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Seiya's arm sank into something soft, and the scent of citrus from the girl beside him filled his nose.
However, rather than feeling happy, Seiya was anything but—he immediately tried to pull his arm free and distance himself from the cute girl clinging to him.
Come on! This world wasn't some school romance anime, nor was it a mature series where things could "develop freely." It was a hot-blooded sports series!
And standing before them right now were none other than Echizen Ryoma and Momoshiro Takeshi—solidly the first and second main characters of this world! Walking up and mocking the main cast directly like this—wasn't that basically asking to die?
Everyone knew how things went in shounen stories—whoever opposed the protagonist rarely ended up well.
And right now, what they were doing looked exactly like the behavior of third-rate villains—jumping in front of the main character just to get beaten down and turned into stepping stones for his "cool moment."
"Hey, you're a guy, right? You're really going to stand behind a girl and let her deal with us? Doesn't that bother you?"
Seiya and An each had their own version of the story, but clearly, both Momoshiro and Ryoma chose to believe An.
The reason was obvious: the uniforms that Seiya and An were wearing were clearly from the same school, and their closeness made it hard to believe they were "not related," as Seiya had claimed.
In fact, Seiya's hesitant attitude only made things worse. Both Ryoma and Momoshiro now looked down on him—seeing him as someone who talked big but hid behind a girl when trouble came.
Seiya sighed heavily at their contemptuous gazes. "Fine, since you're both so insistent, let's play a match.
But before that, I have to beat the current court holders, right?"
After defeating Ryoma and Momoshiro earlier, Izumi and Fukawa from Tamabayashi Middle School had become the reigning challengers.
According to the street court's rules, even if Seiya wanted to play against Ryoma and Momoshiro, he first had to beat the current winners.
However, since the court only hosted doubles matches, he would need a partner.
As Seiya scanned the surroundings, ready to pick a random teammate, An was already standing confidently at his side, holding her pink tennis racket.
"If it's doubles, then teamwork matters, right? Instead of pairing with a stranger, wouldn't it be better to team up with someone you already know?
Besides, I'm the ace of Fudoumine's girls' tennis club—I won't drag you down."
In official matches, men's and women's events were separate, since men had a clear physical advantage. But seeing An's eager expression, Seiya didn't refuse.
After all, he had planned to win this match entirely on his own anyway. Whether his partner was An or someone else didn't really matter to him.
As per the court's rules, the challengers served first. After taking out his racket, Seiya casually tossed the ball to An behind him.
"You want me to serve?"
An blinked in surprise. Normally, the serve would go to the stronger player. As a girl, her serves naturally lacked the speed and power Seiya could muster—so why would he give her that role?
"Let you serve? Yeah," Seiya said nonchalantly. "Gotta let you participate a little. Otherwise, you'd just stand there like a mascot."
An's face puffed up with annoyance at his teasing. But thinking that maybe Seiya was just trying to conceal his real strength, she let it slide and went ahead with her serve.
Her serve was textbook and steady—but nothing special. Fukawa from Tamabayashi returned it easily.
Judging from Seiya and An's positioning, he immediately realized they were new to doubles play. Both stood too close to the left side of the court—meaning if he sent a high lob to the far right corner, there was no way they could reach it in time.
"An, maybe practice doubles with your boyfriend sometime," Fukawa jeered after the hit. "From his attitude earlier, I thought he was some kind of pro."
Izumi, his partner, laughed as he followed up, "Nice lob! Another easy point. These newbies think doubles is just for show—do they really think beating us is that simple?"
The ball traced a high arc and dropped deep into Seiya's court. Even Ryoma and Momoshiro, watching from the sidelines, shook their heads.
At that distance, even they wouldn't have been able to save the point. That Seiya guy didn't stand a chance—
"Wait—when did he get over there?!"
Just as the ball was about to hit the ground, Seiya's figure appeared out of nowhere at the opposite corner of the court.
With a flash of motion, his racket swung at blinding speed, sending the ball streaking across the court in a golden blur.
"15–0!"
"You're right," Seiya said calmly, "it was a point. But the ones who scored it... were us."
The crowd, frozen in disbelief, finally snapped back to reality.
Ryoma and Momoshiro were both visibly shocked. Momoshiro gawked at Seiya and muttered, "Did you even see that move? How's that humanly possible? His swing speed and return velocity were insane—even I might not have been able to react in time!"
Ryoma didn't answer. His sharp eyes stayed locked on Seiya.
With his exceptional dynamic vision, he had clearly seen Seiya's movement—and that wasn't normal tennis footwork. It looked more like something from another sport entirely.
"30–0."
After An's next serve, Izumi and Fukawa managed another return—but before they even processed what was happening, Seiya had already intercepted and smashed the ball back with lightning speed.
Just like before, they had deliberately aimed far from him, yet somehow, Seiya was always there, appearing at the perfect spot.
The ball was so fast, they couldn't even see it clearly.
They barely saw Seiya swing, and the next instant, the ball was already bouncing on their side of the court.
How were they supposed to return something like that?
It was only then that the two finally understood why Seiya had let Kyouko serve and made that earlier comment.
Because if he had served instead—they wouldn't have even touched the ball once.
As for this so-called "doubles match," An would've had zero chance to even touch the ball.
At least now, she got to enjoy the serve a little.
(End of Chapter)
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