Episode 39: Higuma Otoshi!



The club training continued and was harder than before. They're still running laps around the court to build their endurance. This time however it's kind of different since the time to circle the lap has just gotten shorter by 5 seconds. They need to complete the lap in only 55 seconds! This drove the regulars over the edge and began hastening their pace. However, Kawamura seemed kind of distracted even though he's running quite fast. Kikumaru turned to tease Kawamura about his distraction, he asked Kawamura if his distraction might be from an older woman? Kawamura just shook his head and didn't mind Kikumaru any more. Inui suddenly called to the regulars that the last one who finishes the lap would be drinking his Deluxe Inui Penal-Tea. Again, Ryoma used Kawamura as a wind-break by handing him a racket and running behind him. The rest of the regulars however, tried their hardest to catch up with Ryoma and Kawamura.

In the end, there's no loser and there's no winner. Everyone was tied and this kind of saddened Inui because no one will be drinking the juice. Anyway, as the regulars were panting and resting, Tezuka announced that they'll be having a game. This shocked the club members since all of them were really tired from all the laps. Coach Ryuzaki agreed to Tezuka's idea, since they really need to power up their endurance. So, Tezuka decided that the first match would be between Ryoma and Fuji. They've never been matched up before so everyone was wondering what would be the result of this match and both of them are tired too. As the two get themselves ready for their match, the remaining regulars watched on outside the fence and take a vote on who they think would win. Only Momoshiro (and Kaidoh even though he didn't actually say it) think Ryoma could. Momoshiro reasoned out that he really wanted to see how far Ryoma could get with Fuji as an opponent.

The two started their match. Both still finding out what each other's thinking. Ryoma returned all of Fuji's pin-pointed shots but Fuji kept his service game. It was also the same with Ryoma who kept his service game too. So both are tied now. Anyway, as the match trudged on, Ryoma suddenly forced Fuji to lob the ball due to his Drive B, so Ryoma thought that the lob is a chance ball and proceeded to smash it. Little did he know that Fuji's hiding some counter to smashes. Now, we will see the premier of one of Fuji's Triple Counter, the Higuma Otoshi. Higuma Otoshi uses the centrifugal force of the person to counter the smash and return it as a really high shot only to land just inside the furthest line at the back. Ryoma was flabbergasted since this is the first time he saw a shot like that. Anyway, as the regulars watched, they noticed that Fuji's voluntarily hitting Ryoma plenty of lobs as a form of a challenge to try to break his Higuma Otoshi. This irritated Ryoma and hit plenty of smashes only to be returned by Fuji's Higuma Otoshi. Ryoma even tried the Twist Smash he used against Shinji of Fudoumine but still to no avail. Still, Ryoma's face showed determination, he told himself that he is really going to break Fuji's Higuma Otoshi.