Chapter 171: Takahashi, the No. 2 of the 1st String

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the violent sound of the ball being struck, the tennis ball landed in front of Byodoin like a bolt of lightning.

The tennis ball spun violently in place until it drilled a small pit into the ground; only then did the ball stop spinning and settle into stillness.

"40-0!"

"Takahashi scores!"

Takahashi looked at the incomparably vigilant and wary gaze cast by Byodoin, and he smiled slightly.

Byodoin's thoughts were reasonable.

Although the principle behind this shot was not difficult, the actual execution was by no means simple.

This move had particularly high requirements for the player's own speed, power, and technique.

It was only in the last few days that Takahashi had been able to successfully hit such a serve.

As early as when Takahashi played against Tezuka, he had already had such an idea; he wanted to hit a serve more advanced than the Zero-Style Serve, one that would leave even World Level players with no way to fight back.

But putting this idea into practice was quite difficult.

At that time, the Idle Character—no, Takahashi—had also steadily entered the World Level, but during the actual serve, once the power was insufficient or the spin was not enough, it would cause the tennis ball to bounce up or fail to drill through the ground.

The Idle Character had gone through countless failures before finally finding the balance between the angle of the tennis ball's landing, the speed of its rotation, and the power contained within the ball.

Therefore, this serve was actually the embodiment of the perfect fusion of Takahashi's own speed, power, and technique.

And now, Takahashi, the Takahashi who dared to use this move, had a success rate of one hundred percent!

"Bang!"

"1-0!"

"Takahashi scores!"

"Match over!"

Irie announced loudly.

Byodoin Houou took a deep look at Takahashi and said, "Your strength is quite good; I acknowledge your position as No. 2 of the 1st String."

While speaking, Byodoin picked up his tennis racket and strode away.

Once everyone had left the tennis court one by one, Oni and Irie walked at the very end.

Irie let out a sigh of relief and said, "You worried me for nothing before the match."

"I originally thought the match between Takahashi and Byodoin would tear the entire Court 16 apart."

"Fortunately, fortunately, it only smashed 3 small pits into the ground, which can almost be ignored."

Oni's expression was somewhat serious.

"I didn't expect Takahashi to be able to take a game from Byodoin relying solely on his serve."

"In this past year, has Byodoin ever had the experience of being scored on by direct serves for an entire game?"

Irie also put away the smile on his face.

"With Byodoin's strength, this is almost unimaginable."

"Even for professional players, it is not easy to achieve."

"You mean..."

Oni said in a deep voice, "The shot Takahashi hit was perfect in every aspect."

"I feel his strength might be approaching the professional level!"

Irie pondered for a moment and said, "Indeed, Takahashi's speed of improvement is extremely fast."

"When he played against Tanegashima Shuji before, the strength he displayed was not this powerful!"

"At that time, his base strength was on par with Shuji, but now, his strength is likely even above Shuji's."

Irie couldn't help but narrow his eyes and said, "How long has it been? Less than three months!"

"The speed of Takahashi's strength growth is too terrifying; with his rapid progress, Byodoin..."

Oni recalled the otherworldly phantom, Taotie, that Takahashi had displayed when playing against him—powerful and terrifying.

At that time, Takahashi's base strength was not as powerful as it was today; if this match had been allowed to continue, it might have truly been as Mifune General Coach predicted: Byodoin might have been pushed to the point of destruction and rebirth.

Then, the outcome would have been hard to say.

And one of the two of them would definitely have been seriously injured; perhaps both sides would have been injured, who knows.

Originally, Takahashi's otherworldly phantom—Taotie—was already very powerful; as Takahashi's own base strength increases, his Taotie will also become even more powerful.

Thinking of this, Oni was suddenly startled.

According to the current speed of Takahashi's strength growth, will there be a near future where Takahashi's strength grows to the point that even if Byodoin completes the evolution of breaking and then rebuilding, he will still be at a disadvantage?

One morning a few days later.

After finishing their basic training, the middle schoolers came to the main court as requested by the coaches.

"Is that the 1st String that was on the overseas expedition before?"

Kikumaru looked at the several tall figures walking toward them and asked the teammates beside him.

Inui Sadaharu opened his notebook and said, "Yes. According to the data I have collected, they all possess strength that surpasses Court 1."

"Here, every year, there are as many as half of the high schoolers who leave the Training Camp because they lose their will to fight after playing against the 1st String."

Momoshiro said, "Hey, hey, hey! That means they are much more formidable than that Oni and Tokugawa?"

"But why call us middle schoolers here?"

Yanagi Renji said, "This should be the final test the coaches are conducting on us!"

Kikumaru said in surprise, "A test?"

Yanagi Renji replied, "It is to select the middle schoolers who will participate in the upcoming U17 World Cup."

"After all, there are so many middle schoolers in the Training Camp now; a batch will definitely have to be eliminated."

Momoshiro said in surprise, "So soon?"

"But we can't even beat Tokugawa on Court 1 right now, so how could we possibly beat anyone stronger?"

Oishi chimed in, "We have been in this Training Camp for almost a month now!"

"But if this is the final assessment, the difficulty is simply too high."

Shiraishi frowned and said, "The strongest among us right now is Takahashi; I'm afraid only Takahashi has any hope of winning a match, everyone else is in danger!"

"However, the number of middle schoolers selected shouldn't be just one person."

Fuji said, "Mm, I think so too!"

"So it must be about looking at the strength and mentality the middle schoolers display when facing opponents stronger than themselves!"

At this moment, the members of the 1st String had already arrived in front of the middle schoolers.

"Stinking brats, are you ready to welcome defeat?"

Byodoin Houou's domineering voice came through.

Feeling the powerful aura emanating from Byodoin, the middle schoolers were all somewhat shocked.

Then Byodoin said to Tokugawa Kazuya, who was standing on the other side, "Tokugawa, you should have made some progress during this time!"

Tokugawa was somewhat agitated, and just as he wanted to step forward, Oni reached out to stop Tokugawa and shook his head at him.

Momoshiro was somewhat shocked, "Someone as formidable as Tokugawa doesn't even dare to act presumptuously in front of this person!"

"Just how powerful is he!"

"1, 2,... 18, 19!"

"Didn't they say there were 20 people? Why is one missing!"

Kintaro counted the number of people one by one and asked curiously.

"Isn't the last one standing right next to you?"

Byodoin answered loudly.

"Eh! Next to me?"

Kintaro pointed at himself in surprise, looking left and right.

To his left was Shiraishi, and to his right was Takahashi.

Seeing this, Takahashi helplessly took the Badge out of his pocket and pinned it to his collar.

The number 2 on the Badge glittered in the sun!

At this moment, all the middle schoolers were stunned.

"So the number 2 of the 1st String is actually Takahashi, a middle schooler?"

Kikumaru's mouth was almost hanging open in an 'O' shape.

"Takahashi actually managed to reach second place among the high schoolers; that's too flamboyant!"

Atobe's voice, filled with envy and jealousy, came through.

"Takahashi, he truly is an unfathomable person!"

Fuji opened his eyes and said.

"Unexpected, yet within reason!"

"Otherwise, how could he serve as the temporary Coach for us middle schoolers!"

Yukimura said.