Oshitari, on the other hand, looked perfectly at ease, completely oblivious that his pursuit of what he thought was prey had, in an unseen twist, turned him into the hunted.
Clap!
Clap!!
He bounced the tennis ball on the ground, and the moment it rebounded, he smoothly caught it, tossed it up, bent his knees, and then, as the ball reached its peak, he powered up from his legs, leaping and delivering a forceful serve.
Smash!
This topspin serve was on a completely different level compared to his previous rounds. The serve was incredibly fast, and the spin was immense...
Boom!!
Almost the instant it landed, Yanagi Renji was already in position, as if he had guessed the ball's landing spot. He simply raised his racket and returned it.
"What?!"
Hearing the return shot, Oshitari didn't have time to think. He stepped forward, chasing after the ball, creating enough space, and set himself up for a flat shot. The moment his racket touched the ball, he angled the racket face downward. He hit another Fake & Drop (F & D).
"Kamaitachi!!"
Yanagi Renji's eyes snapped open, and his figure suddenly accelerated. He crossed his arms, executing an extremely rapid diagonal slice.
Smash!
Several wind blades appeared in Oshitari's vision. His gaze was fixed on the wind blades flying towards him, and his body involuntarily froze in place.
"Wha... what was that?!"
Before Oshitari could think further, several wind blades struck him. The powerful impact directly sent Oshitari's entire body flying into the air. To the spectators, that slice shot landed squarely on Oshitari's abdomen. The high-speed diagonal slice, combined with Oshitari's inability to dodge in time, caused him to be blasted away by the tennis ball.
"0-15!"
Oshitari clutched his abdomen, rising from the ground. The tennis ball rolled to his feet. Only when he stood up did Oshitari realize he was gasping for air. Wha... what just happened? I actually saw countless wind blades attacking my body, yet my body couldn't react.
"Atobe had a similar situation earlier," Oshitari took a deep breath, feeling the pain radiating from his abdomen, and forced himself to stand steady.
He could actually see wind blades!
In previous matches, Oshitari had indeed seen similar phenomena: the blazing fire surrounding Sanada, and the sound of ice pillars shattering when Atobe returned shots. But it wasn't until he stepped onto the court himself and encountered similar techniques that he truly understood the gap between himself and those two.
Smash!
Oshitari endured his physical discomfort and hit another high-quality serve.
But this time...
Boom!!
The tennis ball landed squarely on the center line. Oshitari didn't even have time to react, getting a no-touch ace from Yanagi Renji.
"0-30!"
"What?!"
Oshitari looked at the court. He couldn't react to that instantaneous attack. It was just like that time!
"Do you find it strange?"
"I originally thought your skill level would be like Atobe's, who was on court earlier."
"Now it seems I was overthinking it. Do you really think those eager-to-attack movements can deceive me?!"
Yanagi Renji turned sideways, lowering his gaze slightly to Oshitari, and spoke calmly. In four full games, Yanagi Renji had already gathered all of Oshitari's data. Oshitari's eager-to-attack movements had long been seen through by Yanagi Renji. He was merely using Oshitari to continuously refine the data he had on hand. Now that the data was fully collected, there was no need to continue the match.
"He saw through me? No... he's just bluffing, trying to make me doubt myself. A very clever誘導 (yǐndǎo - guidance/inducement), isn't it?!" Oshitari pulled a tennis ball from his pocket, shook his head, and forced himself to calm down. He still held a certain advantage in the current situation. Besides, he couldn't possibly be mistaken about such a simple deceptive tactic.
"Oshitari, he's going to lose." Kamikawa calmly observed the situation on the court. For four entire games, it seemed as though Oshitari was dominating the match. In reality, it was Yanagi Renji who, over the course of those four games, was both draining Oshitari's stamina and continuously collecting data on him. Yanagi Renji wasn't just aiming for victory in this match; he was primarily preparing for future encounters with Hyotei in the Kanto Tournament, making sure all preparations were complete. Otherwise, with Yanagi Renji's current strength, he would absolutely not have lost three consecutive small games to Oshitari.
