*Thwack!*
Ishikawa's return landed precisely on the baseline.
"0-30!"
"What a shot!"
Outside the court, the street tennis players cheered loudly.
"What a shame."
Seeing his partner's mistake, Tosaka's face flashed with disappointment.
However, he still had confidence in Inui. The match had been evenly matched so far, and if Inui could just be a bit more careful, they still had a chance to win.
"That last shot..."
But unlike the others, Inui was deep in thought.
To the onlookers, it seemed like Inui had been too nervous and eager, rushing to the net too early. But Inui knew better. He had calculated that the probability of Ishikawa hitting a net shot was over 90%.
As a data-driven player, Inui understood what that probability meant.
He wouldn't have missed that opportunity.
"So... my data collection wasn't thorough enough."
Realizing this, Inui's thoughts became clearer.
He then nodded to Tosaka beside him, signaling him to serve again before stepping aside.
*Thwack!*
Ishikawa returned the serve once more.
The shot wasn't particularly powerful, but the placement was tricky. Inui, now on high alert, focused intently on every subtle movement of his opponent.
*Thwack!*
*Thwack!*
*Thwack!*
The two engaged in another intense rally on the court.
The sight of the ball flying back and forth with intense spin and speed silenced those who had initially doubted Inui.
"So strong!"
Izumi clenched his fists unconsciously. "Is this the level of a Seigaku regular?"
During the regional qualifiers, Gyokurin had lost to Seigaku, but their defeat had been swift. They hadn't experienced a drawn-out battle like this.
Now, facing a formidable opponent like Ishikawa, the true strength of Seigaku's regulars was being revealed. What was even more shocking was that this spiky-haired player was just a former Seigaku regular who had been淘汰ed!
At this thought, both Izumi and Furukawa felt a pang of fear. It was lucky for them that they had faced two singles players in a doubles match back then.
Otherwise, they would have been utterly crushed!
*Thwack!*
By the 34th rally, even Inui was starting to feel the strain, and his returns began to show slight inaccuracies.
Seeing this, Ishikawa chased down the ball and once again pulled his racket back dramatically.
"Again?"
Inui's focus sharpened, and he narrowed his eyes, closely observing Ishikawa's movements.
"The racket is pulled back further than usual."
"His feet are spread more than 15 cm apart, indicating he's preparing to use his legs for a powerful shot."
"His expression is calm, but his facial muscles are noticeably tenser than before."
*Whoosh!*
At this realization, Inui's eyes behind his opaque glasses widened, and a glint of insight flashed across them.
"It's another feint. This time, he's trying to lure me to the net. The probability of him hitting a drive is... 95%!"
Taking all these factors into account, Inui made his judgment.
He stayed back at the baseline, guarding against the possibility of Ishikawa attacking the baseline and leaving him vulnerable.
But then, Ishikawa's swing suddenly slowed, hinting at a possible drop shot.
"Here it comes, the final trick!"
If it were anyone else, they might have panicked and rushed to the net. But Inui remained calm. He could see clearly that Ishikawa's racket head wasn't lowered, and despite the slowed swing, it wasn't set up for a drop shot.
"With his current posture, he can't possibly execute a drop shot!"
Inui was confident in his judgment and stayed put at the baseline. He even began predicting whether Ishikawa would attack the left or right side.
*Tap!*
But the next moment, with a crisp sound, the ball floated gently over the net like a falling leaf and landed softly on the court.
*Tap-tap-tap...*
The ball rolled a short distance after landing and came to a stop.
"0-40!"
"Huh?"
Inui was stunned.
If he had taken off his glasses at that moment, you would have seen his pupils constrict in shock.
"It... it really was a drop shot?"
Not only that, but the drop shot Ishikawa executed was textbook-perfect.
The height of the bounce and the precise roll after landing were so flawless that even Inui couldn't guarantee he could pull it off.
"Could it be..."
At this thought, Inui looked up, his gaze filled with awe as he stared at Ishikawa. "He completely saw through my thought process?"
"He... he lost another point?"
Beside him, the muscular Tosaka gave Inui a puzzled look. "A Seigaku regular couldn't even see through such an obvious drop shot?"
In reality, Tosaka had been suspicious earlier.
The previous shot had seemed like either a drive or a lob, but this Seigaku regular had thought it was a drop shot and foolishly rushed to the net.
As a result, in Tosaka's and the others' eyes, this Seigaku regular was just a player with solid fundamentals but no real tactical awareness or intelligence.
"The effect is pretty good."
Seeing Inui's reaction, Ishikawa nodded in satisfaction.
He had been using data tennis tactics to face off against Inui.
In Ishikawa's view, data tennis boiled down to two things: data input and data output.
Input involved collecting and analyzing data, while output involved creating and feeding data.
After that, it was all about implementing the right tactical plan.
And the "right" plan had to be tailored to the opponent's characteristics.
Take Inui, for example.
As a data-driven expert, he was a logical, analytical, and冷静型 player.
To deceive someone like him, straightforward tactics wouldn't work. So, Ishikawa had to create what seemed like a closed-loop logic while Inui was collecting data.
By layering these logical traps, Ishikawa made Inui believe that what he was seeing was the truth!
On the other hand, if Ishikawa had tried this against someone like Tosaka, it would have been like casting pearls before swine. Tosaka's reckless nature meant he didn't even have the concept of feints in his dictionary—he'd just charge in and swing.
In that case, Ishikawa's tactics would have backfired.
*Thwack!*
A minute later, as Inui fell for Ishikawa's deception once again and lost the point, the referee announced, "Game over! Mr. X wins!"
"Huff... huff..."
By now, even the usually stamina-rich Inui was breathing heavily. He looked up, his gaze filled with awe as he stared at the black-haired youth across the net.
"I was fooled three times in a row."
Inui tightened his grip on his racket, his heart filled with Resentful . But as he recalled the twists and turns of the match, a bitter smile appeared on his face.
He hadn't lost to his opponent—he had lost to himself. Or, more accurately, he had lost to data tennis.
This mysterious Mr. X had given him a masterclass.
"So... what I saw was only what he wanted me to see."
With this realization, Inui, to the surprise of the onlookers, bowed deeply toward Ishikawa.
"Thank you for the lesson!"
**[Ding!]**
At that moment, a system notification sounded in Ishikawa's mind.
**[Player has defeated elite player Inui Sadaharu and frustration player Tosaka Yutaka, earning 108 experience points.]**
**[Player has obtained a special item dropped by Inui Sadaharu: Recipe for Inui Juice.]**
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(End of Chapter)