With the Doubles Two match over, the score between Hyōtei and Shitenhōji had evened out at one to one, making the upcoming Singles Two match much more crucial.
By then, Akashi had already arrived outside the court with the Fudomine team. He was genuinely curious which side—Hyōtei or Shitenhōji—would come out on top.
Not long after Akashi showed up, the Seigaku team arrived too. After all, whoever won this match would be their semifinal opponent tomorrow.
Atobe spotted Akashi and Fuji Shūsuke from the players' area but didn't bother greeting them. His full focus was on the match. To be honest, Shitenhōji was no pushover.
When the Shitenhōji players saw that both Fudomine and Seigaku had arrived, they paused in surprise but quickly understood. Their own quarterfinal opponents hadn't been strong, so it was only natural for their match to finish early.
The fact that Shishigaku, a long-time Kyūshū powerhouse, wasn't considered strong in their eyes was a bit of an insult—but also the truth. Even in the original timeline, Shishigaku's strength plummeted after Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri left.
"Up next is the Singles Two match: Hyōtei's Akutagawa Jirō versus Shitenhōji's Shiraishi Kuranosuke! Players, please take the court!"
As the umpire's voice rang out, both players slowly stepped onto the court. After arriving at the net, they greeted each other with a friendly handshake. Neither was the type to stir up conflict.
Seeing who the match was between, Akashi could already guess how boring it was going to be. Between the two of them, they only had two techniques in total.
Still, Shiraishi's left hand was wrapped in bandages. That meant he was still wearing that golden wrist weight. Akashi had never understood Watanabe Osamu's decision—why choose gold for a training weight?
There were plenty of cheaper and more practical materials than gold. For someone already tight on money, Watanabe choosing gold seemed like pure eccentricity. Then again, most people from Shitenhōji were a little off to begin with.
After the handshake, the two exchanged a few casual words. Jirō still looked half-asleep. Urged on by the umpire, they did the coin toss. Shiraishi won and chose to serve.
"First game! Shitenhōji to serve!"
Shiraishi stepped to the baseline, took a deep breath to calm himself, then served with a near textbook-perfect form. The ball flew in fast, with a sharp angle.
Jirō reacted immediately, rushing to the bounce spot. He twisted his wrist and intercepted the ball, returning it while dashing toward the net.
But his plan failed. Shiraishi used his flawless fundamental tennis to pin Jirō near the midline, stopping him from getting close to the net.
Shiraishi knew exactly how troublesome Jirō could be up close, so from the start he pushed hard to keep him from reaching his sweet spot.
The two began a fierce back-and-forth. Jirō tried everything to get closer to the net, while Shiraishi countered with sharp angles to lock him down.
It didn't take long before Jirō started falling behind. When it came to fundamentals, there weren't many in junior high who could outmatch Shiraishi—and Jirō certainly wasn't one of them.
"15-0!"
On the second point, Shiraishi used the same tactic to pressure Jirō near the midline. But this time, Jirō didn't clash head-on. Instead, he started mixing in drop shots to throw off Shiraishi's rhythm.
As the exchanges continued, both players ended up at the net. Seeing this, Shiraishi didn't resist—he joined Jirō for a full-on net duel.
Though neither had flashy techniques, their styles differed. Jirō was incredibly agile at the net, able to return even the trickiest angles with a flick of his wrist.
Shiraishi, meanwhile, pushed fundamental tennis to the limit. He made no mistakes, leaving no openings. In Hyōtei, probably only Atobe could spot Shiraishi's weaknesses.
The match was unfolding just as Akashi expected—pure, fundamental tennis. Jirō wasn't on Shiraishi's level in terms of basics, but he wasn't called the net magician for nothing.
Their contest gradually intensified, with both players taking and losing points. The score climbed steadily. Still, both Akashi and Atobe could tell that Shiraishi held a slight advantage.
"15-15!"
"30-15!"
"30-30!"
"40-30!"
"Game! Shitenhōji leads 1-0!"
In the end, Shiraishi held onto his service game and took the first set. On the other side, Jirō seemed much more awake now. Playing against Shiraishi gave him a totally different kind of experience.
His past opponents had always used flashy techniques that got him excited. But Shiraishi didn't use any special techniques—he just relied on pure fundamental tennis. Jirō had only felt this kind of pressure before when facing Mōri-senpai.
The second game was Jirō's service game, but the flow of the match didn't change much. His serve-and-volley approach helped shorten the time it took him to get to the net.
As the two kept trading shots back and forth, the crowd started to feel a strange sense of nostalgia. They remembered that three years ago, except for a few players, most matches were played like this—plain and unembellished.
But ever since Akashi and the others entered the junior circuit, the matches had been taken to a whole new level. One dazzling technique after another, even moves that pulled the entire audience into dreamlike illusions.
It had been a long time since they'd seen high-level tennis played this purely. Instead of finding it boring, most of them were watching with great interest.
It was like an emperor used to eating rare delicacies suddenly discovering the charm of simple home-cooked meals. That was how most of the spectators felt now.
By this point, the match had slowly started turning against Jirō. In the first game, Shiraishi had only been testing the waters and hadn't gone all out. But after getting a read on Jirō's level, he stopped holding back. His shots in this game were faster, heavier, and had more spin.
Since Jirō's fundamentals weren't as solid as Shiraishi's, he immediately felt the pressure. He barely held on with his net skills, but deep down he knew—if this kept up, he was going to lose.
"Game! Shitenhōji! 2-0!"
Even though Jirō had given it his all, he still lost his service game. Shiraishi broke serve and took the second game.
The third game was Shiraishi's serve. Just as he stood on the baseline ready to serve, Jirō suddenly closed his eyes and relaxed his whole body, slipping into his sleep mode.
Seeing this, Shiraishi's gaze turned a bit serious. He knew exactly what this meant. In that state, Jirō's explosive power would rise sharply while also cutting down his energy usage. If this match dragged on, it could get real tricky.
Thinking that, Shiraishi glanced at the bandage on his left hand, then shook his head. He'd promised Watanabe-sensei that unless it was absolutely necessary, he wouldn't take it off.
Without wasting more time, Shiraishi launched his serve. His form was still picture-perfect. But Jirō, even with his eyes closed, instinctively dashed to the bounce spot and returned the shot.
Despite being in a sleep state, Jirō didn't forget to charge the net. But because he was moving on instinct now, he didn't take a roundabout approach like before—instead, he charged straight in to clash head-on with Shiraishi.
Thanks to his improved explosiveness, Jirō quickly broke through Shiraishi's pressure and made it to the net. Shiraishi didn't seem surprised—he had expected this.
The two started another intense rally. This time, though, the power Jirō was putting out caught Shiraishi off guard. Slowly, Shiraishi started to fall behind, and Jirō took control.
The score began to swing in Jirō's favor. Though Shiraishi's counterattacks were sharp, overall, Jirō clearly had the upper hand now.
"Game! Hyōtei Academy! 2-1! Change sides!"
Jirō used his sleep mode to take a game from Shiraishi. The match entered a break. Jirō was escorted off the court by Kabaji, while Shiraishi calmly walked over to the Shitenhōji bench.
Just then, Watanabe Osamu spoke up from the coach's chair.
"So, Shiraishi! Feeling confident about winning?"
"Yeah, I'm just about used to it. Moving on instinct like that can be seriously dangerous sometimes~" Shiraishi replied with a relaxed smile.