Regional Preliminaries
Time flies, and it's already mid-May.
More than a month has passed since the new students enrolled.
Under the guidance of Hanamura Aoi's optimized training plan, many members of the Tennis Club have made rapid progress in their skills over the past month.
Today is Saturday, and all the members of the Fudomine Tennis Club arrived at school early this morning.
A hint of excitement lingered on everyone's face.
Today is the start of the regional qualifiers.
For Muneyoshi, Keith, and Lin Xiu, the regional qualifiers were their first open tournament since joining the Fudomine Tennis Club.
This was also the first time for Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji, and Ishida Tetsu.
Standing in front of the Tennis Club's main gate, Muneyoshi glanced at everyone. Today was the first step for their Fudomine Tennis Club to showcase their strength to the outside world.
"Set off!"
Saeki Muneyoshi led the way, with all the members following behind Saeki Muneyoshi.
Today's Fudomine is not the Fudomine favored back then, when Tachibana Kippei was the one.
With the principal's attention, they naturally didn't need to walk to today's competition venue.
At the school gate, school buses belonging to Fudomine were already waiting.
This differential treatment, especially given the violent incident that occurred in the Tennis Club last year, has drawn criticism from other clubs.
Muneyoshi understood all of this perfectly well; what the Tennis Club needed to do now was to shut them up.
Shikinomori Sports Park.
This is Muneyoshi's second time here; this is also the preliminary venue for the Tokyo Metropolis.
Because it was only a regional qualifier, the scale was not very large.
However, thanks to last year's No. 1 seed from the West District, Seigaku made it to the top eight in the National Tournament and defeated the reigning champion Makino Fuji.
Therefore, the preliminary rounds in the western part of the city attracted a lot of attention, and as far as the eye could see, there was still a huge crowd.
Teams gathered in small groups, exchanging greetings with those who knew each other.
When Saeki Muneyoshi and his team arrived at the press area in the park, it was already surrounded by athletes dressed in all sorts of uniforms.
Fudomine's arrival did not cause a great stir, after all, Fudomine Tennis Club has never been a strong team.
These people are more concerned about Kakinoki Junior High.
They are the school that won the preliminary round in the western part of the city.
Muneyoshi scanned the area but didn't find Seigaku. After all, they were the number one seed and didn't have any matches on the first day.
After submitting the participant list, Saeki Muneyoshi led everyone away and found the court where they would be playing today, following the map at the entrance.
Their first opponent was Shigawa Junior High.
It's also fish belly.
After glancing at the upcoming match schedule, Hanamura Aoi left everything to him and Tachibana, while she took Tachibana An to other areas for inspection.
While Muneyoshi and the others were doing nothing, several first-year students were warming up nervously.
Tap tap tap...
A series of dense and orderly footsteps followed.
In the distance, a group of people wearing blue and white jackets appeared.
The emergence of this team immediately attracted the attention of many schools.
"It's Seigaku's team!"
"They actually came today? Wasn't the number one seed supposed to be free today?"
"Are they here to scout out enemy positions? What kind of school is worth Seigaku treating like this?"
Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Akutsu Jin, Fuji Shusuke, Oishi Shuichiro, and Inui Sadaharu arrived at the Fudomine tournament venue with expressionless faces.
Seeing several familiar faces he hadn't seen in a long time, Muneyoshi smiled and walked over.
"Tezuka, it's been a long time... and you guys too, Jin, Fuji!"
"Long time no see, Muneyoshi! We can finally meet on the field!"
"Saeki -kun, welcome back to the field."
"Tch, you bastard, you actually made me wait a whole year! I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
Muneyoshi accepted all of their emotions toward him, whether they were friendly, expectant, or annoyed.
"I've been looking forward to this for a long time too, but before we can stand before you, we'll probably need to deal with some opponents!"
Muneyoshi smiled indifferently.
"You bastard, I don't care about anything else, but in the match against Seigaku, I'll be waiting for you in singles third place!"
Akutsu got angry when she saw Saeki Muneyoshi's faint smile, grumbled something, and left the group.
He came here today only because he heard about Fudomine and came to declare war.
Fuji gave Muneyoshi an apologetic look.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Tezuka and Fuji, Muneyoshi returned to the group.
"Muneyoshi, are you quite familiar with the people from Seigaku?"
Having participated in the National Tournament, Tachibana Kippei naturally knew people from Seigaku. However, considering that Fudomine and Seigaku were in the same region, it wasn't surprising that Muneyoshi knew them.
"Yes, we've known each other for a long time."
At this moment, Muneyoshi noticed Keith's nonchalant expression, his eyes darted around, and he said:
"Keith, there are a few strong fighters in Seigaku too, you won't be disappointed."
Upon hearing this, Keith paused for a moment, then glanced in the direction of Seigaku.
Clearly, he was very interested in the expert that Muneyoshi had mentioned.
After a short break, the competition is about to begin.
"I have only one requirement today: to win!"
At the final pre-match gathering, Muneyoshi's gaze swept over the opposing team. Those who Fudomine would ultimately pay a heavy price.
"Yes!"
Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji nodded emphatically.
They naturally sensed the disdainful glances coming from the other side.
A cruel smile crept across the faces of Ishida Tetsu and the others; Muneyoshi had already said this before the match.
Today's stage will belong to them.
Minister Saeki Muneyoshi and Keith will not be present.
Tachibana Kippei also served as the final character.
Everything on the field is left to the first-year students.
"Mori Tatsunori, Uchimura Kyosuke, you two go for doubles number two! Remember, they're not that strong. With your skills, you can easily handle them."
On the opposite court, the players from Shigawa Junior High all looked relaxed.
As schools in the same district, they all knew more or less about the changes at Fudomine, and they had never considered Fudomine as a rival.
Moreover, they are Fudomine; in their view, taking them down is only a matter of time.
Bang!
However, as Uchimura Kyosuke served directly, a powerful shot slammed into the opposite side's receiving area.
The laughter from Shigawa Junior High gradually faded away.
Why have you all stopped laughing?
Mori Tatsunori's voice came from ahead, and the faces of the people from Shigawa Junior High turned even uglier.
Whoosh!
Another beam of light swept past Shigawa's contestant, and the barbed wire behind him rattled.
"This newlywed couple from Fudomine is amazing!"
Exclamations of surprise occasionally rose from the sparse crowd around them; Fudomine's doubles performance had shattered their understanding of Fudomine.
Twenty-five minutes later.
Shikawa's doubles partner helplessly let go of his hand, and the racket he had been holding hit the ground with a thud.
Their eyes were filled with disbelief; they couldn't believe they had been defeated by a first-year student from Fudomine.
"In the doubles match 2, Fudomine Mori Tatsunori and Uchimura Kyosuke won, with a score of 6-3."
"In the doubles match, Fudomine Rinshu and Ishida Tetsu won, with a score of 6-0."
"Tezuka, that second-year student from Fudomine is really strong."
Watching Lin Xiu's retreating figure, Inui Sadaharu and Fuji said in unison.
They all recognized Lin Xiu's strength; the match just now wasn't even a warm-up for him.
"Okay, remember to write it down."
The subsequent matches proceeded as expected.
"In the singles match, Fudomine Kamio Akira won 6-3."
Now, even the slowest person would realize that these first-year students from Fudomine were no ordinary individuals.
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