The academy grounds were quiet after practice, long past midnight. Ren followed Daigo through a narrow hallway few players ever walked. Dust clung to the walls, and broken glass panels lined the ceiling where light no longer reached.
"Where are we going?" Ren asked, voice low.
Daigo didn't answer. He carried only a dim lantern, his heavy steps echoing.
Finally, they reached a sealed archway. Old murals stretched across it—paint chipped, colors faded, but still visible. Ren's breath caught.
The mural showed a court of glass—not the polished kind Ren knew, but cracked, jagged, dangerous. Two players faced each other at the net. One was cloaked in shadow. The other...
Ren's chest tightened.
"...That's... me."
The figure's face, blurred by age, bore his same outline, his same stance, the same crack of light across the palm.
Daigo's voice was flat. "It's not you. But it could be. The Lost Court doesn't care about names."
Ren tore his eyes from the wall. "Lost Court...?"
"The match that rewrote the world," Daigo said, cigarette ember flaring in the dark. "Long before you came here, before even my time. A game not scored by points or sets. A game where players wagered more than their ranking."
Ren swallowed hard. "...Wagered what?"
Daigo's eyes narrowed. "Their place in existence."
The air felt colder.
Ren's HUD flickered violently:
[System Error. Substitution Protocol Cross-Reference Detected.]
He staggered, gripping his racket. Again... the same distortion.
Daigo exhaled smoke, gaze hard. "You think this world is just padel and glory? You're wrong. Every serve, every smash, every duel you fight—it's just shadows of that first match. The Lost Court decides who stays in the light... and who vanishes."
Ren stared at the mural again. His reflection in the cracked glass eyes of the painted figure seemed to smirk back at him.
"...And what happens if I reach it?" he whispered.
Daigo turned away, lantern swinging. His voice was low, almost a growl.
"Then, brat... you'll find out why players like me still wake up screaming."
Ren standing frozen before the mural, the painted version of himself glaring back, while his HUD continues to glitch with one phrase pulsing red:
[LOST COURT — ACCESS KEY 0/5]
I thought I was climbing toward victory... but maybe I'm climbing into something much worse.
Padel Knowledge Break #9 - "Doubles Synergy: The Invisible Third Player"
Padel is 2v2, but advanced pairs play as if there's a "third player": the space between them.
· Communication is constant: "Mine." "Yours." Even claps or eye flicks.
· A good duo moves like a mirror: one forward, one back, always balanced.
· Pro pairs practice "shadow drills"—moving together without a ball—until their steps sync perfectly.
In this story's world, we turned this concept into a Team Sync stat—because chemistry can feel as real as power.