Curtain Falls

"Heavy Serve?"
Hearing the words from Naruki Matsubara's lips, Sengoku was stunned for a moment, then immediately readied himself to respond.
"Heavy Serve… Is this Matsubara's new move?"
Ryo Shishido glanced at Sadaharu Inui and the others, questioning.
"Judging by the name, it should be a serve that excels in power," Inui mused, fingers rubbing his chin as he watched Matsubara in the court.
"One… serve… into… the soul!"
Naruki Matsubara tossed the ball and struck it with a swing so ordinary it could not be more ordinary.
Thud!
At the instant racket met ball, a deep, chilling sound reverberated, and at the point of contact, a transparent shockwave exploded visibly to the naked eye.
"What?!"
Kaneya Bando and Kunimitsu Tezuka were both visibly astonished. Though still a short distance from the court, Kaneya, with wide-open eyes, could clearly feel a fierce gale roaring past him, while Tezuka sharply turned his gaze toward Sengoku's position.
Bang!
The tennis ball shot down beside Sengoku's feet like a shell from a cannon. In that moment, Sengoku, frozen like a statue, thought an earthquake had hit.
"What overwhelming force!"
His eyes followed the trajectory of the ball, and Sengoku's heart surged with waves of shock.
In just a few breaths, the ball crashed into the wire fence, its powerful impact warping the mesh into a tangled mess.
The tennis ball embedded itself in the dented wire, unmoving, while Matsubara's youthful voice sounded with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"Even restringing from fifty to fifty-three pounds can't withstand the force of this serve… If only I'd strung it to sixty."
He tapped the strings on his racket, feeling they seemed a bit loose.
"A fifty-three-pound racket? That's ridiculous. For such a small frame, forty-six to forty-eight pounds should be more than enough. My racket, because I have to use Tiger Cannon… is only fifty pounds."
Sengoku's dumbfounded expression eased somewhat at Matsubara's words. Staring at the obvious black mark at his feet, he looked at the boy again—just who was this guy?
"Heavy Serve… What a powerful serve, it deformed the wire fence…"
Shiori Shiba hurriedly filmed the embedded ball with her camera, marveling aloud.
"It's unbelievable—a first-year middle schooler, and his racket's tension matches those used by power players…"
Mamoru Inoue's remark caught the attention of Fuyuka Oda and Yuna Iwamura. The latter asked, "Mr. Inoue, the poundage Matsubara mentioned—what level is appropriate for a middle schooler?"
"Let me explain: most players, unless they focus on power, use rackets strung between forty-eight and fifty pounds. Depending on the court and other factors, it varies by two or three pounds. Power players usually string between fifty-five and seventy pounds. According to Matsubara, his serve just now caused fifty-three-pound strings to loosen, meaning the power of that ball… exceeded fifty-three pounds."
Inoue looked at the two women as he spoke.
"No wonder it's called Heavy Serve. Matsubara's serve is far stronger than Sengoku's Tiger Cannon. Its speed isn't as fast as a spinless ball, but the force it contains—if one tries to return it by force, there's a risk of injury."
Inui's mind raced with numbers, analyzing.
"With such a serve, Matsubara's arm won't last long."
Renji Yanagi wiped sweat from his brow.

