0!"

"This is my first time playing doubles with someone else; do I look like someone who has cooperated with others before?"

The cool Echizen said to Momoshiro.

Hearing the two on the court say this, the person beside Takahashi was somewhat surprised.

Turning around, he said to him, "You were actually right; it seems I was wrong just now."

"It's nothing!" Takahashi replied.

"It seems you're quite impressive!"

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"I really like tennis, so I come here every night to watch the matches."

He continued to speak incessantly, attempting to strike up a conversation with Takahashi.

"Watch the matches!"

Takahashi only replied indifferently.