"Hello, you little brats. It's nice to meet you.
"My name is Hana. From now on, you can just call me Coach Hana.
"To be honest, I didn't want to come teach you, but someone asked me to, so here I am!
"I'll be in charge of your training from now on. I hope we get along!"
"Please take care of us!"
Seeing how well-behaved the Hyotei students were, Hana continued.
"I'll be deciding today's training exercises. But first, I need to get a better idea of your abilities!
"Introduce yourselves one by one. Start with your names; I'll find out the rest later.
"Start from the left!"
After she finished speaking, Hana somehow already had a notebook in her hand!
"Coach Hana, I'm Hiyoshi Wakashi!" Hiyoshi Wakashi had already—
"Oh~~ Coach Hana. I'm Akutagawa Jirou."
A minute later,
Everyone except Chiba Yun Chuan had introduced themselves.
"All right, now we'll get to the main event: practical training!
"You'll take turns playing against Chiba, you little brat. The doubles teams will do the same.
"First, warm up for ten minutes."
With that, she sent them off to warm up by running!
"Wow, even Atobe looks so cool when he runs!"
"Atobe looks so cool running. Look at that stylish middle part!"
"Atobe, I love you!"
"What are you talking about? Yagami is the really handsome one!"
As they ran, the Hyotei regulars started chatting.
"Coach Hana actually called Captain Chiba a little brat. That's hilarious!" As a first-year, Ootori Choutarou was the first to gossip.
"Coach said the doubles teams would do the same, so does that mean Captain Chiba will play singles against doubles? Is that okay?" Oshitari asked beside him.
"Yeah, isn't that a bit unfair?" Shishido Ryo, running next to Chotaro, chimed in.
"Chotaro, Shishido, Oshitari, what are you doing? Shut up, all of you. Run two extra laps!" Atobe immediately cut them off and punished them.
Atobe's words made the two glare angrily at Chotaro. Realizing he'd gotten them in trouble, Chotaro had already sped off ahead!
Atobe watched the three of them and shook his head as he ran.
If this coach had dared to arrange things this way, then Chiba Yun Chuan must have the ability to back it up.
Atobe knew that Chiba Yun Chuan really was that strong!
She was probably setting up these matches to assess their abilities and gather data.
Thinking this, Atobe secretly glanced at Chiba Yun Chuan, who stood in the distance with his arms folded.
Just how strong was this guy? Even Atobe himself would have a hard time beating Oshitari and Gakuto as a doubles team!
Why was he so confident?
While Chiba Yun Chuan watched the players run and warm up,
a middle-aged reporter was strolling through the Hyotei Academy tennis club, looking around at the facilities.
It was Inoue Mamoru, a reporter for Tennis Weekly!
Before long, Inoue Mamoru stopped outside the courts where the Hyotei regulars trained and looked inside. All the regulars except Chiba Yun Chuan were running.
"Hyotei really is something. The tennis club is huge and luxurious! And there are plenty of members!"
As he walked through Hyotei Academy, Inoue Mamoru couldn't help exclaiming.
"Look, look! The one running at the very back is Atobe Keigo!"
"Does Captain Chiba not need to warm up? What's going on?"
"Go, Hyotei! Go, Hyotei!"
Hearing the chatter around him, Inoue Mamoru muttered to himself again.
"Are these the Hyotei tennis club's regulars? Hmm, and that one is...?"
As he spoke, he took out his camera and snapped a photo!
Chiba Yun Chuan happened to look over just then and saw him taking a picture. At that moment, Inoue Mamoru's camera shutter clicked!
He had captured a precious photo of Chiba Yun Chuan looking straight at the camera!
"Wow, Captain Yagami is looking over here!"
"So cool! He's strong and handsome!"
"His presence is so intimidating. I wouldn't dare look Yagami in the eye."
Once Chiba Yun Chuan recognized the photographer, he knew who he was: Inoue Mamoru, the Tennis Weekly reporter from The Prince of Tennis. He seemed to be working alone, though.
Looks like the female reporter Shiba Saori wasn't working with him yet.
But he didn't think much of it.
After all, he wasn't likely to have much to do with Inoue Mamoru!
After taking the photo, Inoue Mamoru studied Chiba Yun Chuan carefully.
At the same time, he thought to himself,
"Chiba Yun Chuan, the one who didn't let the so-called Hyotei Emperor, Atobe Keigo, score a single point. Are you really that strong?
"I'm certainly looking forward to finding out."
Time flew by. The Hyotei regulars had finished their ten-lap warm-up, and it was time for practical training!
The main purpose of the practical training was to gather information on Hyotei's regulars and use it to identify their weaknesses and train them accordingly!
That meant someone had to test them. Hana could have done it herself, but she refused!
Her reason was that they were too weak and she didn't feel like playing them.
There was no choice. Chiba Yun Chuan had to take the court himself.
"It's finally starting! We get to see Lord Yagami's true strength!"
"Is it really okay for him not to warm up?"
"I've been waiting for this moment for ages. Please hurry up and start!"
Seeing that everyone was ready, Hana picked up the notebook she had prepared and spoke slowly.
"We'll begin the practical training now. First match: Chiba Yun Chuan versus Atobe Keigo. You, be the referee!"
Hana picked a club member at random to referee. His main job was just to keep score, since she expected every match to end six to zero, barring an unforeseen surprise!
She had already told Chiba Yun Chuan to push them to their limits.
Hearing Hana's announcement, Shishido Ryo and the others cried out in surprise!
"Atobe's up first?" Oshitari was shocked, having witnessed Atobe's crushing defeat up close.
The other regulars were even more stunned!
Even the tennis club members watching from the side were surprised.
They had assumed this would be the final match.
"The first match is going to be this exciting?"
"I can't wait! I wonder if Captain Atobe will win this time."
"Lord Atobe is so handsome, and Lord Chiba is handsome too. What should I do?"
Chiba Yun Chuan and Atobe had already taken their rackets and stepped onto the court. Atobe would serve first.
"Chiba, you may be strong, but I'm no pushover. I want to see just how good you are without your mental tennis!"
Even though he'd gotten a rough idea of Chiba Yun Chuan's abilities the day before, Atobe still wanted to challenge him!
After all, he hadn't understood his defeat yesterday. He'd only gotten a glimpse of that final shot!
"Atobe, you still talk too much. I wish your tennis skills were as plentiful as your words!"
Chiba Yun Chuan picked up his racket, gave it a twirl in his hand, and shot back at Atobe.
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