"No."
Just then, Akutsu spoke, drawing everyone's gaze.
"I've played against that kid. He's not someone who can only use that serve two or three times."
Recalling his match against Matsubara at Yamabuki Middle School, he remembered the boy using such powerful balls to win five consecutive games…
"As expected of Matsubara…"
Ryo Shishido said with admiration. His respect for the boy was not only for the recognition and hope Matsubara showed him, but more so for the fact that Matsubara possessed strength dozens of times greater than his own.
"Matsubara Naruki of Evergreen Academy… What an extraordinary youngster…"
Kaneya Bando smiled approvingly.
Tezuka, hearing Kaneya, glanced at him a few times before turning his attention back to the match.
"Referee, aren't you scoring? Was that ball out?"
Matsubara noticed the referee's prolonged silence and asked with a smile.
"Ah… yes, no, the score is fifteen to zero!"
The referee stammered, quickly correcting himself.
"Sorry, sorry! May I request a pause to change my racket?"
Matsubara mimicked Sengoku's tone, addressing the referee.
"Ah… sure…"
The referee agreed without a second thought. Watching Matsubara fix his racket, humming a tune with ease, the referee wiped his brow and sighed in relief. "That serve just now nearly scared me to death…"
"Good thing I bought two rackets strung at sixty pounds."
Matsubara pulled a racket from his tennis bag, his fingernail gliding across the strings. Hearing the pleasant sound, his lips curled slightly.
Though the shop assistant had looked at him with some disdain, Matsubara couldn't let that stop him from buying proper rackets. If he brought a forty-pound racket to the court and it failed under his shots, wouldn't that be a joke?
…
Sengoku was questioning reality. He'd clearly seen Matsubara fading just moments ago—he hadn't seemed to be faking it—so why had he suddenly exploded with power? If he had such a serve, why hadn't he used it earlier? Was he waiting for a chance to humiliate Sengoku?
"Never underestimate your opponent, Sengoku. I, Naruki Matsubara…"
As he tossed the ball and swung, Matsubara's arm hung fully loose.
"…am very strong!"
Thanks to his exceptional dynamic vision, Sengoku instinctively rubbed his eyes. Why did Matsubara's figure seem to blur as he watched him?
The Heavy Serve shot across the sky. Sengoku might have been intimidated, but he wasn't a coward. A true man meets his opponent head-on, not shrinking back!
"I've got it!"
Sengoku's pupils contracted suddenly, and he swung to meet Matsubara's Heavy Serve!
"Incredible… He can see a serve that fast?"
Ryo Shishido thought Matsubara would take the game easily, but Sengoku still had the strength to resist.
"As expected of Sengoku—his top-notch vision let him track Matsubara's Heavy Serve!"
Masami Higashi cheered excitedly.

"What?!"
As Sengoku prepared to swing, the tennis ball rebounded uncontrollably, leaping over the wire fence, while his racket skidded across the ground.
…
Staring in disbelief at his racket lying outside the lines, Sengoku muttered, "What a heavy ball…"
"That ball… is it really tennis? It felt like I was hitting a fast-falling lead ball."
He noticed his hand trembling. Thankfully, he'd let go of the racket in time; otherwise, his wrist would surely be injured.
"It's unbelievable—a middle schooler can hit like this?"
Kaneya Bando still wore his trademark smile, but his doubts were plain as day.
With Matsubara's repeated Heavy Serves, Sengoku failed to return them, and his racket was sent flying time and again. The score quickly reached four to three!
"This guy is terrifying…"
Sengoku was drenched in sweat, both his trump cards broken by Matsubara. Yet his pride as a final bastion kept him from giving up!
"Even if I must stake Yamabuki Middle School's honor, I must not lose!"
But when it was his turn to serve, Sengoku's game was easily broken by Matsubara, and the score soon leveled to four-all!
"Ridiculous… He can use that powerful shot not only to serve but also for ordinary returns?"
Sengoku said, exhausted.
"You know nothing about power, Sengoku."
Matsubara, also sweating heavily, recalled what Inui had told him before the tournament.
"This is triple the training load compared to before the regional qualifiers. It'll greatly boost your endurance and strength, improving muscle power and resilience. But with your build, you need to pace yourself reasonably."
Inui handed Matsubara the training plan, reminding him.
"Don't worry."
Taking the plan, the boy grinned.
Returning to the present, Matsubara's physical condition had improved vastly over two weeks ago. If it had been then, even if his racket could withstand such power, far exceeding his match against Akutsu, he himself could not.
But with Inui's grueling training plan, Matsubara could now endure it fully. As the referee's voice rang out, Matsubara quietly relaxed his grip on the racket.
"Match over! Evergreen Matsubara wins! Six to four!"
The boy slowly raised a finger, and immediately, a tidal wave of cheers and applause swept in from outside the court.
"Matsubara!"
"Matsubara!"
"Matsubara!"
Purple Pen Literature