LRAB Chapter 79 Genius VS Ace
Chapter 79 Genius VS Ace
The grass was bathed in warm sunlight, and the scent of peaches mingled with the aroma of fresh grass in the air. The boys' breaths and the sound of rackets whistling through the air on the court intertwined, creating a vibrant and unrestrained atmosphere.
Marui had just stood still by the court when he heard a powerful roar erupt from behind the crowd.
"Come on Bunta! Come on Bunta!!"
Jiro suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a red support flag with the words "Genius Marui will win!!!" scrawled in gold paint.
The flagpole was longer than his arm, and he held it up and jumped around, his reddish-brown curly hair trembling with the rhythm of his jumps.
Kuwabara stood beside him, his tall figure gently pushing aside the team members who squeezed in, leaving Jiro a spot where he could clearly see the field.
The people at Hyotei were already used to Jiro's behavior; everyone present had seen him sneaking off to Kanagawa to skip training.
Mukahi squeezed through the crowd, still clutching an apricot in her hand, her eyes wide: "Jiro and Kuwabara? When did they become so close?"
Shinobu pushed up his glasses and glanced over there: "Probably because we've found common ground."
"What common language do you share?"
"Support Marui."
Xiang Ri thought about it and realized that it seemed to be true, so he nodded and continued eating the apricot.
The people from Rikkai University also noticed this strange group. A first-year club member tugged at the sleeve of a second-year student next to him and whispered, "Look over there, Akutagawa from Hyotei is here again."
"What's he holding? A support flag?"
"He even brought his own support flag to the training camp? Isn't he from Hyotei?"
"You don't know?" The second-year student sighed, "Akutagawa Jiro, a regular player for Hyotei, is Marui-senpai's number one fan. He sneaked into our school last month and got caught three times. Vice-captain Sanada is planning to complain to Hyotei captain during this training camp."
Another member chimed in, "Weren't they glaring at each other when they were fighting over Marui-senpai? How did they become buddies so quickly?"
"You don't understand male friendship."
"You wouldn't understand either."
While they were still muttering to themselves, Jiro was already waving his flag and shouting, "Bunta! Fight really well today too! I'll be watching!"
Marui stood on the opposite side of the court, blew a bubble, and it popped. He waved at Jiro with amusement, "Okay, okay, keep your voice down."
Kuwabara placed the sports drink he was holding on the bench by the court and said to Marui, "Bunta, good luck."
"Jack, why are you messing around with Jiro too?" Marui said, but a smirk played on his lips.
"He said he wanted to cheer you on, so I helped him carry his things." Kuwabara scratched the back of his smooth head. "Anyway, I had nothing else to do."
While the two were talking, a crowd had already gathered around the court. Regular members of Rikkai University were gathering in twos and threes, and members of Hyotei University were also coming over.
A second-year student from Hyotei University pulled his friend over to squeeze in: "Let's go watch the match between Rikkai's Ogirihara and Marui."
"What about the doubles? Aren't you going to watch anymore?"
"What are you still looking at?"
The second-year student lowered his voice, "It's already the fifth inning and it's still one-sided. The doubles match between Rikkai's Emperor and the Advisor is already a foregone conclusion. The singles match between Rikkai's Genius and the Ace is much more interesting."
"That's true. Besides, Marui-senpai from Rikkai University is really good at intercepting, and I want to go and learn from him."
"You can't learn it."
"Can you please stop discouraging me?"
There was a similar conversation at Rikkai. Urayama Shiita tugged at his teammate's sleeve, his cheeks trembling slightly: "Shiita thinks this match between Marui-senpai and Kirihara-senpai is going to be very exciting."
"Yeah." His teammate nodded in agreement. "But Kirihara's temper seems to have improved lately."
"It seems so. He didn't turn demonic during last week's scrim."
"Really?"
"Seriously, I didn't even explode when Vice Captain Sanada made me run a hundred laps as punishment."
"That's quite unusual."
A first-year student came over, glanced at the doubles court, and immediately frowned: "The doubles match between Yanagi-senpai and Sanada-vice captain... seems to be completely one-sided."
"It's already the fifth inning, and Vice Captain Sanada hasn't even had a chance to fight back."
"I don't even dare to watch it. I feel like the deputy minister will silence me after I do."
"Then don't watch." A third-year student patted him on the shoulder and took two steps toward the singles court. "Our ace vs. genius match is about to start, let's go watch."
"But that's Vice Captain Sanada's match over there..."
"Then go and take a look."
The first-year student glanced towards the doubles court again. Sanada had just stolen the ball from Aoyama Yota and smashed it hard out of bounds. Aoyama, standing in the front court, awkwardly took a couple of steps to the left and right, only to be bumped by Sanada's running path.
The first-year student silently withdrew his gaze and moved to the edge of the singles court.
More and more people gathered around both courts. Many of the Rikkai players on the doubles side secretly moved to the singles side, some even walking crouching down, afraid of being seen by Sanada.
The referee stood at the net, raised his hand to confirm that both sides were ready, and spoke in a clear voice:
"Singles match, Bunta Marui vs. Akaya Kirihara. The match is now beginning."
