At Fudomine's tennis courts.
Court No. 1, which had previously been reserved for the Regulars, was now packed with people.
The school's medical staff kept carrying injured students out to the ambulances waiting outside.
The students from other clubs who had gathered to watch wore serious expressions, while the rest of the student body buzzed with discussion.
"Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"The Tennis Club..."
"What happened to the Tennis Club?"
"Hey, you haven't heard? I heard there was an extremely serious mass brawl in the Tennis Club, and eight or nine people got hurt!"
"I heard that too. Apparently, some of them were pretty badly injured!"
"Exactly. If you ask me, what's the point of keeping the Tennis Club open? They don't get any results, and they're always causing trouble."
"Yeah. If I were the principal, I would've shut the Tennis Club down ages ago."
News of the serious violent incident at Fudomine's Tennis Club spread beyond the school as if it had grown wings. The club had never been popular to begin with.
Besides, they weren't very strong, and the school deliberately shifted attention elsewhere and kept the matter under wraps, so it didn't attract much notice.
The only one who paid it much attention was Tezuka from Seigaku. When he heard about it, even his usually expressionless face changed slightly.
The incident was soon brought to a close after the school imposed severe punishment.
Fudomine's Tennis Club was temporarily disbanded, and every member was expelled from the club.
Everyone involved in the violent incident was severely punished, and students were strictly forbidden from discussing it on campus.
Thus, apart from the people directly involved, perhaps the only record of what had happened was the tennis court, left unrepaired after the club was shut down, its surface still riddled with more than a dozen deep craters...
"Saeki, this incident was too serious. The school has no choice but to consider closing the Tennis Club for now."
"Also, the parents of the injured students have lodged complaints, so you'll probably have to stay away from school for a while. But your teachers tell me you do very well in your classes, so this shouldn't affect you too much. I hope you understand."
"Of course, Principal. Sorry for the trouble!"
The violent incident at Fudomine had finally come to an end, but Muneyoshi had received a severe punishment as well.
His father had repeatedly stepped in to clean up the mess, so he wasn't expelled from school.
Still, he had to leave school for a while to appease the furious parents of the injured students.
Muneyoshi didn't mind. He'd had more than enough of school in his previous life.
Although he'd graduated many years ago, junior high school material still came easily to him. Besides, the Tennis Club had no chance of advancing any further this year.
He'd already been thinking about taking a trip during his leave of absence, so this arrangement suited him just fine.
More than these minor details, what mattered to him now was his path in tennis.
He'd always been committed to training toward Shining Shot.
He hadn't expected that venting his pent-up emotions to the extreme would let him strike the rudiments of a "Darkness Shot."
He'd stepped through the gate of "darkness."
This was a mysterious realm that, in the original story, only Amadeus had entered.
And now, he had the good fortune to enter it himself.
He had only just knocked on the door, and it was nothing like the Light Ball he'd imagined, but it was still enough to raise his strength by another level.
However, his five stats were still low, nowhere near Amadeus's level, and his Darkness Shot was only a rough prototype.
It was unstable.
He still needed to fight a lot of matches to stabilize this state.
The regional qualifiers, the Metropolitan Tournament, the Kanto Tournament, and even the National Tournament would all have been excellent opportunities for one match after another.
But now that he'd been suspended, he was no longer eligible to compete.
He couldn't even transfer to another school.
Looks like I'll have to figure something out...
As he walked home, Saeki Muneyoshi kept working out what he would do next.
The sun was nearly setting. The evening glow stained the sky crimson, casting a hazy shadow over him and stretching his own shadow out long behind him...
By the time Muneyoshi got home, it was already evening. He'd spent a long time thinking over how he would manage being away from school and planning how to improve.
"I'm home!"
As he opened the door, Saeki Muneyoshi saw his mother, Kannai, making dinner in the kitchen, while his father sat on the sofa reading the newspaper. The atmosphere at home didn't seem particularly tense.
"Muneyoshi, you're back. Go take a bath first. Dinner will be ready in a little while."
Kannai's expression was gentle when she saw her son. She didn't show any sign that something was wrong.
"Okay, Mother."
Muneyoshi replied as he changed his shoes. When his family didn't bring up what had happened at school, he felt the tension leave him.
But he didn't notice the concern in Kannai's eyes.
"Father."
He greeted his father, who sat upright on the sofa, then headed straight for the bathroom.
"Mm..."
Once Muneyoshi had shut the bathroom door, his father, who had been reading the newspaper, immediately tossed it onto the table.
"The boy doesn't look like he's been bullied at school or badly shaken by his suspension."
With a trace of concern that was hard to detect, Saeki went to the kitchen and quietly asked Kannai.
Kannai carefully set down the pot of soup she'd been simmering and said helplessly, "But Muneyoshi was kicked out of the Tennis Club and forced to take some time away from school."
"I see..."
Saeki felt a little reassured. From the look of things, the boy hadn't been bullied—at least, he hadn't lost the fight...
"Remember, don't bring this up in front of Muneyoshi."
Kannai suddenly turned serious. Still holding the ladle, she reminded him again. She knew her husband had always been extremely strict with Muneyoshi.
If Muneyoshi hadn't been so self-disciplined since childhood, who knew what might have happened?
"All right, all right... I won't mention it..."
In the bathroom.
Saeki Muneyoshi submerged himself completely beneath the water in the bathtub.
His mind kept replaying the scenes from the match, trying to capture that wonderfully strange sensation.
That outburst of intense emotion had unleashed his mental power in a violent surge, projecting the darkness in his heart outward once more through that power.
His skill, strength, and use of the sweet spot had all come together, and the resulting blaze of spirit had forced open the door to this world of tennis techniques.
The boost and enhancement he'd received in that moment had been like Tezuka's State of Selflessness.
But the State of Selflessness manifested outwardly, while darkness was utterly restrained.
So mental power can be used like this...
Suppress every impulse, conceal every trace of one's presence, like a volcano held in check, waiting only for the final spark to erupt.
The Path of Darkness was a vast road, with many realms and techniques waiting to be explored.
Saeki Muneyoshi continued sorting through and summarizing everything in his mind...
Since he'd already set foot on this path, he could only rely on his own understanding to truly incorporate it into his tennis and, like Tezuka, form his own system.
Knock, knock, knock...
"Muneyoshi, hurry up. Dinner's ready."
Kannai's gentle voice came from outside the door.
"Okay, Mother. I'll be right out."
For a while, no one spoke at the dinner table. Seeing Muneyoshi looking somewhat distracted, Saeki's Old Man wanted to say something, but thought better of it.
The family didn't mention school at all, yet their silence gave Muneyoshi their support.
After dinner, Muneyoshi told his family that he planned to go on a trip while he was away from school. His parents thought it over and agreed.
P.S. "Big shots, please shower me with all kinds of votes!"
Before you continue