The First Wave of Attention

After settling their agreement with Saeki Muneyoshi, Oni Jūjirō and his companions left ahead of schedule.

Muneyoshi temporarily acted as a guide for the junior high school students, showing them around the various facilities and equipment in the training camp.

And various precautions and arrangements that should be followed.

These are things that require time to figure out gradually, but Muneyoshi felt that it was better to spend boring time figuring them out.

It would be better if he informed them of these things in advance, so that the junior high school students could spend more time improving themselves.

The high-end and comprehensive facilities they saw during the visit still amazed the group of junior high school students.

Only Atobe wasn't too surprised by this, since his family could easily obtain such things with some money.

Even replicating a training camp wouldn't be too difficult for Atobe, given his wealth.

Finally, when everyone gathered in the restaurant, the diverse and delicious food made the junior high school students swallow hard.

"Is this the food at the U17 Training Camp...? It's amazing, it's like a high-class restaurant!"

Rikkai Dai's Yagyu Hiroshi pushed up his glasses and said with a sigh.

"Excuse me, are we allowed to eat all of these?"

Seeing the delicious food suddenly made Kamio Akira feel a little hungry, so he eagerly approached the staff and asked.

"Of course, you can eat as much as you like!"

The chefs replied with smiles.

Upon hearing the chefs' reply, the junior high school students cheered with joy; they had climbed the mountain and were starving.

"Hmph! Aren't you all getting a little too cocky! Getting excited over food is so unrefined!"

Atobe said dismissively.

"Hey, Atobe, since you, as a young master, look down on these things, you don't have to eat them!"

"It's Kite," said the man standing to the side.

"Hmph! Higa Junior High, huh? I hope I run into you in the training later!"

Atobe snorted coldly and led Oshitari Yushi and Kabaji Munehiro to their seats for the meal.

Seeing this, Muneyoshi simply smiled and did not step forward to stop the confrontation.

Training sessions definitely need a bit of tension; otherwise, it'll just be a friendly, friendly game of tennis.

After finishing his meal, Muneyoshi parted ways with the others once again.

Before leaving, he looked at the middle school students and said with utter disdain, "You're only on the lowest court right now, too far from me. We can't even train together. You'd better climb up here soon!"

"Let's go! We need to work harder in training tomorrow!"

Saeki Muneyoshi's words caused a moment of silence among the middle school students.

"Field number one!"

Yukimura was the first to break the silence, his eyes filled with determination. "I will definitely climb up."

"Muneyoshi, I won't fall behind you for long!"

Tachibana Kippei followed immediately, followed by Tezuka.

"Tch, the main reason I came here is because of you, you're not getting away!"

Akutsu's expression was also very unfriendly.

"Muneyoshi, how could I let you be so smug for so long? You can only be defeated by me!"

Atobe's eyes were also filled with coldness, and the air seemed to grow even colder.

"Then everyone must do your best! I'll take my leave now! Tachibana, I'm leaving Shinji in your care!"

Muneyoshi strode towards his own dormitory. As for why he didn't live with the team members?

He wanted to create this difference so that they could catch up quickly...

Only the most obvious differentiation will stimulate these geniuses.

Meanwhile, inside a small, dark room at the training camp.

Looking at the footage on the monitor, Kurobe Yukio wore a pleased expression. "Judging from their eyes, they should have made their choice by now."

Saito Itaru that moment, his face radiating confidence.

"This is an effect. By using Muneyoshi, whom they are most familiar with, as a target, they create this differentiation. If they can't even surpass their most recent target, how can they be content?"

"Okay, you're right. After all, you're Mental Coach."

Kurobe Yukio shrugged, picked up his coffee and took a sip. He was in a very good mood and didn't mind the other person showing off in front of him.

"Kurobe, as the Strategy Coach, have you figured out your next steps?"

Saito Itaru was clearly pleased with Kurobe Yukio's compliment, and a bright smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Speaking of which, when we went to the back mountain today, Muneyoshi gave me a great idea!"

Kurobe put down his coffee, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

"Oh? What kind of prank does Muneyoshi have up his sleeve this time?" Saito Itaru was well aware of Muneyoshi's sunny exterior but ruthless interior.

"A harsh start, pressure, and the painful lessons of failure!"

After returning, Kurobe optimized Muneyoshi's plan and prepared to implement it starting tomorrow. He calmly glanced at Saitō behind him, a smug look on his face.

"Alright, now that we have a plan, as the Strategy Coach, you can start arranging the schedule."

Saito Itaru raised his hands, stretched his shoulders and neck, and smiled:

"We can't let so many promising talents emerge that deserve our serious attention. We should have confidence in Japan's future, shouldn't we?"