"Starting with an eager offense to make the opponent believe that he's good at offense and not defense—this kind of deceptive tactic is one that Oshitari uses very often."
"Unfortunately, this tactic was seen through by his opponent from the very beginning. When you're in an advantageous position, and your opponent keeps scoring points, under that kind of pressure, players easily start to doubt themselves."
"Not only that, that guy seems to have seen through Oshitari's playing style." Atobe rested one hand on his face, observing everything on the court with his almost abnormal perceptive ability. As one of Rikkai Dai's Three Demon's Gate, Yanagi Renji's reputation wasn't just for show. That guy truly possessed the skill.
"By playing four games, he deduced the opponent's ball trajectories and then systematically attacked. That's the tennis of Rikkai Dai's strategist, Yanagi Renji." Compared to Inui now, Yanagi Renji had already mastered data tennis. Of course, data can also be wrong. As long as the opponent can hit shots that exceed data predictions, or hide their true strength, causing the data to deviate, these two methods can overcome the limitations of data tennis.
However, that's where Yanagi Renji was clever. At the beginning of the fifth game, he unleashed Kamaitachi, a terrifying technique with mental focus, followed by a no-touch return ace on the second shot. Even if Oshitari had hidden his strength, under the increasing pressure of being unable to score, or having nowhere to score, he would naturally make mistakes. Data tennis would then display its true power at this moment.
"Indeed, the wolf is not as cunning as the fox!" Kamikawa muttered to himself, watching Oshitari struggling on the court.
Boom!!
"Game! Yanagi, 2-3!"
Boom!!
"Game! Yanagi, 5-3!"
In less than ten minutes, Oshitari lost four consecutive games, and the match had reached match point. Midway through, Yanagi Renji continuously unleashed Kamaitachi. Oshitari's Hyotei tennis club uniform was torn and tattered, seemingly sliced by those wind blades. The usually elegant and composed Oshitari was now heavily panting on the court, his glasses even removed, and sweat drenched his shirt.
Though his body hadn't moved drastically, he felt exceptionally mentally and physically drained, as if he might collapse on the court at any moment. Oshitari, who had witnessed this scene before, knew very well that this was a sign of insufficient mental focus. Every return shot from his opponent landed precisely where Oshitari least wanted to hit, and every one of Oshitari's returns landed precisely within Yanagi Renji's return range. This feeling frustrated him; he was supposed to be the one in control.
Suddenly, the tide had turned.
Boom!!
Until the very last ball, which landed precisely on the baseline. Oshitari desperately chased after it, even diving, stretching out his hand, but his racket was still five centimeters away from the tennis ball.
Thud!
Oshitari fell heavily to the ground, dust clinging to his face, his glasses falling to the side.
"Game over! Rikkai Dai's Yanagi Renji wins, score 6-3!"
As the final ball landed, the umpire announced the match's conclusion. A smile also spread across his face, as the winner this time was one of Rikkai Dai tennis club's regulars.
"I... I lost." Oshitari picked himself up from the ground, retrieved his round-rimmed glasses, and slowly put them back on his face. One of the lenses was already shattered, just like his shattered inner self.
Yanagi walked slowly to the net, his eyes narrowed. He transferred his racket to his left hand, extended his right hand, and calmly said, "That was an excellent match."
"Mmm." Oshitari's expression remained unchanged as he shook hands. He then turned and left the court. As someone skilled in psychological warfare, he had been beaten at his own game, and Oshitari naturally felt terrible. He now needed time to process the impact of this match.
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It seems Oshitari got a tough lesson from Yanagi Renji, didn't he? What do you think about Yanagi's "data tennis" and how he used it to outsmart Oshitari?
Feed the author—vote now or the story starves 😭"
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