It was hard for anyone else at the training camp to realize that the baby-faced boy who always wore a cheerful smile was a formidable player, every bit as strong as the best of them.
If Tanegashima Shūji hadn't been his teammate for years, he would never have known how powerful Irie Kanata was, judging by the way Irie usually acted.
Tanegashima was helpless in the face of his friend's peculiar hobby. He had even tried to talk Irie out of it a few times, but Irie would just nod in agreement, then promptly forget all about it.
There was nothing he could do about the way things were going now.
"Heh... no matter how much I hide my abilities, I still can't compare to Tanegashima-kun, one of only two players to make it onto Court One. Let's just watch the match."
Irie chuckled softly and didn't press the matter.
By now, both Tanegashima Shūji and Irie Kanata had begun to sense what was going on with this match, and they had some suspicions of their own.
Ever since they had arrived at this training camp, the talented first-year newcomers had all been matched with opponents of roughly the same level.
Now, this guy named Oni Jūjirō had just arrived at the camp, yet he'd been matched against Byōdōin Hōō, who had yet to lose a single match.
That meant the coaches at the U17 Base believed...
Oni Jūjirō's strength was on a level none of the others could match. He was no ordinary player.
This unknown player, who had gone unnoticed until now, was about to make a name for himself.
"Hmph... Those upperclassmen must know something. Otherwise, they wouldn't all have shown up to watch this match in such perfect unison."
At the other end of the court,