"Got tricked, huh! Real sneaky, Shitenhōji!" Shishido Ryō said, clearly annoyed.
Then he and Ōtori Chōtarō exchanged a glance and started aiming their shots more toward Kenya, hoping to wear him down. That clone technique had to eat up a lot of stamina.
But this time, Shishido misread the serve. The moment Kenya served, Shishido ran the wrong way. Though he quickly turned around and chased the ball down, the return quality was affected.
The ball arced high toward Shitenhōji's side. Kenya saw this and, leaving afterimages behind, dashed to the net and leapt high into the air, slamming the ball down hard.
"Wild Tiger Rice!"
Ōtori reacted just in time, rushing over to receive. As he reached the spot, he stepped back slightly to soften the impact of the smash, then gripped his racket with both hands and swung at the bouncing ball.
The ball flew straight toward the opposite court. But right after returning it, Ōtori spotted Ishida Gin's movement and his face turned pale—he had only focused on the return and hadn't noticed Ishida's positioning.
"Eightieth Form: Hadoukyu!"
Without any hesitation, Ishida Gin unleashed another Hadoukyu with massive power, sending it rocketing toward the opposite court.
Ōtori, thinking it was his fault Ishida Gin had the chance to use the Hadoukyu, bit his lip and kept retreating. He backed up all the way past the baseline, then planted himself with both hands on his racket, ready to face the incoming shot.
"Don't! Chōtarō! You can't handle that!" Shishido shouted, trying to stop him.
Too late. Ōtori's racket met the Hadoukyu head-on, and he didn't last a second—he was blown straight backward. Luckily, the wall and fence behind him stopped his momentum.
"30-0!"
Shishido rushed to Ōtori's side. Seeing him slowly stand up, he let out a breath of relief, but scolded him sternly.
"Why the hell did you try to take that head-on? If you got injured, this match would be over!"
"Sorry, Shishido-senpai! I made the mistake earlier that let him use the Hadoukyu, so I wasn't thinking, I just… wanted to make up for it!" Ōtori said, looking guilty.
"Idiot! That was my mistake! I misread his serve. Don't try to play hero again!" Shishido said, his tone complicated.
"Yes, Shishido-senpai!" Ōtori replied earnestly.
When Kenya served with his clone technique again, Shishido read the direction correctly this time. He sprinted to the drop point and returned the serve, then charged the net.
He and Kenya clashed up front once more, trading fast volleys. Shishido avoided hitting toward Ishida Gin completely, which frustrated Ishida in the back, but he couldn't do much about it.
Seeing this, Kenya stopped holding back and split into three clones again. Shishido couldn't adapt quickly enough and made a wrong judgment, but Ōtori covered in time.
That's when Ishida Gin saw his chance. Using the cover of Kenya's three bodies, he launched another Hadoukyu mid-run. Unfortunately for them, both Shishido and Ōtori could now handle standard Hadoukyus without much trouble.
At this point, the match looked odd—six figures moving across the court made it look like six people were playing, which amused the spectators watching.
Eventually, Shishido and Ōtori missed their chance to score. The opponents spotted an opening and Ishida Gin landed a Hadoukyu for the point.
"40-0!"
But Kenya had burned through a lot of stamina. If they couldn't close out the match quickly, he might be in real trouble physically.
"Game! Shitenhōji! 5-2!"
With Kenya's full burst and the constant pressure of Ishida's Hadoukyus, Shishido and Ōtori couldn't hold the game. The match was starting to slip toward Shitenhōji.
But as the eighth game started, Ōtori served with his newly upgraded power shot and then immediately moved behind Shishido, aligning his body perfectly with Shishido's silhouette.
"Pile Mirage!"
This piled even more pressure on Oshitari Kenya. Even with his speed, allowing him to chase down balls even when he couldn't clearly tell who was returning them, repeated full bursts were starting to drain his stamina fast.
On top of that, Ishida Gin couldn't find any good openings for his Hadoukyus in this situation. He could only barely cover for Kenya, but his slow movement made that barely effective.
"15-0!"
"30-0!"
"30-15!"
"40-15!"
Momentum began swinging toward Hyōtei. After Ōtori Chōtarō launched another heavy serve, he once again moved behind Shishido Ryō, initiating Pile Mirage.
Kenya dashed to the drop point and returned Ōtori's power serve. The rally heated up again, but this time Kenya misread the ball. Though he managed to reach it in time, the shot came out too high.
Seeing this, Shishido abandoned the Pile Mirage, sprang toward the net, jumped high, and smashed the ball down hard. It slammed into the handle of Kenya's racket.
As Kenya's racket flew from his hand, the ball rebounded high. Shishido jumped again and delivered a second smash straight at the incoming ball.
"Rondo Towards Destruction!"
Although Ishida Gin reacted, he simply wasn't fast enough. Before he could reach the drop point, the ball had already landed deep and bounced out of bounds.
"Game! Hyōtei Academy! 5-3!"
Game nine was Ishida Gin's serve. To be honest, the pressure on Ōtori Chōtarō now was immense. If he couldn't return Ishida's Hadoukyu Serve, then Hyōtei's match was over.
Ishida wasn't holding back. Without hesitation, he launched a Hadoukyu Serve from the baseline. He'd been suppressed most of the match and had barely gotten to return anything, so he went all in on this serve.
Ōtori rushed to the drop point without a second thought, taking several steps back as he did. He bit down and gripped his racket with both hands, facing the rising ball head-on.
The moment he made contact, a sharp pain shot through his right wrist. His racket flew from his hands uncontrollably, and the ball went sailing out of bounds.
"15-0!"
Clutching his wrist, Ōtori immediately understood what had happened. That earlier Hadoukyu—the Eightieth Form he'd taken head-on—had injured his wrist, just not severely enough to notice right away. That's why he'd still been able to play.
But now, against a fully-powered Hadoukyu Serve, his wrist simply couldn't hold up. Still, Ōtori wasn't ready to give up. He acted like nothing had happened, picked up his racket, and got ready to receive again.
Just as Ishida prepared to serve, Shishido suddenly raised his hand to the umpire. When the umpire looked at him, Shishido declared bluntly:
"We, Hyōtei, forfeit this match!"
Everyone on Hyōtei's bench looked at him in shock. They couldn't understand why he'd forfeit when they still had a shot. Only Atobe kept his eyes on Ōtori for a few moments, then his expression showed he understood.
"Shishido-senpai! What are you saying?! We haven't lost yet! I can still return the Hadoukyu Serve!" Ōtori said urgently, trying to change Shishido's mind.
But Shishido didn't answer right away. Instead, he walked up to Ōtori, grabbed his wrist, and gave it a squeeze. The sharp pain made Ōtori's brows twitch.
"You really think you can do anything with that wrist? Or did you think you could hide your injury from me?" Shishido asked calmly.
"But... but… I don't want to give up!" Ōtori said, lowering his head.
"Enough! So what if we lose? It's not like it's the first time. Hyōtei isn't at the point where you need to sacrifice your wrist for it!" Shishido cut him off, then grabbed his arm and led him off the court.
Across from them, Ishida Gin and Oshitari Kenya exchanged glances and both let out deep breaths. Then they turned to the umpire, waiting for the final ruling.
The umpire looked toward Hyōtei's bench, and when Sakaki Tarō gave a nod, he made the announcement.
"Due to Hyōtei's forfeit, the match is over! Final score: 5-3! Winner—Shitenhōji!"