The Gap in Treatment

The National Tournament has come to an end as a new champion rises.

Kanagawa Rikkai Dai High School Junior High School defeated their rival Maiko Ban School, from the central region with overwhelming strength, and won the championship.

The first year of junior high school is often the last glorious year for many long-established, top-performing schools.

Just like Makino Fuji, Maiko Ban School in the Chubu region is surrounded by Rokurigaoka in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya Seidoku.

After their current National Level third-year ministers advance to higher grades, they will have to struggle to survive for the next two years, and even entering the National Tournament will become a distant dream.

In the original work, Hyotei Academy only made it to the top eight in their first year, but under Muneyoshi's influence, Atobe's strength was forcibly elevated.

In the end, he defeated the only National Level captain from Ginkaku Middle School in the Kyushu region, leading Hyotei Academy to the semifinals once again. After a hard-fought battle, they were ultimately defeated by Mai no Saka.

Shitenhoji, on the other hand, made history by reaching the top eight in the nation.

Ultimately, Shiraishi and Oshitari Kenya's doubles match failed to defeat Tachibana Kippei and Chitose's doubles match in a crucial game, ending their run in the quarterfinals.

Shishigaku Rikkai Dai in the semifinals.

In the first year after Byōdōin and the others left, a new king rose in the junior high school tennis world!

With the National Tournament coming to a close, the first semester of junior high school has also come to an end.

The Tennis Club members, meanwhile, entered a period of intense study for their academic subjects in preparation for the final exams.

However, Akutsu was not among this group.

However, the students at Seigaku were not worried. What many people didn't know was that although Akutsu looked like a delinquent, he was very intelligent and consistently ranked among the top five in the entire school in academic subjects.

The night was bright with a clear moon and few stars.

Akutsu clasped her hands behind her head and leaned against the headboard with her legs crossed.

The dim moonlight shone through the window onto his desk, where a tennis racket with a black and red frame sat quietly.

This is a racket that Saeki Muneyoshi gave him.

Staring blankly in the direction of the racket, Akutsu seemed lost in thought.

"Whispering sound..."

Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, he unconsciously uttered a syllable.

"Beep beep..."

The phone on the table vibrated and emitted two notification sounds.

Akutsu skillfully opened the voice chat, and a memorable avatar was flashing continuously.

A moment later, with a snap, Akutsu slammed the phone aside. He seemed enraged by the message, standing up abruptly, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

"You damned bastard, I'll make you pay..."

My gaze followed the moonlight that shone down again to the phone that had been tossed aside.

"Akutsu, I heard you lost again? What's wrong? Haven't you learned to play tennis yet? Do you want me to teach you? I'm back in Japan now..."

The first person to hit you: Saeki Muneyoshi!

"Are you kidding me? I need you to teach me how to play ball?"

Once again lying down, Akutsu was no longer as quiet as before; her mind began to wander.

As darkness fell, the moon disappeared behind the clouds, plunging the world into darkness.

Before drifting off to sleep.

Akutsu thought about it and decided to go to the school to find Tezuka tomorrow.

Having suffered more defeats than victories since the Metropolitan Tournament, and then being utterly humiliated by Sanada in the National Tournament, he subconsciously didn't want outsiders to see him in such a disheveled state.

"You could also go play ball with that guy..."

His dark golden eyes gleamed in the darkness; Akutsu finally thought of Saeki Muneyoshi.

Akutsu was always annoyed by his arrogant demeanor and domineering attitude.

For some reason, after experiencing numerous failures, Muneyoshi's appearance became increasingly hostile.

The message he had just received echoed in his mind again, and he could almost see the other person's mocking expression.

"Hmph... I'll beat you one day... You damned bastard, posting this out of boredom in the middle of the night..."

Akutsu snorted coldly, rolled over to the inside, and the room was plunged into complete darkness...

Muneyoshi, who had just arrived at Tokyo International Airport, walked out of the terminal and looked at the bright moonlight outside. He suddenly remembered that he had not yet "comforted" Akutsu, who had suffered another defeat.

He then turned on his phone and sent what he considered a polite suggestion.

He got Akutsu's number from Tezuka, and to make sure Akutsu knew who he was, he added a suffix to prove his identity.

"When Akutsu sees this tomorrow, he'll be very pleased, right? He should be able to get over the disappointment."

Muneyoshi, who thought he had done something excellent, got into the pre-booked car and disappeared from the airport.

The next day.

Muneyoshi arrived at the designated place early in the morning and waited. Soon after, a bus stopped in front of him.

Without exchanging words, Muneyoshi silently got into the car with his tennis bag on his back.

The large carriage was empty except for the driver; he was the only other person there.

Muneyoshi casually found a seat by the window, rested his chin on his hand, and silently watched the monotonous scenery flashing by outside the window.

But his mind was constantly pondering the purpose of the training camp sending him the invitation.

There is currently no precedent for explicitly recruiting junior high school students for the Junior World Cup.

Therefore, although some junior high school students have shown promise, they have not become the mainstream.

The middle school student who is now world-famous is none other than Spain's Medrano. Unfortunately, he is currently seriously injured, and doctors say his injuries will take at least three or four months to heal.

Another well-known junior high school student is Zeus from the Greece Team. He is only in the second year of junior high school, but he is already unmatched in the U-14 class.

I heard that even the Greece U-17 national team has extended an invitation to him this year.

However, Muneyoshi had never met him and was not familiar with him.

"But I've never heard of the Japan U-17 extending invitations to junior high school students before, and how did they even know about me?"

This problem had been troubling him.

He didn't know how long he had been driving, but ever since leaving the city, Muneyoshi felt as if he were driving on a winding mountain road with lush trees.

Suddenly, the bus made a sharp turn, and the violent jolts woke him up. He then realized that he was traveling on a mountain path.

Seeing this, Muneyoshi knew they were almost at their destination.

Fortunately, he contacted the number on the invitation yesterday and asked them to send a bus to pick him up.

He searched online for a long time but couldn't find any way to get there; there were no route suggestions, and it was located deep in the mountains.

If no special vehicle had been arranged to pick him up, he probably wouldn't have been able to find him all day.

Sha~

After a while, the bus finally stopped at the foot of the mountain where it was going to reach its destination.

"We've arrived, get off!"

"Master, aren't you going to take me to my final destination?"

He saw that the driver didn't take him to the gate as expected, but instead wanted him to walk up the mountain on his own.

Muneyoshi once again felt a significant difference in treatment between himself and the group of junior high school students who came two years later.

With no other option, Muneyoshi had to pull out the map again and start hiking up the mountain.

Here, the map's usefulness finally becomes apparent.

Looking at the winding, rugged road that seemed to have no end in sight, Muneyoshi once again lamented the disparity in treatment.

Before dawn broke and the scorching sun began to blaze, Muneyoshi adjusted his tennis bag and slowly disappeared into the forest.

P. S.: Requesting monthly votes.