Chapter 6

Ryoma returned the hit, listening to Fuji's explanation that the Dragonfly Illusion was not coming, but instead the upgraded version of the Gatekeeper of Hecatonchires. He waited anxiously as the ball hit on Fuji's side and Fuji advanced on it. He watched as the ball met with Fuji's racket on the lowest point on the face of the racket. Fuji used the full face of the racket for the slice, flipping it as it rolled up the racket and using the full face of the racket on the other side. Then, as if the ball was magnetically attracted to the racket, it continued rolling as Fuji flipped his racket yet again, and finally pushed forward after giving it a full face slice three times.

It had a strange but readable path as it headed toward Ryoma. Ryoma hit it with a strong shot, but the ball sank extremely quickly, hitting the ground before it even reached the net. Ryoma looked at the ball rolling toward the net.

"Wow," was all he could say.

Fuji grinned as they switched sides, Ryoma giving Fuji two of the tennis balls, on of which Fuji pocketed, the other he held in his hand as he headed towards the baseline, ready to serve. He decided to go ahead and use the upgraded disappearing serve. Fuji threw it up in the air, flicking his wrist to put spin on it, and then hit it with a sidespin. It reacted just like it always did when he used the serve, heading towards going out, and then curving in. Then as it hit the ground right on the line, it bolted the other way. Ryoma quickly threw his racket to his right hand and leapt to retrieve the ball, using his agility to turn his body and put some topspin on it despite the desperation of the shot.

But, right when it sank past the net, he regretted it as he saw Fuji in the stance for Iguru Gaeshi. The ball flew past the net, sinking almost immediately after it past the net, and then rolling without a bounce.

So it isn't always as strong as it was last time. Well, that makes sense, since I hit it with a huge amount of topspin. Of course, no ball is completely nonreturnable. Ryoma thought as he returning to the position behind the service line, waiting for Fuji's serve.

Fuji stepped behind the baseline, throwing the ball in the air with a flick of his wrist, and hitting the Disappearing Serve again. Ryoma rushed the serve, hitting it immediately after the bounce with a Rising Shot, not allowing it to take its strong path outside of the court.

Fuji hit it back with Cyclopean Kakuheki, making it impossible for Ryoma to return over the net. This path continued on for a while, as Ryoma continued to try to put enough counter spin on it.

"Zero to four, love all, first serve," Ryoma called as he threw the ball up in the air, and hit it with his strong serve.

Fuji returned it yet again with Cyclopean Kakuheki, and Ryoma focused as he put an extremely fast and sharp slice on it to try to put enough counter spin on it. And, finally, it worked. It sailed toward the net, tipping the top of the net and traveling to Fuji's side of the court. But, it wasn't good enough, for even Ryoma knew that Fuji had created a counter for cord balls.

Fuji rushed the cord ball, hitting it with a strange spin, and it flew extremely high in the air, and then crashed down with extreme speed on the back of the baseline, barely catching the line, and then it bounced to the side.

Ryoma stayed calm as he returned to behind the baseline, getting another tennis ball.

"Love fifteen," he called as he threw the ball in the air.

So if I hit a cord ball, he'll just dominate me with Hoshi Hanabi. So, in order to win the point despite the Cyclopean Kakuheki, I have to give it even more counter spin, and then the move will be reversed against him and it will sink just past the net instead of a cord ball, making it a hard shot to return. Plus, if it's that close to the net, he would have to hit the net in order to hit his Iguru Gaeshi, making it my point. So it would be perfect to hit it like that, because it would make his Cyclopean Kakuheki a suicide move, and then I wouldn't even have to worry about it anymore. But that is an extreme amount of counter spin, and I can't slice it like Fuji can. This is going to be difficult.

Ryoma breathed out carefully, calming himself. He threw the ball in the air, and hit the high power serve like he usually did, and then waited at the baseline for the strong slice. He watched it carefully as it came to him, analyzing everything in his head. He then gripped his racket tightly, and watched the ball, getting ready to slice it.

Time seemed to slow down for him as he started his racket downward as the ball came toward him. The ball met his racket right at the bottom of his face, almost meeting the frame. Ryoma pushed it forward with power as he also moved his racket downward with a slice. It left the top of the face of the racket with speed, rocketing toward the net. Ryoma saw it start to sink, and hoped it would make it in time.

His hopes came true as it passed the net, sinking immediately. Fuji looked quite surprised, his eyes opened unusually wide, without being able to reach the ball in time. Ryoma had finally broken Cyclopean Kakuheki, and it hadn't even been very long. Fuji was shocked, but tried not to let it show. He had to bottle it up if he wanted it not to affect his ability to play well.

It was just then when the two players noticed that all the other former Seigaku regulars were basically glued to the fence, watching the match intensely. Fuji then turned his gaze to Ryoma, who had his regular cocky grin on his face, and a glimmer in his eyes that reminded Fuji of their match long ago, when Ryoma was just a first year in middle school, and when he first broke Higuma Otoshi. This brought out the fighting spirit in Fuji, in the form of enjoyment.

"Don't get so confident just yet Ryoma. Just because you broke Cyclopean Kakuheki doesn't mean you've beaten me just yet," he said, grinning.

"Just keep telling yourself that," Ryoma replied, also grinning as he threw the ball up in the air.