Kintaro Gets Schooled
"Because of my last defeat, I have to become stronger, otherwise I'll never be able to beat that man."
Hearing Horio praise him, Tokugawa didn't feel pleased; he just felt it was all to be expected.
"The will to stake everything on yourself? Having already experienced hell once, it's not surprising that you have this kind of resolve."
But Tokugawa, you know what? You could actually be even stronger.
Horio's words stunned Tokugawa; he didn't understand why Horio would say such a thing.
"You'll understand why I said that when you figure it out yourself. There's no use needing someone else to remind you of this kind of thing."
I think your progress is not only being noticed by us, but also by the Coach staff.
Let's end our match here; there's no point in continuing.
"No! It's only the third game, the match isn't over yet!"
"I've done what I needed to do. Now it's up to you what you do."
Horio ignored Tokugawa's refusal and turned to leave the stadium.
Seeing that his words were useless, Tokugawa immediately took out a tennis ball and hit it at Horio.
"It seems you're determined to settle this once and for all."
Sensing the tennis ball flying towards him, Horio turned around and released the Genesis Aura from his arm.
The racket swung out, returning a Shatter shot.
Tokugawa quickly hit Black Hole to block the tennis ball.
Sensing resistance, the Genesis Aura burst forth.
Because Black Hole is a small space, the Genesis Aura did not create a vortex, but instead covered the space within the Black Hole.
The Genesis Aura continuously erodes the Black Hole, while the Black Hole also continuously devours the power of the Genesis Aura.
But ultimately, the speed of absorption could not keep up with the speed of erosion, and before it could last for more than a few seconds, cracks appeared in the space around the Black Hole.
Finally, a cracking sound rang out, and the tennis ball broke through the Black Hole's defense.
The tennis ball flew straight into the wall behind it, leaving a hole in it after it finished spinning.
"If you continue like this, you'll get injured like last time. You'd be better off training more than recovering from an injury."
After saying this, Horio did not give Tokugawa another chance to serve and left the court directly.
By the time Tokugawa realized what was happening, Horio had already vanished.
"Our Zero is truly terrifying. Even after all this, Tokugawa still hasn't revealed his true strength."
"When Byodoin led the Black Army back from the Head Coach, I thought he was Zero. But the Head Coach's words, 'You're so surprised by this level? If I find someone who perfectly matches Zero someday, how naive will you be?' have kept me looking forward to Zero's appearance."
To be honest, when this kid first came to the Training Base, I didn't think the Head Coach was right, even after he revealed his otherworldly power.
Inside the control room, looking at the stadium where Tokugawa was all alone, Kurobe and Saito couldn't help but sigh.
"But now I believe it, that child's progress... no, it should be said that his evolution speed is too fast."
"Is that so? Or perhaps... that child has always shown his full strength."
Saito's words plunged Kurobe into silence once again. If what Saito said was true, Kurobe couldn't believe how high Horio still had so much time left in his growth period, could possibly reach in the future.
"Oh? Is this still not over?"
After the match against Tokugawa, Horio went to the arena where Oni and Kintaro were playing.
As soon as Horio arrived at the stadium, he heard Kintaro complaining.
"Seriously, Uncle Ghost, is this all the strength you have?"
"Hmph, how boring. I thought you could make things more interesting for me, but it seems you're still too green."
The demon's tone became somewhat stern in response to Kintaro's complaints.
He turned and walked to the baseline, tossing the ball up.
Unlike his previous serves, this time the genius unleashed his true skills.
Bang!
"What... what just happened? I didn't see anything..."
All that could be heard was the sound of the tennis ball hitting the ground; Kintaro couldn't even see the ball when facing the demon's serve.
"Oh? Are they finally getting serious?"
On the other end of the camera, Kurobe's tone, which had been quietly watching the situation on the field, suddenly changed.
"Super, absolutely delicious, giant wheelchair mountain storm!"
Facing a serious Oni, Kintaro dared not be careless and unleashed his signature ball technique once again.
The demon's counterattack was the same as before, still using a two-handed grip.
"Is it still that Black Jack knife trick? What can that little knife even cut through!"
Kintaro was no longer afraid of the demon's Black Jack knife.
But this time, the demon didn't use that move at all.
"Black Tomahawk!"
Faced with Kintaro's strongest move, Oni also used an upgraded version of the Black Jack knife.
Kintaro's attack was easily neutralized by the demon's move, and the returned tennis ball sent Kintaro flying before he even hit the ground.
"If you can't cut it with a knife, then chop it with an axe."
Kintaro, who had fallen to the ground, propped himself up and looked at the other side. The demon, still in a swinging stance, had a very sharp look in his eyes.
At this moment, Kintaro finally felt fear, but the demon didn't care about that.
Even knowing that Kintaro's mentality was off, the demon maintained the same level of strength.
Thus began a scene on Court No. 1 where Kintaro was repeatedly sent flying by his attacks.
"Tsk tsk tsk, they really have the guts."
"Now you've shown some compassion. In the beginning, you wanted the ghost to fight that boy. I guess that's what you wanted to see, isn't it?"
Watching Kintaro being repeatedly knocked away by Oni's counterattacks from the sidelines, Horio couldn't help but shake his head.
Hearing the gloating in Horio's tone, Irie nearby, also mercilessly exposed him.
In fact, this is exactly what Horio wanted to see. Although Kintaro's personality is like that, being too willful will eventually lead to something terrible.
This U-17 selection is very important. If Kintaro makes a mistake due to his willfulness at this crucial moment, he will not only harm himself, but the entire team.
"What's wrong with allowing him to compete against strong opponents while also learning a lesson?"
"But are you sure that the boy being punished like that by a ghost won't have the opposite effect?"
"He's the kind of person who gets stronger with setbacks. I think he'll be more mature by the time he gets back from that old geezer."
Irie still had some doubts about Horio's actions, but Horio firmly believed that creating another rival for Kintaro would be useful.
Bang!
Before the two people off the field could finish speaking, Kintaro on the field let out another scream.
"It looks like it's over. Kintaro doesn't have the energy to continue."
Kintaro, who was able to stand up after being knocked away earlier, was now lying on the ground, too weak to move. Seeing this, Horio and Irie the arena and carried him off.