Two National Tournament Finals in Two Years, and Four Showdowns in One Year

After the referee announced the final result, Marui Bunta came over to Yukimura as he left the court, a bitter smile on his face. "Yukimura, I'm sorry. We..."

Before Marui could finish, Yukimura shook his head.

He and Niou had formed a doubles pair, so he'd already kept his hopes for Marui's team low.

After all, the original plan had been to win Singles 3 and Doubles 2, then gamble on Singles 1...

But now the match was over. It was too late to say anything.

The match was over, and their middle school careers were about to end, too...

Soon, under the referee's direction, the players from both teams returned to the court for the post-match formalities.

"Congratulations, Muneyoshi. I hope Fudomine can win the National Tournament again this year..."

Yukimura held out his hand to Muneyoshi. Though he wore a smile, Muneyoshi could clearly see the sadness in Yukimura's eyes.

"Thanks. You're the first person to say you hope Fudomine wins..."

Muneyoshi smiled and reached out to shake Yukimura's hand.

Nearly every school now hoped a challenger would emerge. Rikkai Dai was the first to wish Fudomine continued success...

Of course, Muneyoshi knew that before the match ended, Rikkai Dai had wanted to be the challenger, too. But in the end, they'd lost.

"Orange Kippei, we didn't get to face each other this time. Let's settle things at camp!"

Nearby, Sanada began talking with Tachibana Kippei. They'd known that training would begin after the National Tournament, and had even made plans to train together.

Still, they weren't sure what the training camp was meant to accomplish. They'd assumed it was to prepare them for high school.

A few days later, at the Echizen home in Tokyo.

"Ryoma, time to get up. Today's the National Tournament final, so