"40-0!"
"This game goes to Wenren Seiya! Match is over, the final score is 6-1..."
When the self-appointed referee, Ishida, announced the final result, everyone on the court was stunned. The spectators watched in disbelief as Seiya, who was still casually swinging his racket, didn't even seem out of breath. Meanwhile, his opponent, Kamio Akira, was lying flat on his back on the ground, gasping for air.
"No way, Akira was defeated by Seiya with a huge score of 6-1!"
"And didn't you notice? Besides losing the first game and a few points at the beginning of the second, Seiya didn't lose a single point after that. He even managed to win a few games by just serving, even after Akira had found his rhythm."
"Was Seiya always this strong? Has he been hiding his strength all this time?"
"Why is Seiya so strong? Why wasn't I the one to challenge him instead of Kamio? I was supposed to be his practice partner today..."
Everyone ignored Shinji's rambling as they were all equally shocked by the strength Seiya had shown today. They had all been together since their first year and knew each other's abilities well. Seiya was a bit stronger than Shinji and Kamio, but not by much. In their past practice matches, the scores were usually 7-5 or 6-4. In fact, Shinji and Kamio were growing so fast that they had recently started to win against Seiya occasionally. No one had expected such a lopsided match.
"Seiya's movements are completely different from before, yet they are incredibly fluid, as if he has practiced them a thousand times. So, did he hide his strength before? And if so, what was the reason that made him decide to reveal it now?"
Tachibana Kippei, the captain of the Fudomine tennis club, watched Seiya with a serious expression. Unlike the others, he was more inclined to believe that Seiya had been hiding his strength rather than suddenly improving. He knew that it was impossible for someone to improve so much in such a short amount of time. Besides, Seiya's movements and reactions, while different from before, showed no sign of awkwardness. This meant that he had already mastered these moves and just hadn't used them before.
Tachibana didn't know why Seiya had hidden his strength, but he respected it. Everyone has their secrets, and as one of the "Two Kings of Kyushu," he was no exception. As for the reason Seiya chose to show his strength now, Tachibana glanced at his sister, An, who was cheering happily. He seemed to have filled in the blanks in his mind.
Seiya's practice opponent today was supposed to be Shinji. But when Kamio saw An intimately dragging Seiya to the tennis court, he immediately challenged Seiya to a match. And now, they had this result.
Tachibana was conflicted. He considered both Seiya and Kamio to be excellent underclassmen, and he didn't know who he should side with. He wished he had another sister...
If Seiya knew what Tachibana was thinking, he would be protesting loudly. He had just wanted to go home and try to incorporate his sword techniques into his tennis, but he was inexplicably dragged to the court by An. And then, for some reason, Kamio got jealous and challenged him to a duel. Since he was already on the court, Seiya accepted Kamio's challenge.
At first, Seiya was still getting used to the difference between swinging a racket and a sword, which allowed Kamio to win the first game. But once he got the hang of it and his physical strength and reflexes spiked, he completely dominated Kamio.
It wasn't surprising that Tachibana thought he had been hiding his strength. After the power fusion, the memories and understanding of swordsmanship from the SAO world felt completely natural to him, as if he had been born with them. It was only natural that there was no awkwardness in his movements. In fact, to break Kamio's heart even more, Seiya had only used less than 30% of his full strength, and Kamio was already defeated.
As Seiya walked off the court with his hands in his pockets, he was reminded of a famous quote from his previous life. "Back then, I had my hands in my pockets and didn't know what a real opponent was. With just a little effort, I knew the limits of my bracket."
"Seiya, tell us, what kind of special training did you do to get so strong?" An, who had been watching in awe, finally snapped out of her daze and ran onto the court to eagerly question Seiya.
"I told you before, didn't I? I've been playing a game and trying to incorporate some of the techniques I learned into my tennis. Before, my fundamentals were solid, but I didn't have my own style, right? But now, I think I've found a style that suits me."
An and the other Fudomine members were all dumbfounded. Wait, you can get stronger by playing a video game? Do you even believe what you're saying?
"What's the name of the game you're playing?" Even though he thought Seiya was talking nonsense, Tachibana, out of curiosity, asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Uh, I can't read the name since it's a foreign game, but it's a combat-adventure game. All my moves just now were modeled after the sword-fighting techniques from the game. I seem to have a knack for it."
When Seiya mentioned swordsmanship, Tachibana finally understood why Seiya's movements felt so familiar. Seiya wasn't the first to incorporate martial arts into tennis. There was Shitenhoji and Rikkai's Sanada, and even a second-year at Hyotei. However, Tachibana didn't believe Seiya's claim that he learned it all from a video game. He was more willing to believe that Seiya was a master swordsman in real life. Otherwise, it would be impossible to have that kind of muscle memory just from playing a game.