The Fourth Counter

The Prince of Tennis
Season OVA, Episode 3

Air date	May 26, 2006
Episode Guide
previous Hot and Cool	next Kikumaru All Alone
Arc Guide
previous arc Prince of Tennis Specials~arc	next arc Rematch against Hyotei arc

The Fourth Counter is the 3rd episode of the Nationals OVA and 3rd episode of the Higa arc. It originally aired on May 26, 2006.

The opening song is "Flower-Saki Midareshi Hana" by GIGS and the ending is "Hello & Goodbye" by Kondou Kaoru.

Summary[]

Doubles 2 is about to start and Fuji and Kawamura have to play against Chinen and Hirakoba. At the start Hirakoba tries to hit Sumire Ryuzaki but Kawamura stops the ball. The match soon becomes a thriller with Hirakoba able to seal the Seigaku players' special techniques, but in the end Fuji gives a surprise.

Synopsis[]

Doubles 2 begins with Kawamura serving a Burning Serve but his shot is returned by Hirakoba who gets a sign to hit Ryuzaki. He tries to hit Ryuzaki but Kawamura stops the ball and hits it to the other side of the court.

The match continues with Fuji's Higuma Otoshi being returned by Hirakoba, and Kawamura's Hadoukyuu being sealed by Hirakoba's Habu. Hirakoba and Chinen get the score to 3-0 but Fuji has already adapted to the Habu.

In the next point Kawamura starts hitting lobs which makes Chinen impatient, making him hit straight to Kawamura, giving him a chance to hit the Hadoukyuu but he hits a drop shot instead. Using the Shukuchihō method Chinen reaches the ball but before he hits it Fuji comes to the net making him hit the ball to Kawamura who hits the Hadoukyuu and gets the point.

The game continues with Hirakoba beginning to get excited and he soon says that he hasn't felt like that before. Then Harumi Saotome shows the sign that tells Hirakoba to hit Ryuzaki but he instead hits a smash to get the point and make the score 5-3 to Saotome's anger. The score then becomes 5-4.

In the next game Hirakoba gets an ace. In the next point Fuji uses Tsubame Gaeshi but Hirakoba returns it and makes it 30-0. He then hits another ace. At match point Fuji use Hakugei but even that is returned by Hirakoba with a new special technique called Giant Habu. It twirls in the air but Kawamura dodges it and leaves it to Fuji.

Fuji then shows his fourth counter: Kagerō Zutsumi. It then wins the point. In the next point Kawamura uses the Hadoukyuu and gets the point because Hirakoba's Habu's rotation lessened because he felt frustrated when he couldn't get the point before with his Giant Habu. Then Kawamura is able to hit more Hadoukyuus and therefore wins the match for Seigaku.

Seigaku wins the Doubles 2 Match against Higa and gets a 2-0 lead. Kawamura shouts in victory but after he drops the racket he says that they won due to the support of the team members. Everyone laughs after that.