The Best of Times

Chiba City, the capital of Chiba Prefecture.

Located on the northeastern shore of Tokyo Bay, it is an important city within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, one of Japan's three major metropolitan areas, and an important industrial port city in southeastern Honshu, Japan.

At this moment, inside a dilapidated dojo next to Chiba First Elementary School, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old with a head full of messy silver-white hair was vigorously swinging a tennis racket in his hands.

However, seeing him drenched in sweat, his arm and leg muscles twitching, it seemed that a "simple" swing was not an easy task for him.

"998... 999... 1000..."

"Hoo hoo..."

"I'm exhausted, finally finished the four sets..."

Having completed his daily foundational strength training, the boy gasped for breath. His wrist could no longer hold on, and his palm loosened, sending the racket crashing heavily onto the dirt floor with a dull thud.

Half an hour later, the boy finally felt somewhat recovered.

However, he didn't continue to rest. Instead, he struggled to get up and took out another unusually cross-stringed tennis racket from his tennis bag to continue practicing.

This time, he was practicing hitting and controlling the ball.

Bang!

Bang!

Under the boy's precise hits, the yellowish-green tennis ball, using only the cross strings on the racket, steadily bounced back and forth within a dozen white circles pre-drawn on the wall.

And unlike others who only use their dominant hand to hit, the boy continuously switched between his left and right hands, deliberately training both sides.

The dense sound of hitting continued in the quiet training hall.

Until.

"Deng deng deng..."

"Muneyoshi! Muneyoshi! Come out quickly, Uncle is back and looking for you..."

Whoosh!

A sound of hurried footsteps approached, followed by the training hall door being pushed open, and a boy who looked nine-tenths similar to Muneyoshi rushed in.

Saeki Muneyoshi stopped swinging his tennis racket, and with his other hand effortlessly caught the returning tennis ball, tucking it into his pocket before turning around. He squinted and smiled.

"Kojiro, thank you for your trouble. I know."

"Hmph, Muneyoshi, you're hiding here to practice again, and you didn't call me!"

Kojiro saw Saeki Muneyoshi drenched in sweat and knew that the other boy must have been practicing for a long time. He immediately felt immense pressure.

He had only taken a short nap, and he had already missed today's training.

"It's okay, it's okay. I saw you sleeping so soundly, Kojiro, so I didn't want to disturb you!"

"Let's go, let's go. Father is back, it won't be good if he has to wait too long."

Kojiro's feigned anger made Saeki Muneyoshi chuckle inwardly.

However, the other boy was still just a child, and he easily appeased him before they walked out of the dojo together.

As they walked and talked, Saeki Muneyoshi's heart stirred, and a very simple light screen appeared in his mind.

Seeing the changes in the data that appeared, Saeki Muneyoshi rejoiced, "Strength has finally broken through four, it wasn't easy!"

As the esteemed readers might have guessed, Saeki Muneyoshi was not from this world, and this was not a simple world either.

In his previous life, he was called Zuo Si, a modern-day salaryman in the Great Celestial Empire, accustomed to the "blessed" 996 work schedule, toiling and slacking off. He didn't have many hobbies, and his only interest was probably watching anime to pass the time in his leisure.

Perhaps due to his age, he had become more nostalgic.

He didn't like new anime much, preferring old ones, which he would rewatch repeatedly.

Under the pressure of his work, he lost his former sense of seeking novelty, merely cherishing the past with old anime and reminiscing about bygone days.

Upon returning home, he saw that the latest chapter of The New Prince of Tennis, which he had been following for many years, had been updated, and he immediately started reading it.

It would have been better if he hadn't read it. Seeing the increasingly outrageous plot developments, Zuo Si found it increasingly uninteresting.

He really wanted to send Konomi a letter with a knife!

Echizen Nanjirō was the Spanish head coach?

What kind of nonsense was this drawing?

Recalling the past glory and the current decline, a fire burned in his heart. His original clear passion had turned into fantasy.

Thinking about the increasingly speechless plot in the manga, Zuo Si thought that if he were in this manga world, the Prince of Tennis world would surely be more exciting than the manga itself.

Perhaps Konomi heard his thoughts and complaints. After staying up all night reminiscing, he directly came through the internet cable and "killed" him. (Died from staying up too late!!)

