Chapter 166: The Actor

"Captain Takahashi, Irie was still acting at the end, wasn't he!"

Fuji called out to Takahashi, who was just about to leave.

Takahashi turned his head back, looking somewhat surprised.

"Did you see it?"

Fuji smiled and said, "No, I didn't see it."

"It was only through your answer just now, Captain Takahashi, that I was able to confirm this fact."

Takahashi also smiled and turned to leave.

Kikumaru, who was beside Fuji, was very shocked.

"Huh?"

"Hasn't Atobe already evolved the Atobe Kingdom?"

"In other words, was the fact that this match was voided intentional on the opponent's part?"

Kikumaru asked.

Fuji pondered for a moment and said, "Do you remember what Takahashi just said about the issue of blind spots, and that one should look at this matter dialectically?"

"This point makes me very concerned; if the gap between the two sides' strength is too great, can the evolution of insight see the opponent's blind spots?"

"Even if they are seen, can the opponent really not react to that ball?"

Kikumaru was a bit confused and said, "But wasn't what Atobe hit aimed at the blind spots where joints and bones simply cannot react?"

Fuji said, "Yes! That's why I'm also very uncertain."

"Especially since Irie only said his own arm couldn't be lifted after Atobe collapsed from exhaustion. This point also makes me very concerned."

"Since I don't know, it's never wrong to go ask the strongest person on the court."

"Moreover, ever since Atobe evolved the Atobe Kingdom, Takahashi hasn't said a single word."

Kikumaru was even more surprised and said, "Fuji, you actually pay such close attention."

Fuji opened his eyes, and his expression gradually became serious.

The relationship between Seigaku and Hyotei is quite good, and they have played practice matches against each other, so Fuji has some understanding of Atobe's strength.

Even for the evolved Atobe, an Atobe who is completely incomparable to the one at the Kanto Tournament, there is no hope of winning against a high schooler.

The opponent hadn't even exerted his true strength.

Yet Takahashi was able to defeat Tokugawa from Court 1.

Both are middle schoolers; Fuji did not expect the gap between them to be so vast.

On the other side.

Sanada caught up with Takahashi's pace and asked, "Are you saying that Irie was also acting at the end?"

"Including those points he scored using the Atobe Kingdom?"

Takahashi smiled and said, "Mm!"

Kirihara asked, "Is Irie actually this powerful? Even the Atobe Kingdom can't see through his blind spots?"

Takahashi pondered for a moment and said, "The Atobe Kingdom targets the blind spots of human joints and bones; it is more powerful than the World of Ice and is effective against opponents whose strength is slightly higher than Atobe's."

"But for a player like Irie, who is far above Atobe, it is useless."

Kirihara continued to ask, "But wasn't it said that those are absolute blind spots that neither bones nor joints can react to?"

Takahashi looked at the extremely inquisitive Kirihara, rubbed his forehead, and continued to explain, "Let's use an analogy! Suppose my bones and joints do indeed have blind spots; if your ball comes over and I can see through your ball trajectory, and I adjust my body position in time as the tennis ball arrives, then this blind spot becomes meaningless. Because people are moving, a blind spot at this moment will not become a permanent blind spot."

"But if the opponent's ball speed is very fast, fast to the point where I cannot react at all, or I don't have time to move my body, then such a ball targeting a blind spot is effective."

Kirihara asked, "Then is there still any meaning in evolving from the World of Ice to the Atobe Kingdom?"

Takahashi said, "Of course there is meaning. The blind spots seen by the Atobe Kingdom are more accurate and harder to return than those seen by the World of Ice. But that is only in the case where the strength of both sides is not too different."

"When the gap in basic strength between the two sides is too large, any technique or skill will fail."

Kirihara continued to ask, "So how strong is Irie's strength exactly?"

Takahashi said, "His strength is a mystery; I don't know either."

"But Irie once coached Tokugawa, the same Tokugawa from Court 1 who played against you before."

"And Irie is also very good at insight—no, to be precise, it should be psychological insight—so he can clearly know the opponent's psychological changes during a match, thereby completely seeing through the opponent's thoughts and actions."

"This is also the reason why he can act during a match without being discovered by his opponent."

Kirihara was truly shocked now.

"What? This is simply like a high-spec version of Atobe."

"Atobe is too miserable; not only did he lose, he doesn't even know how he lost."

After finishing his sympathy for Atobe, Kirihara hung his head, very dejected, "Originally, I also wanted to defeat high schoolers and be able to avoid training just like Master."

"I didn't expect that not only Tokugawa from Court 1, but even Irie from Court 3 would be so difficult to deal with."

"Not training, it seems impossible now."

Sanada said, "Kirihara, too slack! You actually have the delusion of not training with your kind of strength."

"Extra training! You must do extra training!"

Time flies, years pass like a shuttle!

It is another beautiful day with a gentle breeze.

Court 16 is harmonious, and different team members from various schools are doing their routine training.

In an open space under the shade of a tree sits a person wearing a red and white team uniform, who is currently battling with a Snake game console.

"Takahashi has changed to a different game console today; it was Tetris yesterday, and today it has already become Snake."

"I really want to play too!"

Kintaro said with some dissatisfaction.

"Kintaro, I know your eyesight is very good, but you don't need to see this kind of thing so clearly."

Shiraishi replied, he was also somewhat speechless.

For several consecutive days of training, Takahashi had been sitting on the sidelines as a temporary Coach for the middle school students.

In fact, the daily training volume at the Training Camp was the same, and the team members could complete it independently; saying they needed a temporary Coach was really just for the purpose of supervising and managing discipline.

But since the word Coach was in the title, wasn't it a bit too much for Takahashi to spend every day playing video games and reading manga in different ways?

Everyone else was shedding sweat for their youth and interpreting their dreams with hard work, while only he was enjoying life on the sidelines, looking refreshed.

What was most infuriating was that he didn't forget to bring a bottle of a drink every day, and the type of drink was different every day.

Shiraishi did not know what exactly Takahashi had come to the U17 for.

He did not do the daily training, and he was not in the daily random matches either.

No matter how excessive his behavior was, the Coaches acted as if they did not see it.

If it were anyone else, even slightly doing something out of line, they would be warned by the Coaches using a megaphone.

Although Takahashi was indeed powerful, this stark contrast still made Shiraishi somewhat unable to accept it.

"Shiraishi, don't talk about Kintaro either; even I can't help it anymore."

Momoshiro said while panting heavily.

"Momoshiro, don't be impulsive; every move we make is under the surveillance of the Coaches."

Oishi looked at the impulsive Momoshiro and said with great worry.

"I... also... really want to... sit down... like Takahashi."

"So... tired!"

Kikumaru said while panting heavily.

"Didn't the Captain say it? Only by showing enough strength to the Coaches can one become a temporary Coach like him."

Sanada looked at the state of these people and shook his head in disappointment.

It is truly too slack!

A few days ago, the middle school students also had a few matches against the high school students.

Although the middle school students did have times when they won, the opponents they defeated were not considered particularly strong among the high school students.

Against people like Oni Jujiro, Irie Kanata, and Tokugawa Kazuya, the middle school students had been completely defeated so far.

So with such a large gap between the enemy and ourselves, this group of people was still thinking about slacking off and not training properly; it was simply too slack!

Takahashi did not train, yet he could still defeat his opponents.

But if they did not train, the gap between them and the high school students would only become more and more obvious.

Therefore, Sanada did not dare to waste every minute and every second of training time; he even wanted to add more training!