Tanegashima Shūji's Nothingness

Melbourne's Australian Open venue was also where this Australian U-17 World Cup Open was being held, and the atmosphere was especially electric.

"Woooo!"

"Serbia! Serbia!"

Even from near the venue, waves of heat seemed to roll over them.

They had thought it would be a crushing defeat with no chance to fight back, but Serbia had actually given the spectators hope with their singles matches.

The spectators supporting Serbia were celebrating wildly.

They cheered with unrestrained enthusiasm as Serbia won two matches in a row after losing the first two.

The score was now tied at 2–2, and the match had come down to Singles 1 after all.

They were now just one step away from winning this group-stage round-robin match.

However, compared with the excitement inside the venue, the mood in the Japan Team's room was rather subdued.

The doubles matches had finally put them in a good position, but the two singles matches—both played by confident middle schoolers—had sent them straight back to square one.

Neither Kite nor Shiraishi could avoid the same outcome when facing their high school opponents.

They could gain a temporary advantage, but as soon as their opponents adjusted to their abilities and techniques, they quickly found a way to counter them.

And then they easily won the matches.

Those two matches had made Kite and Shiraishi clearly understand the limits of their abilities.

The price of that lesson, though, seemed rather steep.

The Japan Team's confidence had soared after Muneyoshi's brilliant performance the day before, but now it was beginning to flag.

And it wasn't just them.

Many members of the other two teams in the locker room had also fallen silent.

"The world isn't that easy to conquer. If you don't have the resolve to win, you'll never claim the final victory!"