When he woke up, he found that he had transmigrated, and it was into the world of Prince of Tennis, becoming cousins with Saeki Kojiro of Rokkaku Middle School.

However, despite being cousins, he and Kojiro looked remarkably similar.

From their outlines, they looked like they were carved from the same mold. The only difference was probably that Muneyoshi was a bit fairer than Kojiro.

Chiba had plenty of sunshine. Children who lived there often went to the beach, and their skin would turn a healthy bronze color.

But Muneyoshi, who spent a lot of time training in the dojo, did not have this healthy complexion.

The Saeki family was a fallen sword-fighting lineage, long past its former glory. Even their dojo was mostly abandoned, and the family's younger generation had to find other ways to make a living.

Kojiro's father became an engineer.

As for Muneyoshi's father, due to his outstanding performance at the company over the years, and the saying "a starving camel is still bigger than a horse,"

he had recently been promoted further through family connections, accepted into the upper echelons of the company. His family's financial situation had also improved.

However, Saeki Muneyoshi didn't pay much attention to these matters.

Because this was the world of tennis. Here, tennis was the strongest and most popular sport.

It was far more exaggerated than football, the number one sport in another world.

Moreover, the rules of this world connected tennis with supernatural abilities. When tennis reached a higher level, its power would be incredibly immense.

Knowing the general plot of The Prince of Tennis, he was well aware of this. In Japan today, and even the world, tennis was almost the most important sport, with countless strong players.

In contrast, Japan, apart from that one man twenty years ago, had seen its tennis scene stagnate for many years.

But Muneyoshi knew very well that the best era for Japan was about to arrive.

Currently, there were the famous Byōdōin Hōō, Tanegashima Shūji, Irie Kanata, Ochi Gekko, Ōmagari Ryūji... in the junior high world.

Of course, Muneyoshi also knew of some unfortunate individuals whose own schools were too weak, hindering their progress, and who hadn't yet made a name for themselves in the national tournaments.

A few such unlucky ones would appear every twenty years.

Twenty years ago, it was Echizen Nanjirō.

Due to Seigaku's overall poor performance and Ryūzaki Sumire's inaction, he was frustrated for three full years, constantly being outplayed by Yamabuki's Banrō. He only gained fame in high school.

Even so, Japan had Echizen Nanjirō, and he brought them glory for several years.

It also allowed Ryūzaki Sumire to hold her coaching position at Seigaku for decades, a testament to her long-lasting good fortune.

And the unlucky one of this current era was, of course, Oni Jūjirō.

Hailing from Okayama Oku Middle School, he hadn't even reached the regional tournaments for three consecutive years, let alone the national ones.

This was why Byōdōin, upon encountering him later in U-17, didn't recognize him at all.

Of course, it was precisely because of this match that Oni Jūjirō began to emerge. The U-17 coaches discovered that his strength was actually greater than the nationally renowned Byōdōin Hōō.

It made one sigh.

It also highlighted how important it was to find a good school!

Muneyoshi and Kojiro had graduated from Chiba City's First Elementary School and would be entering junior high when the new school year began in April.

Coincidentally, Chiba Prefecture's Rokkaku Middle School was a strong institution.

It was a regular participant in the Kanto tournaments, and even the national tournaments. Although it hadn't produced any particularly outstanding prodigies.

However, Rokkaku's coach, the old man, was a pivotal figure in the history of Japanese tennis.

He had delved incredibly deep into the path of the "otherworldly mental realm," even Echizen Nanjirō had received guidance from him.

In Japan today, besides him, the only other person of such standing was that grandmother from Osaka.

"Kojiro, have you decided which middle school you're going to?"

Even though he knew the answer, Muneyoshi instinctively asked.

"Of course, it's Rokkaku Middle School! And I will definitely lead Rokkaku Middle School to the top of the national tournament!"

Hearing Muneyoshi's question, Kojiro answered firmly without a second thought.

After speaking, he looked at Saeki Muneyoshi, pursed his lips, and said, "Muneyoshi, let's go together. With our combined strength, we definitely can."

Muneyoshi smiled slightly, about to nod in agreement, but was interrupted by a voice.

"Kojiro, I'm very sorry, but Muneyoshi probably won't be able to enroll in the same junior high as you."

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