The break ended quickly. Jirō, who had just been woken up, was super happy to see he'd won a game. After switching sides, he immediately dropped back into sleep mode.
The fourth game was Jirō's serve. Acting purely on instinct, he sent the ball flying, then charged the net. This time, Shiraishi didn't stop him, letting Jirō reach the net smoothly.
They clashed again in a fierce rally. Since Shiraishi had already adjusted to Jirō's explosiveness in the last game, Jirō couldn't gain an edge this time. The two went head-to-head evenly.
As the rally continued, the score quickly climbed, back and forth. Neither side gave an inch. Atobe, watching Shiraishi adjust to Jirō's pressure so fast, frowned slightly, but he wasn't too worried.
"15-0!"
"15-15!"
"30-30!"
"30-40!"
When the score reached 30-40, a flash of light passed through Shiraishi's eyes. After Jirō served and rushed the net, Shiraishi exchanged normal shots with him for a few hits—then suddenly swung his racket sideways, slashing at the ball.
The impact created a sharp sidespin. After crossing the net and bouncing, the ball began spinning in a circular motion on the court, then split into 12 shadows flying toward Jirō.
Driven by instinct, Jirō swung toward the incoming shadows—but hit nothing but air. The 12 shadows passed him like scattered flower petals, all bouncing out of bounds until only one hit the wire fence.
"Entaku Shot!"
"Game! Shitenhōji! 3-1!"
"Mmm~ That felt amazing!" Shiraishi said casually after scoring.
Shiraishi had already discovered a major flaw in the sleep mode. When facing high-speed returns that moved within a small range, the body's instincts could easily miss. Mōri was different—his sleep state was fully controlled, and he could instantly read through techniques.
Another thing—Jirō had no awareness during sleep, which meant he wouldn't remember how he lost points. That meant the same move could keep working on him.
That's exactly what Shiraishi did next. He used his solid fundamental tennis to build a lead, then followed with another Entaku Shot for the finisher.
"Game! Shitenhōji! 4-1!"
"Game! Shitenhōji! 5-1! Change sides!"
As the players switched sides, Atobe suddenly spoke to Oshitari beside him.
"Jirō should be just about done, right?"
"Hard to say, but probably fine. Still, I didn't expect the score to get this lopsided," Oshitari replied thoughtfully.
While Atobe and Oshitari were chatting, a milky-white aura suddenly rose from Jirō's body. Across the net, Shiraishi froze for a moment.
That's right—Jirō had entered Muga no Kyōchi. Back during the Kanto Tournament, he'd learned it from Oshitari, but he'd never been able to use it while asleep.
Later, Sakaki Tarō somehow found a way to fuse the two abilities. After some intense training at camp, Jirō barely managed to pull it off a short while ago—though activating it still took some luck.
Atobe used to stress over Jirō not having any techniques. But now, it wasn't a problem at all. So what if he had no moves? Once you master Muga, techniques would pour in endlessly.
Even more shocking to Atobe and Sakaki was that Jirō, while asleep in Muga, had almost no side effects. His stamina drain only increased by 10% compared to normal use.
With his current stamina, Jirō could maintain Muga for an entire match with no issue. That made both Atobe and Sakaki thrilled. With this move, Jirō's overall strength would jump by a big margin.
Jirō now stood at the baseline in Muga no Kyōchi, holding the ball in his left hand. He gave it a counterclockwise spin, then let go.
The spinning ball slowly dropped toward the ground. In the next moment, Jirō's right hand flicked upward, launching the serve. It spun violently through the air, heading straight for Shiraishi's court.
"Disappearing serve!"
Shiraishi instantly moved to the bounce spot and swung his racket. The ball vanished the moment it touched his strings. But Shiraishi calmly turned and swung again, sending the reappeared ball back across the court.
"That kind of move won't work on me~" Shiraishi said confidently.
But the next second, his expression shifted. Jirō had quickly reached the landing spot, lifted his racket high, and drew a half-circle arc at the incoming ball. With heavy spin, the ball flew across to Shiraishi's side.
That's when Shiraishi remembered—he had just returned a topspin ball. He rushed forward but was still a step too late. The ball landed and skidded low and fast past him, rolling out of bounds.
"Hoo Gaeshi!"
"15-0!"
"Looks like you're really impressed with Fuji from Seigaku, huh? Every move you're using is his!" Shiraishi wasn't too bothered by the lost point, just a little surprised that Jirō—despite having no awareness—was using only Fuji's techniques.
Of course, Jirō couldn't answer him. In his current state, he had no conscious thought. Every move he made came purely from instinct.
The Seigaku team watching from the sidelines all turned to look at Fuji, who simply kept his usual smile, watching the match as if finding it all very amusing.
Jirō returned to the baseline, tossed the ball high, and swung with force, adding sharp spin. The ball shot toward Shiraishi's front court.
After bouncing, the ball began spinning rapidly on the ground. Shiraishi had already recognized the move by the time he got to it. Just as it made a slight bounce, he scooped it up cleanly with his racket.
"To think he cracked the Tannhauser Serve so easily! I knew back at training camp this guy wasn't ordinary!" Oshitari said with admiration from the sideline.
"Hmph! If I were on court, the match would've ended already. Shiraishi's got plenty of weak spots," Atobe said with disdain.
After sending the return back, Shiraishi actually started getting curious about Jirō and wanted to see what he'd pull off next. Jirō quickly reached the net and met the incoming ball with a soft backhand block.
The ball floated slowly toward the net, and just as it touched the tape, it started rolling across it.
"Tightrope Walking!"
Shiraishi had assumed it was a simple drop shot and didn't react in time. The ball reached the edge of the net and fell straight down.
"30-0!"
Jirō continued using all sorts of techniques under Muga no Kyōchi. What was strange was that most of them came from Fuji and Marui. While Shiraishi managed to counter most of them, not knowing what would come next meant he still got caught off guard now and then.
"40-0!"
"Game! Hyōtei Academy! 5-2!"
Using all kinds of chaotic techniques through Muga no Kyōchi, Jirō actually held his serve. That caught the entire Shitenhōji team by surprise.
And then Jirō just kept going, throwing out every move he'd ever seen. Shiraishi didn't mind at all, happily countering each one. Both players were totally fired up, and the audience was just as hyped.
"Game! Hyōtei Academy! 5-3!"
"Game! Hyōtei Academy! 5-4! Change sides!"
The match entered a break again. Jirō was brought off-court by Kabaji, but this time no one woke him up. No one could say for sure whether he could maintain Muga no Kyōchi if he woke and fell asleep again.
When Jirō returned to the court, Muga no Kyōchi was still active. But Shiraishi wasn't worried. He'd already cracked most of Jirō's moves—even Fuji's Hecatoncheires no Monban.
The tenth game was Jirō's serve. He kept using all kinds of techniques, but Shiraishi quickly noticed they were all ones he'd just dealt with. Jirō was just instinctively choosing the best move he'd seen so far.
Shiraishi stopped holding back and went all out, trading blows directly with Jirō. Whatever move Jirō used, Shiraishi countered instantly—until the umpire's call rang out.
"Game! 6-4! Match over! Winner, Shitenhōji!"