What Do You Think Tennis Is?

Early the next morning, Horio had just sat down in the classroom when he noticed Ryoma wasn't in his seat in front of him.

Figuring Ryoma had probably gone to morning practice, Horio headed over to the courts to take a look.

As soon as he arrived, Horio heard Arai, the same upperclassman from yesterday, arguing with Ryoma alongside two other older students. It sounded like they were talking about the intraschool ranking matches.

Seeing that none of the regulars were practicing at the courts that morning, Horio got bored and headed back to the classroom.

After classes ended that afternoon, Horio and Ryoma went to the courts for physical training. Before long, the first-years were already complaining about how exhausting it was.

Horio looked as if he hadn't broken a sweat, while Ryoma had only worked up a light one. Both of them looked full of energy.

"First-years, quit slacking off. Next, fifty sit-ups."

The upperclassmen saw Horio and the others stopping and immediately ordered them to do another exercise.

Just then, Arai and his two lackeys showed up. He arrogantly warned Horio that the regulars were returning for their first day of practice today.

They'd better not get too cocky. Before he could finish, a steady stream of footsteps came from behind them.

Five regulars in blue-and-white uniforms—Kaitou Kaoru, Inui Sadaharu, Oishi Shichirou, Kikumaru Eiji, and Fuji Syusuke—walked onto the court with their tennis bags on their backs.

The arrogant Arai immediately shut his mouth. Seeing that, Horio scoffed. What a useless coward, picking on the weak and cowering before the strong.

Horio had hated Arai ever since he'd watched The Prince of Tennis in his previous life. He had no skill and did nothing but throw his seniority around. Now that he was in this world, he disliked Arai even more.

The regulars greeted the new students, then immediately began their usual receiving practice, making the first-years envious.

Seeing this, Arai couldn't resist running his mouth at Horio again.

"See that? That's the skill of a regular. No matter how good your serve is, you still don't have the right to act cocky here."

"What do you have to be proud of? Even an injured Momo can scare you off. Why are you still in the tennis club? Trash belongs in the trash can."

Hearing Arai start mouthing off again, Horio's expression immediately turned cold. He fired right back without holding anything back.

Just then, Oishi Shichirou mishit his serve, and the ball flew toward Horio.

Horio kept his eyes fixed on Arai without moving them an inch. He tightened his grip on the racket in his right hand and swung hard at the incoming ball.

The ball had been drifting gently downward, but after Horio's swing, it shot toward the furious Arai with tremendous spin.

When Arai saw the ball hurtling toward him, he panicked. Fear seized him so completely that he couldn't move his feet at all. As the ball came closer and closer, he shut his eyes in terror.

He felt a sharp gust of wind pass his ear. The ball suddenly curved through the air at an incredibly tricky angle and flew into the basket beside Oishi Shichirou.

The first-years and the second- and third-year members of the tennis club all stared in shock.

The regulars looked at Horio with a little less disdain for a newcomer. Faced with the appearance of such an unusual first-year, they all began to take him more seriously.

"A tennis player who doesn't even dare look at the ball—what do you think tennis is?"

Ryoma, who couldn't stand Arai either, spoke up as well.

Arai came to his senses and realized he'd been mocked. Still shaken by his fear of Horio, he hadn't recovered when a boy wearing gold-rimmed glasses appeared.

"Why are you making so much noise on the court? Run ten laps around the track, all three of you."

It was Tezuka Kunimitsu, captain of the Seigaku tennis club. He then turned and said,

"Everyone else, warm up. After that, the second- and third-years will take the court, and the first-years will get ready to pick up balls. Dismissed."

"Yes!"

Arai was furious about being made to run laps, but he no longer dared to provoke Horio.

As he turned to run, he suddenly spotted Ryoma's tennis bag. An idea formed in his mind.

After running ten laps, Horio and Ryoma returned to the court. The first-years were practicing their swings, but when Ryoma got ready to continue, he couldn't find his tennis bag.

Arai had been watching Ryoma the whole time and immediately seized the opportunity to pick a fight.

"You're pretty confident, aren't you? You came to the court without a racket. Do you think practicing your swing is beneath you?"

"Is it because everyone thinks you're a promising newcomer? Hahahahaha!"

"If you're that confident, I don't mind playing you. But since you don't have a racket, you'll have to use this."

With that, he picked up an old racket from the ground and tossed it to Ryoma. Ryoma looked at the ugly faces in front of him.

He immediately understood that his racket had been hidden, so he accepted Arai's challenge.

Outside the court, Horio returned with drinks after finishing his laps and saw Ryoma playing against Arai with an old racket in his hand.

"What happened? Why's Ryoma playing that loser?"

When they saw Horio return, Katsuro and the others explained what had happened.

"Oh, so he's one of those people who aren't good enough to win on their own, so they pull cheap tricks to feel better about themselves. The pathetic, insecure kind of trash."

Horio deliberately raised his voice as he spoke, loud enough for the whole court to hear.

When he saw everyone looking his way, Horio immediately added,

"Ryoma, want to borrow my racket? Some losers dare to hide your racket, but they wouldn't dare hide mine."

Arai heard Horio's voice from the court, and the arrogance he'd just regained instantly crumbled.

"It's fine. This racket's pretty good too. Hey, let's play. Don't hold back."

As expected, Arai won a few points at the start because Ryoma wasn't used to the racket.

After that, Ryoma crushed him, leaving Arai kneeling on the ground and questioning his life. Anyone would be unhappy after being taught a lesson by two first-years in a single day.

"How are those two first-years? Not bad, right? Especially Horio Satoshi."

"Rule-breakers can't be forgiven. Everyone runs laps around the track."

Tezuka Kunimitsu had watched everything unfold from the classroom window. After speaking, he turned and left, leaving Oishi Shichirou completely baffled. He'd meant to show Tezuka some promising newcomers, so how had it turned into making everyone run laps?

As Tezuka Kunimitsu walked away, his thoughts were different. He had simply admired Echizen Ryoma's talent.

But with Horio, it wasn't only his extraordinary talent that impressed Tezuka. Horio's words to Arai—"What do you think tennis is?"—had caught his attention even more.

As Tezuka left and the door closed behind him, Coach Ryuzaki looked over the list for the intraschool ranking matches. A slight smile appeared on her face when she spotted two new names among the second- and third-years.