Kirihara stood behind the service line, his fingertips gripping the tennis ball, his shoe soles scraping against the grass twice.
In the past two weeks, Senior Liu took him to the hospital and gave him many acupuncture treatments. Every time he finished, he felt like a rag doll that had been stitched up.
Diet was also strictly controlled.
Senior Liu watched him eat those bland foods every day, making him want to cry. Vice Minister Sanada even went to his house and confiscated all the potato chips and cookies he had hidden in the cupboard, and wouldn't even let him touch carbonated drinks.
But the hardest part wasn't the acupuncture or the dietary restrictions, but Yukimura's demands.
That day, the minister leaned against the hospital bed, his voice very soft, but every word was so earnest that the minister dared not look up.
"Aka, at least for now, stop using demonization."
The minister smiled as he said this, his violet-blue eyes crinkling, his tone as gentle as if he were coaxing a child. But he knew it wasn't a discussion, it was an order.
The order came from his most respected minister.
So he agreed.
Once you've agreed, you can't go back on your word.
He, Akaya Kirihara, isn't some useless guy who only knows how to play ball by turning into a demon.
So he secretly practiced a new move.
Two weeks is too short a time; the technique wasn't fully developed yet.
When fighting against an experienced opponent like Marui, ordinary attacks are useless; you must find the right opportunity and win in one move.
Kirihara took a deep breath, suppressing these thoughts in his heart. The hesitation in his eyes faded away, replaced by a serious sharpness.
He gripped the ball tightly with his fingers, his knuckles pressing against the ball's texture. He tossed the ball up, leaned slightly forward, and hit it.
Knuckle serve.
The tennis ball flew out with an uncanny sidespin, landing near the outer corner line. As it bounced, its trajectory wasn't a conventional parabola; it veered towards Marui's face.
The ball wasn't particularly fast, but the angle was incredibly tricky. Several Hyotei players on the sidelines instinctively leaned back, as if the ball was coming straight at them.
Marui didn't even blink. He sidestepped half a body length, turned his racket horizontally, and slashed back before the ball reached its highest point.
The return shot landed in a very tricky spot, landing right on the sideline of the original backhand side.
"I've been receiving your serve for two years now. I know exactly where it's going with my eyes closed." Marui chewed gum and smiled at him.
Kirihara chased after him, adjusting his stance with small, quick steps on one foot. His foot slipped on the grass, and his backhand strike became distorted.
The ball didn't spin enough, and it floated a little too high when it flew over the net.
Marui had been waiting for this moment.
He stepped forward, intercepted the ball at the net, and flicked his wrist slightly. The ball was sliced in a short arc, almost grazing the net as it landed in Kirihara's court, bounced once, and rolled to the side.
"Marui, 15-0."
Kirihara bit his lower lip and returned to his original stance.
The second serve. He still used his knuckle serve, this time landing in the inside corner. The ball bounced up and nestled near Marui's feet. Marui bent down and returned the ball to Kirihara's forehand side.
Kirihara rushed forward and unleashed a powerful forehand smash, the ball traveling at extremely high speed, but it went out of bounds.
"Out. 30-0."
Kirihara stood there, the veins on his hand gripping the racket bulging.
The grass was too slippery.
He was good at taking small, quick steps on hard ground, but the grass here couldn't support his weight, and he would slide half a step further every time he stopped suddenly.
He took a deep breath, readjusted the angle of his knuckles, and served again.
The ball bounced up and its trajectory became even more unpredictable, flying towards Marui's left shoulder. Marui took a step back and caught the ball with his backhand, but the return was of poor quality, and the ball landed in the mid-court.
Kirihara rushed forward and unleashed a powerful forehand smash.
The ball slammed into the baseline with a whooshing sound, hitting the line.
"Kirihara, 30-15."
Kirihara clenched his fist and let out an excited growl.
But he then made another mistake on his next serve. Two consecutive errors cost him the service game.
"Game, Marui, 1-0."
Kirihara clenched his fists, a red glint flashing in his eyes, and the tips of his hair were faintly white.
He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and forcefully suppressed the surge of hot blood rising within him.
We must not demonize it; I promised the minister.
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, the red light had faded, leaving only the normal whites of his eyes. The white at the tips of his hair also slowly shrank back to black.
He slapped his face hard, switched the racket from his left hand to his right, and took two deep breaths.
"You can do it, you can do it without that trick."
The second-year members of Hyotei University who were watching gasped. "Kirihara's serve has been broken."
"That knuckle serve made my legs go weak just watching it, but Marui-senpai returned it like it was nothing, just like he was practicing."
"He's a genius interceptor from Rikkai University." The person next to him lowered their voice, their tone tinged with apprehension. "However, I heard before that Kirihara also has a special move called 'Demonization,' where his hair turns white and he looks like a devil..."
"I've heard that! They say your eyes will turn red, and your fighting style will become extremely ferocious..."
"Yes, yes, yes! It's said that after he turned into a demon, he would specifically hit people with balls!"
"Aren't all violent tennis players like that? There are plenty of them in the Kansai region, they specialize in hitting people."
"This is terrifying!"
……