"Yes, we should have full confidence in the future of Japan!"

A relaxed smile also appeared on Kurobe Yukio's face. They had been working tirelessly for Japan for so long, and this was the moment they had been waiting for.

This year we have Byōdōin, and in the future we'll have Saeki Muneyoshi and his group.

It's practically the perfect story of a rise to power.

Moreover, the stronger Saeki Muneyoshi becomes as a future leader, the greater their ambitions can be.

"Shall we arrange Shuffle Match for junior high school students tomorrow?"

Saito Itaru looked at the various data on the screen and suddenly asked a question.

"Hmm, there is one!"

"Who?"

"Seigaku Akutsu Jin, with Oni Jūjirō!"

Kurobe put down the materials in his hand and smiled faintly.

"Looks like things are going to get interesting tomorrow."

Saito Itaru smiled secretly.

The next morning, at the U17 Training Camp.

Before the first rays of dawn had even pierced the distant horizon, many high school students with regular schedules were already awake.

At the same time, the training camp's loudspeaker also started broadcasting.

"Morning exercise time, assemble!"

Takuetsue Ryuji's voice was quite stern, rudely waking up the sleepy junior high school students.

Compared to the newly arrived junior high school students, the high school students have almost adapted.

Although Takuetsue Ryuji's rigorous physical training caused many people great suffering.

However, after a period of training, everyone could feel their own growth.

Moreover, once you adapt to the high-intensity training of U17, your stamina will generally be at a barely acceptable level to play a full World Cup match.

When the junior high school students arrived in groups at the central coach building plaza.

Takuetsue Ryuji was already standing on the high platform, looking at the crowd below with a serious expression.

He always wears a sleeveless T-shirt on his upper body, all year round, and the muscles in his arms are very clearly defined, making him look very strong.

Even as he moved, one could clearly sense the astonishing power contained within his solid muscles.

Looking at his lower body, you can see the explosive power in his calf and thigh muscles through his black athletic shorts.

The junior high school students who met him for the first time observed him very carefully, and many of them, who were quite knowledgeable about physical exercise, could sense his strong physique.

This made the group of middle school students, who were feeling bored, somewhat expectant about what the physical education coach could teach them.

"Everyone has it, great, no one is late today, so let's start with stretching!"

Just as the middle school students were still observing him, Takuetsue Ryuji's calm voice reached everyone's ears.

Upon hearing this, the junior high school students all became serious. The topic of this kind of training had already been distributed to the junior high school students yesterday.

They had a night to get to know each other, and everyone looked at Takuetsue Ryuji, stretching and moving their bodies along with him.

At first, the junior high school students didn't think much of it, since it was just a simple stretching exercise, and as tennis players, they were very familiar with these movements.

These are all very standard warm-up exercises.

But as the sun rises and time passes...

The junior high school students were starting to feel the strain; the number of sets for these exercises seemed a bit too much.

However, not all junior high school students find it unacceptable; at least Fudomine did a good job.

This startled the people from other schools, who then realized that Saeki Muneyoshi must have already instructed the Fudomine students to practice like this.

This explains why they were able to last so long.

Knowing this, the other schools were now holding their breath, determined not to let Fudomine fall further behind.

Therefore, even when they had reached their limit, they still gritted their teeth and persevered.

Just when they were about to give up, Takuetsue Ryuji's heavenly voice rang out.

"Alright, warm-up over!"

He struggled to his feet, but before he could utter a word, the broadcast started again.

"Now, let's begin today's ranking Shuffle Match."

"Akutsu Jin from Court 16 will face Oni Jūjirō from Court 5."

"Saeki Muneyoshi from Stadium 1 Nakagawa Naidō from Stadium 2."

"Matsudaira Chikahiko from Court 5 will face Yamato Yūdai from Court 6."

As the broadcast went on, the list of players participating in today's ranked matches was also announced.

Besides Saeki Muneyoshi, only Akutsu Jin was selected from the junior high school students.

"Please proceed to your respective courts. The Shuffle Match will begin in twenty minutes."

"Ha ha..."

Upon hearing his own name, and knowing that his opponent was none other than Oni Jūjirō, whom he had met yesterday, Akutsu laughed arrogantly.

He was very satisfied with this arrangement.

Only by defeating this guy from the No. 5 court will he have a chance to challenge Saeki Muneyoshi.

"Just you wait, Saeki Muneyoshi, you're next!"

Akutsu thought to himself.

P. S.: "Another update of over 6,000 words, I'm a bit tired after coming back."

Business trips, unless they're too far, are really not as comfortable as taking the bullet train or high-speed rail. Tianfu Airport is too far from me; it takes more than two hours to get home, which is incredibly inconvenient.