The Match Draws Near

The sound of the tennis ball cutting through the air rang out, carrying a terrifying force.

The racket instantly appeared in Horio's hand, who was facing away from Kevin Smith, as he faced the seemingly powerful ball.

Horio turned and returned the shot with a normal swing.

The unstoppable tennis ball was instantly stopped by this return shot, and then Horio increased the force of his arm.

Call out...

The tennis ball flew past Kevin Smith's ear.

The tennis ball made a sharp sound as it flew past, piercing Kevin Smith's ears.

Then a gust of air appeared, stirring the air around Kevin Smith, and his body was then seen to be carried two meters away by this gust of air.

"Just because I disdain to lecture you doesn't mean I won't. You want to have a match with Echizen Ryoma, right? Well, keep thinking about it."

Horio looked at Kevin, who was flying backwards, with a displeased expression.

After speaking, he turned and left. Kevin, who had been exuding a terrifying aura, was also trembling all over from that ball.

As Kevin watched Horio's retreating figure, the fear in his eyes lingered.

Because of Kevin, Horio didn't return to the Training Base until almost dark.

He originally intended to teach Kevin a lesson, but when Horio saw the real person...

Horio felt that his various habits, both inside and out, were like seeing a second Ryoma, and Horio immediately lost interest in this bootleg Ryoma.

Horio actually knew about Kevin's past and felt sorry for him.

Putting myself in Kevin's shoes, if Horio were in Kevin's environment, perhaps I would have ended up like him.

However, the facts are the facts, and it is undeniable that Kevin did use tennis to hurt people.

He then shook his head, trying to stop thinking about it.

"Captain, I've retrieved the documents."

"Oh, thank you for your hard work."

"Are we already starting to decide on the candidates?"

Back at the Training Base, Horio gave the data to Tezuka.

Seeing Tezuka staring at the personnel list in his hand, Horio knew that Tezuka was struggling with the selection of the team members.

"Yes, Coach Sakaki wants me to submit my nominees."

"Really? But you seem a bit hesitant, so I won't disturb your thinking any longer."

After saying that, Horio turned to leave, Tezuka suddenly called out to him.

What do you think of Echizen now?

"I've been making progress, but I still need more practice."

Horio knew what Tezuka was thinking, compared to Horio.

Ryoma is the one most like Tezuka, which led Tezuka to place great expectations on Ryoma.

"Captain, isn't there still time? Whatever kind of person you want Ryoma to become, the prerequisite is that he understands who he is first."

Horio spoke again while Tezuka was thinking, and then left.

"After this period of training, I believe you have made great progress. However, training is almost over, and our Coach staff has already begun the selection process for the friendly match roster."

Inside the conference room, Head Coach Sakaki spoke to everyone in the training camp.

"I hope everyone will give it their all. This is a great opportunity. Of course, even those who have already secured their spots can't let their guard down. The competition..."

Bored after listening to Coach Sakaki's speech, Horio quietly left the meeting room.

At that moment, a person walked into the Training Base hall from outside.

"Hello, is Ryoma still training?"

"It's you, Mr. Inoue. Are you here to interview Ryoma?"

While cleaning, Tomoka saw Inoue suddenly appear and assumed he had come specifically to see Ryoma.

"No, it's because of this goodwill tournament. There's a player on the West Coast of the United States who has some connections with Ryoma, so I came here specifically to find out more."

"It's related to Ryoma..."

"To be precise, it should be related to Ryoma's father Echizen Nanjirou."

"If that's the case, Mr. Inoue, then you can go home now. It would be big news if the younger generation were to settle the grudges of the previous generation."

Especially with someone as famous as Echizen Nanjirou, this news is likely valuable not only to you, but perhaps even more valuable to the West Coast.

At this moment, Horio came down from upstairs and saw that Inoue was holding Kevin Smith's information, so he understood why Inoue had come here.

"You're saying it's not just us... Is there some other hidden story behind this match?"

"Whether or not they are, I don't know, and I don't care to know. But the list of representatives hasn't been finalized yet, so even if you wanted to inquire, it's a bit early."

Horio did not respond to Inoue's question.

Seeing that Horio refused to reveal any information, they could only leave empty-handed.

"Hey Horio, what exactly did you mean by what you just said? I don't understand a word of it."

"It's nothing, just something to shut our reporters up. It's okay if you don't understand... Why are you still here? Didn't you just leave?"

"What's with that look on your face? I was just curious about what you were talking about. Do you really not want me to show up?"

The sudden sound caught Horio guard.

I was startled when I saw who was standing next to me.

Seeing that Horio was particularly resistant every time she appeared, Tomoka's anger flared up instantly.

"You're right. You're like a crazy girl all day long, I can't stand it. You can stay here by yourself, I'm leaving."

Without denying Tomoka's words, Horio left after speaking, leaving Tomoka looking bewildered.

"Oh dear, why haven't Kamio and Sengoku arrived yet? I'm starving!"

"How about we stop waiting? Otherwise we won't get any food."

"No, since we're in the same group, we should eat together after everyone's finished."

Inside the cafeteria, the Ryuzaki team hadn't started eating yet because the other two members hadn't arrived.

Momoshiro and Kirihara were so hungry they could hardly stand it anymore, and couldn't help but complain.

Just as the two were complaining, footsteps sounded.

Everyone looked over and saw Kamio and Sengoku walking over with serious expressions.

"Everyone, I have some bad news..."

"I heard that recently a strange foreigner has appeared on various school teams and has been beating them to a pulp."

And he said some strange things, like telling them to tell Echizen Ryoma that Kevin wanted to duel him.

With Kamio serious expression and deep tone, everyone felt it was somewhat impossible.

Even Ryoma, the person involved, found it somewhat absurd to hear that he was to duel with someone.

"This news is true."

The crowd didn't believe it and started discussing it amongst themselves. At that moment, Horio appeared and spoke.

"It's true that he utterly crushed every team, and it's also true that he wants to duel Ryoma."