Wimbledon Open Invitation
"I've only been out for a day, has something happened at Seigaku?"
Horio thought for a moment; everything was going smoothly at Seigaku when he spoke with Coach Ryuzaki yesterday.
How come Seigaku had this incident today, less than 24 hours after arriving at the U-17 Training Base?
"Didn't you know? The Wimbledon Open are about to start, right? This year, the tournament organizers have invited outstanding youth teams from all over the world to participate in the invitational tournament, and your Seigaku is one of the four representative teams from Japan."
Horio was stunned. Everything was fine yesterday, and today he received this kind of news from Saito Itaru.
Just then, Horio's phone rang, and it turned out to be Coach Ryuzaki calling.
"Hey, Coach."
"Horio, we have good news! We've been invited to participate in an exhibition match at Wimbledon Open."
The meeting is in four days, but because we need to get there in advance to familiarize ourselves with the venue, we have to go there the day after tomorrow.
"I understand, Coach. I won't be going with the others, but I'll arrive the day before the match officially starts."
After hanging up the phone, Horio shook his head helplessly.
"It seems you really left at the wrong time."
Seeing Horio's distressed expression, Saito Itaru immediately understood.
"Never mind, there's still plenty of time. I have enough time to experience the strength of the First String, especially that man who holds the No. 1 spot."
Stopping thinking about all that, Horio now only wants to meet the so-called First String.
"Then you'll be disappointed. Not all members of the First String and Second Armies are returning this time, especially that man; he won't be coming back."
"What!? Why didn't that old geezer tell me? What's the point of me coming back then?"
"Perhaps the Head Coach guessed that if that man didn't come back, you probably wouldn't come back either, which is why he didn't say anything."
Upon hearing that the person he was most interested in wouldn't be showing up, Horio's initial enthusiasm immediately plummeted.
"You old bastard, you're so despicable even towards a little kid..."
Horio clenched his teeth in anger, while Saito Itaru could only offer an awkward smile.
"What's wrong with him? Why is he so irritable as soon as he gets back?"
Inside a field at the U-17 Training Base, Horio was practicing with a man with white hair but bronze skin.
At that moment, Oni finished his training and walked over to Irie when he saw Horio, with emotion, hitting various sharp returns at Tanegashima.
"I heard it's because those people are coming back tomorrow, but Byodoin has taken Duke somewhere again, so he's very unhappy."
"Tch, so what if those guys from the First String go overseas for training? Trash is still trash."
And those useless guys from the second-tier team, they don't have much time to enjoy themselves anymore. After the junior high school training camp ends, the reshuffling will definitely eliminate a lot of people."
Upon hearing Irie's explanation, Oni couldn't help but think of some of the soldiers in the First String, making no attempt to hide the disdain in his tone.
"I'd really like to see him play against Byodoin. I'm curious to see what happens when Byodoin's Overlord Tennis meets Horio's Genesis Domain."
Irie's eyes showed a look of curiosity and excitement, while Oni beside her seemed to recall the last match with Horio.
After Tokugawa's defeat, Oni also fought Horio.
Even after the demon activated the Asura Divine Path and used its extradimensional power, it was still defeated by Horio's briefly released Genesis Domain.
Then Tanegashima suddenly appeared and also became interested, fighting Horio.
After Tanegashima used the Extinguished Zero to break through the Shatter" and "Weak Water, Horio ended the match with "Light Rain".
"Even Byodoin wouldn't be able to escape unscathed from the Genesis Domain; that domain suppresses the power of other dimensions."
When Oni recalled his match against Horio, his expression turned somewhat grim.
His strongest trump card, the Other Dimension, was actually suppressed to about 70% of its peak power by Horio's Genesis Domain.
Bang!
"I'm not playing anymore! It's pointless!"
On the field, Tanegashima made no response to the ball Horio returned, letting it pass him directly.
"This has only been going on for a short time. It would be even tougher playing in the World Championship."
"No matter what you say, it's no use. I'm not going to be your punching bag."
Horio tried to provoke Tanegashima into continuing, but after enduring Horio's relentless attacks for so long, Tanegashima refused to budge.
"Thanks for your hard work, sandbag."
"So you knew all along? Then why didn't you stop me? You should have gone up and fought him."
Tanegashima walked to the sidelines with his racket, Irie immediately started teasing him.
Horio Tanegashima playing and had no choice but to follow him back to the sidelines.
"Although Byodoin won't be coming back, there are a few other members of the First String that you might be interested in."
As for the second army, there aren't many decent guys there either.
Looking at Horio had returned to the sidelines, Oni spoke.
"Whatever, they're not going to let me come back for nothing anyway. That old geezer deliberately kept it from me, probably to warn the First String and Second Armies."
"That's true. If those arrogant people can't even beat a first-year middle school kid, they'll probably be in big trouble if Byodoin finds out."
Hearing Horio's words, Irie nearby, also smiled.
"Where's Tokugawa? I haven't seen him at all."
"He's been practicing harder than before lately; it's probably because his crushing defeat to you last time heightened his sense of crisis."
"However, if he can perfect his Black Hole technique before Byodoin returns, his chances of winning will be even greater."
Because of his previous defeat at the hands of Horio, Tokugawa, despite successfully hitting Light Ball Shot, was reminded of the time he was taught a lesson by Byodoin.
"The side effects of the Black Hole are too strong. With his current physical condition, he simply cannot use it continuously. He has a long way to go if he wants to defeat Byodoin."
After the last match, Horio had a general understanding of Tokugawa's physical condition.
Black Hole require extremely high physical abilities, while Tokugawa's physical abilities were only at the level of a second-class soldier.
Therefore, if Tokugawa wanted to use the power of another dimension to defeat Byodoin, what he needed was physical enhancement.
"This year will be a year of great change for U-17, with the rules of the U-17 World Championship being changed."
Once the junior high school students have completed the intensive training, a large number of high school students will be squeezed out.
"Looks like we've got something to do again. We've only trained one Tokugawa this year; hopefully, we can get more talented junior high school students to bolster our ranks this year."
"Alright, that's enough for today. After the match against the First String tomorrow, I'm heading to Wimbledon. That old bastard tricked me; next time we meet, I'm going to smash his wine jug."
Horio, too lazy to listen to Oni and Irie's plans for raising him, waved his hand and prepared to leave.
The demon beside them seemed to remember something and called out to Horio, who was about to leave.